Build Thread Want To Blow 5 Years And $50k On A Foxbody? Step By Step Instructions Inside!

[RacEoHolic330]

Thanks for the link. Ill look into that. I have a 3/4" restrictor in the water neck right now. I'll be using a DCController to control the pump and fan.

I figured I could use the rear passenger side port in the lower as the drain for the water line. I'm just not sure of the best place to tap into for the feed.

 

[1991notchbackLX]

Maybe you could rig up a small, dedicated heat exchanger for the turbo's cooling system itself? An oil cooler or transmission cooler would have the SA to keep the turbo nice and cool. You could rig up a small expansion tank, circulating pump, and minimal plumbing. Run 50/50 antifreeze/water in it and you'd be good to go. These are the ideas that float through my head... I have a tendency to overcomplicate things, though.

Check this link:
http://www.batinc.net/files/pump.pdf

 

[RacEoHolic330]

That would be a pretty interesting setup, but I don't know where I would find space to fit all that stuff. Another pump would be something else on the car prone to failure also. I was thinking something like this would do the job by tapping the heater hoses by the firewall:

 

[1991notchbackLX]

How do you ensure an adequate flow of coolant through the hoses with that system? It's been a while since I took fluid dynamics, but won't the coolant be prone to taking the path of least resistance, i.e. the larger diameter tubing? I'm sure that system is tried and true, or else Turbonetics wouldn't put its name on it, but like I said, I guess I overthink.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

The system is pressurized, so coolant will flow through every orifice it can find. I would rather see "y" fittings installed in the direction of flow as opposed to "t" fittings though. But like you said, I'm sure Turbonetics has done their r&d, so I trust that it will work. I'll figure out the water lines once I pull the engine again. Turbo is coming this week, so it will be downpipe time. Once the turbo and downpipe are fitted I can yank the engine and get working on the rest of the car.

 

[92GreenGT]

Which Comp turbo did you use? Oiled or Oiless? My good buddy is a distributor/test/R&D person for them so we get to play around with some cool Comp stuff. Rick, also don't want to change subjects but Luke parted his car out, sad.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I went with one of their oiled billet CT43 series 76mm turbos. The ball bearing and billet options were expensive enough so I decided not to go with the oil-less. The technology in their turbos is very cool. I can't believe how light they are too. My 76mm is 4 lbs lighter than the 60mm I sold that came with my HP kit.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Well, my turbo showed up this week but it wasn't polished nor was the turbine housing ceramic coated like I ordered. It's going right back to Comp so they can do what they should have in the first place.

Good news is that I got a set of IRS brackets, so I can get the subframe mounted up this weekend hopefully.

 

[Rick 91GT]

Damn....

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Progress is somewhat slow now. I started the IRS install, but aside from some holes in the framerail, I don't have much to show for it yet.

On another note, I did score an entire black interior out of a 92 hatch. When I say entire I mean EVERYTHING (except the headliner). I wasn't planning on buying an interior right now, but I couldn't pass up a local deal like this. All the parts are in very nice shape. Even the map pockets on the door panels aren't too bad. I'm going to get the seats shampooed and sell them. I have a pair of Recaros waiting to go in. Once they're clean, I can probably fetch some good coin for them. Here's some pictures of everything.

 

[GameCock5.0]

Sweet build man. This has to be one of the best looking builds ive seen a thread on. Can't wait to see the finished product. Good job!

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Scott, what has to be done ( or will have to be done )to the IRS width wise? How much power is the unit itself and the half shafts rated for? I'm sure that an 8.8" based IRS is waay stronger, than the GM junker that they put in GTO's, but when I had one ( and I had 2) I couldn't dream of putting a set of DR's on that car w/o first calling a junkyard to secure a replacement center section.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

If I remember correctly, The IRS widens the track width by 1.5" on each side compared to the fox length axles. With the backspacing on my 01 Cobra wheels, I shouldn't have any clearance issues with the fenders. I'm going to be rolling them anyway incase they sit wider than I originally calculated. I'm going to mount the upper and lower control arms on one side of the car and mount a wheel to see how everything sits in terms of clearances. If the wheels stick out too far for my tastes, I may be forced into looking for wheels with different backspacing.

As far as strengh goes, that's somewhat a controversial topic for some. The general theory is that excessive wheel hop is what breaks rear end housings and cracks half shafts. That wheel hop is attributed to the fact that Ford used rubber bushings on EVERY mounting point for all the IRS components. All that rubber creates a lot of unwanted movement of the IRS assembly which leads to violent wheel hop. Luckily, the IRS I bought was fully decked out with Fult Tilt Boogie Racing delrin bushings everywhere. Those parts in combination with the 03 cobra 31 spline half shafts (stronger than the 99 Cobra ones) and LPW rear girdle, should enable the rear to handle the abuse of a 700+rwhp car. This car will not see any launches on slicks, and may actually never see a drag strip. I'm going in more of a handling direction with this build, so it may see a road course on the weekend at best. If I do wind up breaking any shafts, aftermarket shafts may be necessary, but Bruce at FTBR thinks that I will be fine. He has seen 900rwhp cars do fine with an IRS on stock shafts, but with all the delrin parts.

This car will essentially be an overpowered sunny day car and most of the power will never find it's way to the ground on the street anyway

 

[Jason 302]

This car will not see any launches on slicks, and may actually never see a drag strip.

. You gotta at least make a couple granny passes with it

 

[Rick 91GT]

Bring it down here, Ill test it...

 

[RacEoHolic330]

How about we have a contest to see who can break the half shafts first. The winner gets to buy me new Level 5 shafts. They aren't too expensive!

IRS install soon to come

 

[RacEoHolic330]

So I was able to make progress on the IRS install tonight.

This is essentially the original write-up that I saw regarding the IRS install: http://www.mouthbreather.net/IRSSWAP.HTML .

The write-up is very good and well detailed, however, I had one issue with some aspects of the install that I think may have been overlooked. My main concern was that the author made no mention of reinforcing the framerails that the upper subframe bolts to. The framerail is shaped like a "U" so the top portion is nothing but some 16ga sheet metal. Installing some oversized washers is not sufficient to prevent collapsing the framerail, in my opinion. I decided to use some 3/16 steel plate and tube to reinforce the framerails so there is no chance of any collapse.

Here's the 1/2" grade 8 bolts as well as the plates and tubes that I cut to size:

I oversized the holes in the floor to give me a little margin of error with lining up the reinforcements:

The spare tire well is so close to the driver side framerail that I had to cut a hole in it to drill through the inner side of the framerail:

I'll weld it back up and install a grommet in the tire well in case I ever need to access the subframe bolt

The passenger side needed a little bit of trimming so the subframe mounts would sit flush:

Here are the welded reinforcements. The notch in the one smaller plate is so it clears the welded nut inside the framerail for the old quad shock mount.

Mocked up in the car:

Removing the old axle snubber so the upper control arm will clear:

Mocked up the passenger side control arms and hub:

And the moment of truth...tire clearance:

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about how far out the wheel sits. What do you guys think? If I didn't have rotors in the back, I think the spacing would be perfect. Who needs rear brakes anyway, right? I may either a) explore other wheel options or b) see about possibly having the hub of the 01 Cobra's machined down a bit to allow the wheel to sit in more. I'm not sure if that is possible or not.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

So I was able to make progress on the IRS install tonight.

This is essentially the original write-up that I saw regarding the IRS install: http://www.mouthbreather.net/IRSSWAP.HTML .

The write-up is very good and well detailed, however, I had one issue with some aspects of the install that I think may have been overlooked. My main concern was that the author made no mention of reinforcing the framerails that the upper subframe bolts to. The framerail is shaped like a "U" so the top portion is nothing but some 16ga sheet metal. Installing some oversized washers is not sufficient to prevent collapsing the framerail, in my opinion. I decided to use some 3/16 steel plate and tube to reinforce the framerails so there is no chance of any collapse.

Here's the 1/2" grade 8 bolts as well as the plates and tubes that I cut to size:

I oversized the holes in the floor to give me a little margin of error with lining up the reinforcements:

The spare tire well is so close to the driver side framerail that I had to cut a hole in it to drill through the inner side of the framerail:

I'll weld it back up and install a grommet in the tire well in case I ever need to access the subframe bolt

The passenger side needed a little bit of trimming so the subframe mounts would sit flush:

Here are the welded reinforcements. The notch in the one smaller plate is so it clears the welded nut inside the framerail for the old quad shock mount.

Mocked up in the car:

Removing the old axle snubber so the upper control arm will clear:

Mocked up the passenger side control arms and hub:

And the moment of truth...tire clearance:

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about how far out the wheel sits. What do you guys think? If I didn't have rotors in the back, I think the spacing would be perfect. Who needs rear brakes anyway, right? I may either a) explore other wheel options or b) see about possibly having the hub of the 01 Cobra's machined down a bit to allow the wheel to sit in more. I'm not sure if that is possible or not.

Well first off, I gotta say that you are a stickler for details. ( (is the tape w/ the "A" and "B" for your or our benefit?)
Secondly, I'm glad somebody else has to grind and cut steel and not me.
Third the work you do is top notch.

4th,......The offset would be a problem for me. ( So what,..right) I'd think going up hill into a steep driveway is gonna cause that tire to rub. Those wheels are already what?....5.95 B/S? Judging by the positive offset on your existing wheel already, it doesn't look like you're gonna gain much even if there is a deeper wheel out there. Do you think that your wheel can be cut .250 w/o compromising the integrity?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Thanks Mike. I appreciate that coming from a guy that built his own retro fox from scratch.

The tape was so that I didn't mix up the tubular supports. They are all different sizes because the bottom of framrail is not the same distance from the trunk floor. I didn't want to forget which tube goes in which hole . I am getting to the point where I am sick of cutting, grinding, and welding. Not a good thing considering how much is left to do!

The Cobra's are 5.72 backspacing and a 30mm offset. 17x8. There is a lot of meat on the center of the hub, but I'd have to have a professional look at it and tell me if it is a safe thing to do. I may contact a place that widens wheels. If they can machine down the hub (safely), I may have them widen the wheels as well. I have a whole lot of room on the inner side of the wheel well.

The only other option that I would possibly consider (almost as a last resort) would be to slightly widen the rear fenders a half inch or so. That, however, will involve more cutting, grinding, and welding ::sigh:: Unless I decide to take that route, I can worrry about the wheel fitment much later down the road. The IRS is here to stay, and I will make the wheels look right one way or another.

 

[Noobz347]

Raceholic... Isn't there still an outfit out there that makes the wider metal quarters? I can't remember the name of the company off the top of my head.