wgreenlee4

Hey guys there is a lot of information online about modding foxbody rear suspension but I'm looking for something less intense. My 92 does occasional trips to the strip but also does a lot of long drives and daily driving. Currently nothing on my car is poly, it's all rubber in the name of keeping a nice ride. It appears my rear control arm bushings are starting to go out, the rear end creaks and knocks when going up driveways and I have an annoying rear end vibration so I really want to replace the bushings. But OEM style rubber lower control arm bushings for my car are more than $200! (oval style)

You can purchase full poly energy suspension kits for much cheaper. I can also get lower and upper control arm kit for like $130. But I don't want junk, a lot of people say those cheap control arms destroy their bushings within a few months. Also is it true you want the upper control arms to have some flex in them?

On the other hand, upper control arm bushings ARE available, is there sense to just replacing the lower control arms with a quality whole unit and then replacing the upper control arm bushings? (only bushings)

The car has 1" lowering springs and new shocks.
Makes around 270 whp

Thanks

MB88LX

Definitely keep the rubber bushings in rear upper arms. See info at Maximum Motorsports concerning that. http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Default.aspx

wgreenlee4

Wow I didn't realize how much good info they have. They say that most of the power gets transferred through the rear lower arms and they should be tough. They have thick boxed arms for the lower. But they just sell OEM style stamped uppers. Very interesting.

I would be cool with keeping the uppers rubber. But still I'm trying to find a good combination. Their rear lower arms have urethane bushings. With the information I have, it sounds like a good combo is to have the stock style stamped uppers with rubber and new tough boxed lower control arms with urethane.

Whiteline

I'm obviously biased but Whiteline currently has 10% off controls arms for your car:

https://whitelineperformance.com/for...ssembly-kta154 $175.32

https://whitelineperformance.com/for...ssembly-kta167 $125.82

AmericanMuscle have the adjustable versions at a good price right now:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/whitel...-lca-7904.html $199.99

http://www.americanmuscle.com/whitel...-uca-7904.html $169.99

They all feature the Whiteline Max-C Bushings compound which reduce NVH and also feature a PTFE liner which makes then grease-free for easily maintenance without the noise issues of other polyurethane bushing manufacturers.

If you try them out and provide an honest review/install write up on the website I will hook you up with some Whiteline swag!

MB88LX

Also look at the MM pan hard bar, helped my car a lot.
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Pa...tang-P480.aspx
My car has similar mods to your engine and lowered. Short video in action.

wgreenlee4

That looks like a total blast. I have been curious about the pan hard bar, I understand the concept, but am concerned about how it would effect driveability. What have you experienced in terms of that? Because my understanding is the MM kit has no insulating bushings for the bar.

In terms of the whiteline stuff, I think that is interesting that the lower control arm is adjustable, I'm not sure when in particular I would want to change that length.

Whiteline

The adjustable lower control arms allow you to dial out any radial movement of the rear axle (imagine looking down from above the vehicle), this is useful to mitigate any “crabwalk” the driver may experience at a drag strip or track under hard acceleration. It also allows adjust of the pinion angle of the rear differential assembly. Lowering the suspension (or any change in ride height for that matter) will affect that pinion angle and the lower arm adjustment allows you to compensate for that.

Pinion angle is typically set to the drivers preference but a good starting area is -2 degrees. This will vary depending on your specific use for the car but that is your typical target.

Usually if a customer is buying both upper and lower arms I recommend that they set their pinion angle with the upper arms, and then set the lower arms to the same length as the factory arms measured from center to center. From there they can make minor adjustments to the lower arms as they see fit in order to get the car tracking straight and true again under hard acceleration.

MB88LX

[QUOTE=wgreenlee4;8585027]That looks like a total blast. I have been curious about the pan hard bar, I understand the concept, but am concerned about how it would effect driveability. What have you experienced in terms of that? Because my understanding is the MM kit has no insulating bushings for the bar.

It mounts hard to frame and axle, the spherical ends on the adjustment bar allow movement of axle suspension up and down. Not any adverse driveability issues just good ones. Just follow all directions and double check before drilling holes into frame.
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/as...sp/MMPBAr2.pdf