[Donovan]

It's been 9 years since I posted an update but I have many. I have continued work in the car in a variety of areas both in terms of maintenance and upgrades. Here is the list of updates:

Suspension
Added a MM X-Member, A-Arms and coil over kit
Updated to a 2003 Cobra steering rack
Upgraded to 1996 cobra spindles and drilled tie rod mounts
Upgraded to Cobra rear brake kit (and replaced seals and calipers)
Upgraded to powder coated PowerStop rear calipers.
New pads/rotors front and rear.
Upgraded to the Cobra Master Cylinder & lines (for less volume and better pedal feel
Replaced leaking pinon seal.
Replated both rear Saleen wheels. They started leaking at the bead. I'm probably going to need to get new wheels pretty soon.
Switched over to 295/35/18R & 255/40/18F Michelin Pilot Sport tires - tires were getting old

Fuel System
Completely switched over from -10 /-6 Socketless to a -10 / -8 PTFE lines - Sockless were smelling and getting crusty
Installed a Glenns performance Sumped tank and VDO sender

Engine
Welded upper intake with additional aluminum support
Fox Lake ported and welded GT 40 lower
Fox Lake Stage 2 CNC TFS TW heads along with new valves, valve springs to support hp level
Swapped in new high performance ford lifters
Replaced Dorman Cam sensor with actual Ford brand Cam sensor
Recoated hotside and added a vband midway on downpipe
Modified crossover pipe to work with motor in rearward position
Shortened cold side discharge pipe to get better ground clearance
Switched to solid motor mounts
Rerouted and got all new plug wires. The heat ate them
Added additional heat shielding in may areas
Filled and painted entire engine bay when motor was out
Re-wrapped entire hot size in Lava and ditched the fiberglass wrapp
Switched to Lava turbo heat shield
Replaced AC drier
Replaced Fan motor and melted connector - this was pretty crazy. If you have a 94-95 check this connector!
Installed a new Stewart water pump. The old one was weeping.
Upgraded to 1996 cobra AC condensor to improve cooling and AC perf.
Upgraded to a new high torque starter
Upgraded to a Group 34 Optima battery (twice).
Switched to a 3 PSI boost spring and AEM boost controller and then back to the 9 PSI spring that I originally had installed - low psi springs don't work well I found
Added Catalytic convertor heat shield to reduce undercar heat

Electrical
Added back up camera
Installed latest double din Apple Carplay flagship Pioneer flat screen head unit
Converted fiberglass sub box from ported to sealed
Carpeted sub box and finished installation
Switched from P3 subwoofers to DVC power series subs
Added temperature controlled push/pull fans to cool amps with 3d printed fan mounts
Replaced clutch sensor & starter relay - Had some strange hot non starts

Body
Added Carbon fiber fan shroud
Upgraded to the FR500 wheel with red stripe
Replaced front bumper core - Old one looked cheap and was cracked in a few places

I'll follow up with pictures as time permits.

 

[Top Heavy]

Grabbing popcorn……… REALLY looking forward to updates and pics

 

[Donovan]

Here are some pictures covering the updates:

Stripped block after it was pulled about 3 years ago. Nothing was broken, but she needed freshening and a deep clean. Transmission fluid and a brillow pad cleaned up the pistons and deck surfaces quite well.

I ended up doing quite a bit of cleanup of the frame rail when the motor was out.

I reused the bilsteins with MM's springs and front end kit.

Fox Lake welded and ported my GT40 lower straitening the 1 and 5 runners.

The heads recieved all new valves and springs and a stage 2 port. The springs had weak spring pressure according to Ron.

During a dyno run some powersteering fluid dropped on the driver side header. In addition i added a new v-band in the downpipe for easier maintenance.I took the opportunity to recoat the headers and downpipe.

The openness of the MM X-Over was a must for my setup. I am hoping it helps cooling as well. I have actually been able to work on plugs from underneath now which is helpful with such limited space on the passenger side. I removed / patched a steel tube that I had installed in the oil pan for the old clutch cable and had the pan powder coated when it was out.

This is an older pic. The new PTFE fuel line routing is similar, but the OD is smaller. I also switched from a -6/-10 combo to a -8 -10 combo in the event that i want to switch away from the walbro pumps.

I switched over to PTP turbo blanket and lava wrap. This stuff is priced similar to the cool tech fiberglass and is just more resilient and easier to work with. I will never go back to fiberglass wrap now!

I dropped a full set of rotors, pads as well as switched over to Motul brake fluid in the clutch and brake system.

Here you can see the rough placement of the additional V-Band. I would highly recommend this.

I got sick of not having blue tooth audio so i did a head unit upgrade and probably saved 3 lbs worth of modules etc.

Here you can see the pump mounts on the glens performance tank and fuel pump kit. This tank is a nice piece, but took forever to get.

At this point she was running and looking good. You can see that the Upper Intake has some additional material compared to the earlier pics. The welds on the upper started to crack from flexing so I had Brian over at Brads custom auto fix it up and add some material. It looks like it came that way from Hogan. I am starting to see that there are some limitations to sheet metal uppers!

 

[Donovan]

When i moved the engine back in the MM X-member and switched to the MM sway bar mounts I needed to add some tubing to the cross over for clearance purposes. It turned out pretty well. I ended up getting a better fit. Without this change the cross over contacted the sway bar. I also shortened the turbo cold side discharge tube as well as beaded it better while it was apart.

Here you can see the PTP WG blanket as well as the MAC boost control. The boost reference lines almost cut through the cold pipe so I still have some work to do to reinforce the aluminum.

Mostly back together here. I switched over to a carbon fiber fan shroud from special-carbonfiber.com which looks great, but doesn't fit perfectly.

Here you can see the new head unit in the 2001+ dash bezel.

This is a Grant steering wheel. Its not a FR500 wheel, but is quite nice.

 

[Donovan]

One of the things that I changed when I had the spindles out was a switch to 96+ spingles. Here you can see the difference between the 94-95 and 96+ spindles. They widen the front track by at least .5 inch.

The 96+ spindle is on the left.

Again 96 spindle is on the left.

Here you can see the drilled 96 spindle which has optimal akerman and bumpsteer geometry compared to the 94-95 spindle when using the MM Xmember.

In progress engine shot. You can see my "custom" stainless lower water tube that I welded up with my wire feed. Not pretty but works.

I was able to clean up the wiring quite a bit and solder everything. I ran two USB cables to under the passenger seat for head unit firmware updates and wired apple carplay. The latest pioneer however has wireless carplay so its not required.

Still running the pioneer amps.

The Z3 -> NEX8600 upgrade is a big one. Bigger screen and blue tooth support. I also installed a backup camera.

I switch to the power series subs and reglassed the speaker box. I realized the porting on my enclosure was not good and I had the right volume for these woofers in a sealed configuration. It sounds MUCH better.

I had some amp heating/shutdown issues so I 3d printed some small fan mounts and installed a term controller. These fans are in a push pull configuration. I havent tested high load yet, but I am sure it will help.

I replaced the fuel rail lines in addition to the feed and supply lines. You can see the condition of the EPDM was not good after about 10 years of heat etc.

Another view of the -8 rail feed lines.

 

[Top Heavy]

That is pure engine porn.

Looking forward to some running updates, should strike fear into asphalt everywhere!!!!

 

[Donovan]

Well I'm back at it again. I have made a lot of progress getting it back running and even had it out and about for a day. It runs strong in general and motorwise it's all good!

One big issue that I have had has been related to the clutch. The engine is running very strong, and the clutch was slipping badly in 3rd. Accordingly I immediately yanked the transmission out and reviewed the condition of the clutch, flywheel and surfaces. As you can see here its not looking good and should have never gone back in the car:

A quick check of the preload on the McLeod TOB found a .100 of preload on the clutch springs so I have machined down the transmission case a bit more to get roughly .200 of clearance for the TOB to clutch fingers. The McLeod 1400 series bearings are on a adjustment screw. Each turn on the adjustment screw equates to .060". I believe I have around 3.5 additional turns available now but will need to test this a bit more once the flywheel and clutch assembly arrives back from McLeod.

The clutch was sent back to McLeod for a rebuild and I will be upgrading to the RXT 1200 clutch which has slightly more holding pressure.

I have read a lot of threads on the pro's and con's of the McLeod twin disc clutches. What I have learned that is worth sharing is 1) triple check the clearance on the TOB. The fingers extend over time as the clutch plates wear. You need .100 of clearance otherwise you will end up preloading the spring and you will have problems. 2) Don't send your car to a dyno like I did with a fresh clutch. It will not end well for your clutch! Do yourself a favor and break the clutch in. Watch the McLeod videos on youtube even, they cover this in detail! I am going to street drive this clutch for a while before I do anything more spirited with this thing to ensure even wear and heat distribution.

While the car has been apart I also made a couple other changes. I purchased a rear seat delete kit from American Muscle which worked out quite well. I cut a couple square holes for the lower belt clips so that I could continue to attach the speedster cover I have when the top is down using the factory attachment points.

I also decided to widen the rear track a bit to match the 96+ spindles and space out the rear wheels a bit as well as upgrade the wheel studs to ARP. The factory and cheap aftermarket studs are kind of scary cheap and I am thinking it's better safe than sorry.

Also, You don't hear much on this but ARP sells 1994-2004 Mustang specific studs that don't require drilling for the front hubs. They cost more but make it easy. I went this route.

I procured a hub centric 3/4" MM spacer. I am not sure if its too thick yet. I may need to be less aggressive. I wont know until she is back on the ground soon!

It's also worth mentioning that I needed to pull the axles to get this done due to the ABS reluctor wheels. I had found that a local shop had welded the reluctor ring on so I had to remove those welds then R&I the studs and then reweld the reluctor rings on. It was a good excuse to change the diff fluid, but not a quick task.

One other thing you will notice here is an odd wear pattern on the rotors. For some reason the GT calipers on cobra brackets with the axles that I have caused a fairly significant clearance issue with the caliper on both of the outside wheels. I was able to fix this with washers to space out the calipers, but I have questioned whether this was related to the length of the axles or the lack of offset of the Cobra rear brake conversion kit.

I had a couple other small issues that needed fixing as well. One minor issue was a turn signal relay that I needed to convert to a LED friendly setup. I used a updated relay from Diode Dynamics which was plug and play. Overall I am expecting to be back on the road soon once the clutch shows up....However I ordered a MM Panhard bar, Torque Arm, Extreme lower control arms and coilover springs and shocks for the rear so that should be arriving in April. Lots of suspension stuff to come soon!

 

[Donovan]

Brian talks about a factory Ford/Sterling truck turbo air inlet out there that will fit on a T76 and with little mods will clear. Supposedly it will put the air filter on a 4" pipe and give you unlimited options for filter location and size.

I tried to email him a few months back but I never heard from him. I don't have the time to chat with him on the phone.

If you can find a source on the adapter let me know i would be down for one.

Keith on the topic of intakes you probably are onto the next build, but I seem to have found one of these:

FORD AIR CLEANER INTAKE TUBE PIPE HOSE E6HZ-9B613-A (CS633 DS510B1) | eBay

I searched for 9B613-A and that seemed to do it!

I am considering another option as well: Amazon.com: Spectre Performance 9781 Black 4" 90 Degree Boot : Automotive . I need to do more research on this. Unfortunately I will need to do some additional plumbing work in the fender to make something like this work.

 

[kbscobravert]

Holy cow! Talk about from the past.

Glad to see you back at it.

I'm on another myself

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

[Leadsled Coupe]

Awesome work Donovan. Amazing.

I have those ARP wheel studs on my ‘93 Coupe as well. Much safer indeed.

 

[kbscobravert]

Keith on the topic of intakes you probably are onto the next build, but I seem to have found one of these:

FORD AIR CLEANER INTAKE TUBE PIPE HOSE E6HZ-9B613-A (CS633 DS510B1) | eBay

I searched for 9B613-A and that seemed to do it!

View attachment 1084231

I am considering another option as well: Amazon.com: Spectre Performance 9781 Black 4" 90 Degree Boot : Automotive . I need to do more research on this. Unfortunately I will need to do some additional plumbing work in the fender to make something like this work.

Unfortunately no intake boots for these guys

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

[Donovan]

Keith your new ride is looking ridiculous!!! Do you have a build thread on the corral still?

 

[Donovan]

I have a few updates. After driving the car a bit I realized it was time to plumb in the wastegate. It was pretty loud (under load) and was smelly so it needed to be brought into the main exhaust. Previously with the stock crossmember this was not possible, but with the MM crossmember there was a ton of space. I ended up up ordering a tial 46MM flange, a 1.75" flex coupling and one 1.75" v-band flange and some mandrel bent 16 gauge tubing and I got to work.

I have also been working a lot on tuning. After 10 years of trying to get the series 1 working with my 36-1 crank/cam sensor I have decided its time to update to the infinity 508. More on that soon. I have a new harness planned as well as some additional new sensors, actual sequential coil setup as well as a couple other cool things.

 

[Leadsled Coupe]

It looks amazing. Looking forward to learning about sequential coils And “other cool things”.

 

[Donovan]

Small teaser of what is to come....

I have been working with Reversion Raceworks on adapting the BTI 7" display to the Mustang platform. They make some very cool products!

 

[Leadsled Coupe]

Looks great. One small thing to bring up…. Convertible is spelled with an “i”. You had a typo.

 

[Donovan]

Looks great. One small thing to bring up…. Convertible is spelled with an “i”. You had a typo.

Fixed. ty.

 

[Donovan]

I realized that I skipped over some key work on the interior, exhaust and suspension so I wanted to get back to those pics.
I decided that the carpet was old. I went with a new carpet from ACC. I upgraded to the mass backing. Interestingly enough the factory 94 carpet didnt have the mass backing. I have noticed a huge sound and heat reduction with the new carpet.

Here you can see on the factory carpet that there is no mass back. There is felt in many places though.

I dropped new floormats in after the carpet to wrap things up. It turned out very well.

On the suspension front I was able to install the torque arm, panhard, MM lowers and coilovers. The exhaust around the panhard bar is nothing short of a nightmare. Surprisingly the TA cover fit ok. I used all of the shims provided by MM for the panhard bar. I spent quite a bit of time getting the alignment right on the bracket.

I had to build extensions for the panhard mount to connect to the GW subframe connectors which I made from 3/8" mild steel. I would recommend using the MM subframes for anyone who is starting from scratch to avoid this step.

Setting the pinion angle was pretty easy. You don't realize how much slop there is in the factory 3 link until you start looking at these angles.

I switched over to V-band clamps everywhere and got rid of the OEM socket style exhaust couplings. I also rebuilt my Y pipe with stainless tubing and extended the joints rearward. One interesting thing about the Borla kit that I had was that the forward mounting points were actually 2.25". I cut off the 2.25" sections and welded the vband directly to the 2.5" section to maximize flow.

Here you can see the nightmare exhaust routing on the passenger side. I ended up extending the section above the axle and adding in an additional v-band to facilitate assembly without removing the panhard bar. I will probably need to make future adjustments here. The exhaust pipe exit is still not perfectly aligned.