Black Jack: Working up to slicks

[FastDriver]

Drove black jack 3 hours to a B-day party for my 1 y/o nephew. My other nephew and neice are pictured. I'm doing my part keep foxbody resale up in a couple decades

These little die-cast models turned out better than I expected and not too far off in looks from BJ.

 

[FastDriver]

I love me some Stoptech Rotors with Hawk HPS pads! I went too far with the pads and ruined the cheap rotors I had on it, last. Didn't like the way they were rusting anyways.

 

[FastDriver]

Facebook

www.facebook.com

If I bought that, I could swap:
- rear hatch (mine was dented in the accident)
- rear bumper (same)
- Driver's front fender (oxidized & missing attchment points)
- Some minor interior parts
- radiator (mine is leaking, now)

Then, resell the car at a minimal loss.

Hmmm?

Edit: Damn... nvm. It just went to pending.

 

[FastDriver]

I've been in the doors in all three cars, recently. This time, Black Jack's windows, while working, were taking forever. The window motor was worn out, and ai was surprised to find that it was OEM, just like Grover's that I pulled out last week. I'll sock it away too and rebuild them one day.

While I was in there, I decided to go ahead and swap the TMI panel over from Black Jack to Father Time. When I looked online recently I saw that they were actually $945, last weekend. Going back online to get this picture again they're on sale, but they're still $845.

I paid $600 for them a couple years ago, and felt a little bit bashful about paying so much for them. Now, I don't feel bad.

Anyways, I wanted to post a picture to show everyone the difference. The biggest thing is that the backing is not cardboard and will not tear as easily when pulling out the push pins. When I pulled it out of Father Time, five of the push pins pulled themselves out of the backing. When I pulled Black Jack's out, none did.

The front of the OEM one still looks damn good, though. I almost don't wanna swap it, but I think the TMI will last longer.

Now I've swapped them over. Sorry, black jack, father time always gets all the best parts. Them's just the rules. On the flip side though, you're the daily driver and always get priority of repairs.

The passenger one's gonna have to wait for another weekend. Maybe, I'll knock out Black Jack's passenger side motor preventatively when I do it.

Also, oil change at 90,070 miles on the odometer.

 

[Mindseye007]

I've been in the doors in all three cars, recently. This time, Black Jack's windows, while working, were taking forever. The window motor was worn out, and ai was surprised to find that it was OEM, just like Grover's that I pulled out last week. I'll sock it away too and rebuild them one day.

While I was in there, I decided to go ahead and swap the TMI panel over from Black Jack to Father Time. When I looked online recently I saw that they were actually $945, last weekend. Going back online to get this picture again they're on sale, but they're still $845.

I paid $600 for them a couple years ago, and felt a little bit bashful about paying so much for them. Now, I don't feel bad.

Anyways, I wanted to post a picture to show everyone the difference. The biggest thing is that the backing is not cardboard and will not tear as easily when pulling out the push pins. When I pulled it out of Father Time, five of the push pins pulled themselves out of the backing. When I pulled Black Jack's out, none did.

The front of the OEM one still looks damn good, though. I almost don't wanna swap it, but I think the TMI will last longer.

Now I've swapped them over. Sorry, black jack, father time always gets all the best parts. Them's just the rules. On the flip side though, you're the daily driver and always get priority of repairs.

The passenger one's gonna have to wait for another weekend. Maybe, I'll knock out Black Jack's passenger side motor preventatively when I do it.

Also, oil change at 90,070 miles on the odometer.

What kind of oil did you use?

 

[gkomo]

Window motors pretty easy to replace? I think my passenger side is on its way out.

 

[nickyb]

I love me some Stoptech Rotors with Hawk HPS pads! I went too far with the pads and ruined the cheap rotors I had on it, last. Didn't like the way they were rusting anyways.

Like them rotors but I had a pair few years back and when I needed them turned I couldn't find anyplace that would turn them.
Back the only parts store on hat turns rotors here is oh oh O'Reilly s

 

[FastDriver]

What kind of oil did you use?

Mobil 1 0W-40. In my other cars I can go thinner, but this car seemingly has some pretty large clearance.

 

[FastDriver]

Window motors pretty easy to replace? I think my passenger side is on its way out.

Very easy. Watch the LMR video. Just make sure you tap the new motor with the factory bolts. If you're going in there, consider buying a hardware kit including guide rod bushings. LMR has a nice kit with all new screws, retainers, push pins, etc.... Removing & reinstalling the guide rods for new bushings is slightly trickier, but nothing too bad. Just need to be careful not to scrape the tint, if your windows are.

 

[FastDriver]

Like them rotors but I had a pair few years back and when I needed them turned I couldn't find anyplace that would turn them.
Back the only parts store on hat turns rotors here is oh oh O'Reilly s

A lotta places won't turn slotted and/or cross drilled. But I like the way they look, and believe there's some minor performance advantage to slotted ones.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Be prepared to get lots of folks telling you they are on backwards. I get it all the time.

 

[FastDriver]

Thankfully, Black Jack has been pretty good to me for a month and a half, but all good things must come to an end.

Clutch time:
I've had the feeling that the clutch was near its end of life, as it's recently required a lot more adjustment and a lot more pedal to fully engage/disengage that it used to need. It's also thrown off clean shifts for the last several months. Well... today I noticed that in the 30* weather, this morning, gassing it in 4th by more than about 1/2 throttle caused it to slip. It'll rev up, presumable get hot enough to reengage and then grab again. The cable is adjusted well enough. So, wither the disc & PP are done, or oil is leaking onto it from the rear main seal. So, I can't put it off anymore.

On order ($612 fron Summit):
- Fidanza 186501 aluminum flywheel
- pilot & throw-out bearings
- rear main seal
- Spare flywheel insert/friction disc

On my shelf:
- Ram 98794T Dual Organic/metallic Powergrip clutch rated for 550hp.

As Black Jack has gearing too tall for the 1/4 mi, I believe this swap is going to hurt me on the 1/4 mi. My only hope is that the 150-shot and future top-end build will be enough to help it get out of the hole. What's more important to me is that it should be snappier revving, & accelerate slightly quicker after launch. So, it'll be an advantage from a roll & at the autocross, and hopefully won't hurt too much at the strip while n/a.

Struts:
Family asked what I want for my upcomi g B-day and it looks like a few might get together to split Koni double adjustable struts for the front end. The current struts are worn out, and again, I was putting off their replacement.

It'll be nice to able to adjust them to suit all 3 of Black Jack's personalities at the strip, on the street, and at the autocross.

Looking forward to installing it all on next long weekend.

 

[hoopty5.0]

I'm shopping flywheels as well since moving to a 28oz motor. Why are you looking at aluminum?

 

[FastDriver]

Slight performance bump when already moving. When I build the motor for black jack, it occurs that I'm already over 150k miles. So, if I do internals, this flywheel comes with weights that allow me to go with a neutral, 28, or 50oz balance. It's the same flywheel as my other two cars, if I remember right, so I can keep a single friction surface on the shelf for all of my cars.

 

[Mindseye007]

Slight performance bump when already moving. When I build the motor for black jack, it occurs that I'm already over 150k miles. So, if I do internals, this flywheel comes with weights that allow me to go with a neutral, 28, or 50oz balance. It's the same flywheel as my other two cars, if I remember right, so I can keep a single friction surface on the shelf for all of my cars.

Thankfully, Black Jack has been pretty good to me for a month and a half, but all good things must come to an end.

Clutch time:
I've had the feeling that the clutch was near its end of life, as it's recently required a lot more adjustment and a lot more pedal to fully engage/disengage that it used to need. It's also thrown off clean shifts for the last several months. Well... today I noticed that in the 30* weather, this morning, gassing it in 4th by more than about 1/2 throttle caused it to slip. It'll rev up, presumable get hot enough to reengage and then grab again. The cable is adjusted well enough. So, wither the disc & PP are done, or oil is leaking onto it from the rear main seal. So, I can't put it off anymore.

On order ($612 fron Summit):
- Fidanza 186501 aluminum flywheel
- pilot & throw-out bearings
- rear main seal
- Spare flywheel insert/friction disc

On my shelf:
- Ram 98794T Dual Organic/metallic Powergrip clutch rated for 550hp.

As Black Jack has gearing too tall for the 1/4 mi, I believe this swap is going to hurt me on the 1/4 mi. My only hope is that the 150-shot and future top-end build will be enough to help it get out of the hole. What's more important to me is that it should be snappier revving, & accelerate slightly quicker after launch. So, it'll be an advantage from a roll & at the autocross, and hopefully won't hurt too much at the strip while n/a.

Struts:
Family asked what I want for my upcomi g B-day and it looks like a few might get together to split Koni double adjustable struts for the front end. The current struts are worn out, and again, I was putting off their replacement.

It'll be nice to able to adjust them to suit all 3 of Black Jack's personalities at the strip, on the street, and at the autocross.

Looking forward to installing it all on next long weekend.

I run a centerforce Dual friction clutch with my z-spec t5 and it grabs like @#$t to the blanket had it for a few years so amazing that clutch and the Z-spec T5.

 

[FastDriver]

I don't know what your idea of getting comfy in winter weather looks like, but after getting Father Time into the trailer to make some room, here's what I have in mind:

It's time to get started on some things I've put off for a while, mostly because the clutch is slipping so badly, and failing to disengage, increasing wear to the synchros, that I can't put it off anymore. Maybe if I hadn't beat on it like a red-headed step-child so much, I could've stretched it for the next couple years & thru the planned rebuild. Anyways, here's what's on the docket:

As you can see, I chickened out on using the lighter aluminum flywheel for now. I will use it when I rebuild the motor, but I think it'll really need the extra 60+ rwhp to get off the line. Right now, it already bogs at any reasonable RPM.

I plan to:
- pull driver's header (Room for bellhousing)
- replace main seal, throw out & pinion bearings
- replace flywheel
- check thrust bearing end play
- check bellhousing centricity, which I didn't do in my last home where I couldn't find my dial indicator & magnetic base
- replace clutch
- install emergency brake cable bracket (my cable is floating, and when I had an adult in the back seat, recently, I could hear it drag on the driveshaft over bumps)
- replace the AC/Heat temp control cable
- Then, install these:

Koni Double-Adjustable 8742-1121 front struts:

Here's how you adjust 'em for Rebound (resistance to extension):

With about 2 3/4 full 360* rotations in range on both shocks, I set them them at 1 rotation from full soft.

Here's how you set compression:

Unlike the rebound setting which is continuous in that it does not have detents that click as you rotate the knob, the compression setting flat-head insert does have a range of 12 clicks from full soft to full hard. I set it to 1 click from full soft.

I have no idea what I'm doing, and there's no published initial setting recommendation from the manufacturer, nor from the likes of Maximum Motorsports, that I could find. So, if you have any experience, it would probably be better than arguing with Chat GPT until it gave me this table:

It's just fronts struts for now. Some day, I'll replace my tokico rears with the 8042-1121 double adjustables.

While Father Time is a straight line & street car with drag-specific DA shocks & struts, and Grover is a handling & street car with non-adjustable Bilsteins, Black Jack will do everything, albeit less capably. It must go from daily driving to whatever event I want to put it in. The DA Konis seemed like the best jack of all trade options that can take much more abuse.

 

[AeroCoupe]

If you know your spring rates then call MM and ask them where they would set them. That’s what I did a zillions years ago and the Coupe rides pretty good but I’m willing to give up some soft ride to carve the corners.

 

[FastDriver]

Thanks for the advice. Will do. They're B-springs... Progressive 430-530 front & 200-250 (some say up to 300) or so rear.

 

[ustacould]

Hey driver, looks like snow out your garage window. I’m looking at 7-8” here so far and still coming. Jthis is the Carolina’s guys!
How’s your Fox sitting right now ?
There’s an F 150 under there too

 

[FastDriver]

Here's a look through the garage window. Not as bad here as it is over there, but we're getting our share of it. Things are all high and dry. You can see two of them in the picture, and the other ones in the trailer I just took a picture of here:

Says it's 17° outside, but I'm toasty in the garage where it's 61, and I could turn it up but I'm warm enough wrenching on the car. Took my sweet ass time and even did some stuff around the garage, but the transmission is about to come out. I rarely do these jobs in a hurry anymore.