Is this a stupid suspension idea?

what you are proposing has been done and will work, albiet somewhat harsh on the street. the steeda 5 link has alot more involved than just replacing the uppers and adding a panhard bar. it moves the uppers to a staighter angle which does more to reduce bind than just adding uppers. having said that i have lca's, panhard bar, stock uppers with one removed which cuts down on alot of the binding.

Binding depends on the bushings in the UCA's (but also the LCA's). Not so much what kind they are. But yea steedas 5-link puts the lca's and uca's in parallel with each other and on the same plane. This means the uca's only have to move in 2-d (like the LCA's) and not 3-d which allows the use of different (usually stiffer) bushings while also improving over all geometry (steeda explains it on their website). If your not changing the mounting of the UCA's to something like the steeda setup then you MUST go with rubber bushings in the uppers to prevent excessive binding. But ford's design and mounting of the UCA's (both angled inward and down) creates binding in and of itself. So you must switch to a steeda type parallel uca/lca setup or remove the UCA's altogether and get a torque arm to remove ALL of the binding. If your not getting the steeda kit...I would recommend some nice LCA's (ask about the bushing you are getting in them to make sure the allow proper articulation and not drag racing type bushings), Ford HD UCA's (stiffer rubber bushing than stock, creates no more bind than stock and there only $60-$70) and the panhard bar. Then if you want later, get a torque arm. Or just get a steeda 5-link... its not really that bad a deal. But I still plan on going with a torque arm.