Progress Thread Nicholase "lights out" build- TKX install

[nicholase]

How is it to operate?
I find that that if you don't use the car often, I have to use a series of educated guesses to figure out how to work it.
The red and green was enough for me in the Bremen model, it was close enough to the dash.
I find that the biggest bonus was how good the phone calls were on it with the remote mounted mic, how people did not know i was in the mustang with the window open, i have no clue.
I have a dakota digital RTX (the one that looks factory) cluster to go in, luckily that does dimming and has a big color pallet.

Well, I won't be throwing out the manual lol. Once I got it all set up it seemed pretty intuitive for everyday use. It has way more options and editing than I'll ever use. The basic everyday stuff seems pretty well laid out.

Where did you mount your mic? My cars pretty loud so I'm thinking I should mount it close to me, maybe at the top of the drivers A pillar.

 

[2000xp8]

I have it up in the top corner by the visor, which is probably where you are talking about. So it really doesn't get much closer to where i'm speaking from.

One thing that pisses me off with mine is that I often keep the battery on my car shut off with a switch by the license plate, the head unit loses the clock setting, but somehow not the bluetooth or any other setting.

There is a guy on youtube that does a how to on keeping the pocket like you did. Did you have to support the head unit? He makes it look as if he sands the edges of the pocket, sticks it in there and then bends the cage to hold it all in.
I have to buy another pocket, mine has been gone for 30 years.
Right now i have 2 gauges under there, but i'm going to remove them, fit the radio plate holes and repaint all the black.
Radio plates are just a mistake in general, a mistake i've made multiple times.

 

[nicholase]

I have it up in the top corner by the visor, which is probably where you are talking about. So it really doesn't get much closer to where i'm speaking from.

Yeah, thats where I was thinking

One thing that pisses me off with mine is that I often keep the battery on my car shut off with a switch by the license plate, the head unit loses the clock setting, but somehow not the bluetooth or any other setting.

Well thats easy, just take it out at exactly noon every time lol. Never have to set the clock

There is a guy on youtube that does a how to on keeping the pocket like you did. Did you have to support the head unit? He makes it look as if he sands the edges of the pocket, sticks it in there and then bends the cage to hold it all in.
I have to buy another pocket, mine has been gone for 30 years.
Right now i have 2 gauges under there, but i'm going to remove them, fit the radio plate holes and repaint all the black.
Radio plates are just a mistake in general, a mistake i've made multiple times.

I'm still working on it. I'm supporting the radio with some brackets. Never been a fan of just bending the tabs to hold it myself. Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to bang it out.

My original stereo is perfect, so I didn't want to canabalize it.

The factory stereo has a bracket riveted to the bottom of it. That's what the cubby attaches to.

I found a junked fox radio on ebay with the bracket for a few bucks. So I'm going to use it for parts. My plan is to remove the bracket and weld it to my new radio mounting sleeve. Then the cubby will attach to it just like the original stereo. Then I'm going make a bracket and weld it to the sleeve assembly. I'll weld a mounting tab to the metal portion of the center console with a threaded hole.

One bolt will attach the sleeve/cubby assembly to the center console metal bracket. It will be accessible by sliding the stereo out of the sleeve. Then remove the bolt and slide out the sleeve / cubby assembly if i ever need access behind it.

Thats the plan anyway.

 

[nicholase]

My favorite part of this hobby is planning out how to do things and putting alot of thought into it. Even simple things like a radio install. I usually start out with an overly complicated idea, then eventually distill it down something thats elegant and simple. Sometimes overly complicated is fun too though lol. While this was a bit of work, and seems sorta complex, its actually really simple and I'm happy with how it came out. It took me about 4 hours all together painting included. But I probably put 20 hours into thinking about how to do it.

So here's a trip into my wacky brain.....



I got my Ebay parts radio. I'm going to use the bottom mounting plate that hold the cubby to the radio.

I drilled out the rivits that hold the mounting plate. It's pretty sturdy steel so this is going to work well to act as a radio support.

I attached the cubby to the radio plate with the two screws and held my radio sleeve up against it. It's not as seamless as I wanted. There's a decent gap between the two peices as seen below.

I need to shorten the two legs that hold the peices together to bring them nice and snug. So I cut them off.

The thickness of the cutoff wheel was all I needed. So I clamped them back together and welded them back on.

Now it fits nicely. I clamped the radio plate to the radio sleeve and plug welded them together. The plate is thick steel, almost 1/8", the radio sleeve is very thin. To do this I set the welder to the thicker metal. To avoid burning through the thiner metal you focus the welding on the thick part only briefly dipping the weld on to the thin metal. If I blew through it would really have been a mess because it would be hard to grind it smooth inside the radio sleeve. This needs to be smooth as the radio slides in and out of it. So I use a small peice of aluminum as a backer. The weld won't stick to it. So I just hold it on the backside of the radio sleeve to act as a heat sink and further precaution to avoid a blow through.

With the radio plate and cubby fitting well together I welded a tab to the plate. The hole in the tab will slide over a stud I'll be installing.

Looking at it front the front. This is how I'll access the nut to remove the assembly.

I also made a small bracket and welded it to the metal portion of the center console. This is the metal frame that reinforces the center console and attaches to the floorboards. Its very sturdy, so mounting the radio to this will be very robust.

I tacked a 1/4-20 bolt in this bracket to act as a mounting stud. The radio plate assembly will slide over this stud and be secured with a nut.

Looking at installed radio sleeve assembly with the nut holding it in place.

The Blaupunkt is secured in the sleeve with some spring tabs. To remove the radio it comes with tools similar to the factory radio removal tools. So to remove the radio i just insert them and slide it out.

If I ever need to remove the radio sleeve and cubby to access my wideband controller or any other wiring behind there i just remove the 1/4-20 nut and it all slides out.

Part of the metal portion can be seen when this is all assembled and the center console installed. It was faded and had some scuffs. So I took the opportunity to paint it. This is the metal peice you see by your gas pedal sticking out of the center console. You can see the bracket I made and hold down nut in this picture.

Then touched up the center console black area. I actually had a piece of electric tape over it before becasue the red was showing through. I've been meaning to paint this for a while now.

Really happy with it. The radio mount is super rigid. Actually much more secure than the factory arrangement. This should sturdy up that area nicely.

 

[91AOD5.0LX]

So here's a trip into my wacky brain.....

Genius!

 

[2000xp8]

Looks like a pretty elegant solution, i was hoping you would do something easier that I copy it quick and simple, lol.
Seems maybe you are costing me a lot of work.
You buy the stock head unit for $40 complete on ebay? I was eying it up because i need the cubby and i figured i'd somehow try and duplicate how the stock one was it.
Crazy enough, because of the way I installed mine in the plate, I didn't realize it has the factory style release system on it.
Glad I replied to your post and received updates, maybe i should start reading directions on stuff.
I'm building up the parts, then the drive to take this on, I know doing this and the RTX at the same time is going to be a pain. i'd rather have a wrench in my hand.
I can appreciate your attention to detail.

 

[nicholase]

Genius!

That might be a stretch, I'll take clever though lol

Looks like a pretty elegant solution, i was hoping you would do something easier that I copy it quick and simple, lol.
Seems maybe you are costing me a lot of work.
You buy the stock head unit for $40 complete on ebay? I was eying it up because i need the cubby and i figured i'd somehow try and duplicate how the stock one was it.
Crazy enough, because of the way I installed mine in the plate, I didn't realize it has the factory style release system on it.
Glad I replied to your post and received updates, maybe i should start reading directions on stuff.
I'm building up the parts, then the drive to take this on, I know doing this and the RTX at the same time is going to be a pain. i'd rather have a wrench in my hand.
I can appreciate your attention to detail.

Thanks. I got the head unit from ebay but it didn't come with the cubby. Well.... there was part of a cubby still attached lol. It was pretty dilapidated. I was looking for as cheap as possible. Think it was 25 bucks + shipping. Given how much time I spent adjusting that plate, It probably would have been best just to make it from scratch. Originally I was going to use the white plastic slider too, and was considering the side spring locks. One thought was to gut the radio and see if my new one would slide in it. I had a few different ideas so figured grabbing a cheap radio and destroying it would be fun. Use what I could, which ended up just being the plate.

 

[nicholase]

Finally got it all back together. Really happy with the look. Feels good to get everything buttoned up in there. I think it blends in nice.

A few years ago I replaced all the speakers with Infinity Refrence speakers from Crutchfield. The 3½ dash speakers came with bass blockers so I put them on. I always thought the whole system lacked bass, but figured its probably the factory radio. The Blaupunkt sounded miles better, but still had that thin sound. So I took off the bass blockers just to see how it would sound, it's awesome! Even with the volume full up and bass pretty high I can't get them to distort. Maybe if i had a sub those bass blockers would be ideal, but with them out is way better for my basic set up. Glad I tried that.

Good riddance fun blockers

So... onto the next thing.

Remaining list before spring:
-fix small trans leak at speed sensor
-check and adjust pinion angle if needed
-alignment and torque check on all suspension fasteners
-torque check all brake hardware
visual inspection of new brake lines and fuel ine routing, look for any potential issues
-install front wheel liners
-finish A/C install and charge
-replace 4 year old battery
-get inspected
-call Hagerty and get better insurance
-put some miles on and see how much tuning I need to do. Seems real close, but not perfect.
-when tune feels good and any issues sorted, take to JJ's speed shop for a dyno check and tune if needed.

 

[nicholase]

With ProM racing out of business and the website officially down something crossed my mind..... My tuning software for my engine management and tune is stored on my computer. Should my computer brick, get destroyed, or stolen I'd be SOL. Because the website is down I can't download the software or access the tuning software in any way shape or form.

So off to Best Buy and a chat w/ the Geek Squad. I wanted everything on my computer saved to a hard drive and then see if they can upload it to a back up computer and get it all working.

They couldn't make any guarantees. He used alot of big words to tell me that without the website running they may not be able to install it successfully. Luckily I saved the original download ProM set me. So with that, and two days, they were able to get me set up with a fully functioning second tuning computer and an emergency hard drive / thumb drive.

Crisis averted. I must have told him 15 times "if there's any way you might corrupt the existing file - stop!". It's just my luck to try and do something proactive and have it royally screw me lol. But this time all is well. The computer I got is just a $250 elcheapo. But it's a backup in case my Toughbook goes down.

 

[nicholase]

I noticed on my last drive I felt driveline vibration under heavy acceleration. I haven't checked pinion angle since I installed the suspension. So I figured I should rule that out. Turns out it was off quite a bit. I'm running MM coilovers on Bilstiens w/250lb springs, MM front control arms and adj perch sport rears w/ panhard bar. Stock style rear uppers. The engine and trans mounts are from Energy Suspension and also new. Trans mount has new energy bushings to chassis side.


Knowing that I now need adjustable upper control arms to correct the pinion angle, finding suitable parts to do so is the first task. After some searching I found a product I really like for the job. It's made in the USA by Detroit Speed & Engineering. These beefy uppers have a few unique things going on. They utilize a rubber (rather than poly) chassis side bushing, which is recommended for our 4 links. They also swivel so they won't cause any binding or torque box damage. They sort of look like a shock absorber. The silver jam nut holds the position. The larger black nut is part of a solid machined rod that swivels inside the outer tube. I'm not sure exactly how this is designed inside and I am curious, so I might call them. But it's pretty slick. This takes some effort to swivel but the action feels smooth and even. The axle side is boxed behind the threaded portion and the welds look great. Downside is they are expensive. They are sold as a kit of uppers / lowers but I called and they had no problem selling just the uppers.

Tomorrow I'll get under the car and install them.

 

[gkomo]

Why do you think the pinion angle was off with the stock style uppers? Just because it is lowered?

 

[nicholase]

Part 1
Install upper control arms:
Knowing I need to change pinion angle I went ahead and installed the new uppers. At ride height on ramps I removed one upper, then adjusted the new one to match. Putting a few bolts through does the job.

To make the adjustmemt process easier I marked each face of the adjuster 1-6. Turning so the numbers increase lengthens the rod. Turning so the numbers decrease shortens the rod. This makes full turns easy to keep track of.

With both uppers installed and loosely snugged up I started the adjustment process.

 

[nicholase]

Part 2


On this episode of "way too much info about pinion angle".....


For some reason pinion angle is one of those things where threads go sideways. They usually end up like oil threads lol. But I'll share how I do it on a street car. I call it the zero method. It's just a method of measuring that makes it easier for me. The zero method is probably a little different than most have heard it explained, simpler I think. All you need is an angle finder with a zero button. Maybe it will be new and helpful to someone. Keep in mind this is a street car with a 4 link. A straight up drag or autoX car will use different angle relationships, as will a leaf spring car. So you may be shooting for different angle relationships, but the measuring process is the same for all.

With all the talk of angles, things pointing up or down (and the semantics involved), adding or subtracting angles depending on the relationship it can get confusing. Partically diffult to explain in type which is what I think leads to the confusion factor. The zero method removes all that, at least for me. In any case, I always think of it as looking at the car from the side. Measuring from front to back.

:Regarding the engine/ trans, if the crank pulley bolt (front) is higher than the trans output shaft (back) it's pointed down.

:Regarding the pinion, if the pinion nut (front) is higher than the pinion gear center (back) it's pointed down. Its the angle of the pinion shaft itself that matters.

Pic below with exaggerated angles shows how my car is currently. Visually imagine a centerline through your crankshaft mains and trans output shaft and also a centerline drawn through the pinion shaft. These lines should not intersect anywhere. As you can see my angles intersect. In this image you see my engine/ trans is tilted down but the pinion shaft is tilted up.

What I want is for the engine/ trans plane and pinion shaft plane to be parallel. In other words drawing a centerline through each, the lines would never intersect. Like the picture below.

 

[nicholase]

Part 3:
So this is how I do it. There are two things that need to be correct.
1)The engine/trans and pinion angle need to be on a parallel plane.
2) The driveshaft working angles should be under 3° but greater than 0.5°.

*Note: The reason they can't be zero is that would mean engine centerline--> driveshaft---> pinion shaft are perfectly in a straight line. The spec 0.5° is typically used to show more than zero. The reason it needs to be more than 0° is so the needle bearing in the u-joint spin. At 0° the needle bearings stay stagnet, indent the bearing caps and joint body and cause quick faulure. This is called brinelling.

Rather than math and adding or subtracting depending on the upward or downward slope I use the zero method. To start, the car is set on 4 equal height ramps at ride height. Suspension bounced and settled.

Set the angle finder on the flat surface of the bottom of the crank balancer.
Pic of actual engine angle:

Now press the zero function. This sets the angle finder where 0° now equals the angle of the engine / trans. Every measurement afterwards is compared to this new zero. This step is what makes the zero method different and IMO easier. Notice the "Z" in the top left corner of the display.
Pic angle finder zeroed:

Keeping the same "zero" to engine angle now set the angle finder on the flat face of the pinion flange. The display now shows how many total degrees it is off from parallel to the engine. In my case my pinion angle is 5° out.
Pic angle finder on pinion before adjusting pinion angle:

Then I adjust the upper control arms evenly until the angle finder reads 0°. When it does both the engine / trans and pinion shaft are set to the same angle and perfectly parallel to each other.
Pic pinion reading 0°.

Of course they aren't actually 0° to the ground or horizon, but they are parallel to each other which is what matters. Because the centerlines are parallel, the intersecting angle of the drive shaft will be equal at both ends. This means the angle of the u joints will be equal and opposite at both ends of the driveshaft. Equal and opposite angles on both ends is what makes the driveline smooth. Pic below shows the working angles of the u-joints and a visual representation "equal and opposite" driveshaft angles. The red arrows are the working angles of the u-joints.

 

[nicholase]

Part 4 Checking and adjusting u-joint working angles:

Next is to actually measure the u-joint working angles. This is super easy using the zero method. With the angle finder still reading 0° on the crank balancer and pinion flange I re install the driveshaft. Then place the angle finder on the driveshaft tube. Whatever the angle finder reads is the u-joint working angle. If it's under 3° you're good to go.
Pic working angle:

*Note: Typically measuring the angle of the driveshaft doesn't mean much without comparing it to the angle of the engine and pinion and then doing some math. But becasue the angle finder was set to 0° on the engine and the pinion, you are reading the difference from the driveshaft angle to engine angle which represents the actual u-joint angle without having to do the math.

So the u-joint working angles are 3.6°. A touch high. Probably close enough. But I may as well make it perfect since I'm already into it and all the tools are out.

To change this angle I'll need to change the relationship of the driveshaft angle to the engine and pinion. In this case its pretty easy. I need to raise the tailshaft a touch.

I installed 3/16" shims (two machine bushings) between the transmission case and the transmission mount.

So now I recheck my crank balancer angle. It has changed from the original 3° down to 2.6° down. So I repeat the entire process. I zero the angle finder on the balancer, move it to the axle flange and adjust the upper control arms until it reads 0° and matches the engine angle exactly. Then reinstall the drive shaft and re check my u-joint working angle again shooting for under 3°.

So by just install two small shims to change the engine angle, then matching the pinion to it I dropped my u-joint working angle to 2.5° which is perfect.

The instructions for the Detroit Speed uppers call out no more than 2" of thread exposed including the jam nut. So with everything set I put a caliper on it to verify. I'm about 1 5/8" out. So it's good.

I tightened up the jam nuts, and all the hardware with it at ride height. It's ready for a rip.

 

[nicholase]

Part 5
At this point the drive line is optimized to be vibration free cruising down the road and average accelerating, decelerating. It's usually a great place to be. If I feel any vibration on hard acceleration from axle windup I can adjust the pinion in .25° increments until the hard acceleration vibration goes away during axle wind up. I prefer to start perfectly parallel and only add an intentional angle mismatch if I need to. With this being a true street car, not raced, and driven 98% of the time casually, I prefer to have the driveline perfectly aligned for driving under these circumstances.

When the engine and pinion are not parallel this means the equal and opposite angle of the u-joints are no longer equal and opposite. One is greater than the other and it will introduce an eliptical frequency. The rear u-joint will not spin at a constant speed relative to the front. It will speed up and slow down rapidly, that's what casues the vibration.

This video is an oldie but goodie. It does a great job of explaining (and more importantly visually showing and hearing) how an angle mismatch at the u-joints causes the drive shaft to spin at different speeds which causes the vibration. It's hard to understand without seeing / hearing it. I watched this about 10 years ago when I built my first chassis from scratch. It really turned the light bulb on for me.

 

[nicholase]

Part 6:
After a road test I can confirm my vibration is gone. I won't be adding any intentional angle mismatch for axle windup. She's perfect. There were actually snowflakes in the air wtf.

Just cruising nice and smooth!



I did get into it a bit just to make sure the the vibration was gone. I was looking at the AFR's and they looked pretty good. I have to keep reminding self I dont have to stare at the guages anymore and can just data log now lol.

Love the boost guage recall. I cleared it before I went out. Maybe hit 5,000 rpm. Hmm, let's see....




Onto the next.....

 

[nicholase]

Grabbed a new battery. I put the Motorcraft in 4 years ago when I first got the car. It's actually been really good. But figured it's past it's prime. I couldn't find another Ford 58R-A at the same 610CCA as my old one. Maybe it was discontinued? I grabbed an Interstate T5 which is about the same size and terminal orientation. It's little higher at 650CCA. I don't think i need anything bigger or heavier like the group 65's. I've had no issues at all with the little battery and a good 130a charging system. All the cables are NOS Ford that i put on a few years ago amd in good shape. Honestly its on the maintenance charger most of the time anyway.

Seems solid so far.

 

[nicholase]

So earlier I mentioned my VSS was leaking. I bought a new one but after a closer look it seemed the fluid was leaking out of the cable itself where the plastic tube is crimped to the aluminum nub that goes into the VSS. I did a little googling and found this post from 2009.

Well i think i may have fixed it. I ended up putting a small peice of heat shrink over the metal head of the cable where it comes out of the VSS. The shrink has a small bit of glue inside so it should seal that up well.

Now yo see if the new o-ring seals as well.


I have to say i'm disappointed with the quality of some of the parts LRS sells. I've ordered a few things from there, and they just are cheap and flimsy compared to OEM stuff

So thats what I did. I'll jack it up tomorrow and see if it fixed my leak. That is actually a slick idea and I think it should work. Thanks.

 

[nicholase]

Why do you think the pinion angle was off with the stock style uppers? Just because it is lowered?

Probably. Might be a bit lower than it should be. It sure rides nice though. It's actually a pretty pleasant ride that feels real sporty. Even over our junk WNY roads that get destroyed w/ salt and plows scraping on them for 7 months a year. I might even call it plush? That MM stuff is real nice.

I was kinda worried the panhard bar would introduce NVH with the heim joints but I don't notice anything from back there, other than it feels alot more stable around turns. Real happy with how the suspension came out all together.