• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

LOL i hate myself.

TRicker

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
3,931
Location
Center City, MN
Okay guys, so all spring i have been chasing down a clunk.

i replaced strut mounts, the rear struts were new 20k ago, eibach springs are in good condition, and all bushings in the sway bar and control arms are good in the rear.


so i blew a strut (ford manufacturing flaw, had a line in the shaft that took out the seal prematurely. a whole nother' story) so as i'm pulling the strut i put my hand on my rear brake caliper. and i hear a CLANK. wtf? so i move it around a little bit...... LOL.

the brake caliper bracket bolts were about a turn loose (both of them) and the pin on the bottom side of the caliper was missing the little "u" clip and had a ton of play too. luckily i happened to have a bunch of brake hardware from before (had to replace the pins and the clips like 4 years ago)

so its back on the road with a new strut to replace the blown one, retorqued all the brake hardware. no more clunky! i also torched out my front LCA's and injected window weld in them (temporary fix, till crazytalkSVT builds my tubular 4 bolt LCA's!)

once the window weld is cured i'll take her out again and see how the front end feels now. i think its gonna help a lot. the rubber was gone in the front bushing on both LCA's in teh front end. either way, i fixed the back. thats such a sigh of releif.... and thank god my brake didnt fall off!
 
I know how that goes. Put my Baers on last week. Didn't tighten down the SS as much as I should. Nothing like the brake pedal going to the floor!
 
I know how that goes. Put my Baers on last week. Didn't tighten down the SS as much as I should. Nothing like the brake pedal going to the floor!
lol, I had the same happen when i first installed mine on my old SVT almost rearended a truck:blackeye:
 
Okay guys, so all spring i have been chasing down a clunk.

i replaced strut mounts, the rear struts were new 20k ago, eibach springs are in good condition, and all bushings in the sway bar and control arms are good in the rear.


so i blew a strut (ford manufacturing flaw, had a line in the shaft that took out the seal prematurely. a whole nother' story) so as i'm pulling the strut i put my hand on my rear brake caliper. and i hear a CLANK. wtf? so i move it around a little bit...... LOL.

the brake caliper bracket bolts were about a turn loose (both of them) and the pin on the bottom side of the caliper was missing the little "u" clip and had a ton of play too. luckily i happened to have a bunch of brake hardware from before (had to replace the pins and the clips like 4 years ago)

so its back on the road with a new strut to replace the blown one, retorqued all the brake hardware. no more clunky! i also torched out my front LCA's and injected window weld in them (temporary fix, till crazytalkSVT builds my tubular 4 bolt LCA's!)

once the window weld is cured i'll take her out again and see how the front end feels now. i think its gonna help a lot. the rubber was gone in the front bushing on both LCA's in teh front end. either way, i fixed the back. thats such a sigh of releif.... and thank god my brake didnt fall off!

I'd asked about doing diy poly LCA's with no response. so this is something that can be done? how safe is it? I have two bolt LCA's, so if the poly doesn't hold well enough, I'm a little worried...
 
I'd asked about doing diy poly LCA's with no response. so this is something that can be done? how safe is it? I have two bolt LCA's, so if the poly doesn't hold well enough, I'm a little worried...

How exactly do you plan on poly-filling a stamped sheet of metal or bushings? :help:
 
I'd asked about doing diy poly LCA's with no response. so this is something that can be done? how safe is it? I have two bolt LCA's, so if the poly doesn't hold well enough, I'm a little worried...

I'd be worried to. Pressing a poly bushing into the arm would be the much safer plan if only that was an option for us.
 
I just bought two brand new 2 bolt LCA's from Ford - balljoints were shot, new bushings was just an added benefit :cool:
 
i also torched out my front LCA's and injected window weld in them (temporary fix, till crazytalkSVT builds my tubular 4 bolt LCA's!)
did these ever get made ?

once the window weld is cured i'll take her out again and see how the front end feels now. i think its gonna help a lot. the rubber was gone in the front bushing on both LCA's in teh front end. either way
any news how this went ? any help on the front end is welcome ...G.
 
yeah i read that thread too. Still; he may have said something before he went and he also said to those that hadn't 'annoyed him' to keep in touch. I found some urethane stuff which is shore 35 rated. I'm hoping it is slightly harder than rubber and less likely to go soft over time. Hoping to beef up the bushes without vibrating everything loose.. anyone ? ...G.
 
Hi Dyoel182; i haven't been able to find that grade over here (UK). Maybe the next person i buy something from will throw some in the box for me. I'm not really looking to make everything rock hard... just firm like rubber is when it is new. I'm especially looking to do the rear tie bars as they are looking tired. My car tends to rock back and forth when i come to a stop and i suspect the tie bars ... G..
 
Why not just replace the tie bars? Chances are the metal is fatigued anyway so why not get new rubber and metal?
 
thats what i was thinking.

Gorman, which bars are you talking about, the toe control arms (rear most rear control arms)? if thats the case why not get some nice upgraded ones like these that i made.
101_0694.jpg
 
Gorman, which bars are you talking about, the toe control arms (rear most rear control arms)? if thats the case why not get some nice upgraded ones like these that i made.
Hi there, i would love to have a set of your toe bars... when will they be ready ? The bars i'm refering to are the ones that run from the chassis in front of the rear wheel to the the rear wheel hub. In my book they are called tie bars the other two are called front lower arm and rear lower arm.... G.
 
Back
Top