Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Topic: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal. (Read 41496 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #135 – May 17, 2019, 06:01:46 AM

Quote from: Chuck W – on May 16, 2019, 06:47:33 AM

You've held onto those brackets for a while now.

I've had that little bolt go badly before. Oh man, I hate that thing.

These aren't my original set, as those went with one of my previous cars. The previous owner of the car provided these luckily. I do still have the SFC seat braces I ordered from you however many years ago. I feel like you should autograph them for me now.

Quote from: thunderjet302 – on May 16, 2019, 11:43:49 AM

Nice work so far. What springs are you running?

If you don't want the 11" brake front spindles let me know. I could use a spare pair.

I'm using BMR springs for the fox body. I did a bunch of math (probably incorrectly) and found that these match up with the front coilover springs I selected pretty well. They were also one of the few companies that offered them in pairs, and gave their spring rate information. I have a bunch of their products in my Trans Am, and some waiting for the Mustang. Top notch stuff.

As far as the spindles, I have a buddy who may want them, but I'll keep you posted.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #136 – May 17, 2019, 06:12:24 AM

I made a bit more headway on the car today. Unfortunately, the parts store only had one axle seal. Only one was leaking, but I would have liked to have replaced both of them.

One thing I hate, is having to undo work. I had the shocks and everything on, and then realized that I had to unbolt the shock to change the brake hoses. It wasn't a big deal, but I try to think ahead so I don't have to touch the same things over and over again (well...most things).

I'm typically not a gambling man, but after browsing the parts sites, looking at pictures and using the old noggin of mine, I purchased some 94-95 Mustang rear brake hoses. That gamble paid off.

The hoses were almost a perfect fit! I had the bend the bracket a little bit to get the hose to clear the quad shock bracket.

I attribute the lack of clearance to them being a 6 dollar, Chinese brake hose.

That's where I left off the the day. I need to put the left side brakes on, change the center hose, fill the rear, and install the new park brake cables.

I do with I had more than 1.5-2 hours before work to work on this thing. You don't realize how much time you waste pulling everything out, and then putting it all away. I also do my best to sweep everything up and keep the garage clean. It slows down progress but makes it much nicer to work on.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #137 – May 17, 2019, 07:48:26 AM

Why keep the quad shocks now that you have the MM control arms?

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #138 – May 17, 2019, 09:20:17 AM

Quote from: Aerocoupe – on May 17, 2019, 07:48:26 AM

Why keep the quad shocks now that you have the MM control arms?

This.

The big blubbery bushings in the stock lower arms were the cause of a lot of the problems that the quads were the "band-aid" for.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #139 – May 17, 2019, 05:11:19 PM

Quote from: Aerocoupe – on May 17, 2019, 07:48:26 AM

Why keep the quad shocks now that you have the MM control arms?

Quote from: Chuck W – on May 17, 2019, 09:20:17 AM

This.

The big blubbery bushings in the stock lower arms were the cause of a lot of the problems that the quads were the "band-aid" for.

There are a few reasons actually. The biggest one is that the upper control arm bushings are pretty much toast. The LCA bushings are obviously the biggest contributor to wheel hop, but the sloppy uppers will still cause some hop. The quad shocks also do help keep the rear centered to a small degree. They obviously don't help as much as a PHB setup, but every little bit helps. The quad shocks also don't hurt anything.

They'll hang out on the car until I toss a wide wheel/tire package on it, or I do a PHB/TA setup. When I get around to building a rear, I'll be cutting the quad shock brackets off and all that, so hopefully the PHB/TA setup happens before then.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #140 – May 18, 2019, 11:20:47 AM

BMR makes some good springs. Should hopefully give you a decent combo of ride and handling.

If it makes you feel any better I have the same MM rear lower arms and my car still has the quad shocks installed. The brackets are on the car and the quad shocks don't rub the tires so I just left them in place.

I'm interested to hear how the MM panhard bar works out for you. Mostly how much of an improvement you feel in day to day and spirited street driving. I haven't picked one up due to some house repairs and travel eating up my car fund money. Hopefully next year.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #141 – May 22, 2019, 06:37:18 PM

Update time!

Katy and I are both off of work this week so it's been a combination of playing video games, doing housework, and thrashing on the car. I've spend the majority of a few days hammering out work. Unfortunately, I haven't been too good with taking pictures.

Friday, I completed the rear brakes before work.

Saturday made some pretty good headway.

After a coat of paint. The used control arms looked...decent enough. Ironically enough, Granatelli knocked off Maximum Motorsports well enough that MM's bushings fit the arms like they were meant to be.

Pardon the blur. I took this picture because I want to put together a write up on doing the SN95 5-Lug setup on an 87-88 TC. I knew the SN95 inner was going to be longer, and at this point, I didn't realize this length difference was going to be a problem. I'll get back to this later.

Spindle and tie rods on. This was the first time I've done inner tie rod ends. Other than the set screw, they were much easier than I antited. I needed the pull out the heat to get the setscrew out.

Brakes on.

The following day was Katy's birthday. I used the day to take a nice break from working on the car and to get out. We went to a nice park about 10 minutes from the house and went to a nice dinner. I took a few pics at the park we went to.

The park is huge. It goes through deep woods with a lot of picnic tables and pavilions. There a nice playground and a bunch of other things to do, in addition to the water.

The following few days, I did a huge amount of work, but didn't take many pictures. I completed the brakes on the front. I replaced the parking brake cables, all of the brake hoses and installed poly sway bar bushings.. In my infinite wisdom, I ordered brake hoses for the 94-95 Mustang. They worked beautifully in the rear, but up front, they didn't with the PBR calipers. I had to make a run to AutoZone to get the correct hoses.

I also found part of why my brake pedal never felt great.

To get back to the topic of the tie rod ends; I got the car on the ground and saw that The inner was too long to keep the car from being toed out. I sat on the forum for a bit and found that I needed to use a Taurus outer tie rod end. I picked those up earlier today.

I did also complete another small project, but never took any pictures of it. I replaced the transmission cross member with one from a Mustang. To do this, I had to remove the mount adapter from the transmission, and use a mustang transmission mount. With the transmission cross member, I installed Competition Engineering's aluminum bushings. Now both the engine and transmission are solidly mounted. Surprisingly, the vibration didn't feel any worse compared to just the poly engine mounts.

So most importantly, the car is mobile under it's own power once again.

The brakes feel like trash and the tires rub really bad, but it feels like a completely different car.

Later tonight or tomorrow, I need to bleed the brakes and install the Taurus tie rod ends. I have an appointment for tires and an alignment for Friday morning. The car has positive camber at the moment. Dialing in a little bit of negative camber should clear up any of the rubbing.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #142 – May 22, 2019, 07:30:30 PM

Could you have just cut the inner tie rod down to the right length?

I ended up using the Fox Inner which allowed me to use Fox outers.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #143 – May 22, 2019, 10:50:36 PM

I very well could have just cut them. I like to try to use as many off-the-shelf items rather than cutting or modifying if I can help it. I intend on swapping to a Cobra rack at some point, and would hate to have to cut the inners. It's already bad enough going to the parts store and asking for a few parts for a Thunderbird, and then a Mustang...

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #144 – May 23, 2019, 02:24:56 AM

I have come to find that the Taurus outers have a different taper for the spindle. I cut an inch off of the inner and that seems to have done what I needed it to.

The big bummer is that my new China front calipers have basically locked up. I was thinking "how hard is it to screw up a caliper", but apparently it's pretty easy.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #145 – May 23, 2019, 07:20:49 AM

Mental note filed on the 94-5 rear hoses. I considered those when I plumbed mine but couldn't put my hands on a pair without paying for them, so I went with ol' reliable and built brackets.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #146 – May 24, 2019, 01:09:53 PM

The front control arms are the stock position ones correct? Not offset front or rear?

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #147 – May 25, 2019, 12:31:08 AM

Quote from: thunderjet302 – on May 24, 2019, 01:09:53 PM

The front control arms are the stock position ones correct? Not offset front or rear?

Yes. No offset on the control arms. They fit exactly as stock.

Story time.

Wednesday, I had the car together and drove it a little. I called a shop and they ordered me some tires and scheduled me in for Friday morning at 9:30am for tires and alignment. Unfortunately, the china casting calipers I purchased to save some money bit me in the ass. The right/front locked up and the left/front was binding up pretty bad. That night, I ordered a set of Duralast calipers from AutoZone,

Thursday, I picked the calipers up and Katy and I went to breakfast, and went to a farm that has been converted to a park and does a lot of 4H stuff. They had a bunch of farm animals and other stuff to wander around and check out. That evening, I decided to put the calipers on and get ready to get the car to the shop. I put the calipers on and had Katy helping me bleed the brakes. The left/front went smoothly. The right/front blew a seal and dumped fluid everywhere. I almost lost my mind. I checked the inventory of the nearby AutoZones and the other ones had a caliper. Keep in mind, I work nights and I went to bed "early" at 2am.

Friday morning at 6:30, I wake up and box up the defective caliper. We get to the AutoZone right as they opened. There were two employees there. One guy decided to hide in the back. The guy who was helping us had absolutely no ambition. He started the exchange, but needed a second approval to be able to do the exchange. We waited to a half hour. In the meantime, customers were coming in like crazy. At 8am, another employee comes in, clocks in and then helps us. That guy hiding in the back was never to be seen. Because of that jackass, I had to hustle. I slammed the caliper on and had Katy help me bleed the brakes. I got the car back together and busted out the door to make the appointment. The entire way, my tires were rubbing. Every bump, every dip, every time I hit the brakes or turned the wheels, they rubbed. The guy who worked on my car raised it up a little bit on the coil overs, put new tires on it, and got the alignment kinda how I wanted it.

The ride home was awesome. The car rides so much nicer than stock. The poly bushings in the tubular front arms combined with the coil overs added almost no NVH. The rear end doesn't wallow around. Bumps and pot holes are just a satisfying "thud". The car is so much more responsive and confident. It really is amazing.

As with every success, there is a setback. The new driver side window motor took a dump and now the window won't go up. The next best thing, the passenger window won't go down. I have a few days to get all of the little things sorted out luckily.

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #148 – May 26, 2019, 12:19:44 AM

Glad to hear it's now driving, and driving better. Does the car have subframe connectors yet? If not it should feel even more solid after those go in.

How's body roll and turn in with the new front suspension setup?

Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #149 – May 26, 2019, 06:55:41 AM

Looks great and those wheels compliment the car very well. What’s next on the “to do” list?