I knew that it was getting time to do the ignition in the car. It was running a little rough and I know from past experience that it was due to spark. I run an autolite 24 plug in the car since it still has the iron heads. The stock plug is an autolite 25. The 24 is one heat range colder. I figured that if I was going to do it, I was going to source everything first.
I ordered Motorcraft wires. I figured if the originals went 100k miles, these should also. I also ordered motorcraft cap and rotor for the distributor, and also picked up a Streetfire coil from my friend since he had one on the shelf. As I mentioned before, I also ordered the Autolite 24 plugs, 8 of course.
The installation is pretty straightforward. I gap my plugs for the sole reason that I have always done that. Talk to any engine builder and they will tell you that gapping is unnecessary, as long as the plug is 'good'. Remove a plug boot, remove the plug, replace with a new spark plug, change that wire with one of the same length. Plug the wire into the NEW distributor cap, in the same location. By the time you are done, all the wires are and plugs have been replaced and the wires are connected to the new distributor cap. Remove the old cap and rotor. Install the new rotor, and place the new cap (with all the wires on it) onto the distributor. Sometimes the wires are numbered, which helps if you know the firing order. Using the method above takes the guess work out of it all. While replacing the number 4 wire (passenger side, all the way in the back) I noticed that it was not seated correctly. This was probably the root cause of the car running a bit rough.
I moved on to the coil, which is a very simple remove and replace. Its right on top of the engine which makes it very easy. I also decided to check the timing. It was set at 10*, which is perfect. I started up the car, and everything worked perfectly. And it ran much smoother. I now have 17k miles on those plugs / wires. Since they are a copper plug, It may be worth it to replace them at 20k since they are only one dollar or so per plug.
This was one of the easier upgrades, and I did it for less than 60 dollars in parts, shipped to my door.
I was told that adding an MSD ignition box or equivalent may help with gas mileage. I have not yet done that, so I won't comment at this time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
94 Mustang GT: Brakes
Brakes are really important. They could mean the difference between being in an accident, or avoiding an accident. I've always been a big fan of stopping power. There came a time where I needed to change my brakes in the 94 GT Convertible. I had just recently bought the car, so my great idea was to go budget. The brakes are already 'good'. I'll just get the rotors cut and put some cheap pads on there. That's exactly what I did, and I did it for less than 100$ for all four corners. I took the car out, bedded the brakes and began using them. Everything seemed fine to me. Some time during my lovely 74 mile commute to work, I needed to execute a panic stop. I came around a blind corner going 70MPH and traffic was absolutely stopped. I jammed on the brakes and after about 3 seconds, fade crept in. For those that don't know, fade feels exactly what it sounds like - the brakes almost feel like they get wet and slippery. This is due to a build up of gasses between the pad and rotor. Another root cause is the pad material. I needed to do some pumping of the brakes and some serious downshifting in order to stop in time. After that, I didn't really trust the brakes anymore. Time for an upgrade.
One of the common bolt-on upgrades for the 94 mustang GT is 1999 to 2004 front calipers. They are called PBR calipers, and they are dual piston. the two pistons add up to more stopping power than the single large piston caliper that came stock on the 94. I found a set of good working used PBR calipers and had them shipped to my house. I also had a set of stock rear calipers on the shelf - they were for another project that never came to light. I did some research on brake pads and everything was pointing to the hawk HPS pads. I also wanted to do some cross drilled and slotted rotors on the car. I found a company that gave me a great deal on the four rotors and pads for my car so I ordered them. I also needed to get new front brake lines, so I decided to upgrade the rubber lines to braided stainless steel. I ordered the stainless steel braided brake line kit from summit. I dont remember what the part number or manufacturer was. Probably Earls Performance.
At this point I had front and rear calipers, front and rear hawk HPS pads, Front and rear cross drilled and slotted rotors and the stainless steel braided brake lines. I decided to get a fresh coat of paint on the calipers. I took the calipers over to my friend's house who has a sand blasting cabinet. We spent some time chasing the threads in the brackets and on the bolts. We also taped off the important areas and into the cabinet they went. When they came out, they looked fantastic! I'll note here that we really don't use sand, its shards of glass. I picked up a bucket from McMaster Carr for my buddy since he helped me out. I took the calipers home, and gave them a few coats of Dupont black engine enamel. I gave it some time in between coats, and hung them in the garage to dry.
Finally it was time to do the install. Everything went very smoothly. The calipers were remove and replace, the rotors were new, there were no surprises. The step was bleeding the brakes. After that was done, I installed the wheels and tires, torqued the lugs and it was off to bed the brakes. The idea is to go from 50 to 10mph without coming to a full stop. This was repeated 5 to 8 times. Then, I need to drive around - not using the brakes is preferred - to let them cool for about 5-10 minutes. The brakes should have a 'bite' to them after the third full stop. This was not the case for me. After the fourth stop, I realized that something wasn't right. The brakes felt better, but it just didn't throw me out of my seat like I expected.
I opened up a discussion thread on the Corral.net to hopefully get to the bottom of it. About a day into the discussion, we found the problem. The master cylinder in the 94 GT is TOO BIG for the 1999 GT calipers. The 1999 mustang used a smaller master cylinder so the root cause was a mis-match between the calipers and master cylinder. I could either put the stock calipers back on (which means I also needed different brake pads) or I could change my master cylinder. I chose to change the master cylinder. It turns out that the 1993 mustang cobra master cylinder was the perfect match. I bought one from RockAuto.com and installed it. Of course it was nice to bleed the brakes yet again. The difference was night and day. The stopping power I had now was way better than it had ever been. Brake upgrade - Complete.
One more thing to note. The hawk HPS pads create a lot of brake dust. I have 42k miles on this set up and its getting close to me needing to replace the front pads again. I went through the same company and installed the cross drilled and slotted rotors with centric posi-quiet pads on my 04 Expedition when that needed the brakes done. There's really no brake dust problem there. In hind site, I should have went with the posi-quiet pads instead of the hawk. The hawk would have been a great upgrade if I was not going with the cross drilled and slotted rotors. I'm still up in the air about replacing the front AND back pads in the mustang with the posi-quiet pads for 70$ shipped OR just replacing the fronts with the hawk pads for 80$ shipped.
Stay Tuned!
One of the common bolt-on upgrades for the 94 mustang GT is 1999 to 2004 front calipers. They are called PBR calipers, and they are dual piston. the two pistons add up to more stopping power than the single large piston caliper that came stock on the 94. I found a set of good working used PBR calipers and had them shipped to my house. I also had a set of stock rear calipers on the shelf - they were for another project that never came to light. I did some research on brake pads and everything was pointing to the hawk HPS pads. I also wanted to do some cross drilled and slotted rotors on the car. I found a company that gave me a great deal on the four rotors and pads for my car so I ordered them. I also needed to get new front brake lines, so I decided to upgrade the rubber lines to braided stainless steel. I ordered the stainless steel braided brake line kit from summit. I dont remember what the part number or manufacturer was. Probably Earls Performance.
At this point I had front and rear calipers, front and rear hawk HPS pads, Front and rear cross drilled and slotted rotors and the stainless steel braided brake lines. I decided to get a fresh coat of paint on the calipers. I took the calipers over to my friend's house who has a sand blasting cabinet. We spent some time chasing the threads in the brackets and on the bolts. We also taped off the important areas and into the cabinet they went. When they came out, they looked fantastic! I'll note here that we really don't use sand, its shards of glass. I picked up a bucket from McMaster Carr for my buddy since he helped me out. I took the calipers home, and gave them a few coats of Dupont black engine enamel. I gave it some time in between coats, and hung them in the garage to dry.
Finally it was time to do the install. Everything went very smoothly. The calipers were remove and replace, the rotors were new, there were no surprises. The step was bleeding the brakes. After that was done, I installed the wheels and tires, torqued the lugs and it was off to bed the brakes. The idea is to go from 50 to 10mph without coming to a full stop. This was repeated 5 to 8 times. Then, I need to drive around - not using the brakes is preferred - to let them cool for about 5-10 minutes. The brakes should have a 'bite' to them after the third full stop. This was not the case for me. After the fourth stop, I realized that something wasn't right. The brakes felt better, but it just didn't throw me out of my seat like I expected.
I opened up a discussion thread on the Corral.net to hopefully get to the bottom of it. About a day into the discussion, we found the problem. The master cylinder in the 94 GT is TOO BIG for the 1999 GT calipers. The 1999 mustang used a smaller master cylinder so the root cause was a mis-match between the calipers and master cylinder. I could either put the stock calipers back on (which means I also needed different brake pads) or I could change my master cylinder. I chose to change the master cylinder. It turns out that the 1993 mustang cobra master cylinder was the perfect match. I bought one from RockAuto.com and installed it. Of course it was nice to bleed the brakes yet again. The difference was night and day. The stopping power I had now was way better than it had ever been. Brake upgrade - Complete.
One more thing to note. The hawk HPS pads create a lot of brake dust. I have 42k miles on this set up and its getting close to me needing to replace the front pads again. I went through the same company and installed the cross drilled and slotted rotors with centric posi-quiet pads on my 04 Expedition when that needed the brakes done. There's really no brake dust problem there. In hind site, I should have went with the posi-quiet pads instead of the hawk. The hawk would have been a great upgrade if I was not going with the cross drilled and slotted rotors. I'm still up in the air about replacing the front AND back pads in the mustang with the posi-quiet pads for 70$ shipped OR just replacing the fronts with the hawk pads for 80$ shipped.
Stay Tuned!
94 Mustang GT: Wheels and Tires
I would like to continue on about the brakes wheels and tires on the 94 GT convertible. The stock wheels on the 94 GT have been nicknamed 'ponies'. They are a 16x7 wheel, and thy are just UGLY. I knew that they had to go, and my plan was to upgrade when I needed new tires. The tires that were on the car when I bought it were fuzions, and they were just horrible. They are probably the cheapest tire money can buy. I couldn't wait for them to wear down and because of that, I probably did one too many burnouts!
I began my search for some wheels. I didn't need tires since I was going to choose my own - More on that in a minute. My search brought me to the corral where someone had a set of original Mach 1 wheels, with snow tires and the stock tires. I was told by the guy that the tires were shot. The nice part is that he only wanted 125 for all four. The wheels did have some scuffs and some curb rash, but from 20 feet away, they didn't look too bad. And they definitely looked better than the stock wheels! This guy was in connecticut, and it just so happened that my brother was heading from Boston to Saylorsburg PA to come and visit me. This was going to save me a trip. I put my brother and he in touch with each other. They met up and I had my brother call me just to make sure everything is OK. When he called he said "its 125 total right, not just for one wheel?!?" Apparently they were in better shape then I thought! When they showed up, I checked them out. The tires were definitely shot, and there were plenty of blemishes, but they were exactly what I needed. I gave them a very thorough cleaning, put a couple of coats of carnuba wax on them, and I was happy. They are also a bigger wheel, measuring in at 17x8. The next step was to get some tires!
Any self respecting gear-head always takes to the TireRack.com when they are doing their research. I wanted a performance all season tire that was going to offer some good tread wear - meaning they were going to last me at least 45k miles. I also have an edge here. My best friend works as the manager of a tire shop, and has been there for years. Needless to say, he knows everything there is to know about tires. I touched base with him first, and collected the key points to check out when shopping for a tire.
I also wanted to increase the side wall of the tire just a bit. I figured going from 16x7 to a 17x8 would fill out the wheel well a little more. If i was able to take up just one more inch, I would probably be able to get away with NOT lowering the car. If I kept the stock ride height / springs, I could still put a few people in the car without it bottoming out. I could also pack the car without worrying about rolling the fenders or the fenders cutting the tires. A little bit of research revealed that I would be able to increase the side wall by 1/2 inch (one inch overall) and it wouldn't make that much of a difference. The tire size after all the math worked out to be 235/50 17. For reference, the stock size for the mach 1 is 245/45 17. There are a bunch of tire size calculators out there. Feel free to look them up!
On the TireRack there is UTQG rating - this is the industry standard scientific test for traction, temperature and treadwear. The first number in the UTQG is the treadwear. The higher the number, the longer the tire will last. The next letter is the traction rating and the final letter is the temperature rating. I won't get into too much detail here. If you want to read more, just follow this link and it will tell you everything you need to know: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
The final step was to choose a tire. I sorted all the tires available in this size by the UTQG rating. Then I de-selected everything except all season tires. This narrowed the field to 22 tires. The Kuhmo Ecsta LX Platinum rose right to the top. It had a UTQG of 600 A A, which is a great tread wear rating! Its also a 96W rated tire, it also has a ZR rating. These are all good things! They were also very affordable. Sometimes they have rebates / good deals too. At the time I'm looking at them right now, they are offering a 50$ mail in rebate. Basically, that will cover the shipping. They were 143$ per tire. Thats not a bad price! I ordered them. Actually, I'm on my second set of them. I'll talk about that for a second.
The first set of these tires went 47k miles before hitting the wear bars. These wear bars are tread wear indicators that live in between the treads. the feel like little speed bumps between the tread grooves of the tire. If those are flush with the tread - the tires are DONE and need to be replaced. I was rotating the tires every other oil change (10k miles). At the end of it all, there were still some tires that wore differently than others. Two of the tires absolutely needed to be replaced. One should have been replaced and one was kind of OK. This was interesting because I had been rotating the tires regularly! I inquired with my best friend as to why this would happen. His reply was pretty interesting - its my driving style. This made sense to me. My question was - how do I get the tires to wear more evenly? He told me to rotate the tires more often, or change my driving style. For this set of tires, I'm going to rotate every 5k miles. the front tires to go the back, the back tires criss cross going to the front. Another contributor to the tires not wearing evenly is any suspension issues. During the time that the first set was on the car, the ball joints and a tie rod end both needed to be replaced. The second set of these tires did not have any suspension issues. the suspension is solid!
I also added a spacer between the rear axels and the wheels. This is a hub-centric spacer. The spacer bolts to the axel with special smaller lug nuts, then the wheel bolts to the spacer. This keeps it centered and there's no 'out of balance' issues that may lead to a vibration at speed. The spacer brings the rear tires closer to the lip of the fender. Without the spacer, the rear wheels are tucked way under the car. I could have gone with a 10 inch wide wheel to compensate, but then I couldn't rotate the tires like I need to. The wheel spacer is 1 inch billet aluminum.
One more thing to note is that these tires perform very well. The cornering is very crisp, traction is great and driving in the rain was manageable even when the tread wear was getting low. The tires were even able to get through some light snow. I wouldn't say that they are good in the snow, this is a mustang, and they are not dedicated snow tires. If I expected to drive this car in the snow, I would put a set of dedicated snow tires on it. But I dont need to do that, I have a Ford Expedition XLT for that task! I expect to get additional mileage out of the second set of these Kuhmo's due to the additional tire rotation... and maybe less burning rubber. ... Maybe ...
I began my search for some wheels. I didn't need tires since I was going to choose my own - More on that in a minute. My search brought me to the corral where someone had a set of original Mach 1 wheels, with snow tires and the stock tires. I was told by the guy that the tires were shot. The nice part is that he only wanted 125 for all four. The wheels did have some scuffs and some curb rash, but from 20 feet away, they didn't look too bad. And they definitely looked better than the stock wheels! This guy was in connecticut, and it just so happened that my brother was heading from Boston to Saylorsburg PA to come and visit me. This was going to save me a trip. I put my brother and he in touch with each other. They met up and I had my brother call me just to make sure everything is OK. When he called he said "its 125 total right, not just for one wheel?!?" Apparently they were in better shape then I thought! When they showed up, I checked them out. The tires were definitely shot, and there were plenty of blemishes, but they were exactly what I needed. I gave them a very thorough cleaning, put a couple of coats of carnuba wax on them, and I was happy. They are also a bigger wheel, measuring in at 17x8. The next step was to get some tires!
Any self respecting gear-head always takes to the TireRack.com when they are doing their research. I wanted a performance all season tire that was going to offer some good tread wear - meaning they were going to last me at least 45k miles. I also have an edge here. My best friend works as the manager of a tire shop, and has been there for years. Needless to say, he knows everything there is to know about tires. I touched base with him first, and collected the key points to check out when shopping for a tire.
I also wanted to increase the side wall of the tire just a bit. I figured going from 16x7 to a 17x8 would fill out the wheel well a little more. If i was able to take up just one more inch, I would probably be able to get away with NOT lowering the car. If I kept the stock ride height / springs, I could still put a few people in the car without it bottoming out. I could also pack the car without worrying about rolling the fenders or the fenders cutting the tires. A little bit of research revealed that I would be able to increase the side wall by 1/2 inch (one inch overall) and it wouldn't make that much of a difference. The tire size after all the math worked out to be 235/50 17. For reference, the stock size for the mach 1 is 245/45 17. There are a bunch of tire size calculators out there. Feel free to look them up!
On the TireRack there is UTQG rating - this is the industry standard scientific test for traction, temperature and treadwear. The first number in the UTQG is the treadwear. The higher the number, the longer the tire will last. The next letter is the traction rating and the final letter is the temperature rating. I won't get into too much detail here. If you want to read more, just follow this link and it will tell you everything you need to know: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
The final step was to choose a tire. I sorted all the tires available in this size by the UTQG rating. Then I de-selected everything except all season tires. This narrowed the field to 22 tires. The Kuhmo Ecsta LX Platinum rose right to the top. It had a UTQG of 600 A A, which is a great tread wear rating! Its also a 96W rated tire, it also has a ZR rating. These are all good things! They were also very affordable. Sometimes they have rebates / good deals too. At the time I'm looking at them right now, they are offering a 50$ mail in rebate. Basically, that will cover the shipping. They were 143$ per tire. Thats not a bad price! I ordered them. Actually, I'm on my second set of them. I'll talk about that for a second.
The first set of these tires went 47k miles before hitting the wear bars. These wear bars are tread wear indicators that live in between the treads. the feel like little speed bumps between the tread grooves of the tire. If those are flush with the tread - the tires are DONE and need to be replaced. I was rotating the tires every other oil change (10k miles). At the end of it all, there were still some tires that wore differently than others. Two of the tires absolutely needed to be replaced. One should have been replaced and one was kind of OK. This was interesting because I had been rotating the tires regularly! I inquired with my best friend as to why this would happen. His reply was pretty interesting - its my driving style. This made sense to me. My question was - how do I get the tires to wear more evenly? He told me to rotate the tires more often, or change my driving style. For this set of tires, I'm going to rotate every 5k miles. the front tires to go the back, the back tires criss cross going to the front. Another contributor to the tires not wearing evenly is any suspension issues. During the time that the first set was on the car, the ball joints and a tie rod end both needed to be replaced. The second set of these tires did not have any suspension issues. the suspension is solid!
I also added a spacer between the rear axels and the wheels. This is a hub-centric spacer. The spacer bolts to the axel with special smaller lug nuts, then the wheel bolts to the spacer. This keeps it centered and there's no 'out of balance' issues that may lead to a vibration at speed. The spacer brings the rear tires closer to the lip of the fender. Without the spacer, the rear wheels are tucked way under the car. I could have gone with a 10 inch wide wheel to compensate, but then I couldn't rotate the tires like I need to. The wheel spacer is 1 inch billet aluminum.
One more thing to note is that these tires perform very well. The cornering is very crisp, traction is great and driving in the rain was manageable even when the tread wear was getting low. The tires were even able to get through some light snow. I wouldn't say that they are good in the snow, this is a mustang, and they are not dedicated snow tires. If I expected to drive this car in the snow, I would put a set of dedicated snow tires on it. But I dont need to do that, I have a Ford Expedition XLT for that task! I expect to get additional mileage out of the second set of these Kuhmo's due to the additional tire rotation... and maybe less burning rubber. ... Maybe ...
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
94 Mustang GT: Suspension
I've upgraded the suspension over the course of the time that I have owned the car. It is a convertible, so it already had a strut tower and K member brace up front, but there was plenty of areas for improvement:
Shocks and Struts
Subframe connectors
Rear upper and lower control arms and 8.8 housing bushings
Front lower control arms, front sway bar bushings and end links
Shocks and Struts:
The first thing I did to the car was the shocks and struts. I ordered the Tokico HP's (blues) from an eBay vendor online. The car went up in the air and I put it on jack stands (under the frame, not on the rear) and removed the wheels. I started with the rear shocks. Because its a convertible, I had to dig into the trunk to find the nuts that hold the rear shocks to the car. I removed the body panels, and removed the top nut. Then I moved onto the quad shocks. An impact gun made quick work of removing them. Then I put a jack under the rear to support it (the shocks are keeping the springs compressed). I pulled the bolts for the shocks from the rear and the shocks came out. I installed the new shock, put the bolt into the bottom and installed the nut on the top until the bushings were slightly compressed. The rear was now done. I let the jack down (car is still on jack stands) and moved to the front. The first thing I did under the hood was hit the strut nut with an impact gun. short bursts allow it to come right off. I put the jack under the front control arm to support it, and removed the two nuts / bolts that hold the strut to the knuckle using the impact gun. the strut came right out. I installed the new strut, put the bolts / nuts back on the knuckle and the self locking nut on the top. I hit the self locking nut with the impact gun, and torqued the bolts / nuts on the knuckle to 150 foot pounds. Shocks have now been replaced. After the test drive, it feels completely different. The suspension was much more crisp!
Subframe connectors:
Subframe connectors on a convertible are absolutely essential. Due to the unibody construction, the front and rear frame rails are not connected to each other. Also, its a convertible - so there is no roof to add to the rigidity. A good set of subframe connectors connects the front and rear frame rails and stops the car from twisting and restores the lost rigidity. I ordered a set of Maximum Motorsports full length SFCs. These are the weld in type, and also bolt to the seat bolts under the car. My buddy Lou - also known as Shifter in the online mustang forums - has a welder. We took the car to his place for the installation. The car must be put in the air in a way that the suspension is loaded. We put the front wheels on ramps, and jack stands under the rear axle. We removed the seat bolts, and prepped the front and rear frame rails on the drivers side for the welding. We use a small jack to hold up the SFC at first, then the weld will support it. While he is welding the front, I prep the other side. Now we need to line up the SFC on the drivers side with rear frame rail. sometimes we need to pull it / pry it and use a jack. the location of the muffler also adds to the challenge. Once it is tacked into place, he continues the welding. The seat brace is also welded into place. Installation on the passenger side is the same. Its important to paint the SFCs and the welds after they cool or they will rust very quickly. They are bare metal. I like to use the DuPont 1635 black engine enamel. The test drive after the install was great. I could instantly tell the difference. The car felt much more solid. It did highlight the need for attention on the rear suspension though. I'll talk about that next.
Rear Upper and Lower Control Arms and 8.8 Housing bushings:
The rubber bushings in the rear are adequate at best. Over time and constant beatings, they just get destroyed. My goal was to replace the rear upper and lower control arms and while they were out, replace the 8.8 housing bushings with urethane ones. At the time, I was working on a 1990 Mustang GT street / strip car and I decided to upgrade the rear suspension in that to something fully adjustable. I took the Hotchkins solid rear lower control arms and used them for my 1994. I also bought a set of used BBK Gripp Upper control arms - non adjustable, but both the uppers and lowers had the urethane bushings. Installation was pretty straight forward, remove and replace. There is a neat trick for doing the bushings in the 8.8 housing. with the rear dropped down as far as it will go - upper and lower control arms disconnected and shocks unbolted, the rear can drop down. Using a 3/8 drill bit, circle the inner sleeve at a slow speed. this will eventually work the sleeve out. do the same between the rubber bushing and outer sleeve, same for the other side and install the new urethane 8.8 housing bushings. Torque all the control arms to 60 foot pounds.
Front Suspension:
At about 175k miles, the ball joints were shot in the front lower control arms. It failed inspection because of this. A common upgrade is to replace the control arms with those from a 2003 cobra. Its a direct replacement with better bushings and ball joints. I decided while I was at it to replace the front sway bar bushings and end links. We start out by removing the brake caliper and rotor, then support the lower control arm with a jack. Remove the strut and tie rod. Remove the sway bar end link. we used a chain to keep the spring compressed. wrap the chain around the inside few coils at the compressed side and secure the chain with a nut and bolt. slowly lower the control arm to remove the spring pressure and remove the spring. Please note, if that spring becomes a projectile due to unloading, it WILL remove appendages. Once the spring is out remove the castle nut on the ball joint. Use a small gear puller to put pressure on the ball joint while pulling up on the knuckle. Then, using a substantial hammer, whack the knuckle. A few good blows should cause the knuckle to separate from the ball joint. Apply more pressure to the puller if needed. Once that is done, remove the lower control arm. Installation is the reverse of removal with one note: torquing the lower control arm to k-member bolts is the VERY last step. The wheels need to be on and the suspension under load. Then torque these bolts to 150 foot pounds. The car passed inspection, and while it was at the shop I had them do an alignment.
I must say that after all of these suspension changes, the car handles VERY well.
Shocks and Struts
Subframe connectors
Rear upper and lower control arms and 8.8 housing bushings
Front lower control arms, front sway bar bushings and end links
Shocks and Struts:
The first thing I did to the car was the shocks and struts. I ordered the Tokico HP's (blues) from an eBay vendor online. The car went up in the air and I put it on jack stands (under the frame, not on the rear) and removed the wheels. I started with the rear shocks. Because its a convertible, I had to dig into the trunk to find the nuts that hold the rear shocks to the car. I removed the body panels, and removed the top nut. Then I moved onto the quad shocks. An impact gun made quick work of removing them. Then I put a jack under the rear to support it (the shocks are keeping the springs compressed). I pulled the bolts for the shocks from the rear and the shocks came out. I installed the new shock, put the bolt into the bottom and installed the nut on the top until the bushings were slightly compressed. The rear was now done. I let the jack down (car is still on jack stands) and moved to the front. The first thing I did under the hood was hit the strut nut with an impact gun. short bursts allow it to come right off. I put the jack under the front control arm to support it, and removed the two nuts / bolts that hold the strut to the knuckle using the impact gun. the strut came right out. I installed the new strut, put the bolts / nuts back on the knuckle and the self locking nut on the top. I hit the self locking nut with the impact gun, and torqued the bolts / nuts on the knuckle to 150 foot pounds. Shocks have now been replaced. After the test drive, it feels completely different. The suspension was much more crisp!
Subframe connectors:
Subframe connectors on a convertible are absolutely essential. Due to the unibody construction, the front and rear frame rails are not connected to each other. Also, its a convertible - so there is no roof to add to the rigidity. A good set of subframe connectors connects the front and rear frame rails and stops the car from twisting and restores the lost rigidity. I ordered a set of Maximum Motorsports full length SFCs. These are the weld in type, and also bolt to the seat bolts under the car. My buddy Lou - also known as Shifter in the online mustang forums - has a welder. We took the car to his place for the installation. The car must be put in the air in a way that the suspension is loaded. We put the front wheels on ramps, and jack stands under the rear axle. We removed the seat bolts, and prepped the front and rear frame rails on the drivers side for the welding. We use a small jack to hold up the SFC at first, then the weld will support it. While he is welding the front, I prep the other side. Now we need to line up the SFC on the drivers side with rear frame rail. sometimes we need to pull it / pry it and use a jack. the location of the muffler also adds to the challenge. Once it is tacked into place, he continues the welding. The seat brace is also welded into place. Installation on the passenger side is the same. Its important to paint the SFCs and the welds after they cool or they will rust very quickly. They are bare metal. I like to use the DuPont 1635 black engine enamel. The test drive after the install was great. I could instantly tell the difference. The car felt much more solid. It did highlight the need for attention on the rear suspension though. I'll talk about that next.
Rear Upper and Lower Control Arms and 8.8 Housing bushings:
The rubber bushings in the rear are adequate at best. Over time and constant beatings, they just get destroyed. My goal was to replace the rear upper and lower control arms and while they were out, replace the 8.8 housing bushings with urethane ones. At the time, I was working on a 1990 Mustang GT street / strip car and I decided to upgrade the rear suspension in that to something fully adjustable. I took the Hotchkins solid rear lower control arms and used them for my 1994. I also bought a set of used BBK Gripp Upper control arms - non adjustable, but both the uppers and lowers had the urethane bushings. Installation was pretty straight forward, remove and replace. There is a neat trick for doing the bushings in the 8.8 housing. with the rear dropped down as far as it will go - upper and lower control arms disconnected and shocks unbolted, the rear can drop down. Using a 3/8 drill bit, circle the inner sleeve at a slow speed. this will eventually work the sleeve out. do the same between the rubber bushing and outer sleeve, same for the other side and install the new urethane 8.8 housing bushings. Torque all the control arms to 60 foot pounds.
Front Suspension:
At about 175k miles, the ball joints were shot in the front lower control arms. It failed inspection because of this. A common upgrade is to replace the control arms with those from a 2003 cobra. Its a direct replacement with better bushings and ball joints. I decided while I was at it to replace the front sway bar bushings and end links. We start out by removing the brake caliper and rotor, then support the lower control arm with a jack. Remove the strut and tie rod. Remove the sway bar end link. we used a chain to keep the spring compressed. wrap the chain around the inside few coils at the compressed side and secure the chain with a nut and bolt. slowly lower the control arm to remove the spring pressure and remove the spring. Please note, if that spring becomes a projectile due to unloading, it WILL remove appendages. Once the spring is out remove the castle nut on the ball joint. Use a small gear puller to put pressure on the ball joint while pulling up on the knuckle. Then, using a substantial hammer, whack the knuckle. A few good blows should cause the knuckle to separate from the ball joint. Apply more pressure to the puller if needed. Once that is done, remove the lower control arm. Installation is the reverse of removal with one note: torquing the lower control arm to k-member bolts is the VERY last step. The wheels need to be on and the suspension under load. Then torque these bolts to 150 foot pounds. The car passed inspection, and while it was at the shop I had them do an alignment.
I must say that after all of these suspension changes, the car handles VERY well.
94 Mustang GT: Background
I'll start with a little bit of a background. A few years ago, I picked up a 1994 Mustang GT convertible for $4k. It had 102k miles on it, and it was basically un-touched. By that I mean that there was nothing more than the exhaust done. Everything else on the car was stock. My goal at the time when I bought the mustang was to have a reliable daily driver that gives me at least 22 mpg to and from work (150 mile round trip).
It has far surpassed that goal. I average 22.5 mpg and the car now has 187k miles on it. It has only left me stranded once, and thats because the TFI ignition module failed. I have spent $4334 in maintenance and upgrades since 2009.
I set a guideline that if any parts needed replacing because they were worn or defective, I would upgrade them to something better if I could.
Here are the upgrades I have made so far. I'll detail each one in a separate blog post:
Suspension
Brakes, Wheels and Tires
Ignition
Shifter / Rear
Exhaust
Cooling System
Stereo System / Seats
Misc: Cold Air Intake, Alternator and Balancer
I also have GT40 Iron heads and an original Cobra Intake to install, which is the current project. That should bring the Mustang GT up to (or past) 1994 Cobra specifications.
I'll cover the above in order and outline all the details as I go along!
It has far surpassed that goal. I average 22.5 mpg and the car now has 187k miles on it. It has only left me stranded once, and thats because the TFI ignition module failed. I have spent $4334 in maintenance and upgrades since 2009.
I set a guideline that if any parts needed replacing because they were worn or defective, I would upgrade them to something better if I could.
Here are the upgrades I have made so far. I'll detail each one in a separate blog post:
Suspension
Brakes, Wheels and Tires
Ignition
Shifter / Rear
Exhaust
Cooling System
Stereo System / Seats
Misc: Cold Air Intake, Alternator and Balancer
I also have GT40 Iron heads and an original Cobra Intake to install, which is the current project. That should bring the Mustang GT up to (or past) 1994 Cobra specifications.
I'll cover the above in order and outline all the details as I go along!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
My Journey into the Post PC Era: Final Note
This has definitely been an interesting exercise. It is also a great conversation piece being that I have to live in the IT world. Since I am a performance engineer, people often ask what kind of a 'rig' I have as a personal computer, thinking I must have something significant. I just tell them that I only have my iPhone and my iPad, along with some supporting accessories. The reaction is always interesting.
There is definitely a learning curve here, and I'm sure that I will still uncover some new things. I'll keep a record here to cover anything that I'm NOT able to do, or anything else that I learn along the way, or need to learn.
There is definitely a learning curve here, and I'm sure that I will still uncover some new things. I'll keep a record here to cover anything that I'm NOT able to do, or anything else that I learn along the way, or need to learn.
My Journey into the post PC Era: Printer
I know that its been a while, but I had a bit of an issue with the printer showing up at my house! The last hurdle I needed to jump to complete my journey into the post PC Era was the printer. My research using the helpful reviews over at cnet.com led me to a pretty neat little printer! The review is here for the Epson Stylus NX430 "Small-In-One" printer:
http://reviews.cnet.com/multifunction-devices/epson-stylus-nx430-small/4505-3181_7-35027589.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r
The price was right so I ordered it from Office Max. They even gave me free shipping. I'm pretty sure I had to pay for tax though since they are a local chain. I ordered the printer and in the order summary it tells me that the printer is on backorder. Funny, it didn't mention that when I was placing the order. I sent an email to customer service and just as I got a reply back the next day, the printer shipped. I was going to cancel the order if the backorder wait time was too long. Since it was on its way I was happy! They provided the FedEx tracking number in the email. I tracked the package up until it was delivered. I couldn't wait to get home and hook it up! I got to my house later that day and there was no printer there. Disappointment. I called FedEx the next day and they put a trace on the package. The associate on the phone informed me that the package was 'mis-delivered'. This was a term I was unfamiliar with, so I had to ask the question, "What does that mean?". The associate told me that the printer was delivered to the wrong address. A few minutes later she informed me that it would probably be a day or two before its delivered. This was on a Thursday, which meant that I wouldn't see the printer until Monday. Long story short, it showed up yesterday!
When I got home from work, I unboxed the printer. I had to remove all the packaging / retaining tape so that the printer would function. I followed the quick start guide and literally five minutes later, the printer was up and running on my wireless network.
Let me start by saying that this printer is not an Air Print capable printer. It is a wireless N printer though. Epson offers an IOS app called iPrint. Catchy name! I downloaded the app to my iPhone and attempted to print out a document. It worked like a charm! Next I printed a 4x6 photo, then a 5x7 photo. Flawless. The iPrint application also lets me print from my photo library (including photo stream), Online Storage (drop box, evernote, google docs or Box), Saved documents or even a web page location (copy the URL into the iPrint address bar, it pulls up the page and will let you print it out). There is even an icon there to scan a document. Scanning will put the doc into your Saved Documents, and you can also print it from there.
The printer also has the popular removable storage slots for camera memory cards. The display on the printer is nice, and the touch screen is a nice... touch.
I was able to download a PDF from my FTP server via the iFTP App on my phone, preview the PDF, Open it in iPrint and print it out. My printing solution is complete!
http://reviews.cnet.com/multifunction-devices/epson-stylus-nx430-small/4505-3181_7-35027589.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r
The price was right so I ordered it from Office Max. They even gave me free shipping. I'm pretty sure I had to pay for tax though since they are a local chain. I ordered the printer and in the order summary it tells me that the printer is on backorder. Funny, it didn't mention that when I was placing the order. I sent an email to customer service and just as I got a reply back the next day, the printer shipped. I was going to cancel the order if the backorder wait time was too long. Since it was on its way I was happy! They provided the FedEx tracking number in the email. I tracked the package up until it was delivered. I couldn't wait to get home and hook it up! I got to my house later that day and there was no printer there. Disappointment. I called FedEx the next day and they put a trace on the package. The associate on the phone informed me that the package was 'mis-delivered'. This was a term I was unfamiliar with, so I had to ask the question, "What does that mean?". The associate told me that the printer was delivered to the wrong address. A few minutes later she informed me that it would probably be a day or two before its delivered. This was on a Thursday, which meant that I wouldn't see the printer until Monday. Long story short, it showed up yesterday!
When I got home from work, I unboxed the printer. I had to remove all the packaging / retaining tape so that the printer would function. I followed the quick start guide and literally five minutes later, the printer was up and running on my wireless network.
Let me start by saying that this printer is not an Air Print capable printer. It is a wireless N printer though. Epson offers an IOS app called iPrint. Catchy name! I downloaded the app to my iPhone and attempted to print out a document. It worked like a charm! Next I printed a 4x6 photo, then a 5x7 photo. Flawless. The iPrint application also lets me print from my photo library (including photo stream), Online Storage (drop box, evernote, google docs or Box), Saved documents or even a web page location (copy the URL into the iPrint address bar, it pulls up the page and will let you print it out). There is even an icon there to scan a document. Scanning will put the doc into your Saved Documents, and you can also print it from there.
The printer also has the popular removable storage slots for camera memory cards. The display on the printer is nice, and the touch screen is a nice... touch.
I was able to download a PDF from my FTP server via the iFTP App on my phone, preview the PDF, Open it in iPrint and print it out. My printing solution is complete!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)