1983 Ford Mustang

How was the cleanup on the bushing removal. I used a MAP torch to heat the shell just until the bushing started to melt a little then pushed them out with a hammer and piece of wood. A little time with a cylinder hone and it was ready for bushings. The offset bushings for a fox don't really apply to a 92 as they came that way from the factory, your new bushings should have a thinner flange on the front where it meets the cross member.

If you lower a fox watch out for the roll center vs center of gravity. When you change the angle of the a arms the roll center goes under ground, you either need to lower the ball joint or raise the inner a arm mount. Unless you like lots of body roll. Stiffer roll bars don't help at that point because it already under steers like mad and will get worse if you try to counter it with a big bar.

I may be going to coilovers this winter, if so I will have a set of gently used Tokico blues and matching springs to sell. Springs are 680 front and 350 rear. I can send you pictures of how it sits.

there is a company making drop spindles at long last http://www.racecraft.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=280

ClemSparks wrote: Anyway...they're out there smoldering in the gravel driveway now. It could be great...or I could swear myself off this method forever. I'll let you know.

It's a little messy, but I found it pretty effective. I did have to hit the inside of the shells with a wire wheel on a drill to smooth out the inside and remove any reside, but even that wasn't too bad. How did it turn out for you?

tdrrally wrote: there is a company making drop spindles at long last http://www.racecraft.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=280

Too bad they all appear to be for drag race oriented use only: "NOT INTENDED FOR STREET OR ROAD RACE"

On my car I changed the shells, not as much fun. So on the race car I used the heat and push method, they turned out great. Not much cleanup needed, remember to use lots of super lube.

On another subject I have a set of newer rear lower control arms that almost went on the Lemons car but they have an oval bushing with holes in it. I presume to reduce NVH and increase flex, not such a good idea on a track car.

akylekoz wrote: On my car I changed the shells, not as much fun. So on the race car I used the heat and push method, they turned out great. Not much cleanup needed, remember to use lots of super lube.

What brand of bushings are you using?

It appears that I used Steeda.

marks93cobra wrote:

tdrrally wrote: there is a company making drop spindles at long last http://www.racecraft.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=280

Too bad they all appear to be for drag race oriented use only: "***NOT INTENDED FOR STREET OR ROAD RACE***"

Yeah. This and...I'm the guy that was whining about a $70 air filter earlier in the thread. $800 for a set of spindles? Maybe the stance I have now is growing on me.

akylekoz wrote: It appears that I used Steeda.

Thanks!

akylekoz wrote: How was the cleanup on the bushing removal. I used a MAP torch to heat the shell just until the bushing started to melt a little then pushed them out with a hammer and piece of wood.

The cleanup isn't done yet but it's going to be brutal. I used your method for the other control arm. One bushing came out easy and clean. The other left quite a bit of residue, but it's still way better than the method I tried last night.

Here's what the first experiment looks like once you pry the semi-charred bushings out:

The residue is a sticky, greasy mess. Anything that touches it is covered in it. On the bright side, it seems brake cleaner is an effective solvent...so a lot of that and a lot of paper towels will be used soon.

Honestly, I haven't asked the local machine shop what they'd charge to do this. If it was $50 or less for the pair of control arms, I'd gladly pay it. (I may be dreaming...it might cost more).

I need to do some bushings on my Malibu sometime soon (and the Fairmont...and probably everything else I own). I will check other options before trying this again at home.

I just went ahead and put the original (as far as I know) rear springs back under the car. For now. It's still slightly higher on the right than the left. And who knows what that's about (could even be due to the front suspension). Here's how it sits at the moment. I'm going to stop thinking about rear suspension for a while. I'm gathering and prepping parts for the front suspension

Hopefully the car isnt bent. Foxbodys are really flexy. My 88 had a permanent lean down towards the right rear.

There is no obvious indication anywhere that the unibody is bent. (no wrinkled roof or floor pans or such) It's certainly possible it is tweaked, though. This particular unibody is nothing special. I'm throwing parts at it (and how!) knowing that if a better candidate for those parts comes along, I can swap stuff over.

You can always shim the K-Member, That would be pretty easy, Is there a suspension shop around that can dyno the springs to see if one is sacked out?

I may be just spoiled having Works Performance on my commute.

At one point I also burned out the stock LCA bushings with a torch and pressed in prothane urethane bushings as well. I also welded in reinforcements into the end of the arm to stiffen it up. Nasty work. Worked pretty well until I went MM LCAs with delrin bushings (plus coilovers). I also run 95 spindles. There is no reason not to run an SN95 strut if you find a good deal. I used to have 03 Cobra factory front Bilsteins. It's the SN95 LCAs that will give you tons of negative camber (which may be ok) on your fox. Those rear 17x8s look great on there. You might even get away with a 17x9 with the right offset.

Bump steer is horrible when you lower it too much. Pretty sure the factory springs are progressve rate, so cutting them is gonna ride horrible. Believe it or not, going to coilovers rode better than eibach lowering springs and KYB shocks.

akylekoz wrote: I may be going to coilovers this winter, if so I will have a set of gently used Tokico blues and matching springs to sell. Springs are 680 front and 350 rear. I can send you pictures of how it sits.

I sent you an email/message about this. Even if you don't end up changing, I'd be interested in seeing photos and any specs or source you can help with. Thanks!

I haven't been working on the mustang much lately as I was making some progress on the Suburbal.

But this weekend I made myself an angle iron battery tray. The original was cracked and ineffective. This isn't elegant (and it is proof that I'm not a fabricator) but I'm happy-enough with the result. VERY solid...I like that.

Looking at those makes me realize I really need to tidy up the wiring under the hood. I'll get to that at some point...I still have to figure out some details first.

I love it when Clem works on the Mustang.

I had to kick the Feral Mustang out of the barn so I can do the timing belt on my Subaru before it gets too snowy and an AWD daily driver becomes desirable (though, not generally necessary).

I sold the DragLite wheels the other day. So I had to scrounge some spares to drive it out of the barn.

The next major project on the Mustang is to redo the frontend with the re-vamped control arms, SN95 spindles/brakes, and the KYB AGX struts.

I don't seem to have any "after" photos of the front control arms yet...but here are some in-process photos after blasting, installing new ball joints, an beginning to paint them.

The mustang is back in the barn so I can start working on the front suspension. Along with my '78 Malibu.

I've been trying to do something to the Mustang every evening even though it's the middle of winter. a few days ago it was using my new 1/2" drive impact wrench and bigass socket to remove the spindle nuts from the SN95 spindles. Tonight I drove out the rivets in the dust shields on the spindles and got the spindles completely torn down for sandblasting.

Here they are, the Left one (on the right in this photo) is partway through the blasting process. The right one is ready for blasting.

What I've learned about sandblasting: While sandblasting, you become more optimistic about paint's ability to stick to and cover up not-completely-clean metal.

I also cleaned the caliper brackets and started paining one of them. Then it got dark. And it started raining.

Then I also spent some time disassembling the front suspension components currently on the car. Picking cotter pins out of ball joints, loosening the ball joint nuts, loosening the strut top nut, removing outer tie rods...that kind of stuff.

In reply to ClemSparks:

Good progress!

Thanks Pete.

More baby steps tonight.

The '95 spindles are blasted and ready for paint. But it's 40 degrees so I guess I should wait on the paint phase.

I tore a few things off the front of the car. Calipers and rotors, mainly. Not really photo worthy, but what the heck. I went from this:

to this:

on both sides. I tried to get the lower ball joint to "release" but it really just wouldn't. I pounded the snot out of the spindle near where the ball joint goes through but...nothing. (In reality, I pounded the snot out of me...literally...I picked up a cold that's running its course.) It's hard to get a good swing on the sledge in that area. I'll probably resort to just taking the lower control arm and spindle out together and bash them to pieces later. I don't have an actual need/plan to use this smallest-of-the-fox-body brake and suspension stuff anyhow. Even the Fairmont will be getting the '87-up stuff up front.

I have to travel for work Thursday through Sunday. So it might be a few days before there are more

progress is progress, it still amazes me that style factory brake is actually an upgrade for my zephyr. they look so tiny