boogerschnot

I want to rebuild or replace my front suspension. Need questions answered about when to replace parts or just rebuild them. Please help.


The car drives straight but I do get a bit of bump steer all of the bushings are shot and it sits a little higher than I want it to. Yesterday, while under the car I noticed that one of my sway bar bolts was not even tight enough to hold the bar in one position and then noticed that on the other side the bolt was bent over coming out of the bottom of the LCA. Like someone had used a jack on that spot to pick up the car and bent it to hell..

Also when I was under the car I saw that the front bushing in the LCA on the drivers side was pretty much non-existant. there was basically no gap between the LCA and the mount which makes me understand why my drivers side tire sits a little closer to the front valance and also why that side will rub a little on a hard right turn.

I need an alignment and new front tires, but dont want to do either until I change or rebuild the front suspension. And when I do the suspension I want to clean and undercoat the inner wheel wells. Its almost overwhelming..

Question is, if the car is driving straight now, should I just change all the bushings and blast and paint the hardware and possibly a new roller spring perch and sway bar? That would save money with possibly the same result as long as my parts are in good order, which I think they are.


Or just or just order all new? And bite the buck? I dont want to go with coil overs or tubular UCA/LCA's. Im not racing, and that stuff is too expensive for me.. I do want roller perches and possibly a larger sway bar, plus a shelby drop and I will cut my springs a little for some more lowering..

Any suggestions on replacing anything else or reasons to go new vice rebuilding with bushings? This has been bothering me for a while now.

And here's a pic just I took this morning just for the hell of it..

socalwrench

Hands down, the best street setup is from Marlo's Frame and Alignment. He has a setup that gets rid of the factory bushings that twist. I believe the system uses a type of bearing. Bump steer and rolling wildly around corners is alleviated.

http://www.fly-ford.com/

Since you're in SoCal, give him a call and talk to him about the system.

boogerschnot

Thanks, Ill check it out..

4reboy

I'll be watching this thread... I need to do my suspension too but haven't had the money

boogerschnot

4 Reboy: Im guessing no one wants to chime in.. I think I made the write up/question too long and drawn out.

67mustang302

Relocate the UCA's in the front, good drop springs, good shocks, might as well replace UCA's and LCA's with stock types(cheap enough). Bushings you could go with Poly, if installed properly that don't always squeek(but still can), but the ride will be stiffer. You can replace all the front and rear suspension for under $1,000(even less depending on what parts you need/want) and have an excellent handling car.

Jonk67

Take a look at this site, he did a nice write up on suspension basics:

http://home.bresnan.net/~dazed/suspension101

He sells roller perches or you can DIY if you can weld, I got my Shelby/Arning 1" drop template and bit from him. Lots of good info. there to get you started. It's really your call on the condition of the rest of the suspension, you can rent most of the tools to seperarte the ball joints/spindles in a kit from the local parts store, most rent them for a deposit and you get a full refund when you return it. Once you get it down to where you can move the UCA up/down by hand you might be able to tell if it's grinding or has play, I replaced my UCA/LCA with a kit, cheap enough insurance for another 100K mi.
Jon
Jon