momstang rebuild begins.

[ttocs]

well unfortunately more of the usual. Woke up last week puking and was back with an IV by the afternoon. Took me back about a week and not sure if its good or not but it gave me time to consider what I wanted to finish up the suspension with. Ideally I want to be able to hit a drag strip or time trial in a parking lot and have fun there, and drive to/from in comfort. So I wanted as much adjustability as I have with all of it starting with the dual adjustable shockwaves but ending with adjustable sway bars. If the ridetech gear was stage 1, this order from steeda is stage 2 then.
Adjustable rear sway bar
front sway bar
heavy duty sway bar ends
billet sway bar mount
rear shock tower brace

The front mounts are certainly a step up from the stock mounts but a sway bar that is not anchored well is just never a good thing.

running out of space pretty quickly and everything on the list now to prep for paint is taking 5x longer then I thought it would.

I took the A/C pillars off the car to ensure the roof can get covered properly. On my list it says "prep pillars for paint" and after sanding them I thought it was little more then finding a place to hang/mount them for primer/paint but upon closer inspection there are 5 rubber seals for the 2 pieces that would either need masking or removing. Its getting hard to find parts for these cars now as they are just on the vintage/classic line and there are not a lot of reproduction parts so with a sharp Box knife I was able to cut through the adhesive to separate then so I can reuse them, it just took 3 hrs..... Then the hood was listed as "prep bottom of hood" which I was expecting to take 20 mins. After sanding all the corners on the bottom of it I found a few places that I wished were flatter and so after a layer of filler and primer, 4 hrs later the hood is now ready.

[ttocs]

soooooooooooooooooooo close. I took everything out of the garage and then borrowed my neighbors leaf blower and then with all three box fans blowing out I got the majority of the dust out. Then I went back and wet down the floor and did it all again and then squeegeed the floor. MUCH BETTER!


The parts on the wall area actually held off of the plastic by thumb tacks to keep the plastic from rubbing them while being sprayed.


I almost forgot I wanted the fender badges and the door handle shot. Can't forget the little things.

I had to go in and get another tarp that I can cut into strips to fill the area between the ventilation fans today. I would be ready to shoot them tomorrow but the blue angels are in town so I will use the extra day to be sure to confirm what mixtures I need for everything, what tip on the gun and all the little details I need to brush up on.

[ttocs]

finally got it into primer last night. Now I have to wait48 hrs before the blocking begins. Now that its all one color its easier to see some spots I had missed earlier but just happy to have it all one color.

[ttocs]

finished late last night but happy that it was over. After waking up this morn it was nice to raise the doors and see them in daylight. They are not perfect but with a little work should be no problem.

happy with the hood also.


and I have been working so hard to get it into primer that I only today unpacked stage 3 of my suspension. A new M&M k member and front control arms.


Also happy that I found someone to anodize my meth tank. Might even have it back by the weekend....

[dwnrodeo]

Looking great!

[RayBuck]

Lots of work man. Good job on everything

[ttocs]

thanks fellas. It was a lot more work then I thought it would be. I have a new respect for painters as I felt like I was just a few hours from priming it for the past 4 months.... But I can't say I hate it yet but it was nice to have 48 hrs off to let it cure. Now comes the sanding... Thankfully its not going badly. I had problems getting the primer to lay flat when did the engine bay and the bumper the first time that just let to a lot more sanding then I wanted to do with the whole car. This time prior to priming I got my old damaged hood out and did some spray outs on it to figure out I needed to thin it out and use a smaller tip. Thankfully the hour or two I spent on the spray outs paid off and now it only needs a quick drag with 320/500 grit on most of the car.

[ttocs]

I thought I had it all ready when I closed the garage last weekend. And then the next day I opened it up and found a piece I have been struggling with and thought was finally fixed, wasn't fixed....

So on the rear deck I smoothed in the saleen spoiler, the license plate frame and the laser shifter(the square above the license plate area), the 3rd tail light(the lens is covered with the blue tape), and relocated the key hole and smoothed the old opening over. When I took this picture I could not have been any happier but then like I said the next morning the area on the right side of the 3rd brake light lens kept separating. I got the idea for this after seeing a local hot rod that had done something similar. But I found out later he had a full fiberglass body so epoxying a piece of plexi into that doesn't have the same temp expansion differences that plastic and metal do on my car. So I broke the lens out and decided to try something different. I want it all as smooth as possible but didn't want to delete a brake light as I know that would come back to bite me in the ass(literally) so after some thought I came up with the idea of a line of flat top 3mm red leds mounted from the back of the lid so they are perfectly flush with the surface. After cutting a patch panel to weld in I made a jig to drill the holes. I knew that just one out of place would dick up the whole look and thought it would be hard to pull off what I wanted. On top of that after I lined up a piece of tape on the patch panel on the back of the trunk I realized a perfectly flat line would probably look a little off since the spoiler and the top of the license plate frame have a light curve to them. So after some though I came up with this idea.

The plexi blocks were used as spacers so I could be sure to get the same distance between holes. I was using the thickness of the plexe (1/8") as the spacer so the fact they are not cut into perfect squares doesn't matter. They are held down with a thing strip of double stick tape so I would put the piece in place(which has a piece of plexi, the patch panel and a piece of aluminum all held together with double stick tape) against the square and the last plexi block and drop the press. Then I would pull a block out, move it over carefully and repeat this till I had the whole thing lined up with 43 holes. On the very end I used a shim I made from 4 pieces of tape I stuck together that I put between the pieces and the square so the very last holes are just a little lower then the line to give the illusion of a slight bend over the line. I was surprised how well this worked as when I was done I could flip the 3 pieces any which way and all 43 holes still lined up. I will be mounting the leds in the plexi so I can then mount the plexi in the back. I drilled the holes in the aluminum piece as well so I can use that as a guide to ensure the leds are not crooked and should slide in all the holes. I also found an led sequencer that will allow me to light up the leds from the center out and then flash it for bonus points. It can control 16 channels and the speed is adjustable so it should make for a fairly seamless sweep from the middle out.

I was also happy on my 40th birthday Monday that I got a call both from the powder and the anodizer that parts were done. Here is the fusebox I made that will house Ti pg box and the stock fuse box under the hood for easy access. The leds will back light the plexi that is in front of it and some kind of design I will put on it. There is also the steeda sway bar mounts and the spark plug wire looms I made.

SOOOOOOOO f-ing happy with how the loom and the wrapped plug wires came out.


now most of the pieces for powder were actually done almost 2 weeks ago now. I went to pick up the 6 pieces and didn't want them bouncing off of one another so I tore off the foam wrap in a couple of spots for a quick look and it was all good. When I got home and took it all off, WTF?!?!?!

some areas of the weld looked like the powder just did not coat/apply.

This is not a reflection that is raw aluminum that looks like it just wasn't shot. My guess it was hung from the other end and they just didn't get down far enough to shoot it up into this corner.

and I have no idea what happened to the cap again WTF.... So I hate to take stuff back and say its not right or not good enough but needless to say this would not fly. The part that was bad will be mounted on top of the rad and easily visible with the hood open so I went back and was happy that they were or acted surprised and redid it. So now its looking like gloss black powder with a clear on top should.

I also got my pullies and rad overflow tank done as well.

Now I just need to finish that brake light and hope it can be ready for a big mustang show in oct I would like to go to.

Also happy to say I have been feeling better now since I went back on some medicine my insurance dropped last year(knock on wood). They say it should not be helping me for my condition but the proof is in the pudding that I have been doing better now and flare up free for almost 3 months(double knock). Sucks that it costs $1200 to refill and the insurance is just completely refusing to budge but I can stretch it out for 3 months and its better then being sick every 3 weeks.

[ttocs]

been doing regular work on the car as I have been feeling better but it just never seems to end. Of course I realized that was all my fault as after some thought there is not a panel on this car that I have not smoothed/molded something in, cut/drilled/modified in some from the gas cap to the carbon fiber hood. No wonder its taking so damn long.... Looking at this trunk panel now that its so nice/smooth/simple its hard to remember that there are 6 different things I did to modify the trunk lid alone. Now I am down to the last spot I need to correct. Sooo close....


And in case no one has paid any attention to mike and I babbling at each other in the chat area he also found me a deal on a alpine f1 status system that will be motivating me to get the car on the road and get back into the stereo....

[knightrider358]

Mmmm f1 status.......

[ttocs]

Mmmm f1 status.......

Yea ya know how ya find stuff when your not looking for it? Earlier this week I thought to myself "It would be fun to go all digital" and was just looking at a 701. Then at some point in my head I thought "If I am going to go all digital it would be 2x as much fun to go all in" and then found a good deal.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then today I get an $800 hospital bill yup that's how it works Thankfully as long as your making payments the hospital will not turn you in to collections and also doesn't charge interest.

That will be one of those unboxings when I make the angel noise "WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" in the back of my head as I take it out. According to mike it all looks to have never been used yet. I got the DVI-9990 dvd HU, the TMI-M990 screen, the PXI-H990 processor and the MRV-F900 amp.

[knightrider358]

Mmmm f1 status.......

Yea ya know how ya find stuff when your not looking for it? Earlier this week I thought to myself "It would be fun to go all digital" and was just looking at a 701. Then at some point in my head I thought "If I am going to go all digital it would be 2x as much fun to go all in" and then found a good deal.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then today I get an $800 hospital bill yup that's how it works Thankfully as long as your making payments the hospital will not turn you in to collections and also doesn't charge interest.

That will be one of those unboxings when I make the angel noise "WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" in the back of my head as I take it out. According to mike it all looks to have never been used yet. I got the DVI-9990 dvd HU, the TMI-M990 screen, the PXI-H990 processor and the MRV-F900 amp.

Yea couldnt agree more on the angel thing, scott i just got my h701 install and it digital and omfg its like the angels came down, cant even imagine an f1 setup, that lile the holy grail of sq

[ttocs]

sounds like the amp was just as bad assed. Mike said it weighs and is larger then the elites and it must be perty as we did some trading last night and he is going to keep the amp since I was not going to use it. I will post pics when I get them.

[Drock]

If you change your mind Scott let me know.

[ttocs]

so the new processors gave me a problem. Where to put the center channel? So after some time and though I opted to put it in the clock pod that rests on the top center of the dash. The speaker will face up into the windshield and hopefully reflect off for nice soundstage. I needed to make the spot a little larger to fit a speaker comfortably so I first separate the front from the back and then I made two cuts and inserted to 1/2" long pieces with glue to make it a little longer. Then I glued in the speaker grill that I will now smooth into the shape to hopefully make it look like it belongs there.


while some epoxy is drying on it I needed to make a solid mount for the deck. The area the deck is in now was originally a pocket when I got the car so I made a brace to hold it from the rail above it, as well as rest on the lip on the dash to hold the front in place. The back is held in place by another mount I made.

[ttocs]

spent some time working on the front of the dash while I waited for the speaker to arrive. I glued the trim rings to the dash and then smoothed them in so its a nice smooth transition to the alpine decks.

I also got the mounting brackets for the deck and speaker anodized. Its completely unnecessary for the deck bracket but I wanted the speaker bracket done so it would disappear and while I was having it done I just threw them in. It gives a much more professional and finished look to a DIY garage job and my local place is not all that expensive for how durable it is.





really happy with how they all came out.

[ttocs]

So with this project done as well as the last of the priming I needed to do on the last warm day we had I was needing something to fill the time for the next warm day to paint. I had been holding off installing all my suspension pieces as I didn't want to get overspray on them but I decided to go ahead and do them now to fill time and I will just mask them carefully. A quick list of the items being installed shows that basically its all gonna go!
Ridetech Strongarm upper and lower rear control arms and Shockwave dual adjustable integrated air/shock/strut.
Steeda adjustable rear sway bar, Non-adjustable front and front billet sway bar mounts that I also had anodized(I think I am addicted)
Steeda rear shock tower brace
Maximium motorsports K-member and front non-offset control arms.

I started on the back and I was honestly a little scared when I noticed that not only was all the stock control arms still on the rear but it looks like the stock hardware has never been removed. I knew that meant they would be hard to get off but OMFG I have never cussed at the car like I did getting this stuff off. I started off with penetrating oil and hand tools and that did nothing. Moved up to my impact and still just sat there. I finally broke out my torch and had to heat each and every single one of them for 3-5 mins and then hope I was not going to break my ratchet as I smacked it with my BFH. Then after I got all those out I was also taking out the airbags that I had installed before so I could sell them and replace them with the shockwaves. I am upgrading to the shockwaves so I can run aftermarket/upgraded control arms that make a huge difference in cornering and the bag set up would not work. The upper mount of the rear bags I have NO idea how the installer put in, they just mount where the spring use to be held in. The nut holding it in place only had a hole 3" x 4" to access it and maybe an inch above it. I think he somehow held the nut in place and then twisted the bag below it to screw it in place as there was NO room for the tools I tried to modify to fit. I finally ended up drilling a small hole above it in my trunk floor by putting a drill bit in my dremel and only because of the small size of the remote piece I have for it was able to do that. After that I was able to enlarge the hole from inside the trunk just big enough to get a ratchet bit through which sounds so easy now that I type it. in reality I could not see the nut and was playing a fishing game trying to hit it while my dad was outside the car holding the bag. When he finally told me he was holding it I gave him instructions to spike that mother fucker on the floor and I will be there shortly to dance around it in victory. He didn't know why I was so excited IT WAS BECAUSE I SPENT 4 HOURS TRYING TO GET THAT SINGLE BOLT OUT.... I am sure we have been there before. Thankfully the other side only took an hour after I had the process down and now I only need to fill the holes in the floor with a grommet or something. BUT, finally after all that I could start to put it back together. The shockwaves required that I clearance some metal around the shock area so I made two small cuts at the very top and then bent the metal back. That is another one of those things that sounds so simple as I type it but since it was thick metal and there were two layers spot welded together I could not do it with anything less then my BFH with both hands. It was a little tough as I really needed to get some force behind it yet had not much space inside the wheel well to get it moving and then also didn't want to miss since I was putting so much force behind it. After that I decided while it was all out and I had some POR15 paint to throw a coat on and also put some plastic door edge guard on the areas of concern that might rub the bag. The strongarm kit is not the cheapest but it is probably the nicest I have seen. They didn't skimp on anything and even have a much beefier mount for the rear air shocks that mounts to the lower control arm after removing the stock shock mount. You can see the mount on the bottom, and if you look behind the shock on the axle you can see the ride height sensor that is used to make sure the car is at the preset heights no matter how much weight is in the car.

In this pic you can see the new lower control arm on the bottom

I pray the bolts up front are not as hard but if not I have my torch and hammer ready. Can't wait to feel the difference between the old/new as with a complete upgrade it should be nice.

[ttocs]

I did the Steeda adjustable sway bar today and its a pretty cool kit. With this kit you keep the stock sway bar and then add this 2nd smaller one that mounts to the axle and two points that require you to drill some holes in the frame. It went on pretty easy really and short of the time to paint the stock sway bar and just clean to clean the axle since I was going to be working around it, it took about 2 hrs to install.

and this also give a good view of the Ridetech lower shock mount, part of the upper control arm as well as the adjustable ends for the new sway bar. Tightening the ends up is supposed to increase oversteer and from the reviews it is supposed to be noticeable so I look forward to testing it out.

[ttocs]

So as you can see the back end is pretty well done now and its time to move on up front so it will be able to keep up with the changes done in back. The basic idea behind this suspension system is deceptively simple, In a nut-shell I want it all... I want to be able to cruise on down to the show/race/what ever with no trailer, ac on and system bumping and maybe win a troph er wto and or hopefully have some fun squeelign tires on an auto XX. Does it sound insane? Impossible? I think it can be done but it will just end up being the most expensive piece of cake I have ever purchased. I



I am also getting read to move the intake air temp sensor down into the lower intake. I needed to do this so it is downstream from the meth nozzle so the computer will see the drop in temps and add timing. This is the original 302 location for the sensor which is why there is a spot to put it but they moved it up closer to the maf on the 94 models.

[ttocs]

swapped out the cross member for a new Maximum motorsports version. It was probably more work then I should have been doing 3 days out of my most recent hospital visit but my friend that helps me was free and his time is rare. I still need to square it up, tighten everything down and then finish putting the rest together as well as figure out how to mount a tab on the control arms for the ride height sensor.

[dwnrodeo]

That's a lot of work you're getting done. Slow progress, but looking good!

[ttocs]

its nice to start putting parts back on it for a change and even nicer to be putting such nice parts back on. It has taken for ever but I have also been learning most of this as I go along. Prior to this I have never done any suspension work myself, or much motor work either so I can't help but wonder how different this car will be from beginning to end now from looks to performance.

[ttocs]

And then old man winter really hit! Its been well below freezing since that last install and too cold to do much in the garage but I did finishe up the front ends suspension. Ridetech Shockwave strut/bags, maximum motorsports K member and control arms, and a Steeda sway bar and billet mounts. I still need to do the bump steer kit but that will come but again it looks so much nicer now will all new gear(go figure). I was afraid that modifying the ride height sensor to work with the new gear would be a pain but it was easy. I just drilled a hole through the arm and then threaded the rod and put a piece of vac line on each side of the arm with nuts to hold them in place. Thankfully the mounting spot the stepper motor that works as the sensor was in the perfect place.

I did get the drill press set up after getting a tap wrench big enough and the correct drill bit so I could move the intake temp sensor. Again I had to move this so it would be downstream from the meth nozzle so the computer will read the change in temp when the meth is sprayed and increase the timing to help add hp. But it was one of those things I wished had been pointed out prior to getting the lower intake ceramic coated. I was also amazed at how thick that intake is. There will be no problem with it under boost.... Because of the shape of the port inside on the side closest to the edge I ended up drilling in almost 3/4" to make sure there was space so the shavings that are on it now are only a small portion of all that were made.

[ttocs]

it finally warmed up enough to get back into the garage. I had been waiting and buying my time by finding all the torque specs I needed to tighten all the suspension stuff up to and then when it did my torque wrench broke on the 3rd time ever using it. Craftsman is not what it use to be but they did exchange it. I also installed a new transmission mount and while I was in there I installed a driveshaft safety loop. It should be overkill for a while anyway but its there sooner then later since it just bolts in. I had to modify the stock exhaust hanger to get it to fit but its in



Now that I am ready for the X-pipe meant I had to dig it out from under the deck. Amazing how dirty/rusty a piece of metal can get just sitting out for a couple of years. Thankfully its a magnaflow so the rust was very light and a quick bath of navel jelly and its now drying off along with the gas tank, both are next on the list to install although I might take advantage of this weather to weld in the rear shock tower brace first.

[ttocs]

Got the X pipe in and went for the gas tank. I have a friend that knows 100x more about cars/motors then I do that I go to for info and this is one of thew few times I went against him. For the gas tank I mentioned I was going to take out the sender/pump to take a look before I put the tank back up and he said that they don't go bad and just to leave it alone. Well glad I didn't as some moisture got in there.

And the fuel strainer sock tells the whole story.


So I got 3 gallons of white vinegar and some screws and threw it inside and I have been shaking it to take the rust off and will pressure wash it later. While it was out I ordered a 310 LPH fuel pump to be ready for anything in the future and then I grabbed the gas tank cover. its just a plastic cover that goes under the tank, under the back bumper. Never paid attention to it till I was washing it off. it has the most horrible texture on it and it kept bugging me. I tried sanding a portion down to see how hard it would be to smooth it out and decided that sucked. I thought about filling the lower spots with filler but still didn't like the options after that of either keep it black(gloss/satin?) or paint it to match the body. After pondering those options I realized I had a better idea. I had the CF and resin for a previous project that I still plan on doing but I need to use this resin before it goes bad so why now cover it with CF? So I started off by drilling holes in it to allow the resin to bond through the piece and then scuffed it with a 60 grit sanding wheel to rough it up and get the top layer of dirt and crap off of it. After that I took a torch and heated it, finally wiping it all down with alcohol.

So after masking some spots I do not want covered I mixed the resin and slung it on and now hurry up and wait..... I hate this part.