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Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: the_intimidator03 on December 23, 2009, 12:35:15 AM

I am lookin at the possibility of getting some new swaybars for my 86 cougar.. Is the 88 turbocoupe front and rear sway bars the same size as mustang of same year?. also may look into getting rack & pinion from same car.

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: Beau on December 23, 2009, 03:30:09 AM

, I never did get that shipping quote on the TC/Stang GT rear bar, did I? My bad...still want it?

Anyway, to answer your question, yeah, bars are the same size, TC to Stang GT.
Anything is better than no bar at all.

STang GT's (and LX 5.0's) and TC's had the quicker ratio rack...I'd probably go with a new rack instead of a used one, but if the car was decently maintained and the price is right, might be ok.

You'll notice a helluva difference in feel with the faster rack in...but your steering will be a little stiffer compared to the original.

Worthwhile trade-off in my opinion.

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: Chuck W on December 23, 2009, 07:27:36 AM

You'll want to get a PS pump that is matched to the rack as well.

Odd (bad) things can happen when you mix a 15:1 rack with a 20:1 pump, and vise versa.

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: daminc on December 23, 2009, 08:16:30 AM

How do you tell what the ratio is on the rack or pump?

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: Chuck W on December 23, 2009, 11:11:47 AM

The 15:1 racks usually have "15:1" on them someplace, but I imagine you could determine one from turns lock-to-lock.

I don't think there is any visual way to tell if a pump is the high-effort one.

I *think* the only difference is the output valve (what the pressure line connects to), but don't hold me to it.

I've had a std pump on a high-effort (15:1) rack before. Everything seems fine until you try and make a quick direction change, and the steering locks from the pressure. Not fun.

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: Beau on December 23, 2009, 01:21:42 PM

The quicker racks are just a tad over 2 turns lock to lock, while the 20 to one racks are about 3 and half, like Chuck said, not a visual way that I know of. :D

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: Nate on December 24, 2009, 10:55:42 AM

i think tc, sport, and xr7 came with the 15:1 rack, while base and lx had the 20's i know my lx had the 20, and my xr7, tc, and sport had a 15 but they were all '88s

Title: sway bar questions.
Post by: the_intimidator03 on December 24, 2009, 09:13:40 PM

well ford lemme meet with this guy this weekend i may do some trade work with him as well. i dont even know if the rear swaybar is still there i figure if ican get the rack cheap i can rebuild it. It wont go on the car immediately anyhow

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Technical => Suspension/Steering => Topic started by: the_intimidator03 on December 23, 2009, 12:35:15 AM