Sherrie is getting re-bushed

[clutch47]

No, not that bush. Get your mind outta the gutter you heathens.
After reading the copious info here on suspension and body roll, I'm convinced of one thing: I'm not going to ruin the comfy ride of this sweet car.
But she needs some love.
So I guess I'll get deeper into springs, shocks, bushings and sway bars.
I don't want to go full stinkbug with her but having my 24 year old son in the back this weekend told the tale.
Scrubbing tires and boingo boingo.
Full poly, reinforced or custom trailing arms with 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" sways and road race coils aren't happening.
That would be fun though..

Any recommendations from the community.?

[gadget73]

Stock new rubber bushings will retain the ride quality but eliminate most of the vague mushy handling problems. Front and rear ones, the back ones are often overlooked and the rear ends up dancing around quite a bit.

A rear bar really helps handling and has basically no effect on ride quality. Bigger front bar is fine and all, but IMO I'd put a rear bar on before upgrading the front. I've run with a fat front bar and no rear and it drives like a shitty front wheel drive car. Loads of understeer, but limited body roll. Its sort of a strange feeling honestly.

Stock springs retain the ride and ride height, police or limo shocks aren't horribly under-damped like the stock shocks are. Police springs add a little ride height and its a bit stiffer without being obnoxious.

You can make one of these still ride nice but not drive like such a Granny car without any great efforts. Honestly even poly bushings don't make it as obnoxious as you probably expect. They have a whole lot more negative effect on how Fox chassis cars ride.

Something I always wanted to do, but have mostly been limited by my distinct lack of ability to fabricate worth a damn is a panhard rod in the back. Keeping the rear axle actually under the car should make a big difference in how solid it feels and it should not have any real negatives on ride quality.

people get all goo-goo over boxed rear control arms, but I think its a seriously bad idea. The suspension geometry requires things to flex back there, and if you make the arms unable to flex, it has to go somewhere. With poly bushings, it limits you even more and puts a lot of stress on the frame bracket for the arm. IMO the only reason I'd consider boxed arms is with spherical rod ends on the diff end to allow things to roll without risk of binding. The NVH from that sort of thing would make it quite unpleasant to drive though.

[packman]

I haven't done the body bushings yet; but I did go poly with the suspension bushings. Also did the Speedway springs and Bilstein shocks at that time as well. I figured I would have a harsh ride, but that was not the case. I gained a good bit of handling and a ride quality like my '05 MGM. Perhaps each box Panther is different, but my CV benefitted from that upgrade.

[gadget73]

yeah the poly isn't really as bad as you'd expect but it does add some NVH that the stock bushings don't. really it just depends what your ultimate goal is, if its to be as close to stock smoothness as possible, stock rubber is the answer. Honestly I'd like to see what new stock rubber feels like vs poly. I suspect there isn't as much difference as going from worn out rubber to poly.


Body mount bushings also do a lot to tighten the ride up without making it harsh. Mine had obvious vibrations and squeaks that just went away with new body mounts. Mine was probably worse than typical though. I was able to measure 1/2" of movement from the fender to the frame depending whether the last turn was a hard left or a hard right. The body was literally sliding around on the chassis. The fenders were visibly dancing while driving down the road.

[clutch47]

Well thanks gents, I appreciate the input. Having gone deep in an '84 Capri for parking lot auto cross in the early 90's...I'm STILL in shock from poly bushings.
That being said, I did my other car front end with full poly and it's a dream.
so.
I'm going to do this one in poly too. After reading your suggestions and digging a little... The springs, shocks, and poly will slowly be piled up until I can do it all at once.
Where do ya'll recommend getting sway bars from.?
I really am not able to junkyard anymore (man do I miss that..LOL) so...

[packman]

Wagonman sometimes has P72 swaybars in the For Sale section of this forum. That's who I got mine from.

[gadget73]

Fox cars get much more harsh with poly than Panthers do.

junkyards aren't much use for box stuff anymore, just have to keep your eyes open for people selling stuff. Without modification, none of the later rear bars just drop in, and I don't know of anyone making a box rear bar. The front you can use a later bar if you upgrade the brakes, which I'd honestly give consideration to if you're rebuilding the front end entirely. It does need 16" wheels though. You can move to the 95-97 front brakes and retain a 15". They're a little bigger and will allow the 92-02 ront bar style.

[clutch47]

Wagonman sometimes has P72 swaybars in the For Sale section of this forum. That's who I got mine from.

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for that. I'm actually surprised nobody is making them...(?)

[clutch47]

Fox cars get much more harsh with poly than Panthers do.
junkyards aren't much use for box stuff anymore, just have to keep your eyes open for people selling stuff. Without modification, none of the later rear bars just drop in, and I don't know of anyone making a box rear bar. The front you can use a later bar if you upgrade the brakes, which I'd honestly give consideration to if you're rebuilding the front end entirely. It does need 16" wheels though. You can move to the 95-97 front brakes and retain a 15". They're a little bigger and will allow the 92-02 ront bar style.

I'm going to be staying with the 15" wheels that I have. I like how they look on the car and I've had them a long time. So that puts me at the 95-97 brakes. Thanks for that.
So the 92-02 bar will go straight on with the brake swap.? If I can find a good donor car, I'll probably do the spindles, bearings, whole enchilada. I do like enchiladas..

[gadget73]

Front bar, yes. Just need the late style endlinks. They attach to the top of the spindle rather than to the lower control arm like the stock bar does.

[clutch47]

Front bar, yes. Just need the late style endlinks. They attach to the top of the spindle rather than to the lower control arm like the stock bar does.

Thanks. I'll start piling up the parts...