Boxing The Front Control Arms

[5LugFoxFanatic]

I installed all poly bushings throughout the whole car. What a pain in the ass it was, but what a huge difference! I also boxed my rear upper and lower control arms, and while I was at it, I boxed the front control arms. I bought a Mustang suspension book and they recommended this mod. Definately something to do if you like to roadrace or auto cross your car for fun, but do not want to spend a ton of aftermarket A arms and rear control arms. I was able to pick up a panhard bar because I did not spend alot on aftermarket arms. I used 1/8 inch steel on the fronts and bent it to fit the arm, then welded them in place. Take a look.

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and the PHB I bought, Griggs Severe Duty Adjustable. I may sell it due to me being burnt out on my mustang. I have done so much to it this year. Otherwise I may just go ahead and put it in, I'll take pics of it when I do the install.

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[Kerpal]

I didn't realize you can box the front arms. I've been wanting to box my rears, just need a little more practice welding before I want to attempt it. Sooner or later I'll go through everything with poly bushings as well.

Care to elaborate on how the car feels different now? Is it much more responsive going into turns? How's the road noise?

You can always wait a couple months and sell me that PHB. I've already missed two good deals on MM ones because other things on the car keep breaking...

 

[5LugFoxFanatic]

The car is much more responsive. There is little road noise and I get no squeaking. Big thing is though that the ride is rough now. Nothing too bad, but if I get caught going over a bumpy road, it makes me sea sick because of all of the bouncing. At the auto x course it handles much better. Only drawback is that with the rubber bushings they are forgiving, and will let you know when the rear end is going to let loose. With the poly, you get grip and grip and grip, and without warning, the rear will come out and 360 time. So you just have to get used to a new setup. I put in new balljoints in the front arms, I used 96 Cobras and holy crap, much smoother turning response. Huge improvement over stock and cost effective as well. Like I mentioned, the bushings are a huge pain in the ass to install. The front control arms took a torch, penetrating oil, and air hammer, and lots of swearing to get them out. Plus you have to remember that you have to torch out the old bushings from the arms, and that’s not the funnest job in the world either.

 

[Kerpal]

Did you replace the upper control arm busings with poly ones as well? I read something once about poly not being forgiving enough there (I think the forward bushings were the main concern?), supposedly the flex in rubber bushings helps to keep the car's handling more predictable...

What balljoints were you running previously & what's different about the '96 Cobras?

Sorry to ask so many questions... you have more or less the exact setup I've been looking into though so I'm curious to hear about it.

 

[5LugFoxFanatic]

I was running the stock ball joints for a 79-93 and I did a 5 lug conversion. I am not sure what new ball joints on those years feel like but the Cobra's are shorter to accomodate the 94-98 spindles. I did run poly's in the front as well. They were a huge pain to get out. I used a torch to get the bushings out and then use the cutting part on the torch to cut the stock sleeves in half. Then I used a air hammer to pound the sleeves in half the punched them out. I used a bench vise with various exhaust cutouts to protect the poly from being distorted from the intense pressure.

When you say upper control arm bushings, I am assuming the rear upper arms. I did run poly in the upper portion but left rubber in the diff housing. If you run poly in all parts, the rear end becomes unpredictable and will cause snap oversteer. Otherwise I did the following.

Poly bushings in the...

lower control arms
one in the upper
sway bar end links
transmission crossmember
front control arms
offset rack bushings
spring isolators
transmission mount

Here is the pic of what I bought

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