Used Thunderbird ARC shocks

[DieselDan]

Howdy everyone,

So basically, one of my front air bags is leaking and short of cutting off an arm or a leg to afford one, I have finally decided that I am going to put my car on coil springs for a little while. I am mainly focused on the front, as the rear has bilsteins and is nice and stiff. (I can manually inflate the rear bags using my switches)

What I was wondering was, how likely it would be that a pair of used front ARC shocks from a T-Bird would do anything for me? (I have access to them.) Even if they were set on full stiff? I have no idea, this is just how I feel to fix it for the time being. I was thinking of getting a full set of Illuminas, but right now I have my money reserved for the exhaust work I'm about to do... sooo....

Any thoughts?
My front shocks are wore the F out. It really shows with how stiff the rear is. So almost any improvement in the shocks is better than what I have now.

 

[ford nut]

slime.....

I don't have any idea, t bird one would think it would work.

 

[chris2523]

i would think they would be better than what you have now at least.

the arc shocks on our 89 xr7 would get pretty stiff. was easy to tell when one got stuck.

 

[DieselDan]

I had considered slime... I have done it in the past. I have just been tired of how soft the fronts are, figured maybe the ARCs might give me a little bit more firmness than the stock worn out shocks I have now.

Thanks for the input though 40 bux for front springs and shocks at the UPAP.

 

[Moes8]

tbird ARC's are pretty stiff ,well controlled shocks, i would love to do as you are suggesting,

i need to start looking for some.

i had the older 88 tbird ARC struts and after 200K miles they still were as stiff as when i got the car (approx30k) ,

My 88 turbo coupe is still the most controlled car i have ever had, chassis control wise, it rode hard ,but boy did it handle, and was so predictable when driving it fast.

 

[97MarkJA]

They will work.
I have the tokico Part #:TOEU3689 Illumina Shock in front and the toee3690 in rear which are the replacements for the electronic controlled shocks.

 

[keVIIIn]

I've got two front air shocks (first gen) that I have been trying to get rid of..they both have some hair line cracks in the rubber where it folds..the right front shock would occationally leak and slam over a 24 hour period..happened maybe 3 times over approximately a year period on cold damp nights..I pulled them in favor of a coil kit at about 80k miles. They aren't bad for temp replacements..I just want them out of the garage..I'd be willing to give em away for the cost of shipping..worth a shot on a temporary fix till you get the funds to fix it right. Let me know if you want em..otherwise they're goin in the garbage.

 

[DieselDan]

Thank you Kevin, but I am kind of over the air system right now...

I picked up all 4 shocks and springs from the SuperCoupe today. I also sound some very nice aluminum spring isolator a for the rear from a converted Mark in the junk yard.

Now I am just trying to figure out which way you turn the little rod to adjust for firm/soft. And if its possible to wire up the actuators for manual/electronic actuation. Anyone have any input on this?

Any help is appreciated!

And some mustang calipers! Brand new duralast gold brake pads too...

 

[Stangman]

Nice score!!!

Oh and once you come over to the dark side of coil springs.... youll never go back..... nothing like your car sitting in any temperature for over a year and it never moves up or down! plus, atleast on my car.... the ride was mucccchhhh better, and handled better too

 

[DieselDan]

Nice score!!!

Oh and once you come over to the dark side of coil springs.... youll never go back..... nothing like your car sitting in any temperature for over a year and it never moves up or down! plus, atleast on my car.... the ride was mucccchhhh better, and handled better too

I'm kind of meh on the whole thing. I didn't want to have to do anything to the suspension yet, as the RH front is a newer assembly, but everything else is decently old I guess. The car takes turns either slamming the front, back, or both. It's kind of aggravating. The thing I was most impressed with however is that the few times it has had to pick the car up on all 4 corners, the compressor did it in one cycle, without timing out.

I just got the 'noob' treatment on TCCOA after asking some questions over there, none too happy about that.

I have no idea how the adjustment works on these things, basically turning the adjustment rod which direction causes firm/soft and can it be turned too far.

I was extremely happy to see how firm the rear shocks are. Trying to compress them is about as hard as my cobras shocks are. The assemblies don't look original, they are pretty clean.


Also, stangman... Did you see I added another picture to the speedometer thread for you?


Take Care!

 

[Moes8]

Dan, dont quote me here but here is how i remember it.

the adjuster gets turned 90° to switch from soft to firm, if you have the shock without a spring on it,its pretty easy to find the 2 settings and make a line to mark it.

without the spring on it, you can compress the shock against the ground by hand and release it, you should easily be able to tell the difference in the shock by doing this and then turning the adjuster 90° one way or the other a few times, in other words, turn it 90, try it,turn it 90 again , etc, you should be able to find the 2 settings fairly quickly per shock

in my experience it cannot be turned too far, (again not 100% sure), but i think turning it 90° at a time simply "lines up" one of 2 sets of valving passages, so turning it in my mind does not go too far,does not loosen or tighten,it simply keeps going around and around past the 2 settings, one more time, this is how i remember it/understand it. if anyone else knows, please correct .


And yes, it should be fairly easy to manual control, the actuator is nothing more than solenoid switching between the 2 angles of 90°.

 

[DieselDan]

I appreciate the info! I have to try to make a tool or something to turn the control rod by hand. I may be able to get at them with some mini-needle nose pliers.

 

[97MarkJA]

Dan, dont quote me here but here is how i remember it.

the adjuster gets turned 90° to switch from soft to firm, if you have the shock without a spring on it,its pretty easy to find the 2 settings and make a line to mark it.

without the spring on it, you can compress the shock against the ground by hand and release it, you should easily be able to tell the difference in the shock by doing this and then turning the adjuster 90° one way or the other a few times, in other words, turn it 90, try it,turn it 90 again , etc, you should be able to find the 2 settings fairly quickly per shock

in my experience it cannot be turned too far, (again not 100% sure), but i think turning it 90° at a time simply "lines up" one of 2 sets of valving passages, so turning it in my mind does not go too far,does not loosen or tighten,it simply keeps going around and around past the 2 settings, one more time, this is how i remember it/understand it. if anyone else knows, please correct .


And yes, it should be fairly easy to manual control, the actuator is nothing more than solenoid switching between the 2 angles of 90°.

+1 that is exactly how they work. I'm glad I bought my shocks when I did, I see the price is over $600 now for all four corners.
Dan I have been looking for the brackets/actuators for a while, let me know if you want to get rid of those.
J

 

[Stangman]

Also, stangman... Did you see I added another picture to the speedometer thread for you?

Yes I did. Thank you. However I'm not great at reading electrical diagrams. However a friend of mine is, and that's where the car is going now that the trans is finished.

 

[thaywood]

That's an awesome setup. I know the solenoids can be straight wired to a switch on the dash because I did that with my '87 Mustang with '88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe ARC shocks and struts. It was pretty cool being able to switch from soft to firm at the flick of a switch instead of having to get out of the car and open the hood and hatch and do it manually. Now what I want to do is get a set of ARC shocks from an SC and put them into a set of Motorcraft air shock housings so I can have the control of the ARC system while keeping the air ride. That would be sweet.

 

[96 shaker]

will the super coupe springs lower the mark vlll down any??

 

[chris2523]

if anything, Kirks car sat higher than stock on SC springs.