EASY CONTROL ARM ?

[jimdrechsler]

Should I buy these for 100 bux? Lower control arms are the ones I want, correct? As opposed to upper? Is this a good deal, and would I benefit from these?

I HAVE A PAIR OF BRAND NEW NEVER INSTALLED MAC HEAVY DUTY REAR CONTROL ARMS LOWER FOR A 1979-1998 MUSTANG.

• Made From Heavy Duty .120" Wall Tubing
• Fully Powder Coated Finish Black
• Performance Polyurethane Bushings
• Greasable Zirk Fittings


Thanks,

Jim

 

[Mustang78]

MAC is a good brand, i sy go for it, get pictures just because and compare to MAC's website, this guy might have some old style ones(i dont even know if they have an old style, but its good to check)

~Mark~

 

[jimdrechsler]

apparently he bought them 8 months ago. he thought they would be the "new style". picking them up for 100 bux-- brand new! im excited. thanks for response.

jim

 

[jimdrechsler]

picked them up yesterday. this is probably a stupid question, but should it come with anything else besides the control arms? thats all i got from him, the 2 control arms. they look like the pic at the top of this message board! i hope they work/fit!

 

[Mustang78]

usually thats it, i havent seen any that come with bolts..but if you need stock bolts in good shape PM me i have a couple sets

~Mark~

 

[jimdrechsler]

thanks,

ill let you know when they are installed. i should be all set. i wasnt sure if they cam eiwth any or not.

 

[Maryland Stang]

Start looking for the rest of the parts you need now. Avoid the Dynamic Racing arms on eBay. I bought a set and I had to replace the rod ends on both of them shortly after purchase. I could have just sent them back but I figured they would just send me another set with the same crappy ends in them. I replaced the ends with middle of the road QA1s.

 

[jimdrechsler]

Start looking for the rest of the parts you need now. Avoid the Dynamic Racing arms on eBay. I bought a set and I had to replace the rod ends on both of them shortly after purchase. I could have just sent them back but I figured they would just send me another set with the same crappy ends in them. I replaced the ends with middle of the road QA1s.

i wasnt aware i needed more parts. which are you referring to?

thanks.
jim

 

[Maryland Stang]

i wasnt aware i needed more parts. which are you referring to?

Just replacing the lowers isn't going to do much of anything by itself. At a minimum you need to replace both the uppers and lowers as well as the upper rubber bushings that are probably worn out by now. The upper arms are really weak and you can get them to flex by hand. Of course once you get the arms stiffened up then you run the risk of tearing the mounting points for the arms where they attach to the body if you use a set of sticky tires so torque box reinforcements are required. It really just goes on and on once you open the modification can of worms.

 

[jimdrechsler]

OK... Father's day and my birthday are coming up. I'm looking for the upper control arms and the torque box reinforcements now. I havent had anything installed yet, cause of the last post. I figure I would buy it all and have it installed at once. Can you point me in the right direction via internet links so I can tell my wife where and EXACTLY what to buy. My control arms that I have now are rectangular, not tubular if that matters.

Thanks,

Jim

i found these any good and wroth it, or too expensive?

http://www.americanmuscle.com/reupcoar7.html

 

[Maryland Stang]

I won't use poly bushings in upper control arms. The arms move around too much on the street and the poly bushings can cause axle bind up.

I bought inexpensive uppers for mine and ended up have to spend more money to replace the cheap rod ends that were included.

Do yourself a favor and buy good arms to begin with like these...

http://store.summitracing.com/partd...925130+4294839061+4294848363+115&autoview=sku

Chuck the ploy bushings that come with the arms in the trash and get a set of rubber bushings from your local Ford dealer to fit a 94/95 Mustang.

I got my bolt-in torque box reinforcements off of eBay although a quick check of some other "quality" bolt-in TBRs showed them all to be virtually the same. In fact the TBRs I got from eBay had the same instruction sheet as the ones that UPR sells.

Your car will definately feel much stiffer after the installation. Don't forget to get weld-in subframe connectors too.

 

[jimdrechsler]

I won't use poly bushings in upper control arms. The arms move around too much on the street and the poly bushings can cause axle bind up.

I bought inexpensive uppers for mine and ended up have to spend more money to replace the cheap rod ends that were included.

Do yourself a favor and buy good arms to begin with like these...

http://store.summitracing.com/partd...925130+4294839061+4294848363+115&autoview=sku

Chuck the ploy bushings that come with the arms in the trash and get a set of rubber bushings from your local Ford dealer to fit a 94/95 Mustang.

I got my bolt-in torque box reinforcements off of eBay although a quick check of some other "quality" bolt-in TBRs showed them all to be virtually the same. In fact the TBRs I got from eBay had the same instruction sheet as the ones that UPR sells.

Your car will definately feel much stiffer after the installation. Don't forget to get weld-in subframe connectors too.

if i buy the 200 dollar uppers as shown, i still need to chuck the bushings that come with it? you would think for 200 bonesm they would get it right. thanks for suggestion. is that about right for price? i didnt think they would be that expensive. THANKS!!

P.S. I have subframe connectors welded in already

 

[Foxfan88]

my kit came with the urathane bushing for the upper where it bolts to the body. there was no bushing for the other side, the stock bushing is fixed on the rearend, i just reused it and i havent had problems so far.

 

[Maryland Stang]

if i buy the 200 dollar uppers as shown, i still need to chuck the bushings that come with it? you would think for 200 bonesm they would get it right. thanks for suggestion. is that about right for price? i didnt think they would be that expensive.

Like I wrote above, ditch the poly bushings that come with those arms and install the Ford bushings. The engineers at www.maximummotorsports.com race these cars, build the parts and they wholeheartedly recommend the stock Ford bushings on a street driven car. I also believe that unless you have an all out race car a little give won't hurt anything. With poly bushings on all 4 arms there is no give at all. Note that the Edelbrock arms use a rod end/heim joint where the arm meets the upper mounting point on the car. Rod ends/heims joint have zero give. The rubber bushing goes where the upper arm mounts to the rear end.

Those arms were the cheapest decent arm I could find. There are way more expensive setups that you can get.

 

[2000xp8]

MAC is a good brand

That may be the overstatement of the year.
Mac is low budget crap, and you get what you pay for.

 

[jimdrechsler]

OK-- last stupid question of the night. do i want the upper, lower OR BOTH torque box reinforcements? im looking on ebay and see both. thanks

these good?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979...017QQitemZ270124364489QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

[DMAN302]

you want both. As for 2000xp8....sorry to disagree but you're generalized statement is rediculous. Several thousand people including myself use mac products without issues, quality problems can be linked to most any company around...TW, AFR, Edelbrock(personal experience), Walbro(yes again personal experience),BBK(personal experience).....on and on, it happens.

 

[Maryland Stang]

OK-- last stupid question of the night. do i want the upper, lower OR BOTH torque box reinforcements? im looking on ebay and see both. thanks

these good?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1979...017QQitemZ270124364489QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

That kit contains both the uppers and lowers and those are the ones you want. Although the description says that there is some welding required they can be just bolted in. Paint them before you install them to reduce rusting.

 

[2000xp8]

you want both. As for 2000xp8....sorry to disagree but you're generalized statement is rediculous. Several thousand people including myself use mac products without issues, quality problems can be linked to most any company around...TW, AFR, Edelbrock(personal experience), Walbro(yes again personal experience),BBK(personal experience).....on and on, it happens.

It's not a generizeled statement.
There is a reason mac stuff is cheap. It doesn't last.
Compare any mac product to bassani, magnaflow, kooks, borla, and you'll realize as of them are way better and last much much longer.
If you plan on keeping your car forever, mac is NOT a one time purchase, so it's a poor decision.
If your car is just a phase you are going through, buy mac to save a few bucks.
Even their CAI's are crap, anderson ford power pipes, and k&N filterpk kits are much nicer.
I've had a bunch of mac products, none are still left on my car, reason being they didn't stand the test of time.

Control arms are something is daily use on a car, and takes a beating, i'd much rather have steeda's or MM's.

 

[5LugFoxFanatic]

like said above. poly in the rear is bad mmmmkay? It causes snap oversteer. I had them, got rid of them when my ass end came out from under me at the track. Now I sport MM rear LCA's with no quad shocks and the difference is night and day.