Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all Show Posts made by this member. Note that you can only see Show Posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - Elsmere

2
Suspension/Steering / Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird
The SN95 Bilsteins come with bumpstops that ride on the shaft of the shock. With these installed, they touched about .5 inch before the frame-->axle bumpstops touched. Therefore, the frame bumpers could have been taken off, but I didn't feel like cutting any more on the day I put it together.

Aerobird, I was building this car for autocross and open track events(on an extremely limited budget), so many of the off-the-shelf tbird springs and shocks were out of the question, and I didn't want to spend money on one-off parts for a car that's only worth $1000 to begin with. I'm pretty familiar with the Mustang aftermarket(which has a few people who like to turn), so I knew I could get many of the parts to work with minimal effort, and maybe get some parts used. Add to all this that the Bilstein/H&R combo is pretty well proven, and you can see my reasoning. 

I also realize that I could have just bought some lower control arms with adjustable perches, but I got some MM lowers with std perches for really cheap, so that's whay I did. Besides, I'm not real fond of one-piece urethane bushings at both ends on the lower control arms in a fox body (hence no CHE arms). I do think the adjustable perches on the lower arms is a better solution than the welded in perches, mainly because it's easier. ;) I don't know the PN for the perches, but most stock car places would have them, I think they were for 5"  dia. springs, though the rears on my car are 5.5". 

When I first installed the shocks, I tried the flipped axle bracket, but I wasn't really comfortable with the little bit of droop travel I saw (IIRC, ~1" when I had the car at a ride height I liked). I never drove the car hard with the shocks like that. I'm thinking the handling balance would get pretty squirrelly if you were to lift a rear wheel because of not enough droop travel, and given the fact that I don't really like dying, I decided I wouldn't chance it.
3
Suspension/Steering / Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird
Some people have asked how I got the Bilstein Sport rear shocks and H&R Race springs for an SN95 Mustang to work on my '87 TBird. Here's what I did:

1. Shock spacers: Obtained some (~10") mild steel 1.75" OD .120 wall round tubing from onlinemetals.com, along with a 12"x12" piece of 1/8" mild steel plate.

2. Cut the tubing into 3" sections and cut a square window in the side of the tube almost half way around and halfway up each peice. Next, I cut out 4 1.75" round pieces from the plates and drilled 3/8" holes in the middle of each one.

3. After I had done all this, I used my flux core welder to weld the round peices to the top and bottom of each 3" piece of tube. Some black paint, a couple of 2" 3/8 grade 8 bolts and they were ready to go in. So basically the shocks bolt to the spacers using the original hardware, and the spacers bolt to the shock towers on the car using the 3/8' bolts.

For the springs, I got some spring perches from colemanracing.com for a stock car application and trimmed them to height until I got the lower control arms parallel to the ground for minimal roll steer (though thats probably the least of your problems if you don't have a panhard bar back there). Then I just lined everything up by eye and welded the new perches to the original ones after I cleaned up the area to be welded. As can be seen in the pic, I went most of the way around because I wouldn't bet my life on that weld, but if you had a welder that actually worked, you could just tack weld the perches on there for easier removal later.
4
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars FOR SALE / 94 5.0 motor, MM suspension parts, lots of other stuff...
1994 Mustang GT engine. 140k miles, burn victim, new gaskets and seals. No accessories. Came from good running car before fire, still had crosshatching in the cylinders when I had the heads off. Comes with EFI mainfold and fuel rail. $350+ shipping or pick it up for $300.

1994-1998 Mustang 3.8 t5 bellhousing with clutch fork. Bolts up to 5.0 w/o mods. Degreased and painted dark blue. One broken bolt engine-->bell bolt, about 1 inch is still sticking out, so I think it would come out with some heat and PB blaster. $30+shipping.

Ford NOS 2.3T std. bore piston rings. Never used. $50+shipping.

'88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe 8.8 rear axle assembly. 140k miles, 3.73:1 trac lok, no noises, never saw more than 200hp. Brakes are junk. Pick it up or arrange your own shipping; I can probably get it in a crate if need be. $150

'87 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe 8.8 rear axle assembly. 160k miles, 3.55 trac lok, no noises, lived behind my mild 2.3t. TC rear disc brakes are good, new pads. Trac lok rebuilt 500 miles ago. Complete. $225.

Maximum Motorsports 83-88 Thunderbird/Cougar, Lincoln Mk VII Rear Lower Control Arms. With sway bar mounts and std. spring perches. Some scuffs from installation, 5,000 miles. $200+shipping.

Maximum Motorsports 83-88 Thunderbird/Cougar, Lincoln Mk VII Caster/Camber plates. 1,000 miles. $160+shipping.

Bilstein 2000 Cobra R front struts, 30,000 miles. Excellent shape. $200+shipping.

H&R Race "Red" Mustang Springs. Front & Rear. 30,000 miles. $200+shipping.

PRC struts/shocks/springs/sway bars from my '88 Turbo Coupe. 140k miles, though the struts were replaced once in that time. PRC worked well when I took the car off the road due to rust. $100 plus shipping.

If you don't like the prices, make an offer. All parts located near zip 53566 Monroe, WI. Reply here or mail me at motherleopardihaveyourcub at yahoo dot com



Thanks,
Mark
5
Suspension/Steering / Re: Custom made spindles for coil-overs?
Generally, the springs supplied with coil-overs are short enough that the lower spring perch is above the top of the front tire. You can just buy shorter springs in the correct diameter/length/rate to get the lower perch far enough up the strut to not cause interference with the tire/wheel. By the way, what backspacing are you running on the r's on the front?

Holy God, 500lb/in coil-overs? That's equivalent to 1800lb/in springs in the standard location! For future refefence, the motion ratios for fox cars are:

Front:
conventional springs: .25
coil-overs: .9

Rear:
conventional springs: .5
coil-overs: .95

To calclulate wheel rate, multiply your spring rate by theses numbers.