houtex

Previously on Awesome's Adventuretime:

https://themustangsource.com/f669/lo...nfused-530545/

And now, the continuing story... But the TL;DR version is:

I did the Front and Rear Lower Control Arm replacements. Wheel hop seems gone, squeaks and pops mostly gone. Seems a little like the struts/strut tower mounts are making noise now. Car feels very nice indeed! GT500 Front Control Arms, BMR Rear Control Arms and Adjustabile Panhard Bar, all Poly/Poly versions.

Do it if you want to, I approve of these.

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So I got the parts in wayyy back, and thanks to life/work, it had to wait until today. But that's fine. I got to the shop, got a lift, and and got to work on the car. Thankfully, life/work didn't interfere this time. YAY.

Now, I've been studying videos and how-to writeups and what not, and I had decided that due to the rack's bolts apparently being a real POS to deal with, attack the front control arms first and get that out of the way, after I rotated the tires (it happened to be time, so moved the fronts to back, and set aside the now-fronts.)

I'm not a slouch, but dangitall if there wasn't any real way to get those dang things off except slog through it, 1/5th of a turn at a time. Ugh. So not fun. I am not kidding, I tried an air rachet, and that was seriously no dice on the left. It wouldn't fit on the right. No way to get an impact in there. But a guy in the shop helped me out with an 18mm rachet wrench, and I just... eventually 'won'.

Good grief, Ford.

So yay, rack can now move. Take out the old FCAs, and... it's stuck. The front bolt was really fun to get out of the left side with the rack trying it's best to stay in the way, but both sides, the front mount got twisted up and had to be pried out. Whatever. Got 'em out!

Put 'em in... same deal. Man. But I did it. New GT500 Front Control Arms, upgraded ball joints and all (and man, were those old ones shot! Very happy to have got this done now!) all bolted in, torque, rack put back (another slogging, but easier than removal...)

Aaand it's been 3 hours of just that I suck at this. Except the end result looks great, and is right. So there's that.

Ok, I *was* going to do the struts and strut mounts and shocks and springs... but they close up the shop a lil' early on Saturday. So I had to modify the plan. No springs. No struts or mounts. Grr. But I can't have the car stuck on the lift, so I have to get her wheels back on today. Period.

Well, again, front control arms done, and now it's time to replace the rear control arms. Got the pole jack, and did one, then the other. Removal was easy. Just take off the brake cable as required, take the old arm off, ensure which arm is which on the new one for the rear offest bushing... no big. Greased the new bushings up, put the things on (interesting how the axle shifted a little, but easily squirmed back into place.) Parking brake cable back on, put the parking brake cable ties up, all done. Repeat on other side. Huh. Wasn't real bad, them. BMR Rear Lower Control Poly-Poly Arms are done. Sweet!

Well... while I'm here... and now the BMR Adjustable Poly-Poly Panhard Bar is in. That one was a little weird, because even though I took out the old one and lined up the holes and all... it still refused to line up, so I had to readjust it (a lot!), get the bolts in, and then attempted to put it back. Oh, and for some reason it had to be pounded into the mounts with a rubber mallet. Worse, the body mounting area had to be, um... swedged, I guess... a little because it wasn't going in at ALL. But I'm persistent, and it's in there, dang it.

Greased up all six zerks with Mobil 1 Red, (and by the way, also greased the sides of the bushings before they went int) for which I now have a dedicated to the task grease gun. Only for that one need.

Double checked the torques on the wheels, got her off the rack, and drove about the parking lot to get things settled out...

I missed the Panhard re-adjustment, dang it.. But it's pretty easy to get it done in the parking lot, so I did... and she's all straight, near as I can tell. Put her back up in the air real quick to ensure the PHB is locked tight. For now.

Total time for my slow, fat, middle aged, still learning how things are done self? 6 hours. I'll never get in an Indycar pit crew like that...

So there ya go, Front/Rear Lower control arms all done, and lemme tell ya... the rear control arm squeaking and rattling is gone, of course, and the front end sounds so much better on the bumps than before... steering's tight, and.. I'm not real sure, but it sure seems like she's steering *straighter* than she used to... she always had a little pull to the right. Now she doesn't.

I'm blaming the right rear LCA bushing, 'cause that's how this all got started anyway.

I figure the alignment isn't really affected, and since I'm planning to get right back under her next week and get the struts and shocks and springs all swapped out, it'll be ok until then, and we'll see if the camber bolts are needed. Whee. And while I'm hurtin' a little from underused muscles... very pleased. Can't wait to actually finish this project all the way.

Oh yeah... the reason for doing the BMRs was also for some wheel hop. Well, that's now gone, I'm glad to say. That was really gratifying to have an immediate "yes!" on.

In case anyone wanted to know. And more for me to document. Heh. Laters.