Dang... Even the 92-97 stuff is going away...

[mrltd]

The rear control arm bushing set from ES is discontinued from what I can tell. One month backorder on summit usually means it's not available. Friggin sucks.... Even the one place that stocks all the es stuff doesn't have them listed...

I emailed 'em and will see what they say. The poly in the lowers should be a impressive handling improvement over the rubber ones. The uppers should not be replaced with poly though, it will add bind cause poor handling.

[85crownHPP]

why no poly in the uppers?? be sure to note that in the FAQ if you havent already

[Blaze86Vic]

Because of the geometry in the upper control arm. For the rear end to have any significant range of motion the bushings need to give. Poly bushings up there are stiff enough to cause problems. If they were heim joints, even though they would be solid they would be able to rotate in more than one direction and would not bind. The problem lies in the fact that the bushings are the shape of a cylinder and therefore can only rotate about that axis of that cylinder.

[mrltd]

Hmm, found a place that has them in stock. 110 bucks though.

http://www.suspension.com/Fordcar.htm

For a little more than half that I can make my own... which makes more sense anyway since I will not be using the uppers anyway.

[interceptor1985]

UM wow I think your going to be the panther suspension .."goto" guy by the time this project is done...lol....In fact I think you already are!

[mrltd]

yeah, this is getting out of hand quickly. I need to get the car fixed. And stock isn't an option anymore, since there are not any stock replacement parts....

[interceptor1985]

shitty that sucks ...all the more reason to get a frame swap.....someday

[mrltd]

Yeah, with a custom one off frame....

[interceptor1985]

ok nuff daydreaming here

[Blaze86Vic]

yeah, this is getting out of hand quickly. I need to get the car fixed. And stock isn't an option anymore, since there are not any stock replacement parts....

FINALLY!!!!!!!

[mrltd]

FINALLY!!!!!!!

You know that's NOT a good thing, right? The less support we have the worse it's gonna be when you take the oak tree wrong... And it's even worse for me, since production numbers on wagons were under 10K a year and most of 'em are in demo derby's or already scrapped. I'm gonna just have to build another car to race....Which I cannot afford. I can't afford to get the wagon drivable again, let alone race worthy!

[Blaze86Vic]

Not exactly true. For a lot of things (like control arms and bushings) converting the setup to use generic aftermarket versions is generally cheaper. How much is a new heim joint? A lot less than a new poly bushing. And as hard as it is to replace the odd part that fails each time you take it to an event, imagine how hard it would be to replace a whole section of the car if you hit something. Finding all those stock parts in good shape would be ridiculus if not impossible.

Racing aint cheap, no matter what you do. It's just gonna cost. So eventually you have to decide, bite the bullet or let it go. I personally am willing to work my summers into the ground while going to school just so I can "sort of" afford it.

[mrltd]

I know it's expensive, but It's gonna get to the point where we can't get any bodyparts at all, it's already like that for most parts now... and finding decent junkyard stuff is getting hard to find. I really need to get a sedan for racing. The wagon is getting too rare to be doing that. Suspension and all that stuff is fine to go aftermarket, and the hiems are WAY more expensive to replace than poly...

Or I just need a beater/racer wagon...

[gadget73]

It really kind of sucks that there is no aftermarket support for these cars. Ford doesn't make the parts either, so when stuff breaks we're left with used, rigging, or junking. Finding things like control arm bushings should not be a hassle.

[murphmobile2]

Finding a two or four door for racing would be cool too... nothing wrong with multiple panthers lol.

Maybe an aero possibly?...