GM Optispark

Can you return the kit you have? If so, that's what I would do and then just order up what you need for your car without talking to the guy. But that's just me. If you talk to him up front he will charge you more for the reluctor shaft. I know I emailed him and told him I had the reluctor rear end and he wanted me to call him about it....led me to believe that would be the time he would up the price. No real need to do that either. The guy on ISS that just went ahead and ordered the complete set up for his 96 got the reluctor shouldered piece for the regular price. I'm thinking maybe one hand doesn't know what the other is doing over there.

 

i,ve a few wagons, the 94-96 kind,.i,ve one that has serious mods,. arms big bars,. springs, bushings, shocks, 13" rotors front and back, etc, yada yada,. i,ve another with factory sway bars (sedan with an adapter plate, and its almost as good,.too big of a rear bar, makes a wagon slidey in the corners,. if you like the dramatic driving style of rallying with the tail hung out,. then look for an old herb adams bar for a sedan and use a couple of plates for adapters and you;ll be happy,.
if i track the blue car, i use 5/16ths chain to hold it down for the corners,. not very high tech but damn effective,.makes the vette guys upset when i can place 11th overall out of a 33 car field,.
I personally think you're spending your money buying internet solutions and kits rather than adding value for money mods,.as mike oz said even the small panther chassis rear sway bar makes a big difference,.and its a cheap mod,.the wagon rear trailing arms work great if you box them with some 1/8th plate,. even if you walked cap in hand to a welding shop, i,d be surprised if you spent more than $100,New factory bushings will smarten an old car up,. i personally do not like the urethane ones , they squeak,. they are bone jarring,.
IF you set a car up too stiff,. its an animal to drive fast on rough roads,.and will be better suited for track,. TOO often i see guys build a car with info taken from the interent and the internet oft times just becomes a bragging rights type situation,. and a "gotta have" scene,.
I,ve blown the doors off many so called 'setup' cars just with cheap parts and decent driving talents,.In fact thats what motivates me is to bring a $5000 wagon with $3000 in mods and 1500lb sheavier, and smoke some anal retentive know it all vette owner with his $100 leather driving gloves and $200 driving shoes,.and his super rare colored 1 of 6 fibreglass $50,000 toy,.

Nick

 

I agree with SilverFox, new gears and guts, a press isn't used that much to make it worth it unless you own a shop and do that sort of work on a regular basis. The rear end parts will pay back dividends every time you drive the Roady.

You want a sway bar of a Crown Vic with the handling package, a Marauder, or some Town Cars. They have bigger bars than the P71s. From my experience they are hard to find in the JYs though. Most are still avalible from Ford.

Check this list out that Nick (Phantom 309) posted on the Impala SS forum a while back, it will give you an idea what cars to look for in the yard.

GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND<
type in just about any part # ..........even FerD stuff

Below is a list of rear stabilizer bars for 1992 and later crown victorias.


Part Number
Diameter (mm)
Year Range
Comments
Suggested Retail

3W1Z-5A772-AA
15.0
03-
Base Suspension
$59.98


F0VY-5A772-A
17.0
92-97
Used on 1990 towncars & 92-97 crownvics. Type-S. Obsolete
F8AZ-5A772-AA
17.0
98-00
Police & CNG. (Superceded by YW7Z-5A772-AA) (Used on base 98-00 towncars too)
Superceded by
YW7Z-5A772-AA
YW7Z-5A772-AA
17.0
01-
Includes 2 insulators
$72.15


F1VY-5A772-A
17.8
92-
Type-S (Used on all 91-97 towncars and also 98+ limos)
$48.32





F3AZ-5A772-A
21.0
93-00
Handling Package. Type S/H
Obsolete
YW7Z-5A772-CA
21.0
01-
Handling Package (Used on 2003 & 2004 mercury marauders too)
$56.65


Below is a list of rubber insulators that connect the rear axle to the stabilizer bar


Part Number
Diameter
Years
Comments
Suggested Retail





F0VY-5493-B
17.0
92-00

??Obsolete??
6W1Z-5493-C
17.0
01-
Supercedes YW7Z-5493-AB $13.32
F1VY-5493-C
17.8
92-

$26.65
YW7Z-5493-CA
21.0
93-
Supercedes F2AZ-5493-B
$11.65


Below are the rear stabilizer link and bracket part numbers


Part Number
Years
Comments
Suggested Retail




F0VY-5486-A
92-02
Rear Stabilizer Bar Bracket (Fits all 17, 18, and 21mm bar insulators)
Superceded by
3W1Z-5486-AA
N605907-S440
92-
Bolt M8 x 1.25 x 33 Hex Flng Pil
(Supercedes:
N605907-S2
N605907-S309)
$6.48
N808043-S56
92-
Nut M8 x 1.25 U P/T (Supercedes N800911-S55)
$11.00
3W1Z-5486-AA
03-04
Rear Stabilizer Bar Bracket
$6.65




6W1Z-5664-AA
92-
Rear Stabilizer Bar Link (Does not include nuts)
(Supercedes: F1VY-5664-A) $15.00
N621941-S441
92-
Nut & Washer M8 x 1.25 Hex
(Supercedes:
N621941-S36
N621941-S427)
$8.00



Notes:

• Many 2000 and later civilian crown vics and grand marquises do not have a rear stabilizer bar. All crown vics with the police and civilian handling package do have rear bars though. If in doubt whether your car has a rear bar or not, take a look under the car.
• Police rear swaybars are 17mm. Police coil springs are very stiff.
• Civilian Handling Package rear swaybars are 21mm but they are coupled with the relatively low rate civilian rear air springs
• All lincoln 1992+ towncars have rear air springs.
• Bigger is not always better. Have an understanding of the concepts of oversteer & understeer before "upgrading" sway bars.
• 1991 & prior "box bodies" used a different rear swaybar setup than later models and these bars are NOT interchangeable. Additionally, to add a rear sway bar onto a 1991 or prior "box body", one would need a 1991 or prior swaybar and also would have to replace the lower control arms with ones that had holes drilled in them for the swaybar mounts (i.e. police control arms). On 1992 and later models, the rear endlinks connect directly to the vehicle's frame rather than the lower control arms

• Nick

 

HEAR, HEAR, for Nick!!!

Could NOT have said it better myself! I see guys strapping irrelevant stuff on their cars all the time at great expense and then wonder why it doesn't run right or handle/ride "like it used to"
Great post, Nick!

 

Thanks very much for the info. I appreciate the knowledge level.

 

Sorry if it sounded too pompous and preachy,.Just trying to look out for your best interests really,.( my dad mode kicking in)

I worked in a speed shop when i was waaay,. younger,. i did installs,. and sales,. there were a couple of instances where i installed smaller camshafts than the customers wanted, never had one complaint,. BIG carbs were another difficult subject,.high rise intakes another,. headers with primary tubes big enough for 700cubes going on bone stock 305's etc,.all too often the customer knew best,. then they were crushed when things didn't gel,.Pistons with domes on them, and small chamber heads etc,.
I see it all the time,. with the latest gotta have knick knack stuff,.
guys have a problem with ignition and install a veritable arc welder of spark that'd run an alcohol fueler,.then they gotta cool the box,. run bigger power wires, bigger spark plug wires wider gapped copper plugs, etc,. next thing they know they,ve got $1500 tied up in spark for a stock motor,.
It boils down to whatever helps you sleep at night,.
I,ve installed lots of gear sets in my own iron,. oft times with no posi,. and guys think i,m crazy,. true you will have a 1 tire fryer,. but how often are you spinning the rear meats anyway? 99.6% of the time you never spin your tires right? (i,m talking daily driver here no track time)
Lastly, (i know i,m on the damn soap box again) i see guys stalled on their projects because they,ve set the bar too high,.partA costing $1000 cannot be installed with out partB also costing $1000, which can't be installed till parts C,D,+E are installed costing another $1000, yada yada,.( but they,ve already bought parts C+E)
I,ve had the most fun and use out of a mildly modded stock type vehicle that runs a little faster than the other guys car, rather than some of my all out stuff,.I see the internet classifieds full of expensive unfinished or hardly used parts and projects all the time,. guy builds an all out car,. can't tune it,. can't drive it or use it,. and it gets pieced out,.
Don't get caught up buying stuff you'll likely only use once,. (mebbe a fancy ass press?) there's your cold air intake and cat back system right there,.or a decent tune for the ecm ( better shift points, throttle response and driveability)
Wagons can be a lot of fun,i,d be glad to help you figure out yours,.mebbe even save you a buck or two,.

Nick

 

I hear what you're saying and I appreciate the information for sure. I'm just not sure how we got to this stage of messages when I am basically replacing bearings out of the rear end that HAVE to be replaced (yup, it's the rear pinion bearings that are dead) and some swaybars that the vehicle needs. I'm not keen on using muffler clamps to hold swaybars on although I do appreciate the ingenuity. I'd rather spend a little more and get a good fitting product. Junkyards around here aren't filled with 9C1's and P71's so it's not really an option to wander down and find something that's gonna fit. Wreckers locally ask a fortune for products. Trailing arms, while it may cost $100 to weld up the boxed ones, can be had new for $150. The press, well, I probably shouldn't have brought that up here and looked for a tool forum. I do have a use for this tool other than this job as I have had to use a press for three different vehicles this week. It would have saved me about 5 hours of bloody knuckles on one job in particular.
Anyways, back to the current situation, The gears are out and I've talked to my local transmission rebuilder that handily lives a few doors down who suggested that I use this as a learning step and put the gears back in stock for a bit until I'm ready to learn about doing backlash adjustments, gear pattern reading and the like.
I have always been impressed with this forum as to how non-preachy and friendly it is. It has been a treat.