Ok, we all know what an older fox body convert. soundslike when driving down the road. Bang, creek, pop, squeek. lol
My question is; where do I start?
Stiffining the chassy?
realigning the body?
Tighting bolts?
Where do I start? Who do I take it to? What do I buy?
I put a set of subframe connectors and a x-brace that mounts between the subframes on my wife's 87 T-Top and it took care of all of the noises you've mentioned. I purchased them from Year One. Next I'd replace the coil spring isolators and then move on to the rear control arms.
Like 93cobra said, start with subframe connectors and a strut tower brace. You won't regret it.
You probably can install the strut tower brace by yourself, but i'd call around to local chassis & frame shops to see if they could weld the subframe connectors in for you. There are some that can be bolted on, but having them welded on is superior.
Custom welded subframes is the only way to go. That took care of all the problems i had on my conv. If you can have your subframes also tie into the jack rails, this will also help stiffen up the body.
If you're concerned that permanent misalignment has already concerned, take the car to a body shop, and let them put it on their frame/unibody jig. They can pull the unibody back into proper alignment BEFORE welding in the subframe/x-brace connectors. If it's already tweaked, and you weld them in, you're sort of locking it into the misaligned condition. Know what I mean? The fox bodies were flexible flyers to start with; the verts and t-tops have the structural integrity of limp spaghetti. Subframes, x-brace AND a roll bar/cage would be best.
just got a mac strut tower brace for 60 shipped off of ebay brand new in box, fordmuscle.com has some good articles on chassis stiffening. when i install the brace i'll post how good it helped
Go with Here www.maximummotorsports.com they have everything in suspension part. I highly recomend their strut tower brace. I have one of thiers. Plus the one I had made it through a high speed front end accident and I am using it on my another Mustang. I did not have to bend it or anything. Here are pics http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/405745/2.
The firewall mounting point for the strut towers’ rear braces is the pinchweld which runs the width of the firewall. This pinchweld was formed by folding three pieces of metal together, and then welding them together. When attaching something to sheet metal, the best mounting point is at a joint or a corner, such as the pinchweld (the joining of the upper firewall, the lower firewall, and the floor of the cowl). The pinchweld is the strongest portion of the firewall, providing an extremely stiff mounting point for the strut brace.
While any strut-brace helps, it alone won't come close to helping with the central flex issues. The point of flex is in the floor pan right under the front seats. The only way to address that is with subframe connectors which join the front and rear subframes, and provide a bunch of bending stiffness right where it's needed.
if not mentioned, on a vert, most likely one will need to mod the torque boxes for the subs to fit. also they have to be welded (no where to bolt to on a vert - that i can tell).
Dave has reported that Bilsteins (one of Michael's fav's too) really stiffened things up before the subs went in.
Actually, the stiffer/stouter/firmer (pick your adjective) suspension bits added BEFORE the chassis is stiffened up usually just make the flex problem worse. They result in bigger forces being put into the unibody - which just flexes more. People would be amazed at how well the car could be made to go around corners by 1) stiffening up the unibody - preferably connectors and roll cage; 2) adding a quality set of shocks; 3) adding a quality pair of anti-sway bars - rear one being adjustable; 4) adding sticky rubber and lightweight wheels; and 5) camber plates to put a little negative camber in the front. Ride quality would be compromised very little from stock.
Also, a good place to look to see if permanent tweaking has already taken place are the fender/door/hood/trunk seams. If they're not even all around the car there's a good chance that either the vehicle's been hit, or the unibody has already 'flexed' further than you'd like.
I installed the KB chassis support kit and it made a dramatic diffrence. I plan to add the matrix braces and the jacking rails next. had this set up on my previous hatch and it was amazing, hoping for the same with the vert.
I put on Kenny Brown Chasis stiffners in 92 when I got my stang off lease from a friend of a friend and it really firmed up the chasis. Back then all you got in the complete KB kit was strut tower brace, 4 point under engine craddle (K member suport) and subframe connectors that welded in nice and tight. The subframe connectors had a part that went under the front seats. I have never had any problems with chasis flex or rattle even going over train tracks. Stock the chasis was as flexible as a wet noodle now it feels like the 2004 verts do from the factory. Remember my car now has 120,000 miles on it! KB dont look real stout but they do the job and do it for a long time! And with a stiffer chasis all your suspension parts will work better.