Progress Thread 95 2-Top Cobra Build Thread- Never ending
- Thread starter Essn95
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Found a great deal on a front set of Tokico HP Blues for $60. I’ve been searching for a rear set to match to no avail. Since shocks are usually done in pairs, would it be bad to have KYB GR-2s in the back? I can get those from rock auto for $47 shipped. Not looking to drop lots of $$ (because I don’t have much lol). don’t eant to put in the Monroe or Gabriel garbage, Just want a good ride for my mild drop.
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Sorry for lack of pictures, I ended up installing these late at night because FedEx decided to deliver at 8pm.. I tore down the old struts and shocks early in the morning and waited all day. Anyway, the car had Monroe oespectrum stuff all around. Tossed that out and got the new stuff in. I adjusted my new Tokico d specs 4 turns from full firm to start and I’m going to take a drive today.
Just a little update, the car rides much better now. No more harsh ride and bottoming out. I found a nice balance at 3.5 turns from full firm in the D specs. Nice compromise for good handling and smooth ride. Also painted the convertible trim which I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Along with that the whole car got compounded, polished and waxed last week. Pics coming!
These pics are bad because they’re screenshotted off of a vid but heres the vert trim
before
After
before
After
And here’s a shot of a mirror, er I mean my driver side door after the two step correction and wax. I used meguiars 105/205 topped with their ultimate wax. The whole car including the hardtop got this treatment.
So with the quarantine, I’m continuing to work on the little stuff to make my car nicer. This week will be repainting my steering wheel column trim that is badly sunfaded and repainting my gauge needles. Bought the SEM saddle tan color coat and testers flouresent orange for the job at hand. My question for you is how I can check for slop as I tear down the steering area. The trim, wheel, and bottom panel will be off and I want to see if there’s any way to check why the slop is so bad. My wheel can turn like 25° before actually starting to turn. I’m hoping it’s something quite easy and not the steering shaft.
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Usually a mm solid shaft seems to be the fix but just wanted to see if there’s other ways to check and fix slop while in there
I just went through this on my fox when I upgraded to a Terminator rack and pinion. After the install I still had a great deal of slop in the steering so I went through everything to try to eliminate. Here's my list working up from the tie rods to the steering wheel.
1. Loose tie rod ends can cause slop.
2. Worn out rack and pinion. If you disconnect the steering shaft and turn the rack by hand it should engage immediately.
3. Pinch bolt securing the shaft to the rack. It needs to be tightened.
4. Not familiar with construction of an SN steering shaft, but eliminating rag joint with a solid shaft.
5. Pinch bolt securing shaft to steering column. Needs to be tightened, then tightened some more.
6.Upper bearing sleeve and bearing on steering wheel (in a fox)
Basically, torque the **** out of everything. A little bit of play in any of the areas translates to alot more at the steering wheel and seems to compound itself as you go up the line. You can effectively ignore the torque specs for these items. IRC even the instructions for the MM Hybrid shaft say, "may require additional torque." Once I had everything tightened and my arm looked like the hulks, the steering felt like it should, firm immediate input.
1. Loose tie rod ends can cause slop.
2. Worn out rack and pinion. If you disconnect the steering shaft and turn the rack by hand it should engage immediately.
3. Pinch bolt securing the shaft to the rack. It needs to be tightened.
4. Not familiar with construction of an SN steering shaft, but eliminating rag joint with a solid shaft.
5. Pinch bolt securing shaft to steering column. Needs to be tightened, then tightened some more.
6.Upper bearing sleeve and bearing on steering wheel (in a fox)
Basically, torque the **** out of everything. A little bit of play in any of the areas translates to alot more at the steering wheel and seems to compound itself as you go up the line. You can effectively ignore the torque specs for these items. IRC even the instructions for the MM Hybrid shaft say, "may require additional torque." Once I had everything tightened and my arm looked like the hulks, the steering felt like it should, firm immediate input.
Thank you! I’ll check my tie rods while I wait for the paint to arrive. Where are the two pinch bolts and the best way to access them?
Got the steering wheel, column trim, and gauges out and they're all ready for paint. Amazon has delivery of paint for tomorrow so pics should follow soon. In terms of finding slop in the steering, under the dash everything is fine. The wheel is moved, and the shaft follows. So the issue would either be in the engine bay side of the shaft or rack. I will have someone inspect the shaft as I rotate the wheel to check as I presume the rag joint is on engine side
Additionally, I disassembled a spare dash clock I had in the parts bin to try and get it to glow blue to match the rest of the interior. I popped out the green tinted lenses and created an identical shaped pieces out of clear plastic. After I got that filed and shaped properly I went ahead and ordered some blue cellophane paper that should arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping wrapping the clear plastic in the blue transparent paper will yield the results I'm looking for. This is just my first trial and it might take some further attempts to get it right.
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