Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Topic: Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird (Read 2401 times) previous topic - next topic

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

January 31, 2006, 12:32:38 AM

Some people have asked how I got the Bilstein Sport rear shocks and H&R Race springs for an SN95 Mustang to work on my '87 TBird. Here's what I did:

1. Shock spacers: Obtained some (~10") mild steel 1.75" OD .120 wall round tubing from onlinemetals.com, along with a 12"x12" piece of 1/8" mild steel plate.

2. Cut the tubing into 3" sections and cut a square window in the side of the tube almost half way around and halfway up each peice. Next, I cut out 4 1.75" round pieces from the plates and drilled 3/8" holes in the middle of each one.

3. After I had done all this, I used my flux core welder to weld the round peices to the top and bottom of each 3" piece of tube. Some black paint, a couple of 2" 3/8 grade 8 bolts and they were ready to go in. So basically the shocks bolt to the spacers using the original hardware, and the spacers bolt to the shock towers on the car using the 3/8' bolts.

For the springs, I got some spring perches from colemanracing.com for a stock car application and trimmed them to height until I got the lower control arms parallel to the ground for minimal roll steer (though thats probably the least of your problems if you don't have a panhard bar back there). Then I just lined everything up by eye and welded the new perches to the original ones after I cleaned up the area to be welded. As can be seen in the pic, I went most of the way around because I wouldn't bet my life on that weld, but if you had a welder that actually worked, you could just tack weld the perches on there for easier removal later.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #1 – January 31, 2006, 10:35:25 AM

What bottoms out first, the axle to the bumpstop, or the shock?

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #2 – January 31, 2006, 10:54:10 AM

Ah... I get it now. I was thinking from the shock mount on the axle no wonder why I couldn't picture it. Thanks.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #3 – February 01, 2006, 12:10:04 AM

Why did you go through all that when shocks/springs/control arms for these cars are so easy to get?

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #4 – February 01, 2006, 08:28:42 AM

Quote from: JeremyB

What bottoms out first, the axle to the bumpstop, or the shock?

Are you talking normally, or in his set-up?

Also, Michael..."good" shocks (Konis, Bilsteins) aren't available from the manf......you have to find old stock or make something else work on the rears.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #5 – February 01, 2006, 11:23:45 AM

I'm referring to his setup.
Do "good" shocks have integral bumpstops? If not, bottoming out the shock is a good way to destroy the shock mount.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #6 – February 01, 2006, 12:02:48 PM

Ah. I don't remember if the 'Steins have an internal bumpstop or not.

It would take ALOT of compression (even with his adapter) to bottom out a Mustang shock on a Tbird though....

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #7 – February 01, 2006, 12:25:47 PM

Once again, I forgot the Mustang shock has a shorter compressed length. :hick:

His adapter is 3" long, the shock has a 1.5" shorter compressed distance; so the mount adapter effectively moves the bump limit 1.5" down but retains the same rebound limit.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #8 – February 03, 2006, 12:58:17 AM

Elsmere...nice post, thanks for the info

huh...i was always thinking drop in length of the shocks. just fliping over the axle bracket still limmits the ability of the shock to "drop in". how bad is it anyway? i like the mount. sounds like it would be a good alturnitive too fliping the factory bracket on the axle. at least another solution to the same problem. even i should be able too make one easy enough even with the tools im limited with. i wouldnt bother with the spring purches...

i realy wasnt concerned about it untill now as an after thought. is there anything that i should worry about? bullit mustang springs and shocks (tokikos) on the che adjustables...

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #9 – February 03, 2006, 03:23:28 AM

hey that sounds like a good plan but i got a few questions would i do the same for my 84' t-bird if i were to use fox mustang shocks and springs and also the spring do you know the part number on the spring perches i see some but i think they are lower perches thanks for the time and how to

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #10 – February 04, 2006, 02:37:28 AM

The SN95 Bilsteins come with bumpstops that ride on the shaft of the shock. With these installed, they touched about .5 inch before the frame-->axle bumpstops touched. Therefore, the frame bumpers could have been taken off, but I didn't feel like cutting any more on the day I put it together.

Aerobird, I was building this car for autocross and open track events(on an extremely limited budget), so many of the off-the-shelf tbird springs and shocks were out of the question, and I didn't want to spend money on one-off parts for a car that's only worth $1000 to begin with. I'm pretty familiar with the Mustang aftermarket(which has a few people who like to turn), so I knew I could get many of the parts to work with minimal effort, and maybe get some parts used. Add to all this that the Bilstein/H&R combo is pretty well proven, and you can see my reasoning.

I also realize that I could have just bought some lower control arms with adjustable perches, but I got some MM lowers with std perches for really cheap, so that's whay I did. Besides, I'm not real fond of one-piece urethane bushings at both ends on the lower control arms in a fox body (hence no CHE arms). I do think the adjustable perches on the lower arms is a better solution than the welded in perches, mainly because it's easier.

I don't know the PN for the perches, but most stock car places would have them, I think they were for 5" dia. springs, though the rears on my car are 5.5".

When I first installed the shocks, I tried the flipped axle bracket, but I wasn't really comfortable with the little bit of droop travel I saw (IIRC, ~1" when I had the car at a ride height I liked). I never drove the car hard with the shocks like that. I'm thinking the handling balance would get pretty squirrelly if you were to lift a rear wheel because of not enough droop travel, and given the fact that I don't really like dying, I decided I wouldn't chance it.

Adapters/spacers to use Mustang rear shocks and springs on Thunderbird

Reply #11 – February 04, 2006, 03:03:00 AM

Great mod on the shock mount! I was going to just flip the bracket when I get my Koni reds but I like the spacer idea better. Very cool!