Fox Strut spacer... wtf

Ok, I swear I'm going to burn this thing to the ground... every little thing is a PITA.... So I went to start putting the front suspension back in... put in the new ford racing lower in spring.. (using the MM tool) installed MM caster/camber plates... and new KYB strut... got the A-arm with spring jacked up... installed the top part of strut into caster plate, and got the bottom lined up with the 2 holes.... well here's the problem... the (2) spacer plates that go on both sides of the control arm, that goes inside the lower part of strut and the (2) bolts go through... well there is no room to get them in... heck I can't even get one slid in there....

So, I'm wondering, are these not needed anymore? are the lower strut opening smaller now and therefore don't need these to fill the gap? I'm looking at the ford service manual pdf I bought... and it's not even showing those 2 plates in the parts breakdown...

So I did some check on LMR where I bought these 3-4 years ago... I see there are 2 different parts numbers KYB-235005 and -235009... the difference is the spindle thickness... 005 is for 5.0 up to 86, and 4 cyl up to 93.. and the 009 is for the 5.0 form 87-93... so I figure great they send me the wrong ones.. I bought the kit that had all for shocks for the 87-93 5.0... so I just went out and looked at the box, and it's the correct part # 235009... but the opening on the lower strut is smaller then the stock one.. thus these spacers are not going to go in... so now I'm really confused...

*** I found a video of CJ-Pony parts install koni's , and you can see they had the spacers when they took them off, but they didn't put them back on (they didn't mention them) but those stuts looks the same as my Kyb's in that area... so to me looks like they made it smaller open like the up to 86 v8, and up to 93, cyl used... View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzGYMuugSR4
I just wish they would tell you this... instead of making you guess/think you have the wrong parts...

Blown88GT said:

I really can't tell you what's going on with your '90GT.
The attachment to the spindle must be very tight with no play at all.
All I can tell you is my'88GT had no spacers & the replacement Tokicos's didn't need them.

If you're not the original owner, how do you know that spindles weren't changed?
The strut does attach to the spindle & you may actually have SN95 spindles.
A Google search found this: https://www.maximummotorsports.com/tech_front_susp_7993to9604_spindle.aspx

Click to expand...

In the j pony video, that one had the spacers as well, but u didnt see them put them back with the new struts.... my car looked completely stock, so I really dont think anyone changed the spindels/control arms...

Is sounds like the early 5.0 79-86 and the up to 93 4 cyl had wider control arm mounting area... and the 87-93 was thinner... I'm thinking they(ford) might of used the struts from the older v8 /4 cyl cars and thus has to use the spacers... and the after market strut replacements were made so they didnt need them....