MM Bumpsteer Kit and CC Plates Installed on the 2.3...

[ponycar17]

Well, I'm impressed with the MM CC plates, but not at all impressed with the bumpsteer kit. The black tubular sleeves of these tierod ends were wayyyyy too long, and I had to cut them down about 1" with a portaband, and then smooth the edges off with a grinder. Also, since the tube isn't fully threaded, I had to cut the stainless end link bolts about 1/2" so they could still thread into the black tubular body. Without doing this, I could have never gotten the toe even close. They were toed wayyyyyy out before I cut the black sleeves down. MM will get a nastygram regarding this.

But anyway, it rides pretty well. I was able to correct the camber well enough to get it to an alignment shop, and it no longer tucks the front tires in the fender. The front tires aren't noticably bowed out at the bottom like they were before.

The car has been lowered by cutting 1/2 coil off the front springs. It has PST polygraphite bushings in the control arms and uses PST polygraphite swaybar endlinks...

You'll notice in one of the pics below that my old tierod ends had caused some serious damage to the inner lip of my tires. The car went all over the road.... I found out that the tierod ends that I ordered from PST were incorrect. They were for '87-'89 Mustangs, and PST was advertising them for all '87-'93 Mustangs... Yet another company I will not be ordering from in the future.

Oh well, here are the pics. Enjoy...

 

[JohnnyC]

Informative post. I am getting ready to order the camber plates and tie rod ends for my '90. I think Ill call MM and ask them about fitament first before I order. I thought those ends were a bolt on installation.

 

[ponycar17]

Informative post. I am getting ready to order the camber plates and tie rod ends for my '90. I think Ill call MM and ask them about fitament first before I order. I thought those ends were a bolt on installation.

Haha, I thought they were too. I was just a little irritated when I had to cut them to bring the toe in... I had to cut them down to about 4-5/8", and then had to cut the end link stud 1/2" because the tube isn't threaded through far enough. I had no room for adjustment at all. I'm almost thinking that they sent me the '96+ ends, since those should be a little longer. I'm not anti-MM, but I'm not impressed with having to modify their ends to give my toe a proper adjustment range. It cost me about 4 hours trying to get the toe in the proper range.

 

[ponycar17]

Ok, so I got an alignment yesterday. The car drives 10 times better now. It no longer has the horrible bumpsteer it suffered for a year since I lowered it, and it just drives straighter overall, and takes the corners much better. I had it set to 3.25* positive caster and 1* negative camber with zero toe... I recommend these mods to anyone looking to improve the handling and tire wear of their stang. Just remember my experience with MM on their bumpsteer kit. Those people haven't responded to my complaint email yet, and I think I was very civil in my comments. Oh well... I guess I'll go with Steeda next time...

 

[Pro-Hawk]

Ok, so I got an alignment yesterday. The car drives 10 times better now. It no longer has the horrible bumpsteer it suffered for a year since I lowered it, and it just drives straighter overall, and takes the corners much better. I had it set to 3.25* positive caster and 1* negative camber with zero toe... I recommend these mods to anyone looking to improve the handling and tire wear of their stang. Just remember my experience with MM on their bumpsteer kit. Those people haven't responded to my complaint email yet, and I think I was very civil in my comments. Oh well... I guess I'll go with Steeda next time...

Hey thanks for the pics, they are great dude, they really helped me to understand how the bumpsteer kit works . I'm about to order my parts but I'm going with Steeda since they seem to know more about this stuff to me ( thats my opinion only !) I was wondering about using the Steeda X2 ball joints also to help with the roll center as well. Since I got the front end apart I figured I would replace them anyways. ( I mean I will be doing the 5.L brakes, springs, bumpsteer, C/C plates, sway bar, and controll arm bushings all at once) I just got my springs today and still got to order my rotors ( drilled/slotted), struts, Steeda parts and rip the spindles off the parts car.

Thanks again for the pics

 

[ponycar17]

No problem man... I totally trust the MM CC plates, but the bumpsteer kit has me wondering if they sent me the correct part. I'm especially wondering about this because I've emailed their tech support twice regarding this, and they haven't responded. Also, unless you go to SN95 style brakes/spindles, I don't think you'll be able to use the X2 balljoints.

 

[Pro-Hawk]

No problem man... I totally trust the MM CC plates, but the bumpsteer kit has me wondering if they sent me the correct part. I'm especially wondering about this because I've emailed their tech support twice regarding this, and they haven't responded. Also, unless you go to SN95 style brakes/spindles, I don't think you'll be able to use the X2 balljoints.

Ya I would be wondering also. That seems like a whole lot of hell to have to go through to install it. Thanks again for the pics....

I'm going to do more research into the Ball joints, but so fair everthing I've seen or heard has not mentioned the SN95. Now that don't mean your wrong its just means I may need to dig a little deeper before I order them Ok now about this SN95 lol what is this? Does the 95 mean the year of a new style brakes and struts on the mustangs? Or simply the new brakes and struts on the 94 and up mustangs period? I don't plan to use those anytime soon I love my pony wheels to much and I would have to move on to a 5 lug wheel with the SN95 stuff.


Off the subject real quick on your pic it has a hose on the TB clamped off and a small filter on the valve cover. Is this to some how replace the PCV? or to help it vent the crank case more? I'm just wondering since my car is a 93' LX N/A and maybe it could help. Also have you thought about making a CSI? If you take that fat tube off and look in the inter diameter its only like 1 1/2 ID. Just a thought.

 

[kiddiccarus]

The SN95 is the style of the car, Just like the Fox 2 and Fox 3 Body styles after 1993 the last of the Hatchbacks, they went to a new style of body called the SN95. If I am wrong on this please correct me.

 

[ponycar17]

I'm going to do more research into the Ball joints, but so fair everthing I've seen or heard has not mentioned the SN95. Now that don't mean your wrong its just means I may need to dig a little deeper before I order them Ok now about this SN95 lol what is this? Does the 95 mean the year of a new style brakes and struts on the mustangs? Or simply the new brakes and struts on the 94 and up mustangs period? I don't plan to use those anytime soon I love my pony wheels to much and I would have to move on to a 5 lug wheel with the SN95 stuff.


Off the subject real quick on your pic it has a hose on the TB clamped off and a small filter on the valve cover. Is this to some how replace the PCV? or to help it vent the crank case more? I'm just wondering since my car is a 93' LX N/A and maybe it could help. Also have you thought about making a CSI? If you take that fat tube off and look in the inter diameter its only like 1 1/2 ID. Just a thought.

SN95 is the body style that started in 1994. Our cars, Foxes, can use brake hardware from those cars if you swap to 5-lug spindles off a 1994-1995 car. The 1996 front end is a little different, and the tierod ends on our cars aren't long enough to bridge the gap to the spindle off of a 1996 and up car.... Steeda does, in fact state on their web site that the X2 balljoints cannot be used with stock Fox style brake hardware.

Here's the Steeda link regarding this issue, and also the quote of their comments.

http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/x2.htm

The X2 balljoint fits 94-03 Mustangs. It also fits 87-93 Mustangs that are equipped with the Ford Racing M-2300-K Cobra Brake conversion kit or Baer 13" or 12 " American Sedan Brake kits. It will not work with stock 87-93 brakes

Now, to your other questions. Yes, that is a filter on my valve cover. I'm using it ONLY because the vacuum at wide-open-throttle was causing the other stock pipe arrangement to draw oil up through my valve cover, and causing it to leak onto the top of the valve cover. This was a quick fix... I really am thinking about re-connecting the tube to the throttle body, but adding a small fuel filter in-line with the tube to absorb some of the oil that's sucked out of the valve cover at wide-open-throttle. No, it doesn't serve any other purpose on my NA car. Right now, I'm doing a bad thing to my motor by not having any vacuum on the crankcase at WOT. The stock arrangement works by creating a vacuum in that pipe from the TB to the valve cover at WOT when the TB blade is open and vacuum can't be created in a traditional way in the intake manifold. At WOT a tremendous amount of air is running past the orifice that connects the TB to the valve cover vent hole, and because of the ventuuri effect, this creates a vacuum.... The PCV system isn't really affected by this. The PCV system works off of idle to part-throttle when there is some vacuum created due to the throttle blade position... Hope I explained that right...

In other words, I'm a slacker... I'll fix it sooner or later...

That fat tube you're referring to actually has a purpose. The reason that it knecks down so far past the the entrance to the tube is to accelerate air entering the throttle body. As you decrease diameter in a tube, air velocity will be increased. This basically gives you a little more bottom end off the line. I put a PVC replacement pipe together a few years ago for this car. It had a 3-1/2" opeing and a 3" exit or vice-versa... I just cut sections out of 3.5" PVC tube and squeezed them down to fit inside the larger pipe so that I could match the openings at the MAF and rubber pipe to the TB. I sealed it up with PVC adhesive, and even used a Dremel to smooth the transitions inside the piping. I think it did help WOT flow, but the low end was noticably weaker.... It also made the car a little louder. I would get an odd vibration in the dash with that pipe installed when I still had the Flowbastard installed. Unfortuntely, or maybe fortunately, the pipe warped because of underhood heat, and it didn't seal well at both ends anymore. I don't think it was a huge help, so you might be wasting time trying to make one... I did feel a little better throttle response when starting out with the original piping back in place... So, if you have any other questions, feel free to AIM or PM me.

If I've made any mistakes, please point them out...

 

[Pro-Hawk]

SN95 is the body style that started in 1994. Our cars, Foxes, can use brake hardware from those cars if you swap to 5-lug spindles off a 1994-1995 car.

http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/x2.htm

Hey thanks on the link it cleared it up a lot and the info on the styles. I don't think at this time I would upgrade to the SN95, I like my ponys to much

That fat tube you're referring to actually has a purpose. The reason that it knecks down so far past the the entrance to the tube is to accelerate air entering the throttle body. As you decrease diameter in a tube, air velocity will be increased. This basically gives you a little more bottom end off the line. I put a PVC replacement pipe together a few years ago for this car.

I have just replaced this pice with a 3" set up and a K&M in to the fender, on my car I did notice a little lose on the bottom end but I gain some on the big end. I'm about to open road race the car and this set up has made it a hair easier for me on the big end. I will say it has made a lot more noise than the stock set up, but since I put new exhuast on it don't matter to much now. Don't look at me if your right or wrong lol I'm the last person to judge on anything out here. This is my first experiance with a Ford on top of this. I'm like you years ago just trying stuff out

Thanks