My 1989 Crown Victoria.

[Mainemantom]

You did a great job and thanks for all the pictures. What procedure did you use to compress the front new springs ?

[miamibob]

Do the control arm bushings go on with the control arms attached (like they are "split")? Or do the arms need to come off and you put them from the ends. Sounds like a stupid question but I have never done them before and am curious. Bobby

[chitownvic]

Front springs are a bitch to get in.. We rebuilt the entire front suspension on my TC center link and all! Good job brother! There like a different car with a fresh set up


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[chitownvic]

Arms need to come off @miamibob


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[sly]

my method for front springs: slot springs up into frame... use crowbar through bottom coil and shock hole in control arm... press jack up to lower control arm... guide spring with crowbar until it slots over the shock hump/spring perch of lower control arm as I slowly raise the control arm. once slotted, bring up control arm and start assembling the rest of the crap.

the upper control arm bushings can go on with the arms attached, but it's MUCH easier if you remove those. The lower control arms HAVE to come off.

[miamibob]

Thanks guys.....

[Louis]

Excellent work and nice write-up!

It would take me 2 weeks to do that job.

[slack]

You did a great job and thanks for all the pictures. What procedure did you use to compress the front new springs ?

Thanks! I just used the spring compression tool from AutoZone. The top hooks went on the upper most coils of the spring and then bottom foot part about two coils up from the bottom of the spring. (To clear the cup of the lower control arm). We then torqued the thing down a real good amount until it more or less fit in. It says not to use power tool but we used the impact gun on it to compress the spring. The ball joints were off at this point. I don't know how or if it's possible to fit the spring in there with the hub still connected to the ball joints. (There would be little to no room).

As for installing, I'm sure Sly's way of installing the springs is probably MUCH easier than what we did. We slotted the sprint up into the frame and then I used my foot to hold the lower control arm ALLLLL the way down with the car jacked all the way. My friend then used his foot/hand to hold the spring in place while I slowly took pressure off the lower control arm (they want to swing back up). After it was placed correctly, (you have to line up the bottom of the coil with the slot in the lower control arm.) we used a jack to jack the lower control arm up until the spring was sitting correctly between the two control arms. We left the jack there while we installed the shocks. After the shocks were installed we were able to remove the jack if we needed to.

Front springs are a bitch to get in.. We rebuilt the entire front suspension on my TC center link and all! Good job brother! There like a different car with a fresh set up

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Thanks! It sure is. The whole front end doesn't sound like it's going to rattle itself apart now when I hit bumps.

Excellent work and nice write-up!

It would take me 2 weeks to do that job.

Thanks! Me too if I didn't have my friend to help me. It was a big job... if I had the time I would have at least split it into two days (with the help). One day was just overkill.

[packman]

Nicely executed!!! Must be more stable now when driving.

When I rebuilt the front suspension on the CV last year, I got all the pieces I needed off of a 90 MGM at the JY. CLeaned them, installed the poly bushings (drilling out the old rubber bushings was a pain), and painted them. When it was time to do the work, I pulled the car in the driveway and had it all apart and re-installed in a weekend. At the time, I decided that I wanted to replace the cracked brake hose as well. That was when the trouble began. I soaked the brake fittings with Kroil and let them sit for 2 days. When I attempted to remove them, the siezed fitting snapped the brake line. That took me 2 more weeks to correct. Well worth it in the end though. The car is a bit more firm after the poly bushing swap.


Packman

[87gtVIC]

Nice work. I did the spring removal in my car with a just a jack. I was concerned when the car was lifting of the jack stands before I could bolt the spindle to the control arm. lol It all worked out in the end.

[slack]

Nicely executed!!! Must be more stable now when driving.

When I rebuilt the front suspension on the CV last year, I got all the pieces I needed off of a 90 MGM at the JY. CLeaned them, installed the poly bushings (drilling out the old rubber bushings was a pain), and painted them. When it was time to do the work, I pulled the car in the driveway and had it all apart and re-installed in a weekend. At the time, I decided that I wanted to replace the cracked brake hose as well. That was when the trouble began. I soaked the brake fittings with Kroil and let them sit for 2 days. When I attempted to remove them, the siezed fitting snapped the brake line. That took me 2 more weeks to correct. Well worth it in the end though. The car is a bit more firm after the poly bushing swap.


Packman

Thanks! Yeah, I really wanted to get the poly bushings in when I was doing this but there was just no way it was going to happen on single Sunday. Getting the parts before hand and painting them was a good idea. How much did they JY charge you for them? Sorry to hear about the brake fitting. I always hold my breath when working around those things. haha

Nice work. I did the spring removal in my car with a just a jack. I was concerned when the car was lifting of the jack stands before I could bolt the spindle to the control arm. lol It all worked out in the end.

Thanks! That's exactly what happened to us. We really started to think "there's no way this is going to work". Thankfully it did. lol

Also, I finally gave the car a real wash for the first time in the almost two years I've owned it. I've only ever used the self car washes before on it. (They're not the best). Came out better than I expected!

[slack]

Picked up some cheap SunPro gauges so I can monitor my oil pressure and water temp on eBay. I got the ones with the electric sending units so I wouldn't have to mess with running tubing to my gauges inside.

Does anyone know if there's a way to keep the engine light tied to the water temp sensor? I saw in the instructions that I can't use a T fitting for the water temp where I can with the Oil pressure and the water temperature sending unit plugs in where the idiot light water temp sensor is.

[87gtVIC]

I think Pete mentioned an open port available at the back of the intake you can use for this. PITA to get to though. You will need an oil pressure extension adapter to use the sender bell on that electrical oil pressure gauge. I have one I can let go for cheap if you need one.

[slack]

Thanks for the info. I decided to try to use the idiot light sensor spot. Figured I would at least plug it in there for the time being and see how it went. Well... my sending unit failed when I went to install it. I used almost no force on it and the thing cracked in half. (Pic below). I contacted SunPro to see if they could issue me another sending unit but we'll see. AutoZone wants $13 for a replacement so that could be a fall back option. I bought it off eBay so I'd hate to try to do a return with sending back the product and waiting for a refund. The cost to ship it back I could just buy another sending unit.



The extender you have, is it the OEM Ford style? I read those are the ones to use as the brass and copper stuff you can get at the hardware store has the possibilty of cracking and failing. If so, would you be able to PM the price? I might be interested. Thanks!

[87gtVIC]

You strong man you!

There had to be a defect in that part. My father who over tightens EVERYTHING TO DEATH did not break his when installed on his mustang.

Yep OEM style from a ford 5.0 block.