Nick's "lvndpst" Restoration (and Slight Modification) Thread

Boostedpimp said:

coilovers mah man.. never deal with that bs again

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I considered coil overs, but didnt want to spend the money.

02 281 GT said:

Whenever I install springs, I spray the perch and isolator down with a generous amount of WD40. That will keep the isolator from binding on the perch and becoming deformed once the spring is in place.

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What I had done was seat the spring in the arm perch, and then jack the whole thing into place as a unit. But the WD might have helped it slide back in better when I did the prying. Good suggestion. At this point, its good enough for who its for, lol.

Davedacarpainter said:

That sucks Nick! I hope it works well for you now.

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Im hoping the poly bushings in these arms help tighten up the car's handling. That was the only reason I chose them over stock replacements.

Davedacarpainter said:

I changed out the factory rubber bushings for urethane on my last truck. It was amazing the difference they made. Much tighter steering.

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I put poly steering rack bushings in as well. Poly engine and trans mounts, front and rear control arms too. Im excited to drive the damn car one of these days. Still more work left to do though. Alignment, exhaust, bleed brakes, burp steering system... It goes on and on, lol. Not quite as much as you though.

For better or worse, the car is back on the ground. The garage has been picked up since this picture was taken, btw. I am not a hoarder!



It now has Eibach Pro Kit springs (hoping the rear settles some), with their front and rear sway bars, Koni shocks/struts, poopy BMR front tubular control arms (still hate them), MM rear lowers, BMR adjustable rear uppers (I like to dial in pinion angle). I replaced the rubber upper control arm bushings in the axle with OEM Ford units, and POR-15'd the axle, and added a braided brake line from body to axle.

Here is a pic of the wonky angle BMR puts the spring perch at on the front control arms. With full weight on the wheels the spring perch still has a lot of positive camber vs the ground making the spring continue to back bend. Why they wouldnt make it parallel to the ground at ride height (still giving it positive camber from the K member perch) is beyond me. Made for very difficult install.



I have not gotten around to installing the MM full length SFCs. I have to finish applying POR-15 to the floor pans first, and am out of it at the moment. I want to drive the car, get my custom tail pipes made, and get it aligned. The power steering needs more burping, and the clutch needs more break in miles as well.

I bought one of those cup holder center consoles and some plain floor mats to finish off the interior for now. I have so much more I want to do with the car, but want to enjoy driving it this fall. So for now, finishing the exterior gray paint and installing those interior items is all I have left for this year's mods.

Davedacarpainter said:

You’re close Nick.

I want to hear how it drives, seems like it’ll be a whole different vehicle than what you had before.

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Getting there Dave. My alignment is way off, I need to adjust it before I drive it. And the car needs tuned yet. Also, I have no idea what I did with my headlight bulbs, lol. I lost them after taking the nose off to make the bumper. Went to pull out into the street last night and have no head lights!

hoopty5.0 said:

So, after all this, are you going to drive it for a while?

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Yeah. Once the tails are on, silver exterior paint is done, and car is aligned it will share DD status through the fall.

The front is currently about an inch lower than the rear. Im hoping the rear comes down a touch yet. We'll see how it looks after an alignment. Once I have the tails and paint done, I will take some cleaned up pics to post.

Gotta get these lights out to @95steedamustang for restoration this winter.



Also, trying to decide what to do with the bottom of the Cobra bumper. The underside sags down a bit. Its not noticable in this pic, but is when youre walking up to the car. I dont like the factory Cobra lip, but was thinking of making a subtle splitter for it. Just something flat to hold it up all level underneath. Maybe even not be a splitter but like an ABS aero plate of sorts under the front bumper. You boys have any ideas? Cant seem to find where anyone has put a different styled lip/splitter on an '03-'04 Cobra bumper.