Installed control arm but...

[Jake]

I installed the driver's side control arm on the t-bird, but having trouble with passenger side. Anyone done this that can tell me how they got to the nut on the bolt next to the firewall? Thanks.

[Gregthespy]

Hey Jake,
It's a pain in the rear to get to it but I found that if you remove the throttle cable mounting plate it makes it a bit easier to get to, I ended up getting it loose from the underside of the car and then using the 5 degrees of turning space at the top to get it the rest of the way off. the heater hose going to the heater core could also come off to gain more of a turn on the nut but I didin't feel like getting antifreez all over so I did it the slow way and left the heater hose on. I found out that some people have cut the tab that is connected to the bolt on the wheel side of the fenderwell before reinstalling it to have an easier time of getting a ratchet on it to speed up removal of it if it needs to come off in the future.
Hope this helps you get the job done a bit quicker, and with your sanity. I also found that owning an SC requires you to have a friend with small hands to help get to some of the bolts!
SC Ya,
Greg Roll

[kamakazie_1]

ditto, well put Greg..

[Jake]

Thanks Greg, I popped off the tab you were talking about and went underneath the car, held the wrench on the nut and wrenched the bolt out from the wheel well.


Looks like I'll be replacing the two stabilizer bar links next .

[SuperChicken89]

Jake...Greg is 100% correct. Removing those tabs makes the job so much easier! I too fought with the bolts until discovering removing the tabs made life so much easier. I rebuilt my entire front end this past fall and found the upper control arms to be the biggest ~~~~ until removing those tabs.
These cars can be a real challenge to work on. I just did my motor mounts for the 2nd and final time. That is one job I can only hope to never do again in my lifetime. Didn't take long to recall what a project it was the first time. This time I installed solid rubber mounts so I will never have the pleasure of performing that task again.

Bryan

[XR7Kurt]

Man, you guys are too quick! I actually knew the answer to that question having done my upper control arms last week. I'm doing the stabilizer links tonight.
Bryan I'm glad to hear the biggest pain in the front end was the upper control arms. Do you remember any tips for the rest of the front end?

Kurt

[Jake]

XR7Kurt...how much did you pay for those stabilizer links?

[XR7Kurt]

They were $29.99 each at Autozone. The brand is Perfect Circle and the box has Dana on it so they're probably decent. I just finished putting them in. It took a little tapping to get the lower joints out, not much room to get a good whack at them, maybe that's a good thing because the book says to use a special removal tool.
My book didn't have a torque listed but while I was looking I noticed that I somehow read the wrong torque for the upper control arm pinch bolt. I guess that's why I busted one of them! That was the dumbest thing I've done in a while.

Kurt

[SuperChicken89]

Kurt... I did my entire front end at one time. That included upper control arms, lower control arms, sway bar end links, new shocks, and strut bar bushings. I removed the sway bar end links the same as you. A good wack wit da hammer and off they came. The seperator tool would be used if you were going to reassemble the old end links. Other than the upper control arms, I think the strut bar bushings gave me a little grief. But not too bad.

Bryan

[XR7Kurt]

Looks like lower control arms are next for me now that the uppers and sway bar links are out of the way. I agree with you about the motor mounts I'm hoping they've already been replaced on this car, that's the first thing I had to do on the first one.

Kurt

[Gregthespy]

Hey Kurt,
The Perfect Circle brand is a good brand, I work for an Auto Zone and have only seen about two people come back with worn out parts that are coverd under the lifetime warranty they come with. I have bought most of the front end parts for my car and have only replaced the upper control arms so far but am glad to hear that that is the hardest part, now I just need to get the rest of my surplus of parts on sometime.
SC Ya,
Greg Roll

[SuperChicken89]

I installed all Moog parts on mine. The Moog parts were manufactured by TRW which was the OEM. Most every part had TRW stamped into them. I don't think I'll have to worry about wearing them out on my car. In fact most every front-end part on mine wasn't that bad to start with. The car just had weird shimmy in the front end and all of the grease boots were gone. Spent close to $600 on the entire rebuild.

Bryan