>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #30 – October 01, 2006, 07:48:01 PM Quote from: Aerocoupe;106431Koni makes rear shocks for the T-Birds as well as the front struts. They work nice with the coils overs. Bought mine from Griggs Racing.DarrenHow recently did you make this purchase? Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #31 – October 01, 2006, 08:02:45 PM Quote from: Aerocoupe;106431Koni makes rear shocks for the T-Birds as well as the front struts. They work nice with the coils overs. Bought mine from Griggs Racing.DarrenQuote from: Ether947;106433How recently did you make this purchase?Yes..how long ago?They have been discontinued for a few years now by both Koni and Bilstein. Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #32 – October 04, 2006, 06:29:46 AM Just bought it all earlier this year. Will dig my receipt out this evening when I get back to the house.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #33 – October 04, 2006, 10:52:32 PM The dealer I bought them from is a friend of mine and I cannot find the invoice. I called him and he is going to email me one in the morning. I will post the part number as soon as he gets it to me. If you guys are interested in contacting him for the information or a quote his website is:http://www.chicane23.comYou will find his contact info in "products" at the bottom of the Griggs advertisp00get. John is the American Iron champ 2004 & 2005 and runs full Griggs cars. The 2006 season was not all that good as he built a brand new 2004 body in white car that had a few bugs as all new cars do. Should literally dominate next year. He knows his equipment and stands by what he sells.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #34 – October 08, 2006, 08:07:04 PM Got the receipt and John shows the part number as "KF YEL" so not much help. Like I said if you are interested get on his website and shoot him an email or call him.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #35 – October 18, 2006, 03:41:02 PM I e-mailed Chicane23 [John G.] about the T-bird specific shocks/struts and this is his reply...Quote from: John G.Both the front strut and rear shocks are single adjustable. The Front is astrut insert that will require cutting the stock strut and inserting the newKoni cartridge. Here is a link to some general instructions for doing this:http://www.koni-na.com/pdf/boltstrut.pdf they say it can be done by justabout anyone with basic tools (hack saw, electric drill etc.). The rear shock is a complete bolt in.As a side note, this will disable/disarm stock Elect. suspension. Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #36 – October 18, 2006, 08:20:06 PM And my question to you is what year Bird and type of suspension. That will affect the style of strut and shock. My car is an 83 and I have the SN95 front spindles so the double adjustible struts were an option.I called John and he said it was year specific.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #37 – October 18, 2006, 09:03:18 PM Quote from: JeremyB;109016I e-mailed Chicane23 [John G.] about the T-bird specific shocks/struts and this is his reply...Well isn't that discouraging... at least for the fronts anyway. Did he give you a price on the rears? Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #38 – October 18, 2006, 10:11:56 PM Quote from: Aerocoupe;109039I called John and he said it was year specific.I don't see how. All 83-88 Tbird/Cougars have basically the same suspension.Quote from: Ether947;109046Did he give you a price on the rears?No. I did ask in the e-mail though. Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #39 – October 18, 2006, 11:05:01 PM Jeremy,If they are basically the same then whey does the 83 have its own K-Member, the 84-86 have their own K-Member, and the 87-88 K-Member have their own K-Member?The 83-86 have a different strut as the spindles are different than the 87-88 cars. The different spindles also dictate the larger 4-lug brakes on the 87-88 cars which are the same spindles as the 86-93 Mustangs minus the SVO and Cobra models.The lower control arm on the 83's is a bit shorter than the 84-86 cars and the 87-88 cars are longer yet.So in short the front suspensions are pretty much different in the geometry but may use the same springs, control arm bushings, ball joints, and caster camber plates.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #40 – October 19, 2006, 12:09:51 AM Quote from: Aerocoupe;109086If they are basically the same then whey does the 83 have its own K-Member, the 84-86 have their own K-Member, and the 87-88 K-Member have their own K-Member?The '83 doesn't have its own K-member. The '83-85 cars use Mustang K-members, while '86-'88 cars have a unique K-member.QuoteThe 83-86 have a different strut as the spindles are different than the 87-88 cars. The different spindles also dictate the larger 4-lug brakes on the 87-88 cars which are the same spindles as the 86-93 Mustangs minus the SVO and Cobra models.All non-TC cars use the same spindle. TC spindles have a thinner mounting ...but this is a moot point since the Koni struts require you to cut the strut body and reuse the lower half. QuoteThe lower control arm on the 83's is a bit shorter than the 84-86 cars and the 87-88 cars are longer yet.The '83 doesn't have a unique FCA either. '83-'86 cars shared FCAs with the Mustang, while '87-'88 cars had a unique length.QuoteSo in short the front suspensions are pretty much different in the geometry but may use the same springs, control arm bushings, ball joints, and caster camber plates.Different, but they should be close enough to interchange struts. I haven't read of it being a problem. I could be wrong though.I just want some Tbird specific Koni DAs, is that too much to ask? :o Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #41 – October 19, 2006, 08:13:10 AM Wrong. End of story. I have a tubular K-Member in my 83, do you have one? I have tubular control arms on my 83, do you have them? I have the double adjustible struts with coil overs on the front of my 83, do you have this set up? The factory Ford measurements on an 83 K-Memeber are different that those of an 84-86 which are different than the 87-88 cars. This information can be obtained from Ford. Griggs discovered that the 83 has its own K-Member due to my car. They shipped me the one for the 84-86 cars (they used to call it the 83-86 unit) and low and behold it would not bolt up, not even close. I shipped it back to them including their tubular control arm, my stock K-Member, and stock lower control arms. They measured it up and low and behold it is definitely different....including the lower control arms.I will not argue the fact that you can bolt up a Mustang K-Member to these cars, it will fit. The geometry is wrong but it will fit. When I speak of geometry I am talking about anti-dive and the location of the lower control arm front to back. Even Maximum Motorsports has a T-Bird specific K-Member.The front spindles on the 83-86 TC's have the same brakes as the 5.0 cars, small and shiznitty. The 87-88 cars have the larger, yet still shiznitty, brakes up front which require the bigger spindles which you correctly pointed out to have the narrower mounting for the struts. The strut bolt holes are also farther apart on these spindles. I owned an 85 TC and know this for a fact as I upgraded the front brakes to the larger units. Not much of an upgrade but the parts were free.I am going off of personal experience and what I know from dealing with my Fox T-Bird for 20+ years. The 83 was bought new by my dad and given to me 18 years ago so I have a lot of time working with this car and know it very well.Darren Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #42 – October 19, 2006, 08:38:38 AM Show me proof. Sorry, but your word does not make it "end of story" for me in this regards. Where did it not bolt up? What were the other differences. Any pics? Any literature or info from Griggs? I haven't seen any difference in control arms or K-members in messing with mine for the past 12 or so years. (don't remember when I bought my first one)I could do a geometry study on my 84 XR-7 or 84 TC and compare it to my 83. The only difference is I have changed the anti-dive geometry on my 83, but can back those values out of the measurements. The fore/aft have not been changed. I also have the Mitchell geometry program...:DThe engine and trans are out of the 84 XR-7 and it is in the air on stands (getting ready to go to the syard in the sky)....so I can get measurments from that before it goes.I'm not saying you're wrong, and if you're right and I can confirm it, then I'll change my tune. I've labored under misconceptions before :hick: I'm just also going off personal experience with these cars and making my own parts for them. Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #43 – October 19, 2006, 10:51:33 AM It is possible that some 1983 parts are unique. The hood p/n was unique and I think we figured out it had something to do with the mounting holes being a bit off from the later hoods. But...that doesn't prevent later hoods or hinges from being used. I can't see why control arms would be different. They were brought over directly from the Mustang. Unless there was a unique 1979-83 Mustang A-arm or something, but I've never seen that listed.I deal mainly with part numbers now because there seems to be more proof of differences that way. For the control arms, 1983-86, I have listed F3ZZ-3078/9-A, which is a 1993 Mustang p/n. That obviously supercedes all previous p/n's, unique or not. But that also proves that they're all theoretically the same and interchangeable. I can't really believe that there was something that radically different on 1983 cars to warrant unique control arms. In fact...I can confirm that Rockwell made the OEM front control arms for our cars, in one of two plants: Newton Falls, OH or New Castle, PA. And I had relatives working in both plants. If there was something different I'd have known about it by now.Now the engine crossmember...the p/n is E5SZ-5025-A for 1983-85 cars. Does that mean that there isn't something unique on 1983's? No. But this does show that a replacement OEM Ford crossmember for a 1985 fits a 1983. And it's been done before.I will guaran--tee that tubular Mustang parts will virtually never bolt right up to a Cougar chassis. There is always something slightly out of whack somewhere. Too many stories from people here confirm that. I'd really like to see the measurements that Griggs came up with for your particular geometry, to see how far off they really were. Was it fractions of an inch? Or more? Quote Selected
>>Mustang Rear Shock Install w/ Pics Reply #44 – October 19, 2006, 11:14:28 AM Well I don't have a CMM, but I can lay out an '83 and '84 front suspension geometry and also check a few key mounting points as well. The 84 I can do whenever I can get back to taking the XR-7 apart. The 83 will have to wait until I can get it up in the air..If you have a better idea what the supposed differences are, I can more quickly compare/contrast than doing a full lay-out.As far as the control arms go, I know there were 2 different versions in the pre-Job 1 days. HD suspension and non. They used different bushings. I know when I got poly bushings for my 82 5.0 Mustang they were the HD type. It's "possible" early 83 Tbirds got some of the old HD stuff. After 83 they standardized the front control arms (save for the SVO) at least bushing-wise. Quote Selected
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