In a week or two I should have the engine bay entirely prepped for the new motor. But while I'm still working I'd like to research the possibility of installing an aftermarket tubular k-member. UPR and QA1 seem to be prominent. What are folks using??
What's your intended use for the car??
Touring, occassional drag strip and windy roads.......little bit of everything I guess you could say.
I don't have an aftermarket k-member yet, but what I've heard and read is that one doesn't really want to use either the QA1s or the UPRs for anything more than strip use and a some street use as they're not designed for windy roads. Touring...... non-spirited maybe. But I'm sure someone with one of those will correct me if I'm wrong.
Good to know....we have tons of winding roads in PA! Maybe I'll just stay stock and plate the lower a-arms to stiffen them.
For what you're thinking about, stock k-member is more than sufficient. If I were planning to use my car for very spirited windy roads, I would go with a Maximum Motorsports unit. But there is Griggs racing and others also.
I have the Griggs unit on my 83 T-Bird and its a nice unit. I also have the Maximum Motorsports unit on my 93 Coupe and its heavier. If you are going to predominantly drive the car on the street I would go with the MM unit.
Also, both of these tubular units will require tubular lower control arms and coil overs. See here:
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=514_2_76&products_id=206
http://www.griggsracing.com/index.php?cPath=4332_4312_4359_2015_3245&osCsid=b90c68947f5ffdc6893f769171a5b2d2
Griggs does make Thunderbird specific parts so calling them would be your best bet.
Darren
i have a QA1 in my capri and blue TC.. i wouldn't say it's not suitable for touring, but it's not really the greatest in the bird.. it's great in the capri, i guess because of the weight difference and shorter wheel base.. never drove either with the stock k-member, so i can't really compare them to stock