Does anybody have the specs for a good 50% sport/50% street alignment for a 1988 Thunderbird Sport Coupe? I have 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe front wheel spindles and brakes, the 11" four lugs and will need to go in for an alignment once get the turbo steering gear installed - would like to have a full alignment with Camber/Caster and Toe accounted for. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You will need caster camber plates to get any real adjustment for that. Toe in shouldn't be a problem.
If you decide to get the CC plates I would strongly suggest you get the Maximum Motorsports units here:
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_77&products_id=258
They come with the installation instructions and there are two sets of specs that are in the instructions, one for street and the other is for track use.
Darren
Okay, so I got my car aligned at NTB and they said they adjusted everything but unfortunately one strut, they couldn't get 100% where it should be. They also didn't get the steering wheel perfectly straight either. They said the car will want to drift one direction after a while but shouldn't effect the wear of the tires. I was disappointed with the way it drives but I don't think it has as much to do with the alignment as it does warn ball joints. The car is very loose when at the beginning of a turn and then it begins to overturn and I need to message the steering wheel back the other direction. Everything is new including a performance steering rack from the TC 14.7:1 except for the original 155,000 mile ball joints. This car rides about as bad as it did before the new rack, outer tie rods, spindles, and struts. A bit scary when your at higher speeds. Does anybody have a good recommendation when it comes to lower control arms? I've been quoted $121 from O'Reilly's for the ball joints and $771 from a local shop to replace the ball joints and do the alignment. I don't have a press and would rather do after market at this point and if I could have the ball joints pre-installed where all I need to do is bolt it on and take it in for another alignment, that would be great. Thanks in advance.
You basically have two choice if the ball joints are worn out. You can rebuild a set of control arms or buy new ones. To rebuild them you can get the bushings and ball joint from a parts store and they will have the tool that you can rent/borrow to remove the bushings and ball joints and reinstall them but you will need a 1/2" impact and air compressor. I have heard of some doing this with hand wrenches but I would not attempt it as I have done this twice and it takes a long Saturday. I went to the salvage yard or "auto recycler" as some like to be called and got a set of control arms off a wrecked car so I could drive mine while rebuilding the other ones in the evenings. Then you can install them on a Friday evening and take car to get aligned on Saturday.
Just looking up the parts on O Reilly's website it looks like the cost would be about $39 for the Moog bushing kit and you will need two of them and the Moog ball joints are $61 each both of which are lifetime warranty. This is list so I am pretty sure you should be able to get them at least 10% cheaper. So lets say you get them for $180 total which is not cheap but Moog parts are quality so that is usually what I try and go for. Now on your car I believe the front control arms are the same as the SN95 Mustangs so you could get the whole replacement Ford Racing control arm which is part number M-3075-D. About the cheapest I could find them was here:
http://www.americanmuscle.com/ford-front-controlarms-9404.html
If they are like the Fox Mustang units then they will be part number M-3075-A and again I found them here:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-3075-A/
Hope that helps.
Darren
If your ball joints were worn that bad (or at all for that matter) they should not have attempted an alignment , I recommend taking your car to another shop and having the front end completely checked out.
Is there any way to verify the mustang parts (lower control arms with the ball joints) from Summit or American Racing will fit the T-Bird? I'd hate to spend $300 for parts that wont work. Any help would be greatly appreciated as always. The members on this site have been very helpful so far.
The 83-86 cars use the Fox Mustang lower control arm. The 87-88 cars use the SN95 Mustang lower control arm. I believe the only hang up you will have is that the SN95 control arms will come with the SN95 ball joint which will be too short to install the Fox spindle on. You can swap the SN95 ball joint for the Fox ball joint if you need to and if that was the case I would just salvage yard a set of the SN95 arms and get some Fox ball joints from a parts house. Your other option would be to mill down the Fox spindle where the castle nut goes. I have seen this done before and if you have access to a mill or cheap access then is it also a viable solution and you get to keep the better design of the SN95 ball joint.
Darren