88 Marquis big brake and suspension upgrade advice

[Elias]

There's lots of bushings on that page... And not to be a dick, but if you have '94 arms why the fawk are you looking up a '93 car??? But yeah '93 and '94 should be the same, '92 as well. '95-'97 are different fronts, but rears are all the same till you hit '98 with the Watts linkage emergence.

Sorry i know it says a 93 but like I said I saw it in another thread I guess the problem I'm having hard time to understand is the lower control arm. they say all the lower arms are the same just wondering if the lower bushing will fit the 88 arms. Just wanting to ask as many questions as I can Before I buy and they won't fit.

[Elias]

Also got my new center caps from eBay today for the hpp wheel the olds ones had the Ford emblem on it.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Yep, the '93 or '94 bushings will fit your '88 lower arms just fine. It's only the upper arms you're replacing entirely (obviously install the poly bushings into your new arms), with the lower arms you just burn the old rubber out of your factory '88 parts (do NOT press the entire bushings out as the poly stuff reuses the metal sleeve left inside the arm after the rubber section is gone) and drop the poly ones in and Bob's your uncle.

[Elias]

Yep, the '93 or '94 bushings will fit your '88 lower arms just fine. It's only the upper arms you're replacing entirely (obviously install the poly bushings into your new arms), with the lower arms you just burn the old rubber out of your factory '88 parts (do NOT press the entire bushings out as the poly stuff reuses the metal sleeve left inside the arm after the rubber section is gone) and drop the poly ones in and Bob's your uncle.

Yeah couse last time I redid my front suspension if I remember right the front and rear bushing were diffrent from the front suspension. like upper a arms front and rear bushing were driffent sizes. I don't remember if the lowers were the same or not just wondering

[Elias]

Also just wanted to know what grease is better to instal them with. I heard the eg that they supply grease ain't worth shit. Or am I wrong.

And thanks for all y'all help agine y'all really helping me out 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼

[His Royal Ghostliness]

IIRC the front bushing of the lower arm is a bit shorter than the rear one of the same arm, or was it of smaller diameter... But yes, it's the way you remember it with the uppers, different front and rear bushing in the same arm. The Energy Suspension kit does account for that tho, you won't have to trim or grind anything, and it all pretty much only fits one way so kinda hard to get it wrong.

As for the grease, yes the ENS one kinda sucks, very sticky and not helpful for things to slide, collects all sorts of crap from the road too. Personally I prefer to use synthetic wheel bearing grease, it's waterproof (washes off very hard) and it's quite good under pressure (the forces squeezing the bushing) as well. Ironically the only times I've had poly bushings squeak has been when using the grease supplied as part of the kit, once I started substituting it with my own stuff it all got nice and quiet and stayed that way, even on trucks that see all sorts of nasty driving conditions.

[gadget73]

Dunno, I put mine together with ES grease years ago and it still doesn't make noise.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Eh, hit or miss I guess. The ES grease is positively nasty to work with tho, even if gloves are involved.

[gadget73]

oh its gross, like some sort of alien slime, no doubt about that.

[87gtVIC]

ES grease here. No noises. Just gross.

[Elias]

What size springs are yall using or what is stock ride height in the 88 mgm supposed to be. I dont want to go lower, sometime when im driving it scrapes few years ago when i redid the front I replaced the spring from oreily don’t remember with i used, but i think it was the stock replacement ones. i think i need at least 1-2 inches bigger Sly was telling me that the police/taxi coils would work but wanted to confirm or see if anyone have used them and if so what year pi did y’all get them from. And on the read me first tread there 3 different coils on there and no pi ones. Wagon, hd and standard what is the difference are the wagon taller than the hd, and hd taller than standard and if so bye how many inches.

[slack]

I currently have Moog 8652's in the front. They've lightened up over time now but they're pretty stiff. I don't think I would go with them again given the choice. They're super stiff and I feel like the ride height is significantly taller. I also have Moog CC817s in the back which are also stiff as hell. Again, same comments, it sits higher and I would go softer next time.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

They're super stiff and I feel like the ride height is significantly taller.

Yeah, not to be a dick, but how useful you think that statement is to Elias? Stiffness aside (personal preference, my coils were like 2.5 times stiffer than yours and I found them just fine), get your tape measure and give the guy some actual ride-height numbers. Let him be the judge of how high is too high...

[kishy]

The POTM banner pic of my car is on 8652s, FWIW.

[gadget73]

I'm just using whatever the stock replacement one is. Mind you that Towncars and Grand Marq run different springs. Townie spring rate is higher, 422 in/lb vs 390 or something, not sure on the free height. Lincolns weigh more though so stiffer springs. Another thing to know is that if the control arm bolts are cranked down with the suspension at full droop, it will sit high and ride hard until the control arm bushings fail and then it goes back to normal height with shot bushings. The bolts must be torqued with weight on the suspension or the bushings will not be in the correct position and they will fail quickly.

Ride height measurements are in the factory shop manual, which I don't have in front of me. Its a measurement from the bottom of the bumper to ground I think.

Not sure if any of this helps but this is all the factory spring spec stuff, based on the spring code on your door sticker. Spring codes are the last box on the right, in that row of assorted things at the bottom of the sticker.