Pardon the ignorance, but my last Mustang was a 93 5.0 LX. Back in the day, Southside Machine Bars and other LCA's with solid/poly/spherical rod ends were all the rage because they gave great hookup on the street/track. Fast forward a few years, and everyone discovered that these bars can literally tear the torque boxes out of the car. I had to pay a ton of money to get mine repaired.

So my question is this - do the new cars suffer from the same problem when using aftermarket LCA's? If so, what preventative measures should be taken? Mine's a 5 speed and I plan on visiting the track with slicks (as I do with every car) very often, so new LCA's seem mandatory. Just want to be sure I do something about it now, before the damage occurs.

Thanks for your input.

 

Haven't really heard of many problems. Most people go with the poly bushings. But if you're racing very often, then you may want to go with the spherical bearings.

 

I appreciate the input, but my inquiry was aimed at torque box reinforcement.

 

When you say torque boxes, you're talking about on the axle? If so, you can get them completely welded, they are only spot welded I believe. I don't think you'll have any problems unless you have a power adder. If you do, you can pick up a complete rear axle for $700 from new takeoff.com.

 

I'm talking about the point on the body where the LCA's attach. When you go to poly/solid/spherical rod ends, it puts a lot more stress on the mounting points - which are typically thin sheet metal brackets tack welded to the body. Even more of a problem when you relocate the rear mounting point downward.

Has anybody had any experience with this issue?

 

Again, I haven't heard of any problems. Only problems I've read about is where people that installed relocation brackets (for the rear mount of the LCA) didn't have them welded and caused them to bend. Haven't heard of one person having an issue with the front mount.