Well, I got home and finally got everyone to leave me alone with the car for a few hours.
Rear shocks and springs are done.
Front shocks are done, but the control arms aren't happy. Some meatball must've used an impact to install the lower shock bolts, because they were ground smooth and they'd dropped a couple 1/4-20 bolts down through and made the nuts up to them. It worked, but it didn't appeal to me.
I did the same thing, though; but I used 5/16-28 (fine thread grade 8) bolts, pointing up, with serrated lock nuts and a dab of Loc-Tite.
I didn't replace the springs; if I have to yank the control arms I'm going to replace them with ones that aren't stripped.
What brand of lower control arms work well? Can I use later control arms? It sort of looks like the 79-92 version and the 93-2002? versions use the same arm with different ball joints. It also looks like the ball joints are the same as the Mustang ball joints; I have stacks of Fox and SN95 ball joints.
Are the Dorman/Mevotech control arms solid enough to be worth buying and pressing the bushings out of for decent bushings? I can't find Motorcraft or Moog control arms...should I just keep looking?
I've got a clunk on the 4-3 downshift. Pretty sure it's not a u-joint. Adjust TV linkage? Flush and refill (going to do that soon anyway)? Ignore it until it gets bad enough to worry about a rebuild? It's more annoying. Motor mounts?
Also annoying is the steering column squeak. I'm assuming I just pull the wheel and get some fresh grease into the upper column bearing and maybe the lower column u-joint (sounds like it's higher up, but noises on shafts do weird things). Any other possible culprits?
The fan sometimes taps on the lower part of the fan shroud. The shroud should be lower, but it's screwed into the radiator at the top and sitting in the clips at the bottom. Motor mounts again?
The motor mounts don't seem bad; the motor doesn't move much and the pry bar trick doesn't make it shift around. Still, they're 30 years old. What brands do people like?
Lastly...harmonic balancer. Again, doesn't seem bad, and only 77K miles. But, 30 years old. I'd like to have the replacement handy so I don't have to wait. I'll do it when I throw in the 3G alternator, just because. Any preferred brands?
Thanks!
Rear shocks and springs are done.
Front shocks are done, but the control arms aren't happy. Some meatball must've used an impact to install the lower shock bolts, because they were ground smooth and they'd dropped a couple 1/4-20 bolts down through and made the nuts up to them. It worked, but it didn't appeal to me.
I did the same thing, though; but I used 5/16-28 (fine thread grade 8) bolts, pointing up, with serrated lock nuts and a dab of Loc-Tite.
I didn't replace the springs; if I have to yank the control arms I'm going to replace them with ones that aren't stripped.
What brand of lower control arms work well? Can I use later control arms? It sort of looks like the 79-92 version and the 93-2002? versions use the same arm with different ball joints. It also looks like the ball joints are the same as the Mustang ball joints; I have stacks of Fox and SN95 ball joints.
Are the Dorman/Mevotech control arms solid enough to be worth buying and pressing the bushings out of for decent bushings? I can't find Motorcraft or Moog control arms...should I just keep looking?
I've got a clunk on the 4-3 downshift. Pretty sure it's not a u-joint. Adjust TV linkage? Flush and refill (going to do that soon anyway)? Ignore it until it gets bad enough to worry about a rebuild? It's more annoying. Motor mounts?
Also annoying is the steering column squeak. I'm assuming I just pull the wheel and get some fresh grease into the upper column bearing and maybe the lower column u-joint (sounds like it's higher up, but noises on shafts do weird things). Any other possible culprits?
The fan sometimes taps on the lower part of the fan shroud. The shroud should be lower, but it's screwed into the radiator at the top and sitting in the clips at the bottom. Motor mounts again?
The motor mounts don't seem bad; the motor doesn't move much and the pry bar trick doesn't make it shift around. Still, they're 30 years old. What brands do people like?
Lastly...harmonic balancer. Again, doesn't seem bad, and only 77K miles. But, 30 years old. I'd like to have the replacement handy so I don't have to wait. I'll do it when I throw in the 3G alternator, just because. Any preferred brands?
Thanks!
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