Chuck's '83 TBird

Topic: Chuck's '83 TBird (Read 73917 times) previous topic - next topic

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #165 – January 05, 2019, 09:26:29 PM

All the bearings, seals, bushings, extra brackets, etc are removed from the housing.

Gotta clean a couple spots up to get the upper arm brackets in place, and then this is ready to get under the car for mock-up.

Gotta pull the 7.5 and a couple other things and then get this in place.

Then it's finish the modification to the p-hard chassis mount and see what needs to be done to make the tailpipe fit.

After that, it's pull it all back out to get cleaned up and coated and the axle rebuild done.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #166 – January 06, 2019, 09:57:55 PM

Interesting, will be fun to watch this. Hows that I6 coming along?

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #167 – January 06, 2019, 10:23:49 PM

Quote from: CougarSE;468444

Interesting, will be fun to watch this. Hows that I6 coming along?

It's sitting in the corner. WAAAAYY down on the to-do list.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #168 – January 12, 2019, 08:27:11 PM

Plugging along.

Got the 7.5 out of the car and stripped down (some parts are finding new homes, and the housing is going to s)

Need to pull the upper arms and put them on the shelf, as they're not going back in the car.

The 8.8 is prepped to get up under the car and begin mocking up the chassis-side panhard bracket bits that need finished.

I'd like to use a nice AL diff cover, but I don't think the panhard bar will clear it. Guess I'll see. Worst case, I'll just get a new one, as this one is super crusty.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #169 – January 12, 2019, 08:58:51 PM

Hey, those shocks look familiar!

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #170 – January 12, 2019, 09:33:20 PM

Quote from: gumby;468498

Hey, those shocks look familiar!

Just standard Koni reds, in proper TBird length. :hick:

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #171 – January 12, 2019, 09:35:19 PM

Would be neat to know the valving differences between your old Tbird Reds, and the Mustang STR.T's like I bought.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #172 – January 13, 2019, 04:08:26 PM

OK, the 8.8 is under the car to begin the investigation of what needs to be done to make this fit.

Driver side looks OK. (Sorry about the lighting. hard to get enough light under the car and not have a shadow from EVERYTHING else)

Got it raised up to the proper height, but still need to fiddle with the pinion angle. Looking at the pass side.

Umm.... Look closer

Yeah, the pass side upper link bracket is going to foul on the fuel tank mounting bulkhead on that side, if I rotate the housing any more.

The panhard axle mount should clear the tank, however. (I REALLY don't want to put a fuel cell in this thing...) It will be close, though.

I should be able to mod that mounting bulkhead and gain 1-2" of clearance, without much trouble. IIRC, it was also in the way of the panhard bar chassis mount lateral brace tube.

Yuck.

I really don't like these upper links. I want to make an adjustable set, which wouldn't be hard to do, but that 30* angle on the leading bearing (These mount to existing RUCA mount locations) is more than I'm going to be able to get with just a rod end or spherical bearing. Then again, I don't NEED to use the stock upper mounts on the chassis.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #173 – January 14, 2019, 03:12:52 PM

I've not seen that panhard setup for a Fox. Who made it?

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #174 – January 14, 2019, 09:10:52 PM

Quote from: thunderjet302;468510

I've not seen that panhard setup for a Fox. Who made it?

It's a Steeda 5-Link 2. The jist of it is un-splayed upper links and a panhard bar set-up that will allow for tail pipes (or "pipe", in my case).

Got back under the car for a short bit after work today.

First I rotated the differential to get it to what would be a close position for pinion angle. When I did that, that bracket was in full contact with that gas tank mount.

I then tried to stick one of the upper links in place, to see how things lined up. In doing so, it appeared that the upper arm was WAY too short. Then I looked more closely at the brackets and saw my mistake. While this is a 5-Link 2, I was setting some things up using instructions for a std 5-Link kit, and assumed some things were the same. Like the brackets. They're not.

Once I rotated the brackets to where they SHOULD be for this kit...

I found at least an 1" worth of clearance between the upper bracket and tank mount.
I'll probably still need to remove some of it, as it's a toss-up on whether the axle will hit the bump stops, or the panhard bar bracket will smash into that mount. Not a huge deal, as it has no need to be that big.
It looks like there is enough clearance for the tank too, so that's a bonus.

Going back to the upper links.

After re-positioning the axle brackets, the upper links still appeared to be too short. Then I remembered that I was working on a TBird and not a Mustang. :hick: Of course they're too short. The TBird uppers are over 1" longer than the Mustang ones (stock).
They're going to get reworked anyway, so longer isn't going to be an issue, but I still need to decide what I want to do about that front connection.

With things in place, I started to try and brain-storm about that lateral brace I need for the panhard chassis bracket. Things are pretty tight through there, and trying to hit the other frame rail might prove to be a little difficult.

Lying there under the car, I got to looking at the lateral brace I's welded in between the rear shock towers a while back, just because.

.

I think if I weld a mounting bracket it someplace, it would make a great spot to attach that lateral brace. It's 2"x1'x.120" wall rect tubing, welded to the framerails. Should be stout enough...
I just don't want to weld it all in. Just in case I need to get it out of the way for something.

Thinking on the upper arms, do I *really* need to keep the stock front mount locations at this point?

I could easily cut out the old stuff and weld in another cross brace and install 2 brackets that are in line with those on the rearend.
Then I could use something like THIS

That would save a lot of fussing with that odd front angle.

Anyway, just more plugging along.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #175 – January 15, 2019, 07:56:04 AM

I like the thought of ditching the stock chassis side upper locations. They are proven failure points and they are complicating your install. I see no upside to keeping them. Cutting them out and adding a new lateral tube to hang new mounts will also allow you to incorporate multiple verticle locations for geometry adjustments. This may come in handy especially if you cut down the axle mounts.

As for the lateral brace, weld tabs to the chassis mount and as far to the opposite side of your shock mount rectangle tube as you can get a straight shot at. Then a simple link between the two locations.
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/shop/racing-swedged-tubes~65544-2-18167?suppressautocorrect=false
Easy and removable. You can even get gold anno!

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #176 – January 15, 2019, 08:27:13 AM

Yeah, ditching the stock upper chassis side brackets is winning over. I'm not sure if I'll need multiple locations, but I might add at least one. The axle brackets look to be good in their current location, and I think I have enough room above them for clearance on full jounce, so i shouldn't have to trim them down.

The removable lateral link sounds good, but I was thinking of making the whole chassis bracket removable, and welding a lateral support to it, with a removable attachment somewhere along that existing brace I have in there. Probably going to use some 1" x .120" wall square tubing for that piece, so it should be pretty stout.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #177 – January 16, 2019, 02:08:20 PM

Quote from: Chuck W;468514

It's a Steeda 5-Link 2. The jist of it is un-splayed upper links and a panhard bar set-up that will allow for tail pipes (or "pipe", in my case).

Ah. I'd never seen one before. Any advantage to it vs. the Maximum Motorsports "ideal" rear suspension of lower control arms, panhard bar, and a torque arm?

/end thread derail

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #178 – January 16, 2019, 04:01:43 PM

Quote from: thunderjet302;468526

Ah. I'd never seen one before. Any advantage to it vs. the Maximum Motorsports "ideal" rear suspension of lower control arms, panhard bar, and a torque arm?

You could argue for either, really. Each has their pros/cons.

I paid like $250 for this kit, used, several years ago. Yeah, I need to modify it and it needs to be cleaned up, but seriously...$250. I'd have to modify almost anything to fit this car, so why cut up brand new stuff?

The only downside, for me, with the TA would be the loss of ground clearance. Either is going to do what I need/want for this car.

Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #179 – January 16, 2019, 05:16:14 PM

It all comes down to money :D.

I get why you're going the route you are. Makes sense. I'm just trying to learn from what others have and see how it works for their car. Gives me some ideas for improving the rear suspension setup on mine (well above the Maximum Motorsports RLCA).