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Topic: I took the car out for one last ride. (Read 1944 times) previous topic - next topic

I took the car out for one last ride.

I pushed her too her limits and found a few things I want to work on over the winter.

I enter an intersate off ramp at 65 hold it there rite up to the apex of the turn then stomp on it and exit at around 85-90. Thats not the bad part. The bad part is the stickes to the ground except for the inside front corner which screams like mad becasue it is looseing contact with the road.

Anybody have suggestions on this.

88 XR7
5.0 Auto
F springs
XR7 sway bars
245/50ZR16 in the front
235/60ZR15 in the back (dont ask)

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #1 –
Quote from: slamedcat

Anybody have suggestions on this.

What is your budget? :p

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #2 –
Champagne taste, Beer pocket book.:D

Would a set of sub-frame connecters fix this?

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #3 –
Quote
Originally Posted by slamedcat
Anybody have suggestions on this.



Um........... slow down? :hick:
Resident "Idiot".

Formerly TBob5pt0 :shoothead


Quote from: JeremyB;165772
Repairing a lock cylinder that is frozen or sans keys requires a drill, gumption, and a midget on a tricycle.
Quote from: Big_D
Forgot to put on intake hose when starting the car, sucked neighbors cat into intake.

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #4 –
sounds like you are pushing it to hard. maybe try dropping it, or smaller tires in the front? only thing I can think of. Maybe change out all the bushings and things of the like just for kicks.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #5 –
limits of the stock suspension and possibly bad alignment or tire pressure. cheapest upgrade would probably be turbo coupe springs, sway bars and some mustang shocks and struts, there is actually a thread on how to put mustang shocks in the rear.

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #6 –
Quote from: slamedcat
I pushed her too her limits and found a few things I want to work on over the winter.

I enter an intersate off ramp at 65 hold it there rite up to the apex of the turn then stomp on it and exit at around 85-90. Thats not the bad part. The bad part is the stickes to the ground except for the inside front corner which screams like mad becasue it is looseing contact with the road.

Anybody have suggestions on this.

88 XR7
5.0 Auto
F springs
XR7 sway bars
245/50ZR16 in the front
235/60ZR15 in the back (dont ask)


something ive been doing with my cars, which makes a rather suprising difference, is i go and examine the tire sidewalls reading the entire thing, then i find the max PSI rating, then ill set it 1 or 2 PSI below the max rating, so if it says 42psi, ill set em at 40, that made a suprising difference

subframe connectors might not help that specific problem, but they are 110% worth the money

i see you have the XR7 swaybars, did you use poly bushings up front?

hows your alignment?
It's Gumby's fault.

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #7 –
The alignment is set to have the tire stand straight up when in the corner. Which means they are pushed in at the top.

As for the ride hight: "I can't clear a 20oz pen 15e bottle on its side"
I give it maybe 4-5in at the bottom of the rocker panel.

Are you saying smaller dia. or width on the tires?
I also run right about 40psi in all my tires.

Havn't replaced any of the bushings in the front at all.

It just acts like it is twisting the car in the corner.

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #8 –
got a strut tower brace?

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #9 –
Not yet. Is there one specific to the Tbird/Cougar becasue I have heard the mustnag one is a pain to fit in right.

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #10 –
Do you have the actual specs. for your alignment?

4"-5" at the rocker panel is far too low for optimum performance using stock components. I just measured my car, it is ~9.25". A good lowering is 1-2". Once you start to go below this, several bad things start to happen. I'm sleepy, so I'm just going to link to an excellent thread on this subject. Aqui.

A STB should be one of the last things you slap on for performance. It makes the car feel a lot more solid by stiffening up the cowl, but has minimal effect on how well your car will corner. (1)

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #11 –
The Maximum Motorsport strut brace for the Mustang fits the T-Bird perfectly. At least it did mine... It also happens to be the best one on the market in my opinion because of the firewall mounting at the pinch welds.

As for your front end pushing, I would get camber plates so you can have some control over your alignment. Although that alone wont fix the problem it will make it more managable. The Fox cars are so nose heavy they naturally will plow like a pig through corners with the modified Mac Strut suspension. Apart from springs, struts and urethane sway bar bushings I'd try and pull as much weight from the nose as possible.

Anyway, there's a picture of my strut brace and camber plates installed on my cardomain site... If the site is working right.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
86 5.0 Turbocoupe (Katrina), 87 5.0 Sport (Rita)

I took the car out for one last ride.

Reply #12 –
caster/camber plates and good shocks and struts. my 86 tc sticks to the road like glue and that's with 225/60 r15's on "invader" tires.

this winter we're setting it up to run over BMW's in the spring.:flip:
So you have a V8.......isn't that cute.