My 97 Mark VIII with 134,000 miles is getting noisy in the front end. One UBJ boot is gone, the other is split. It already has a cheap set of coil springs on it replacing the air suspension.
I have a 97 Cougar that is wrecked, and the more I look at it, the less likely I am to fix it (needs too much work for me to do). It has Tokico Blue shocks in front and lowering springs all around, UCA/LCA/end links/hubs with less than 5,000 miles on them. I also have the OEM "Sport" rate springs from it.
1) Is it worth the extra time to remove and install this stuff twice? I also have an 89 Cougar sitting that I redid the heads on and am putting back together. It has all the OEM suspension parts off the 97 Cougar and seems fine, probably won't be around long enough to wear them out.
2) The spring kit in rear seems to have some upper mount piece. What can I get away with for a perch on the bottom? I don't see anyone that makes the aluminum ones anymore, can I use something like this: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/61709
3) any ideas on how much lower the rear will be with no perches in the lower arm, or with those urethane ones, and the Tokico lowering springs? If I have three people in the back seat and drive aggressively already I have tire to wheel well contact (that was with 245/45/17 and I now have 255/45/17). I don't often have more than just myself in the car, but I can have my family of 4, or 3 and a trunk load of stuff. I do have those airlift bags in another car for overloading on trips, and they would probably help in this case as well. I also drag already going over some speed bumps, the tall aggressive ones in parks, not speed humps.
This is the wrecked 97 Cougar (it was sold back to me for 250 bucks, and they gave me 4300 bucks for it, really!):
Current "wheel gap":
Tokico springs and front shocks (the rear shocks are trashed, the upper mount broke on both):
I have a 97 Cougar that is wrecked, and the more I look at it, the less likely I am to fix it (needs too much work for me to do). It has Tokico Blue shocks in front and lowering springs all around, UCA/LCA/end links/hubs with less than 5,000 miles on them. I also have the OEM "Sport" rate springs from it.
1) Is it worth the extra time to remove and install this stuff twice? I also have an 89 Cougar sitting that I redid the heads on and am putting back together. It has all the OEM suspension parts off the 97 Cougar and seems fine, probably won't be around long enough to wear them out.
2) The spring kit in rear seems to have some upper mount piece. What can I get away with for a perch on the bottom? I don't see anyone that makes the aluminum ones anymore, can I use something like this: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/61709
3) any ideas on how much lower the rear will be with no perches in the lower arm, or with those urethane ones, and the Tokico lowering springs? If I have three people in the back seat and drive aggressively already I have tire to wheel well contact (that was with 245/45/17 and I now have 255/45/17). I don't often have more than just myself in the car, but I can have my family of 4, or 3 and a trunk load of stuff. I do have those airlift bags in another car for overloading on trips, and they would probably help in this case as well. I also drag already going over some speed bumps, the tall aggressive ones in parks, not speed humps.
This is the wrecked 97 Cougar (it was sold back to me for 250 bucks, and they gave me 4300 bucks for it, really!):
Current "wheel gap":
Tokico springs and front shocks (the rear shocks are trashed, the upper mount broke on both):
