[sinhumane]

ok. th etim has finally come to rebuld my front suspension (most of it anyways.) the lower ball joints are fresh. and wil not need replacing but the uppers are shot and most of the bushings in the front suspension are gone.. i may go with new shocks/struts (whatever is on there) i'm an idiot when it comes to suspension.. but pop the hood and i can hold my own... so i am asking for help on picking out my parts.... i may go with some chassis strengthening and maybe a shock tower brace (i have a friend that welds). i want to autocross it, but the popping in the front end tells me otherwise. i want the best bang for my buck.. i can spend maybe 50-100 dollars more than all oe parts will cost (however much that is.) also, should i go ahead and replace the rear suspension bits? (they are showing their age, but are not completely destroyed) i need a figure on how much this will cost, if i go with either urethane or rubber bushings.. with and without shocks/struts... and how much the front and rear will cost individually.... AND A PARTS LIST!!!! i searched.. and maybe i didnt search back 4 or 5 years.. and i didnt want to have to piece something together... so yeah.. lol HELP PLEASE!!!!


P.S. and i apologize for the novel i just wrote.. i will hand out cliffs-notes to those that cannot focus for more than five minutes.

 

[OxmanWI]

You might be spending alot more then $100 for what you need. You should get right and left upper arms. Some thing like 50-60 a piece. The shocks and struts price may range so shop around. I went with sports up front and KYBs in the back. Go to Rockauto.com for some good deals and search for a discount code also.

Hope this helped,

 

[sinhumane]

you misread.. i can spend 50-100 MORE than what it will cost to buy stock rebuild parts. any idea on bushings and stuff i might need? are there any upper arms that have greasable joints?

 

[95XR7]

you misread.. i can spend 50-100 MORE than what it will cost to buy stock rebuild parts. any idea on bushings and stuff i might need? are there any upper arms that have greasable joints?

My Moog upper arms have greasable ball joints. Atleast...on the parts list it said Moog.

 

[sinhumane]

arent moog bits crap? lol... ah well. i will look into those... i will definitely be hitting up rockauto for all this...

 

[OxmanWI]

I see, ok here you go...

Right and Left upper arms

Front Strut Rod Bushings

Front Sway Bar Repair Kit

Stabilizer Bar Bushings

 

[slidebird91]

use rubber suspension bushings. poly ones are too stiff. I have poly endlink and swaybar bushings in the rear, but my control arm bushings are all rubber. If you are going to autocross it, you do not want a really stiff front end. you want the back to be stiff I did an autocross this weekend, and the car handled incredible. they made us have an instructor on the first run and he asked me If I had slick tires. he was amazed at the handling. the funny part is that I have $10 worth of tires on my car.

 

[sinhumane]

so poly in the rear.. rubber up front? sounds good.
how much am i looking at total? (i'm too lazy to look)

 

[slidebird91]

use rubber everywhere you can - mainly on control arm bushings. I used poly cuz thats what they sent me.

 

[sinhumane]

but you said stiff was good in the rear... i want the best handling i can get out of it for the lowest price possible.. (i know, i know.. that is an oxymoron, but whatev) i think i will take your advice and do the control arms in rubber.. the rear crap in poly and the entire front in rubber....

 

[slidebird91]

leave the rear control arms rubber and put the biggest rear sway bar on you can get. here is a list of all of my suspension stuff.

stock front sway bar, all rubber front bushings. addco 1 3/8" rear bar poly bar and enlink bushings. rubber bushings everywhere else. poly rear spring cups. kyb gas shocks. eibach lowering springs. I cut one coil off the rear and 1 1/4 or so coils in the front for equal lowering. I also have a rear shock tower brace welded in and the 6 point cage helps too. the car is very low, but handles like a champ.

the reason for rubber bushings is I was talking to another thunderbird fanatic who knows someone, who designed the suspension for the mn12. he was dead set on rubber bushings. I quote: "We designed those bushings to work with that suspension". he also said specifically "dont use that polyurethane crap". I do not know this person, but this is what I was told by my friend who knows him.

so, I guess the point is, stiffen the car up, but If you make it too stiff you will lose grip. too stiff in the front, it will push. too stiff in the rear, it will be loose. most cars push extremely bad from the factory, so you need to stiffen up the rear to get it to rotate. If you do what I did your car will be very stiff and very low. any lower and the camber would be too much. right now it is at -.5 degrees. it is kinda stiff for a dd, but o well. I know this was long winded, but I love suspension. I hope I helped.

-steve

 

[sinhumane]

thanks.. that helped A LOT! i wont be cutting springs.. but i may consider the spring perches and some lowering springs.. and i will be sure to bombard you with pm's all the way through the process... and also.. about how much is this all gonna cost me? lol.

 

[slidebird91]

200 for the sway bar if you do it. perches were like 80 bucks I think. maybe 250 for the springs. i dont remember shocks. and im not sure about bushings. feel free to let the pms fly.

 

[sinhumane]

think i would be alright with an 89 sc rear sway bar? and a rear shock tower brace? would cheap springs be ok to use?

 

[conversion02]

use rubber everywhere you can - mainly on control arm bushings. I used poly cuz thats what they sent me.

What brand of bushings did you use? I was thinking all motorcraft bushings, but wasn't sure how they were in terms of price.

 

[The Great Obucina]

What brand of bushings did you use? I was thinking all motorcraft bushings, but wasn't sure how they were in terms of price.

regular TRW bushings are fine...for the strut rod, get the kit from Ford, its the only one with ALL hardware spec'd properly.

 

[slidebird91]

think i would be alright with an 89 sc rear sway bar? and a rear shock tower brace? would cheap springs be ok to use?

Im not sure how stiff the sc sway bar is. or what size. I just had a bar welded in for the shock tower brace when they did my cage. dont skimp on the springs. eibachs or an equivalent arent that expensive. If you get a stock type spring it wont handle the way you want it to.

 

[The Great Obucina]

89 SC bar is the largest from the factory. 1.04 or so inch bar.

 

[sinhumane]

yeah, thats why i specified the 89. i may be able to get ahold of one pretty cheap. and i really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me!!! lol. now i just have to wait for it to stop friggin raining! lol.

 

[sinhumane]

well, after figuring everything i need, its really not too bad... itll be somewhere in the range of 300-350 for all teh bushings and crap... then if i do new struts and shocks (which i proly should) maybe another 100-200 (depending on what i get...) then i can get my sway bars and junk, rear tower brace, and stickier tires.. all under a grand! w00t!