Rear Control alarms

Vettn71

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I have.a 1996 GT with Eibach springs and want to get rear upper and lower control arms. This is a daily driver, but I want good handling and no wheel hop if I want get on it. The problem is there are so many choices. This is not a track car and won't see the drag strip.

I'm looking at Team Z, UPR and Baseline. I don't know whether to go with adjustable, non-adjustable, pivoting or what. I'd like something reasonable in cost that doesn't create more problems than it solves,

any words of wisdom out there?

jim
 

mcglsr2

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I'll bite. You didn't mention Maximum Motorsports (any specific reason?) - for a stock replacement I would consider these: MM Sport LCAs. You can remove your quad shocks (if you haven't already). I would also suggest leaving in the stock upper control arms with the rubber bushings (if the rubber is junk, replace them with new OEM rubber pieces) to absorb any deflection from Ford's 4-link. The LCA's alone should elimate your wheelhop and you should retain a pretty comfortable driving experience. These (and the heavier duty) come in both a non-adjustable and adjustable version. Your choice. Whether to go with adjustable is based on whether you want to lower (or raise the rear, I suppose) the car, and if you are currently as low as you want. If you are as low as you will ever want to go, get the normal ones and save some money. If you think you want to fiddle with it and maybe go lower, get the adjustable ones.

If you want to get on your car even more (via drag launches) then MM sells more heavy duty LCA's for this. But you shouldn't need these for normal driving.

(FWIW, I am running the MM Extreme Duty LCA's with coilovers, no quads and stock upper control arms)
 
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Vettn71

Vettn71

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Rear Control Arms

I appreciate the input. I was considering replacing the upper and lower control arms. MM and L&M appear similar. Both seem to be well regarded. I don't anticipate doing any drag-style starts, unless I just want to have some fun. So it isnt really necessary to go with the high dollar doo-dads? If I don't have to replace the UCA, that leaves more money for the lowers.

Is there anything that might be better for the UCA than the stock rubber?

thanks again
Jim
 

mcglsr2

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I'm sure people here have had good experience with UPR products, I think I recall reading good experiences. If you are never going to beat on the car, then it probably doesn't matter too much. If all you want to do is eliminate some wheel hop, why not keep the stock stuff and run the quad shocks? I'm assuming you have removed them - the point of the quad shock was to prevent wheel hop.

You specifically want rubber in the uppers - if you go too stiff then the rear axle has a harder time articulating. There's an article on MM site, I'll see if I can dig it up.

I can't personally speak to the other brands - maybe someone here can? I personally have used MM parts and love them.
 
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Vettn71

Vettn71

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It would be great if there was a sticky on application of various types of control arms.
What a typical street (no track) car would benefit from
what a street/strip car should use
What a road course or gymkhana type car should use
What a drag car should use

theres a lot of knowledge on this forum. I've read dozens of posts on this and couldn't come to a clear understanding. Your post helps a bunch. A lot of people advocate using adjustable uppers and lowers, solid bushing, etc., etc., but for a daily driver I would hate to spend a bunch of money and hate the way the car rides or vibrates. Obviously there's a lot of interest in this topic

jim
 

mcglsr2

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Here are two articles worth reading, the first is right up your alley, the second mentions the Upper Control Arms bit.

MM Mustang Rear Lower Control Arm Tech

MM Mustang Panhard Bar Tech

- while the second article is a good read, it is NOT required for a street Mustang. The bit in that article that is relevant to you is this bit:
Upper Control Arm Bushings
Whether or not your Mustang is equipped with a MM Panhard Bar, it is very important that the rubber upper control arm bushings be retained. This is one application where the compliance of a rubber bushing is a benefit. Retaining the rubber upper control arm bushings is a necessary compromise to achieve acceptable handling. See the Rear Lower Control Arm section
here for more information about control arm bushings.

Honestly, IMO, for a daily driver that doesn't have tons of power and will never see a track, the stock setup is probably sufficient (meaning with the quad shocks in place). If one wants to get a little more beefy back there "just in case" - or remove the quads for wider wheel/tire fitment - I would recommend replacing the lowers with the Sport MM arms. Yes, they cost money. But they are a quality part and are pretty much guaranteed to fit the first time, and will last longer than the car itself. Other, cheaper options will probably work as well. But I would read the LCA tech article, think about what it says, and then compare what it says to the other vendor's products. If they match what the article says (bushing-wise and all that), then you could probably forego the MM product and get the cheaper other vendor product. Of course, YMMV.
 

mcglsr2

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It would be great if there was a sticky on application of various types of control arms.
What a typical street (no track) car would benefit from - assuming normal driving with limited spurts of spirited driving: Stock setup
what a street/strip car should use - depends on how much street, how much strip; at a minimum MM Sport RCLA or MM Heavy Duty RCLA or equivalent
What a road course or gymkhana type car should use - MM Road Race RLCA or equivalent
What a drag car should use - MM XD RLCA or MM Drag Race RCLA or equivalent

See above for my thoughts on this - of course, this is just my opinion and others may (and are welcome to) disagree. As I mentioned previously, my experience is with MM products in this area, so I listed those, but also added "or equivalent" for other vendors that offer a comparable product to the MM one listed.

Also, each of those RLCA's (and I imagine their equivalents) require different amounts of supporting mods - the Road Race for example requires the use of coilovers and does not provide a mounting location for the stock rear sway bar. Whereas the Sport RCLA is pretty much a bolt and go, no supporting mods required.
 

wmfateam

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On my daily I have the MM lower control arms and then bought the OEM uppers and OEM diff bushings from MM with their diff bushing tool. Koni Yellows, no quad shocks, Steeda sport springs and no rear sway bar. Nice and simple, and I can get rowdy around corners to and from work.
 
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Vettn71

Vettn71

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Great input. I have a 4.6 stroked to 5l. Right now it's NA, but at some point I will put a turbo on it (all forged internals). I'm set to have it dyno tuned with 30lb injectors and a 195l/hr fuel pump, 75mm throttle body and a C&L plenum, and PI heads with Comp Cams Stage 2cams. Not certain what to expect out of it.
Wmfateam, why no sway bar?

Jim
 

wmfateam

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It broke so I took it off. With my current driving style I don't get much push, actually a bit of oversteer at the limit, and I have almost 1.5 degrees of front negative camber so the car turns in pretty well.
 

chris91

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I have the J&M lowers on my car and they are what seems like a direct copy of MM's LCA. I havent had one complaint about them and have had them for about 2 years now.
 

the5.ohh

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I have J&M's rear upper and lowers on my 95 with an eibach rear anti-roll bar. The control arms are really nice, quiet and stiff. Ditched the quad shocks and these keep the rear nice and planted. Have had them both on for over a year, its my daily year round. Perfect, and affordable.
 
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Vettn71

Vettn71

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Based on the input here, I decided to go with the L&M spring jackers, in case I wanted to make adjustments to my rear ride height. Got a $25 discount through LMR, so that paid the tax. I really appreciate all the input and patience

jim
 

Ballistic

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I just put on the J&M Upper Control Arms and Maximum Motorsports Rear Lower Control Arms last week and what a difference!

When i step on it, it feels so much smoother back there..
 

Pete@FTR

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As far as LCAs go for stock-style springs, I'd recommend the Griggs Racing LCAs

Non-Adjustable Perch: http://www.griggsracing.com/product_info.php?cPath=4332_4310_4348_4322_2055_3810&products_id=76
Adjustable Perch: http://www.griggsracing.com/product_info.php?cPath=4332_4310_4348_4322_2055_3810&products_id=72

My reasoning is this - Griggs uses a square style control arm, whereas most other brands use a round control arm. Round tubing can withstand more force when loaded end-to-end, but will be weaker when handling side loads compared to a piece of rectangular tubing, of the same alloy and thickness. This is the same reason that our frame rails are rectangular, rather than round. It just handles side loads better.

For a coilover application, a round control arm is the better choice because the force is being applied to the ends of the control arm only.

However, in an application with a stock-style spring, a large amount of the force is being applied along the top of the control arm, near the center. A rectangular control arm is going to give you more rigidity for side loads than a round arm. The spring perches are subjected to tremendous loads (after all, they hold most of the weight of the car), so a round tube being loaded from the side (spring perch) would have to be over-engineered (and subsequently heavier) to be able to withstand the same amount of force applied to it, relative to a control arm that uses round tubing.

Strength in bending and buckling comes from the moment of inertia (I)


I (round) = .12 in^4
I (square) = .21 in^4


Therefore, square tube is about 70% stronger when subjected to side loads. When it comes to cars, this means it can be lighter, since you can get more strength out of less material.

TL;DR:
IMHO for coilover application: round tube, and for stock spring application: rectangular tube
 

ReplicaR

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Vettn71, if you are interested, I have a set of MM Heavy-Duty Mustang Rear Lower Control Arms, just like the ones in the link below. They are in great shape. The only reason why I'm looking to get rid of them is because I would like to MM Road Race arms, and don't really need these anymore. If you are interested, shoot me a PM, and we can work out some kind of deal.

GetImage.ashx


http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Heavy-Duty-Mustang-Rear-Lower-Control-Arms-1979-1998-P498.aspx

Edit: Oops, didn't see that you already purchased the control arms. Never mind this post then.
 

wmfateam

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Vettn71, if you are interested, I have a set of MM Heavy-Duty Mustang Rear Lower Control Arms, just like the ones in the link below. They are in great shape. The only reason why I'm looking to get rid of them is because I would like to MM Road Race arms, and don't really need these anymore. If you are interested, shoot me a PM, and we can work out some kind of deal.

GetImage.ashx


http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Heavy-Duty-Mustang-Rear-Lower-Control-Arms-1979-1998-P498.aspx

Edit: Oops, didn't see that you already purchased the control arms. Never mind this post then.
Sorry for side posting in a post, but I love the MM Road Race arms. Solid pieces.
 

ReplicaR

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Yeah, is a fairly common upgrade, I'm sure I'll sell them quickly once I move to RR LCAs.
 

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