great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Strut pics:
Last edited:
1983 GL, project: Cheap Thrills
- Thread starter great white
- Start date
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Damn you ebay!
03 mach 1 springs too cheap to pass up:
Takeoffs from a car in georgia. Nice and clean, rust free!
I need a set anyways as my front coils have the typical broken off lower coil. The spring rates for the v6 springs is also way too low with the weight of the v8 on them now.
It will also help out in the rear as srping rates need to be increased when using a torque arm/PH bar arrangement. The reduced binding in the rear suspension leads to bottoming easily, so you have to up the spring rates to compensate.
But i coukd have done with not spending the money so soon.
Well, at least its done.
They will be a decent conpromise between street and autocross rates, which is where this car will live (ie: multipurpose).
Definitely have to store the motorcycle somewhere else this winter now. My mother inlaw in dartmouth has a big garage with lots of space. I'll ride it down this weekend and lay it up for winter. Got lots of fabricating to do on the mustang and I'm going to need the space....
03 mach 1 springs too cheap to pass up:
Takeoffs from a car in georgia. Nice and clean, rust free!
I need a set anyways as my front coils have the typical broken off lower coil. The spring rates for the v6 springs is also way too low with the weight of the v8 on them now.
It will also help out in the rear as srping rates need to be increased when using a torque arm/PH bar arrangement. The reduced binding in the rear suspension leads to bottoming easily, so you have to up the spring rates to compensate.
But i coukd have done with not spending the money so soon.
Well, at least its done.
They will be a decent conpromise between street and autocross rates, which is where this car will live (ie: multipurpose).
Definitely have to store the motorcycle somewhere else this winter now. My mother inlaw in dartmouth has a big garage with lots of space. I'll ride it down this weekend and lay it up for winter. Got lots of fabricating to do on the mustang and I'm going to need the space....
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Well, one step forward, two steps back.
Got the fox rack out today. Went to install the sn95 rack (which should be a simple bolt on job) but no joy.
Seems the earlier fox cross member has a slightly different mounting scheme. The later foxes and sn95 use a "tube" that goes through the rack bushings and into the cross member. Then a long bolt holds it all together.
The early fox (like mine) has a short sleeve in the rack mounting rubbers that butts up against the crossmember and a larger diameter bolt holds it all together.
The older bolts won't go throught the newer sleeves and the older sleeves won't fit in the sn95 rack bushings
Dammit!
But lucky for me, I have a metal lathe. I'll just spin out some aluminum bushings to fit the ID of the sn95 rack boss and the OD of the early fox bolts.
Sounds custom, but it's really just the same thing if you install a MM solid bushing kit on a later fox. Except you have to cut the later sleeves flush with the cross member. When done, I'll have the same thing except I will have a larger diameter bolt holding the rack on and I won't have the short stub sleeve inside the crossmember.
Time to do some measuring and spinning.
They've got me on half days now, so it should make for a relaxing afternoon of fiddling on the lathe tomorrow.
Got the fox rack out today. Went to install the sn95 rack (which should be a simple bolt on job) but no joy.
Seems the earlier fox cross member has a slightly different mounting scheme. The later foxes and sn95 use a "tube" that goes through the rack bushings and into the cross member. Then a long bolt holds it all together.
The early fox (like mine) has a short sleeve in the rack mounting rubbers that butts up against the crossmember and a larger diameter bolt holds it all together.
The older bolts won't go throught the newer sleeves and the older sleeves won't fit in the sn95 rack bushings
Dammit!
But lucky for me, I have a metal lathe. I'll just spin out some aluminum bushings to fit the ID of the sn95 rack boss and the OD of the early fox bolts.
Sounds custom, but it's really just the same thing if you install a MM solid bushing kit on a later fox. Except you have to cut the later sleeves flush with the cross member. When done, I'll have the same thing except I will have a larger diameter bolt holding the rack on and I won't have the short stub sleeve inside the crossmember.
Time to do some measuring and spinning.
They've got me on half days now, so it should make for a relaxing afternoon of fiddling on the lathe tomorrow.
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Aluminum inserts fresh off the lathe:
fit to the rack:
They're machined to a friction fit, and yet not a friction fit. I cleaned the rack bosses as best possible, but they're not perfectly round. The rack is also from a 96, so it's lived through 10 years of NS winters. We all know what that does to cars and parts.....
So the inserts need to be tapped in with the heel of a hand but not much more. They're tight and won't let the rack move around, which is the important thing.
You can see the inserts don't quite meet down inside the rack mount boss. I left a couple thou so the bolts would compress the inserts slightly to properly "grab" the rack on the outside edges of the insert bosses.
One more set to make....
fit to the rack:
They're machined to a friction fit, and yet not a friction fit. I cleaned the rack bosses as best possible, but they're not perfectly round. The rack is also from a 96, so it's lived through 10 years of NS winters. We all know what that does to cars and parts.....
So the inserts need to be tapped in with the heel of a hand but not much more. They're tight and won't let the rack move around, which is the important thing.
You can see the inserts don't quite meet down inside the rack mount boss. I left a couple thou so the bolts would compress the inserts slightly to properly "grab" the rack on the outside edges of the insert bosses.
One more set to make....
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Finished the last insert set and installed the rack.
Nice little package came from rockauto today with my tie rods and a few other bits that I needed to more forward so that was a timely delivery.
I had to cut the old PS pressure line on the original V6 pump. The 94 rack came with the pressure line, but in approx mid 89 ford changed the pump fittings from standard to metric. The lines down on the rack stayed standard.
So I though I was hooped and would have to buy a new line until I remembered that the fitting in the pump is threaded into the body. Could I bee so fortunate as them being swap-able?
I grabbed a wrench and turned the fitting out of the 83 PS pump and it threaded into the 94 fitting (had to thread it out of the pump in the scrap yard to save the line).
Perfect fit!
Now the 94 rack pressure line threads right into the 83 pump via the 94 pump body fitting.
I do need to buy a new teflon washer for it as I had to use heat to get the line out of the fitting, but that's much cheaper than buying a new line or pump.
I used the 83 pump because the housing is black, which goes with the overall engine bay theme of either ford blue, black or aluminum. The 89 pump I have is a beige/tan color pump body, which I really didn't want to use. Pump output is the same between the 83 and the 89 so no worries there.
I plan to run the V6 PS pump pulley since it's a larger diameter than the 89's v8 pulley. This will slow the pump down and keeps it from frothing and overflowing on autocross days.
Once I do a little rad support panel metal repair work, I can slot in the PS cooler and the steering system is done.
I will pop the rack back out of the car for a quick trip through the media blaster. Gotta clean it up so it looks pretty like the rest of the new parts.
Fox chassis awesomeness, sn95 steering system goodness!
Nice little package came from rockauto today with my tie rods and a few other bits that I needed to more forward so that was a timely delivery.
I had to cut the old PS pressure line on the original V6 pump. The 94 rack came with the pressure line, but in approx mid 89 ford changed the pump fittings from standard to metric. The lines down on the rack stayed standard.
So I though I was hooped and would have to buy a new line until I remembered that the fitting in the pump is threaded into the body. Could I bee so fortunate as them being swap-able?
I grabbed a wrench and turned the fitting out of the 83 PS pump and it threaded into the 94 fitting (had to thread it out of the pump in the scrap yard to save the line).
Perfect fit!
Now the 94 rack pressure line threads right into the 83 pump via the 94 pump body fitting.
I do need to buy a new teflon washer for it as I had to use heat to get the line out of the fitting, but that's much cheaper than buying a new line or pump.
I used the 83 pump because the housing is black, which goes with the overall engine bay theme of either ford blue, black or aluminum. The 89 pump I have is a beige/tan color pump body, which I really didn't want to use. Pump output is the same between the 83 and the 89 so no worries there.
I plan to run the V6 PS pump pulley since it's a larger diameter than the 89's v8 pulley. This will slow the pump down and keeps it from frothing and overflowing on autocross days.
Once I do a little rad support panel metal repair work, I can slot in the PS cooler and the steering system is done.
I will pop the rack back out of the car for a quick trip through the media blaster. Gotta clean it up so it looks pretty like the rest of the new parts.
Fox chassis awesomeness, sn95 steering system goodness!
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
I started thinking about my rear axle.
8.8, disc brakes, traction lok, 3.73, 31 spline axles and 31 spline carrier.
Sounds pretty "beefy" for my relatively mild carbureted roller engine.
But those mismatch carrier bearing caps were just bugging the heck out of me. Yes, I machined them to the proper spec, but the caps were the thin stockers and the left and right are slightly different designs. I just can't bring myself to leave them in there. It's a compromise I don't want to live with as I've seen too many axles die a horrible death from carrier bearing failures. I also don't want to have to get back into the axle once it's put together (other than to rebuild the traction lok if needed).
Since the axle is full of lots of other beefy goodness, i went straight to Mark Williams enterprises and ordered a set of their billet steel caps. They can be seen here if you want to read a little bit on them: http://www.markwilliams.com/beefup.aspx
I thought about having the tubes welded to the housings, but I just don't trust anyone locally to weld the tubes to the cast iron center section properly or do it without messing up the camber on the tubes. I'm pretty sure I can get away with not welding them as I'll be lucky if I ever get more than 350-400 hp out of my combo. The most I will add to it is a set of aluminum heads and that primarily to drop 60-80 lbs off the nose more than big HP numbers.
A cover with a cap girdle would be nice too, but I can add that easily in the future if I want. But the way I'm planning to build this axle and the power level I'm going to leave the engine at, means a cover with cap girdle would be mostly for "bling" anyways.
8.8, disc brakes, traction lok, 3.73, 31 spline axles and 31 spline carrier.
Sounds pretty "beefy" for my relatively mild carbureted roller engine.
But those mismatch carrier bearing caps were just bugging the heck out of me. Yes, I machined them to the proper spec, but the caps were the thin stockers and the left and right are slightly different designs. I just can't bring myself to leave them in there. It's a compromise I don't want to live with as I've seen too many axles die a horrible death from carrier bearing failures. I also don't want to have to get back into the axle once it's put together (other than to rebuild the traction lok if needed).
Since the axle is full of lots of other beefy goodness, i went straight to Mark Williams enterprises and ordered a set of their billet steel caps. They can be seen here if you want to read a little bit on them: http://www.markwilliams.com/beefup.aspx
I thought about having the tubes welded to the housings, but I just don't trust anyone locally to weld the tubes to the cast iron center section properly or do it without messing up the camber on the tubes. I'm pretty sure I can get away with not welding them as I'll be lucky if I ever get more than 350-400 hp out of my combo. The most I will add to it is a set of aluminum heads and that primarily to drop 60-80 lbs off the nose more than big HP numbers.
A cover with a cap girdle would be nice too, but I can add that easily in the future if I want. But the way I'm planning to build this axle and the power level I'm going to leave the engine at, means a cover with cap girdle would be mostly for "bling" anyways.
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Whoops. turns out Mark Williams carrier bearing caps are sold as "each". So apparently I didn't order a set, I ordered one.
However, it was explained to me that one is all you need anyways. Replacing both is optional and mostly overkill.
Here's the skinny:
The cap goes on the drivers side. Reason being that's the side that takes the abuse in the rear end. As you stomp on the throttle, the ring gear tries to "climb" the pinion gear. Just the way it works. So the carrier tries to blow the drivers side cap out the back of the rear end and the passenger side tries to bury itself into the housing. Failure mode is the drivers side cap "stretches" and allows the bearing to spin or the cap to walk. Either way, the bearing race looses clamping and then bad things start to follow.
That's good enough explanation for me to install the one on the drivers side and be good with it. The other side will get the slightly heavier cap that came out of the Explorer 8.8 (since all it has to do is clamp and hold the bearing race in place) and the Crown Vic cap that's on the passenger side now will get tossed back into the "parts bucket".
A girdled rear cover will follow somewhere in the next few years or so. That's an expenditure that can wait.
However, it was explained to me that one is all you need anyways. Replacing both is optional and mostly overkill.
Here's the skinny:
The cap goes on the drivers side. Reason being that's the side that takes the abuse in the rear end. As you stomp on the throttle, the ring gear tries to "climb" the pinion gear. Just the way it works. So the carrier tries to blow the drivers side cap out the back of the rear end and the passenger side tries to bury itself into the housing. Failure mode is the drivers side cap "stretches" and allows the bearing to spin or the cap to walk. Either way, the bearing race looses clamping and then bad things start to follow.
That's good enough explanation for me to install the one on the drivers side and be good with it. The other side will get the slightly heavier cap that came out of the Explorer 8.8 (since all it has to do is clamp and hold the bearing race in place) and the Crown Vic cap that's on the passenger side now will get tossed back into the "parts bucket".
A girdled rear cover will follow somewhere in the next few years or so. That's an expenditure that can wait.
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Well, got the LH camber/caster plate installed.
Easy to change the settings, in fact almost too easy. It's just open slots and needs a fine touch when adjusting and it's a fine line between the bolts being tight enough to move yet not so loose that it looses it's settings.
+6 Degrees caster looks to be about the maximum (as measured by an angle gauge on the strut). For street driving I'm going to start with +4.5 caster and see how it goes. Autocross will be around +5 to +5.5, which is close to the max these plates will give anyways.
Looks like - 2 or so is the max negative camber (on the same angle gauge). With -2 ish camber, the tires are tucked well in under the stretched wheel wells. I'll probably run -1 on the street and drop to a full -2 to -2.5 when (if) autocrossing.
I have pics, but photobucket is being a pain right now so I'll have to post them later.
The front end has dropped dramatically with the sn95 spindles, sn95 arms and the trashed v6 springs. I can only hope it comes back up when I install the Mach 1 springs. I believe it will since the v6 springs are a super mushy rate and it's missing a ha;f coil (broken off).
I may have a bump steer issue, but it's hard to tell looking at the geometry as it sits. The ball joint isn't home in the spindle (only loosely assembled as I'm waiting for new ones to arrive) and the drop from the V6 springs are throwing it all out of whack.
Got the tie rods ends on also. Looks like I may have to nip 1/4 to 2" off the inner tie rod ends. The outers bottom out and it looks somewhat toed out still. I need to get both sides together and take some measurements to know for sure. Clipping a little off the inner tie rods to get something to fit is far preferable to using something like a Taurus inner tie rod 9common for rack swaps on a fox). Mustang tie rods you'll be able to get at any corner parts house until the world stops turning, where the Taurus is only going to get harder and harder to get parts. Except for a couple SVO Taurus's, they're throw away cars. aftermarket suppliers will stop making parts for them as they begin to drop off the parts sales leader boards.
This weekend is pretty much a "stop" on working on the car. Tomorrow the bike goes down to Dartmouth and I'm headed out to lantz to pick up a couple inner fender liners and hopefully a dead pedal. Sunday I have to clean the garage up. It's been non stop thrash for a while and it's turned into one heck of a "S-pit".
I almost want to scream when I walk in it's sooooo messy......
Easy to change the settings, in fact almost too easy. It's just open slots and needs a fine touch when adjusting and it's a fine line between the bolts being tight enough to move yet not so loose that it looses it's settings.
+6 Degrees caster looks to be about the maximum (as measured by an angle gauge on the strut). For street driving I'm going to start with +4.5 caster and see how it goes. Autocross will be around +5 to +5.5, which is close to the max these plates will give anyways.
Looks like - 2 or so is the max negative camber (on the same angle gauge). With -2 ish camber, the tires are tucked well in under the stretched wheel wells. I'll probably run -1 on the street and drop to a full -2 to -2.5 when (if) autocrossing.
I have pics, but photobucket is being a pain right now so I'll have to post them later.
The front end has dropped dramatically with the sn95 spindles, sn95 arms and the trashed v6 springs. I can only hope it comes back up when I install the Mach 1 springs. I believe it will since the v6 springs are a super mushy rate and it's missing a ha;f coil (broken off).
I may have a bump steer issue, but it's hard to tell looking at the geometry as it sits. The ball joint isn't home in the spindle (only loosely assembled as I'm waiting for new ones to arrive) and the drop from the V6 springs are throwing it all out of whack.
Got the tie rods ends on also. Looks like I may have to nip 1/4 to 2" off the inner tie rod ends. The outers bottom out and it looks somewhat toed out still. I need to get both sides together and take some measurements to know for sure. Clipping a little off the inner tie rods to get something to fit is far preferable to using something like a Taurus inner tie rod 9common for rack swaps on a fox). Mustang tie rods you'll be able to get at any corner parts house until the world stops turning, where the Taurus is only going to get harder and harder to get parts. Except for a couple SVO Taurus's, they're throw away cars. aftermarket suppliers will stop making parts for them as they begin to drop off the parts sales leader boards.
This weekend is pretty much a "stop" on working on the car. Tomorrow the bike goes down to Dartmouth and I'm headed out to lantz to pick up a couple inner fender liners and hopefully a dead pedal. Sunday I have to clean the garage up. It's been non stop thrash for a while and it's turned into one heck of a "S-pit".
I almost want to scream when I walk in it's sooooo messy......
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Bit of a score today with the potential to be a big/huge/massive score.
I found out where the capri I had taken some parts off had went and the gent told me I could come by and grab the couple sensors I needed off what was left.
The car hadn't quite shown up at his yard yet, so we waited and chatted a while. Turns out he had what was left of an 83 GT mustang on his lot somewhere. He had taken it apart with intentions to refurb it, but the car was so rotted he just left it. He leads me into his shop and upstairs where he stored bits of the interior. He had the entire dash, complete with wiring, gauges etc on a shelf. It's been there for a while as it has a dust layer so thick there's potatoes growing in it!
My dash shell has a piece cut out of it and this one is 'mint". The dash pad is cracked a little at the center speaker hole, but mine has crumbled to dust in all the speaker holes and is nearly split from front to back in several places. It's also the same 1983 red mine is. It's also a GT, so it has all the wiring to just plug in the center console with clock and warning center. With luck, I should be able to just plug in the console and have it all work. That's a "fingers crossed situ" though. Won't know until I power it all up for the first time.
We toss prices back and forth an end on 75 bucks. He shows me some other interior bits and I'm interested, but don't bite right away.
I then walk out to grab the fuel warning switch and washer low switch from the capri, which has now shown up on a trailer. The capri is in the back of the yard and I have to walk down and back up. I figure it might be worth a little walk off the beaten path and see if I can find the rest of the 83 GT the dash came from.
I find it and it's pretty much gone. Almost literally a ghost of what was once a mustang. I can see where they tried to start rebuilding it, but they pretty much had to cut everything from the belt line down off. It's toast.
But....
sitting on the ground where the front end would have been is it's K member. It's in great shape! It's actually in better shape than the one currently in my 83. I'll see if I can pick that up for a reasonable price and use that one to modify to slide the K member forward, the engine pads back and the change in A arm mounting points. i always prefer to buy spare parts to modify rather than originals. That way if I horribly mess it up, I can at least put the stock parts back in and no harm no foul.
But that's not the real find. It's got a T Top roof on it! It's just the metal, but even that is a find. I head back to the shop to ask him if he still has the glass for the T roof, but when I get there I find he's gone out with his grandson.
I'm headed back this week some time to pick up the dash, I'll ask him about the K member and the T roof then. Fingers crossed he's got the T roof glass and is willing to part with the T roof as a package.
I then rode the Venture down to Dartmouth to lay it up for the winter at the MIL's garage. After it was all put to bed, I ran out to Kenny's U-pull in Lantz. I scored a dead pedal and L/R front wheel well liners from a 94 SN95 for 15 bucks. The dead pedal will be a nice addition to the 83 now that it's a 5 speed. The SN95 wheel well liners are also for the 83. Now that the stock fenders have been rolled and stretched, the 83 liners are now too short. The Sn95 liners fit eh frame rails in the fox wells, but are wider for the SN95 fenders. So a little trimming and fitting and they'll be just right for my 83 with stretched fenders!
I found out where the capri I had taken some parts off had went and the gent told me I could come by and grab the couple sensors I needed off what was left.
The car hadn't quite shown up at his yard yet, so we waited and chatted a while. Turns out he had what was left of an 83 GT mustang on his lot somewhere. He had taken it apart with intentions to refurb it, but the car was so rotted he just left it. He leads me into his shop and upstairs where he stored bits of the interior. He had the entire dash, complete with wiring, gauges etc on a shelf. It's been there for a while as it has a dust layer so thick there's potatoes growing in it!
My dash shell has a piece cut out of it and this one is 'mint". The dash pad is cracked a little at the center speaker hole, but mine has crumbled to dust in all the speaker holes and is nearly split from front to back in several places. It's also the same 1983 red mine is. It's also a GT, so it has all the wiring to just plug in the center console with clock and warning center. With luck, I should be able to just plug in the console and have it all work. That's a "fingers crossed situ" though. Won't know until I power it all up for the first time.
We toss prices back and forth an end on 75 bucks. He shows me some other interior bits and I'm interested, but don't bite right away.
I then walk out to grab the fuel warning switch and washer low switch from the capri, which has now shown up on a trailer. The capri is in the back of the yard and I have to walk down and back up. I figure it might be worth a little walk off the beaten path and see if I can find the rest of the 83 GT the dash came from.
I find it and it's pretty much gone. Almost literally a ghost of what was once a mustang. I can see where they tried to start rebuilding it, but they pretty much had to cut everything from the belt line down off. It's toast.
But....
sitting on the ground where the front end would have been is it's K member. It's in great shape! It's actually in better shape than the one currently in my 83. I'll see if I can pick that up for a reasonable price and use that one to modify to slide the K member forward, the engine pads back and the change in A arm mounting points. i always prefer to buy spare parts to modify rather than originals. That way if I horribly mess it up, I can at least put the stock parts back in and no harm no foul.
But that's not the real find. It's got a T Top roof on it! It's just the metal, but even that is a find. I head back to the shop to ask him if he still has the glass for the T roof, but when I get there I find he's gone out with his grandson.
I'm headed back this week some time to pick up the dash, I'll ask him about the K member and the T roof then. Fingers crossed he's got the T roof glass and is willing to part with the T roof as a package.
I then rode the Venture down to Dartmouth to lay it up for the winter at the MIL's garage. After it was all put to bed, I ran out to Kenny's U-pull in Lantz. I scored a dead pedal and L/R front wheel well liners from a 94 SN95 for 15 bucks. The dead pedal will be a nice addition to the 83 now that it's a 5 speed. The SN95 wheel well liners are also for the 83. Now that the stock fenders have been rolled and stretched, the 83 liners are now too short. The Sn95 liners fit eh frame rails in the fox wells, but are wider for the SN95 fenders. So a little trimming and fitting and they'll be just right for my 83 with stretched fenders!
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
great white;n9891 said:Well, got the LH camber/caster plate installed.
Easy to change the settings, in fact almost too easy. It's just open slots and needs a fine touch when adjusting and it's a fine line between the bolts being tight enough to move yet not so loose that it looses it's settings.
+6 Degrees caster looks to be about the maximum (as measured by an angle gauge on the strut). For street driving I'm going to start with +4.5 caster and see how it goes. Autocross will be around +5 to +5.5, which is close to the max these plates will give anyways.
Looks like - 2 or so is the max negative camber (on the same angle gauge). With -2 ish camber, the tires are tucked well in under the stretched wheel wells. I'll probably run -1 on the street and drop to a full -2 to -2.5 when (if) autocrossing.
I have pics, but photobucket is being a pain right now so I'll have to post them later.
The front end has dropped dramatically with the sn95 spindles, sn95 arms and the trashed v6 springs. I can only hope it comes back up when I install the Mach 1 springs. I believe it will since the v6 springs are a super mushy rate and it's missing a ha;f coil (broken off).
I may have a bump steer issue, but it's hard to tell looking at the geometry as it sits. The ball joint isn't home in the spindle (only loosely assembled as I'm waiting for new ones to arrive) and the drop from the V6 springs are throwing it all out of whack.
Got the tie rods ends on also. Looks like I may have to nip 1/4 to 2" off the inner tie rod ends. The outers bottom out and it looks somewhat toed out still. I need to get both sides together and take some measurements to know for sure. Clipping a little off the inner tie rods to get something to fit is far preferable to using something like a Taurus inner tie rod 9common for rack swaps on a fox). Mustang tie rods you'll be able to get at any corner parts house until the world stops turning, where the Taurus is only going to get harder and harder to get parts. Except for a couple SVO Taurus's, they're throw away cars. aftermarket suppliers will stop making parts for them as they begin to drop off the parts sales leader boards.
This weekend is pretty much a "stop" on working on the car. Tomorrow the bike goes down to Dartmouth and I'm headed out to lantz to pick up a couple inner fender liners and hopefully a dead pedal. Sunday I have to clean the garage up. It's been non stop thrash for a while and it's turned into one heck of a "S-pit".
I almost want to scream when I walk in it's sooooo messy......
As promised, pics to go with the post:
(ignore that great big accel coil on the back of the strut tower, went on in the early 80's when they were popular. It won't be there in mustang ver 2.0)
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Kinda pulling away from the T Top roof conversion idea the more I think about it.
Noisy, prone to leaks and weakens the structure (even with full length subframe connectors like I'm building).
I'm sure tossing it back and forth with hard on/off the throttle when "autocross-ing" it won't kind to it either.
Maybe I'll just stick with my OEM sunroof.....
Noisy, prone to leaks and weakens the structure (even with full length subframe connectors like I'm building).
I'm sure tossing it back and forth with hard on/off the throttle when "autocross-ing" it won't kind to it either.
Maybe I'll just stick with my OEM sunroof.....
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Getting ready to fit my lower bodywork. Got fleeced today on ebay for the side piece mounting hardware. Used, but still usable. Roughly 100 bucks less than what the mustang parts housing want for them, but still stupidly priced.
My urethane pieces are all warped and twisted from the guy I bought them off just chucking them in a pile. So I started taping them to the car to get them to go back into shape:
Sure makes the car look different. There's no real weight change, but the car sure is "visually" heavier. I'm committed at this point, so it's full speed ahead no matter what!
The imprinted "Mustang GT" letters are going to be filled it. The lowers will just be smooth.
My urethane pieces are all warped and twisted from the guy I bought them off just chucking them in a pile. So I started taping them to the car to get them to go back into shape:
Sure makes the car look different. There's no real weight change, but the car sure is "visually" heavier. I'm committed at this point, so it's full speed ahead no matter what!
The imprinted "Mustang GT" letters are going to be filled it. The lowers will just be smooth.
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
I've been "eye-balling" a set of used 03/04 SVT cobra front control arms on ebay for a while now. They're 79 usd/100 CAD. I don't understand why someone in the states hasn't snapped them up. I've been stalking them but the shipping price doubles the purchase price.
Well, today I pulled the trigger:
Mine!
The sn95 arms I have now are ok, but the cobra's offer some significant improvements. My 94 arms also have a strange "bend" in the leading part of the arms at the bushings. I didn't notice when I pulled them, but it's like someone ran a curb under the car and pushed them in a bit. It would have had to have been one hell of a hit as I couldn't push them back into shape with a 20 ton porta power.
They'll be a straight 1 for 1 swap with my 94 SN95 arms and will give me the stiffer rubber bushings (reported 50% stiffer than standard bushings) without having to go to polyurethane bushings. They also have the low friction ball joints, but the car they came from had 45,000 miles. They are supposed to last 200,000 or more, but I'll see how they are when they get here. I've got new moog ball joints on the way, so I'm good either way.
The cobra's are supposed to have revised geometry which pushes the wheel a little forward for improved caster.Might call for some fender trimming unless stretching my fenders is going to cover the difference. really, anything that pushes the wheels forward improves the weight bias on the fox mustang. That's also why I'm pushing the K member forward and the engine with a 1" setback.
The last bonus of these arms is they are redesigned for 10% improvement in turning radius. They are also supposedly stiffer than the stock SN95 arms, but that's only anecdotal.
Well, today I pulled the trigger:
Mine!
The sn95 arms I have now are ok, but the cobra's offer some significant improvements. My 94 arms also have a strange "bend" in the leading part of the arms at the bushings. I didn't notice when I pulled them, but it's like someone ran a curb under the car and pushed them in a bit. It would have had to have been one hell of a hit as I couldn't push them back into shape with a 20 ton porta power.
They'll be a straight 1 for 1 swap with my 94 SN95 arms and will give me the stiffer rubber bushings (reported 50% stiffer than standard bushings) without having to go to polyurethane bushings. They also have the low friction ball joints, but the car they came from had 45,000 miles. They are supposed to last 200,000 or more, but I'll see how they are when they get here. I've got new moog ball joints on the way, so I'm good either way.
The cobra's are supposed to have revised geometry which pushes the wheel a little forward for improved caster.Might call for some fender trimming unless stretching my fenders is going to cover the difference. really, anything that pushes the wheels forward improves the weight bias on the fox mustang. That's also why I'm pushing the K member forward and the engine with a 1" setback.
The last bonus of these arms is they are redesigned for 10% improvement in turning radius. They are also supposedly stiffer than the stock SN95 arms, but that's only anecdotal.
TrueBlue02058
Post King
Turning out to be quite a "Build". Keep us up to date with your Progress reports , I really enjoy them.
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Stuff is beginning to roll in.
Dash and console:
I've got a console already (I have two actually) but this one goes with the dash. So I know it will plug in and work. It also has the E-brake opening rubber in good shape (the ones I had went to melted goo at some point) and it has the 4 speed shift bezel. It was only another 25 bucks, so it made sense to grab it. It has the red arm pad and it's in good shape so that's a bonus. I have an arm pad already, but it's gray.
Spare K member for modifying:
50 bucks. It's got rust in the drivers side rear A Arm mount right in the bolt hole (the bolt has pulled right through) but that's not really a worry as I'm going to be reworking that area anyways. A quick pass with the mig and a re-drilling of the hole and it's good to go. Other than that one weird spot, it's in fantastic shape and even has most of it's original paint from 1982. I'll stitch weld the seams, move the engine pads, slot the chassis mounts and maybe rework the A Arm mount points. Most importantly, it's a spare I can hack away on and if I mess it up the original is still good in the car.
Ford wires to replace my (sad day) motorsport wires:
Air cleaner (and wires installed):
It will (eventually) be painted to match the valve covers.
You can also see the caster/camber plate on the RH tower. The LH side is waiting for "the full Monty" of A Arms, spindles, 5 lug, etc before it gets the camber plate. I'm actually kind of hoping the Mach 1 springs and Bilsteins show up before I get around to it.
While I was chucking some Tremclad on the A Arm, I had at a few other parts:
I'm using Tremclad to protect the raw steel parts and it allows me to be a little less "anal" about removing every last little spec of rust. Brush on leave a nice thick coat and goes on easy.Brush marks (if any) are of far less importance on suspension and underbody pieces.
UPS tried to drop something off this morning but I wasn't home. I'm guessing that's going to be my 31 spline axles.
Soon a couple big orders from Rock Auto will come in and I can pick up some serious speed on this project.
I have to get the drivers side 5 lug done, then finish making the steering shaft. Once that's done I have to get rolling on putting that new floor pan in. I have to pull the dash and column out to do the floor (for space to move my fat bod around), so when it comes time to got back in I'll swap in the new dash, the tilt column, Sn95 brake booster and master and the standard shift pedals and brackets.
Dash and console:
I've got a console already (I have two actually) but this one goes with the dash. So I know it will plug in and work. It also has the E-brake opening rubber in good shape (the ones I had went to melted goo at some point) and it has the 4 speed shift bezel. It was only another 25 bucks, so it made sense to grab it. It has the red arm pad and it's in good shape so that's a bonus. I have an arm pad already, but it's gray.
Spare K member for modifying:
50 bucks. It's got rust in the drivers side rear A Arm mount right in the bolt hole (the bolt has pulled right through) but that's not really a worry as I'm going to be reworking that area anyways. A quick pass with the mig and a re-drilling of the hole and it's good to go. Other than that one weird spot, it's in fantastic shape and even has most of it's original paint from 1982. I'll stitch weld the seams, move the engine pads, slot the chassis mounts and maybe rework the A Arm mount points. Most importantly, it's a spare I can hack away on and if I mess it up the original is still good in the car.
Ford wires to replace my (sad day) motorsport wires:
Air cleaner (and wires installed):
It will (eventually) be painted to match the valve covers.
You can also see the caster/camber plate on the RH tower. The LH side is waiting for "the full Monty" of A Arms, spindles, 5 lug, etc before it gets the camber plate. I'm actually kind of hoping the Mach 1 springs and Bilsteins show up before I get around to it.
While I was chucking some Tremclad on the A Arm, I had at a few other parts:
I'm using Tremclad to protect the raw steel parts and it allows me to be a little less "anal" about removing every last little spec of rust. Brush on leave a nice thick coat and goes on easy.Brush marks (if any) are of far less importance on suspension and underbody pieces.
UPS tried to drop something off this morning but I wasn't home. I'm guessing that's going to be my 31 spline axles.
Soon a couple big orders from Rock Auto will come in and I can pick up some serious speed on this project.
I have to get the drivers side 5 lug done, then finish making the steering shaft. Once that's done I have to get rolling on putting that new floor pan in. I have to pull the dash and column out to do the floor (for space to move my fat bod around), so when it comes time to got back in I'll swap in the new dash, the tilt column, Sn95 brake booster and master and the standard shift pedals and brackets.
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
I've been "eye-balling" all different types of aluminum heads for the 302 lately.
I'm not so much after the HP increase most claim, I'm after dropping 40-60 lbs off the nose of the car.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at another 30-40 hp though.
So I'm looking mainly at a set of (gasp) eBay heads.
Supposedly, they're a copy of the GT 40 heads in Aluminum. They claim anywhere from 40-55 hp. I'd be happy if they gave 30 hp.
What I need is aluminum heads that will take the stock valve train off the 5.0 HO in the car now as I'm not really up for buying a whole new valve train (rockers, studs, etc).
I can get them for just under a grand CAD, shipped to my door.
Bang for the buck, they're looking very attractive....
I'm not so much after the HP increase most claim, I'm after dropping 40-60 lbs off the nose of the car.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at another 30-40 hp though.
So I'm looking mainly at a set of (gasp) eBay heads.
Supposedly, they're a copy of the GT 40 heads in Aluminum. They claim anywhere from 40-55 hp. I'd be happy if they gave 30 hp.
What I need is aluminum heads that will take the stock valve train off the 5.0 HO in the car now as I'm not really up for buying a whole new valve train (rockers, studs, etc).
I can get them for just under a grand CAD, shipped to my door.
Bang for the buck, they're looking very attractive....
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
I'm running BBK longtubes and H pipe already. Basically, all I need to choose (when the time comes) is a cat back system.
great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Pulled the passenger side trim panel off and stripped the old "GT" emblem off. It was pretty ratty and I'm not building a GT clone.
Cleaned it up and put the "Tri-bar pony" dash emblem on (from 87+ cars):
Damn! I really like that!
Perfect for the look I'm after. Not too flashy, not too brash, says "Mustang" without being gaudy about it. Nicely proportioned for the space available.
Looks so "right" I'm even going to leave the panel it's OEM red color and stop watching for an 85/86 passenger side dash filler piece.
I'm actually surprised at how much I like it...Tri-bar's are definitely the right choice!
The dash gave me a little hidden bonus too: when I popped open the glove box a "5.0" fender emblem dropped out. It's in mint shape. I held it up to the hatch opposite the "Ford" emblem on the passenger side. Looks good! I think that's what I'll use there.
.
Cleaned it up and put the "Tri-bar pony" dash emblem on (from 87+ cars):
Damn! I really like that!
Perfect for the look I'm after. Not too flashy, not too brash, says "Mustang" without being gaudy about it. Nicely proportioned for the space available.
Looks so "right" I'm even going to leave the panel it's OEM red color and stop watching for an 85/86 passenger side dash filler piece.
I'm actually surprised at how much I like it...Tri-bar's are definitely the right choice!
The dash gave me a little hidden bonus too: when I popped open the glove box a "5.0" fender emblem dropped out. It's in mint shape. I held it up to the hatch opposite the "Ford" emblem on the passenger side. Looks good! I think that's what I'll use there.
.
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great white
Grumpy Old Fart
Hmmm, what could this be?
Oh yeah baby!
31 spline axles for the 3.73 31 spline traction lock diff. Sn95 flanges for the SN95 rear disc brakes.
Now I can get to building up the 8.8 for the last time. It will be one serious piece of kit!
Certainly able to handle anything I'm going to throw at it.
Canada post tracking also says a boatload of parts are ready for pickup at my post office. Looks like the remainder of my Rockauto order.
Oh yeah baby!
31 spline axles for the 3.73 31 spline traction lock diff. Sn95 flanges for the SN95 rear disc brakes.
Now I can get to building up the 8.8 for the last time. It will be one serious piece of kit!
Certainly able to handle anything I'm going to throw at it.
Canada post tracking also says a boatload of parts are ready for pickup at my post office. Looks like the remainder of my Rockauto order.
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