[ianellis]

Doing body work now and going to paint the engine compartment and wheel wells soon, so I’m wondering if I should remove the large panel covering the top of the coil spring? Or is that a terrible idea?

I have future plans for coil overs, but for now I will just be upgrading stock style suspension with GT springs, roller perches and hopefully adjustable strut rods.

Thoughts?


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[englishman]

Doing body work now and going to paint the engine compartment and wheel wells soon, so I’m wondering if I should remove the large panel covering the top of the coil spring? Or is that a terrible idea?

I have future plans for coil overs, but for now I will just be upgrading stock style suspension with GT springs, roller perches and hopefully adjustable strut rods.

Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd keep them - Ford didn't fit unnecessary parts.

 

[BradAlbrecht]

Why would you remove it? The bump stop is there for a reason.

 

[patrickstapler]

Street car...install them. Track car...remove them.

 

[Huskinhano]

Definitely keep them especially if you're using stock control arms and Arning drop. At lowering the upper arm 1" when I was doing my research into what I wanted to do, that 1" appeared to really be absolute maximum. People would start to get broken balljoints from over travel if the bump stops were either missing or worn out.

 

[geicoman58]

From content to effect...so many different interpretations, lol, I was just thinking the op meant so he could do a better job painting the engine bay and wheel wells...many of those shields get rusty and rot out where the bump stop goes, so, yeah, take them off to blast and paint, or, no, you probably shouldn't take them off and drive the car around...

 

[j persons]

They are there to keep the suspension from over compressing. However if you have Street orTrack's Bilstein shocks, there is a shaft mounted rubber bump stop available that does the same thing.

 

[ianellis]

Street car...install them. Track car...remove them.

I have seen several cars without them, which is what had me thinking about it in the first place. But your comment makes a lot of sense, probably track cars I was seeing...

Thanks everyone for your comments! I will check for rust, but plan to keep them. I love this forum!


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[Kelly_H]

Yes, paint wheelwells with them off if you want a nice clean look, but definitely reinstall once you're done painting! Really, you do need those bumpstops.

I don't have a bumpstop on my rear axle (even though I have the stops on the rear frame rails) and there is now an upwards indentation in my trunk floor that is exactly shaped like the top of the pumpkin. Hmmmm, wonder how that got there

Incidentally, the rear axle stop is probably the least useful of the five bump stops installed on our cars, as long as you don't mind stuffing the axle into the trunk every once in a while

 

[2nd 66]

It's my feeling the spring guards are at least semi structural and help stiffen the spring towers
@patrickstapler Why remove ?

 

[patrickstapler]

For the very reason they are there, they limit travel. On the track, the suspension needs to work through its full range of motion...not be limited by a hard stop. When cornering over apex curbing, the front suspension would constantly be on the bump stops.

What possible structural component could they add? The opposing shock tower to which they mount is probably 100x more structural.

 

[Ford.P51]

I'm with 2nd 66, those guards are hefty, and installed correctly should add strength to the shock tower.
The shock tower is like a 'C' Channel. Add the outer spring guards and now you have a box. Which resists bending and torsion more? The Box does.

 

[carlite65]

Doing body work now and going to paint the engine compartment and wheel wells soon, so I’m wondering if I should remove the large panel covering the top of the coil spring? Or is that a terrible idea?

I have future plans for coil overs, but for now I will just be upgrading stock style suspension with GT springs, roller perches and hopefully adjustable strut rods.

Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

terrible idea. the factory spent $$ engineering those parts. they were deemed necessary. remove them at your own peril.

 

[Turnall]

Is it really structural or simply the only way to mount a stop that would actually work?

Allen

 

[wicked93gs]

Doing body work now and going to paint the engine compartment and wheel wells soon, so I’m wondering if I should remove the large panel covering the top of the coil spring? Or is that a terrible idea?

I have future plans for coil overs, but for now I will just be upgrading stock style suspension with GT springs, roller perches and hopefully adjustable strut rods.

Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I made new ones myself....partly because I needed a good base to attach the extra bracing to and still allow it all to be unbolted...but also looking ahead planning on using SoT coilovers. As for the bump stops...will do without them for now, but the plan is to use the SoT coilovers with the built in bumpstop

 

[Westmus]

On the track, the suspension needs to work through its full range of motion...not be limited by a hard stop.

But what is full range? Something is always going to stop the suspensions travel. If you have no kind of bump stop, you have to be very sure the spring hit max compression before the shock buttoms out, or one of the ball joints hit the limit of its range.

 

[Westmus]

Is it really structural or simply the only way to mount a stop that would actually work?

I'm pretty sure it is some level of structural. Otherwise Ford wouldn't have used 8 bolts to mount it.

 

[wicked93gs]

I'm pretty sure it is some level of structural. Otherwise Ford wouldn't have used 8 bolts to mount it.

Well, we know the Boss429 cars braced off of it...its certainly structural to some degree, though I wouldn't use bolts as the metric...think of bolts as spot welds...the cowl is structural and has 200 spot welds....the rear seat hold down brackets are not structural and have 4 spot welds...fender aprons have maybe a couple dozen around the perimeter. It is however I really solid attachment point for things you might want to attach to the shock tower...and that is why Ford put the bump stops there...to transfer that energy to the shock tower(which in turn transfers it vertically back down to the frame rails). I don't see any reason you would ever actually want to remove the outer shock towers entirely...they dont get in the way of anything, and they just dont weigh that much.

 

[patrickstapler]

But what is full range? Something is always going to stop the suspensions travel. If you have no kind of bump stop, you have to be very sure the spring hit max compression before the shock buttoms out, or one of the ball joints hit the limit of its range.

I haven’t experienced either of these scenarios, nor have I heard of any other driver of a actively tracked car without the covers installed. Again, street car leave them be. However, as Allen pointed out, I would agree the only structural component they offer to the overall front of the car is enough to ensure they themselves do not collapse when the upper ball joint slams into it when encountering a pot hole. As to actually increasing the structural integrity of the entire front of the car, I would disagree.

 

[2nd 66]

For the very reason they are there, they limit travel. On the track, the suspension needs to work through its full range of motion...not be limited by a hard stop. When cornering over apex curbing, the front suspension would constantly be on the bump stops.

What possible structural component could they add? The opposing shock tower to which they mount is probably 100x more structural.

they create a box vs just a flat panel . I've hit the apex curbing at WGI on the bus stop at a good rate without issue