tinman

Looked at an '87 LX yesterday. Price is ok for a rustfree, 5.0/AOD car. Arizona has its benefits.
It looks to me like the front end needs to be rebuilt as you can look at the car and see that there is NO 'alingment'.
Car eems to be in good shape for it's age and showing 140,000 miles on it
New to Fox body cars and would like to know how bad of job a front end rebuild would be on the car.

tinman

BTT

e40water

depends on what needs to be replaced, shocks / lower ball joints / rack and pinion steering / coils / front arm bushings?

well on my opinon when you buy a used car their is always somthing thats gotta be fixed, If you get a deal on the car, Then the money you saved could go toward it.

Good luck.

roundman

its' not that hard to do, I've replaced the springs and struts and power steering with a manual on mine and it was just basic unbolt and bolt up the new stuff for the most part. you will need a spring compressor though and you can rent or borrow these.

tinman

I didn't really think it would be that bad, got access to spring compresser tool.
Steering seemed to be 'ok' but you gave me an idea there with going to a manual unit.
How expensive is it to changeover?

roundman

I bought the Flaming River manual rack and pinion deluxe installation kit with the polyurethane bushings from www.homcombmotorsports.com for $399.95. comes complete with new manual rack & pinion, high performance, needle bearing U-joint shaft kit..correct manual spline eliminates the rag joint, and manual tie rod ends. Real easy to install once you get the old power steering pump and lines off, the lines can be a bitch to remove even with a flare wrench I still rounded one off and had to break the tube off the connection on the pinion box. Add the cost of a toe-in alignment and you're done. Gets rid of 30 lbs of ugly weight on the front end too!
You could also probably find a manual rack and pinion in the junk yard too and save some bucks, but it won't look near as good as this kit does!

tinman

Yep, the saved pounds is wgat I was thinking of....
30 Lbs would be about 1% of the car weight off the front end, every little bit helps.........

roundman

check out the pic in my sig, that front end lift is mostly from the removal of the power steering and air conditoning systems, the smog pump, the front sway bar and attaching brackets, and the fog lights and the heavy *** bracket that goes all the way across under the bumper cover to hold the lites in place. along with an aluminum FRPP radiator and Flexilite Black magic fan, I would estimate I lost at least 100 lbs off the front end alone! and I still havent' moved my battery to the back yet either.

tinman

That stuff that you removed from the front is the same type stuff that I'll remove when I start my project. 100# is a bunch off the front, like about 3% total, with my figuring, the battery in the trunk would be about 1.5%, 4.5% total.
What is the stock front/rear weight bias on the 5.0 coupes? Have any idea?

roundman

I know I've seen it somewhere but can't remember exactly what it is right off the top of my head. I think it is something like 55% front, 45% rear, but don't hold me to that. If you post this as a separate question in this section, you will probably get an answer better than mine. BTW, if you are doing a drag car, you know that you can also remove the horns, the windshield wiper motor, linkages, and wipers, and the wiper washer reservoir too. and an aftermarket overflow container for the radiator says weight on the front end also. I'm also running Centerline AutoDrag racing front wheels, 15x5, with smaller tires. I didn't go with the real skinny one since I don't have the car that light yet, but you can get the really skinny ones if you take enough weight off the front. I just felt better about a larger tire for braking purposes but the track I normally race at is so long I really don't know why I did this. Other pieces available to reduce the front end weight include aftermarket tubular K members and suspension pieces like A arms, etc. You need to be careful here as one description for one K member I read said it moves the engine back about 1" and this might be a concern with the tranny mounts and driveshaft length, not sure, but I would think about this also. At least with the Fords the distributor won't be getting into the firewall if you move the engine back! Never did like the damn Chevy for this reason primarily.