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Topic: Lowering 88 T Bird with my son (Read 5623 times) previous topic - next topic

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Gonna try to lower my sons 1988 LX Bird as it sits really high with T coupe wheels and stock suspension.Is this a standard spring compressor job like my old 67 cougar or is it gonna be more involved.Bird has 8.8 1988 tang rear under it and don't want to run into any issues.Any and all help is appreciated.He wants to lower whole car down a few inches and im sure this will effect the ride

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #1 –
Rears are easy to swap just support the car w/stands.  I usually put blocks under the rear tires to avoid the axle from moving on me too much.  Just lower it down on the stands and blocks enough to get weight off the control arms. Then you just remove the two lower control arm bolts and pivot it down enough to remove the spring.  Now is a good time to put in new spring isolators as well.

If it's in the budget a set of CHE lower control arms will really firm up the ride and handling as well.  If he's lowering it very much I would recommend upgrading the shocks and struts too.  I'm running Fox Mustang Tokico "blues" with Chuck W's rear shock adapters (lowers the mount so you can use fox 'stang shocks).  I ran stock replacement Monroe sensatracs for quite a while with the car being lowered and it never did ride well.  Changing to the Tokico's was a huge improvement in ride and handling.  After inspecting the Monroe's when I removed them I found that one was not cycling correctly and was sticking in place.  I assume this was something to do with having the car lowered and putting the shocks out of their "sweet spot".

Fronts you will pretty much need to rent, borrow, etc. a spring compressor to do it safely.  Not gonna lie, last time I swapped front springs I just took it to a friend of mine and let him do it since he was going to do the alignment afterwards anyway.  Front springs have made me nervous ever since a friend of mine had a spring fly out and go through the roof of the service station he worked at...it easily could have killed him.

What springs are you going to use?  There are really no "new" T-bird specific lowering springs available.  You can run fox mustang front springs (I am running Steeda springs off a '92 Steeda Mustang) but on the rear you don't want to use Fox 'stang springs.  It will cause the car to sag and ride horrible due to our cars weighing a bit more.  I had Mustang rear springs for awhile and just couldn't deal with it.  Now I run Moog T-bird Turbo Coupe-spec rear springs with a couple of coils cut off.  Rides great and best of all, no sag!
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #2 –
He should be able to swap in some 99-04 Mustang GT springs (front and rear) and lower the car about an inch all the way around correct? From what I've heard this would give a decent ride as well.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #3 –
All I did to swap my rear springs was lift the car with a floor jack and support it under the frame rails, then let the rear hang down. Unbolt the shocks, and I gave each side of the rear a push with my foot and just pulled the springs out. Never did unbolt the control arms.

I used '99 Mustang springs all around. gave the car about a two inch drop front and rear. I think any lower than that, and you'll be one of those guys that has to come to a near complete stop and crawl over speed bumps. The ride is great as my car is now, and, I can cross a railroad track, speed bump, and still take a relatively steep grade just fine while still having the car lower.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #4 –
I have never run the SN-95 springs but several of you guys had had good success with them.  I've heard of some guys using Bullitt or Mach 1 springs to get just a little lower as well.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #5 –
Thanks for the info guys.Gonna make a good father son project for sure and we have the resources to get it done.Trying to do it on a budget but don't want to sacrifice the Great car it is already.My 1988 that I had was a six cylinder hertz car and sat a lot lower than my sons v-8 car on 16s tcoupe wheels.This Forum seems like the right place for some very good info.We will dospoogeent the progress starting after Christmas as springs are gonna be a present.

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #6 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;425819
All I did to swap my rear springs was lift the car with a floor jack and support it under the frame rails, then let the rear hang down. Unbolt the shocks, and I gave each side of the rear a push with my foot and just pulled the springs out. Never did unbolt the control arms.

I used '99 Mustang springs all around. gave the car about a two inch drop front and rear. I think any lower than that, and you'll be one of those guys that has to come to a near complete stop and crawl over speed bumps. The ride is great as my car is now, and, I can cross a railroad track, speed bump, and still take a relatively steep grade just fine while still having the car lower.


You used stock rear control arms and no caster camber plates with the '99 Mustang springs right? I'm just making sure the guys doesn't need and extra parts before he takes his suspension apart :).
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #7 –
I have no caster camber plates, and the rear uses CHE control arms, but the springs are still in the stock location, not lifted or altered as far as position goes.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #8 –
I use 2000 GT springs in the front for about 1.5" - 1.75" drop and 2000 V6 convertible springs in the rear for about 1.5" drop.  I used the softer V6 convertible springs because they drop to the same height as the GT springs but ride nicer without the sag of non-convertible V6 springs.  My stance over 17" steel police wheels:X

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #9 –
^ looks tough.

I also do not use CC plates...car drives straight and as far as I know the alignment is fine.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #10 –
Cool thanks guys. I just didn't want the original poster to come back here asking why the springs didn't work if we forgot to tell him he needed extra parts ;).
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #11 –
About the spring isolators, I suppose I would need some from an sn95 if I use sn95 springs, correct?  Where can I find some?
'88 Thunderbird LX
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Engine:  FR B303 cam, GT40P heads w/ Trickflow valve springs, Explorer upper/lower intake, SR cold air intake w/ MAF
Exhaust:  shorty headers, BBK O-R X-pipe, glasspacks w/ turn downs
Misc:  8.8 rear, Saleen SC replicas 17x8/17x10, Mach 1 front springs/SN95 rear springs
&
'74 F100 Custom 351W

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #12 –
I love the stance!
'88 Thunderbird LX
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Engine:  FR B303 cam, GT40P heads w/ Trickflow valve springs, Explorer upper/lower intake, SR cold air intake w/ MAF
Exhaust:  shorty headers, BBK O-R X-pipe, glasspacks w/ turn downs
Misc:  8.8 rear, Saleen SC replicas 17x8/17x10, Mach 1 front springs/SN95 rear springs
&
'74 F100 Custom 351W

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #13 –
You can just get spring isolators on the rear for a fox Mustang.  I think mine are BBK or something like that from one of the many Mustang parts vendors.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Lowering 88 T Bird with my son

Reply #14 –
Actually, no.  SN-95 springs are the go to choice on our cars, because they're dimensionally identical to ours.  SN-95 front lower arms were carried over from OUR cars, which means you can transfer over the isolators you already have.  Front and rear.  You should never run Fox Mustang springs if you can run SN-95 springs.  The Fox Mustang springs won't ride well and are usually overly harsh even at similar rates.  I'm not an engineer, so I can't tell you exactly why, I think it has to do with our longer control arms placing the lower end of the spring out further.  I was told it was a geometry problem.  You can probably run Fox springs in the rear, but everyone (myself included) seems to run SN-95 springs in the rear, too.