PMystic

I bought my car used about 2 years ago. I havent driven it very much at all due to being out of town for extended periods of time. But i finally got it up on a lift and looked underneath to investigate a metallic rubbing noise that appears under hard excelleration, or when I have a suitcase in the trunk, or a passenger in the rear seat. etc.
I noticed that the drive shaft is rubbing on my fuel line right at the bend above the mufflers. Now, I bought the car and it had already been lowered and I have gotten used to the look of it and frankly I dont want to raise it up. I know I have seen plenty of mustangs lower than mine so I am wondering if anyone knows if this is a common thing and what I can do to take care of it.
I would actually like some advice on what kind of suspension I should have too, Im not big into the "lowrider" thing so I dont know much about that area of cars.
Any advice, suggestions, or information would be greatly appreciated.

Scothew

Its a problem with sn-95 cars apperently to have teh driveshaft rub the fuel line brakets or teh parking brake cable braket inside the "tunnel" area. Mine is doing it under hard acceleration or when I have alot of stuff in the trunk/rear seat area. I also have a aluminum driveshaft which is a bigger diameter. Does yours have this?

SVOPaul and I think the problem is with teh car being lowered, and if you look at your rear differential, does it stil have the "dog bone" or big metal weight looking guy on the upper and lower part of the rear diff. I dont have it on mine (wanted to loose the weight), but what is happening is that is there to keep the rear end from bottoming out on the pinion snubber. By removing it, you add about 4" of travel taht the rear end can move more, there for the pinion snubber hits the rear diff intself instead of this dog bone or bracket (whatever you want to call it). Take a look and see if yours is in place and let me know. Also i'd like to know if you have a shorter pinion snubber (has it been cut or is it a different than stock) and do you have a aluminum driveshaft.

Btw, welcome to the board. Gotta love Mystic's

PMystic

I didnt notice any "dog bone" looking thing on the rear diff, it looks "normal" per se. I am used to working on trucks though, not much experience with newer cars. Not too sure what a pinion snubber is either. Im pretty sure the car is completely stock though. My buddy, who is a Camaro freak, did mention that my driveshaft was huge though.
Thanks for the welcome, I look forward to getting this car to the health it should be in, its going to take me a while, but I plan on visiting the site for plenty more advice if you guys can handle it.
I will get my car back on the lift sometime this week and do some more looking around, probably take some pics so I can just show you what I am talking about and you can see all of it yourself if you dont mind.

Scothew

i'd bet your driveshaft is an aluminum one then. if it is, it will look like mine in this pic. Should be shinier and light (about 12lbs). The dog bone is missing from mine, but i will point out where it is in this pic. It is a huge piece of flat metal above and below the rear diff. You can tell if its there based off this pic.

Also the pinion snubber is a rubber piece that acts as a bump stop to keep the rear end from bottoming out on the body of the car. Its directly above where the dog bone (i can not remember the technical name for it) would be located.

PMystic

I still cant really tell by looking at the pic if the "dog bone" is there. I cant say that I remember a large flat peice of metal arond the diff. If you are talking about the rear diff support bracket, then I do know what you mean. You have to remove it to check the rear diff fluid...right? If thats it, then I do have it on the bottom of my diff, but I didnt notice one on top. However, my buddy was the one to take that bracket off yesterday when we were checking the fluid, I was grabbing some more tools when he did it. I will ask him later today.
Driveshaft is defintely not aluminum though. I really thought it was stock because I figured it would be a light color, but after seeing yours, mine is definitely not aluminum. Even the spot where the fuel line is rubbing on it is still just dark grey.
I do have the pinion snubberin place too. I remember seeing it yesterday. I understand why you would remove the dogbone now. But since mine is already rubbing with it in place i would be in big trouble if I took mine off. I did do some pushing and tried to get the fuel line out of the way and it seemed to work, no more rubbing...for now. My trunk and back seat are empty right now though. Next month a friend and I are driving to Virgina from Cali and we will have 2 suitcases and a honda xr50 in a box in my car so I am concerned about the rubbing right now. THe fuel line has a nice flat spot on it about 3" long and I dont know how long its been doing that but I know I have only put 13K miles on it since Dec '02 and its been doing it since then.
I appreciate the pics and the help. This car means a lot to me and I have a lot of work to do to it and this is just the beginning. I really want to replace the shocks because I am sure that the guy lowered it using aftermarket springs but left the stock shocks on. My buddy is into the whole "import tuner" scene and he mentioned one day that he messed up his car by doing the same thing. He doesnt know much about cars....real ones anyway, but I thought that made good sense.

Scothew

yeah make sure he didnt just cut teh springs. If he did, ditch em and get something better like eibach pro-kit, FRPP "C" springs, or H&R Super Sports. Any of those are awesome. Something else you may want to consider is poly urethane spring isolators. Basically replaces teh stock soft rubber isolator that goes above and below each spring. I put them on mine, maybe raised the car 1/8th inch. But defintely helps with body roll since they replace the soft rubber piece. You can get them at http://www.maximummotorsports.com

PMystic

Thanks! Thats exactly the stuff I need info on. Where to buy and what to buy. I have spent the last 10 years or so working on bikes and such, so i havent had much time for cars but thats about to change.
I appreicate your help, I will be in touch.

Scothew

also if you are looking to get different struts. You can find the front struts from a 03/04 cobra which are Bistein HD's. They can be found at places like http://www.fordpartsnetwork.com or http://www.gefracing.com. Then all you need is the Bilstein HD rears for a sn-95 mustang (non 99+ cobra) and you are set.

Other options that I prefer would be the Tokico Illumina 5-ways or the Koni Yellows. Best bang for the buck is probably the Tokico 5-ways, which i've seen brand new for around $420 on ebay.