My mustang

[Tony71502]

I guess this is past due. But here's what I've been doing to the stang. A while back, I bought the Maximum Motorsports chassis brace package. It made a world of difference, especially on the highway.

Here's the strut tower brace, installed.



Too bad it interferes with the vacuum tree. I ran like this for about 8 months. Right now, since the A/C and cruise control are deleted. I'm running a vacuum line from the intake manifold directly to the brake booster.



Here's the full length sub frames after I welded them in. The pics were taken during the second and final winter this car would see, so they are a bit salty.

[Tony71502]

After this, I did an armrest delete. This removed 6.7 lbs from the car (Yes, I weighed it.). Despite the off color (which I have fixed), this is how it looked. The color they use does not match original Titanium Grey interior... or maybe it doesn't match a sun-faded interior, despite window tint.

[White5.0]

looking good...doesnt suprise me that that arm rest weighs that much...i have a delete on mine as well, and notice how heavy it was after i took it off

[Tony71502]

During the winter of 07-08, the last winter this car would ever see, I was leaving my Sat/Sunday job (Outback Steakhouse in Upper Saint Claire) and was hit by a brand new Jeep. The parking lot is almost shaped like a large D after you come down the driveway from the main street. I was going about 5 mph, as the snow was thick, when the Jeep driver (also going slow) apparantly didn't care to stop and drove into my driver's side door. This was a hit and run... I reported it to the USC police in hopes that the other person may report it... but no luck. Luckily there was snow on the ground, so some of the energy from the impact was lost due to my car sliding. He basically T-boned me, so only the energy from his movement was absorbed by my car.

I was hit by his front passenger side on my driver's side door, right below the door handle. The door got dented in and since I was going forward when he went into the side of me, his car kind of dragged down the side of mine. Damaging the molding and also the quarter panel. I threw on some bondo and spray can paint... it's nothing pretty but at least it was partially fixed. The car has other blemishes so perfection was not a concern.

Other than this, the car has a pretty rusty passenger side fender, mildly rusty driver's side fender, dent above the driver's side quarter window, cracked front bumper, rusted out driver's side door, and some little areas of surface rust around the bottom of the car. It actually sounds worse than it looks. No rust is visible without an in-depth inspection. The body is solid, though, and that's what counts. When it goes to the body shop, it's getting a fiberglass hood, fiberglass front fenders with wider wheel openings, a new front bumper, new doors(maybe fiberglass), a new rear bumper, and maybe a fiberglass hatch.

Here's the damage.















Don't mind the road salt on the door.

[Tony71502]

This winter the car got a lot of parts. Including the Ford 2300K Cobra R disc brake and 5 lug conversion.



Here are the MM Extreme Duty Lower Control Arms. Quite the expensive pieces.



Here's the rear end after I painted it. I picked it up off of a guy that had 3.73's installed, too bad the cock suckers that installed them reused the original crush sleeve and everything else. Only thing new was the gears. Needless to say after the long build there was some wicked noises coming from a poorly installed pinion gear.



The monster brake booster in comparison to the small, stock one.

[no1fordgirl]

wow, good stuff ;)

[Tony71502]

This may have been overkill when all I really needed to do was change my rear drum hardware and replace the parking brake cables, but this is more satisfying. Here's the rearend, which still houses the epic failure of a gear installation by its previous owner.

Equipped:
-Ford 11.65 Inch Rear Rotors
-Ford 5 Lug 28 Spline Axles
-3.73:1 Gears
-MAC Rear End Girdle
-Stock UCA Bushings
-Custom StopTech Braided Stainless Steel Lines
-Ford Hardlines
-Single Piston Ford Cobra/Mach 1 Calipers













Also, the wheel well's and rear underbody got some love. Here's the wheel well with some rubberized undercoating. Don't mind the crappy KYB shocks, they were soon replaced...

[1Badbird]

Looks good, you're doing a nice job with it.

[Tony71502]

Thanks!

[2001GTTT]

really good work.....the car looked good too when me and frank came to pick up that stuff in the winter

[Tony71502]

Oh yeah, you grabbed the old rear, didn't you?

[Tony71502]

Moving to the front, sorry I don't have a pic of the old nasty, stock discs. But, who hasn't seen them and cringed?

New Sn95 Spindles and dust shields. I used cheese head bolts instead of rivets for the dust shields, in case I want to take them off easily.



The new hub, Ford apparantly loves anti sieze.




Equipped with the 13 inch rotors and twin piston PBR calipers. I really hate how ford does not offer upgraded rotors, but rather these ones that rust in the rain. Oh, not to mention they give pads like to give off a lot of dust. After a summer of driving on these pads and rotors, they are getting swapped quite soon.

[Tony71502]

The parking brake was modified, and works perfectly. All three parking brake cables need replaced for proper operation. The two rear cables follow the stock routing(although I had to reverse the body brackets in front of the wheel well in order to gain tire clearance). The equalizer is saved from the front cable, the center hole drilled out, and installed on a threaded rod attached to the new cable. This makes for extremely easy installation and adjustment. The spring in the parking brake handle gets cut out(the spiral spring) and the pawl of the handle is welded to the second tooth of the ratchet. Although I think the first tooth would work a slight bit better.

Eww, what a nasty driveshaft, thankfully it is gone. But here is the new parking brake cable set-up.



And the pawl and ratchet.



Also to go in was the Cobra booster and master cylinder. The Ford 5 port adjustable proportioning valve went in, but was disable by removing the plunger. An adjustable valve was installed near the passenger side hood hinge. Don't mind the disgusting state of the engine bay, all that dirt has been removed and the bay painted. The previous owner apparantly didn't care about cleanliness, despite his luxurious housing set up.

[2001GTTT]

Oh yeah, you grabbed the old rear, didn't you?

[Tony71502]

I thought so, I haven't had too many SCS members to that garage. Which sadly we sold along with that house.

Front beasts...


Rear...


Rear shot back at my house...

[Tony71502]

After getting it all put back together and going for a test drive... it's clear that the rear end was not rebuilt properly. To ensure it was this time, I had Mike at Wolfpack Speed install some new parts. He also had the housing sent out for straightening and welding of the axle tubes, not to mention repairing one of the axle tube flanges. Thanks Mike!

The rear was being equipped with:
-Polyurethane Upper Control Arm Bushings
-EATON 31 Spline Clutch Style Posi Unit
-Strange Engineering 31 Spline 5-Lug S/S Axles
-Strange Engineering Master Rebuild Kit
-Timken Wheel Bearings
-New Ford Racing 3.73:1 Gears
-MOOG Wheel Seals

The car also got a Ford Racing Aluminum driveshaft and Strange Engineering 10-Way adjustable rear shocks.







Thanks again Mike, at speeds of 90+ there is not even the faintest sign of noise from the rear. Perfection.

[Tony71502]

At first, the plan was just to upgrade the charging system. A PA Performance 3G (130 amp) Alternator, PA Performance 4 Gage power wire w/ 200 amp in line fuse, PA Performance Hi Torque Mini Starter, 4 Gage ground straps, and a Taylor battery relocation kit was ordered and ready to go. When I got in there, I decided to delete the EGR. Then I decided to get rid of these shorty headers as they heat soaked my engine bay. A set of BBK longtubes were picked up from a MustangForums member that I know. A BBK off road X-pipe was also ordered. After pulling the headers, knowing I had a valve that leaked oil, I decided to replace the leaky heads. When I pulled the heads off, I saw the pistons... and well being anal I decided to get a new block. Luckily my friend had one in reserve for his car. We made a trade. Now that the engine's out... I decided to hide wires, degrease and paint the engine bay.

As you can see in this shot with the battery relocated and the 200 amp fuse mounted in its place, the engine bay was filthy. This fuse is well hidden now, it does not look as out of place as this picture portrays it.



Here's an EGR before and after.





The comparison of starters. The hi torque mini is about 4 lbs lighter than stock.



Oh, I also decided to grab an MGW short throw shifter to replace the Ford short throw that came on my Tremec T-5.



The BBK 1 3/4" long tubes.



And here is the carnage that was inside of my engines. Look at those valves and combustion chambers.







Here's the passenger side front engine bay before a cleaning/wire hiding. Damn that's dirty.



And after some love and paint...



With the next motor, new motor mounts will be going in. Prothane Polyurethane ones, to be exact.



Last but not least, the refreshed motor that's going in. But first, check out the old one.









Now, has anyone ever seen something such as this before? The numbers 291 were welded onto my lower radiator support...

[somethingclever]

Nice job Tony.....looks like a lot of work.

With all this attention to the mustang, is the chevelle feeling left out?

[Tony71502]

Unfortunately yes...

[blackfive-o]

Question: What can you use to get the red dots off of new tires?