Articles Written By: Craig
Seats and Harnesses
I bought myself a Christmas present this year. I managed to find a set of barely used Schroth 4-point harnesses. They are the Rallye 4 models. They tie into the stock mounting points on the front, and use the rear lap belt anchors in the rear. They also have a buckle to detatch the shoulder harness so someone can sit in the back which is nice since they are designed to be installed with the rear lap belts still in place. These are actually DOT approved unlike many other racing harnesses out there. Since the cars will be driven regularly on the street and on the track – these seemed to make the most sense. They are also a great alternative to having a harness bar in the backseat as part of a roll cage.
Setting Initial Alignment..
Managed to work on the car a bit over Christmas. Hoping to maybe even get the car back down on the ground soon enough. I got a Longacre caster/camber gauge for Christmas this year so it was time to put it to the test. It is a nice billet piece with lots of bubble levels on it. The only unknown parameter in the mix was the caster that needed to be set for the vehicle (as camber is relatively easy to measure with a digital level). Ford recommends 3.6-4.3 deg caster on the Mustang. We are setting it to approx a min of 4.5 and max of whatever the caster/camber plates allow. The larger number will mainly be used on the track. These numbers are generally agreed upon in the Mustang world, and lower recommended numbers are based on the fact that the Mustang was designed with the “average” vehicle owner in mind. The shock towers were simply slid forward until we saw the measurements we wanted. They are now fixed in place.
Also managed to find a barely used pair of 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot PS2 tires to try out on the car (same size/model as a newer Viper so they are not that hard to find). They were mounted up on the car and we ran through a clearance check and they fit perfectly. The hardest part about getting a tire to fit is while turning the tire when the front suspension is compressed, and they also need to clear the coil-over suspension.
Also moving right along on the front strut towers. Have all of the pieces tacked together on the driver’s side and everything fits great. Should be able to weld these in soon. Just need to add a piece in the top corners and they should look factory stamped.
Got a couple more things done this week. Found a set of nearly new rear adjustable Konis specifically made for the IRS suspension. Just need to make some custom upper mounts.
Also got the pass side upper shock tower piece bent up. Stretcher shrinker combo works miracles with ease. Also got the drivers side upper piece tacked in, and worked on the front filler panel. Most things are almost ready to weld in.. but I ran out of Argon so I have to wait another couple of days to get the bottle filled.
More Front Konis..
Finally found another set of Konis for the front of the car. They almost never come up used as they are not very common since they are double adjustables (likely because they retail for close to $1k for a pair). Since we can’t afford that.. or even close we just have to wait to get them for 20% of that. Easy way to pick out a double adjustable Koni is to look for the screw for adjustment on the bottom which both sets have. Single adjustables (rebound only) only have have sdjustments on the top of the strut rod.
Also dusted off the stretcher/shrinker and formed the sides and top of the strut towers. Also cut the bottom piece to fit and trimmed the shock tower to mate with the bottom piece. They should look factory stamped by the time we are done with them. Also made the filler panel for the section that was cut of from the original shock towers. Just need to trim things to fit and we will be ready to weld. Finally there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Shock Tower Parts and Pieces
Speaking of building, we made up the filler pieces for the strut towers this evening. 16 gauge sheetmetal is definitely not as easy to work with as 20 gauge. Hope to get everything in and fit up this week and ready to weld in next week. Actually feels like I am getting somewhere now. The only pain with making these up was that none of the angles were 90 deg and each face of the strut tower has a slight crown – looks the like the stretcher/shrinker is going to get a good workout.
Towers, Slicks and Scales
Got the point where we finalized the front strut mounts and achieved the desired caster and camber targets (took a lot more time than planned to manipulate everything to get it perfect). Now it is time to bridge the gap between the Mustang strut towers and the Torino. Went out and bought half a sheet of 16 gauge steel (same as the Mustang towers) and made up templates using cardboard. Just need to bend these up in steel, cut and weld into position.
Also landed a couple of good deals in the past week or two. Bought a set of tires for the track for $100 – Michelin Pilot Sport Cups. These come new on the Porsche GT3 and the Viper ACR. They are basically street legal slicks. These ones are 265/35 18’s and have lots of life left on them. Also picked up a set of Rebco corner weight scales for setting up and weighing the cars. I bought them as non-functional for only $25. After and hour of troubleshooting and fixing as issue with the circuit board, I had them up and running. I always wanted a set, but could never justify the $1500 cost. Now I can weigh anything and everything on the car, and the car itself. Will be interesting to see the weight difference between the motors etc.
Shock Tower Camber Setting
Got some more work done on the shock tower setup. Unfortunately with the Fox control arms being used, this also means the upper strut mount needs to move inboard to be able to get the alignment settings right. This meant we needed to cut up the jig and make it adjustable using threaded rods and nuts.
The goal here is to be able to set the front wheels to 2-3° of neg camber for the track, and then adjust them back to 0.5° neg camber for the street. The caster is also being increased relative to stock. Looks like 275’s will fit up front when using the 0.5° setting which is great news.
All that is needed to set things into position is to flip the camber plates upside down and swap side to side. This way they can be bolted to the jig. Next max the camber setting inboard and then take suspension measurements. Keep adjusting the fixture outboard until the max neg camber is achieved. After this, unbolt and put on shock towers. Lots more sheetmetal work ahead, but it should hopefully work out in the end. Turns out the inner surface of the shock towers is almost flush with the origional fram rail which make things easier fab wise.
Lower Control Arm Changeout..
Finally making some more progress..
Had my first issue with Ebay.. thankfully it turned out OK in the end. I bought a set of Fox body tubular front control arms which I thought were made by Maximumum Motorsports (one of the highest quality Mustang tubular control arms you can buy). Got them in and they did not look right or fit right. Sitting 5 feet away they looked like the real deal. Turns out in the end they were knock-offs from another company. Once I convinced the seller they were not legit (he was not aware either), I got my money back and send them back. In the meantime I was able to convince someone to trade me straight up for the ones I had already. As you can see, they are much shorter which works out perfect. I now have lots of tire clearance and should be able to fit 275’s up front which was the original goal (2004 Cobra used this size).
First problem after installing new arms – tire rods are too long. Solution – 1993 Taurus outer rod ends. Works great now.
Also aborted mission for now on the tubular k-member. Too much time and money for the time being. The stock k-member is likely stronger regardless. In that case – started to work on getting the motor mount brackets modified to get the engine shifted back as far as possible.
Front Tubular K-Member Design
Been working away at the front suspension a lot lately.. although it does not feel like I am getting anywhere. Decided that using the stock k-member will be almost as complicated in the end as just building one from scratch. Making brackets to mate up to the Torino frame and also shifting the engine back 3.25″ relative to where it would be on a Mustang have been the biggest headaches.
We decided to switch to shorter control arms to be able to fit larger tires up front (265’s or 275’s). This has been a pain because the fender lip is low and covers the top outside edge of the tire, and also the tire hits the coil-over spring on the inside. While the outer lip is fine if you chose to only drive straight – as soon as you turn the tires would scrap on the fender. Four options to get out of this one. 1) Accept a tire size of 245 or less. 2) Add flares to the sheetmetal 3) Move strut inboard via shorter control arms. 4) Bail out on the suspension package and try another one. 1 and 2 we were not willing to accept, and 4 was too expensive and we didn’t want to have to work with a mystery suspension design. Turns out option 3 was easier than we thought as we can just use 79-93 Fox body Mustang tubular control arms which are .9″ shorter.
We ended up finding a used set of Maximum Motorsports Fox body tubular control arms used online. These actually have a forward offset of .75″ in addition (ball joint moves ahead, pivot points stay in the same place) meaning we could squeeze a bit more caster out of them. The only reason these work for us is because we can put the shock towers anywhere we want them and can achieve the camber we need. This would not be the case if you were to start with a 94-04 Mustang and add 79-93 control arms.
After doing lots of measuring and thinking.. I almost have a design that is ready to build. This will bolt into the stock Torino frame rails in the front. Just need to weld in sleeves into the frame. This will clear the oilpan, headers, steering linkage and move the engine back 3.25″ and allow all the suspension to bolt up where it needs to go. It will also clear the alternator (which is low on the Roush kit), oil filter, lower rad hose and A/C compressor. Once we build a jig for this – we should be able to make copies pretty easily for future projects.
Front Suspension Layout
Moved back to the suspension side of things. Making some good progress up front. The main thing with the suspension was making sure the upper strut mount point on the Torino is the same relative to the lower control arms points as the Mustang. This way the geometry is retained, and the strut travel is maintained for both jounce and rebound. We went back and forth on this one and figured since we have a Mustang front clip, we may as well put it to good use. We made up a jig using some extra material we had, and also used the stock strut retainer braces from the Mustang for positioning the towers. We used sockets as dowel pins to line the jig up with the motor mount plates. Worked like a charm. Once we got this in.. we realized we had some issues with front tire clearance as we new we would. The suspension needs to be adjusted down an inch relative to the body and things should work out great. This will also buy us some much needed hood clearance for the supercharger. Shock towers will look nice and clean by the time we are done with everything.
