4reboy

Here's my overdue thread on my suspension I replaced over winter break. I replaced all my front suspension because the old stuff was unbelievably worn out and every time I drove my car the 220 mile drive to and from home and school the squeaks got louder and louder. Here's my parts list:

New Upper and Lower Control Arms
1" Front Sway bar w/ Poly bushings
New rubber strut rod bushings
1" lowering coil springs
Rubber spring insulators
Roller spring perches from Open Tracker Racing
New KYB GR-2 shocks front and rear

I also did the shelby drop (Thanks to Tad for the template/bit) and got new brake pads and resurfaced my rotors. I ended up opting for Ceramic brake pads instead of semi-metallic because that's all my local discount place had and they were only $22 for the set for Bendix pads.

The teardown went smoothly, but restoring my wheel well and remaining parts took the longest amount of time. Once I finished cleaning everything up (with the help of my dad's new 80 gallon compressor and sand blasting cabinet) it was time for reassembly. I was impressed with all the new parts I got, all great quality especially the new roller perches. You can just tell how much of a difference they make by spinning them around with a flick of the finger. My super old rubber ones would barely flex if I put all of my weight on it.

Once I got my car all together and properly aligned at a shop (a pain) it was time for a drive. It is COMPLETELY different, more than a night and day difference. Turning is actually predictable now, before it would handle different even if it was the same turn. The car is definitely stiff, but it is not jarring at all. It doesn't wander, and as a whole the car just feels "tighter." I'm glad I was able to replace my rear shocks too because my old ones were completely blown. Even my brakes are completely better, I'm happy with the new pads, they already probably saved my car from stupid LA drivers on the way back to school.

This experience was good, I learned a lot of new thins like how to pack bearings, which turned out to be really easy. But most of all it was probably the best thing I've done to my car, and I wish I did it way sooner. I now know how much a priority suspension is on these cars so to everyone reading, make sure it is all in good working order. I still need to replace my rear leafs but for now they are OK, especially with the new shocks. I think it is safe to say that my setup and others like it that I've seen on this forum is probably the best "bang for your buck" solution for these old cars. Shelby drop + new springs + new bushings/balljoints + everything else I mentioned really adds up to a great handling car...

My only problem I have encountered is my Poly sway bar bushings squeak horribly. I was told sway bar bushings did not squeak, but that was probably if you put grease on them I did some research and bought a good grease that I think will keep them quiet, doing that tomorrow. One other disappointing thing was finding out that my shock towers are in horrible shape, it's no wonder that engine brace thing is welded all the way round to the shock tower along with other welds. Probably fixes from long ago before reproductions were made. I'm not worried about them though now that I have a monte carlo bar and export brace, but next time I overhaul my engine or whatever I'll probably replace the shock towers.

Now I know that is a lot of read, I kind of started rambling, so here are the pics. If anyone has any questions just let me know I'll be happy to answer.

Tell me what you think!



































OH yeah, I almost forgot. The new springs and shelby drop lowered my car about 1.5" and this is way before it has settled. I already think it has lowered more from that last few pics a the end.

Starfury

Nice! Glad to hear it went well. The stance is definitely better with the new springs, and I hope they settle a bit more. I even think you might get away with cutting the coils down a hair in the future.

You'll have to give me a ride, now that I don't have my car down here

zmetalmilitia

Nice looking job and car. Feels good to get a project done and have it turn out with excellent results!

jonward786

noice, looks good. i was walking to the gym the other day and saw you turning left onto santa rosa heading back towards poly.

weren't you gonna do leafs too?

boogerschnot

Its about time David! Make sure you let us know how the squeeking turns out after greasing it up. I just sent an email to opentracker for a quote on parts and suggestions. I think I may end up just using my old springs and cutting them down. It will be a little less stiff on the front end than the new springs. But the sway bar would make up for it I think.

boogerschnot

OH, and Daze has a link on his website to some adjustable strutrods for about $250 if you are interested. It would be an easy task to order and install later on.

boogerschnot

Did you blast your brake calipers too? Or are they new? It looks great man! You should put up a before and after pic of the same angle. As you can tell, I am just a little excited about doing this to my car too.

4reboy

Thanks guys for the compliments. I'll let you all know if the grease I got silences the sway bar but it should with no problems. I also have to re-aim my headlights because it points too low now

Tad, I'd be happy to give you a ride, I'm sure you could take it for a spin too if you want to tell me what you think. Why don't you have your car down here anymore???

Jon, yeah I was planning on doing leafs too but I just didn't have the money for it. Those two pieces are pricey. What I do plan on doing though is dropping my leafs to the first hole on my shackles to drop it down more, I planned on doing it at home but was unsure at first (and ran out of time). Then my car settled more so I can definitely take another inch out of the back. Right now there is a 2.5" difference I think between front and rear, so dropping to the other hole should give it a 1-1.5" rake which should look nice. I was thinking maybe all of us in SLO can get together one of these days and just do some things on our cars, then I can drop it.

4reboy

Sorry you posted more when I was posting haha. I didn't blast the calipers because then I would have had to take out the piston and get a piston re-build kit and I just didn't feel like fixing that since it wasn't broken. I had to put a limit on myself somewhere What I did was disassemble the caliper down to three parts, the adjusting shield I painted black, the part of the caliper with the piston, and the adjusting part of the caliper. I soaked the two smaller pieces in a bucket of degreaser and the part with the piston I just drenched with the degreasing bottle, then wire brushed the crap out of all of them. I actually did sandblast the metal shield thing I painted black now that I think about it. Be sure to leave the bleeder valve in an the bolt for the brake line as to not get fluid everywhere and to not get things other than brake fluid in the piston.

After it was all cleaned up I shot them with some primer for good adhesion then 2-3 coats of cast metallic (the can I got was a more silver, the spindles were painted in the "real" cast color") then topped it off with a coat or two of high-temp clear which is what really made the difference. All that paint might not stay on there for long, but I did my best to keep it nice for as long as possible, and the high-temp clear should definitely help with that.

Here are more pics of the calipers since you are interested. The only thing I don't like is I reused all the old hardware, and all I did was degrease them so the rusty/old color isn't the best. The pictures make it look worse than it was.

67mustang302

Poly won't squeek if it's greased properly and installed without any debris in it. I have poly in everything, and there isn't so much as a peep from anywhere in the suspension. You just have to be meticulous during installation. Just loosen the sway bar end links up and put some teflon grease in there, should be fine(make sure it's clean though, blow it with compressed air).

And yeah, it's amazing how different the suspension is.