Mustang5l5's Progress Thread - Archived Progress thread '08-'20.

[Mustang5L5]

Smog pump. Ohhhhhh. Ahhhhhh.

Just waiting on parts. Discovered you can't change thread title on mobile app. Or maybe you can, but I can't figure out how.

Waiting for pressure bleeder in mail. Hosting some parties here this weekend, so no work on Mustang til Monday. I want to get the smog pump on and then find a block of wood to fit the front caliper to bleed it up.

Then brakes done and onto the 03-04 cobra rack install. Pretty sure my current rack is a 20:1 rack (it's been replaced) as it feels extremely overassisted. Biggest complaint of the car is the steering, and I hope to address that shortly. I loved how the steering in my 2003 GT felt

 

[Mustang5L5]

New pump installed. No more noise. Runs great. Only a single code 44 remains but despite that engine is running quite well. Code 44 is prob a clogged port on the tube behind the heads. Eh.


That's all I got. Waiting on parts to pressure bleed the brakes before I move onto the steering rack. Happy new year

 

[Mustang5L5]

Those the MM stainless hoses? What bracket did you use for the hardline/flex line connection?

Yup. It's the MM 3-peice kit out back. The brackets are supplied by MM, and bolt up like the 94-95 Mustangs. Center line requires you to cut off the factory hose and reuse the bracket

 

[Mustang5L5]

New belt moldings from American muscle. I tried to paint the originals using SEM trim black paint, but failed. It spotted badly

Comparing side by side, not a bad finish

Mounting setup slightly different, but still works fine

Bolted up, same as oem. Pretty good fit

They supply you with plenty of rivet clips, although I bought another batch of them a few months ago as I needed 1. Oh well

 

[Mustang5L5]

Got my rack in. Confirmed it's a SPR ZM rack.

I ordered a new set of inner tie rods. I'll swap them on the bench. MM steering rack adapter to be ordered shortly.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The fox outlets are SAE thread, while SN95 inners are metric. So you have a mixup.

Sn95 outers are longer, and don't work well with the shorter fox a arms

 

[Mustang5L5]

Forgive me for not Googling this and forming my own opinion, but what makes this particular rack better than say an SN GT version?

Stiffer torsion bar and spool valving. That means more of a manual steering feel/input before the power assist begins.

2000 R rack is supposedly the "best", with 03-04 cobra next and 02-04 GT/Mach after that.

Here's an unofficial sn95 rack breakdown.

The torsion bar diameter in the ZM rack is 0.230" in diameter. The bar diameter in a ZK rack is .212" in diameter

Also, the ZM rack comes with rack limiters due to the 275's they put on the cobra. I believe the only Sn95 rack with rack limited other than the ZM rack is the 2000 R rack since it had 265's on it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Keep in mind when it was rebuilt it may have just gotten regular gt parts over the cobra stuff. I believe this is why guys were sourcing oem racks.

That was a concern of mine as I've seen a few discussions over on SVTperformance about getting different stamped racks in the 22-2000 box and not knowing if it was rebuilt specifically as a terminator rack. I think I read the terminator rack was 10-12% stiffer than the later GT rack. Unsure if i'll ever be able to really tell.

If I had a 2004 GT and wanted an upgrade, I'd probably be more concerned, but the fact is my rack more than likely is a 2.3L rack. Shortly after buying the car, the rack failed, and since I wasn't as capable at age 17 as I am now, I had a shop do the job. It came back much looser, so I just assume they made the common LX = 2.3L Mistake that seems to happen a lot when choosing replacement parts. It's close to 3 turns lock to lock, and feels like I'm driving a bus when I turn. Nothing sporty about it.

So coming from this current rack, even if the SN rack was built to GT specs, I'd still be happy. I loved how the steering felt in my 2003 GT, that's why I've been pretty enthusiastic about this swap once I discovered it could be done.

I was just hesitant to source an oem rack for $200+ with 100k miles on it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

IRC, the inner tie rods are secured with an aluminum pop rivet to keep them from coming loose. The 2003-2004 Cobra may not have that feature, but the Fox body OEM original probably does.

Position the rack so that once it is extended as far as it will go and see if there is a pop rivet. Use a 1/8" drill bit to drill out the pop rivet if it is present. Do the other side the same way...

No pop rivets here.

However they sure are on tight! Trying to get both sides off now. Prob would be easier to do on car, but I want to do on bench to get the tie rod end lenght matched up well

Also, you'll notice the 03-04 cobra rack limiters I talked about are not present. I'll prob pick up a set and install.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Scratch that. One rack limiter was present. Gives me hope they did rebuild it to 03/04 cobra specs. The bellows are ford marked as well.

The shaft does have the recess for the fox body roll pin

 

[Mustang5L5]

Inners off. Awaiting the fox inners in the mail.

I haven't purchased new outers yet. Was going to reuse mine, but at this point I'll just buy new ones.

On a different note. My pressure bleeder has been at the FedEx place since Tuesday about 2 miles from me. No idea why they haven't delivered it yet. Wtf?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Tie rod end arrived. They do have the roll pin. Will get these installed shortly. Also, end links, and power steering hoses on the way.

Since I've come this far, I'll prob swap out my pump, and install a filter and aftermarket cooler. Might as well, everything else is new.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ordered moog replacements for my '88.

I know I could have gone taurus ends, but chose to go this route for some reason. Outcome is still the same I guess

 

[Mustang5L5]

So, since all the PS lines are cheap, I ordered up all gates replacement lines. A reman pump is $35, so why not. Considering I am replacing my entire system, I thought I'd ditch the stock tube cooler and put a real cooler in.

I know I could get a $25 cooler and call it a day, but not happy with how most have to mount.

Since I'm all about factory style mods, I decided to see if ford did a real cooler in the SN95 and they did in the 94-95 cobra and all 96+ v8s.

Part number
F6ZZ3D746AA
or
2R3Z-3D746-AA

Problem is new is $100 and I can't find any used ones. For my total cost of this project, do i just pony up? Or do I try and find a way to mount a aftermarket one similar to this?

 

[Mustang5L5]

I see hydraulic restrictions being introduced to a system that I do not know for needing cooling or filtering. What's the benefit?

The aftermarket cooler has a shorter pipe run than the factory cooler, which is nothing more than 2-3 feet of metal tubing, so I don't see that as part of a restriction. If anything, the shorter pipe run will reduce system pressure on the low side due to shorter length. Short of road racing, I may not need a cooler, but Ford thought it was important enough to replace the cooler tube with an actual cooler in the cobra and 96+ Mustangs, so I figure it's cheap insurance.

As for the filter, I may forgo this as reading reviews on several common inline filters seems to show they tend to fail more than they save the steering system. Given that they install on the low pressure return side, they really protect the pump from a failed and chewed up rack. A reman pump is $35.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Welp, reason for the addition of the cooler on the 96+ cars was because of the hydroboost also running off the same system.

Still going to add it the PS cooler. Tons of guys complain about boiling over their PS fluid during AutoXing. While I'm not currently autoXing the car at this time, I'd like to build it to be capable of competing in an event, so that's why I'd like to add the cooler on a car currently only street driven.

AutoXing was fun, and I'd do it again if I ever found myself with a vehicle I could tow the stang around with. Local AutoX club is an hour away from me.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Will do. Still trying to select parts. Some stuff in the mail. Need to order the MM steering rack adapter shortly.

I took a step back on the cooler. Might select a different model, but my concern is routing the lines in a clean spot. Might revisit searching for a SN95 cooler

 

[Mustang5L5]

went to wrap up my brake bleeding. Decided to test fit the bleeder to a spare MC first.

Hmm. What's wrong here

 

[95BlueStallion]

Ummm, nothing in the bag to bleed with?

 

[95BlueStallion]

Ah, now I see it. Two prong.