Vert owners, Do you have cowl shake????

[Voice of Reason]

I am an expert on cowl shake. The mustangs are better than the maros hands down. I have zero cowl and have the 25# weight, subframes and NO strut tower brace..

If by maros you mean f-bodys I have to disagree. I owned a 01 TA vert that I had subframes installed on and it was quite a bit stiffer than my Mustang. I would go as far as saying that a 94-04 Mustang vert with subframes feels about as tight as a f-body with no subframes.

Even with my MM subframes installed I get some shake going over large pot holes or groves in the road, but it's still worlds better than with no subframes. It's the tradeoff we all take to have the wind in our hair.

I rented a 05 Mustang vert just to see how improved things were and I was impressed. Completely stock it almost feels as good as a 94-04 coupe. So if you want a Mustang vert with no shake you're going to need to upgrade to a new one.

 

[droptopford 5 0]

If by maros you mean f-bodys I have to disagree. I owned a 01 TA vert that I had subframes installed on and it was quite a bit stiffer than my Mustang. I would go as far as saying that a 94-04 Mustang vert with subframes feels about as tight as a f-body with no subframes.

Even with my MM subframes installed I get some shake going over large pot holes or groves in the road, but it's still worlds better than with no subframes. It's the tradeoff we all take to have the wind in our hair.

I rented a 05 Mustang vert just to see how improved things were and I was impressed. Completely stock it almost feels as good as a 94-04 coupe. So if you want a Mustang vert with no shake you're going to need to upgrade to a new one.

just to point out... that car was an 01 and our cars are more than double the age of the 01... asssuming you are using reference to driving the car this year, otherwise it is even more of a time difference... i think he meant older f bodies such as the 80's-90's which i can vouch are really "loose" bodies and frames... even my buddy's 96 bird shakes as bad if not worse than my 94 and he has half the miles... just personal experience of my own.

 

[Adam95GT]

mine does shake a little but didnt b4 i lowered it... the stiffer springs made it a little worse... i just hate when i go over big bumps and the top acts like a drum skin and makes your ears n head feel all funky and ****... you vert guys know what i mean??? LOL but non mine doesent rattle or make any crazy noises 206k and going strong

 

[Killercanary]

Its been too long since I have driven mine to say for sure, but I never noticed any excessive cowl shake other than when I'd go over RR tracks as mentioned above.

I yanked my 25lb weight YEARS ago and I noticed absolutely no change in cowl shake.

I run full length Global West subframe connectors and they helped a lot in stiffening up the car.

 

[juiced_94gt]

I will put the x-brace back on this weekend and see if i can find a #25 weight also if needed because the owner before me pulled it off, i also bought a aftermarket crossbar so we'll see if it tightens up, makes sense because when i brake sometimes i get some kind of creek/pop noise and have never figured it out, maybe it's the loose crossbar as mentioned above. Thanks guy's, i'll kepp you posted.

 

[BlackVert]

+1 on the "it's been too long since i've driven it" response.

 

[Stanger007]

when i brake sometimes i get some kind of creek/pop noise and have never figured it out, maybe it's the loose crossbar as mentioned above.

I'll get that picture up of the crossbar for you and drakesdad as soon as it quits raining here.

Wes

 

[Pokageek]

If by maros you mean f-bodys I have to disagree. I owned a 01 TA vert ...e.

Ok, well my dad has a 94 (probably a few changes beetween that and an 01. I was comparing year for year. Considering we have 94-95 cars, I was using that as a equal comparison. By the same token, I wouldn't compare a 94 to an 87, lol.

"just to point out... that car was an 01 and our cars are more than double the age of the 01... asssuming you are using reference to driving the car this year, otherwise it is even more of a time difference... i think he meant older f bodies such as the 80's-90's which i can vouch are really "loose" bodies and frames... even my buddy's 96 bird shakes as bad if not worse than my 94 and he has half the miles... just personal experience of my own."

Spot on man. My dads 94 z28 vert was like drivin a bowl full of jello lol.

 

[Pokageek]

Its been too long since I have driven mine to say for sure, but I never noticed any excessive cowl shake other than when I'd go over RR tracks as mentioned above.

I yanked my 25lb weight YEARS ago and I noticed absolutely no change in cowl shake.

I run full length Global West subframe connectors and they helped a lot in stiffening up the car.

My guess this is due to your superior subframes. I have kenny browns cross type and they are welded. Good but not the same as yours. Again, I am not 18 anymore so I notice the cowl more than whe nI was in college me thinks. That weight is there for a reason.

 

[Killercanary]

That weight is there for a reason.

If it was, then what was done to the 96-up 'verts that allowed them to not have the weight?

NVH standards that the OEM guys use are a LOT higher than what most of us need. Also, I believe that I had removed the weight before the subframes went on... but I'm not 100% sure as its been at least 6yrs since I yanked the weight.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Ok, well my dad has a 94 (probably a few changes beetween that and an 01. I was comparing year for year. Considering we have 94-95 cars, I was using that as a equal comparison. By the same token, I wouldn't compare a 94 to an 87, lol.

"just to point out... that car was an 01 and our cars are more than double the age of the 01... asssuming you are using reference to driving the car this year, otherwise it is even more of a time difference... i think he meant older f bodies such as the 80's-90's which i can vouch are really "loose" bodies and frames... even my buddy's 96 bird shakes as bad if not worse than my 94 and he has half the miles... just personal experience of my own."

Spot on man. My dads 94 z28 vert was like drivin a bowl full of jello lol.

If Ford had made improvements to structural rigidity between 94 and 04 then you might have a point. But they never did. A then brand new 94 vert shakes just as much as a then new 04 vert.

For my comparison I'm even comparing the 95 GT when new to my old 01 TA when new. The 95 GT in my sig was formerly my inlaws so I drove it from day 1 when they got it new. Was your Dad's 94 f-body new to him or used? I ask because it's hard to judge a cars behaviors when used because there's no way of saying how the previous owner treated it.

 

[Pokageek]

If it was, then what was done to the 96-up 'verts that allowed them to not have the weight?

NVH standards that the OEM guys use are a LOT higher than what most of us need. Also, I believe that I had removed the weight before the subframes went on... but I'm not 100% sure as its been at least 6yrs since I yanked the weight.

I know many people agree with you KC in that the weight didnt seem to change anything. For me it did make a noticeable difference though.

Good question on the 96-up's but just b/c they don't have it doesn't mean it doesnt do something on the 94-95. Using that analogy, you would also assume we have the same engines as the 96-up just because the outer body looks the same but we don't (even though alot of people tell me I am driving a 4.6 lol).

I wonder how long you had owner the car b4 removing the weight. If it was a short time, you may not have drive nthe car long enough to notice. Roads we all drive on could als obe a factor too. or maybe I was just born without vibration dampening module in my inner ear that everyone else has , lol. it is all good.

 

[Pokageek]

If Ford had made improvements to structural rigidity between 94 and 04 then you might have a point. But they never did. A then brand new 94 vert shakes just as much as a then new 04 vert.

For my comparison I'm even comparing the 95 GT when new to my old 01 TA when new. The 95 GT in my sig was formerly my inlaws so I drove it from day 1 when they got it new. Was your Dad's 94 f-body new to him or used? I ask because it's hard to judge a cars behaviors when used because there's no way of saying how the previous owner treated it.

No . I am aggreing with you on the 94 comparison to your 01.. The point we are making here is that the F BODY was the one that had the improvements between 94-01. It must have had strengthening in 01 that it didn't have in 1994. My dads car has 26k miles on it and he bought it brand new and babys it. My 94 vert stock was waay less cowl than his car. His vert shook and cowl'd like ****** on rumbly roads. Right now also , I have 150k miles on the body of my car and its just fine. I do have sfc though..

 

[Stanger007]

The brace I'm talking about is just a straight piece of round tubing about 1ft long attached to the K-member by a bolt at either end.

View attachment 420417
(Link to a high-res version)

The cross brace I'm talking about is right in the middle of the picture - my O2 extension is zip-tied to it.

I tightened up the bolt on either end of it and got rid of my squeak when braking or cornering hard.

Wes