Progress Thread Nicholase "lights out" build-

nicholase · Dec 27, 2024

gkomo said:
Sounds like a big undertaking but will definitely be worth it! The 13” front/rear brake rotors are a nice touch, not something you see often.

Didn’t know they made 10” Pony’s. The staggered look will be sweet.

It will definitely keep me busy this winter! Yeah, they have 8,9,10 widths.

Mac131 said:
That's gonna look awesome. Your studs should be just fine. I doubt you'll need any spacers...atleast not big ones.

I'm excited about it. I know I'll need studs for the new rear axles because they don't come with any. Not sure if the new front hubs will have long enough studs. I shouldn't need any spacers as far as I can tell.

One oddity of the 17" Pony wheels is the hub area is thicker than any other wheel I've ever seen. They have a smaller backspacing (push the barrel of wheel out) than the factory 16" Ponys for better tire clearance and widths, and a more modern look. However they kept the center section of the wheel almost flush with the outside rim edge. I believe this is to matain the factory look and not have a "deep dish" pony wheel. It wouldn't really look the same that way. So to get the desired offset and look they make the hub area thicker.

Pic below shows how deep the hub area is.

Currently my 4 lug Ponys have just enough stud for a lug to cover almost all the thread. It's very close to being a no go. Honestly it bugs me how close it is. Pic below.

So if the new 94+ sealed bearing hubs have the same length studs I'm going to swap them out for something longer.

One advantage of the extra thick hub area is it keeps the inside face of the wheel center section out quite a ways from all the brake parts. Because of that I'm able to fit some pretty moster calipers in there!

Mac131 said:
I just pulled the trigger on some new wheels. 94-97 cobra rims. I don't know why...but I like them on a fox when the car is dropped a bit.

Appreciate the update!

Nice. I'll have to go through your thread and check em out! There are alot of wheels that I really like on the foxbodies. Those should look great. For some reason the stock-ish exterior look is what I love. At first it looks stock, then the more you look the more it become apparent it's not. The staggered Ponys on a slightly lowered chassis have a sneaky custom look, to me anyway lol.

AeroCoupe · Dec 27, 2024

I would say you are definitely going to be busy but its going to be worth it for sure!

I am only going to say this as the engineer in me is pacing back and forth with regards to wheel lug nut engagement and safety. The nuts are designed to have full engagement of threads through the nut. Yours look one to two threads short on most of them. If it were me I would have a minimum of two threads past the wheel lugs to ensure some margin of safety. This is the biggest reason I got away from wheel caps that cover the studs as you cannot run longer studs to ensure that if the nut(s) were to back off that you would have some time to get the car shut down and not loose a wheel.

You should be able to find a stud that is the correct length to get the stud past the nut a couple of threads and still tuck under the wheel cap. Worst case would be order them long, cut to length, and then chamfer the ends.

nicholase · Dec 27, 2024

^For sure.

Thats why I mentioned ordering new studs. Just waiting for the stuff to come in so I can get some measurements.

Hopefully the new sealed bearing 94+ hubs have longer studs than the old 4 lug rotor/hubs. They might be fine. If not I see ARP makes a few nice sets for various lengths for both the 94-04 hubs and Moser axles that are incoming.

Noobz347 · Dec 27, 2024

But... Acorn lugz suck ballz

nicholase · Dec 30, 2024

Some of my parts came in today. In case anyone was wondering I can confirm the 17" 5 lug Pony wheels center bore fits perfectly over 1994 Mustang hubs and Moser axles w/ SN95 flange. I was really hoping this would be the case. It's a nice snug fit so I won't be relying on the lugs to center the wheel. The Baer rotors should fit in the same manner so I wont need any hubcentric rings for any of the setup which is what I was shooting for.

I'll be using 94 spindles for the conversion. I bought some new Ford hubs for them. I like to stick to OEM if I can so it's nice to have that option.

The not so great news the studs in the new hubs measure 2" total under head length. They seem pretty short for the new 5 lug Ponys. Better than my old 4 lug setup but not by much. It seems like full engagement, just barely. I don't think I'll need wheel spacers for anything now or down the road, but I couldn't ever use them if I needed to.

Here are some pics. What do you guys think?

I did some measurements and the 2½ ARP studs would give me ½" more thread and fit under the center caps fine. I need to order them for the new rear axles because they came without studs. I'm thinking while it's at this point just replace the hub studs with the ARP as well.

AeroCoupe · Dec 31, 2024

That is what I would do. Glad they fit the SN95 hubs.

nicholase · Jan 2, 2025

Everyone is about to witness a magnificent illustration of "project creep" this winter

Bunch of stuff out.

When I was going over what will be my brake install I noticed a few spots in the brake lines that looked questionable. Mostly behind the hold down brackets. Little bit of corrosion forming. With every other part of the brake system being replaced it made sense to do the brake lines now. Especially with the booster out because those lines behind it would never be able to be done later with out removing it again and I'm pretty sure i never want to take that out again lol.

In the "Made In America" thread I mentioned Classic Tube. They make brake and fuel lines (and other stuff) here in the USA. They are local to me so I had a chance to pick my lines up direct and check out the factory. Cool place. Cool people. They have jigs for everything and bend it all right there. It's nice picking up in person because they don't put all the extra bends in the lines to fit in a shipping box.

I got a full brake line kit in stainless steel.

Install went really well so far. The lines fit nice and they weren't that bad to get in. I did everything under the hood today and gutted the prop valve. Going to tackle the long rear line tomorrow.

Cleaned up the chassis a little while it's all apart.

Noobz347 · Jan 2, 2025

Damn... That car is really clean under there.

gkomo · Jan 2, 2025

Nice workspace too! Car is looking great and your attention to detail is fantastic

nicholase · Jan 2, 2025

gkomo said:
Nice workspace too! Car is looking great and your attention to detail is fantastic

Thanks. It's my gym / shop. Pretty chilly out there this time of the year!

nicholase · Jan 3, 2025

I got the long firewall to axle brake line in today. I did have to remove the muffler and driveshaft to drill out the old rivits securing the line to the floor pan. Also had to disconnect the E-brkae cable and loosen up the fuel line to get it properly positioned. That spot where the brake line goes over the muffler was the trickiest to get right. Otherwise it went well. I was able to fish it between the subframe connector and floorplan fine. I was thinking I might have to cut and flare a union in there but that wasn't the case. The lines from Classic Tube fit real nice.

The front where it goes up the wheel well into the engine bay.

Now I'll have to decide where to put the new adjustable prop valve. I don't really like the location by the hood hinge. Probably gonna put it by the master.

gkomo · Jan 3, 2025

That's the cleanest undercarriage I’ve seen for not being a fresh from scratch build!

Potomus Pete · Jan 3, 2025

Looks great...Lets keep it up.

AeroCoupe · Jan 3, 2025

Putting the proportioning valve at the union by the hinge is by far the best place IMO. They thread right in and are easily accessible.

And holy hell that undercarriage is clean...very jealous!

nicholase · Jan 5, 2025

Waiting on the other brake parts so I moved on with the rear end. I wanted to clean up and paint it, as well as install the carbon fiber track lok clutch packs. With it this far dismantled it wasn't much more just to pull it out.

Got the clutch packs soaking in the stinky stuff. Each side of clutch packs came wrapped separately. The instructions mention not to mix them up side to side, so I put them in some ziplock bags separately and marked them.

Got it degreased and cleaned up pretty good. I'll hit it again after I do the traction lok. Then paint it. I'll let it drip drain till next weekend. I got some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Plus coming. That's the same stuff I used in the subframe connectors. It brushes on nice and seems ridiculously tough.

It will be nice to get the brakes and axle lines made up while the axle is out. I'll cut and flare my new stainless lines so they fit nice to the new disc brake hoses. I have a nice Eastwood flare tool that does stainless.

Hopefully all the fun stuff (Brakes and suspension)starts rolling in soon.

Man, I can smell friction modifier on me as I type this.

nicholase · Jan 5, 2025

AeroCoupe said:
Putting the proportioning valve at the union by the hinge is by far the best place IMO. They thread right in and are easily accessible.

And holy hell that undercarriage is clean...very jealous!

Yeah, it's in incredible shape. Almost unbelievable sometimes to me. Here's the original backing plate I just took off today. Pretty sure that's the original wheel cylinder too with that yellow paint mark.

Unicorn for sure, especially up here in western New York.

nicholase · Jan 10, 2025

I got my new carbon trak lok in. Also prepped my axles and hubs with some new studs. I got ARP 2.5" , .625 knurl studs for both the 94 hubs and new Moser axles. The studs pressed right in the axles as they are already drilled for them.

For the hubs I pressed off the ABS ring, don't need that and pressed out all the studs. Then drilled them out for the. 625 knurl with a 29/64" bit.

Then pressed in the studs

All ready to go.

I also welded on the new rear calipers flex lines brackets and painted the axle. Hopefully it's dry tomorrow and I can assemble the rear brakes.

nicholase · Jan 11, 2025

The paint dried overnight enough to do some work on the rear end. Today I got the axle closed up. Hopefully the garage is less stinky tomorrow! This summer I had the rear end rebuilt with new bearings and seals when I had the 3:55's put in. So other than doing the trac lok there wasn't any maintenance needed inside. I did pop in some new Motorcraft axle seals. Just thought it would be a good idea with the new axles.

This is the e-brake setup of the Baer brakes. It's pretty neat. It's a single semi-circle shoe that rides in the rotor. The backing plate is also is the caliper mount. It came with new e-brake cables as well.

Everything went together nicely. For the brake lines I welded on the flex line retainers with a plug weld to the axle tube. For the hard lines I used the stainless brake lines from the Classic Tube kit I got for the axle. They had to be shortend though for the disc set up. For the axle to body line I got a stainless flex line kit from Maximum Motorsports. I mocked everything up, cut the hard lines, and popped on some double flares.

I have a crazy work schedule for the next few weeks. So I'll wait till then to put the rear end back in. That will let the paint set up nice too.

nicholase · Jan 24, 2025

Got the rear end back in.

The kit came with e brake cables so I replaced those.

Mocked up the fronts

Checked for clearance on the front wheels. I previously contacted Bear and got a template to use. I was pretty sure it would all be fine, and it is.

Next will be putting together the coilovers and getting the front back together.

Noobz347 · Jan 24, 2025

Great images that I'm saving for threads that ask: "I just bought a Fox. What do I need to do now?"

Step 1: Remove all this stuff:

Progress Thread Nicholase "lights out" build-

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

lube between the nut and the face. I know my lubes

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

I lubed and pushed, until it was all the way in

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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