GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Thanks Neektar, I have had some rubbing issues with the outside of the tires, definitely could have used more offset on the wheels (even with the shorter GSL axles), oh well. Did a full roll on the fender lips to press them up tight against the sheetmetal. It seems to have provided enough clearance so far. This sh** is TIGHT, but don't want to have to buy new wheels again right now. I've had to play with the panhard rod quite a bit to get the axle centered exactly for the proper clearance on both sides. Definite improvement, I'm a believer in function over form, but IMO it looks a lot better too. The front suspension is going to be..... interesting.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

OK. I didn't make DGRR, AGAIN! Things came up at the last minute that prevented it. Sucks to be me.

The up side is it allowed me to finally get the shop cleaned out and organized. Finished it up today, more or less. Had to build benches and shelves. Then go through years worth of accumulated crapola. Picture evidence below for ye olde non-believers.

shop1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! shop1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

shop2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! shop2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

shop3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! shop3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

shop4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! shop4 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

Have a few more tools to organize, parts to put away and small boxes to go through, but I'm flat out of motivation at this point.

Still have a couple of bugs to work out on the rear suspension and have been measuring and scratching my head on how to shoehorn the below under the front of the SA.

*Note: Not the tires, those are from the widebody Mustang project I'm stealing parts from. Even I'm not quite insane enough to try and get 285/30 18s under the stock front sheetmetal of an SA.

front suspension_new | Flickr - Photo Sharing! front suspension_new | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by GySgtFrank, on Flickr

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Been a while on the update. Got a some done, but not as much as I had hoped to by now. Keep running out of project monies.

Let's see. I had a whole host of problems out back that I ran into once I started test driving it.

1. The tires still rubbed under hard compression. I sent the axles back to Moser and they machined the bearing seat 1/2" further out and shortened/resplined the axles for me. There was plenty of room for this even with the already shorter GSL axles. I could have gotten away with another 1/4", but I didn't want to push my luck.

I then modified my brake brackets so I could move everything back that 1/2".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/8930031387/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/8930031387/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

2. The panhard rod allowed too much side to side movement. It wasn't a lot, but when running the tires this close it was enough to cause rubbing issues.
So, I went back to the drawing boards and fabricated a watts link to go behind the axle and down low. I reused parts of my panhard setup and the stock watts center pivot (with some reinforcement).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195860990/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195860990/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9193408695/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9193408695/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

3. Installed limiting straps to keep the suspension from overextending. I broke my rear Koni shocks just messing around with it on jackstands because of this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196200440/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196200440/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

4. Then I had issues with the driveshaft hitting the floor pan. I modified the floor pan some more to give me more clearance on the passenger side. I also dropped the transmission mount 2 inches and plan to drop the engine lower in the chassis, when I get it back in, to keep my driveline angle from getting too ridiculous. The reason that there are clearance issues is that I am running the chassis heavily lowered. Even though the larger tires keep it at about stock height, I need that extra clearance for suspension movement.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195861022/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195861022/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Here are a few shots of the relocated rear tires. They still look muscular, but it gave me a skosh more room to play with back there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196199472/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196199472/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9193407627/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9193407627/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Got it all back together and moved on to the front suspension.

Pulled the engine/transmission as well as the stock K member, et al.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195860062/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195860062/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Here is the reason for the 17" wheels. I prefer the look of 15s on the first gens, but function over form. Besides, it is far easier to find good sticky rubber in 17s than it is 15s.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9224548539/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9224548539/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Started modifying and did a trial fit on the Kenny Brown Mustang tubular K-member.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195859574/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9195859574/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Found a couple of things. First I probably needed more clearance on the frame rails for the lower a arms to move up and down. Replaced the front frame rails with 2"X2" tubing and reinforced the lower portion of the frame to receive the K-member rear mounts.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196636706/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9196636706/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Secondly. My personal challenge is to run big rubber under the stock outer sheet metal. The Mustang track was too wide to keep the tires under the fenders, even though it's narrower than the FC subframe conversion. So I modified the K-member by moving the lower a arm mounts inward 1 1/2" on both sides. No pictures on this yet as I have a lot more to do on the K-member.

I did my final? fitting of the K-member with the lower a arms, spindles and tires just to make sure I didn't manage to get something out of kilter.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9374916796/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9374916796/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9372141051/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9372141051/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9372140595/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9372140595/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

Waiting on monies to purchase the Griggs racing strut to ball joint conversion pieces. Then to make up some adjustable upper a arms and coil over shocks, and do what ever trimming I'll need on the inner fenders to ensure I have full lock to lock turn in. Once everything is mounted, I should be able to get it back on the ground and do my final adjustments and mount the swaybar.

After that it's a matter of hooking up the Ford rack and pinion and running the brake lines. Drop the engine back in and hit the road for more testing to find out what else I screwed up on.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Got the spindle adapters ordered yesterday. (stole the pics from Griggs Racing).

Might have to rob a bank to afford the rest of it though.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Awesome work! I like how you're going a completely different direction with this than the rest of us. Kinda cool to see something new for a change

tacoboy1503

iTrader: (1)

Agree^

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

I like the original look of the 1stgens, but wanted the performance benefits of suspension and bigger tires. This is definitely not the easiest way of going about things. If it works out as planned it should give me what I was looking for. I figured it was worth a try anyhow.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

I like that you're keeping it stock bodied, makes for a good sleeper since the only indication anything is different is the bigger wheels.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

The sleeper effect is good, especially when I get around to pumping up the power to it. Mostly I'm trying for a clean almost stock look, with mild but tasteful mods. Well, at least according to first glance at the exterior.

The look I'm going for is similar to the silver FB in the 17, 18" wheels thread (pg5). The one with "Yea Bo" plates. When I've got all the mechanical mods done, if I ever get them done, I plan to do a few subtle body modifications, sans the Hot Rodding world. Then get new paint on it and refresh the interior. That will be a project way down the road though.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Progress has been slow. The front suspension is being a real pain. Lots of measuring, fitting, tack into place, and recheck. Pull it all loose, cut it apart, re-measure, re-cut, re-weld, fit, tack, repeat. I do believe it's right this time. I hope anyway as this part is getting tedious.

I had to move the lower A arms in and down again as the tires were a little too far out when the suspension was cycled up and down. It looks like hell at the moment, nothing some grinding and paint can't fix though. I can't go much further until I get the upper A arms and mount them, so I'll be removing the shock towers and opening things up to gain the room I will need.

These are what I'm considering for the upper A arms. The arm itself is detachable and comes in different lengths. The mounting points are slotted and use slugs to move the arm side to side for caster adjustment. The adjusters would be nice to fine tune camber adjustments with large adjustments, and camber rate changes, being made by changing out different length arms.







Then use an adjustable coil-over shock attached at the lower A arm.

Pitstop USA also carries splined, gun drilled, front swaybars in various lengths and diameters so I can fit it into my custom application, since neither the Mustang or FB bars will fit what I have done.

I actually moved the tires inboard about 3/4" further on each side with the intention of using through bolt spacers to mount my current high offset wheels with the 235s. If I go 255s it should fit perfectly. Well that's the plan anyway.

Needless to say, my inner fenders will have to be... ahem... modified. A lot.

Got some measurements from a member here to verify that I had my wheels placed correctly, I did, amazingly enough. So I started on clearancing for the tires. I'm going for enough clearance to run 255s if I decide to, better to set that up now than wish I had later.

Cut out most of the passenger side inner wheel well as they definitely hit pretty much everywhere. Also notching the frame rails for clearance. The tires fit without it, but being able to turn them to full lock would be a rather nice luxury.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9708278076/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9708278076/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9708288724/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9708288724/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

I will be putting in a loop to mount the shocks to as well as the upper A arm mounts on a pedestal off the frame rails. The frame rails and loop will be triangulated back to the firewall to add stiffness and support. Needless to say lots of bracing and figuring still to go.

I also need 2 inches more clearance at the top of the wheel arches for suspension movement with the large diameter tires. Need to pull the fenders to modify the basic body structure for that.

I'm trying to get updates posted even though it's not really presentable yet. I will be disappearing for 2 or 3 months pretty soon to go to work. I won't be able to do much else until we finish up with harvest, so I'll post what I have for now.

ioTus

iTrader: (5)

No words can describe. I'm blown away.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

You might want to reserve judgment until it's actually back up and working. It should, but then I have said that before.

I know I will have a lot of issues to resolve once it's back on it's wheels, comes with the territory when you make this many changes on a suspension. Which is one of the reasons I'm trying to build in as much adjustability as I can.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Last update for a while. I did get the wheel arch area on the passenger side reinforced with 2X2 tubing and cut away some of the metal to give me a couple more inches of clearance for the suspension to compress. Using a taller tire made this necessary if I wanted to keep the front reasonably low.

Got the call for work today, so I will probably be off the internetz until mid to late November. I'll post more progress after I get back and able to make some.

mustanghammer

iTrader: (3)

Love the solution for the front end. Several years ago I looked into doing a V8 swap with a wide body kit. What stopped me, in part, is the fact that the OE FB and FC front suspension parts are simply too small (bearings, spindle diameter) for the weight of a V8 and big tires. I know it is being done but it made me uncomfortable. Your solution avoids this all together. The SN95 spindles are bullet proof - way better than the FOX spindles.

Good work!

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Yeah this is a cool project to follow. Looking forward to more updates when you get back from your assignment

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Thanks guys. I doubt anyone else would be likely to ever try this, but it sounded like a good idea at the time.

Mustanghammer, it would have been a lot easier with a widebody. No need for a lot of my modifications to the K-member. Since I am trying to keep everything under the stock sheetmetal though, it has become ...complicated.

Since we got rained out today, I finished up the passenger side wheel arch and test fitted the wheel and tire. I had to do a little more minor trimming to ensure that the wheel can turn through it's entire radius while under full compression and extension.

Wheel at full compression:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9735321665/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/9735321665/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

You can actually see how I mounted my fancy dancey cold air intake. The stock box is modified and through bolted to the bottom of the structure in front of the tire. I remove the front nose panel to access it. It clears, so it looks like I don't have to redo that part at least.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

While I was off playing farmer, I'm temporarily home as you can't cut corn in a snow storm, I ordered the upper A arms and hardware from pitstopusa.com. The parts are already here and exactly what I ordered. Which for those of you that know of my supplier travails, came as a pleasant surprise.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/10354076083/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/10354076083/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

They are Joe's Racing upper arms made for racing, but should work for what I want. They provide for adjusting camber and caster with minimal fuss using spacers (the blue things in the back) and slugs to adjust side to side and up and down for roll center adjustments. The arms are replaceable in different lengths if I need to change the camber gain as the tire moves through it's arc. They use a standard screw in ball joint, which I will pick up locally.

The only concern that I have is that the arms are suspended with non compliant bearings instead of rubber or poly bushings. Which is great for free movement, but they may be a bit harsh on the street. They are not the load bearing arms, so it shouldn't be too bad. The only way to find out is to try it I guess. Appropriate since this whole thing is one big bloody experiment anyway.

Adsy01

I love your style... You know your as nuts as me right? :-)

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

I don't think sooo. You're first in line for the jacket with the sleeves that tie behind you. At least I have left some of my car intact, unlike somebody else.

Adsy01

ha!!!
I'm starting again, using a little more FB that I was going to. Still the whole FC rear floor though. but retaining the 1st gen towers, but possibly moving them rearwards a bit...
Seeing yours chopped up is motivating :-)

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

Strut towers? We don't need no shtinkin' strut towers.

GySgtFrank

iTrader: (4)

If anyone needs more proof that I'm an idjit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/10651845725/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gysgtfrank/10651845725/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/gysgtfrank/, on Flickr

When I put the upper mounts in they needed to sit where my new frame rails were at in order to get my Instant Center/Roll Center correct. Sooo. More cutting and fitting will be called for. Waiting on a digital caster/camber gauge so I can do final positioning on the A arms. (This is where I think it has to be, we'll see)

Setting my roll center to 1/2" above the ground and centered on the chassis. Initial setting for caster will be 5 to 7 degrees positive. Camber will be at zero with my adjustment all the way down. I'll use spacers to set that where I need it later.

placd1

iTrader: (3)

Inspirational. I'm subscribed and waiting to see how this turns out.

Adsy01

Your a nutter! Loooooooooving it :-)