Begin front end Evolution (big brakes, etc)

[85crownHPP]

upper controll arms from a 92
16" steelies, 2 good 225/60/16 gooyear eagle RSA's, 1 3/16" swaybar, spindles, hubs, and all brake parts off a 99 p71

total cost: $110

Hopefully I can get on this soon :D for now Im going to mount the two stock tires and two 235/60/16 to ride on for now, as a constant reminder that I have a big brake swap to do :nana:

http://www.supermotors.org/getfile/301810/thumbnail/DCP_4743s.JPG (http://www.supermotors.org/vehicles/registry/showmedia.php?id=301810&original=1)

[zwack88]

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing you get this stuff on! You got a great deal too.

[grandpaslincoln]

:poop: :poop:

[mrltd]

Heck of a deal there....

[gadget73]

Indeed, very good price. Are the hub bearings nice and quiet? I had to replace one of mine.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Great price!!!

You going to sand all the parts dowwn, and paint them to look all clean?

[Blaze86Vic]

He better

[85crownHPP]

but of course! :D

The wheels for sure and I plan to use the wire wheel bit on the dremel to hit the spindle and caliper. I wont paint the hub since it hides, and they sound and feel good by the way, Im going to re-use them. possibly the upper pall joints from the 99 too. They are easy enough to reaplce down the road... The rotors look ok, I plan to turn and use then, also the upper A arm bushings look great, so I may just buy new lower bushings, lower ball joints and pads.

I have a few questions still, for those that know:

- does the lower ball joint need to be 98-02 to match the spindle? will 92-97 work? what about the original ones?

- the brake line on the 99 was one of the wierd ones with a 'T' in the end - do I have to use this hose, and if so how does it get plumbed? can I use a 92-97 hose? does it have to be a p71 hose? (is there a difference in 99 police brakes from 99 civillian?)

- also any difference in tie rod ends? Im going to replace all four and need to know if I can use 4 original ones or do I need two old and two new style?

- I mashed up the backing plate getting the spindle off, and its riveted on. Can you get replacement backing plates for a 99??

[p71towny]

Im a little curios myself. I plan on doing the swap but the only yard parts I'll be grabbing is the caliper brackets, the rest I'm gonna get new so the towny can be better than evah! Course this is after the new engine, rear suspension, gears and trak-lock, ...............Ugh

[gadget73]

Tie rod ends need to match the centerlink. If you're keeping the original 85 centerlink, you need 85 tie rod ends, sleeves, pitman arm and idler arm. The old outer tie rod ends fit into the new spindles with no troubles. I also kinda want to say the ends themselves are the same and just really the sleeve length is different but thats also not a promise. My car has 86 steering parts bolted to 00 spindles and it works fine. Price is the same either way for the parts, but if you want the newer stuff you'll have to spring for a new centerlink. I think the geometry is a little better with the tie rods being fastened more outbound and the centerlink itself is more flat instead of having the bow like ours have.

Lower ball joint needs to match the spindle. I'm not 100% sure the year you need but I want to say 92-02 is the same. I do know the original 85 one won't work.

Upper ball joints can be any from 92-02, but the early 90s ones give visually better geometry. I doubt it makes a bit of real difference though.

I have one used and one new hub bearing on mine. If they're quiet, I say go for it. Not a major operation to change later on if needed. I would suggest new bushings, just because you can get the whole set of poly ones pretty darn cheap. The lower ones are probably more important than the uppers, since they're bigger and will allow more slop when they go but might as well go all the way. I want to say the bushing set I got was under $100 for uppers and lowers for both sides. Like $65 comes to mind but don't quote me on that.

[85crownHPP]

call me king slacker - I just ordered my bushings and some extra lube

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/products.asp?cat=701

[91LTDProject]

I gotta get crackin on mine and go get some parts from the yard for the swap. My front brakes are toast, started squealing on the way home from Scotts. All my brakelines need replacing also, thanks to my countries extensive use of road salt. Gonna head to the yard monday to see what I can find :)

[85crownHPP]

the bushings arrived - they test fit nice in the upper arm I burned...

Im planning to re-use the upper balljoints i got from the junkyard with the donor uppers (TRW - stock???) to free up some money for the 9xx pound performance replacement springs. This way, i dont have to be chicken about compressing the springs for re-installation :D

Im getting all tingly... I still have to buy shocks and all new steering parts too

Also - I learned that you want the brake hoses for a civilian car WITH ABS - this will give you the drivers side hose with only one fitting, unlike the non abs p71.

[Nathan in MI]

Cool, mang! Can we count on a full writeup on this at the end?

Oh, and dunno if you noticed or not, but you've got a PM.

[85crownHPP]

yes!!!!! yes!!!!!!! ooohhhh yes.

I plan to make a landmark *official* GMN big brake thread.

now you have a PM :D

[85crownHPP]

also, some burning questions of mine........

do calipers "dry out?"
say i have the crazy idea of re-using these I have off the junkyard car, which have been stored for over a year with the far end of the brake hose uncapped :doh:
Should I expect the seals to be shot??

would I be crazy to re-use the hoses??
if nothing else becuase of dirt contamination Im sure...???

also - whats good to use as far as a protective oily substance to smear on new and/or used-and-cleaned chassis parts as an alternative to painting them??
I never liked being able to "tell" that something's been painted... (aside from originally...)

[mrltd]

If the stuff looks OK, then reuse 'em. The stuff is pretty cheap, it's your decision....

[gadget73]

Calipers don't dry out, they do however rust if they've had no fluid at all in the. Brake fluid isn't exactly much in the way of corrosion protection but its probably better than nothing. If they don't stick after you put them on, and they compress OK, they're probably fine.

TRW would be OEM ball joints. If they're not floppy you're good. The lowers wear out faster than the uppers anyway. Handily they're also the ones you absolutely must change, so its not a big deal. Uppers are pretty simple to do, don't even need a press or special tools.

I wouldn't smear any greasy stuff on the chassis parts. It'll just attract dust and look horrible. Paint them with rust-oleum or something and it should be OK. Semigloss or flat won't be real obvious that its been painted like a glossy paint is. If you really don't want to see fresh paint, then spray some undercoating on after the paint dries. I didn't paint my lower control arms and they're rusty as hell. Need to get under the car and paint them.

[Nathan in MI]

There's that "fresh casting" paint you can buy too that's the color of freshly made cast iron. Maybe that would be the look you'd want?

[85crownHPP]

hhmm I might try the used calipers... hoses are pretty cheap and I can turn the rotors at work.
Im thinking it would be easier to hold off on the steering parts for now, to shorten the downtime and since replacing all the steering stuff at a later time would be just as easy, and fast enough to do it at the shop.

cast iron paint eh?? :D
I just hate prepping greasy rusty parts for paint... and feel like an asshole whenever I just wire brush something and spray over whats left.
Whats that super degreaser/rust stripping method with the buckets of crap and electric current????

and I just ordered the Speedway Motors springs :wootrock: lets do this. I have some more old bushings to melt...

[Nathan in MI]

Electrolysis. Not sure if you'd want to use that for the calipers, though--any non-ferrous material will get eaten!

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

[gadget73]

mine got degreased with the big torch. Just get it hot enough and any garbage on there cooks right off, and takes the paint with it.

Cast coat iron is the color of my upper intake, and the one on Monty's motor. Sort of a dark metallic grey.

[85crownHPP]

I made a vid burning bushings out with a little torch - this one just happened to be the most trouble free one lol

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/558747/thumbnail/558747.jpg (http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/558747)

[P72Ford]

I made a vid burning bushings out with a little torch - this one just happened to be the most trouble free one lol


This heat? Doesn't it affect the temper of the control arm? No?

Just curious, is the heat the best way to get the old ones out? They can't be mangled or something?

Also, don't PI's just have grease fittings, no bushings? I know my '90 just has grease fittings on the top.

I'm not to sharp with suspension stuff. Just a few curiousities that this thread has brought about.

Also, I have the entire front suspension off of a '99 PI (everything, brakes and all). I can swap this (brakes, control arms?, spindles etc) onto my car? I know I'll have to run larger wheels in the front, but other than that its a bolt on procedure?

Sorry to set the thread off track a little.

[Nathan in MI]

PIs still have bushings in the upper control arms, but they're a solid metal bushing instead of a rubber bushing.

[P72Ford]

PIs still have bushings in the upper control arms, but they're a solid metal bushing instead of a rubber bushing.

Yeah, thats what I meant. Is this on the newer cars too? The newer (98-02) control arms can be swapped or no?

[85crownHPP]

its not off track at all... feel free to talk about your big brake inquiries here :D

Burning is the method reccomended by Energy Suspention, the supplier of the poly bushings some of us use. Scottmang has built 5 or 6 panthers with this extraction method with good results.
Upper contorl arms on the box's police cars had the grease fittings, not sure about the bottoms.
And yep, your parts sound like most of what I have in the pic - I think you can use the lower arms, but be sure to get the police kit. The upper arms are the only thing you cant use - you need the 92-95? style upper arms that use the frame mount shaft in the arm.

[P72Ford]

Good info. I may do something the next time I have to fiddle with the front end.

[Nathan in MI]

Upper contorl arms on the box's police cars had the grease fittings, not sure about the bottoms.

The lower control arms have conventional rubber bushings.

[Lincolnmania]

i hated those upper control arms on my cop car.......had to grease em once a week or they would squeak
yea big brakes are much better......and no youre not gonna damage the arms with that little heat.......i have completed 9 big brake swaps so far!

[P72Ford]

i hated those upper control arms on my cop car.......had to grease em once a week or they would squeak
yea big brakes are much better......and no youre not gonna damage the arms with that little heat.......i have completed 9 big brake swaps so far!

Typically I can't even get any grease in the fittings on the uppers. They don't squeak yet though.

I was just curious about the heat damaging the temper. Experience is worth everything... thanks for the input LM.

[Nathan in MI]

Mine don't squeak, but they rattle like crazy. At least I assume that it's those bushings I"m hearing when I go over bumps.

[P72Ford]

Mine don't squeak, but they rattle like crazy. At least I assume that it's those bushings I"m hearing when I go over bumps.

I searched for a rattle on my '88 forever. Turned out it was the e-brake cable rattling on the floor board.

[Nathan in MI]

Weird. Well, it doesn't bother me enough to really pursue it much. Can't hardly hear it over the exhaust these days anyway lol

Okay, I'm gonna stop before we jack this thread too far.

[LtMercDaddy]

we gonna be doing new shocks too? mine are toast.

[Lincolnmania]

let me know if you need any assistance petemang

[85crownHPP]

Id love to have you down here mang but I dont think I cant afford your expertise just yet - might have to save that for the HO swap. If you want to come down for vacation, come on anytime :2up:
Hopefully prepping the control arms in advance and using the shorter free hight springs will make it a big brake breese

[85crownHPP]

we gonna be doing new shocks too? mine are toast.

most definatly - Im going to go with police app KYB's :D

Today I used two different brass wire wheel brushes for the drill to clean out all the burnt rubber gunk out of the outer sleeves in the lower control arms - not sure how Im gonna do the uppers (shaft cant be removed without griding it or removing the outer sleeves)
I sprayed some WD40 in there which pretty much liquefied the rubber after spinning the wheel around inside the sleeve. After wiping the mess out with a rag I was left with a nice baby smooth surface - hopefully these poly bushings will slide right in!!
Be sure to use cheap wire wheels for this, becuase they will be completely saturated with liquidy rubber goo which I imagine would be a pain to clean out. I think I got these at big lots so Im not sweating it :D

The performance springs have arrived too... If I wasn't such a slacker and I had the control arms loaded already, I could start on this tomorrow... I guess it will be next weekend... :crazy:

[85crownHPP]

decided to push this back untill after the double out of town weekends for my friends wedding.
I just ordered the Dorman calipers and hoses - still need to get shocks and motor mounts... hope to get started after this weekend (maybe?)

[Grand Marquis GT]

For your own sake, use good shocks, like KYBs...

[85crownHPP]

should I go with GR2's or the gas-adjust??? are the police spec ones worth the extra $$$??

Also, the motor mounts cost different prices for each side... I guess they are different??

[mrltd]

I think the PI ones are worth the extra, yes the mounts are different for each side.

GR-2's are the better ones IIRC

[gadget73]

gas-a-justs are fairly stiff. Prob police GR2 is fine, it should be somewhere between a civi gr2 and a gas-a-just

[CheeseSteakJim]

I have two brand new motor mounts that I bought for my '88 Town Car and then realized that they weren't the problem. You can have 'em for $40 + shipping (negotiable, IIRC they cost me around $60) if they'll help you out. If not, they're just sitting in my garage in their boxes collecting dust.

[Lincolnmania]

gas a justs are the top of the line

[85crownHPP]

just ordered the police GR2's $26.79ea - for some reason rockauto only lists one motor mount :wtf: so Ill go with Fishers probabaly for that...