1986 SVO Resto-mod Build

[Unclesams_SVO]

New engine mounts and spindle dust cap came in today.


I think I am getting to the point of not really wanting to look at this recent collection of receipts. It also seems like the UPS guy is at the house almost daily at this point.....not sure if that is a good or bad thing tho.

[brsvo]

For a while there the only things on my Credit card receipt were SVO parts. But if that's all then I am good cause I only spend money I have on the car. On the other hand I know I don't want to total up all the receipts in my folder!!!!!

[Unclesams_SVO]

Removed resealed and repainted the oil pan (it was leaking thanks to using a 1 piece gasket). I just have to find an o-ring for the oil level sensor as it was toast. Hopefully the Fel-pro cork gasket will be better. I also installed new motor mounts and refinished the mount brackets. I repainted the starter (only had Ford blue engine paint in the drawer and I did not want to run out and get black). Finally a slapped in a new Motorcraft oil filter and called it a day.


Anyways on with a couple more pictures.

[Laredo]

...It also seems like the UPS guy is at the house almost daily at this point...

When you're on a first name basis with the FedEx Ground and UPS guys, you know you have SVO fever. Proceed with caution!
Also watch for danger sign when you start thinking "While I'm at it, I could...."

[Unclesams_SVO]

Also watch for danger sign when you start thinking "While I'm at it, I could...."

Danger sign......lol, I would have it no other way.

[Unclesams_SVO]

I made some pretty good head way this weekend. I installed the new Maximum Motorsports K-member, A-arms, Coilovers, flamming river rack and steering shaft, MM bump-steer kit and 99-04 spindles.

The k-member was a fun thing to install with one person, I thought I could do it with the engine mounts in....boy was I wrong. On the drivers side I could not use the slots in the K-member, I had to use the holes which made keeping the mounts in next to impossible. So after removing the engine mounts the k-member slid into place. Now came the really fun part of squaring up the suspension. To do that I had to break out my plum bobs ( i used the Harbor Freight one and the Home Depot one, they are both about the same price but the harbor freight one has a lot more weight to it, the HF one is much skinnier making it easier to see where your mark is). After adjusting the k-member a couple times I got it within 1/16" from being squared up.

Next I installed the reverse offset A-arms (to keep the wheel in the factory location when using the MM k-member), those went it pretty easy using the top set of mounting holes, then I realized I needed to make another quick dash to Home Depot to get a T-55 torx bit. The MM k-member comes with 2 low profile bolts, these are used in the front mounting holes because the factory ones will interfere with the steering rack dust covers.

Then came the Flamming river 20:1 manual steering rack and steering shaft kit. The MM k-member kit came with aluminum rack bushings with offset mounting holes allow stock rack position, 2 positions upward, and 2 positions downward. I used the highest upward position as this aligned the rack and the A-arms the best (while not even coming close to interfering with the oil pan). In that position the rack hit the k-member so I had to shim it out about 1/16" with a big ass washer. The steering shaft went in pretty easily, I ended up removing about 1/2" from the shaft to get it installed with out any binding.

Now it was time to focus on the 99-04 "junk yard special" spindles. After removing the old hub and cleaning them up, I threw a fresh coat of paint on them and thought I was goo to go......that is until I read the directions for the MM bumpsteer kit that require a 5/8" hole instead of the factory 1/2"-ish hole. So out came my drill press and Harbor Freight special 2 axis vise. Then after quick dash to Lowes get a new 5/8" drill bit (as my old ones where pretty much shot). I then realized that I could not drill out the holes with the dust shields on, so after punching out the rivet shaft and drilling out the rivet head the shields popped right off end ready to be drilled out. Now I was able to install the spindles and bolt on the new hubs, brakes and steering rack.

The bump-steer kit installed very easily and I just used enough spacers to align the steering arm with the a-arm. (do not have the fancy measuring kit from MM, so this was my best guess to minumizing bump-steer).

I then installed the MM coil over kit over a set of yellow Koni's (86-93 struts). I had to use 2 of the large spacers to avoid the strut from hitting the shock tower. (i am using MM C/C plates, others my require a different spacer). Those slid in very easy and bolted back right into place with zero interferance with the a-arm or spindle.

Time for the new sway bar, after talking to Jack at MM he suggested using the Eibach 3510.310 sway bar. I also ordered their sway bar relocation kit, this will allow you to move the sway bar forward 1/2" or 1" depending on your a-arms. So after mocking everything up I used the 1/2" forward holes to keep the sway bar links in the most verticle position. I did not reuse the factory bushing brackets as Jack suggested that I use their 9-5168G bushing kit due to the relocation kit.

Finally I just had to re-instal the 13" cobra brake setup and the front suspension is all back together.

Enough with my rambling...on with the pictures.

[Unclesams_SVO]

So now comes the fun of figuring out what wheels to use. I want to run a staggered setup and I am thinking of 17x8 and 18x9 to give the car an aggressive look. My old wheels were 1999 GT wheels with 255/40/17 tires and they fit the new front suspension set up just fine. Now in the rear I have a 03 Cobra IRS with MM coil overs an I have read that a 9" wheel is about as big as you can go before running into issues. So out comes my trusty tape measure and flat edge and as long as I stay between 6"-6.3" of back spacing I "should" be good.

So now the search for wheels begins, finding ones that come in both 17" and 18" with the width and back-spacing spec's that I need. I am not wanting to go the "custom" route as my car fund is getting pretty low about now.

The tire size I am thinking is either 245 or 255 in the front and a 275 out back.

If anyone has any insight for front wheels with fox length a-arms and MM coilovers and an IRS in the back I am all ears. I have done a lot of interwebz reading on this matter but it is always goo to hear another opinion, as I do not want to order the wrong wheels.

Here is the finished front suspension picture and the MM coilovers with Koni yellow struts (the struts had to be machined to remove the metal dust shield, MM does this for about $60 total including shipping).

[MikeFleming]

IMHO you should put the rack in the lowest position possible, moving the weight lower on the chassis. That will also allow you to remove much of that rather excessive about of spacers in your bump steer kit.

Additionally you should revisit the bump steer settings - it's VERY critical to a proper handling car now that you have all the right pieces installed. Buy the MM kit (iirc it's less than $60) or fabricate your own.

If I remember later, I will post pics of the "shim stack" I have on the Red Baron along with the spreadsheet of measured bump steer vs shim stack height.

[Unclesams_SVO]

IMHO you should put the tack in the lowest position possible, moving the weight lower on the chassis. That will also allow you to remove much of that rather excessive about of spacers in your bump steer kit.

Additionally you should revisit the bumpsteer settings - it's VERY critical to a proper handling car now that you have all the right pieces installed. Buy the MM kit (iirc it's less than $60) or fabricate your own.

If I remember later, I will post pics of the :shim stack" I have on the Red Baron along with the spreadsheet of measured bump steer vs shim stack height.

I though it was better to have the rack pivot point in line with a a-arm pivot point to help reduce bump-steer. While reading the MM install tips I thought that they recommended mounting it as high as possible using their bushings on a lowered Mustang.

I will have to look at the MM bump-steer gauge again as well.

[Unclesams_SVO]

I am planning on going with 245/40/17 and 275/35/18 tires mounted on 17x8 and 18x9 wheels.


The tires will with be BFG sport-com 2 or Bridgestone RE670


These are the 2 wheels I have narrowed it down too.


Motegi Traklite (bronze) or Koni Oversteer (black)




I'm just waiting to hear back on a price quote, not quite sure which wheel I am leaning towards yet.....maybe the pricing will help tip the scale.

[MikeFleming]

^
You will spend way less time cleaning the 5-spoke wheel versus the other one.

[MikeFleming]

Pics & notes of my rack install and bump steer stuff using solid center-position rack mounts.
Img_6393.jpgImg_7929.jpgImg_7928.jpgImg_7926.jpg

And a chart of the actual change in steering vs the height of distance of the rack tie rod end to the bottom of the steering arm on the spindle. Testing over a 4.7" range of suspension movement using the following sizes of spacers/shims: 1.44", 1.20", 0.537", 0.475", 0.4175", & 0.2375". Plotting the smallest five, gives me this graph:
Bumpsteer.jpg

The 0.537" spacer shim gives a total steering angle change of 0.008" over the full measured 4.7" range of vertical travel. The 1.44" spacer gave a total steering change of 0.644" (80 times higher!!) and was not included in the graph for brevity.

Spacer Steering change
1.44" -0.668"
1.20" -0.504"
0.537" - 0.008"
0.475" -0.154"
0.4175" -0.167"
0.2375" -0.268"

[MikeFleming]

Motegi Traklite (bronze) or Koni Oversteer (black)

Looks very close the the 5-Zigen FN-1-R(c):

http://www.frsport.com/5Zigen-FN01RC...Z_p_10321.html

Which I suspect are discontinued now.

[Unclesams_SVO]

Did you use the upper or lower a-arm holes in your K-member? Mine are in the upper holes that is why I set my rack in the highest offset holes of the MM bushing kit.

This is all uncharted territory for me as I have never gone this far in depth in a cars front suspension before. The picture I posted of the spindle had were not tightened up but I can see the difference between your setup and mine are still huge.

I also read the Hotrod story on how they used the MM bump-steer gauge to dial everything in on their Foxbody project, that made the MM instructions a little more clear (I am a visual person).

Oh and I went with the 5 spoke wheel only in black, hopefully my backspacing measurement skills did not fail me.

17x8 40mm offset = 6.07 BS
18x9 35mm offset = 6.38 BS

[MikeFleming]

I used the lower holes. Using the upper holes will lower the car (front end) by 1".

A good use for all that copper tubing laying around the shop to do test fitting.
MMA-arm20.JPG
Img_6498.jpg

[Under Pressure]

Excellent write up, details and pics. 5 spoke

[MikeFleming]

BTW - Getting bump steer height correct is a highly iterative process, not terribly dissimilar from corner balancing.

Get it close to start. After the car is fully assembled (at full weight) and shaken out, take it for a proper caster/camber/toe alignment. Note ANY change in caster will effect the steering arm height, thus changing the bump steer profile. Much less so with camber changes, but there is still *some* effect. After CC are set, re-test and adjust the bump height profile and then finally re-set toe.

NOTE: If bumpo steer is correct (close to perfect?) then changes in ride height will only effect static camber and toe.

[Unclesams_SVO]

For caster/camber setting I am leaning more towards "track" settings. The car will be a 30% track 70% cruising car. This will not be a DD car....and the tires will more likely get hard before they wear out (my RS3's did this ).

Going off of the racing thread on here I was going to go with:

Alignment-
Camber: -1.75
Caster : 3.5+ degrees
Toe: Out 1/16th

Or am I way out in left field?

For the IRS I am thinking about getting the MM dumpster kit now and checking that. For the IRS alignment do you have any setting suggestions?

[MikeFleming]

You should be able to get 5.5-6.0 Degrees of positive caster.

[Unclesams_SVO]

I take it "the more caster the better" when it comes to a foxbody and go with as much as I can get?