Need to downsize my life and reduce costs. I lost the garage I kept this in and I'm ready to let her go to a new owner. Pictures are in the Craigslist ad but I'll copy and paste the general info. This car runs flawless and pulls HARD. Healthy motor, trans and rest of Driveline.
302 H.O. Conversion from a 1992 Mustang Coupe with approx 160,000 kms on engine 230,000 on body of TBird November 2015 New Custom built engine wiring harness, wire tucking was done at the time so nice CLEAN engine bay November 2015 5 Speed Tremec 3550 Transmission (Stronger than a World Class T5) serviced and sealed NO LEAKS February 2019 Custom Aluminum Driveshaft with new U Joints and Slip Yokes Electric Fan Conversion 3G Alternator Conversion Underdrive Pullies Typhoon Upper & Lower Intake C&L Cold Air Intake C&L Air Meter Autometer Monster 5" Tachometer Pillar Gauges (Oil Pressure and Battery Volts I use to monitor Electric Fan) 4.10 Gear Ratio (Hauls the mail) Rear Disc Brake 8.8 Axle rebuilt with new LSD slip discs (AKA the car does proper two wheel burnouts) Firewall Adjuster and new Clutch Cable New rear upper and adjustable ride height lower control arms (Just received, haven't installed yet) Redone headliner and interior trim bits LED in dash and much work done on electrical to fix what was broken Grant Steering wheel with custom hardware and TBird sticker on horn button (Still have factory original) Sequential tail light modification. You'll see in the video what I mean. Custom dual Flowmaster exhaust with H pipe Subframe Connectors
And on and on and on.. I will disclose the full list and history to serious inquiries. I have documented the whole history of this car with receipts for over $20,000. I also have a trunk FULL of valuable obsolete spare parts for this car that I'm happy to send with it.
The BAD
Cracked windshield Cracked Dash Couple dings in the paint from rocks and one scratch on passenger fender Driver Seat has tear in vinyl Power seats (both) stopped working Passenger front rim I began the process of polishing and didn't finish so it's got some swirls if you look closely at it. The radio and equalizer is original and intact but not working (I don't listen to the radio when I drive this, I listen to the 5.0)
$8500
Car is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Decided to give a shot at restoring some of my headlight lenses. The outers mainly, but did a half job on the inners too. The headlights I purchased brand new from ford around 10 years ago but the car has hardly been driven so they are still like new.
Thought of some of the quick fixes and different kits, but decided to do the thorough sand and clearcoat process. Spent some decent money for very fine sandpapers and got a UV resistant clearcoat. I am very happy with the results. Like anything, if you put the time into something and don't rush it you will end up with decent results. However my lack of attention to where I left the outers to dry left me running back outside to move them out of direct sunlight.... It was too late and I now have some spider webbing on them. That being said they still turned out awesome, so I will revisit them another day to re-sand and clear.
My process was wetsanding, the rough sand down with 600grit, again with 1200, then finish with 2000 grit. I did a circular motion and before moving to a higher count sandpaper I did finishing horizontal (side to side) passes to help with the clear to stick on the lenses. I used a water bottle to keep wetting the sandpaper and lens to clear the debris. I would do about 1/3 of the lens, soak it all down, keep doing to 2/3, soak it all again, finish the surface and soak it all. Then do the horizontal sanding, then soak that. Cloth dry, and move on to a higher count doing the exact same wetting process. When I sprayed I did very light layers of clear at a time, 4 or 5 times total.. To try and prevent running or beading. I just used aerosol can stuff and was careful to keep an appropriate distance from the lens to apply. I let about 10 minutes to dry before throwing another layer on.
Just word on the MM T/A springs, they are for a Mustang so if you thought the 2001 GT springs were low then these will drop it even further as they lower a Mustang 1 to 1-1/2".
The car looks awesome with the current stance. If you want to get UCA's and LCA's for the rear and on a budget then you should look at the CHE units. MM only sells the lower for our cars and their is a difference in the uppers between a Mustang and a Thunderbird/Cougar. Funny think is a GM "A" body UCA works so search that here if you are interested but again the CHE stuff works really well.
I have read into that and am aware that the Mustang control arms are shorter and will pull the diff forward and off center of the wheel well. I remember someone posting pictures of the experiment with the results, hard lesson learned.. And yes I have the CHE set already bookmarked! They are priced really well and from what I read are great quality. The MM ones I'm surprised they only do the lowers and not uppers as well. I'm just debating whether I want to splurge and get the adjustables which will require me to use the Mustang springs again so I can have adjustability, or just get their upper & lower kit which is a really good package deal imo. I do really like the current stance and my pinion angle seems appropriate so I don't feel the adjustable upper and lower is necessary to spend the extra couple hundred USD (I'm Canadian so it costs me more because exchange rate..)
Good news! The day was productive, AND successful. Sometimes those two words don't go together, but a good day for me. I even fixed a burned out fog lamp by knocking on it with my knuckle. Go figure. Magic..
Tires were mounted and balanced, they were able to get them done for me in a timely fashion without overcharging.. I actually rotated the tires and rims to the front that I have had on the rear of the car for quite some time. I was experiencing some good driveline vibration, removing the old wheel spacers I had solved a large portion of it but I still had some. When the job was done, I took the car for a spin and noticed right away above 50mph 80km/h that I was getting a very new shimmy shake in the steering wheel/front end. Painfully obviously unbalanced wheels in the front...! So those will be heading in for some refreshed balancing.. The driveline vibration from the rear seems to not be there anymore.. I didn't take the car up to highway speeds though so that's not ruled out entirely, but I know that the new springs raising the car has improved my pinion angle which was something else I knew may have been an issue from lowering it so much before.
Springs came out really easy, and the new ones went in not to bad. I needed to use a spring compressor because the brake line hose coming down in to the diff in the middle of the car was MAXED out.. I was scared I ripped it accidentally!! Luckily was only for a moment I stressed it and after a good visual and physical inspection was all good. I had purchased a new set but ended up re-using the spring isolators already in the car, they looked in great shape. So I will sell the ones I used to recoup some of the money back :) I didn't need to flip my quad shock at all, and my shocks were an appropriate length. All inspected and appear to be in great shape.
The 275/40R18 tires on the 9" rim fit nicely. I use a 5/16 spacer on the rears and it fills the wheel wells very nicely. They clear the quad shocks by 1-2". I would still like it to be a bit lower but with a bit more time and some more fuel in the tank it should settle down right where I want it. It matches the front very nicely now which is just what I was looking for. I wasn't sure how high the new rear springs would bring the back end up, but I'm very satisfied with them. They drove pretty nicely too, no more jarring ride.. I feel like they are actually pretty firm for a "stock" spring.. I love them. They are making me reconsider spending the extra dough for adjustable control arms because they just feel great and I think I really like the look of them. It's a very different feel in a good way, and a new look for the car that I feel is more appropriate..
So anywho! To summarize, having the meatier tire with the decently sized 18" wheel definitely helps fill out the wheel gap that I think most TBirds suffer out there. No rub on my test drive, I do have my fender rolled. I'm pretty happy with this setup so far, this could stay for a while. I'm digging the aggressive raked stance.. For anyone else considering this spring, this is what it will do for you!
Here are some pics!
Before new tires.. Very skinny, small sidewall, and the 01 GT rear springs make the car sit lower than in the front which is a sucky look.. Could not get out of driveway at this height without some pre-assembled ramps I keep.
Springs side by side comparison. New ones are Moog 8599 old ones are I was told 2001 GT springs. Green tag reads EAR XR3C 5560-EA which after a quick google search told me these are 2001 GT base model springs. The Moog springs seemed a little heavier gauge steel vs the GT springs.
New springs installed..
Workshop :)
Here is how the Achilles 275/40R18 mount on the 9" wide Cobra R replicas. I know different tire manufacturers can have very different actual mounted widths for the same rated width tire..
And after a quick spin to the watering hole! Left a couple great looking 11's out there too.. Tire tread leaves a good pattern :)
Resting back in her nest.. The car rolls in and out of the garage ramp free now. Game changing! So much less hassle. Thank goodness..
I ended up running 98 Mustang GT rear springs and Maximum Motorsports adjustable height rear control arms (without them the 98 GT springs were waaaay to short). It's the expensive option but I can now change the rear ride height to compensate to cargo/weight changes. So there is that option as well.
If the rear is too high with your setup you can always cut the spring a little bit to adjust it.
Yes! That was my second option, the more expensive route. I DO need control arms to be done upper and lower... I will be getting the adjustable ones for certain. The springs in the car right now are 2001 Mustang GT springs. The fronts sit alright but the rears are just too low. Having the adjustable rear arms would give me exactly what I need. I will go that route later on down the road when I have some more money to burn. I'm cheap and curious to see how these Moogs and the 275's turn out. I just want the car to be more functional for now lol. And yes not afraid to trim the rears when the springs have settled. I'll give update pics tomorrow after first install.
Quote from: Tbird232ci;463002
Sounds like some good progress.
I found some of your videos of the car. It looks super nice. I'd love to see more pictures and whatnot.
Oh right on! Yeah I threw up a few just of my progress. Figured someone else out there might be interested to see. I'm not planning on taking video tomorrow, It's such a straight forward job. And thanks for the compliment! The car has come a very long way. I haven't had really any chance to take the car out for some videos of it actually doing anything other than sitting and idling. Was hoping to get some footage of some burners, donuts and flybys. Not a lot of places around where I live to do that safely, and I put a permit on the car maybe twice this summer..
Been putting in a lot of work to the bird over the last year. Had a really solid winter attacking the to-do's I had been putting off. Redid headliner, new visors, completely stripped and re-did gauge cluster repairing printed circuit board shorts, modified housings for better light spread and put LED's in, also did the tach resistor mod so my converted 302 now reads accurately on the oem tach :) new steering wheel, a little bit of wire re-routing, fixed glass that fell off track and unglued from tabs all repaired now.. Still lots more.
Just acquired what I need to re-adjust the stance for this car. I have wanted to have a meatier tire in the back for a very very long time, grew tired of the non-functional "flush" look that is such a nuisance for speedbumps, ride quality, and since moving into the new house I can barely get it out of the driveway (builder deficiency, that is another topic I could vent for days about... maybe I'll make a post about it just because.)
So I finally bought some larger tires. I had been debating and still do about the wheel choice, I go back and forth between a lot of looks/options out there. 4 Lug will stay, so my options are limited. But I think having the larger tire on the rear will change the look quite a lot of the wheel so I'd like to see. I'm a super budget guy anyways, these tires are by far the best value for what you get (I rarely drive this car, only sunny days so I feel safe with a "budget" tire choice) and the springs were dirt cheap. I researched what I could about having a drop in the rear, but most of what I looked for is obsolete now. The 8599 is listed as a stock spring, but reading the specs on it kind of seems to be very similar to the obsolete M-5300-D. I think these are just taller. I figured for the price totally worth trying out.
The specs of the Moog 8599 springs taken directly from the Moog website: Free Height 13.33" Installed Height 9.5" Inner Diameter 4.01" Bar Diameter 0.59" Spring Rate 249(lbs/inch) Load 926 (lbs)
Moog 8599 Rear Springs $60 shipped
Energy Suspension 4.6101G (Black) rear spring isolators $30 shipped
Achilles ATR Sport 2 $154 shipped for the PAIR 275/40R18
Going in the car on Wednesday! I'm excited to have some tire sidewall give, and actual suspension travel again.. And be able to drive out of the garage fairly worry-free.. So many pro's.
Pull the 3550 and check input shaft end play. I chased a vibration in my car for a long time and finally attributed it to excessive end play in my TKO. I will also note that I finally got in touch with one of the most knowledgeable guys on Tremec transmissions and he is the one that pointed me in the right direction and had the shims for the input shaft the cheapest.
