Finally... Some progress!!!

[SeanMatteson]

I've been dying to get my new wheels on the SC. I got them from Ed weeks ago now. In order to do this, I need to do the bolt-circle swap to the 'Stang bolt pattern. Because I've got a '90 SC, I need to swap in the newer style front spindles too. Tonight, I spent a few hours stripping and cleaning up the spindles. They were pretty rough, as the Cougar they came out of must have been sitting on them on the ground at the wreckers for quite some time before Andrew V. picked them up for me. It took the majority of the evening just to blast one of them in my little sandblast cabinet. I got it well coated in fresh paint. I also had a pair of Mark VIII front rotors redrilled for the 'Stang bolt pattern. These rotors originally came off Ed's car when he upgraded to the 13" Cobra brakes. They've been sitting in my garage since then, so they were starting to build up a little surface rust on the center section and in the cooling fins. I managed to get those cleaned up and after carefully masking off the brake surfaces, I coated the other exposed areas with some of that VHT Caliper, Rotor and Drum paint.

The one pic shows the spindles after I blasted the first one, so you can see the difference the blasting makes. The other pic is a shot of the two rotors after painting, and the two spindles.

Tomorrow evening or Saturday morning, I'll get to work on the other spindle, the Mark VIII calipers and brackets (I've got an overhaul kit for the calipers), and then I'll start pulling apart the car to swap in some of these parts.

[Jason Wild]

Looks good Biatch you got mail.
Looks like I'm not the only one doing all kinds of work on there car I think when I'm done I might have a new car. :eek:

[V6Sprout]

lookin good sean, damn I need a sandblasting cabinet.

[fast Ed]

Nice to see that you're finally getting an opportunity to work on your own car for a change, Sean !! :)


cheers,
Ed N.

[Bill McNeil]

Sean,

It's great to see you back working on the car.

We'll make sure you get everything together before Carlisle! ;)

[SeanMatteson]

OK, {taking a really deep breath} here goes...

I spent the morning cleaning up the other newer spindle and painting it, and also cleaning up the Mark VIII caliper brackets and calipers. I had some family stuff to tend to late this afternoon, and I didn't get back at the car until about 8:00 tonight. I finally pulled the SC into the garage and got it jacked up and removed all four wheels. I made sure I broke the rear hub nuts loose while the car was still on the ground. I started working on removing the old spindle from the left front corner. ...Talk about a struggle!

First, someone at some point pretty much stripped one of the allen head bolts that secures the old caliper. The one bolt came out OK, but for the other one I had to cut away the rubber shield and break it free with a set of vice-grips. Finally I got the caliper off the car. The hub came off no problem. Very carefully I managed to use a 13mm deep 1/4" drive socket to tap out the ABS sensor, so that I can transfer it to the new spindle (Woohoo, one thing went right!!!).

The big bolt securing the spindle to the upper ball joint was a little rusty, but that came apart OK. That's when I received the first shock... The boot was torn on the upper ball-joint! I was hoping to put off replacing the upper control arms (with ball-joints) until next Winter, but now I don't have a choice!

The old end-link was a little tough to get out, but I managed that OK.

The tie rod nut came off OK, but then I had a brutal time getting the thing broken free of the spindle. I put the nut back on until I could safely hammer against the top of the tie rod, and I really had to work at it to get the two pieces worked loose. ...Of course, the nut isn't pristine at this point, and should be replaced. Oh, and wait, there's more... Sure enough, the ball-joint on the end of the tie rod is pooched! OK, now I'm into upper control arms, and tie rods!

Finally, thinking it's all I've got left to do to get the damned spindle out of the car, I set to work on the lower ball-joint. Well, I worked at it for over an hour and a half, and in addition to discovering that the lower ball-joint is screwed, with a torn boot, I also can't get the stupid nut all the way off, because the center of the ball-joint started spinning with the nut! Once I had determined that I'm also into new lower control arms, I put a set of vice-grips on the shaft of the lower ball-joint and tried getting the nut off. The shaft just keeps spinning in the vice-grips, no matter how tight I clamp those suckers!!!

My little helper, Noah, hung in there with me until 11:30 PM. He didn't want to leave my side. He was a great help holding the trouble light so I could see what was going on. ...But we'd both had enough, so I packed it in for the night.

It's funny, the other day I heard an advertisement by Discovery Ford in Burlington. They're an SVT dealer. They were advertising 0% financing for 48 months on brand new '03 SVT Lightning's and '03 Cobra's. Honestly, if I had known three or four months ago that I was getting into a full front-end rebuild on the SC, I would have passed on the new wheels and all the friggin' crap that goes along with them, and I would have put the SC up for sale!

The reality is, my Super Coupe is fifteen years old now. If it's not one thing needing replacement or overhaul, it's going to be another. If I am going to keep this car, I think I need to come to terms with the fact that there will always be something it needs. ...Always!

Anyway, I've ranted on way more than you guys deserve to suffer through here. At this point, I'm already in way too deep to turn back, so I guess I just need to come up with the money and the time to get the job done. I try not to ask for help from you guys except when I really need it, and you've come through for me in the past (like when I was scrounging for parts to fix the collision damage last Spring). I could really use some help from the guys with experience in replacing these suspension components.

So, to that end, who has replaced their own upper and lower control arms, tie rods and strut rod bushings? I'm going to contact Ed, and maybe NAPA to see how much it's all going to run me, and how soon I might be able to acquire what I'll need. I'm really hoping that by the end of next week, I can have the car on the road sporting the newer, bigger brakes, and the new wheels, along with a much improved front suspension.

Anyone interested in helping out? I'll do my best to see to it you're comfortable, with adequate food and drink.

Best regards,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

I am always up for some work...

On thursday me and a buddy put a drivers side UCA on.... Then today I went and got the correct (in exchange for the wrong arm they gave me) part and put it on... again... :) fun fun

I'm sure there will be a few people to come to the rescue..

[SeanMatteson]

Thanks, Cam. I'm really not looking forward to trying to get at the rear nut on the upper control arm on the driver's side. I've got a '90 SC, so I've got the big ol' nasty ABS unit in the way over there! I've guessing I'll have to get onto the nut from underneath the car.

Incidentally, how long did it take you guys to change the UCA the first time? ...I guess I'm sort of ahead of the game right now, as the spindle is already free of the UCA.

Best regards,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

well.. we had a hoist but.... it wasn't that big of a help..

On my 95 4.6 to take the nuts of wasn't that hard.. but we had a ratcheting wrench to use... that helped a lot in that small space.. The hardest part was bashing the piss out of the UCA to get it to pop out of.. the spindle, Had to use a Ball peen hammer to hit it and an air chisel helped a bit.. and a bol ole hammer. I'd say the first time it took 40 minutes.. start to finish. Second time like 15-20 minutes tops...



The UCA was $98 for me I think.

[SeanMatteson]

The hardest part was bashing the piss out of the UCA to get it to pop out of.. the spindle, Had to use a Ball peen hammer to hit it and an air chisel helped a bit.. and a bol ole hammer.

...The UCA was $98 for me I think.

Cam, please tell me that you completely removed the bolt that secures the UCA to the spindle? If not, there is a groove in the peg of the ball-joint, and the bolt locks into this groove. Simply loosening the bolt a little doesn't help. You actually need to remove the bolt before the ball-joint can slide up and out of the spindle.

Where did you buy the UCA from at $98? That sounds like the best price I've heard yet.

Best regards,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

lol yeah I took the bolt out haha. It was rusted all to hell. She was in there tight.

Well I got the UCA for like $105 but that was the "bad" price. He told my buddy like $98 but he forgot to give him that price...

[tbirdsc357]

Sean,

I feel your pain man.

If anyone knows about frustration and stress from these cars it's me. It seems that every so often I wish I had sold the damn thing. However, I found that if I step away from it for a few days.....physically and mentally, I'm usually up for some more punnishment. :)

It sucks that you have to spend all that cash right now on something that's unexpected, but hopefully in a few months after it's all said and done, it will be worth it after feeling the ride improvement.

[SeanMatteson]

Steve,

You're right. ...Unfortunately, I'm not sure when I'm going to be sent on the road again for work, so I really need to get the car finished and back on the road as soon as possible. I'm sure I'll be back at it all day today, trying to get the passenger side spindle removed, and the rear knuckles off the car so that I can take them in tomorrow to have the new bearings pressed in.

I hope the pain will end soon, and that I'll be able to go at least a month or two before I even have to think about any more wrenching on the SC!

Cheers,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

Everyone,

I'm starting to think that I've indicated the wrong part when I mentioned the strut rod bushings. ...Let me describe what I'm talking about:

There are rods on each side of the car that run from the subframe at the front, back to each lower control arm. There appear to be bushings at each end of these rods. Mine have suffered bad dry rot, and if I'm replacing everything else, I think those should be done too to ensure I don't have to touch the front suspension on this car for a good long time to come.

Are these the strut rod bushings? I've come across some pictures which seem to be indicating that strut rod bushings are in some way related to the assembled shock/spring pair.

Has anyone replaced these bushings? I seem to recall Les doing something like this on his XR7 at some point.

Best regards,

Sean

[MercsSC]

yes ...Sean they are ..tension strut bushing ....and hold your lower control arms toe in and out and camber and caster angles true ...if they are good ...as I recall Les got moogs which are poly...and the word is to stay away from them ....I got mine from parts source ..which are TRW and rubber ...for like 26 bucks each side ...for the lower control arms ...haven't done the front ones ..don't know the cost .....dave

[SeanMatteson]

Matt Levesque (Axlr8r),

If you see this, check your email, please. I just dropped you a note to inquire about whether you can still get upper and lower control arms through your contact.

Best regards,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

Thanks, Dave!

I phoned the local PartSource and C.T.C. locations. I didn't figure I'd have much luck in getting any parts for today, but I lucked out on a few things.

The pricing was the same for both locations (which I expected, since I think they're affiliated somehow). They want $110.86 /ea for the upper control arm assemblies. They want $188.67 /ea for the lower control arm assemblies. They're showing the tie rod ends at $44.90 /ea. All of these prices exclude taxes.

PartSource has one upper control arm in stock, and can get me the other tomorrow.

C.T.C. has the two tie rod ends in stock.

I'll probably go over there now and pick up all three pieces for the time being.

These are all TRW parts and carry a lifetime warranty.

I didn't ask about the tension rod bushings, as I wasn't sure I would be asking for the right parts.

Cheers,

Sean

[Bill McNeil]

Sean,

Story of our lives, eh mang!?! It never ends buddy.

Let me know if I can help out in the evenings during the week.

I think I blew my heater core last night. I feel your pain. Ugwah. :mad:

[SkunkWorks]

Sean,

Story of our lives, eh mang!?! It never ends buddy.

Let me know if I can help out in the evenings during the week.

I think I blew my heater core last night. I feel your pain. Ugwah. :mad:

ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu thats gotta suck.

[SeanMatteson]

Despite it being a Sunday, I managed to pick up a passenger side upper control arm, and the pair of tie rod ends between PartSource and CTC today. The UCA actually rang up at $109 taxes in?! ...I don't know what happened there, but I'm not complaining. The other side will be in tomorrow.

I still need to source the tension rod bushings and hardware, and both lower control arms.

...Oh, and I still need to get all this stuff swapped into my car! :rolleyes:

On the plus side, if I have any money left to partake in it, I'm pretty confident that the car will hold together for an open-track day or two this season! Ed?! :D

Best regards,

Sean

[lazybird4pt6]

Wow! You've certainly got your work cut out for you, Sean. At least you've got your lil' helper - LOL!

Yes, you were talking about strut rod bushings. Yes, it can be a bit much at times, but the first time you see and drive your car when it's all done you'll forget the pain and enjoy.

BTW - you have taken two minutes to double check that the hub bearing will fit the spindles, RIGHT?!?!?! You know how it works with wreckers. Do yourself the biggest favour possible - CHECK THIS!!! Imagine how much it would suck, just like the loli-pop of mediocrity, if you had all the stuff ready to put back together and.........@$^&, it doesn't fit?!?!

I wish I could come out and help, but i've got to help get Steve Richards' 35th running - I just found out we've got a time restraint to add to it all. I hate harmonic balancers! Yes, more than motor mounts.

[SeanMatteson]

Andrew,

You're absolutely right... I should have checked the spindle-hub match before I spent the time to clean them up and paint them!!! ...I didn't. I guess I know what I'll be doing first thing when I get home this afternoon. Of course, if they don't fit now, I'll be totally screwed, since MegaCity's markings are all gone off the spindles.

I know Steve R. has got his hands full too, so don't sweat my issues. I don't know what made it a time sensitive thing now, but stick with it and hopefully Steve will be up and running in that SC soon!

...Now I've gotta get on the horn to Ed and see about some lower control arms and strut rod bushings.

Best regards,

Sean

[Jason Wild]

Sean,
I thought that LAC came with all the bushings you would need to make this work or might I be wrong about that?

[Ryan A Harris]

Sean I know, I mean I really know what your talking about here. I did ALL that last summer. Bruce, Scott, kendra and myself did the front and rear suspesion of my car. It was a pain, took 2 weekends, well 3 if you count the trouble we had. I It is a big job and from looking the car befro you start, well its scary. But in the end, youo end up with a NEW sc, I mean its a world of difference once you get finished. It took lots of time, and effort, and a few new dents on the fender of pain, but man, its soooo worth it.

Have you picked up new upper shock mounts? I would if you haven't. I know money can add up fast, but I'm one for not cheaping out on the suspesion. I can "try" to help out, I'm busy with lots of things right now, but I'm sure I can find some time to help you out. You have helped out so many through out the years, and well, it ssucks when you get frustrated.

In the end, its all worth it. You'll see.

I looked around for your brake rebuild kit, at home, in the garage, and then today at work, nothing.

[Jason Wild]

few new dents on the fender of pain, but man, its soooo worth it.

Sean whatever you do not let this happen to your car. :rolleyes:

[SeanMatteson]

I just got back from PartSource. I managed to pick up the other upper control arm. I also got the TRW replacement strut rod bushings at about $42 per side, front and rear. The bushings came in four boxes. They've ordered me two lower control arms. These are MOOG parts with a lifetime warranty, and they only cost about $95 each.

It's now almost 7:00 PM. I'm heading out to the garage to see what progress I can make tonight. I'll have Noah with me again, but if anyone happens to be in the neighbourhood and cares to come by to help out, please give me a shout and then come on over. :D

Regards,

Sean

[lazybird4pt6]

(ahem)

CHECK THOSE BEARINGS!!!!!!!!!

.....and good luck.

[SeanMatteson]

(ahem)

CHECK THOSE BEARINGS!!!!!!!!!

Andrew,

I did, and we're good to go! ...Thank goodness. I can't imagine how bad I'd freak at this point if those turned out to be the wrong spindles.

...Still, thanks for suggesting that before I got too far ahead.

Cheers,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

I guess the shock of finding most of my front suspension worn out or generally shot has sort of gone. Tonight I made decent progress for being on my own.

I managed to get the old spindle removed from the right front. Here's a couple of before shots...

[SeanMatteson]

And here's where I was at by the end of the night...

The first shot shows the right front corner with the spindle removed. I managed to get the ABS sensor out just fine on this side too.

The second shot shows the right rear corner after I removed the caliper, pulled out the pads, removed the caliper bracket and pulled the old rotor, and then put the caliper bracket and caliper back in place for screwing in the piston. Tomorrow I'll pull the rear knuckles so that I can take them in for new bearings and hubs.

[SeanMatteson]

I should have the lower control arms tomorrow night. That means that I should have all of the suspension pieces that I need to completely overhaul the front end. I was really hoping that someone here who has done this sort of work to their SC in the recent past would step up to help out. I'm really not sure what needs to be done. I expect that the front alignment will be out by a mile after I'm done, but I need it to be close enough that I can drive the car down to a local shop to let the professionals set it up.

So, is there anyone available tomorrow night to help me out? If not, then can anyone give me pointers as to what to look out for while I'm changing these parts? ...Can I mark stuff in advance so as to try to get it as close to the correct geometry as possible when I'm all done?

Regards,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

I got the rear knuckles out of the car tonight, but unfortunately, Eastgate Ford Service was too busy tonight to swap the bearings for me. They're open until 1:00 AM for car service. They said that tomorrow night should work out fine. ...That should at least allow me to reassemble the rear, with the bigger brakes and the new wheels!

I don't have a socket or wrench large enough for those huge nuts on the trailing ends of the strut rods. I think it's supposed to be a 30mm nut. Does anyone know for sure if it's that dimension, or maybe it's supposed to be a 1 3/16" nut???

I moved the coolant reservoir out of the way on the right side, and the washer fluid reservoir off the left side to gain access to the front nuts for the upper control arms. I'm guessing you need to get at the rear nuts from underneath the car. Can anyone confirm this for me?

Thanks,

Sean

[Jason Wild]

Sean,
when I pulled mine from the parts car all I did was you a wrench on the bolt to holed them and then un did then from the under the car it was fay easy this way.

[SeanMatteson]

Jason,

There are big metal tabs to prevent the bolts from spinning, so I'm guessing I shouldn't even need to worry too much about holding the bolts with a wrench. It just looks like it's going to be brutal to get anything on the nuts on the back side of each shock tower. I've got the ABS unit in the way on the driver side, and the A/C drier on the passenger side.

Did you remove the lower control arms from the parts car? If so, do you know what size socket or wrench I need for those huge suckers?!

Thanks,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

I think it might be a good idea to spend $20 on a ratcheting that fits the bolts...

[SeanMatteson]

Cam,

18mm... I bought two of different types.

I agree 100%. Without those, it looks to be "Mission Impossible"!

Thanks,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

In case anyone actually cares, the large nut on the trailing end of the strut rod is 30mm. I had to buy a socket for this one. I managed to get this nut off the driver's side last night. It wasn't too bad. I noticed that yellow loctite had been applied to it. The bushing through the lower control arm just dissintegrated once the nut was removed. I'm having a biatch of a time getting the nut off the front end of the strut rod though! I have to try to position a wrench on the strut rod to prevent it from turning, but I've been doing all this on my own, so I have to try to jamb the wrench somewhere as I can't hold it and turn the nut.

I managed to get the rear knuckle reinstalled on the driver's side too. I went through Doug F.'s instructions for installing the Cobra rear rotor. Ed's caliper relocation bracket worked great! That corner is all back together, and I even placed the new wheel/tire on the hub just to get a peek at how she should look after it's all done. I don't want to bother bolting the wheel on until after I bleed the brakes at all four corners.

Progress has been brutally slow, but I'm getting there. As good as Noah is at holding a trouble light, he really isn't much help for most of this stuff, unfortunately. ...And it seems that everyone else is pretty busy at this time.

Regards,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

I can give you a hand on monday I think. Thats the soonest free date I have...

[SeanMatteson]

Cam,

Thanks, man! ...I'm planning to work on it a little tonight, and then full-on through Sat. and Sun. I'm really hoping that after work Monday, I'll just be taking it in for an alignment, but who knows!? I'll try to keep you posted through the weekend and we'll see if Monday evening will be necessary.

Cheers,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

I kinda figured that, but I'm helping a buddy move on sat. and then hockey on sun. Hopefully throw some Spark plugs and wires on today *problem freeeeee:rolleyes: *

If anything still needs to be done or ya wanna wait.. ( I know you don't lol) I will come out to scrape some knuckles.. :)

[SkunkWorks]

Got the plugs in, all threads still intact and plugs gapped at .060 Everything wen't well....


Then as I was letting the car idle I noticed the fan was not coming on... hum no fan YET...? looked in the car... Temp needle was Between "HOLY *****" and "THERMO NUCLEAR"...

... I quickly "Shat a Cat®" turned the motor off, Popped the hood, slowly cracked the rad cap and felt the hose... it was cold... Thermostat was stuck shut, not good. As I played with the rad cap trying not to be the star of the next "Darkman" movie. I guess then the T-Stat decided it finally wanted to open. It did with what sounded like the force of a Jet braking the sound barrier.. I started the motor turned defrost on and the Fan turned it self to to Warp-Speed mode and very very quickly cooled the engine down... No damage down I dont think....

On a Good side of doing my plugs and wires. I now seem to be chirping 2nd gear almost everytime... now :) Fun Fun.

[SeanMatteson]

Cam,

That might have been a nice warning to change the T-stat ASAP!!! ;)

Cheers,

Sean

[SkunkWorks]

.... naw " its just a little airborne its still good its still good..."

I actually PM'ed Ed about a T-stat... Yesterday... and now this happens.. Maybe it does not want to go..... O well.. I'll be sure to run it over with my car when I replace it... Just for being a s*!t disturber.. Ya'know set an example for all the other parts to see...

:)

[lazybird4pt6]

HAHAHHAHA!!! Nice touch with the "problem free", btw. ;) Um, 0.060" gap is a little big. As far as teaching the other parts a lesson...it doesn't work on a 4.6 - trust me!

Sean, I know you want this done a.s.a.p., but i'm with Cam, if you still need a few knuckle (heads - LOL) I can come out on Monday night, right after work. that will be the ONLY night I can spare, unfortunately. You got my #'s. Keep us all posted.

[SkunkWorks]

.54 is stock and .60 is fine unless I get detonation and all that other good stuff... 3 or so plugs I took out seemed to already to be gapped at that heh.

[SeanMatteson]

Greg Coleman was kind enough to swing by my place tonight to lend a hand. While I finished up installing the Cobra rotor and fresh brakes at the passenger side rear corner, Greg started pulling the old upper control arms. By the time he left (after 1:00 AM), we had replaced both upper control arms.

Thanks very much, Greg, for your help! I really appreciated you coming over to lend a hand.

Best regards,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

Here's a shot of the Cobra rear rotors installed with the stock SC brake caliper (using the relocation brackets I bought through Ed).

[SeanMatteson]

Here's how they look when you stuff 'em behind some Cobra wheels.

[SeanMatteson]

I'll be focussing on the rest of the front suspension parts that I've got to replace tomorrow and Sunday (if necessary). If anyone is available to come by and lend a hand, I would greatly appreciate it. Just give me a call if you need directions. I don't want to post my phone number here, but it is available through the contacts list that I distribute to participants, and if you're not a participant, please just contact someone who is.

I'd really like to get the car done in the next couple of days, so that I just have to take it in for an alignment on Monday afternoon/evening.

That being said, I would appreciate it if those of you who have offered to come by on Monday evening would tentatively plan to be here, just in case I don't get the rest done over the course of this weekend.

Best regards,

Sean

[SeanMatteson]

I'm all done except for changing the driver's side tie-rod end and installing the brakes on that side, and just a flex hose on the passenger side front (I got the wrong flex hoses :( ). Then I just need to bleed the brakes.

Has anyone here replaced their tie-rod ends themselves? The passenger side came off and was replaced no problem at all, I think primarily because the inner tie-rod on that side was replaced last Spring.

PartSource has an inner tie-rod in stock for less than $40, so I might just pick that up and replace the whole assembly on that side and be done with it.

Steve Richards came over early yesterday morning and saw my progress. Ed came over and spent he afternoon helping me take care of the majority of the front suspension that was left. Bill and Jason came over in the evening and we attempted to get the left tie-rod end off. We changed the right tie-rod end, and got the brakes installed on that corner.

I'll try to get some pics up later on...

Thanks very much for all the help, guys!!! I couldn't have done it without you.

Best regards,

Sean

[MercsSC]

Well Sean ...the inner tie rod ...being a ball and socket design .you have to hold it from turning ...and spin the outter tie rod ...or you put the outter tie rod end ..back into the spindle and turn the inner tie rod assembly [pipe wrench worked for me] could drive the pin ...out of the inner tie rod and undo it there ..at the rack ..then put it in a vise and undo outter tie rod ...40 bucks for a replacement ...sound like a good investment ...but you still need to get the bellows off ...dave

[SeanMatteson]

Here's a look at the Mark VIII brakes installed...

[SeanMatteson]

And here's a peek at the finished product...

[SeanMatteson]

Tomorrow or Tuesday I'll take it in for an alignment, but she's driving pretty well already. It rides like a new car now, between having done the rear suspension last year, and now the whole front suspension.

Special thanks to Andrew, Bill, Ed, Greg and Jason for all your help!!!

Best regards,

Sean

[92strokedbird]

Nice work Sean,bet you cant wait to get it aligned.

[Jason Wild]

Looks sick Sean I love it.

[SkunkWorks]

still need any help on monday?

[SeanMatteson]

Cam et al.,

At this point, I don't think that will be necessary. The car is pretty much done for now. I will most likely take it down to Eastgate Ford for an alignment tomorrow evening, so I probably won't even be home.

Thanks for the offer of help anyways!

Cheers,

Sean

[Bill McNeil]

SICK AZZ CHIT!

[tbirdsc357]

Sean,

that looks sweet !! :)

[fast Ed]

Looking good Sean !! ;)

cheers,
Ed N.

[lazybird4pt6]

SEXAY!!!!!!

Damn, that's the best looking red SC i've ever seen.

[Jason Wild]

Andrew I would watch what you say I think I know another red SC that can give Sean some show for his money. :cool:

[SC4LIFE]

Looking sweet Sean, I look forward to seeing your car this summer. Are those 17x9's?

Cheers,
Luke

[SeanMatteson]

Thanks much, guys!!!

I just got back from Eastgate Ford a little while ago. I had the alignment done and it made a huge difference in the handling!!! She's much better now.

Yes, those are 17x9's.

Jason, I've had a little more time (ownership) to tweak mine than you have, and I know you're well on the way with yours! ...We'll see what these guys have to say when you get your wheels on the car!? :D

BTW, here's another pic I shot last night after my little test drive...

http://sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6398&stc=1

Cheers,

Sean

[Jason Wild]

Thats true as well you have some new paint. I just trying to make a little joke we will both have some bling two nice RED SC. I still think candy apple red would look killer on your IC tubs and all that. Let me look for it.

[Andrew Wang]

Looks awesome Sean, I'll be doing the hub conversion, brakes and rims as
well hopefully in a couple of months.

[Greg Coleman]

Was I actually doing anything there or was I asleep! Ok there was a fat bastard wedged under your front end LMAO! It doesnt look like you need worry about rolling those quarters bro! looks sweet man ,now i'm envious as hell!

[JimGravelle]

Sean,

Looks awesome buddy! I'm wishing I'd come by to lend a hand this weekend...but I was out in the boonies helping Steve Richards get his 90 SC on the road.

Now that you have had a lot of experience on your car, do you think you can help me do the suspension on my car? Pretty please? :o

Talk to you soon!

Jim.

[lazybird4pt6]

Sean - you bastard!!!!!!! At least take a pic of the WHOLE car. What a tease!!!! That's worse than the waitress I had tonight (OMFG what a bombshell! We're having a meat... uh, meet there!)

Jason - sorry, I meant the sexiest red SC with a hub conversion. There, better? teehehehe

[SeanMatteson]

Andrew,

If you go back a page under this thread, you would see that I did post a pic of most of the car (all I could fit in the shot from within the garage).

Here's the link: http://sccoa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6387&stc=1

Cheers,

Sean

[lazybird4pt6]

Yeah, I know, but this was a better angle - LOL!!!! A lower one. :rolleyes:

Either way..... looks sexay!

[Jason Wild]

thats cool Andrew I was just joking you have the best looking 4.6 with SC rims. :cool:

[SkunkWorks]

but I have the best looking 4.6l with stock rims :P

[SeanMatteson]

...Now that you have had a lot of experience on your car, do you think you can help me do the suspension on my car? Pretty please? :o

Jim,

No offense, but my car was such a PITA that I hope to not have to touch any suspension work on these cars for at least a couple of months. How soon were you planning to work on yours? ...What are you in for? I think you were ordering new springs and shocks, no?! Anything else?

Cheers,

Sean

[Steve Richards]

Sean,
Excellent job. Looks great. You're gonna hafta take us for a spin.

[SeanMatteson]

With pleasure!

MWWAAAAHAHAAAAAAHHAAAHAAAAAAHAAAA!!!

Sean

[JimGravelle]

Sean,

Andrew (LazyBird), Steve Richards and Paul stopped by my place yesterday evening and an inspection of my suspension was performed...all four wheels. It was determined all is fine...the only thing that needs replacing is my driver's side outer tie rod. So I plan to do both sides.

Which was major good news! While I'm in there I was going to change my rear wheel bearings (only because of the mileage on them).

You coming out tonight? We can talk more then.

Jim.

[SeanMatteson]

I'm hoping to be at the meet tonight.

For those rear bearings, you need to completely remove the rear knuckles from the car and take them in to a shop with a hydraulic press to have the hubs and old bearings pressed out, and the new bearings and old hubs pressed back in.

If the knuckles are removed, you might want to consider picking up a set of the polyurethane rear knuckle bushings and swapping those in too.

We can chat later, hopefully.

Cheers,

Sean