Chit's Moosetang

[chithead]

That JB Weld Plasticwelder is some good stuff. This piece was busted all to heck, and the piece inside, two of the pedestals were broke off. Ordered the new lid bottom, and used the Plasticwelder to glue the pedestals back onto the inner piece. I will say, you have to let it cure for at least 24 hours, but it works great:

Took the trunk lid off to start on weather proofing some of the old sealant that had started to flake off:

Also, another thing happened. Figured out what was leaking antifreeze... turns out the intake gasket was bad. So, I removed the intake manifold to find this:

No gaskets? What the? Well no wonder it's leaking! Let's just add some gaskets on there and fix that:

And... well. It was worse. Had a nasty vacuum leak, and still pouring coolant from the rear of the manifold! Was talking to my parts guy friend about it, and mentioned three of the rubber band O ring things from the manifold had stuck to the block, but I put them back. Maybe they weren't sealed into the manifold correctly? He said, nope. That means someone has changed the intake manifold at some point to an aftermarket one. This is very common, because of the design of the manifold. The factory front coolant crossover tube was the same plastic material, and the alternator bracket secured to that. With all the tension from the serpentine belt on the alternator, this coolant crossover tube was prone to split and leak everywhere. So they redesigned it to have an aluminum crossover. If it happened and you chose not to purchase the Ford version, could get an aftermarket version that is similar. Doesn't need those Fel Pro gaskets I put on, need to replace the O rings. I remembered seeing a design on the bottom of the manifold when I had it off, and determined it to be a Dorman. Went to the parts store, purchased new O rings, and took everything apart again:

New O rings installed:

Went ahead and replaced the injectors while it was apart:

And she made it to work the next day! No more leaks!

Also ordered the power wire:

And did some trading of old audio gear for a few Cobra parts:

She's getting there. Just taking some time to get all the pieces together. Guess the ole girl has been sitting for a long time. Feel like it's up to me to get her back to some sort of better condition.

 

[goatpanda]

Nice update. Thanks for sharing the fixer-upper parts as well as the audio parts, seems like a fun project!

 

[chithead]

Thank you! There are definitely plenty of fixer upper projects to do. Just ordered inner and outer tie rods, front wheel hubs, ball joints, a DPFE Sensor for the EGR system (may still need to order the EGR Valve and Solenoid if that sensor doesn't fix the issue), fuel cap, headlights, and new trunk struts.

Still need to get rear shocks, front struts, and bushings. Kind of holding off on those as I still plan to lower it and swap out the rear axle.

Fun times.

 

[ckirocz28]

Thank you! There are definitely plenty of fixer upper projects to do. Just ordered inner and outer tie rods, front wheel hubs, ball joints, a DPFE Sensor for the EGR system (may still need to order the EGR Valve and Solenoid if that sensor doesn't fix the issue), fuel cap, headlights, and new trunk struts.

Still need to get rear shocks, front struts, and bushings. Kind of holding off on those as I still plan to lower it and swap out the rear axle.

Fun times.

I hope you got those injectors at a great price, if not, this will probably cause you to kick yourself. Rebuilt injectors are insanely cheap.
https://fuelinjectorconnection.com/collections/ford-car-rebuilt-injectors
https://www.southbayfuelinjectors.com/

 

[chithead]

Not bragging... but the guy with the B&M Hammer Shifter asked if I'd be interested in them too, said to give him a Benjamin for the set. Score! But... now discovered if I plan on doing a PI head and intake swap later on with cams and bigger throttle body, etc... will need 24lb at least.

Thank you for those links - those prices are awesome! Will definitely make upgrading an easier decision.

 

[ckirocz28]

Not bragging... but the guy with the B&M Hammer Shifter asked if I'd be interested in them too, said to give him a Benjamin for the set. Score! But... now discovered if I plan on doing a PI head and intake swap later on with cams and bigger throttle body, etc... will need 24lb at least.

Thank you for those links - those prices are awesome! Will definitely make upgrading an easier decision.

Yeah, those two places are recommended by the 3rd-gen F-body forums for swapping in Bosch design 3 injectors, and those injectors are far better than the stock GM's. I couldn't believe $165 shipped for a full set!

 

[chithead]

Been a while. Thought I'd update the build a bit. So, turns out the intake manifold was actually cracked by the heater hose at the rear. She sat for a while while trying to make a decision what to do. It really wasn't that much money to go ahead and replace the manifold, but was a bit of labor, and of course - the proverbial, "rabbit hole" that would open up. And boy did it. So... manifold replacement doesn't leave but a few options. And of course I went with the Ford Performance intake. This allows some more mods later down the road, if desired. It flows much better than the stock 98 setup ever could. But... that meant a few things had to be changed. Due to how low into the valley the runner of the Ford Performance intake drops, had to replace the metal heater hose tube, the nipple that goes into the block behind the water pump, then went ahead and replaced the water pump, belt, thermostat - all those fun things.

But did we stop there? Of course not! Swapped the factory 65mm throttle body for a SVE 75mm from LMR, and changed the stock 68mm upper plenum to a 75mm unit from Trick Flow:

But could we stop right there? Nope. Had to get the matching valve covers too:

And since the rear axle cover is leaking... are we just going to replace the gasket - no way! Found an old Trick Flow cover on the eBay:

Ok. So we've got her running, and able to drive again. And wholly bee-yalls does this thing haul now. Apparently the car was ingesting coolant the whole time since buying her. With the manifold replaced and that little bit of extra air coming in, dang. I do believe this car is quicker than my '91 5.0 was.

 

[chithead]

Anywho. So I drove it for a while. Previous record was 2 days. She went almost two weeks before I parked her again and started ordering more parts. There is definitely a wheel squeak that is getting worse and worse. Pretty sure it's a hub, and that's not something you want getting hot with the lengthy drives to my work each day.

Ordered headlights, corner lenses, ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, front wheel hubs, new hub nuts, dust caps, rear axle bearings, rear caliper hardware, rear axle caliper bracket bolts, rear caliper slider assemblies, Cobra anti-moan brackets, front caliper rebuild kits, front caliper hardware, brake hoses, parking brake cables, Koni STR.T shocks for the front, Koni STR.T shocks for the rear, new strut boots, the complete Prothane polyurethane suspension bushing kit with transmission mount, and Prothane polyurethane offset steering rack bushings. The offset bushings help prevent bumpsteer by keeping the tie rod angles close to factory after installing lowering springs. Picked up a set of lowering springs locally, and also nabbed a complete Cobra rear axle with upgraded Yukon axle shafts. After starting on the Cobra brake conversion, it was when I realized one of the pieces needed are Cobra axle flanges to mount the caliper brackets. Could find some aluminum sets, but a set of factory flanges were just priced ridiculous. Scored the whole Cobra axle assembly for basically a steal, and with the upgraded axle shafts too!

Here she is with the headlights and lenses replaced:

The Cobra rear axle - complete with control arms, more springs, rotors, axle brackets, anti-moan brackets, stock shocks, basically everything except calipers and ABS sensors:

Here it is after cleaning and painting the axle, control arms, then placing the lowering springs, shocks, rotors, and installing the Prothane bushings:

The calipers have been a project, they had about six layers of paint on them. Used paint stripper to get it most of the way off:

After wire brushing, hand scrubbing, then spraying some silver caliper paint to protect and seal everything:

And then a splash of high heat color - Burnt Copper:

Used a razor blade to get the letters cleaned up:

Hopefully will have more pictures soon after basically completely rebuilding the suspension to get rid of those annoying squeaks and squeals and that, "boat float" feeling she has on the highway.

 

[BigAl205]

Awesome job!

 

[crystalworks]

Awesome job!

x2 Makes me miss my Mustang days. Love that caliper color choice. That VHT burnt copper? I run it on all my cars.

 

[SublimeZ]

Looking good, Daniel

 

[chithead]

Thank you kindly my friends!

 

[chithead]

Got some work done over the weekend...

Soooo, yes those are new rotors. No, I'm not keeping them. They are Cobra rotors, but I wanted drilled/slotted to match the rears. Waiting on those to arrive before we can officially call the front end done. Definitely needs an alignment, but holy geebees does this thing stop now. Like, crazy stopping power. And I can feel what people were saying about the road transfer into the car from the poly bushings. Is it different, oh yes. Is it unbearable, not for this application. I'll gladly give up a bit of that cushy ride for this go kart handling.

Ordered new sway bar bushings too. Was thinking of replacing the sway bars, but a lot of other Stang owners say with all these upgrades, stiffer sway bars could actually hinder performance, making her want to understeer instead of oversteer. So I'll keep them factory for now. The front bar is actually the largest one offered on the SN95 platform, and can always upgrade the rear to a factory Cobra bar if desired later. They say those are prone to snapping though... so the GT bar may just stay. We'll see if there is any more desire for that after replacing the rear axle soon.

Can't wait to get on the interior and back into the audio upgrades too!

 

[BenevolentDictator]

That's intense

 

[JHeitt142]

Ordered headlights, corner lenses, ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, front wheel hubs, new hub nuts, dust caps, rear axle bearings, rear caliper hardware, rear axle caliper bracket bolts, rear caliper slider assemblies, Cobra anti-moan brackets, front caliper rebuild kits, front caliper hardware, brake hoses, parking brake cables, Koni STR.T shocks for the front, Koni STR.T shocks for the rear, new strut boots, the complete Prothane polyurethane suspension bushing kit with transmission mount, and Prothane polyurethane offset steering rack bushings. The offset bushings help prevent bumpsteer by keeping the tie rod angles close to factory after installing lowering springs. Picked up a set of lowering springs locally, and also nabbed a complete Cobra rear axle with upgraded Yukon axle shafts. After starting on the Cobra brake conversion, it was when I realized one of the pieces needed are Cobra axle flanges to mount the caliper brackets. Could find some aluminum sets, but a set of factory flanges were just priced ridiculous. Scored the whole Cobra axle assembly for basically a steal, and with the upgraded axle shafts too!

holy cow thats a list and a half!

 

[chithead]

Welp. Still not much audio wise to report. Did order a circuit breaker as the fuse holder with that Stinger kit is ginormous and doesn't really fit well next to the battery and fuse box. Plus it's rough to stay motivated on audio when the car keeps having issues to prevent from driving.

Not long after getting the front end together, the thermostat housing decided to blow out from the intake manifold. Normally, not too bad of an issue. But on the 4.6 2V - the bolts that hold the housing, are also two of the intake manifold bolts into the cylinder head. So yup, you guessed it - that means the cylinder head was stripped. How in the heck do we fix that. Two words, heli coil. The torque rating on these really wasn't much at all, so after pulling the intake (AGAIN) it really wasn't bad at all to drill, tap, and insert the heli coil. Has held up great ever since.

Finally had some time and motivation to swap the rear axle. What a beyotch. I'm not sure which was worse, that entire front end rebuild, or just swapping the rear. Did all poly bushings again in the control arms, kept the lowering springs, differential cover, and Koni shocks. Did use the new rotors, calipers, and hoses. Had to get some Cobra specific brake pads as apparently the GT pads are too thick for the Cobra rotor. Still not sure why Cobra pads cost twice as much and are almost half as thick. Oh well. It's all under the car now. Also ordered an exhaust - SLP Loudmouth II for a 99-04 Cobra. It is meant for an independent rear suspension from the 99-04 Cobra, but fits the solid axle cars with some slight modifications. I rigged it for now, but will do a much better setup to securely hold the pipes and mufflers soon.

Here she is all put back together:

 

[mumbles]

Looking good Daniel! I've always liked those chrome SVT wheels...

 

[chithead]

Thank you sir! Was lucky to snag them for such a great deal.

 

[chithead]

Started messing around with some ideas/placement:

Thinking IB for simplicity and some weight savings. Mostly simplicity:

Now to figure out where to place the power producers:

Idea is to still use the head unit active on the four channel to the ID XS57 components - then run the sub amp at 4 ohms to both subs since IB shouldn't require gobs of go go juice.

 

[BenevolentDictator]

Can't wait to see this shake down. I'm switching to IB myself....likely going with Dayton Reference HEs