Many Questions...Suspension Upgrades

Moved this from member section as I havent been getting any responces. Please chime in if you can..Thanks

Damon

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not 100% happy with my suspension. After all m y lil mishaps this year I want to add a few things before I get rid of the car to assure Im happy with it..So I have questions..Its for my 94

Front End

New uppers, struts and ST springs. Everything appears REEALLL tight however I get a slight clanking sound when hitting a bunch of bumps in a row..Or so it seems. CAN THIS BE the sway bar end links? They looked ok and so did the bushings but I have no idea what this sound can be...And its not any loose subframe bolts or anything like that. Does brand matter with these? Ive read some stories about bad ends.


RearEnd

New shocks and ST springs. STOCK swaybar. Ive read it over and over again..But is the 1 1/4 bar a good match for the stock front? And of course the shorter end links to go with it. Worthwhile investment?

Mark VIII lowers and Thomas Aluminum spring cups.

I have these already. Will they cause a change in ride height? If so I was thinking of getting poly isolators to give some extra lift. Any comments on this setup?

Tranny mount (5 speed)

Just a solid rubber replacement??? Any better then others?

Also for those reading a lil off topic. I will eb pulling my 5 speed out soon. WHat should I check or what can I do to alleviate any binding my clutch may have when in nuetral that is causing me to have a problem shifting into certain gears(It will grind attempting to put it into second when not moving)

Aluminum flywheel and spec clutch..Never had an issue before hand and never ever had an issue liek this before ever...So this is my learning experience here

(A low mile 94 replacement known to work well will be going in..not mine)

Thanks all:O)

Damon

To comment on your moving this post, It probably was a good idea, cause I believe the majority of us can't get into the member pages anyway!

I'm interested to hear opinions on this too, as even though I have a 90 xr7 and haven't gotten into it yet due to time, I do have a 94 Mark viii as a daily driver with the coil conversion, kooks headers, flowmasters, gutted intake. I absolutely love this car, other than a similar problem to yours in that i hear clunks all over the car. I have had it aligned, ive checked every inch of the suspension repeatedly, checked for things underneath that may go bump, and i'm outta ideas. I finally found one source of noise, the swaybar in front was barely tapping the body where it made the turn across the frame, so I clearanced the body and some of it went away. The contact was probably due to the car being lowered by the conversion.

Noise could be just about anything, even the shocks.

Pretty much all aftermarket end links are very similar. I actually prefer the factory design but not recommended for the rear if lowered.

I went for the 1-1/8 rear bar on my '94. With a True Trac and our amont of torque, it can get a little squirrely at low speed. In the rain, it's too easy to attract police attention with an unexpected slip. Predictable at speed with some understeer but better balanced than stock bar. My favourite mod, so far. You'll be surprized. Just poly bushings on the stock front bar.

I don't quite understand the benefit of aluminum or poly spring cups. Spring deflection?

Damon, as you probably know, I'm a fan of using the early SC rear bar on the 94-95 cars. This worked great IMO on my 95. Very little understeer at the open-track days or on the street ... and cheaper than buying a new Addco bar!!


cheers
Ed N.

Damon, the following is copied and pasted from my response to your other thread:

IMO a 1.25 rear bar is way too big for a stock front bar. The 1.25 is 272% stiffer than the stock 94-95 rear bar, and I think you'll get some massive oversteer out of that setup. Even the 1.125 Addco bar is 144% stiffer than the stock rear bar...that one may be okay with the stock front bar, but I've never tried it.

And for what it's worth, the early 1.100 inch bar that Ed mentions is 123% stiffer than the stock .900 inch bar.

The rattling sounds like sway bar links to me. After rebuilding my entire suspension except them I ended up having to change them.
Alan

Thanks Guys.

I did look into getting a factory 89 rear sway bar but havent sourced any yet. Ithink I'll just go that route before I get yelled at (or do something I may regret. Do they make a good poly bushing set for that?

Front end is practically new EXCEPT for teh end links...So Yes Im thinking I need to get me some''

And lastly the Aluminumn spring cups

Being the Mark VIII arms had airbags the spring cups compensate for a lack or perch to rest the spring on. Im still curious about ride hieght and if the poly spring isolators are a good idea(Im thinkig yes anyway)

Again thanks......

I never had a clanking sound from endlinks, but there are definitely brand differences. I would go with TRW (closest to Ford OEM), then maybe NAPA brand, Motorcraft, or Moog. Spicer Gold may be okay, but stay away from Spicer Red. (Imagine me saying that last part in a spooky Scooby-Doo voice. )

did you check the strut rod bushings (front lower C/A to the frame)? thats what my noise was coming from before i rebuilt everything....
and not to pirate this thread, but with my s/t springs, should i have shorter sway bar links in front or rear? thanks.

With ST springs you can get shorter for rear but you are stuck with factory type front. The the strut rod bushings have been changed

DamonSlowpokeBaumann said:

And lastly the Aluminum spring cups

Being the Mark VIII arms had airbags the spring cups compensate for a lack or perch to rest the spring on. I'm still curious about ride height and if the poly spring isolators are a good idea(I'm thinking yes anyway)

Again thanks......

Click to expand...

My car has stock coils, Mark VIII lower control arms, Thomas' aluminum spring cups, and Koni's. It seems to sit a little low in the back.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t18/mjmenke/1990 white SC Manual/DSC01477.jpg
http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/...e SC Manual/?action=view&current=DSC01465.jpg