Build Thread Bird_dog0347's Frankenstang, sure is nice of us to build a car around the fuel filler door

[bird_dog0347]

So after almost a year of trying to get this project finished, I finally got it back on the ground on 4 wheels yesterday. It's not done, but I wanted to be sure the springs were cut to closely match the ride height in the front before I totally finish putting stuff back together. I haven't really worked on it a whole lot in the last year, life has gotten in the way, work... kids... etc.

But I really wanted to get this back up and running again and at least be able to take it out of the garage and wash the damn thing, LOL. I never did fully strip and paint everything, I didn't want it to snowball into a bigger effort than it already is. The things left to do are clean and re-install the fuel tank, install the rear sway bar, install the cat-back, put console back together after doing the e-brake handle mod, and put trunk trim back in. Then I'll still need to get new rear wheels before I can really drive it anywhere, it's still got the 18x10 FR500's in the back with a SN95 offset and stick out way too much. I'm going to buy a pair of 18x9 FR500's in a S197 offset to replace them and hope they fit. Then it just needs registration and inspection stickers to drive it again.

Some of the things I had to do to make it this far... I screwed up the front seal replacing the pinion flange so I had to replace that and the fluid. I got the bushings from Amazon installed in the subframe as well as the front and rear mount for the diff. Stainless brake lines, and FINALLY a working e-brake with new pads as the old setup never had a working e-brake. I had to cut the stock IRS springs for now and did 1 coil and it's pretty close to the ride height of the sportlines on the front. I had to buy a IRS catback and still need to install it. I also went ahead and put on a new fuel filter as it'll be a PITA to do it again once this is all buttoned up.

 

[Noobz347]

I haven't seen this thread until just now. I would LOVE to do this to my car.

Looking forward to what you have to say about it post-install.

 

[mikestang63]

I would relocate the fuel filter to a different position so that in the future it will be easier to service.

 

[bird_dog0347]

I haven't seen this thread until just now. I would LOVE to do this to my car.

Looking forward to what you have to say about it post-install.

Yeah, it's been so long since I've driven it that I'm not sure I'll have a good comparison... but I do have a 2014 GT as well that is stock so maybe I can sorta compare it to that.

I would relocate the fuel filter to a different position so that in the future it will be easier to service.

I thought about that, but in the mean time I'll just leave it alone until I eventually need a bigger fuel pump at which point I'll have to drop the tank anyways.

 

[bird_dog0347]

So today I got the fuel system cleaned up/ painted and reinstalled and was able to start the car to make sure it was on correctly. I got the Sway bar reinstalled with the exception of one of the end links needs to be replaced due to a stripped stud on it but I can get to that through the wheel well later. I got one of the mufflers put on loosely but the other one is going to have to go to the muffler shop to get one inch cut off the front flow tube and put on another inch on the rear as it doesn't fit with my current H-Pipe. It's too long to fit in the muffler spot and hits the IRS subframe... no biggie though.

 

[bird_dog0347]

I got the muffler flow tube cut to fit and got the exhaust all done. I just need to order a new sway bar end link and replace that to get it drivable, and really I need to get new wheels for the rear first as well. It needs a bath bad, but that'll have to wait till later in the week I think. Also I need to do some work to hang the exhaust better on the passenger side as it's not exactly where I want it... a little too far to the inside.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Looks awesome! I'd say your driver side is too far outward, not the other way around. It took me quite a while to get the tailpipes exactly where I wanted them. I had to bend and adjust the hangers many many times.

 

[dshart08]

Very nice.

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[bird_dog0347]

So I've been really far behind on updating this thread.

11/3/14:
So I finally got it all ready to go, stickers and all. I drove it to work last week and was pleased with it overall, but the rear tires rub on large bumps as they are 275 tires and are too wide for the 8" rim and the offset. Tonight I plan to try to swap the front and rear wheels as the fronts are 245/40/17 and while I know it will look goofy for a short while I want to see if they still rub in the back. If not I'll just swap the rear tires and drive the #### out of it for a while.

I also want to jack it up and check out all the bolts underneath on the IRS after putting close to 100 miles on it since getting it all done. It has a valve cover gasket leak which I hope to have time to address this weekend, and I need to check the header bolts as well since it almost sounded like a header leak while I was driving it but I'm also used to my nice quiet 2014 GT so it could just be I need to get used to the additional NVH.




From 11/17/14:

So the tires don't really rub in the rear with the 245's back there except when I hit a really big bump on the passenger side but I haven't rolled that fender so that should fix that issue.

I noticed a long time ago that it would leak a few drips of oil every now and then and finally got around to figuring that out. Turns out the passenger side valve cover was the source so I was thinking no biggie just new gaskets and be done with it. Well, looking closer I discovered the valve cover it's self is cracked (in two places I noticed after it came off) so I bought another one and cleaned it up and painted them. I had always wished I had taken the time to paint them when I did the intake swap but I was lazy and didn't and it looked like ass in there. Now it looks MUCH better.

Pic of the crack.



Old covers showing how crappy they looked.



So fresh and so clean clean....



Stock heads, stock rockers, very likely the stock cam...



That looks much better and no more leaks.

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 11/30/14:

So I finally got a set of wheels that fit correctly front and rear with the IRS. Fronts are 18x8 +35 offset with a 245/40/18 and the rears are a 18x9 +45 offset with a 275/35/18 tire. I put a small 3mm spacer up front even though I didn't try it without it just to be sure they wouldn't rub, but otherwise they fit perfect.

It was really hard to find a set that had the right offset and size and actually looks decent on a Fox especially since the IRS is something like 3 inches wider on each side than a stock fox axle. The rears fit perfectly and tuck in just right. I'm not a huge fan of chrome but maybe someday I'll get them redone in a black chrome which I do like.

I need to get some better pics of it, but here they are from last night.



Here's better pics from a nice Sunday drive, love this weather!

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 12/16/14:

Over the weekend I finally did something about the stereo system... I had all the stuff just laying around from an old car and decided to put it in the notch so I could actually hear the radio. I didn't take any pics of it yet, but I added 1 full layer of quick-roof (like Dynamat but cheaper and available at home depot) in the entire trunk floor all the way up to the rear seat over the rear axle. I'll finish adding more in the front when I pull out the seats and replace them later. I added two amps, my head unit, and 1 10" sub in the trunk. The speakers still suck but after adding more power to them I can at least hear it just fine at half volume where I was having to turn it to full volume to hear it while driving. The sound deadening certainly helps a lot as well, and I'll eventually add another layer or two in the future as well since I don't really care about the weight.

From 1/16/15:

Being a nice day out I decided to take the day off work and fix a few things on the fox. A few weeks ago after a day of driving it I noticed the drivers rear tire was flat the next day. I pulled the wheel to find the damage and it turned out the puncture was less than 1 inch from the inside sidewall. Combine the damage location with the fact the tires were right at the wear bars I knew that no one would patch it for me so I searched craigslist and found a pair of 275/35/18 Nitto NT05 tires brand new still with stickers and nipples all over them for $350 so I picked those up and had them installed today. While I had the car up on jack stands I finally pulled my speedo cable out of the T5 to see what gear was inside the tailshaft so I would know what to buy for it. Turns out I had the 7 tooth yellow one and it appeared to be in good shape. I got to thinking about it and decided I didn't want to have to wait till Monday/Tuesday to install a new gear if I had to order from LMR and decided to call Dallas Mustang and sure enough they had the 20 tooth gear I needed so I picked it up and installed that today as well. Now that the gear is swapped I finally know how fast it's going and can have an accurate mileage count on it.

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 2/19/15:

Well, I just placed my first order today after my tax return hit my account, I'll likely place my next order for the suspension stuff tomorrow when my bonus hits. First order was with LMR today so hopefully I'll get it tomorrow and have new seats in it this weekend..

Order Number: #xxxxxx

Mustang LH Floor Pan (79-93)
Mustang Flowmaster 2.5" Mini-Catalytic Converters
Mustang Headlight Adjusting Tool (87-98)
Mustang Shorty Antenna (79-09)
Mustang SVE S1 Racing Seats w/ Non-Assembled Seat Tracks (Pair) (79-04)
Mustang SVE Cold Air Intake Kit Black (89-93) 5.0
Mustang Spline Drive Lug Nut Kit Black

From 2/20/15:

Well, part of my order has already arrived. The seats are packaged nicely and the box wasn't beat up. I've got to assemble the tracks before I can install them but I went ahead and just snapped a few pics for now, more pics and a review later on assuming I can break away today and install them.

Hmmm, the hardware doubled up on the allen head bolts to mount the track to the seat, and left out the correct hardware to assemble the tracks. Looks like I'm running to Lowes to get bolts/nuts/washers as I don't have 8 of each that match laying around.




Seats are in, carpets all cleaned up, etc. This weekend I'll get the CAI installed and headlights adjusted. I put the antenna on and now I have radio I can hear. I also got my floor pan today, black lug nuts, as well as the Trick Flow cats, and spent about an hour talking to Jack from MM about what I need for dampers/springs so that order will be placed likely Monday or Tuesday when Jack can recommend the proper spring rates. I'll also get subframe connectors and I need to buy a welder.

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 2/21/15:

I got my SVE CAI installed this morning, I do like the black look they've gone with on it and for $65 or so I have no complaints, and it gets my filter into the fenderwell. I'm sure I'll have to get different silicone when I get a bigger MAF and TB though. My engine bay is filthy and I plan to clean it up this summer, but it's too damn cold for that right now.



From 2/27/15:

Stupid snow... The brown truck was supposed to deliver my MM full length subframe connectors, FMS spark plug wires, and distributor spout. The good news is, I did get my full MM coil over kit ordered today and should have it by next week. I went with the Koni SA all the way around, MM C/C plates, and the MM coil over kit for front and rear. MM recommended keeping the stock IRS rear sway bar, and the front 1.3" (33mm) sway bar that was stock on 85-93 V8 mustangs. Mine still has the stock 4 banger sway bar which is like 15/16". I'll post up pics as soon as I get the parts.

From 2/28/15:

Well, the weather sucks for doing stuff today, so I kept the heaters on in the garage overnight and worked out there most of the day today. I got the H-Pipe off and measured into a template, then cut it and welded in the cats as I'm tired of smelling like exhaust when I drive it, and it's got less than 250 HP so who cares that it has cats. Hopefully I can have it installed and running tonight, but I'm off to do the family dinner thing.





From 3/1/15:

I got it all buttoned back up this morning and fired it up, runs nice and smooth with the perfect flowmaster sound a fox should have... No leaks, and best of all, no more budussy smelling exhaust. The interior is even quieter now, very happy with this overall and wasn't too hard. In fact it would have been a lot simpler if my Mitre saw had been in my garage instead of at my dad's house. I had to cut the pipe with a 4.5" metal cutting disk on my angle grinder which was a bit of a PITA.

My favorite thing about the flowmaster cats (got them from LMR) is that they slip right over the existing 2.5" H-pipe and are very easy to weld in place. If you're considering getting cats, I recommend these for sure.

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 3/8/15:

Well my Maximum Motorsports Koni Coilover kit arrived on Friday and I spent yesterday installing it. I still need to finish setting the ride height and it needs to be aligned as well but I think I'll go ahead and install the tilt column and wheel on it before I do all that just so it will be closer to done. Still left to do on the car overall is the driver's floor pan and then install the MM Full length SFC's that I got.

And if anyone is interested in a set of Eibach springs, tokico struts, bilstien shocks, and Mac CC plates let me know, I've got it all for sale hoping to sell it as a kit.

Anyways, here's some pics, but like I said still not done setting ride height.

Old rear setup:


New rear setup:


Old front setup:



New front setup:



And it desperately needs a bath!

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 3/14/15:

So I finally got the car aligned on Friday, took nearly 3 hours for them to do it all and they got it pretty close to what Jack at MM had suggested to me but some of the adjustments got maxed out before they could reach the suggested settings.

The car is a whole different animal now with the MM kit and an alignment (I never got the rear aligned after installing it as I knew I'd be replacing springs/shocks). When I would hit a bump before the front suspension would barely move and the rear would bounce all over due to the completely wrong spring rates (eibach in front and cut stock IRS in rear). Also any large bump would cause my rear tires to move up enough to contact the fenders and would rub every so slightly. In a turn, if I applied any throttle it was so unpredictable and did not feel planted at all. It was like all the sudden the rear hit a small patch of ice and felt as if it stepped over 8-12 inches then caught traction mid turd.

Well, with the new suspension in there and properly aligned that feeling is gone. The car has a FAR better ride than it had before and now I'm really happy with the decision to go with the IRS in the rear. I've only put a few miles on it so far, and plan to drive it more tomorrow, but it feels balanced now. It just feels SOLID. The suspension isn't overly stiff, and rides way better than the sportlines did, and I don't feel like the NVH really increased at all over what I had before. I think having the poly control arm bushings and what not already had the NVH increased as it were... There doesn't seem to be much body roll either, and the rear end doesn't feel like it's going to bottom out or rub the tires anymore either.

The vastly improved suspension however makes my steering setup more of a glaring problem. The problem is the vague feeling that's so familiar with a Fox chassis. The car simply doesn't respond quickly to steering input, there's a rather large dead zone in the center of the steering, and changing direction quickly right/left/right/left it feels notchy when changing. I've known I need a new pump for a while as it whines a lot, but I've been putting that off till I decide to do a new rack, bump steer, etc. I guess I'll start saving up for those items and need to decide what to go with. I'm thinking of going with the Cortex racing rack ($349), new pump ($90.97 pump/hose/filter), MM BS kit ($149), and MM solid steering shaft ($219.97), MM BS Gauge ($97.95). I've already swapped my steering wheel/column for the non-airbag tilt wheel. The above parts would cost quite a bit though, total of $906.89 and then I'd need to re-align it I'm sure.

 

[bird_dog0347]

From 5/27:
So I haven't addressed my steering yet, and I'm pretty sure I need my rear gears checked out based on me likely screwing up the pinion flange swap on the IRS, but I got a good deal from a guy locally on his TW 170 heads, scorpion rockers, pushrods, etc. and I'm looking forward to cleaning them all up and doing the install later this summer. To go along with the heads I got a TFS1 cam, and it's all sitting on my bench until I can buy gaskets, bolts, etc to go along with it. I'm tired of doing things twice and won't be in a hurry on this, but I also don't have a lot more money to drop in it right now, or for the rest of the year I'm sure. I also picked up a MM strut tower brace that I'm sure I'll install when I do the head swap.

From 9/28:

When I installed the IRS in my coupe I had read online that I'd need to swap the pinion flange from the stick axle to the IRS so my drive shaft would work. Well, everything I read said just unbolt and then bolt up the other flange so that's what I did but in the process I ruined the old seal and it leaked. I also didn't record the torque reading first, then after replacing the seal I didn't get the pinion nut tight enough. Well, about 500 miles later the gear set and pinion bearing were trashed. It got to the point where I couldn't even drive it on the highway as anything over 45-50mph started causing a bad sound/vibration that got far worse with speed and the on/off throttle transition was unbearable.

Being an IRS rear it's a lot more expensive for shops to work on them and do a gear swap cause everything has to come apart to get at the gears. I decided since I didn't want to have to do it more than once, I went ahead and got the kit from LMR with new 3.55 gears, bearings, seals, fluid, etc. and removed the diff in my garage then took it to my buddy's shop where they fixed my mess.

While everything was out, I decided I better go ahead and do the control arm bushings as they were the only ones still rubber, but the worst ones to be rubber due to the wheel hop. Since I didn't have the $500+ for the delrin bushings I got the prothane IRS control arm bushings from LMR for like $80 and installed them. I also decided to get them because it's a street car and I have poly in the front control arms and like it, so it's good enough and a pretty easy install. I also installed my MM Strut tower brace that I had sitting on the bench.

I got the diff back from the shop Sunday and last night it was all put back together and running/driving. I haven't left the neighborhood yet as I needed to do a few other things like fix my headlight aiming, but it feels TONS better and drives great so far. I can finally use the car again I think.

Few pics:

 

[bird_dog0347]

So this basically turned into a build thread, mods, can we maybe move this to general please?

 

[mikestang63]

very nice build.. it is coming along very nicely

 

[MFE92]

Tits build.

 

[skyline247]

Looking good!

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