The First Mod to our Cobra

Caster Camber Plates from Maximum Motor Sports. We chose to install these plates due to the fact that some of this body style Mustang can be difficult to align properly. The origianl set of tires were worn very badly on the inside of the tire. After 18K miles they were racing slicks on the inside with some but not much tread on the oustide of the tires. That description applied to all 4 tires. A coworker's 04 Cobra had to be adjusted to its maximum setting to get the camber value in spec. With that in mind we chose to install the caster camber plates to be sure that we could get a perfect alignment of the tires and improve tire life and handling.
... pics of the installation

The stock setup

There were two rivets in each upper mount that had to be drilled out with a 1/8 inch bit ... here you can see one ... the other is behind the strut thread

These pics do show off the paint pretty well too!!!

The strut retaining nut and thrust washer removed using a 7/8 open end box end wrench and a 5/16 allen wrench. This takes some effort and would have been easier if I had lubricated the threads before removing the nuts

The upper strut mount removed

The top rubber bushing and crush sleeves were removed from the top of the shaft then the strut was collapsed to allow for the factory bottom plate and bump stop to be removed and the strut is braced at the base of the mounting hole. Collapsing the strut requires some effort and its was much easier since my son was helping me. It would be possible for one person to do this but it is a lot easier with two.

The dust boot removed from the factory top mount

Using the factory top plate to mark the location for the new bolt hole for the new bottom plate

The marks for the new hole .. they dont show very well

On the driver side ... center punching the mark for the new hole which was drilled out to 1/8th inch prior to drilling out to 13/32

YES!!!!! ... I actually drilled a hole in my new car LOL

The new hole for the 4 bolt bottom plate and the new bump stop peeking through the mounting hole

The new holes were deburred with a round file

The new bottom plate installed and being held in place by the bump stop

1/4 inch spacers installed

The main plate in place and the mount being held by a nut so the the remaining washers and nuts can be installed

The spherical bearing plate and spacers installed and the strut top nut being tightened

The finished installation and it took about two hours

The parts that were discarded