SN95 Swap LCA fitment issue

[macleodnc]

Im currently halfway into an SN95 swap with Moog OEM replacement SN95 LCAs, 94-95 Spindles, and Fox struts and springs. My Konis are shot and the balljoints are on the fritz as well so its time to take the plunge and do the Cobra brake swap.

Anyways upon removal of the old arms and attempted install of the new arms Ive run into a fitment issue into the K member.
The arms themselves look to be the right size but with the bushings in place, the gap between the front and rear bushing is 6.5 inches where on the stock arm the gap is just shy of 7. With almost half an inch difference in gap along the K member theres no chance of finessing the K member to get them in.

Am I missing something or do I need to poach the bushings out of the SVO arms??
Anyone else had an issue with SN95 arms fitting on the K member?

I attached a couple photos of the arms side by side for comparison

[gbeaird]

We're still sporting the OEM LCAs, so I'm just spit-balling here. Could you press the SN95 bushings out a bit so that the outer bushing shell is flush with the inner edge of the hole on the LCA? It looks like all you need is about 1/4-3/8", and it looks like that might give you that needed space.

I'd pay more attention to options those that have done this mod could offer, though.

[GAboySVO]

My brother ran into the same issue. He tried pressing the bushing to match the SVO K-member, but was not happy how that turned out and punted on the whole swap. He put the originals back on as they were still in good shape. He attempted the swap to do the Cobra front brake upgrade.

[roberto2000]

I had a friend who ran into this issue
what I did was make a set of custom offset bushing shells to alter the locations to allow it to fit into the SVO K member
then we pressed in new urethane bushings... we also added grease fittings to help with the squeaks

[gbeaird]

Wow. This is starting to sound like the Bell intercooler core issue I'm having in the Engine section. At first blush, "It'll work fine!"

The devil is in the details, or the actual application, it seems.

[macleodnc]

Well I’m glad I’m not crazy and that there’s actually a semi common issue here. I’m actually kind of amazed that this hasn’t popped up on any boards or forums with how common the swap is. Looks like I’ll be doing some modification for fitment.

[fast Ed]

So if the SN95 bushings were to get pressed to move them to the appropriate dimension, would that work, or is my old addled brain missing something? I was actually looking at this swap myself, I have a pair of late SN arms with Global West offset Delrin bushings pressed in sitting on the shelf.


cheers
Ed

[svono50]

I would have to think if you get the bushing shells located in the SN95 arms correctly, it should be a bolt-in kind of affair. The 'devil' ends up being where the bushings get positioned (front/rear) in relation to the ball joint location. From there tack weld the shell in location and install your choice of aftermarket bushing.

You could 'cheat' the ball joint forward to add more caster or set it to the stock SVO location. Then you should try to make both sides match as best as possible, but your k-member location is likely slightly 'off', so don't be surprised if you don't have a 'perfect' match on both sides after assembly

Now I will have to pull my Mathis book off the shelf to see if he talked about the SN95 stuff into a Fox or not, been too many years since looking...

[inerceptor]

I purchased the fox length AJE tubular control arms with spring perches directly from them and had them press in SN95 ball joints. They fit without any issues. I put Koni Yellow struts in the the front and back when I did the swap. I would imagine the tubular controls arms sold by Maximum Motorsports or BMR would work as well.

[roberto2000]

As for pressing the shells into the correct location.... the shells, when removed from the arms, actually have a step so they are located correctly.

To make sure that each side is equal I made new shells with corresponding steps so they were pressed into the correct location on each side so as to fit the K member.

Ted... when I did this i did tweak the arm location with a bit of a forward offset

[fast Ed]

I would have to think if you get the bushing shells located in the SN95 arms correctly, it should be a bolt-in kind of affair. The 'devil' ends up being where the bushings get positioned (front/rear) in relation to the ball joint location. From there tack weld the shell in location and install your choice of aftermarket bushing.

You could 'cheat' the ball joint forward to add more caster or set it to the stock SVO location. Then you should try to make both sides match as best as possible, but your k-member location is likely slightly 'off', so don't be surprised if you don't have a 'perfect' match on both sides after assembly

That's the idea of the GW bushings I have, move the arm forward a bit for more positive caster, something Foxes sorely needed. I'm planning to do c/c plates for more caster as well at the same time that the SN95 arms find their way in.


cheers
Ed

[Daily 86 SVO]

Help me out here, I'm doing this swap this weekend. The bushing shells need to be relocated to align properly from what I'm reading, so how easy is it to separate the shells? Press the shells off with the bushings and weld it back? I've bought the moog items also. Thanks.

[FLhotrod]

Chad,
On the Fox AJE Tubular control arms did you compare the length to the standard SVO control arms? If so, how much of a difference was it? I was looking at the SN95 version of their control arms thinking that would be a better match for SVO length control arms.

Regards,
Harry