Front Suspension Rebuild

[52merc]

I'm planning to do some front suspension work. I currently run Eibach Pro springs and MM CC plates with no other mods. Its basically a road car (no racing). I'm not interested in going with coil-overs or changing K-member and budget is important. I'm thinking:

Steeda X2 ball joints
MM MMTR-4 tapered stud bump-steer kit
MM MMST-7 steering rack bushings
Global West 1076RD LCA bushings or Prothane 6-217
Prothane 6-1136 swaybar bushings
Prothane 19-431 swaybar end link bushings

For not much more money I could replace the X2s and 1076RDs with BMR 1043 A-arms. These have high ball joints and polyurethane bushings.

Any thoughts out there?

 

[shurur]

Yup..you just need to level your sway bar end links for each inch you lower your spring length.

Shorter endlink bolts (fastenal) and hacksaw the ferrulle/bolt sleeve.
Front Sway Bar End Links & Bushings


Global West also sells Delrin bushings for the front control arms....

 

[01yellercobra]

Friend of mine did Prothane on his front end and he's happy with it. Personally I wouldn't bother with a bump steer kit. Do inner and outer tie rod ends and call it a day.

 

[52merc]

I was contemplating changing my struts and shocks as part of the front end work. I can't seem to find anyone that has Bilsteins in stock. There seems to be a real shortage at this time.

 

[scottydsntknow]

I'm going through my front suspension myself and absolutely going to go with the BMR A arms. The ones with the upgraded ball joints.

I contacted BMR directly about those ball joints and they are Proforged units. I looked them up and they are basically X2 ball joints with chromoly studs and a similar joint... Maybe a little beefier. You can look them up.

The regular A arms look like they come with upgraded stock style ball joints too.

Get them from whatever site you can get the best discount on. I'm getting them from Jegs because Jegs does a 10% military discount.

Sent from my Z978 using Tapatalk

 

[dhoening]

Once I lowered my ‘99 Cobra, I had massive bump steer issues. I raised the rack (with offset bushings) and installed the end-link bump steer kit to get it all back under control.

 

[52merc]

I think I'm going to install all the stuff I just ordered and get it aligned. Then I'll check bumpsteer with a gauge. If needed I'll add it later and align again if needed. I should be able to get the front chamber, caster, and toe-in adjusted close enough with my current gauges to be able to check the bumpsteer. I need to find someone around here with a bumpsteer gauge I can borrow or go buy one. See my QA1 vs X2 thread for the parts I ordered.

 

[scottydsntknow]

Oh yeah I'm going to go with offset bushings too, I added them to my cart on my last Jegs order for like $12... the Prothane ones.

Talked to BMR again about the A arms with the cheaper balljoints and THOSE are Federal Mogul/Moog units... which are what Max Motorsports uses in everything and is very adamant about NOT using the X2 style ones so take that for what it is worth. For someone like me who is only going to be lowered about 1" to 1.25" the X2 style balljoints and offset rack bushings are probably fine. Not sure what you all are doing but nice to have options.

 

[52merc]

if you talk to enough people you will hear just about anything. MM says to only use offset rack bushings on aftermarket k-members - never on a stock k-member. It really boils down to what you think is going to work best for your car, the way you are going to use it, and how deep your pockets are.

 

[BackPressure]

I was contemplating changing my struts and shocks as part of the front end work. I can't seem to find anyone that has Bilsteins in stock. There seems to be a real shortage at this time.

I tried to order a set of B8s in August of 2017. Backordered until April of 2018; April came and Bilstein was still backordered; estimated 4-5 more months. They say they are in the process of relocating and retooling so expect extreme delays.


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[shurur]

I was contemplating changing my struts and shocks as part of the front end work. I can't seem to find anyone that has Bilsteins in stock. There seems to be a real shortage at this time.

Koni sa sports are comparable with bilstein b8 sports.
Koni strut doesn't need modification to go CO should you decide to go that way in the future.

I have h&r race with koni sa struts up front and bilstein b8 sports out back..

 

[scottydsntknow]

Agreed, I love Bilsteins but if they aren't available then go Koni. Or find a set of OEM Termi shocks/struts and send them in to get re-valved.

 

[52merc]

I ended up getting the MM bumpsteer kit the other day from a local shop which had them in stock. I was there to pick up my rack bushing kit. After carefully reading the bumpsteer setting instructions using the MM bumpsteer gauge, I think I have enough information to build my own gauge. I plan on checking the current setup to see how bad it is. This should answer some questions about bumpsteer after just installing Eibach Pro Kit and C/C plates.

 

[shurur]

I ended up getting the MM bumpsteer kit the other day from a local shop which had them in stock. I was there to pick up my rack bushing kit. After carefully reading the bumpsteer setting instructions using the MM bumpsteer gauge, I think I have enough information to build my own gauge. I plan on checking the current setup to see how bad it is. This should answer some questions about bumpsteer after just installing Eibach Pro Kit and C/C plates.

And maybe check out Steeda's bump-steer instructions..they don't make such a hoopla about the bump-steer install.

 

[scottydsntknow]

Yeah mm is great but they seem to think that anyone installing suspension parts should be doing it at a competition level... I dunno

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[dhoening]

Its a very easy install. No gauge required.
Just use all the spacers to make the tie rod end link as low as possible, then get an alignment.
You will find that after you lower the car, that bump steer is so bad, it takes all of the adjustment you can get to bring it back to close. Hence the need for rack offset bushings as well.
Can do the alignment with the string method, or pay an alignment shop to do it.

 

[52merc]

Yes, you can install any part without gauging it. Some parts are more important than others to measure or gauge. My whole process is to learn while I'm working. I built my gauge and checked the current bumpsteer on the front DS. I repeated the test an got similar results telling me my gauge and procedure are probably good. I was quite surprised with the results as shown bellow:

The blue line is the result of my test. The two orange lines represent the target bumpsteer that MM suggests. They also say that the bumpsteer characteristics in droop are not as important as bump, which makes perfect sense. My goal is to get the line to shift as straight up and down as possible. I think I would rather have some toe-in on bump than my current situation of toe-out.

I have a Tanner Camber/Caster gauge and Toe Plates so I will conduct an initial alignment front and back. I need new tires soon and will get a professional alignment performed at that time.

 

[scottydsntknow]

Graphs even simple like that one make my head hurt... I am not great at "teh maths"... Any good articles or how-tos you read to teach yourself how to do this or did you have someone show you?

Have you driven the car yet with the adjustments done?

 

[52merc]

I just carefully read the MM instructions on setting bumpsteer using their bumpsteer gauge. The pictures in the instructions provided enough information for me to figure out how to build my own gauge. I then just followed their instructions. Being a mechanical engineer helped.

As for as making the graft, it is just MS Excel, which I've used for business since we switched from Lotus 123 to Excel back in the 1980s.

I am still waiting on parts before I start taking the car apart to make the changes. My order is still awaiting the Global West bushings and Bilstein struts. As soon as I get the word the order is shipping, I'll start my mods.

 

[01yellercobra]

I was wondering if that was Excel. I used it to do some graphs in chemistry. I use it quite a bit at work too. It's a pretty amazing program in my opinion.