Category: Seating
Laying out the seating..
Did not get a whole lot done over the holidays since I was out of town.. but did manage to get some things done the past couple of days. Have the driver’s side seat supports basically done.. so can now finish welding the floors in for good. Have the pass side almost done too. Designed the setup so the stock buckets would still work.. even though they will likely never make it back into the car again. It’s nice to be able to sit in the car for a change. Getting closer to driving by the day..
Seat mounts..
Lots on the go.. although not much to see quite yet. Car now sits at the perfect ride height and is on the center of the adjusters. The ride height can easily be tuned up or down an inch or so. We have the floors/seating on the go and also starting to work on the fuel system.
Here’s the concept for reinforcing the floors. This will allow stock buckets to be bolted into the car – and the brackets shown will allow the Sparcos to be bolted in at the correct height. Have most of the parts made – now working on getting them in the car. Figured this would work much better than the after thought that was used to accomadate buckets on a stock vehicle.
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.
Floors and Seating..
Three main things on the go right now – front suspension/steering/brakes, floor of car/subframe connectors and steering column/pedal setup and seat positioning. Rear suspension is on hold until custom bent tubes and rear coil overs arrive.
First the suspension. Have found most of the front suspension components online in the past month or so. Nice thing here is since I am running SN95 (1994-2004) Mustang based suspension – the sky is the limit with aftermarket parts.
Front suspension will consist of (parts are on the way or in hand now for one car):
Maximum Motorsports front tubular lower control arms
Koni dual adjustable (DA) front struts with adjustable rebound and compression damping
Maximum Motorsports coil over kit
Maximum Motorsports caster camber plates
Stock Mustang front spindles/hubs
Since the strut rods are no longer needed, the brackets that house the bushings were removed. Custom brackets will be made up to stiffen the the area once again and also provide mounts for the radiator, A/C condensor and ABS unit.
With the suspension almost in position, the stock control arms make contact with the frame. Tubular control arms correct this issue, although just barely. THe goal here is to get the suspension in the exact same position as in a stock Mustang to keep the suspension geometry the same (easier said than done as we are finding out)
Nearly new tubular control arms compared to the old ones. Since we are running coil overs, spring pockets are no longer needed. They are also lighter.
As for the subframe connectors – hoping to have them in within the next week or so. The passengers side is nearly ready to go in. Just have to jog the subframe connector 4″ as the front subframe is 4″ inboard of the rear (more to come on that shortly). As you can see, the front trans mount has been removed, and the remaining piece left will be used for welding to the connectors. A custom trans mount will need to be made for the 6-speed, and also a driveshaft loop needs to go in as well as seat mount supports. This will all make a bit more sense once they start going in.
Got started on laying out the driving position this week as well.
Starting fitting the Sparco’s into the car. They are extremely comfortable and will help keep a person planted when on the road course. Stangely enough, sparco does not make seat adapters to bolt into a Torino, even though the model name is Sparco Torino :).
Started to fit the Mustang pedals into the car. Several reasons for using these instead of Torino ones. Mustang uses a cable clutch and Torino ones need significant mods to make work with the clutch quadrant. Want to be able to keep the stock Mustang pedal ratios going into the hydroboost. Want to be able to use the stock Mustang electronics since all the dash wiring is from a 2004 Mustang. Also like the pedal positions much more and they are much better for heel/toe driving on the track. Measurements were taken from a 2004 Mustang to be able to position the pedals the same distance from the firewall, height off the ground, and releationship to the steering wheel. The goal here is also to use a stock floor shift Torino column as I hate the look of a new column in an old car.
Well.. here is the first issue as we were expecting. The clutch quadrant hits the windshield wiper motor area. This area will need to be modified to make it work. It is looking like we will end up grafting a Mustang firewall onto the Torino. That way everything will bolt right up (including brake clutch and gas pedals, steering column, hydroboost unit, heater box and all wiring and cable pass throughs) and look much cleaner. Since we have 2 complete Mustang firewall assemblies and a plasma cutter.. this should not be a big deal.. famous last words I guess.
Stay tuned..