I rebuilt my front end when I was 17 (23 years ago now).  I replaced the springs, shocks, and all bushings with a poly kit from somewhere (Mustangs Plus probably).  I rebuilt the upper control arms (new bushings and spring perches), installed new lower control arms that already had bushings and ball joints in them, and reused the strut rods and hardware.  That setup has been good enough for how I drive the car, and made a dramatic improvement in handling. 

Over the years I replaced the idler arm, tie rod ends and adjusting sleeves (solid, not the stock style that are open and can flex), and last year installed a Borgeson PS setup & a larger front sway bar. 

I would advise buying only quality parts.  For balljoints, tie rods, etc. I would only buy MOOG.  They are more expensive, but are quality parts with known metallurgy, unlike the off shore stuff commonly sold by the big parts houses in kit form. 

Moog.... and you could rebuild your upper control arms. 

The Moog strut rod bushings are hard to beat.

There are some good articles somewhere on blueprinting your upper control arms.  Basically get a control arm shaft kit and a ball joint.  Then put it together, making sure the ball joint is centered with the center of the shaft.... or you can purposefully set up a right and left UCA with the arm offset twards the rear of the car to help out with positive caster.  Most folks would tack weld the nuts on the shaft once they were happy with the setup.  That should save some money.  If I was trying to get the most bang for my buck I would also just replace the joint in the lower control arm, and get one of the Opentracker Racing spherical joint kits to replace the inner bushing... if you plan on going for a performance allignment where you are going to pull the lower control arm forward a bunch to gain positive caster.  Basically you can get Moog everything, a can of spray paint and reuse most of your components.   

I am so squeamish around anything that says Scott Drake on it anymore.

Last edited by Bentworker (6/01/2018 4:46 PM)

TKOPerformance wrote:

Bentworker wrote:

Moog.... and you could rebuild your upper control arms.

The Moog strut rod bushings are hard to beat.

There are some good articles somewhere on blueprinting your upper control arms. Basically get a control arm shaft kit and a ball joint. Then put it together, making sure the ball joint is centered with the center of the shaft.... or you can purposefully set up a right and left UCA with the arm offset twards the rear of the car to help out with positive camber. Most folks would tack weld the nuts on the shaft once they were happy with the setup. That should save some money. If I was trying to get the most bang for my buck I would also just replace the joint in the lower control arm, and get one of the Opentracker Racing spherical joint kits to replace the inner bushing... if you plan on going for a performance allignment where you are going to pull the lower control arm forward a bunch to gain positive camber. Basically you can get Moog everything, a can of spray paint and reuse most of your components.

I am so squeamish around anything that says Scott Drake on it anymore.

Positive caster, I think you meant, not camber.  Moving the balljoint rearward would add positive caster.  To effect camber you would have to move the balljoint inward (negative) or outward (positive).  Likewise, moving the lower control arm forward also increase positive caster.  Caster is the angle of spindle inclination as viewed from the side.  Positive is a rearward tilt, negative is a forward tilt. 

Camber is the angle of the wheel as viewed from the front of the car looking rearward.  Tilting inward at the top is negative, outward is positive. 

In a performance alignment you want positive caster, but negative camber.
 

Doh!

That is what I meant, I’ll correct it now

I recently rebuilt my whole front end (suspension and steering) and used Moog parts as the guys on here recommended. I never refurbished the upper control arms. I just went with Moog there also. I put the original Ford upper and lower control arms away though and will not throw these out. So far, I am very happy.
Scott Drake parts also have questions in my mind about quality...