More Mustang parts... *pretty long and pictures*

#4767488 - 05/24/10 02:40 PM More Mustang parts... pretty long and pictures
ReplicaR ReplicaR Post Master Sr Registered: 05/26/06 Posts: 7093 Loc: E.E.B.	In this issue of Modded busted pile monthly, there is more, more and more. And by that I mean more braking, more cooling and more suspension work. Cooling: Well, used Fluidyne finally gave out. I've been noticing a small coolant streak on the bottom of the radiator. When I took it all apart, and took a good look at it, most of the bottom row were just falling apart at the cores. So rather than going with another Fluidyne, I decided to spend a little more and just get one that's custom built, and has local support. The radiator fitment is much better than the old one, not to mention that if anything fails, I'm totally covered. In the following picture you can see one key difference between custom built and factory fit. "Factory fit" Fluidyne was designed to go where stock factory radiator went, which meant that it would go between the AC condenser and the ABS block. Fluidyne core was of course 2 times as thick as stock one, so this meant that it would wedged in there. Custom built radiator has been shifted over and the core has been modified to go right around the ABS block all together, making the radiator drop in like a glove. Brakes: After coming back from Cal Speedway in March only one thing was on my mind. How do I stop the car better? Sure enough 2 weeks later I spot a set of used Brembo front brakes for the mustang on a classified board. I sent a PM and said SOLD. That's the test fit with the track wheels (95 Cobra Rs), no clearance issues. However when I tried to clear them on the 97 Cobras I had, it was a no go. I needed at least another 15mm to clear the new calipers. My friend came to the rescue, and sold me his 98 Cobra wheels that cleared the calipers with out any spacers. The calipers also needed to be refinished. The guy who had them before had them on his race car, so he was not too careful about removing the wheels, and the finish was a bit torn up. I went over a few spots with sand paper, and just resprayed them in gloss black engine enamel. The brakes work pretty awesome on the street, but I will find out soon how they do with race pad on the track. Suspension: So, a while ago I was looking at the pictures of my car at the track day, and I just did not like how much body roll the car had. Granted I was on the RA1s which are pretty sticky, but I still wanted less roll, so the car would not transfer as much weight, and it would have more grip. I have considered other options such as going to stiffer sway bars. One thing that did not excite me about the sway bars was that I would not be able to tune them, and that once I would get a torque arm, I would have to remove them and sell them. The second option was more expensive, but at least it was a move in the right direction. Get a torque arm and get stiffer springs front and back. So that's exactly what I did. I've ordered standard duty torque arm, 300 lbs front coilover springs, and torque arm track rear springs (415-515 rate). After I've received all the parts, the car went to Yannick Sire at Sire Custom Performance. This guy did all the welding on my car, so I figured he could install the torque arm as well. Got the shop, and 4 hours later we were done. Impressions: So far from very limited street driving, I can already tell that it's working better than my 4 link did. When you would stuff it into a fast 90 degree corner, you can feel that the rear no longer wants to pick up the outside wheel and oversteer. It's planted, and it's composed. Also, where before I would get one tire fire at times, this time either both tires lay the power down pretty evenly. What's more is that by deleting the upper control arms, there was now more room for the rear exit exhaust by comparison to 4 link and panhard setup. Ground clearance is not as much of an issue as I thought originally. The only part that's kinda low is by the differential, and if you're hitting that part, you're probably doing something that you're not supposed to, like rock climbing. Downsides: Warning, this product is not for the faint of heart. People will say stuff like the ride quality will get better and yadi yada, but when you remove all the compliance on one end, replace the soft rubber bushings with a tiny bit of polyurethane, and then replace the springs with something twice as stiff just to keep the roll stiffness the same, there is no way it will be as comfortable as 4 link was. Another problem is if you have any problems at all with rear end, or gear box, or a bent wheel, or a bad u-joint, and you have not felt it before, you will now. When torque arm was first installed I would get a pretty bad vibration on the hwy between 65-80mph, which means my whole hwy driving range was screwed. I went through hell and back trying to find the problem. I've rechecked the pinion angle, redid u-joints, had the drive shaft rebalanced, replaced motor mounts, and nothing was helping. Finally I pulled the transmission, and had the local guys examine it, and they had to replace 5th gear. Sure enough that solved the problem. Long story short. Torque arm works very well. I have not had a chance to test it at the track yet, but I'm going next weekend to the Streets Of Willow, so I'll find out how it works in the tighter stuff where I had traction problems before. It was a huge hassle to get everything working properly, but pros outweigh the cons. Install process Exhaust to Crossmember clearance. Ground clearance. _________________________ '94 Mustang GT Acceleration.... $\:$$ -------+-- $\:$$ Handling......... $\:$$ -------+-- $\:$$ Speed............ $\:$$ ------+--- $\:$$
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