- May 31, 2002
- 508
- 2
- 19
I never found much on the install for the Classic Performance Products mini sub frame with tubular a-arms so I'm going to try to document this as I go,, Bear with me its my first build progress write up, and I'm not much for stopping to take pictures. But here I go.
So some back story first. Little hesitant about this kit because of the lack of resources, the fact that there service/sales department is terrible (more on that later), and build quality.
I went ahead with this kit because I'm in a situation where welding isn't an option. Where I live has a tiny garage, and if I try to run my welder for more than sheet metal it blows the 15amp fuse that runs the garage, bathroom, fridge... you get the picture
There she is!! spent a few hours Saturday on tear down, but didnt want to bore you with that.
There's the two bare shock towers sort of cleaned up and empty
This is what I considered the point of no return. The original strut mounts need to be lopped off for the new subframe. Little nervous about this so I spent some time removing the leaking bendix steering to make way for the new integral borgeson box.
Deep breath.... and they're gone!! only tip I have is make sure your center punch is super sharp so you get a nice divot for the spot weld cutter to track in.
And there's my pinky finger, probably the only one not bleeding at this point HA but here's the frame cleaned up a bit with a quick spray just to keep things neat. The nice thing about working on the Mut-stang is I don't have to worry about it being pretty or masking anything off etc, someday she'll be blown apart for paint.... someday
Now theres a big gap in time here because I really struggled with the next step. The control arm eccentrics they sent are JUNK!!! Super soft steel. 3 went in pretty easy but the 4th got jammed up big time, I only got it about half way in and no matter how hard I wacked it with a BFH it would not budge. I wound up having to take a bunch of stuff back apart and pressing it out with a ball joint press. When I got it out I noticed the tiniest bit of slag? I guess inside the steel insert for the bushing that wedged it up. Also some how I rounded out the "D" in the eccentric washers making them usless, didnt take much force to do at all... 5 hours ago I called CPP about getting a new eccentric and still haven't gotten a call back... I went ahead and ordered a set from summit with cam eliminators... Overnighted them hopefully they get here tomorrow..
Here's what the sub looks like sort of installed, I broke 2 7/16" drill bits so I called it for the night. The 4 bolts at the front of the core support were a pain, unless You wanna pull the radiator, you better have small fingers. Un seen is a 1/4' plate that starts those bolts out and is the bread in this sub-frame/core-support sandwich. Again, If I had the option I would have welded the bolts to those plates to make install a little easier. Also this car is old, who knows whats been done to it, but I assume someone used the core support as a jacking point as it was shaped a bit like a banana. I used a little bit longer bolt and just pulled the sub-frame and core support together, probably not the thing to do, but I think it'll be fine. I guess I'll find out when I get it aligned. Also not real happy about the "powder coating", you can see exactly which bolt I had problems with and how easily the paint chipped, oh well she's a go'r not a show'r.
More tomorrow! Thanks Fellas!!
So some back story first. Little hesitant about this kit because of the lack of resources, the fact that there service/sales department is terrible (more on that later), and build quality.
I went ahead with this kit because I'm in a situation where welding isn't an option. Where I live has a tiny garage, and if I try to run my welder for more than sheet metal it blows the 15amp fuse that runs the garage, bathroom, fridge... you get the picture
There she is!! spent a few hours Saturday on tear down, but didnt want to bore you with that.
There's the two bare shock towers sort of cleaned up and empty
This is what I considered the point of no return. The original strut mounts need to be lopped off for the new subframe. Little nervous about this so I spent some time removing the leaking bendix steering to make way for the new integral borgeson box.
Deep breath.... and they're gone!! only tip I have is make sure your center punch is super sharp so you get a nice divot for the spot weld cutter to track in.
And there's my pinky finger, probably the only one not bleeding at this point HA but here's the frame cleaned up a bit with a quick spray just to keep things neat. The nice thing about working on the Mut-stang is I don't have to worry about it being pretty or masking anything off etc, someday she'll be blown apart for paint.... someday
Now theres a big gap in time here because I really struggled with the next step. The control arm eccentrics they sent are JUNK!!! Super soft steel. 3 went in pretty easy but the 4th got jammed up big time, I only got it about half way in and no matter how hard I wacked it with a BFH it would not budge. I wound up having to take a bunch of stuff back apart and pressing it out with a ball joint press. When I got it out I noticed the tiniest bit of slag? I guess inside the steel insert for the bushing that wedged it up. Also some how I rounded out the "D" in the eccentric washers making them usless, didnt take much force to do at all... 5 hours ago I called CPP about getting a new eccentric and still haven't gotten a call back... I went ahead and ordered a set from summit with cam eliminators... Overnighted them hopefully they get here tomorrow..
Here's what the sub looks like sort of installed, I broke 2 7/16" drill bits so I called it for the night. The 4 bolts at the front of the core support were a pain, unless You wanna pull the radiator, you better have small fingers. Un seen is a 1/4' plate that starts those bolts out and is the bread in this sub-frame/core-support sandwich. Again, If I had the option I would have welded the bolts to those plates to make install a little easier. Also this car is old, who knows whats been done to it, but I assume someone used the core support as a jacking point as it was shaped a bit like a banana. I used a little bit longer bolt and just pulled the sub-frame and core support together, probably not the thing to do, but I think it'll be fine. I guess I'll find out when I get it aligned. Also not real happy about the "powder coating", you can see exactly which bolt I had problems with and how easily the paint chipped, oh well she's a go'r not a show'r.
More tomorrow! Thanks Fellas!!