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Almost there - Updates and subbing out work

S

sigtauenus

Active Member
If you've been following my build thread and questions lately, you know I'm getting close.

I have an appointment on Weds morning to get the alignment done, and they own a 66 Mustang with the Arning drop, so no issues getting the alignment done to custom specs. I'm going to tow the car to the alignment shop first thing in the morning and the appointment is at 8 am.

From there I'm going to take it up the road about 1/2 mile to an exhaust shop that will weld up the stainless exhaust for me and finalize the installation. If all goes well they can also do a state inspection for me.

I'm going to try to do some basic tuning the next couple nights so the car is ok to just drive around the parking lot at above said places, but regardless of how that goes, I have an appointment with a speed shop right around the corner from me for Monday morning to get a dyno tune done.

I have an order in with NPD to get the stereo and door panels and a few other misc items, but that should basically wrap up the car and have it drivable and cosmetically complete.

Once its on the road and I shake it down, I'll go back and take care of the wiper motor, send the gauge cluster off to the Tachman for calibration/repair, and install the aftermarket a/c kit. Those are projects I know about and am putting off.

Since we all know these things are never done, at some point I plan to do 3-point seat belts, perhaps carpet the trunk like Laurie's Trouble, do the seat pan drop and/or put in a tilt column and nicer steering wheel, and if I really run out of things to do, go back into the engine for more performance and possibly do a throttle body injection or fox body 5.0 fuel injection conversion.

I'm getting pretty excited as this comes to a close. And of course, they are never done.
 
Sounds great...or else it will when that new exhaust is installed.

Just a thought, you might want to make sure they shield the body when welding the exhaust on, to prevent spatter from hitting your underside floor pans.

On the seat pan drops. According to MM the 69-70 floor platforms are supposed to be shorter than the 65-68s.

How about pics of the exhaust work?
 
"sigtauenus" said:
:scar

OK, Dave, tell me what this MBB thing is...
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Seriously? Myrtle Beach Blast? Doesn't ring any bells? First weekend in October a good sized bunch of us meet up down at Ron's place in MB to hang out with the cars and drink beer. You'd fit in nicely.
 
Dropped off the car at the alignment shop. Owner is an older gentleman, got a pretty comfortable feeling, his daughter has a 65 coupe, and he had something like a 46 plymouth in the back of the shop that was completely restored that was his first car.

So I drove the car under its own power around the driveway and then towed it to the shop, and drove it again to the bay. Big progress!

I got a pic of the car going into the bay, will post it later. After I pick it up I'll grab a shot of the front tires and take it right to the exhaust shop.

I need to remember to tell the exhaust guys to call me before they pull it off the lift so I can get some pics while it is in the air.
 
Alignment is done. Came out at 1/8" in for toe, L 1.5 R 2.0 for caster, L & R -0.5 for camber.

Shop said they normally do a test drive to verify it, which I told them not to since the exhaust wasn't done yet and it wasn't inspected yet, so they said to just bring it back after I have that done and have driven it and they'll make any adjustments for me if it needs it.

Also, and this is weird, my passenger side brand new AMK cam bolt on the lower control arm wouldn't turn. Guy said he loosened it and was able to put it in position and tightened it down, but that the notch was stripped out and it wouldn't turn the way it was supposed to. Not sure how that would happen. Actually, now that I think about it, isn't the cam attached to the bolt head on those? Regardless, I'll have to get a new one and take that with me when I take it back.

Car is now at the exhaust shop, and there's an inspection station right next door. We'll see how it goes, might have time to get both done today. The guy who did the trans for me is about 4 shops over from both of them and he's got a 66 coupe so I'd like to squeeze in him taking a look at the carb for me to help me out.
 
isn't the cam attached to the bolt head on those?
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Yes it is, there's an "oblong" shape where the bolt goes through the cam, but it often "rounds out" very easily with aftermarket parts.


BTW, I believe you need more caster. 1.5 and 2.0 were fine for old/narrow bias ply 14" tires, but your car will track much better with 2.5 - 3.5 degrees caster when using modern radial (and larger/wider than stock) tires.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
Yes it is, there's an "oblong" shape where the bolt goes through the cam, but it often "rounds out" very easily with aftermarket parts.


BTW, I believe you need more caster. 1.5 and 2.0 were fine for old/narrow bias ply 14" tires, but your car will track much better with 2.5 - 3.5 degrees caster when using modern radial (and larger/wider than stock) tires.
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agreed, that's what I have ~ 3.5 degrees IIRC
 
Man you guys are killing me!

I got the specs from John's website for street.

http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/tech/

I'll see how it drives and ask for him to change it when I take it back.

What will be noticable about the caster that I can reference? When you say it more caster will track better, you mean maintain a straight line, right?

Guy also said he sees a lot of tires bald on the outside with the toe-in, and that he often fixes it by going 1/8" out instead of in and they get even tire wear after that.
 
When you say it more caster will track better, you mean maintain a straight line, right?
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Yes. Think of caster this way. Remember the old bicycles from the 1920's that had the HUGE front wheel and the little back wheel? The steering of these bicycles had almost zero caster as the forks ran "straight down" from the handle bars. Steering these bicycles was an awkward task as VERY LITTLE input onto the handle bars created an instant change in direction for the front wheel.

Fast-forward 50 years to a modern bicycle. Note that the hub of the front wheel is extended well forward of the handle bars. This is an example of "positive caster" at it's finest.

With a vehicle, caster works on the same principles as the above bicycles. Zero caster results in the vehicle becoming extrememly sensitive to steering input... so much so that with our modern larger width tires, each front tire will try to seek it's own path on any road surface that's not perfectly smooth. This results in the front end of the car "wandering" as each tire tries to steer the car in a slightly different path.

When more positive caster is added, the "wandering" is greatly diminished and the car "tracks straight". A car that's tracking straight is one that you can take both hands off the wheel and the car will continue to follow it's last inputted path for a lengthy distance.

The only downside to more positive caster is it requires more steering effort. Without power steering at slower speeds, it would require a greater amount of force to turn the steering wheel. It's more effort at greater speeds also, but just not as noticable. With power steering equipped cars, there is no noticable difference in steering input from a drivers perspective as the PS pump is doing most all of the work.
 
Dropping off
427_04_08_10_3_30_09_0.jpg


Picking up
427_04_08_10_3_30_09_1.jpg


Alignment
427_04_08_10_3_30_09_2.jpg


Exhaust pics
427_04_08_10_3_30_09_3.jpg


427_04_08_10_3_30_09_4.jpg


427_04_08_10_3_31_00_0.jpg


427_04_08_10_3_31_00_1.jpg


I need to get some pics of the how the tips look for you guys. They are farther out than some others (ok, Craig's), but I like where they are, he put them pretty much right on where I told him to.
 
Looks real nice Sam. How did the alignment "feel" driving the car home?


Your fuel sending unit signal wire isn't routed properly. When the wire exits the trunk through the little hole it should take in immediate turn inboard and hug the underside of the body and then drop down straight over the tanks sending unit. From the factory there was a 6" piece of rubber "pinch sleeve" that retained the wire to the underside of the body.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
Looks real nice Sam. How did the alignment "feel" driving the car home?

Your fuel sending unit signal wire isn't routed properly. When the wire exits the trunk through the little hole it should take in immediate turn inboard and hug the underside of the body and then drop down straight over the tanks sending unit. From the factory there was a 6" piece of rubber "pinch sleeve" that retained the wire to the underside of the body.
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Yeah, I know. That trunk panel was replaced so I have to drill a couple mounting holes for it. I didn't realize I had to drill those holes until I had the gas tank in and everything hooked up. I need to either lift the tank up some while I drill (to avoid the bit accidently punching through) or hold a piece of 1/4" plate behind the lip that gets the hole while I drill, ie, between the lip and the tank.

Its on the list, just haven't gotten to it yet. I have the whiteboard with a list and its rapidly shrinking. Although sometimes it grows too as I find issues I need to fix.
 
"sigtauenus" said:
I have an order in with NPD to get the stereo and door panels and a few other misc items, but that should basically wrap up the car and have it drivable and cosmetically complete.
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Update on the NPD order... apparently the Retrosound Model 1 stereo is out of stock at all 4 locations so I didn't get it. Door panels should be here today.

I'm going to consider other stereo options, but the Model 1 seems like the best deal for something that fits the stock location and has connections for modern features like mp3, satellite, etc.
 
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