Mason’s Mean LS Powered Mustang 5….3?
Right rear wheel view of suspension setup
The rear suspension has been extensively modified.

Those modifications, though, are mostly standard drag racing fare. A Currie Ford 9″ rear end with a Strange Aluminum housing and a Strange spool helps keep the rears spinning together, and Feal shocks are wrapped with Swift coils.

 

Rear wheel with two Wilwood brake calipers showing
Here you can see the second Wilwood caliper that the hydraulic e-brake actuates.

Instead of trying to figure out in-line plumbing for the hydraulic e-brake, Josh simply fabricated a bracket to add another small caliper. The rear of a car doesn’t do much braking in general, so this small-ish rotor and dual caliper setup is more than adequate for a drift machine that sees little repeated straight-line stopping. An XXR 557 wheel sized 18×9.5 with a +15 offset is wrapped with relatively small 245/40R18 Milestar MS932 XP+ tires.

 

Front wheel with stock Mustang caliper
The front braking system is relatively unmodified.

Stock Mustang calipers on drilled and slotted rotors are retained to handle clamping duties. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the front end isn’t modified.

 

Front wheel turned to full lock
Drifting is all about the angle – steering angle, that is.

Well, of course, there’s far more to it than just steering angle. But drifting is a sport where too much is likely still not enough. To that end, Josh fabricated custom lower control arms and an angle kit for the S197’s Feal MacPherson strut to attach to, with the strut again wrapped with Swift coils. In addition, the front knuckle was modified. This all comes together to allow the same size XXR 557s to turn the Falken Azenis, sized 235/40R18, as far as possible.

5 comments

  1. Great build. Very efficient use of resources.

    I have shocks that extend into the engine bay and I had some tie rods with spherical bearing rod ends that I bolted to the top of the shocks which I triangulated to the firewall. For about 5lbs in weight the increase in steering precision is phenomenal. I have never seen anybody else do that mod but I swear to god it is the best upgrade I have ever done in terms of price. I had to carve out a divet with a angle grinder and reinforce the mounting points on the firewall. Great bang for buck, though.

  2. Swaybar endlinks tied to the rear bumper support? Am I missing something? Maybe it is just the angle of the pic on Pg7.

    Somebody please tell me I am wrong.

    1. The swaybar is mounted to the axle, and the ends are bolted to the chassis.
      Backwards from how it is on most cars, but the end result is the same.

      1. Ah, yes. Thank you. I thought the Mustang was multi-link now, but I must have missed the Chevy live axle part in the build description.

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