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Messages - kingcars
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Quote from: thunderjet302;455048
The car sits nice and low now. Looks great. Your hairline appears to be sitting lower as wellAh the joys of aging.
Congrats on getting the car the way you want it. I finally feel I've gotten my Thunderbird to that point (well asides from the Dart 363 I'll never be able to afford). It's nice to just be able to get in the car and drive without worrying what the next project will be or improvement to make. Enjoy it :)
Haha yeah...as time goes by, the car gets prettier and I get uglier
. Oh well.I totally agree. It is a rather liberating feeling. Granted, there are still some projects I'd like to tackle down the road (the only major one being an eventual 5 lug Cobra brake swap; the rest are minor weekend or afternoon jobs) but overall the car is fulfilling the vision I have had for it since high school and all the little annoying idiosyncrasies are finally gone.
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Everything was as advertised. The install took less than an hour, and that was including a firmware flash that I did because there was an apparent bug in the pre-loaded firmware (3.3.1) that would cause some cars (including mine) to rev up to 2500-3500 for 3-5 seconds on each startup. When flashed to 3.4.2, the issue was cleared up and all was good. What a difference the ECU made! The idling issue the car has had for years is gone, no more part-throttle hesitation and no more strange throttle deadzone that we could never track down (and yes, I had tried installing someone else's stock ECU a couple of years ago. Did the same thing). There is still some tweaking to do as the car runs rich, but the car's enjoyability has certainly increased big time with these issues out of the way.
The cherry on top was that we even had time to install the Mach 1 chin spoiler. Unfortunately it's hard to show off in pictures, but I really love how it came out:
Something else I wanted to do was recreate an old photo of me with the car 10 years ago. Lame, I know, but I wanted to do it anyway
Anyways, Sunday morning was roadtrip time! Headed out to Tennessee to hang out and watch some friends fail at an autocross. The whole trip was around 600 miles and was a great way to break the car in and really get a feel for the new changes. With each mile, I became more and more impressed with the suspension. Even cruising at 70-75mph on a bumpy highway, I could feel all the nuances of the road but I wasn't getting beaten outside the head with them either; it was a perfect mix of firm communication and controlled comfort. With that aside, I took some time to take photos during the trip,
Just for the sake of fun, check out this ride height before/after:
All in all, this project was much more than just throwing some upgrades at the car. It was about ridding the car of all the things that have annoyed me for the longest time. Over time, such things suck the enjoyment out of the car and that's what was really happening in my case. I was preferring my other cars because they drove better. It was time to fix that, and that goal has certainly been achieved. It's been a long time since I've thoroughly enjoyed the car like this. I didn't have to worry about the idle issue causing the car to stall, disliking the steering wheel grip, getting hot air through the console, sloppy steering, insufficient brakes etc. It drives like a proper, well sorted car.
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User Rides / Idle video after GT40P/Explorer swap
Quote from: GDawg148;454954
I was actually just in town last Friday-Monday, but I probably won't be back until the first week of May. I made a stop at the Charlotte Motorists Club meet at UNCC on Sunday night. Ever hear of it?
I haven't, actually. The only car group I've met up with in the area is the Charlotte Muscle Car Group from meetup.com.
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
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User Rides / Idle video after GT40P/Explorer swap
Quote from: GDawg148;454942
I took the car to Pro Dyno in Fort Mill, SC. The car is running lean and needs a tune. But I'm happy with the performance.
243 rwhp/ 281 tq.
Not bad! I might have my car in town next Monday; you gonna be around then?
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Quote from: ISTLCRUZ;454933
Awesome build thread. Car turned out great. I guess now it will be on the streets more and under the car cover less
Thanks! And hopefully it won't only be seeing time on the streets, but on the track (or autocross course) as well :)
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Quote from: 50tbrd88;454927
I'm glad all your hard work paid off and you are elated about how well it turned out! Ive been kind of bored with my car but following your thread here has helped snap me out of my funk. It makes me want to tear into my car and finally build a stout motor for it! Thanks for the inspiration.
Man, I completely understand that feeling. Before this project, it had been about 5 years since the last real change to the car was made (the 306 build). As I partly eluded to in my previous post, the car was littered with small annoyances and it got to the point where I wasn't excited to drive it any more. Then, with me living in an apartment, it just sat outside under a car cover and I couldn't really work on it and clean it constantly like I used to. Especially after it got hit in the parking lot, I was done. I hadn't even checked this forum in ages at that point. After a few months, I started feeling terrible about the whole situation and wanted to make it right. Seriously, go back to the first post in this thread and look at the pics of the car when I dropped it off at the body shop. The car just looked sad :( . So I made it a goal back in January to rid the car of all the annoyances and finally build it the way I had always wanted to back in high school and college, but never had the money for. It rejuvenated me and was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. The last couple of months, I've spent my weekdays planning and daydreaming about the build (well, when I wasn't at work, of course hehe); it's been a lot of fun. It even had nice side effects like bringing me back closer to the family, especially with my baby niece having just been born in December (not that I wasn't close to my family, I just hadn't been visiting as often). I'm glad that I've been able to pass that inspiration along and I look forward to the build thread (....you're gonna do a build thread, right?
). I also think this has given my dad the bug to hop on the bandwagon and get some work done on his Chevelle for the first time in many years. We'll see :D . Next winter, I plan to do a similar process with the Turbo Coupe and get it back to tip top shape as well.
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
We spent the weekend buttoning things up; installed the new TC steering wheel, centered it with the new steering rack, buttoned up the console area etc.
So, I want to stop here real quick and give some attention to a mostly overlooked part of the project, but one that is not to be underestimated in its impact (more on that later). Obviously, the TC steering wheel is a major upgrade in terms of comfort and grip, but in that top picture, see how there's an OEM lower shift boot fitting nicely over the shifter? Well this was one of the reasons I bought the new shifter. See, when the T5 swap was originally done like 8 years ago, the T5 I got came with an aftermarket shifter on it that had a huge ring on top for shift stops; it also had a large, bulky connection where the shifter handle was bolted to the shifter. These two characteristics caused major issues when it came to properly sealing the interior from the hot air underneath the car, so on nice days with the windows down, hot air would come blowing through the console despite our best efforts to seal it. The shifter was also so large that it would push up against the plastic shift bezel, which made an annoying creaking sound. These are both somewhat small things, but as you all know, it's exactly these types of things that prove to be the most annoying. So when we were going through this project, I decided that I wanted to work out all these types of issues I've had with the car. I shopped for shifters and found one that didn't have the bulky shifter handle connection nor the bulky shift stop ring. Old/new comparison:
With the new shifter, we were able to use a completely unmodified OEM lower shift boot to properly seal the interior from the hot air underneath the car.
Anyways, moving on...we hit a stumbling block on Saturday when we were unable to fix a leak in the passenger side rear brake line; turned out that the brand new rubber line had a badly machined inner where it connects to the steel brake line. And obviously, auto parts stores don't exactly keep TC-specific parts in stock. Luckily, we were able to find a local store that could get us one by Sunday at 4:30pm; not ideal, but better than the other two stores. One of them wanted 10 days, the other wanted 3. Since I can only work on the car on the weekends since I live an hour and a half away, that was a big break for us.
Late Sunday night, at around 8pm, we finally pull the car out of the garage and went on the first test drive (no alignment or anything yet
). Within 20 yards of leaving the driveway, we get stopped by a very shady, likely drug-addicted person wanting to pay us $20 for a ride about 30 minutes away. I reply, truthfully, "I don't even know if this car is safe to take around the block right now, much less 30 minutes away." The person says some derogatory comment and I drive off, glad to be away from that. The ride goes without issue, aside from the alignment being way off.After such a long weekend, I was exhausted and ended up taking yesterday off to run some errands. I first got the car inspected, then took it to get aligned. I was concerned about taking it somewhere to get aligned with the specialized suspension setup, but figured that if I could get it done, it would save us a lot of time. So I take it to a local shop with the measurements I want; the guy puts the car up on a lift, looks around, then comes to me and says "Sorry man, I can only adjust toe. There doesn't appear to be caster or camber adjustment on here." In my head, I'm thinking "Oh jeez...this isn't going well." I tell him that the car does have such adjustments, but they're under the hood. So he lowers the car and I show him the caster/camber plates and how they work (maybe I should have been more clear before they pulled the car in, but things moved quickly and I didn't have a chance to pull anyone aside. I mentioned the car's C/C plates at the counter, but they probably didn't notice or something). Thankfully, the mechanic ended up being very patient and did a great job getting the alignment to the specs I wanted and the car drove great afterwards.
After that fun time, I "accidentally" made a few wrong turns around town and ended up doing several loops. The first things that became really apparent were: "Wow this steering is sensitive!" and "Holy this transmission has NEVER shifted this smoothly!" The transmission has never shifted great for as long as I've had it, but now with the new shifter and Royal Purple fluid, it feels fantastic. I did stop by the paint & body shop that had worked on the car back in January; I figured they would really like to see their work now that the car is in a more complete form, and one of the guys who put a lot of work into it didn't get to see the finished product the day I picked it up.
I didn't really put the car through its paces yet though; I wanted to wait for my dad to get off work so he could enjoy the car's first real run with me. That's really where the fun began. Dad gets home from work, we eat dinner, then leave out at around 6pm to go find some twisty mountain roads. We're both happy to find that the lower shift boot is properly sealing now and the car is driving great. We make a quick driver change right before getting to the good stuff:
We make it to the twisties and the suspension work really shows up. The car is riding very nicely; it's firm, but certainly not rough or jarring in any way. It's very eager to dive into a corner - you move the wheel and the car follows your input with an alarming quickness (it actually took some getting used to, after all those years of sloppy steering). Body roll is a thing of the past. Grip through the corners seems to get better the more you push it; it feels like it just wants to dig into the pavement and not let go (and this is with the Konis all on soft settings). I honestly didn't expect the car to seemingly handle as good, if not better than my GTI; the GTI seems to want to understeer when you really romp on it, but I didn't get that feeling at all with the Tbird. The brakes were certainly a huge difference as well. I remember driving my GTI around all day, then switching into the Tbird and feeling almost scared of the awful brake distances. Granted, the brakes are obviously still not as good as on the GTI, but they definitely feel up to the task now. Overall feel is MUCH better and I'm actually confident going into a corner or even dealing with unexpected traffic movements. I get to the end of the twisties, turn around, and dad takes a shot at it, loving all the same things that I mentioned. On our way back, we stop by an old friends house and chat for a while. We take a ride in his 67 Chevelle SS with its freshly installed 427 big block, then return the favor with a ride in the Tbird.
After that, we stop by my uncles house for a few minutes and get home.....aaaaaaaaaaaaand it's 9pm. Ooops. :D . What a way to end my extended weekend! I'm extremely pleased with the car and absolutely cannot wait to take it out on a track and see what that suspension really has in store. Next weekend we're going to tackle the Megasquirt ECU and hopefully iron out a couple of kinks with the engine before going on a roadtrip to Tennessee if the weather holds out. Stay tuned!
TL;DR - New shifter was an overlooked upgrade, but a huge one nonetheless. Had a few....interesting....encounters along the way. MM suspension is absolutely incredible. 4 wheel disc brakes FTW. Car looks fantastic (though I may be biased). Next weekend is going to be Megasquirt ECU and hopefully a Tennesee road trip.
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Quote from: thunderjet302;454803
After the drive report back. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the difference all the suspension work has made.
Haha yeah, I'm chomping at the bit to finally get to drive it haha. Also, there's a slim, but certainly possible chance that I'll get to run it at an autocross on the 24th. Fingers crossed!
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T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars FOR SALE / Random Assortment of Thunderbird/Cougar Parts
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
Quote from: bigbada1;454793
What front springs on your coilover setup did you end up with14" 175#???
They're 12" 275lb springs. From what I've read, this seems to be a good middle ground front spring rate. After weeks of discussion with Jack Hidley at Maximum Motorsports about the plans for the car, the setup I ordered is what he recommended.
http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Hypercoil-Coil-Over-Spring-275-lbin-12-2-12-dia-12B0275-P240.aspx
Quote from: thunderjet302;454794
You don't want to go too low or you'll worry about bottoming out over bumps. I think your car sits about perfect right now.
Have you tried bouncing the car with the new suspension yet? When I installed the Maximum Motorsports rear control arms and 98 Mustang GT springs the rear on my car barely moves if I try to bounce it up and down. I push the rear down and it bounces back up with no jiggle. Side to side movement is gone as well. You would think the rear would ride much too firm but it's actually quite nice. The rear is planted firmly and the ride actually improved. I think you'll be very impressed when you drive the car. Your front end setup is better than mine. I've just got Moog 8598 springs and 04 Cobra front a-arms. The rest of the front is stock replacement parts.
Agreed on the ride height. I've also ordered some tools for doing a DIY alignment, so once I get a feel for it, I may even run a different configuration for the track vs the street.
Yeah we did a bounce test and holy is it way stiffer on both ends of the car! I'm really excited to take the car out this weekend and see how it handles, especially after your feedback on the rear control arms. All of that along with everything else done to the car should make it quite the capable corner carver. I'll certainly be posting feedback next week on the setup. The following weekend after that may entail a 200mi road trip through some mountainy roads :)
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
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User Rides / Stella 2.0 - Major Overhaul time
And, you know, I gotta make sure my baby niece is raised the right way :) . She's clearly my niece, because immediately after being removed from the driver's seat, she started crying. I definitely know that feeling.:burnout:
So next week will entail putting in the new steering rack along with new tie rod ends and sway bar links, button up/adjust the emergency brakes, adjusting the ride height, corner scale the car and a full alignment. After that....it'll be time to take it out on the twisties!
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