wrong shocks? 92 notchback

[OldManRiver]

These new control arms you installed,any info like brand/part #?
How do they compare in length to the stockers or the ones they replaced?

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

sorry guys ive been a little bit busy. i will get some pictures. they are just cheap ebay ones. this car was a shell when i got it. there was no interior no rear end. no kmember. so i have no control arms to compare too.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

Sorry guys I’ve been really busy at work. Here’s some pictures

 

[Mustang5L5]

Your missing the shock mount brackets. It would drop the shock mounting point down a couple inches but not sure that would affect ride height.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

It’s got the shocks off of it and the weight on the rear end... that’s what it looks like..... I just wanted to take shocks out of the equation

 

[KRUISR]

I just wanted to take shocks out of the equation

Good call on disconnecting the shocks. The next thing I can think of is suspension bind. Can you pull the springs and see if the rear suspension fully cycles? Essentially through ride height and lower. If it does not, you may have a bind in the uppers. I have same control arms on my 90, no issues. When I installed new poly bushings in the upper ears of the rear, I had to move them inboard 1/4-3/8". You may need to do that as well.

Try the cycling the suspension first. If a bind, disconnect an upper arm and see if in its neutral state it lines up with the ear. If not, both may need adjustment.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

I will try this today. Thank you

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

It goes up with no springs in it

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

 

[Mustang5L5]

What springs are those? They sure are long. What’s the uncompressed height?

Edit: I’ve got 12” on a 03-04 mach 1 rear spring for comparison

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

I had to run to work and stuff. I’ll get a measurement. I thought the same thing. The coils look super tight at the bottom. They came
Out of a 89 4chl t-5 car but who knows what someone did before I got it

 

[7991LXnSHO]

My guess after you have done the other steps is someone put freakin’ 1970’s like tall springs to clear the tires.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

lol that could be. the car i took them out of was a mess.... had spray foam in the quarter panels. it had roof flashing in the door sills. it was pretty cherry.

 

[Anti_Hero0932]

these are damn near 14"

 

[Mustang5L5]

I think those springs are the issue.

 

[Happster]

Ever resolve this? Having the same issue with a 1997 GT Convertible. Put upper and lower torque box brackets on. Like an idiot, i torqued it hanging, but loosened it right away before ever dropping the car down. Torque boxes seemed to spring back, no obvious damage to anything. Rear end and springs are original to car, aftermarket control arms worked on my 98. I loosend all cotrol arms and took out the shocks to take them out of the equation and compressed those by hand no problem. No change. Took the springs out and it went up no problem with the control arms still loose, no mechanical binding. Can't for the life of me figure out why it won't settle with control arms loose. Even if I effed up the torque boxes, loose they should compress. Id suspect the springs if the car didn't roll in here on them. Going to try some softer and shorter eibach lowering springs I have lying around, but it's a head scratcher. Any other way to check for torque box damage? I can't see how the torque box brackets would change any thing. They're outside the lowers and don't interfere inside the uppers.

 

[Happster]

As said above, take the springs out and cycle the rear through full range of motion. When near normal (for a Foxbody) height the wheel should be better centered in wheel well.

Something to check, if you installed aftermarket rear control arms, could the uppers be in a bind? I know when I swapped my rear suspension bushings to polyurethane pieces (in stock arms at the time) I had to move the sleeves in the rear end ears toward the center of car 1/4-3/8 to allow the bushings to fit and seat right and not bind.

Kruisr, how did you move those ears? My uppers were a beyatch to get aligned. That's probably where I'm binding up, even with the botls loose

 

[General karthief]

You may need to look at the front to figure it out.
Did it sag on one side before you worked on the boxes?

 

[KRUISR]

Kruisr, how did you move those ears? My uppers were a beyatch to get aligned. That's probably where I'm binding up, even with the botls loose

2x4 and big hammer. 2x4 laying flat along the flange of the sleeve and a mini sledge to beat on the 2x4. Obviously you want to move it slowly to not overshoot where you want to be as moving it back will be much harder. If your bushings are already installed and can't be removed, just put the 2x4 on the bushing face.

I would observe and be aware of how close both ears are to alignment as this is the centering of the rear end as well.

The way to test how much you need to move is have lower arms installed (car obviously supported high enough to work underneath) and rear end jacked up/supported at about ride height. Install uppers on the chassis side and see how close the alignment is with the rear end when you swing the arms down. They should just slide over the rear end ears. Don't forget, the metal sleeve (with flange on edge of sleeve pointed to outside of car) was the rub surface of upper arm in OEM configuration. Most poly bushing sets have a shouldered bushing to go into that sleeve. The thickness of the shoulder is how much I moved the sleeve inward.

Happster... pics always help with diagnosing the problem or suggesting a way to complete the install.