Installed MM LCA

[ShiftinGT]

Hey everyone,

I installed Maximum Motorsports Lower control arms this weekend along with new BBK spring isolators and a MM pinion bump stop.

For anyone considering doing the job it's fairly straight forward. Did it in my garage with basic tools on jack stands.

I see some people mention having to remove the cat-back, this was not my case with my pypes m80 since they are a lot smaller than the stock style mufflers. So I assume any straight through muffler welded into the stock cat-back will not be required to remove.

I was intimidated by removing the springs at first because I have never done it but it was really simple since I was remove the LCA to begin with.

With the jack under the LCA I removed the bolt near the rear of the car and lowered the spring to safety, install was simply the reverse of removing it. I noticed the springs were installed facing the wring way by the previous owner but they are right now.

Another note on the install: The parking brake cable is fairly easy to remove, simply pull it with some locking pliers to remove. Installing is kinda a PITA bu I managed to get it by using a flathead to pull the lever back and the pliers to pull the cable. I'll have some more tips later if anyone is interested.

I ended up replacing a wheel bearing the weekend as well

Initial impressions:

Back out of my driveway and didn't get any clunking like normal, so either the spring isolators are suspending the noise that was caused by the busted up old ones or the LCA help with that as well.

I didn't get to get on it this morning like I wanted to due to the rain so will be back with results on that another day.

- The car does feel a lot firmer in the rear though while just cruising.
- HOLY HELL NVH it's definitely 2-3 times the NVH i was experiencing with the busted up stock control arms. Will have to wait and see if it is worth dealing with. I do have some sound deadening I need to install in the trunk area and I have no interior for the most part besides carpet and driver seat but damn it is noisy.

Now for a few pics:

Fresh out of the box

Busted up old bushing with 168k on them

Stock vs. MM

Mid-Install

And found this crack near where the bolt towards the front of the car where it bolts on to the body.

Anyways just wanted to share this, thanks for looking.

 

[Wade_GT]

Congrats on the MM LCA's. They are one of the most beneficial mods I've done to my car. Did you grease the outside of the bushings/bearings before install? I can't remember if the instructions call for that and might help with noise.

That stock LCA bushing is the worst I've ever seen - nice work.

You may want to get some opinions if that crack needs a weld job repair or not.

 

[DMassey]

The MM LCA's were one of the best mods I did to my 87 LX. But I honestly had NO increase in NVH. I suspect your busted torque box is your NVH culprit. The firmer bushings/bearings in the better control arms are transferring more energy to that weak joint.

 

[ShiftinGT]

Thanks. I'm guessing it needs the crack needs to be addressed. The NVH is pretty bad, i had 0 wheel bearing noise prior to this but, now there is definitely a lot of it. There is no vibration and the wheel bearings and axles are new from a couple months ago.

Anyone have an idea how much that would cost to weld up? Not really experienced with shops and don't want to get ripped off.

 

[KLeech]

Definitely need to get that crack attended to before launching that car again. With those stiffer bushings that's just asking for it to get worse!

 

[mustangmike02]

Sorry to bump a old thread, came across it on google. Do you not need ISO's on the MM LCA's?

 

[Wade_GT]

Not required, but you should at least wrap the lower spring coil with electrical tape to avoid scratching the arm's mounting point. I left the lower ISO on and removed the upper ISO in the rear.