77-79 performance parts

[marine165]

Hey, all!

I'd just like to share an epiphany I had the other day concerning finding performance-related chassis parts for our 77-79 mid-size FoMoCo's... The T-bird, Cougar, Mark V, LTD, LTD II, and Ranchero all shared the same chassis. Though you will seldom find a place that sells performance parts for 77-79 T-birds, places that sell 74-79 Ranchero parts abound. With the exeption of body parts (of course), all the mechanical stuff is a direct swap. I plan on getting some front-end parts from a big-block Ranchero GT to tighten up the Cougar's handling. Actually... does anyone have any data on ford front and rear spring rates? Did they use the same front springs in the 351M/400 as they did for the 302/351W cars? How about 460 lincolns and Ranchero's? LTD wagon rear springs? Any thoughts would be welcome and appreciated!

Mike

[daywalker]

The build order for my car (78' Lincoln Continental) lists the front springs as JUG and the rear springs as FED. These are soft springs, I would recomend something stiffer.

Daywalker
78' Lincoln 460/C6

[Gearworks]

I agree with daywalker. The lincolns were intended for that "Whoosh/Mush" ride. To the best of my knowledge the spring rates were only different in the 77-79 with or without A/C. And as far as youre "Lack" of parts availability, get on P-S-T.com they have a COMPLETE urethane kit for our beloved birds & cougars. I doing the front on my Ttop 79 right now, brakes and all. They have the correct springs at $95 per set. but i believe Moog or TRW are cheaper.

[marine165]

Well, an update on the Cougar/T-Bird spring question...

I just got a pair of LTD wagon rear springs from the junkyard and put them on the Cougar... The ride is just fine (no longer as 'floaty'; it settles down much faster now), and the spring free length is a bit shorter than the stock XR7 springs, so it ended up giving the cougar just a little bit of rake, just enough to make it look mean. ;)
I did some rough calculations, and the springs I got were about 232 lb-in. MUCH stiffer than the old ones. I don't miss the old ones a bit. With the new stiffer springs, the car doesn't understeer so horribly... it went from excessive understeer to mild understeer-right where it should be.
And yes, I just found PST myself... I'll be getting a front-end rebuild kit from there quite soon.
Does anyone know where I could get a big fat rear sway bar for my '78?

Thanks

[TJ]

Check out this link for suggestions...

I bought the book. It's probably worth the money if you are serious about performance. It give suggestions on using a swaybar from the front of the car on the rear (fabricating brackets that work) and using a xr7 front bar (really big bar).

It also gives alot of information on spring rates, shocks, etc.

They sell the shocks and other parts from the website, but I found that it is much cheaper to by from the local parts store.