Originally posted by Bradness:
I'm in the process of designing/fabricating alloy bushings for the 95 style arms. Unfortunately, they're different from the later model arms. Really don't know when the changeover date was, but my partner's 99 has the new style. As others have said, there are no replacement bushings available to date. The reason the left side are a bear to do is that the bolts must be removed by pushing them upward-they're about 5 inches long. The 2 forward bolts are directly below the transaxle with around 1 inch of clearance. The Ford manual says that the transaxle must be removed before you can get the bolts out. I have an alternate method of removal and will be trying it out as soon as my stiffened A arms are ready to go. No damn way I'm removing the transaxle to replace the left A arm! I'm pretty sure the '96 arms are the same as the '95. I think they were changed after that. I'll have to check the Ford part numbers. As for removing the transaxle, my Haynes manual says you don't need to do that, but instead, you need to unbolt the subframe, and lower the entire subrame with the engine and transaxle about 4 inches to gain clearance to pull the bolts out. Perhaps this is the alternate way you are thinking about?
'96 Contour SE, black / opal grey, MTX, every option, KKM intake, resonator removed, Flowmaster Series 40 DeltaFlow, GoodYear Eagle HP's, 115k miles, new paint 7/01. Driven cross-country 4 times.
'70 Corvette Stingray Coupe, Cortez Silver, 454 bored to 462, Muncie M21, too many mods to list, lots of fun. 335 rwhp / 365 rwtq
'02 Corvette Z06, Electron Blue / Black, every option. Stock for now...
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