Front Suspension / Steering Overhaul - advice?

[Henson]

Mr. Pink - Is there an advantage to moving the alternator?

There is an advantage. It frees up a lot of room for maintance. You can easily get to that dissy bolt and other stuff.

[cometcyclonemk]

Yeah and I guess I never thought about the whole - Alternator mounting to the PS pump deal. The extra room will be nice too. I'll be searchin' the junk yards for one of those brackets now

[Henson]

Find 2 let me know. I'll buy one from ya. I'd like to have an extra set. Look for 79 & 80 pintos.

[cometcyclonemk]

So someone locally has a set of H&R super sport springs for sale - Part #51652.77 . They're listed as 96-04 springs... Aren't Ford Racing springs the same for 79-04? Would this be the case for the H&R's? Since it's all torn apart I'd like to do it now, I just don't really want to spend the money on a new set of springs and if these would work it'd save a bunch of $$.

[RTStabler51]

I was in a similiar situation except I was on a 60k 23 year old suspensions that a strut finally puked its guts on its 5 HPDE.

I have a 'stock' suspension and that only thing I've done is replaced every single bushing with poly urethane and H&R Springs. There are some relatively cheap odds & ends as well (96-96 Rear Cobra Sway Bar) and some MM rear lower control arms, and finally FLSFC. The car handles awesome now for what it is.

I'd ditch those springs and probably get FMS B Springs if its a daily driver.

[cometcyclonemk]

FLSFC??

As far as springs go, I'd like to replace the stock ones, but I'm not too worried about ride quality. It's "daily driven" to the point that it's my only car, but it only gets about 2000 miles a year - pedal power is a lot cheaper .

If these H&R super sport springs for the 96-04 Mustang would work it'd be nice - they're $100 on craigslist. Otherwise I'd be fine with Ford Racing, Eibach etc just so long as it's a quality spring and doesn't lower the car too much - Anyone have a used set they want to unload cheap??

So far the back is stock with the exception of KYB shocks and airbags someone stuck in there at some point :/ - I probably won't have time to do much with it besides the springs this summer so it'll have to do.

[cometcyclonemk]

Is SVPU still in business?? Maybe I'm just impatient, but I called them 3 times during their business hours on Friday and left a message, and did so again 3 times today with another message and still no answer. I really need some ball-joint dust covers so I can put this thing back together and it seems they're the only ones that have them... Grrr.

[Erics SVO]

FLSFC - Full Length Sub Frame Connectors. It was a holiday weekend. Paul is a busy man. Try email also and put "SVO parts" in the title.

[cometcyclonemk]

Well I finally got ahold of SVPU yesterday by calling after hours. A lady answered the phone, but didn't know about ball joint covers or brake lines. She said the guy that would know was out but that she'd have him call me asap. About 2 hours before they closed today I called again (having not received a phone call from them). The same lady answered and said that Paul was out at lunch. She said she'd have him call me as soon as he got back. It's now 7pm Pacific time and still no phone call. I understand that businesses can get busy and all, but how do they stay so busy if they never answer the phone and can't take orders when they actually do?

Anyway sorry about the rant, but I'm sure you all know how it is not having your SVO on the road plus it's my only car...

Does anyone know of ANY other source for the covers? Maybe someone has an extra set they'd want to sell?

[RTStabler51]

Does anyone know of ANY other source for the covers? Maybe someone has an extra set they'd want to sell?

IIRC Energy Suspension.

[cometcyclonemk]

Ok, so I finally got my ball joint dust covers. Anyway I think I'm going to go ahead and lower the thing... Amazing how one thing leads to another eh?

I think I've convinced myself of the BBK specific rate lowering springs - about the amount of drop I'd like, decent price and I like blue so my question is, what height of bump stop / brand should I get? I have J&M CC plates going on the car. What do you guys think?

[cometcyclonemk]

Here's some pics of the progress...

Also, two questions...

I still don't know how tall of a bump stop to get... I have BBK lowering springs (1.5" Advertised, but I also have new poly isolators) and J&M CC plates. Looking at the car with as stiff as the springs are I can't see the strut ever reaching full compression, but I've been wrong before and would like to be safe.

And...

I installed the springs as you see in the picture... but once I lowered the control arm back down it slips out of the little slot in the control arm - the coil rotates. Once I re-connect the sway bar will this limit the downward travel enough to keep enough pressure on the coil to prevent rotation? Am I making a silly newb mistake?

And now the eye candy

[cometcyclonemk]

Hooray it's back on 4 tires!

After several weeks of dealing with wrong parts it's finally almost back together!

Only things to be done now are:

Bleed brakes
Alignment
Modify hood as necessary to clear struts

I'll probably do the rear springs later this summer or over winter break, so it'll have a bit of a rake for now

Since it's 105 F here I figured I'd take a break until it cools off a bit to finish it up - so here are some pics in the meantime.

[Erics SVO]

Heck, you can pop the rear springs in while your under the rear bleeding the brakes. You'll already be getting sweaty and dirty.

[cometcyclonemk]

So apparently someone stole my SVO and replaced it with a go kart because that's what it feels like I'm driving now

It's done!

Thanks for all the help / advice guys!