White Bird Project Updates

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Bill H

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Nov 23, 2023
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14
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Gulf Shores, AL
Vehicle Details
94 TBird
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Now that I've been under the car, I can see that all the bushing just about everywhere are toast. I've been reading suspension forum and will post there. I need to search a bit more and do some homework before I ask for help. I'm worried I can't find the parts anymore.

I did drain the trans and fluid was nice and red. I think I'll just drop the pan, clean it up and refill. Save the TC for another time.

The rear end link bushings actually disintegrated while I was working. I thought dirt had fallen on the floor.
 
You can still get all of the suspension parts that you need including bushings. You just have to search around a bit. Before you buy anything, post what you are looking at and someone can confirm the parts. There are a couple of parts that you don't want to buy from some suppliers.
 
Just avoid suspension “kits” and economy selections on rockauto IMO and you’ll be fine.
 
This is reassuring. I will check before buying.

Not much I don’t need. I’ll get out my shop manual and start searching on part nos?
Strut rod bushings, LCA, front and rear end links, UCAs.

Whoever was the last person to do this, share some vendors :)
 
I put Mevotech Supreme stuff on the Lincoln, seems OK so far... not a lot of great choices now, unless you luck out and find TRW or NOS Moog stuff from WBW for sale.
 
The strut rod bushings are still hit and miss but for me I have had the moogs on the LCA side for literally 20 years without issue and for the last 4 years I’ve had poly frame sides for a 61 Continental (same as the one Bill sells but way cheaper), they work great.
 
I thought a lot of the issue with the frame side strut rod bushings was the aftermarket cheesy split sleeves that crush when you tighten down the nut on the strut rod? I had machined some solid sleeves from DOM tubing that I am going to use if I ever actually get around to doing it on the '97.

Are these the frame poly's you are running? https://www.energysuspensionparts.c...nMoruRrjGdUOtx3KO61SqgwZMs1ooA7nJRgtfmTgubXrI
 
I’ve run ACDELCO UCA up front, pretty sure those are the ones w/ a replaceable ball joint. They can be flipped so if you can only find 1 side you can flip one so it works on the other side. If you look on rockauto search under Cougar, Tbird and Mark. I’ve seen parts listed for one model and not the other.

For bushings in general I like energy suspension, There’s a kit that works for the rear.
 
Are the correct rear upper bushings still hard to find? I remember a few years back they were being made incorrectly by a few companies. Wondering if I need to replace mine because just by looking the Cougar seems to have more rear camber than I remember :unsure:

This is the picture of Mevotech MK8562 at rockauto and it looks like the correct style-

1746555864133.png


The picture of the Dorman looks wrong-

1746556135500.png
 
The Mark and the T-bird do have "different" LCAs and UCAs (the LCA has a different K-member bushing and the UCA for the Marks has a boss added for the air suspension sensor) but otherwise they are interchangeable.

I recall it was a "luck of the draw" situation regarding finding the correct rear UCA inner bushings. Ordering two of the same part may yield one of the right part, and one of the wrong part. :(
 
Kenz said:
Are the correct rear upper bushings still hard to find? I remember a few years back they were being made incorrectly and hard to find.

This is the picture of Mevotech MK8562 at rockauto and it looks like the correct style.
Click to expand...

As I understand it from posts over at TCCOA, the issue was that a bad design had made its way into the supply channel seemingly at random, so that even people buying what they thought would be the correct design were still sometimes getting the wrong version. As such, having the correct picture shown isn't a guarantee that your particular order is going to come out right. As far as I know, only Bill at SCP is both a seller of those parts and aware of the issue, so that he checks to make sure they're the right ones before shipping.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I thought a lot of the issue with the frame side strut rod bushings was the aftermarket cheesy split sleeves that crush when you tighten down the nut on the strut rod? I had machined some solid sleeves from DOM tubing that I am going to use if I ever actually get around to doing it on the '97.

Are these the frame poly's you are running? https://www.energysuspensionparts.c...nMoruRrjGdUOtx3KO61SqgwZMs1ooA7nJRgtfmTgubXrI
Click to expand...

Yep that’s them (I only buy black ones). The sleeve is a little undersized for the strut rod but I was able to hog it out with a brake cylinder hone to take off a few thousandths, but the poly itself is the same as the SCP kit

IMG_2958.jpegIMG_2957.jpeg
 
Kenz said:
Are the correct rear upper bushings still hard to find? I remember a few years back they were being made incorrectly by a few companies. Wondering if I need to replace mine because just by looking the Cougar seems to have more rear camber than I remember :unsure:

This is the picture of Mevotech MK8562 at rockauto and it looks like the correct style-

View attachment 11803


The picture of the Dorman looks wrong-

View attachment 11804
Click to expand...
I bought a set of the Dormans BC851536PR about a year or so ago and they were correct. Hopefully most of the garbage is out of the system, but who knows.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I bought a set of the Dormans BC851536PR about a year or so ago and they were correct. Hopefully most of the garbage is out of the system, but who knows.
Click to expand...

I hope so! Those bad ones came into the market out of nowhere and literally cannot work unless you just throw them on without a care, which literally nobody who’d be able to who’d find a bad rear UCA bushing is bad to begin with would do!
 
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