Tokico blues / TRW CC888 conversion.

[U S Marine]

I was getting to this. I didn't forget about you guys. I'm going out of town tonight until Monday night. Tuesday, I'll take measurements. I have been accumulating miles to allow the new parts to settle in for a final ride height. It "looks" like it's slightly high in the rear with the 1 inch spacers. When I say slight I mean 1/4 inch. I'll confirm Tuesday. I takes me a while to accumulate miles as I only work 12 miles from home. Sometimes, I take my 5.0 'stang to work when I wanna row through some gears. Anyway, can you give me until Tuesday for some exact measurements?? Maybe even a photo??

[RallyZCamaro]

That would be awesome. I am on Vacation this week and am planning on getting some work done to the LSC. Thanks again USM.

[RallyZCamaro]

Could you also report your wheel well heights. That was I can compare it to my cars current ride height?. Thanks again.

[RallyZCamaro]

I ran across this while looking up part numbers for my Thunderbird spring conversion. Notice the rear kit and how they made cups for the spring pockets and included spring spacers. I though I would present this for general knowledge. The Monroe part number is 90002. I have found them online from about $470 to about $550

[luxuryrules]

Yep, I had forgotten about that one. Those springs are not progressive rate and the shocks are soft - it rides great, but handles like a marshmallow.

[RallyZCamaro]

If I buy shocks for a 97 T-Bird LX. Do I buy new upper shock mounts for my 95 Mark VIII or do I buy 97 T-Bird mounts?

[U S Marine]

OK, FINALLY! Here's where it sits. Front sits 28.5 inches and rear sits 28.75 inches. The measurements were taken with 7/8 tank of fuel, and at the highest point of the arch of the wheel opening with a level (6 inch) to ensure all measurements could be duplicated. I'm going to do another measurement with a near empty tank as well. I don't think it changes more than 1/4 inch as the fuel tanks sits forward of the rear axle. So, with the Mr. Gasket part, I would take off 1/4 inch to level the car with a full, or near full, tank. Some would argue to take off more since it will go higher with less fuel, but I also would not want it to be too low with people or luggage in the back.
FWIW, the Monroe kit you have a picture of will probably be ok. I had a different kit that was not so good. Another note on the Tokico shocks, they are too loose for my taste. I have Bilstein’s in the rear and there is a distinct difference between the front and the rear in terms of spring re-coil/rebound. I will be changing the Tokico's with the Koni inserts fairly soon. It would not be so apparent if I had the Tokico's all the way around. I know it would be cheaper to change the rears to Tokico, but I really like a firm predictable ride.

Also, when assembling, be sure to index the upper mounts and the lower mount point properly. It's a pain when you have them assembled to find out they don't line up properly.... Don't ask me how I know this. Pretty obvious, huh?

[RallyZCamaro]

I was only looking at the Monroe Kit as an option. I was more intrigued by the mounting cups (in the picture) and the spacers for the rears. If anyone has used that kit and possibly any dimensions of those mounts and spacers would be of help to our cause. I have an idea on the spring spacers. My Father works for a company that has 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" reinforced rubber sheeting that they use in their products. I am considering making a thin lower spring isolator. Then making a thicker upper isolator to go between the steel fabricated mount adapter and the actual upper coil mount. I want the car to set fairly level. So, I plan on making the aggregate thickness of the upper and lower isolators, about an inch. That way, I can add or subtract material later after everything has settled. It sounds like it'll work. The rest remains to be seen.

[luxuryrules]

Tony & Rally, thanks for the updates.

Tony, it looks like your recommendation is to use the aforementioned Mr Gasket spacer but to remove about 1/4 inch, is that correct? We'll send off an addendum to that tech article as soon as we reach a concencus.

Rally, to answer your question about mounts, use Mark VIII mounts. Alternatively, you can just torch the rubber out of the existing mounts and then you can just use the rubber mounts that come with the shocks (or poly if you prefer). Lastly, you can have a set of metal mounts fabbed up into which you can then just use the rubber with the shocks as well.

[U S Marine]

Originally Posted by luxuryrules

Tony, it looks like your recommendation is to use the aforementioned Mr Gasket spacer but to remove about 1/4 inch, is that correct?

Yes, that is correct. One caveat that I need to address is that the Mr Gasket spacers have a provisional groove for the spring on both sides on the spacer. The rubber is much more pliable in that area. So what I'm getting at is the side of the spacer that goes toward the frame of the car, (i.e the top) will compress fairly easily, but take up some space, that will need to be accounted for in the 1/4 inch of material that needs to be removed. I'm not sure if cutting off only that portion will net you the 1/4 inch, so you may have to remove 3/8 in un-compressed form to net the 1/4 inch. Are you confused yet?? Once you have the spacer in your hand and re-read this it will become more clear.

Once I'm done with the rear disk brake conversion on my Mustang, I'll alter the thickness of the spacers and take some pics of what I'm getting at above. My plan is to use the 24 inch round vertical sander I have access to at work. I'm not sure how else to do it and keep it uniform in thickness.

Does anyone here use the Koni inserts? I'm thinking I can adjust them to be firm like the Bilstein's. I need to confirm this before I spend $300 on inserts and the labor time. I'd hate to do that and end up where I am currently.

[luxuryrules]

Gentlemen, before I send this off to the Kat as an addendum... are we in agreement?

*Update*
There is a ride height issue with the rear springs, on account of the Mark VIII lower control arms having a deeper cup than Thunderbird LCAs, this results in the rear end sitting 1/2-1" lower than it should. We have two workarounds for this:
First, the Thunderbird guys sometimes swap Mark VIII LCAs onto their cars for weight savings, and a few enterprising individuals are making adapters that sit inside the LCAs to correct the ride height.
Alternatively, you can use Mr Gasket spacers to raise the spring height, part number 1257 are 1" adapters. We have found that these spacers cause the rear to sit 1/4" higher than stock, so sanding down the adapter ring will be necessary to provide the correct height.

[U S Marine]

Lux, I'm very sorry for the delay. I have had rain, parents, rain, wrong parts for the mustang, rain and some floods here in Georgia over the past couple of weeks.

Yes, you have made a good addendum to the tech article. I will, once I get some time, remove my spacers, take some pictures of the spacers, before and after and post them. I think I now have about 500 miles on my car so the spacers and springs have probably settled all they are going to. I read a ride height post were "XLRVIII" stated the best way to take measurements. I'll post them ASAP using his method.

Again, sorry for the delay and thanks for all the assistance.

[luxuryrules]

Cool. I'll get it kicked on over to the Boss.

[RallyZCamaro]

Well, I pulled the trigger today, and ordered all of the parts for my conversion from Advance Auto Parts. All of the parts (Sensa-trac struts, shocks, isolators, bearing plates, boots and coils) totaled at just under $550. The rear coils mounts are made. All I need now is my shock mounts and rear spacers and I will be good to go. Hopefully the old girl will be sprung by the weekend.

[RallyZCamaro]

Does anyone know which wire under the dash that you have to snip in order to keep the info center from telling you that you have an air ride problem or that your air ride switch is turned off. Or, is there another procedure that I have missed, along the way somewhere?

[93' Blue on blue]

Look for gray connector behind pass. kick panel.

Cut the dark green wire with light green stripe. (pin 12, see diagram)

[RallyZCamaro]

Thanks a bunch B.O.B.

[RallyZCamaro]

My struts are assembled, my spacers are assembled, all the bolts have been soaked with penetrant and I cut the green wire behind the kick panel/glovebox last night. Now it's time to get dirty. All systems are "GO". Wish me luck.

[luxuryrules]

Good luck.

If your lower control arm bolts are frozen when you do the front struts... that sucks. It's the hardest part of the job.

[luxuryrules]

Any update? I'm interested in seeing how you like when the job is done.

[RallyZCamaro]

Well I spent all day doing the conversion yesterday. I finished up about midnight last night. Converting the rear was a royal PITA. Converting the shock mounts wasn't too awful bad. BTW, the factory lincoln shocks have a larger push rod diameter than the Monroe Sensa-Tracs that I installed. I pressed out the old bushing combo. The bushings that were provided with the shocks weren't the same as what is required for our shock mounts. The bottom bushing fit but the upper bushing had to be trimmed (about 1/4" from the diamter) in order to fit in the top if the mount. I also had to use the old top washers from my Mark VIII shocks because, the ones provided with the Sensa-Tracs were about 1/16" too big in diameter to fit through the hole in the wheel well,when installing the shock/mount assembly.
The hardest part was trying to get the springs to compress enough to get them to go in the upper mounts/spacer combo. My father furnished me with some 3/4" thick rubber matting that I cut into squares the same dimension as the new fabricated upper mounts (see Tech Article). I then drilled 3/8" holes in the solid rubber and ran a 1" long 3/8' standard bolt through the mounting pad and the rubber spacer. I then secured the two with a half nut on the backside. The end of the 3/8" bolt fit perfectly in the alignment hole that the rear air bag resided.
The fronts went pretty well. I had to undo the upper ball joint to get enough clearance for the new coil spring struts. In regards, to the infamous lower bolt, I used a 3-Jaw gear puller to push the bolt out. It worked pretty nicely. No beating the bolt into submission with a mallet. I connected the jaws to the ear of the strut (leaving the nut on the very end of the bolt) and turned the puller with a long handled ratchet and it pushed the lower bolt out. I, then used a center punch, to drive the lower bolt the rest of the way. On a side note, you also need a small jack under the LCA with a slight bit of tension on it, in order to relieve the pressure on the strut.
All in all, I am happy with the conversion. The car handles better. Takes RR crossings and bumps much better. It has a lot less body roll in the corners and curves. The only criticism's I have about the conversion are: 1) it seems a bit bouncier than the air ride on rebound when you drive through a dip in the road. 2) it raised my ride height more than I expected. The front and rear are exactly 7/16" higher than before. I measured the car right before tear down and had W/W heights of 28 3/16" in the front and 28 5/8" in the rear. Afterwards, I had 28 5/8" in the front and 29 1/16" in the rear.
I would like to thank everyone for their help and input. By doing homework, before the conversion, a lot of headaches were averted. Now here are all my pics.

[RallyZCamaro]

More Pics

[RallyZCamaro]

Before and After

[DreDaDevil]

it looks wonderful man. i just got some struts and springs from a tbird sc on saturday and i am trying to get some help to do my conversion since my baby is laying down. hopefully today if not next weekend i will have my baby rolling on springs.

[ninethreemarkeight]

I don't mean to raise old threads if this one was an open and shut case but I have a very similar setup and I have some questions.

Almost all my suspension items are here and I plan to to install them this weekend. I have the following items:

-4 Vogtland 1/4" lowering coils(T-Bird)
-4 Spring cups for rear springs( T-Bird)
-4 KYB Gas adjust shocks (T-Bird)
-New front upper shock mounts
-Addco rear 1.25" sway bar.

I believe that's it. After reading this I realize that because I have T-Bird components the rear should sit .5" to 1" lower than it should. I originally thought everything would be fine because I bought the car from someone who had put junkyard V6 suspension items in it. I realized the need for new suspension because obviously the springs and shocks were way under rated for the car (v6 suspension) and there already past there prime, so I ordered what i thought would be direct replacement.

So my worries/questions. I have tried to research those Mr. Gasket spacers but to no avail, I can't find that part anywhere, if someone might be so kind to post it, my google skills are clearly not up to the challenge. If not that, Would this be a simple piece to fabricate. Buy some rubber sheeting and cut it to fit under the spring will sit?

One more question, my front shocks did not come with any sort of a boot or rubber protector, is this important or is it not a big deal on the Mark. Should I be looking for an aftermarket boot that I can throw on them?

Thanks guys!

I know I'm a newb, but I'm a Mark enthusiast none the less. I have been non stop working on it, and hope to get the suspension done next weekend.

Regards,

Kyle.