chunk of concrete + focus @ 65mph = ouch!
so, on the way home yesterday on I-5, i was switching lanes just before the exit to get home. it was dark. i saw a lighter colored blob come into view in my driver’s headlight, directly aligned with my driver’s side front wheel. i don’t know if i moved to the right instinctively or not, but…
… i hit it. not so bad in the front, but much worse in the back. i continued off the exit figuring if the tire was deflating, it would at least get me that far. just off the exit i got out and looked — they all still had air, so i drove it home (about 3 blocks away).
end result: impact bruise on front driver’s tire, deep impact bruise & bent rim on driver’s rear. the car’s going back into the alignment shop on sunday to get the suspension & steering components checked out.
rear:
front:
focus suspension, aligned and finished
i know, i know. enough about the car already. well here it is, SVT suspension installed on my focus. been about a week, so the rear springs are really starting to settle down. enjoy. see the end of the post for a scan of my alignment sheet — no wonder my steering wheel was off-center.
it’s really settled the attitude of the car down. even with 50,000 miles on my stock suspension, this sits it about 3/4″ lower.
suspension, installed!
today, in about 4 hours - i finally got my suspension done. picking up the parts earlier in the week, i set out to get it installed this afternoon and it went quite smoothly. i actually took the luxury of doing some things slow & methodically, to be extra-careful.
plenty of pics follow - except i forgot to snap one after i rolled the car out of the garage, but trust me it’s out and i’ve driven it. yay!
parts still in their bags
these are the inside bolts that hold the lower control arm
these are the cams & nuts that hold the inside of the lower control arm
these are the bolts that attach the lower control arm to the knuckle on the outside
thse are the new lower control arms
here’s the rear suspension with the lower control arms removed
a detail of the knuckle on one side with the lower control arm removed
the new lower control arms and SVT springs/shocks installed
detail of one side with the lower control arm and spring installed
suspension - the cavalry arrives
finally got my replacement lower control arms (LCA) for my focus. now, i can get the rear SVT suspension installed — and drive my car this weekend! it’s been a month, i think. i miss it.
LCA is out, need a new one
got the rear Lower Control Arm (LCA) out of my car tonight. turned out a bit of cleverness spared the angle grinder or sawz-all.
i previously mentioned that the bushing in the joint between the LCA and the wheel knuckle, on the driver’s side rear of my car, shredded when i tried to turn out the bolt that holds them together.
well, the collar in the middle of the bushing turns, preventing the bolt from coming out. i thought about how to keep the collar from turning, and bought a bigger set of vice grips tonight.
you can see from the pictures, the vice grips were adequate to keep the collar from turning. i had to clamp them on with both hands… but they held. the bolt screamed with every turn — i had actually considered retrieving my earplugs at one point. but it eventually got easier, enough to turn the bolt with a ratchet. and then i knew, it was out. victory!
now to order new parts from bickford ford and install them, to finally drive my car with SVT suspension.
suspension, interrupted
sigh… in the saga of “nothing cheap is easy” the SVT suspension swap onto my car has ground to a halt… at the last wheel.
on the driver’s side rear, as i was preparing to remove the bolt to detach the knuckle and the rear lower control arm (LCA), the bolt got stuck in the bushing sleeve and tore the sleeve from the bushing (so it now spins freely).
this has 2 consequences… 1.) i cannot get the bolt out by ordinary means, 2.) i cannot get the new springs in without finding a special set of spring compressors.
i managed to get the stock spring out with standard dual-screw type spring compressors, but i cannot get the SVT spring in with them — the compressors interfere with the LCA itself. it was easy to position them appropriately to clear the LCA while removing the stock spring, but applying them to the replacement spring in the correct place to clear the LCA is nigh impossible.
so, my next task is — attempt to get the bolt out without damaging the knuckle , OR find a way to get the spring in, and take the whole car to a shop to get the bushing replaced. joy!
suspension, halfway
so, 10 points if you can guess what this is?
it’s one of the bolts from one of the old front sway bar end links from my focus. i ended up having to hacksaw it off.
what does that mean? well, let’s just jump forwards in time from that moment…
a comparison of old and new swaybar links … ford redesigned them 4 times
no suspension anymore
SVT front suspension installed!
so, we’re halfway through the install. now i need to install the rear suspension… hopefully, that one shouldn’t be as tough.