Black Jack: Fixing torque steer

I am pumped to have found a black rear hatch and rear bumper cover panel off of a wrecked 92 at a nearby junkyard! The paint ain't great, but neither is the rest of black jack's. Looking forward to finally 'repairing' the damaged ones from when that truck hit me a while back. Got $3.4k or something like that out of insurance and this will end up being a $430 repair.

Oh... and I'm also unreasonably excited about getting back to the LX spoiler.

Odometer @ 93,685

Stiffler's D/S safet loop no-go
This piece is very nice and I thought it would work with my Stiffler's T56 crossmember. Actually, it doesn't bolt to that, but wedges between the transmission mount and the transmission on the top side. This thing is cool because you don't have to drill or pull carpet to mount to the floor board, and it's install would tlhave taken 20 minutes. It would work nicely, if not for the fact that I chose to install my wideband O2 sensor in the way. So, this one is a no-go for Black Jack. Guess I'll have to get the floor board mounted version.

A/C recharge
It's that time of year again. We've had a couple 90+ degree days, already. Black Jack's black interior and light tint are not doing me any favors. Also, the a/c system was only getting down to like 60*. Worst of all, the blower just doesn't move air like it used to. I really think that last part is the biggest culprit. I suspect a leak somewhere behind the dash, and while I want to tear it down and ensure everything is well-sealed, I have nightmare flashbacks of when I tore down Father Time's dash and couldn't muster the motivation to put it back together. So, I just recharged the R134, got gauge temps down between 40-50*, and I'm gonna see if fox resto out in charlotte might be interested in doing the hvac box sealing for me.

Koni rear DA shocks (8042-1121 Sport) installed
As mentioned in one of the last posts, I was so impressed with the front Konis that I bit the bullet & ordered rear double-adjustables, as well. They were ~$370/ea.

They replaced Lakewood 40301 shocks, which are ~$100 50/50 drag shocks. It was time. They were no longer doing their job, and were making noise. I didn't notice any leakage, but the mounting rubber was pretty rough, and the driver side's shaft was loose & rattled.

Initial settings were clearly softer than the Lakewoods, and induced more body roll and too much softness, making the rear too rolie-polie. Adding another click of compression back there helped more than I expected. Turn-in is nicer than before, body-roll/laziness are pretty decent, & so far as I can tell balance seems alright, but I'll know more on auto-x day when I can safely keep it near the limit in transitions and hopefully a sweeper.

Talking things through with my dumb-but-smarter-than-this-newb coach, ChatGPT, I'm trying to maintain or improve Black Jack's balance. So, while I have the front at 1/2.75 (36%) on rebound, and 2/12 on compression, I set the rear to 0.75/2.25 (33%) on rebound, and 3/12 on compression. Theoretically, the slightly softer rebound should allow weight to transfer forward more freely, as the inside rear extends easily and outside rear resists extension slightly more than the front.

It still needs adjustment, and it doesn't have the same wire colors or connectors, so I still have stuff to work through, but hell yeah brother, that LX spoiler just looks better than the GT on these cars:



1. Better spoiler
2. the later years latch, fortunately I had a spare striker for it on the shelf
3. Already tinted (no spots like my KY tint guy had in there)
4. Everything in better condition

Everything's squared away on the hatch. It's a much better piece in many ways.

Next up: I dropped off the driver's corbeau GTS II, because I can feel the almost wire thin metal frame protrud8ng from the left-thigh-bolster's padding. I think if I let that go too long, it'll wear through the cloth cover. Gotta say, these are the economy seat options of the upgrade world.

Also, since they sit so much higher, I've asked my upholstery guy, Ahail, to remove about an inch of the bottom padding.

For s n giggles, since I temporarily swapped the driver's seat over from Grover, I went ahead and put it side by side with Grover's Recaro SE. No wonder! The angle, combined with the fact that the Recaro's bitt padding buckets in below the outer portion of the seat, makes it tough to see the actual measurement, but even with a STANDARD height corbeau bracket, the butt pad is 5.5-5.75" from the rear floor mounting surface, whereas the Corbeau is more like 7" from a LOW-PROFILE Corbeau bracket's mounting point.

The guy apologetically said it would be two weeks, and internally, I enjoyed the excuse to daily that far more comfy Recaro.

Corbeau:




Recaro:





Both:


Both in Father Time & Grover, the Recaros are just better. The upper torso lateral support is higher, the padding is more glove-like, the knee bolsters are not in the way but still supportive, & the cloth is nicer. Plus, the Recaro's tilt is infinitely adjustable, and it sits just right in the car on these old standard 828D brackets & sliders without needing a seat track extender.

I don't wanna blow the $2k onthe modern knock offs, but it's on the christmas list for some day.

Ps. I'm not knocking any other Corbeau, and I got these for $6-800 (probably posted earlier in this thread), but these vs. my Recaros is a "get what ya pay for" kinda deal. Still, the GTS IIs are doing what I needed them over the stockers for... they keep my fat in the right spot on the auto-x without needing to death grip the steering wheel.

ustacould said:

Being 6'5 I tried a set of seat track extendeners, and they do work - well made and easy install but I lost an inch of head room that I didn't have to spare.
I'm actually changing back now.

Click to expand...

What seats? I'm 6'4. I made the Corbeau's work with low profile brackets and detaled that here in this thread. But, while it's even fine with a helmet on, it's still higher than I like. That said, the Recaros work on extenders, too. You would have enough room in them.

Thanks for the motivation guys...


FYSA, the damned dog has never been in the car the recaros came out of.

Mustang5L5 said:

I tried the Corbeaus initially, and even with the shaved foam option I felt they sat high. The recaros actually sit low enough you feel like to get down into your Mustang when you sit in it. It's low enough I have to put a hand down on the door sill to get out of the car.

I highly recommend LX style recaros. The LS ones that I have are just too aggressive in the side bolstering.

Click to expand...

Where does one get the best price?

I'm honestly about ready to sell the Corbeaus and get my money out of them while I still can.

Almost every post of mine is about some fix, work, or update log. Today, I just wanted to say how thrilled I am to be enjoying this car. I'm just taking the moment to acknowledge that it's such a fun car, and I'm really enjoying the street manners with the new shocks. No, not everything is perfect, and I'll get into what's next in a sec, but when almost everything is working right, it's hard to imagine having more fun in any car.

The Konis:
I believe that I've come to the conclusion that increasing the rear compression to 3 of 12 is right for me on the street. It's just a little disconcerting over the occasional speed bump or rough road. Altogether, though, I'm really enjoying the massive difference in turn-in. The car wants to change direction on demand NOW! If I gave a different impression, I'd like to clarify that it still has body roll, but it takes much longer to get there. After a couple of aggressive turns, I do think I've made understeer worse with that increase in rear stiffness, but I also really like that the rear is staying off the bump-stops better, and I am enjoying the far more aggressive responsiveness. A little understeer on the street should make things a bit safer & more controllable, in case I ever get myself into a situation. I don't want to be one of those guys on one the Mustang vs. crowd memes. At the Autocross, this Sunday, I hope I can ignore my competitive urges and instead use my time out there to investigate the impact of changes to the shocks & strut settings. I'll also have some family with me that I hope to give rides to. I don't think it's worth trying to get settings more right before I go, because I'll have the far more aggressive Bridgestone RE-71RS tires on it on the track, and I suspect that settings may actually need to increase with more aggressive tires. Might as well make any more tweaks out there.

I can breath again:
It's not something I remember acknowledging on here, but without cats, the stench of the exhaust was noticeable in the cabin whenever I came to a stop. I'd gotten into the habit of using the vents and/or non-recirculating A/C when going at parking lot speeds or idle. Now, after installing the new hatch, I can leave it on however I like, and the air stays clean. I guess the old hatch, despite the newer seal, was allowing some air into the cab.

A/C:
I recharged the system, and it's getting just OK cold. I really suspect my liquid line replacement of having an improperly spec'd orifice tube. I also think disassembling the blower motor from the fan and swapping the fan and then reassembling caused some kind of alignment issue, as the air from the vents is nowhere near as strong as it used to be, and nowhere near as strong as in Father Time. Speed #2 in father time blows as hard as full blast in Black Jack. I must've gone into that thing 4 times when I was trying to address the hot switch, a couple years back. So, I talked to Matt at FoxResto, and he's going to squeeze the car in for a diagnosis & repair. I'm tired of trying. Hopefully, he can teach me what I'm missing.

Well, that's about it... I'm absolutely loving my time back on the road with Black Jack again. I love my other cars, and Black Jack would go before I ever sold them, but boy... I just don't think I've ever enjoyed a fox as much... Lower key is less anxiety and more relaxed fun.