Donor LCA Fitment

[RedRaider58]

Hey Guys,

My donor lower control arms are not fitting on the chassis. The issue is that the rubber bushings are contacting with the welded chassis attachment points. It almost looks like the whole thing needs a 3/8" phase shift to the front of the car.

Are the bushings backwards? (Yes I know they need replaced. They are on order)

Hopefully the pictures made it, first time trying to attach.

[JohnnyB]

I think you have the control arms reversed (side to side). I have some pics of mine here.
https://cobra.spintime.org/assypics1.html

[JohnnyB]

I think you have the control arms reversed (side to side). I have some pics of mine here.
https://cobra.spintime.org/assypics1.html

Maybe not. It looks like you have the SN95 control arms shown on the right in this pic. Fox body arms like mine are on the left. 147040

[RedRaider58]

Yeah, the arms came off an 02. I had originally thought of flipping them, but both sides using either arm have the same issue.

[Norm B]

Looks like the front bushing is not fully installed. Here are a couple of pictures I took during the build. Sorry nothing from exactly the same point of view that you took. Theses are off a 95 donor.

HTH

Norm

[Norm B]

I just took a picture of the front bushing area and if you compare it to your picture #3, you can see that your front bushing not fully pressed home.

HTH

Norm

[RedRaider58]

Thanks Norm,

Looks like it shouldn't be an issue once my new bushings get here then. Based on what the mustang forums say the bushing replacement can be quite a bear, hopefully a local store will loan me the bushing tool and make it easier.

[Norm B]

I did mine with my 12 ton shop press, a bunch of different collars, braces and a few bad words.

Norm

[Livewire80]

I used the collars out of a bushing removal tool, a long bolt and some strong washers and bunch of heat and oil. It was a colossal PITA. I guess Ford designed the whole control arm as the replaceable part and did not expect people to replace the bushings. Also, make sure you ordered the right bushing hydro vs non-hydro

[Norm B]

If you are replacing the bushings yourself, I am going to offer some unsolicited advice.
When you try to press out the bushings the inner flange (circled in red) flexes and binds preventing the bushing from moving. I tried unsuccessfully to brace this area to the outside flange. I considered welding a brace across the end but settled on tapping/hitting the area around the blue arrow to relieve the stress. Note the bushing is stepped and only has to move a short distance to come loose. Depending on how jammed they are, this can happen quite suddenly (I may have uttered a bad word when this happened the first time).

HTH

Norm