Mach Viii Lca Swap

Randy N Connie

Registered User
Finally got my rear lower control arms swaped to Mach V III.
Thanks Thomas A. for the parts.Also got the front swap over
to the newer style spindles.Thanks Thomas A's bother for the
parts.

Here is a before and after pictures of the rear.
And two pictures of the front.

Thanks Randy
 

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Randy I forgot to ask you this but did you do any weight reduction to the lower controlling arms? I did see you polished them.

Shane
 
Thanks David N. & Shane
Shane Yes I did some machining to cut all the casting bosses off.
And machined and sanded some other areas down.

I cut them down around 4 lbs each.I foregot the before and after wt.
I wrote it down ,my notes are out in the shop.

I am getting close to starting on my I LIKE JUGS MOUNTAIN motor.
Or I may go with a supercharge V-8 Have not desided yet.

Next is to start installing my body parts that I have bought & made.
I am going to drive it for a while first,and burn this motor down to
the ground.

Thanks RANDY
 
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Randy do you have any pics of the arms before and after you cleaned them up. I have a set of mark8 arms as well and want to save some weight on them.

Shane
 
seawalkersee said:
Those rears factory calipers or something you picked up...Very nice indeed...

Chris

Chris the both rear and front brake calipers and rotors are stang parts.
I am tring to get away from mn12 bird parts,But stay with Ford parts .
There are to many bird parts being discontinued so I am updating with
stang parts.Mustang parts will be around for years to come.And as
I swap the part to stang,I am doing my best to make the bird easier
to work on,and making it lighter as I go.And hope that I can rebuild
parts 20 years from now.I don't ever plan to sell this car.I am upgrading
for myself not for an antique SC Thunderbird.

The next time I work on the brake system.I am going to replace the mastercylinder with a simpler Ford mastercylinder.I thinking about
maching a aluminum billet mastercylinder then I can buy a stang
mastercylinder rebuild kit to fit today and down the road.

I like to have a nice clean car,And build it so its easier to keep clean & work on.This is why I sand down most of my parts then clear coat.easier to wash.
I just don't need all the bells and whisles that are on the SC Bird.So when
I have to fix or replace parts.They will be simpler & avalible down the road.
I am more of a retro-rod type person instead of a antique bird guy.I
want to use what I have not just save it and look at it.So I am going
with all the Cobra parts that I can.They will be around 50 years from now.

I am sure the SC V-6 will be thrown away.And swap a stang motor in the car.
The reason for this is,I am not able to get a tune for the supercoupe motor.
A motor that can not be tuned is worthless.I would like to swap in a 03-04
Cobra motor.But a wrech Cobra is hard to find.And the Cobra crate motor
is over priced.So I am looking at buying a 5.4 motor from Sean Hyland.
I will go with a A/R blower most likely.And it will not have a junk auto trans
behind it.If I could do my dream swap motor.It would be a blown
V-10 mod motor.Or a Jon Kassas 815cid detuned blown boss hemi Ford motor.

Thanks Randy
 
The rear tbird sc cal;ipers came on so many cars Id be suprised if they ever got discontinued...And they have a larger piston...Randy did you get teh parking brake working??

And the control arms look wonderful!...Did you use the aluminum cup or does it sit direct on the floor of the arm?
 
DamonSlowpokeBaumann said:
...Randy did you get teh parking brake working??

Thats something that I want to know about to for when I upgrade to cobra rear brakes here shortly.

Shane
 
DamonSlowpokeBaumann said:
The rear tbird sc cal;ipers came on so many cars Id be suprised if they ever got discontinued...And they have a larger piston...Randy did you get teh parking brake working??

And the control arms look wonderful!...Did you use the aluminum cup or does it sit direct on the floor of the arm?

Spring perch
I used a 6" diameter x 1/2 thick aluminum,Welded a 3.5 x 2"aluminum pipe
on top to hold spring in place,And on the bottom I welded a 3/4'' x 1.5
diameter pipe to hold spring perch in the lower control arm.

Damon I am going to use a stainless steel braided covered clutch cable
from Harley Davidsons.for the E-Brake short cables.

Yes I was able to get the stock EBrake cables hooked up.
But they are in a bind and don't work well if any.So i disconnected
them for now.

I got the parts for stainless steel brake lines also.But have not installed
yet.Same as obove H.D. parts.

Thank for the thumbs up on looks.The rotors and calipers are
powdercoated in chrome color.This is the best part of the mod.
It covers up all the parts that are normoly rusted.It cost me
$49.00 for the front to get coated,Same for the back brake parts.
I think it was worth $98.00 for the chrome and black colored parts.
If I had it to do again.I would get the brake brackets chrome color
to instead of black.

I have not got to try the brake much yet.But they feel a lot better.
I did the swap because I had some surging when I appyed the old brakes.
Next to go when it starts to act up will be the mastercylinder.I found a
billet mastercylinder with chrome booster that a hotrod brake shop has.
I don't know yet if I can make it fit .But this is what I am looking at
for the ABS repacement.Or machine my own mastercylinder,with common parts.

Thanks Damon Randy
 
Last edited:
quick35th said:
Thats something that I want to know about to for when I upgrade to cobra rear brakes here shortly.

Shane
Shane I am going to install used clutch cables from some H.D. parts I have laying around.

I will be cutting them to the proper length.They need to be shorter.
Reinstall the used ends on the braided stainless steel cable housing.
Then install the end on the cables.The Harley parts are the exact
same size diameter as the stock Bird Cables,Just longer.
 
Randy N Connie said:
Shane I am going to install used clutch cables from some H.D. parts I have laying around.

I will be cutting them to the proper length.They need to be shorter.
Reinstall the used ends on the braided stainless steel cable housing.
Then install the end on the cables.The Harley parts are the exact
same size diameter as the stock Bird Cables,Just longer.

Randy let me know how it turns out. I will probably end up mimicing your setup for my car so part#s and lengths would be greatly appreciated.

Shane
 
I want those lower control arms now! haha


The more I look at em the more I want em!
However mine wouldbnt look nearly as nice..My polishing skills are nil

Once again good job Randy




Randy N Connie said:
Spring perch
I used a 6" diameter x 1/2 thick aluminum,Welded a 3.5 x 2"aluminum pipe
on top to hold spring in place,And on the bottom I welded a 3/4'' x 1.5
diameter pipe to hold spring perch in the lower control arm.

Damon I am going to use a stainless steel braided covered clutch cable
from Harley Davidsons.for the E-Brake short cables.

Yes I was able to get the stock EBrake cables hooked up.
But they are in a bind and don't work well if any.So i disconnected
them for now.

I got the parts for stainless steel brake lines also.But have not installed
yet.Same as obove H.D. parts.

Thank for the thumbs up on looks.The rotors and calipers are
powdercoated in chrome color.This is the best part of the mod.
It covers up all the parts that are normoly rusted.It cost me
$49.00 for the front to get coated,Same for the back brake parts.
I think it was worth $98.00 for the chrome and black colored parts.
If I had it to do again.I would get the brake brackets chrome color
to instead of black.

I have not got to try the brake much yet.But they feel a lot better.
I did the swap because I had some surging when I appyed the old brakes.
Next to go when it starts to act up will be the mastercylinder.I found a
billet mastercylinder with chrome booster that a hotrod brake shop has.
I don't know yet if I can make it fit .But this is what I am looking at
for the ABS repacement.Or machine my own mastercylinder,with common parts.

Thanks Damon Randy
 
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