Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications General Mods Anastazi's DIY Contique Lowering HOW-TO

Nick, we used ones from Advanced Auto Parts.

Bought them there. $30 for the pair. I still
have them, if you want, I'll let you borrow
'em.

However, I wish you luck in the install, as
it took me 10 hrs to do mine.

John

Do it my way - 4 hours MAX! (if you know your way with tools that is!)

John, I may very well take you up on that offer, and soon. I'm getting my uncle-sam cash soon, and looking to drop her. Thanks.

Still waiting........

Lance is a busy man... It takes him a while to get updates done to the site. Just be patient, it'll make it there eventually.

In the mean time, I'm gunna copy and paste the directions to the mailing list so they'll be in those archives for a long time to come...

Thanks perry. I realise that maybe I am a little impatient, but if you only knew how much time I put into writing these instructions, step-by-step, you would understnad why I would like them to become a "HOW-TO", and not get lost in cyberspace. I tried to cover every single little detail that I could recall to ensure that the job would be as easy as I promised.
After-all, I am saving CEG members a LOT of money by telling them how to lower their car themselves. Garages charging $250-350 to lower a car are licking their lips whenever they see/hear a CEGer looking to lower their car.
It's pretty bloody easy to do the job, and if you don't mind getting a little dirty the reward of D'ingIY make having a lowered Contour SO much sweeter.

Except that step 9 really isn't as easy as it seems. Getting that strut out of the knuckle is an absolute bear. This is because seperating that ball joint is tough on a car that's a few years old. And if you aren't really careful you'll tear the boot on the ball joint. When that happens, be prepared to replace the lower a-arm, as the balljoint is riveted to the a-arm and is not avaliable seperately. Don't ask me how I know this.

Instead of undoing the ball joint, I just undid the two bolts that attatch the lower control arm to the frame. Just two simple straight bolts. Gives plenty of room to take the strut out of the knuckle and sounds a heck of a lot easier and less dangerous than screwing with the ball joint.

Just be sure to get the bolts back in there the same way they came out and torque them properly.

$*(@*&)@@)(*$... That's a damn good idea! I know we thought of that when we were doing my car, but I can't remember why we nixed the idea. I'll have to remember that on future strut changes, it'd make life a whole lot simpler.

perry in the chance that you did damaged the boot on the lower ball joint, which IMHO is not something that would happen if you were being careful. And FWIW you CAN get just the lower ball joint from Ford, you don't have to buy a whole A-arm as you described. I am sorry to say that they ripped you off when you could have just bought the ball joint replacement kit. The replacement of the damaged one requires drilling out of the rivets and then the replacement ball joint is fastened in with bolts instead of rivets. This is how Ford sells the repair kit.
The last car I did was a 98.5 SVT and the ball joint came out EASY, even though it was the rustiest and dirtiest SVT I have done. IF you use lots of WD-40 is really loosens up any rust or dirt and makes life a wole lot simpler.