Thanks. It might be too late for me. Taking the car to drop off overnight on Wednesday (2 days). So, unless I can find that locally or summit has overnight shipping, I think I'm hosed, but I'll keep it in mind for next time.
Black Jack: Wreck. ugh...
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I plan to be at the event in Rockingham on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing you there. Hope the car is back together in time.
Depending on how involved you plan to get with autocross, you might want to consider a 5-lug conversion. There are more wheel sizes/offsets available, which helps when you're trying to fit as much rubber as possible on the car.
Depending on how involved you plan to get with autocross, you might want to consider a 5-lug conversion. There are more wheel sizes/offsets available, which helps when you're trying to fit as much rubber as possible on the car.
If I get that serious about autocross, it won't be in this car. I've got my eye on the market in case a MM Max Grip race car come up for a reasonable price. I'm not going through all of that in Black Jack.
There are lots of ways to be competitive in autocross. You'll be surprised by how good these cars can be with just a few well-chosen mods.
Hopefully, we will have a few 79-04 Mustangs there. I'll be happy to jump in with you.
Vibration resolved... again...
I thought I'd resolved this, but I finally think I've resolved the vibration... again. The vibration I'm referring to felt similar to a wheel bearing that was not noticeable below about 60 mph. From there to 85 or so, there was this harmonic Waaaaawaaaaa every 1-2 seconds. It didn't go away by swerving left or right. It had dramatically improved with the balancing and runout correction of the driveshaft, but just wasn't quite enough, and frankly, it seems like it got worse over the last couple of months. Well, I had a shop replace the pinion & carrier bearings, as well as the pinion seal, which was leaking. The vibration is gone!
I suspect it was always a combination of problems, and I'm glad I addressed them all, basically everything that can contribute to drivetrain vibration between the flywheel and the tires has been addressed, and that gives peace if mind, now. I think the terrible driveshaft runout for years wore out the bearings, the U-joints, and the pinion angle was definitely out. I've just never experienced a rear diff problem that wasn't accompanied by the telltale whine. Anyways, so relieved.
Brakes:
The brakes pull left upon depressing the brake pedal and back to the right upon release. I had the same shop replace the calipers & lines, and they found problems with the e-brake cable, front drum shoes, & leaky cylinders. I hoped a sticky caliper caused the brake pull issue, but that was not the case. That said the brakes do feel better. Next up, I'll look more closely into whether the the line lock was plumbed correctly.
Lastly, autocross tomorrow!
I thought I'd resolved this, but I finally think I've resolved the vibration... again. The vibration I'm referring to felt similar to a wheel bearing that was not noticeable below about 60 mph. From there to 85 or so, there was this harmonic Waaaaawaaaaa every 1-2 seconds. It didn't go away by swerving left or right. It had dramatically improved with the balancing and runout correction of the driveshaft, but just wasn't quite enough, and frankly, it seems like it got worse over the last couple of months. Well, I had a shop replace the pinion & carrier bearings, as well as the pinion seal, which was leaking. The vibration is gone!
I suspect it was always a combination of problems, and I'm glad I addressed them all, basically everything that can contribute to drivetrain vibration between the flywheel and the tires has been addressed, and that gives peace if mind, now. I think the terrible driveshaft runout for years wore out the bearings, the U-joints, and the pinion angle was definitely out. I've just never experienced a rear diff problem that wasn't accompanied by the telltale whine. Anyways, so relieved.
Brakes:
The brakes pull left upon depressing the brake pedal and back to the right upon release. I had the same shop replace the calipers & lines, and they found problems with the e-brake cable, front drum shoes, & leaky cylinders. I hoped a sticky caliper caused the brake pull issue, but that was not the case. That said the brakes do feel better. Next up, I'll look more closely into whether the the line lock was plumbed correctly.
Lastly, autocross tomorrow!
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Had a blast, again! Was 10th outta 37 novices, this time. Was even a few hundredths quicker than a regular was in the only other Fox. Not bad for a more drag than handling oriented suspension and a daily driver to boot.
Was cool to meet Warhorse. He went for a ride and gave some great feedback. He's got a super quick 6 banger on 315s that he came 1st in CAM-T with. Was a really fun day!
Was cool to meet Warhorse. He went for a ride and gave some great feedback. He's got a super quick 6 banger on 315s that he came 1st in CAM-T with. Was a really fun day!
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It was great meeting you and your co-driver today! You both did an awesome job of getting faster on a tricky course. I'm glad I was able to jump into the car (and I hope to be able to do that again in the future). One of my favorite things to do is sit in the passenger seat of a cool Fox Body as it races around an autocross course!
Seat bracket repair:
Got a guy to weld the passenger seat bracket, which I painted and will install tomorrow.
Before:
After:
Shifter Sound Deadening:
Tried to sound deaden the shifter boot area. Already had the stock rubber deadener, and a layer of kilmat over it. Now, I've added a 1-ish inch foam layer, and a layer of loose insulation up into the shifter boot. I also cut a spare rubber hose/elbow and used it as a roughly 1/4" spacer between the upper & lower shifter handle. Hope it's enough to knock the transmission sound down.
Got a guy to weld the passenger seat bracket, which I painted and will install tomorrow.
Before:
After:
Shifter Sound Deadening:
Tried to sound deaden the shifter boot area. Already had the stock rubber deadener, and a layer of kilmat over it. Now, I've added a 1-ish inch foam layer, and a layer of loose insulation up into the shifter boot. I also cut a spare rubber hose/elbow and used it as a roughly 1/4" spacer between the upper & lower shifter handle. Hope it's enough to knock the transmission sound down.
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Happy Birthday, Black Jack! Well, at least, today's the day I bought you 8 years ago for the first time! Just happened to notice that as I was trying to figure out how to bookmark threads for easy reference.
New MSD Box:
If things go well, I found an MSD Digital 6 box on BookFace Marketplace about an hour away for $200. Pretty nice piece of hardware with a limiter, 2-step, & nitrous retard all in one box. Figured that since BlackJack is my daily, I could use the retard feature to run regular fuel for a while, which should save about $10-12/wk. Then, just fill up on 93 and I'm back at optimal timing for N/A at the flick of a switch.
New MSD Box:
If things go well, I found an MSD Digital 6 box on BookFace Marketplace about an hour away for $200. Pretty nice piece of hardware with a limiter, 2-step, & nitrous retard all in one box. Figured that since BlackJack is my daily, I could use the retard feature to run regular fuel for a while, which should save about $10-12/wk. Then, just fill up on 93 and I'm back at optimal timing for N/A at the flick of a switch.
Shout out to foxbodybrakes.com. I didn't buy anything from that guy, but he was so slow, unresponsive even to email, and incapable of being reached via phone that he motivated me to say, "F@#$ it!," followed by "Hi, North Racecars! Send me everything!" Richard there is a wealth of info, and he made a great point about staying with 5-lug -- I can just walk into a parts store and say, 'I need 98 Cobra Brake stuff,' instead of needing to find someone to drill out the 4-lug pattern in 13 & 11.65" rotors. .So, now here's what's coming:
@Mustang5L5 North Racecars said to try my stock booster with the 94-95 MC. I also have the 94-95 spindles, and other than new wheel bearings for it, would you mind looking over the list and telling me what I may be missing. Also, if you tell me to go ahead with another booster or any other part, I'll just do what you think is best. Thanks! I am grateful for the knowledge you provide on this subject to our community. Also, can you clear up my confusion: I asked Richard, after he told me that these are the same as the '98 Cobra setup, if they were 38mm pistons up front, and he said, 'No, they're 40mm pistons in the front & 38mm in the rear.' Your thread shows no such caliper in the front, just 40.5mm for 99+ Cobras. Does that make any sense to you?
@Mustang5L5 North Racecars said to try my stock booster with the 94-95 MC. I also have the 94-95 spindles, and other than new wheel bearings for it, would you mind looking over the list and telling me what I may be missing. Also, if you tell me to go ahead with another booster or any other part, I'll just do what you think is best. Thanks! I am grateful for the knowledge you provide on this subject to our community. Also, can you clear up my confusion: I asked Richard, after he told me that these are the same as the '98 Cobra setup, if they were 38mm pistons up front, and he said, 'No, they're 40mm pistons in the front & 38mm in the rear.' Your thread shows no such caliper in the front, just 40.5mm for 99+ Cobras. Does that make any sense to you?
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You are missing a 1993 Cobra brake booster. 94-95 MC or 93 Cobra MC they both benefit from the bigger booster. Do you absolutely need it? Maybe not but when you are dropping the coin you are it baffles me you would not go ahead and go all in on a proven booster set up.
I honestly figured that, but when I asked about it, Richard said the stock booster is fine. Anyways, it's done. '93 Booster on order. Richard also failed to mention the adjustable proportioning valve that does NOT come with his kit. Called back to ask, and he said, "Do you see them on factory cars?" I thought that was a dumb question. I'm autocrossing and tracking, and I want the ability to adjust the rear brakes to the tires I'm running and track conditions (different when wet). Plus, I've appreciated them on my other cars. So, that's on order, too.
I have his rear brake conversion kit for Fox length axles with Cobra brakes on my T-Bird and it works really well. Both cars have a manual proportioning valve and each one is adjusted a little different.
I was just going to mention the prop valve and the MM lines from the master to the prop valve you're going to put the plug in.
I'm concerned about the MM lines you just mentioned. If you don't see them above, I didn't order them. The master above has what looks like 3 lines (3-2 kit?) that it comes with. The Front kit mentions 2 MM line kits. The rear kit includes a bullet point about lines and another MM center line. If you're saying there's another I need to have, a link would be much appreciated.
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