Whats wrong with my suspension?

[1TRIKGT]

I have two questions, first is that when I hit bumps in the road my rear end and my front suspension make a klunking noise that sounds like metal. I think this is from worn out bushings, my upper and lower control arms, ball joints, or my shocks and struts, or could it be all of them. Im starting to get woried because Im driving from where I live in north virginia to miami,fl next month and back but I want to fix this problem before the trip.
Also today I took a 100 mile round trip drive and noticed that once I hit 85 and especially at 90 where I cruise at, that my shifter starts virbating pretty bad, could this be from bad u-joints or that I need to get a new drive shaft, because it cant be normal?

 

[VooDooChild]

Do you notice anything different about how your car handles? Do is wander on the road? Are you having bumpsteer ( car wanting to turn when you hit bumps?) You need to get it on a rack and do some checking before you go to Florida. You might want to look at your sway bars real close also.
Cruising at 90 with 3.73's Dude you pull some RPM's just cruising. Mine has 3.73's and I just got back from a TN to FL trip in it and at 2350 I am at like 75mph. You list short shifter in your mods... When I changed to a Steeda TriAx I got all kinds of gear whine and weird noises thru the shifter handle. I took a 1/8 inch piece or rubber and cut it to fit between the shifter handle and the shifter itself. Cut the noise in half.
Either way, you need to get it on a lift and spend a couple hours checking everything out. U-Joints, bushings, Swaybar. Everything. It would be tragic if you had major issues or a failure while on the road... and at 90 MPH that could be fatal Good luck, and let me know what you find. Cause something is amiss........

 

[fawcett]

i had a clunking noise in my 95 gts w/ 69,100 miles on it. it began at like 58,000 mi. i took it to firestone and at first they didnt see anything and they gave it back to me. then i told them the missed it, a mechanic and i went for a short ride around the parking lot over some speed bumps (i drove him), he relistened to the noise from my from left wheel. turns out it was a broken coil at the bottom of my spring (i mean right at the bottom) i've been on the road with it for a while, i am saving for a griggs auto cross kit. anyways the mechanic told me to take it easy and baby it if i should take it out. the metal noise or clunking was the coils scraping eachother.
it could be something totally different from what you got, but this is what i have and it sounds somewhat similar if you dont know what to look at find someone who does.
take it easy pal,
fawcett

1995 mustang gts, frpp 302 crate 340bhp w/ ecam and gt40x's, trick flow track heat, frpp 65mm, pro m 80/cai, mac unequal headers, o/r h-pipe, flows, brembo 13in vented 4 pot's front, 11.5 slotted brembos out back, saleen heat extractor (replica) cobra r's ect

 

[1TRIKGT]

No the handling is fine, My guess would either be the upper and lowers or the bushings are bad since the car has 163,000 miles on it and I doubt they have ever been changed. Does anyone know where I can get a full set of bushings so I can change all of the ones on the car and what type to look for since I know there are differant kinds?

Im gunna try the piece of rubber for the shifter noise before I go and get new u-joints but wouldnt it be a good maintenance job to change them anyways since the car has so many miles on it?

 

[VooDooChild]

I would Check the U-Joints, but they are kind of a low dollar item, so I would just put new ones in for piece of mind. I did not realize that you had that many miles. What about your shocks and struts??? are they factory ones? If so I would check those out... a blown shock or strut sometimes will make a racket. And what faucett said makes alot of sense... I can see how that would make a bunch of noise.

I would check Maximum Motorsports for the bushings. Someone might pipe in with someplace else, but I deal mostly with MM. I will check my listings tonight when I get home and see If there is anyplace else that sells a complete kit.

 

[1TRIKGT]

Yea Im gunna change the u-joints like you said for peice of mind since they are cheap, shocks and struts are factory which I am changing before my trip, Im hoping to find a decent pair of tokico illumina 5-ways but are adjustable really needed for a street car or would something like tokico premiums do ok

 

[VooDooChild]

I am running the same spring package as you, I got the bilsteinHD's They are expensive, but if you can afford them they are worth every penny. The tokico illumina 5-ways were my second choice. I think you should be fine with them or the premiums. With factory dampners the would be working like crazy to keep pace with the eibachs. I would not be surprised that you will find out that they are shot... If they are still good after that many miles and running those springs, I would have them bronzed...

 

[1TRIKGT]

thanx for the info voodoo Im gunna change the u-joints and shocks/struts first thing but I cant afford the bilsteins right now, so the tokico premiums will have to do for right now unless I run across the illuminas for a great price, hopefully I can get them changed by next week so ill post once its done and well se if they are my problem

 

[VooDooChild]

Here is what I have found so far...
Shocks. http://www.v6mustangstuff.com/shocks.htm

bushings. http://www.v6mustangstuff.com/bushings.htm

http://www.globalwest.net/mustang 79-98.htm#Front lower control arm bushing kits

http://store.cal-mustang.com/cm_able/showprod.cfm?&DID=7

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/category.asp? catID=21&catdesc=Control Arms / Stabilizers

http://www.maximummotorsports.com/urethane_front.asp

http://www.livermoreperformance.com/mustang_bushings.html

Here is some FYI on suspension... http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm

I hope that this points you in the right direction. Let me know how things turn out and good luck.

Dave.

 

[93blk/notch]

Be carefull!!

I'm sure by now you've already bought something. I have 93 LX notch just replaced shocks struts springs, added upr U/L control arms. Tokico PP S/S, and Eibach pro springs. After everything was installed, and a week or 2 later I noticed my rear end moving while driving, and a real nasty noise from rear. Put it on lift and sure enough driver upper torque box ripped off. Really not good! After some research I found out this is commen after doing the work I did. When you replace everything with TIGHTER parts there is no give, and when there is no give the GARBAGE design of the rear end snaps, and you are F****D. You definetly need to add torque reinforcements before it's to late. Try upr their on sale for like 160.00. It cost me $500.00 to just repair the one box. For this you could have bought boxes and had them installed.