17x9 Cobra R's w/ 245/45/17 tires. It's close real close but no rubbing at all. I do have a UPR bump steer kit and MM cc plates also. I've put around 5-750 miles on it and have no complaints
Build Thread My C I P (continuous Improvement Program) Thread
- Thread starter Chuckman
- Start date
-
Sponsors (?)
so its been a while since i posted pics or gave a real mechanical update, so here goes.
thought i was having a fuel pressure issue, so swapped the 190lph walbro for a 255. didnt fix my fluctuating pressure gauge (should have ordered one with my latest summit order but forgot) but im sure this nasty strainer sock wasnt helping
after finding out the miss i was having was really a tfi problem and NOT fuel related, went to the track and ran a best of [email protected] with crappy spinning 60's. also happened to meet up with the guy who beat me in the efi race, so heres the #1 and #2 points leaders (that coyote is vmp supercharged and runs in the 10's).
in the staging lanes
i've been going over in my head on what to do about the traction issues, whether i just wanted to do shocks, shocks and springs, c/o's, etc.
for now, i decided to keep it simple and keep the b-springs and throw these on that came today
i've got a plan to correct the slop between the strange strut shaft and the mm bearing (strange turns their struts smaller than most, makes a little slop in the solid bearings). would have gone teamz for the c/c's (sized for the strange struts supposedly) but they only make em for the 90-93 shock towers, and the mm's are the best in the biz anyway.
the usual tuesday tnt had been pushed to tomorrow thanks to rain (yay more rain
), going to go to that and get a few more practice passes before i get the new stuff on.
thought i was having a fuel pressure issue, so swapped the 190lph walbro for a 255. didnt fix my fluctuating pressure gauge (should have ordered one with my latest summit order but forgot) but im sure this nasty strainer sock wasnt helping
after finding out the miss i was having was really a tfi problem and NOT fuel related, went to the track and ran a best of [email protected] with crappy spinning 60's. also happened to meet up with the guy who beat me in the efi race, so heres the #1 and #2 points leaders (that coyote is vmp supercharged and runs in the 10's).
in the staging lanes
i've been going over in my head on what to do about the traction issues, whether i just wanted to do shocks, shocks and springs, c/o's, etc.
for now, i decided to keep it simple and keep the b-springs and throw these on that came today
i've got a plan to correct the slop between the strange strut shaft and the mm bearing (strange turns their struts smaller than most, makes a little slop in the solid bearings). would have gone teamz for the c/c's (sized for the strange struts supposedly) but they only make em for the 90-93 shock towers, and the mm's are the best in the biz anyway.
the usual tuesday tnt had been pushed to tomorrow thanks to rain (yay more rain
), going to go to that and get a few more practice passes before i get the new stuff on.
Made to the track last night and hot-lapped the hell out of the car since there was almost no one else there except for about 20 mullet-mobiles.
New best 60' of 1.648 but most were 1.7/1.8
New best mph of 108.
New best et of 12.77.
None of those were on the same pass. could barely get a good clean pass where i didn't screw something up (burnouts not working, spinning/bogging on launch, missed shifts, short shifts,etc.)
Trans still doesn't want to powershift 2nd, but will do 3 and 4 just fine, think thats something to do with the linkage under the middle inspection cover.
Only way i could consistantly get a decent 2nd gear burnout was to bounce off the rev limiter, which i think might have hurt something on the last pass cause it was way low on power and started trying to stall when stopping on the way home. I'll be running a compression check and running codes and a balance test while I'm putting the new shocks in (assuming I can find the time since i just volunteered to work the weekend )
New best 60' of 1.648 but most were 1.7/1.8
New best mph of 108.
New best et of 12.77.
None of those were on the same pass. could barely get a good clean pass where i didn't screw something up (burnouts not working, spinning/bogging on launch, missed shifts, short shifts,etc.)
Trans still doesn't want to powershift 2nd, but will do 3 and 4 just fine, think thats something to do with the linkage under the middle inspection cover.
Only way i could consistantly get a decent 2nd gear burnout was to bounce off the rev limiter, which i think might have hurt something on the last pass cause it was way low on power and started trying to stall when stopping on the way home. I'll be running a compression check and running codes and a balance test while I'm putting the new shocks in (assuming I can find the time since i just volunteered to work the weekend
)
tonights progress:
what i started with, you can see on the back spat where the e.t. street rubs on right turns at anything over about 10mph, has been intermittent.
the offending area marked for cutting out with a dremel. which, btw, my dremel (actually, like most of my tools, was my dads, it's probably not much younger than i am) decided to crap out halfway thru cutting and had to make a run to get a new one.
finally some clearance.
for whatever reason my axle is centered in the wheel arch. whether its the mm arms, it sitting lower, or a result of the crappy bodyshop it went to after i wrecked it years ago, i dunno. all i know is this is i kept hearing it randomly scrub on somthing, and thats the only place i saw that had any evidence of contact. the rest of the wheel house looks ok, though i did go around with a bfh and knock in some of the lip on the inner well. also took out the upper quad-shock mount while i was there.
did the same surgery on the other side, the rub patch was much smaller here, but there was one. once the wheels back on, you cant even tell anything happened in there.
passenger side all buttoned up, done for the night:
tomorrow after work i'll start my motor checks, then get started on the front struts and c/c's. fun ford is two weekends away, want to try to run true street on friday night, then efi class is early saturday. should be interesting.
what i started with, you can see on the back spat where the e.t. street rubs on right turns at anything over about 10mph, has been intermittent.
the offending area marked for cutting out with a dremel. which, btw, my dremel (actually, like most of my tools, was my dads, it's probably not much younger than i am) decided to crap out halfway thru cutting and had to make a run to get a new one.
finally some clearance.
for whatever reason my axle is centered in the wheel arch. whether its the mm arms, it sitting lower, or a result of the crappy bodyshop it went to after i wrecked it years ago, i dunno. all i know is this is i kept hearing it randomly scrub on somthing, and thats the only place i saw that had any evidence of contact. the rest of the wheel house looks ok, though i did go around with a bfh and knock in some of the lip on the inner well. also took out the upper quad-shock mount while i was there.
did the same surgery on the other side, the rub patch was much smaller here, but there was one. once the wheels back on, you cant even tell anything happened in there.
passenger side all buttoned up, done for the night:
tomorrow after work i'll start my motor checks, then get started on the front struts and c/c's. fun ford is two weekends away, want to try to run true street on friday night, then efi class is early saturday. should be interesting.
so the weekends progress:
ran a (cold) compression test, got the following (in order from 1-8)
150
160
170
165
145
160
165
145
the 140ish ones dont really bother me too much considering the shortblock came out of the junkyard (i also only cranked to a 4 count on #5, and did an 8 count on the others), not within the 10% i really would want, but within 15% on a cold motor should be fine i think.
ran codes, and the only ones i got are for the thermactor missing (which it is). at this point assuming that my low-power situation was caused by either 1) computer going stupid from bouncing off the limiter too much, or 2) too low of a fuel level to keep the pump submerged. leaning more towards option 1.
pulled the left front to start the strut swap, and found this contact between the tire and the hidden harness. nothing a little wire, solder, heatshrink, convoluted tube, and a few extra zip ties couldnt fix
i said i had a plan to make the mm caster plates play nice with the undersized
strange strut shafts, and here it is: a .006" shim (actually a cheaper feeler gauge cut in half) inside the spherical bearing.
the spacer arrangement i'm using to try to regain some of the droop travel the mm stuff trades for bump travel (all but 1 short spacer per side under the bearing plate). even doing this i still lost about 1/8-1/4" of droop over the tockicos.
apparently if you want a show car and dont take the c/c's off when you paint the bay, then the mm plates are not for you, cause you can see right under em and see how nasty the strut towers can be (moot point if, like me, you're looking more for performance than style)
engine bay all buttoned up again
when i put my o/r h-pipe back on a couple weeks agao i also took off the front swaybar (chassis-side bushings were past shot anyway). on the test drive last night to fuel up (gas lights been on since halfway home wednesday) the front feels like it lefts much easier now than with the tociko's, and i have the adjustment in the middle.
tomorrow it heads to the alignment rack, and wednesday is tnt and i'll play around with the shock settings. not expecting stellar et's cause it's supposed to be almost 100 by then, but some better more consistent 60's might just happen.
oh, and @Noobz i tried uploading pics the same way i usually do, but it kept giving an error with no explanation of what that error was? dunno if the file was just too big, if theres a server-side issue, or if my browers is f'ed (firefox) but its really annoying to have to use photobucket all of a sudden when just uploading here has been working fine for so long.
ran a (cold) compression test, got the following (in order from 1-8)
150
160
170
165
145
160
165
145
the 140ish ones dont really bother me too much considering the shortblock came out of the junkyard (i also only cranked to a 4 count on #5, and did an 8 count on the others), not within the 10% i really would want, but within 15% on a cold motor should be fine i think.
ran codes, and the only ones i got are for the thermactor missing (which it is). at this point assuming that my low-power situation was caused by either 1) computer going stupid from bouncing off the limiter too much, or 2) too low of a fuel level to keep the pump submerged. leaning more towards option 1.
pulled the left front to start the strut swap, and found this contact between the tire and the hidden harness. nothing a little wire, solder, heatshrink, convoluted tube, and a few extra zip ties couldnt fix
i said i had a plan to make the mm caster plates play nice with the undersized
strange strut shafts, and here it is: a .006" shim (actually a cheaper feeler gauge cut in half) inside the spherical bearing.
the spacer arrangement i'm using to try to regain some of the droop travel the mm stuff trades for bump travel (all but 1 short spacer per side under the bearing plate). even doing this i still lost about 1/8-1/4" of droop over the tockicos.
apparently if you want a show car and dont take the c/c's off when you paint the bay, then the mm plates are not for you, cause you can see right under em and see how nasty the strut towers can be (moot point if, like me, you're looking more for performance than style)
engine bay all buttoned up again
when i put my o/r h-pipe back on a couple weeks agao i also took off the front swaybar (chassis-side bushings were past shot anyway). on the test drive last night to fuel up (gas lights been on since halfway home wednesday) the front feels like it lefts much easier now than with the tociko's, and i have the adjustment in the middle.
tomorrow it heads to the alignment rack, and wednesday is tnt and i'll play around with the shock settings. not expecting stellar et's cause it's supposed to be almost 100 by then, but some better more consistent 60's might just happen.
oh, and @Noobz i tried uploading pics the same way i usually do, but it kept giving an error with no explanation of what that error was? dunno if the file was just too big, if theres a server-side issue, or if my browers is f'ed (firefox) but its really annoying to have to use photobucket all of a sudden when just uploading here has been working fine for so long.
I've got mine set in the middle also. They seem to give a descent ride and I can feel mine trying to work also. I still have my swaybar on for now. I was thinking of trying it at full loose and adjusting from there when I go to the track. I'm having a compression check on mine also and should have results this week. Good luck at the track I'm curious to see how the struts work for you.
If it happens again, try and grab a screen shot for me or something.
Car is looking great! What brand are those CC plates that they have no filler in that space between it and the shock tower?
Oh and... My account name is @Noobz347. I own the other one too but that's just so nobody uses it. I use that account mostly as a punching bag when something needs to be tested.
Last edited:
When the option came up to pick which name,i hit the "347" one and that one just showed up. I assumed it just shortented it since everyone just calls you that anyway 
Hope your motor turns out healthy, i know how much of a bummer it is to finally get something finished just to have it blow up in your face,wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Thanks. So far so good. Everything is checking out. Decided to completely pull the motor and go through it. We will see lol.
track results to keep the thread alive.
temps were high 80's, track prep sucked (they actually shut it down for about a 1/2 hour or so to re-do the vht, not counting all the broken crap)
started with shocks and struts on the 5th notch for the first three passes. first pass launched at 4500, shift light at 5750, the next two were 5000/5900
60' 1/8 1/8mph 1000' 1/4 1/4mph
1.835 8.344 84.13 10.868 12.980 109.03
1.761 8.263 84.26 10.785 12.916 106.15
1.739 8.253 84.33 10.744 12.907 105.83
next pass put the rears at 1, lauched at 3500 (lots-o-bog) with the same shift light.
1.979 8.692 83.31 11.233 13.37 106.08
next two passes had front and rear at 1 (was stuck in the lanes for an hour, got bored), 4500/5900 (slight bog, lots of lift) and 6000/5750 (violent lift) launch/shifts
1.717 8.179 85.01 10.777 12.963 103.88 (4th skipped a beat, dont know why cause i nailed a powershift, but you can see it by the 1000' mark)
1.729 8.211 85.01 10.722 12.841 106.78
really need to find a buddy to tag along with a video camera so i can see where i need to adjust things, going to talk to one of the guys at work to see if he can get his duster together by friday and "pit crew" each other.
next weekend is fun ford, with tnt and true street friday night, and efi, pro, super pro, and a couple others saturday (assuming anyone shows up, for whatever reason gateway never really advertises ffw). then sunday is the annual fords unlimited show. going to be a hectic weekend.
temps were high 80's, track prep sucked (they actually shut it down for about a 1/2 hour or so to re-do the vht, not counting all the broken crap)
started with shocks and struts on the 5th notch for the first three passes. first pass launched at 4500, shift light at 5750, the next two were 5000/5900
60' 1/8 1/8mph 1000' 1/4 1/4mph
1.835 8.344 84.13 10.868 12.980 109.03
1.761 8.263 84.26 10.785 12.916 106.15
1.739 8.253 84.33 10.744 12.907 105.83
next pass put the rears at 1, lauched at 3500 (lots-o-bog) with the same shift light.
1.979 8.692 83.31 11.233 13.37 106.08
next two passes had front and rear at 1 (was stuck in the lanes for an hour, got bored), 4500/5900 (slight bog, lots of lift) and 6000/5750 (violent lift) launch/shifts
1.717 8.179 85.01 10.777 12.963 103.88 (4th skipped a beat, dont know why cause i nailed a powershift, but you can see it by the 1000' mark)
1.729 8.211 85.01 10.722 12.841 106.78
really need to find a buddy to tag along with a video camera so i can see where i need to adjust things, going to talk to one of the guys at work to see if he can get his duster together by friday and "pit crew" each other.
next weekend is fun ford, with tnt and true street friday night, and efi, pro, super pro, and a couple others saturday (assuming anyone shows up, for whatever reason gateway never really advertises ffw). then sunday is the annual fords unlimited show. going to be a hectic weekend.
Just an FYI I've read that you want to keep the rear shocks set at the "street" setting. Adjust your fronts first before messing with the rear. I have no experience with this yet personally. Just what I have read and been told by a buddy.
i'll try that next time out, had to at least see what those settings actually DID, if it wasn't for everyone that kept breaking stuff i would have tried it, but by the time i got that last pass it was 9:30.
i do gotta say, after reading fastdrivers thread, im a bit depressed as he's running these times on a street tire. granted, he's probably not having to fight a "full weight" driver (i really need to loose about 100lbs).
i do gotta say, after reading fastdrivers thread, im a bit depressed as he's running these times on a street tire. granted, he's probably not having to fight a "full weight" driver (i really need to loose about 100lbs).
Dont be to depressed lol. While I am impressed with his results you have to remember he's at a different track,has a lighter vehicle,etc etc. also I've seen some cars that just work better than others of equal comparison. It is rather amazing he's cutting those 60's on street tires. I never could in the cars I've raced @ 2 different tracks(Byron and Union Grove). I've been under 2.0 but only inconsistently and only by a tenth(with street tires). I am slightly surprised you're not a little bit quicker(I expected a possible 1.6 range 60 and a 12.50-.60 et) which you still are probably capable of given good weather/track/more trial and error. At least it looks like your very darn consistent 
Also I'm to lazy to look back...but what is your rear suspension setup again? Did you ever plot your rear geometry? Set your pinion angle etc? I've read a little bit about this but haven't ever done it myself. Seems there can be some hidden magic back there.
rear suspension is:
mm extreme duty lowers (solids on both ends)
stock uppers
b-spings with no iso's
strange single adjustables
no quads (it's never hopped before)
other than the extension setting on the shock, nothing is adjustable, so plotting it seems a bit pointless. i DO know that this car isnt straight, both front and rear axles are offset to the passenger side a touch, probably because of the crappy body shop i went to when i wrecked it.
mm extreme duty lowers (solids on both ends)
stock uppers
b-spings with no iso's
strange single adjustables
no quads (it's never hopped before)
other than the extension setting on the shock, nothing is adjustable, so plotting it seems a bit pointless. i DO know that this car isnt straight, both front and rear axles are offset to the passenger side a touch, probably because of the crappy body shop i went to when i wrecked it.
so even with all the clearancing and cutting i did, was still getting a little rub in the right rear. finally decided to investigate this afternoon.
you can see a little rubber on the inner fender here
my weapons of choice (yes, that bfh is brand new, my old one was again my dad's and the head started sliding off at regular intervals). the contour gauge is to make sure the metal is actually moving since the hatch floor meets the well at a 90 right where the "hump" is.
this is after resetting the gauge a second time, just barely moving, maybe an 1/8" or so total from where it started
heres why the gauge was important, with all the undercoat on this car its hard to visually see if it's working or just knocking coating off
for good measure, also decided to cut this last bit off the rear spat
also swapped out my dried out fuel pressure gauge, im guessing the lack of liquid here is why it was bouncing all over the place. cost $12 6 years ago, not all that suprised.
the one i picked up at a local speed shop though......$40 after tax. this thing better last longer than the car for that money.
tomorrow is another tnt session, and the weather looks friggin awesome for it. i havent touched motor tuning in weeks, so will be playing around with that now that i finally had a night with clean passes (other than launching).
i MAY have a line on some skinnies with spacers to clear the cobra brakes, hopefully ill know by friday if it's going to pan out.
you can see a little rubber on the inner fender here
my weapons of choice (yes, that bfh is brand new, my old one was again my dad's and the head started sliding off at regular intervals). the contour gauge is to make sure the metal is actually moving since the hatch floor meets the well at a 90 right where the "hump" is.
this is after resetting the gauge a second time, just barely moving, maybe an 1/8" or so total from where it started
heres why the gauge was important, with all the undercoat on this car its hard to visually see if it's working or just knocking coating off
for good measure, also decided to cut this last bit off the rear spat
also swapped out my dried out fuel pressure gauge, im guessing the lack of liquid here is why it was bouncing all over the place. cost $12 6 years ago, not all that suprised.
the one i picked up at a local speed shop though......$40 after tax. this thing better last longer than the car for that money.
tomorrow is another tnt session, and the weather looks friggin awesome for it. i havent touched motor tuning in weeks, so will be playing around with that now that i finally had a night with clean passes (other than launching).
i MAY have a line on some skinnies with spacers to clear the cobra brakes, hopefully ill know by friday if it's going to pan out.
mikestang63
SN Certified Technician
so even with all the clearancing and cutting i did, was still getting a little rub in the right rear. finally decided to investigate this afternoon.
you can see a little rubber on the inner fender here
my weapons of choice (yes, that bfh is brand new, my old one was again my dad's and the head started sliding off at regular intervals). the contour gauge is to make sure the metal is actually moving since the hatch floor meets the well at a 90 right where the "hump" is.
this is after resetting the gauge a second time, just barely moving, maybe an 1/8" or so total from where it started
heres why the gauge was important, with all the undercoat on this car its hard to visually see if it's working or just knocking coating off
for good measure, also decided to cut this last bit off the rear spat
also swapped out my dried out fuel pressure gauge, im guessing the lack of liquid here is why it was bouncing all over the place. cost $12 6 years ago, not all that suprised.
the one i picked up at a local speed shop though......$40 after tax. this thing better last longer than the car for that money.
tomorrow is another tnt session, and the weather looks friggin awesome for it. i havent touched motor tuning in weeks, so will be playing around with that now that i finally had a night with clean passes (other than launching).
i MAY have a line on some skinnies with spacers to clear the cobra brakes, hopefully ill know by friday if it's going to pan out.
Really not trying to tell you what to do, but that FP gauge next to that + alternator wire and post scares the Sh!t out of me.
