ascMcLaren Enthusiasts

Euro#13 · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 196 Location: Michigan

[quote="n20capri]In fact I'm thinking about refinishing the original wheels and putting them back on...[/quote]

But then you would have loose those wonderful Baer brakes. Unhappy

Brent
_________________
Former owner of EuroCoupe #13
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5-speed; 1 of 7,860
1971 Ford Ranchero; 1 of 2,595
Hi-Jumper mid-engine sandrail w/2.3 turbo

Sandy · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:26 pm Post subject:

Oh..Hey, 'ya ~ I almost 4-got! Brent, thanks for the heads-up & great info on the tie rod tips. I too ordered a set from Green Sales, and they are on the way! Thanks, again ! Blob

_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.

1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.

http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/

n20capri · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 715 Location: Bensalem PA

Euro#13 · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 196 Location: Michigan

Sandy,

I am happy to help Smile

.
The downside is that this is going to cost me because now I feel I should order two sets for myself before they are history. Rolling Eyes

One set of spares for the Cougar and another set for my EuroCoupe since I have a set of Eibach springs that will eventually be going on the car.

Mike,
You're currently running 16" wheels on your car right?
If so, I have a "compromise" for you that you may be interested in doing to keep that "factory look" and still keep your current chassis setup.

Brent
_________________
Former owner of EuroCoupe #13
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5-speed; 1 of 7,860
1971 Ford Ranchero; 1 of 2,595
Hi-Jumper mid-engine sandrail w/2.3 turbo

Sandy · Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:57 pm Post subject:

Brent, you seem to have a better handle on this stuff than many others herein.
Question:
IF IF IF yours is a EuroCoupe, and you are putting in non-OEM springs ~ do you really NEED these "Mercury Cougar XR-7 TurboCoupe" tie Rod Tips? Very Happy

Hank (I am prett sure) still has the OEM "McLaren" designed springs. A person who was AT ASC during the 1985/1986 time frame once told me that the SOLE input to the project that MC LAREN ENGINEEING actually had was the design of the springs, and that the springs were NOT "cut" not were they IN the Ford Motorsports catalog, as the Super Sport Spring Package M-5300 as Sandy had originally believed. Now, I have a set of springs, (somewhere) in storage here in the house, but I never labelled the boxes, so I have no clue which of the 30+ boxes of NOS McLaren parts the springs are in, so please, don't ask me to check the curves in them, or anything about them.
Just wondering IF you NEED these tips. $90. + S&H
_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.

1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.

http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/

negusm · Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:26 pm Post subject:

No you don't "NEED" the tips.

People put on all kinds of springs on their cars (cut/hack them too) without changing their tie-rod tips. There is no extra wear that I have ever heard about.

Hank had the "correct" springs for me. I do not know if they were "ascMcLaren" ones or Ford ones. Sometimes he's a bit...ahhhh...short on words. He just said they were "correct".

We looked at the front springs on my car and they look to be about the same as what he sent. Its hard to tell exactly...

-Mike
_________________
1985 ascMcLaren Coupe - Midnight Blue
Under Restoration

negusm · Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject:

BTW, if you go to Partsvoice.com and type in that tie rod tip part #, there are several more places than just GreeSales with a few left.

-Mike
_________________
1985 ascMcLaren Coupe - Midnight Blue
Under Restoration

Euro#13 · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 196 Location: Michigan

Sandy,

Do we really need any of this stuff, probably not but that is a different topic that I argue with my wife about all the time. Laughing

Being it is a EuroCoupe and has the standard Capri springs in it, no I would not want to use them.

Mike is correct to say that many people install aftermarket lowering springs on their cars and don’t change anything else, but if you want to lower your car correctly you should do something to correct the steering angle that will be off by doing so.

When you lower the Capri with shorter coil springs the angle of the steering rods coming out of the rack leading to the spindles is now at an angle instead of straight. This angle is what causes bump steer which is not good.
Currently the common practice that most people do today to counter this is by using offset rack bushings. This moves the steering rack back up in the chassis and depending on how much the car is lowered it will either eliminate or reduce the angle of the steering rods, which will in turn reduce the presence of the bump steer.
Back in the mid-80’s these bushings weren’t a readily available item so the common trick was to use a tie-rod end that had a longer shank on it which essentially achieved the same effect by lowering the position of the tie-rod and also lessening the angle. Someone at ASC obviously figured out that the T-Bird/Cougar tie-rods were longer and took

As far as using the Eibach springs instead of getting a set of the original springs that were used on the full-option Coupes. The Eibach’s are a progressive rate spring and I have a set of these on my Cougar and I really like the way they ride. Also looking at the various pictures I have of your car and other Coupe’s the Eibach’s will bring the car down about another ½” or so and I really like that.
I don’t know this for a fact but I am assuming due to the time frame that they were designed, the ASC springs are a linear rate spring and in my experience the ride will suffer in comparison.
If I had the extra money I would consider buying a set from Hank to try out though, or if nothing else to have them as a spare set for when I get that 5-speed full-optioned Coupe someday. Wink

Brent
_________________
Former owner of EuroCoupe #13
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5-speed; 1 of 7,860
1971 Ford Ranchero; 1 of 2,595
Hi-Jumper mid-engine sandrail w/2.3 turbo

n20capri · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 715 Location: Bensalem PA

Euro#13 · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 196 Location: Michigan

Mike,

I thought your car had 16” wheels on it. At first I thought I was going to be stuck with the stock brakes because the factory Cobra brakes require a 17” wheel and I was sure that the Baer brake kit was going to require a 17” wheel too. But when I saw that you were able to clear them with a 16” wheel I was thrilled and an idea that I had briefly thought about before came back to me.

Even though I plan on doing performance modifications to my car, I still would prefer to keep it’s appearance as stock as possible and as you know just changing the wheels has about the biggest visual impact on a cars appearance.

My plan is to use the 16”x7” BBS crosslace wheels off of the 1990-1992 Lincoln Mark VII and have them refinished to mimic the stock 15” ASC wheel.
If you compare the spoke pattern of the two wheels, they are virtually the same.
This way I can have my suspension upgrades and the car will still retain the stock look.
99.9 % of people out there will never even notice the difference, it’s only that .1 % of the people on this board that will know that they aren’t the stock wheels.

Brent
_________________
Former owner of EuroCoupe #13
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5-speed; 1 of 7,860
1971 Ford Ranchero; 1 of 2,595
Hi-Jumper mid-engine sandrail w/2.3 turbo

Sandy · Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:10 pm Post subject:

...... and THAT would be.....ME Owned

_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.

1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.

http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/

n20capri · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 715 Location: Bensalem PA

Euro#13 · Joined: 30 Aug 2004 Posts: 196 Location: Michigan

Mike,

Sorry, when I saw that you had the Baer kit on your car I had assumed you had already converted yours to 5-lug. It didn't even occur to me that you had bought their 4-lug kit.

I had already planned on converting to 5-lug because I want to upgrade to SN-95 spindles an such.

Brent
_________________
Former owner of EuroCoupe #13
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 5-speed; 1 of 7,860
1971 Ford Ranchero; 1 of 2,595
Hi-Jumper mid-engine sandrail w/2.3 turbo

Sandy · Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:32 pm Post subject:

I am not 100% on this, but I am pretty sure, because I am 99% sure I actually saw it on a 5.0L Capri R/S (1985). There's a wheel company called ARE, but written in small letters, that are slanted to the right, sort of of like this: are and they make a wheel 95% exact to our wheels, in GOLD, with a chrome rim. No, they don't make it in orange. They are very attractive wheels and very very similiar to the ascMcLaren wheel. Has anyone heard of that company?? You might wanna check it out, as they were 5 lug for a 50-series tire. There is a photo on here of them. I'll try to locate & post, if you think it will help you achieve your similiar goals.

OH! It's "CobraJeff's" car !!

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/phpBB/album_pic.php?pic_id=83
_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.

1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.

http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/