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Thread: 1986 SVO Resto-mod Build

  1. #41
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    I take it "the more caster the better" when it comes to a foxbody and go with as much as I can get?
    There are pluses and minuses. The more caster, the higher the self-centering effect and associated steering effort. Which can be a benefit on-track with the driving style that likes more caster.

    There is also more camber change when the wheels are turned. So it kinda depends on wheels, suspension., tyres, driving style, etc.

    Rethink - you've got the negative offset front a-arms, right? Then you'll probably not get much past 4 degrees caster. I have the standard arms and with the MM k-frame that gets my car to about 6 degrees. If I'd gone with the +0.75 forward offset arms, that would take my setup in the 8 degree range, iirc. Mercedes territory.
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  2. #42
    Some Boost
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    Correct I have the negative offset a-arms, but even 4* is better then my old setup. I know I could have gone with the zero offset arms I just didn't know if I wanted to do what was needed to make the tire clear and not rub.

  3. #43
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    I'm using sn95 front spindles. the "non-offset" arms, 17x8 43mm offset wheels with 245/45/17 rubber and no clearance issues at all. Note I'm not running the plastic fender shields.
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  4. #44
    Some Boost
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    How does the wheel look in the wheel opening in the fender?

    I know it sounds silly, but how it looks is almost as important as to how it performs for me. Just like "I want my cake and eat it too".

    My setup up will be 99-04 Spindles, "neg offset" arms and 17x8 40mm offset with 245/40/17 tires

  5. #45
    Some Boost
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    I installed my oil catch can today.


    The can is a Jegs brand aluminum catch can with 2 ports. I used one for the valve cover breather and one for the crank case breather.


    For the valve cover I ditched the factory oil separator and replaced it with a 1/8" fitting 90* barbed fitting (found at O'Reillly's) and used 5/16" vacuum line to the catch can (I had the tap the valve cover to thread in the new fitting). For the crank case I ditched the PCV valve and the 90* factory hose and replaced it with 3/4" heater hose plumbed to the catch can.


    The saddest thing about this setup are the AN fittings, combined they cost more then the can, hoses, and valve cover fitting. I used and 10AN o-ring fitting with a 90* 10AN 3/4" barbed fitting for one side and a 10AN to 6AN fitting with a 6AN to 3/8" barbed fitting. For the vacuum line I know I used 2 different sized fittings but the line was able to stretch enough to work.


    I mounted the catch can out of the way in the fender behind the drivers side headlight and attach the drain to the bottom of the can. This way it is easy to get to and drain when needed.


    I also installed a 14" limiting strap from the frame to the engine. Since the engine dampers can not be used with the MM K-Member I figured that this was a good alternative to help with engine moment under hard throttle.


    Now on with the pictures.
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  6. #46
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    A few cokments:

    1. You should have two (2) ~3/4" vents - one for the crankcase and the other for the cam cover. Unless your rings don't leak, in which case you should stay with the stock system. If there is lots of blow-by (the reason for catch cans), then large, low-restriction flow paths are hte most desirable.

    2. Heater hose is NOT rated to handle petroleum products and will not live long handling oil and fuel/petrol vapors. Neoprene, viton, etc. are the preferred materials.

    3. I'm mixed n the strap. The factory dampers, when functional, help at all levels of engine vibration and don't suddenly go infinite when the engine rocks over beyond a specific angle. Where the strap contributes nothing until it's tight (normal engine vibs & non-extreme angles), and the strap spring rate goes near infinite when it is.
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  7. #47
    Some Boost
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    Thanks for the comments, I will look into the different hose (this is all I could find locally). I'm not sure how much blow by the car has but I am not a fan of having oil go in the intake track, so the stock setup is history. I will se how this does and if the oil dip stick pops out again then I will change the valve cover breather to a 3/4" size.

    The strap idea I just saw recently, while I am not sure how much movement the engine will have now with the new motor mounts (the old ones were trashed and let the engine risk a lot) I figured I would give it a try....worse case it does not really do what I intended and I am out about $20 bucks.

  8. #48
    Some Boost
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    I tinkered a little bit on the car today. I installed a front tow point, layed out some of the engine harness to see how to route it (hiding as much of the harness as I can without cutting or splicing the harness), then I installed the rear coli-overs (they were just mocked up for wheel measurements before).

    For the tow point I used the same Sparco tow strap as the rear. I made a small "L" bracket out of plate steel and attached it behind the passenger side fog light on the subframe using 2, 1/2" grade 8 bolts. I then drilled a hole on the top of the bracket and attached the tow strap to it. Hopefully this will be a strong enough tow point as well as keeping a clean appearance to the car when the tow point is not needed. My biggest worry is either damaging the fog light or the bumper cover during a recovery.

    For the coil-overs I used the Maximum Motorsports kit with a 600 lb/in spring all mounted on a 03/04 Cobra Yellow Koni shock. When using MM's kit you will need to have the metal dust boot on the Koni shock removed. If you buy the shock from MM they will do this for you. I did not do that, so I had to ship my shocks out so MM could remove the dust boot and machine the shaft of the shock to the right specs for the top spring mount. I had to massage the drivers side inner fender well "out" so the spring did not rub on it (easily done with a pair of channel locks). The biggest PITA about installing the coil-over kit is removing the bushings on the shocks in order to replace them with the MM bushings. I ditched the factory lower shock bolts and replaced them with grade 8 hardware. I did not take any tire measurements before I tore everything apart because I am not putting the same wheel/tire combo on.

    Anyways, on with the pictures.
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  9. #49
    Some Boost
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    My wheels came in today.

    They are 18x9 35mm rear and 17x8 43mm front Motegi Traklites. I test fitted the wheels today and all is good. I could have almost gone with a 10" wide wheel in the rear but I am more then happy with a 9" wheel. The front is about as tight as I would want to go, if they had the option I would have gone with a 40mm offset wheel instead of the 43mm offset. This is because of the clearance between the wheel lip and the MM Coil-over spring. As far as clearing the sway bar or control arm I do not know yet, as I still need to set the bump-steer and toe before I find that out.

    Any ways on with the pictures.
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  10. #50
    Some Boost Under Pressure's Avatar
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    Nice wheels, are those 2 piston calipers?
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  11. #51
    Some Boost
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    Quote Originally Posted by Under Pressure View Post
    Nice wheels, are those 2 piston calipers?
    Yes, they are 13" rotors and PGR cobra brakes.

  12. #52
    Some Boost
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    I got the tires mounted this morning (I was too excited/nervous to wait). They fit without any rubbing, however the inside of the front tire is really close to the front coil spring. Not sure if I am going to have to find a really small spacer or not, only time will tell once I get the car back on the road.
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  13. #53
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    Kinda depends on what "really close" means in, say, inches or mm??

    Naturally it will get closer to the spring (the strut body is almost never an issue) when under full-load deflection of the tyre and wheel (both will move).

    On my car i slotted the upper strut-to-spindle mount hole for more clearance as I thought it was a bit too close static (then made up the difference using the camber adjusters). There's pics around somewhere nbut a quick search didn;t show them.
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  14. #54
    Some Boost
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    I would say there is a mm or 2 between the tire and spring. I found a pair of 3mm spacers on MM website that I will be ordering, as I am pretty sure once I start turning the car hard the tire will contact the spring.

  15. #55
    Some Boost Laredo's Avatar
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    I have found that this space is pretty stable. I have only a 3 mm gap between the tire and my coil-over, even with mostly autocross use it has never rubbed. I was actually kinda surprised after seeing the crazy flexing of the lower side of the tire on the Go-Pro that the top side of the tire itself was remarkably stable. The space between the tire and the fender obviously changes quite a bit with suspension travel/flex of hard driving and can get really close to the tire, which is why I pulled the tire inward as far as possible. Plus I don't like the look of the wheel sticking out beyond the fender edge.

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  16. #56
    Some Boost
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    Laredo......that is good to know. I ordered the MM 1/8" (3mm) spacers yesterday as a "just encase". I looked again and I bet I am closer to 1mm of clearance between the tire and spring.

  17. #57
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    I looked again and I bet I am closer to 1mm of clearance between the tire and spring.
    So about a spark plug gap then?

    IMHO that's at least 5mm too close.

    Here's some pics of the clearance I measured on my initial setup using 2001 & 2005 Mustang wheels - 17x8, 162mm (~6.377") backspacing on the 2005. Same backspacing as my new [at the time] FN01-R in 17x8 43mm offset.

    2001 Mustang wheel gives about 0.9" clearance to the strut. All measurements from the lip of the wheel without tyres. With a 245/40 that would - static - take away about 10mm.
    2001Wheel.jpg

    2005 Mustang Wheel (162mm/6.377" backspacing) gives about 14mm clearance to the strut.
    2005Wheel1.jpg

    Rear quad (2005 wheel):
    2005Wheel2.jpg

    Front strut body:
    2005Wheel3.jpg

    I decided to elongate the upper strut mount using my trusty mill and angle table. This mod gave me another 7mm of wheel-to-strut body clearance.
    Img_9772.jpgImg_9775.jpgImg_9779.jpg


    This gave me a few degrees of rotation while the lower part of the strut body welds make contact with the ball joint boss of the spindle. More grinding and fitting required to get the strut/spindle to allow the max clearance setting.

    Img_9810.jpg

    Final installation. Blue masking tape is temporary fitment later replaced with wire ties. to route/mount various locations of the brake cooling hoses.
    WheelFitment.jpg
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  18. #58
    Some Boost
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    My spring is a lot lower then yours. How many shims did you use on the top of the spring hat. The spring interference maybe part of my issue as well. Right now you can fit probably 3 credit cards stacked together between the tire and spring, the tires ballooned out a little more then I thought. I did not take measurement pictures of just the wheel mounted, but I could fit my finger tip between the wheel lip and the spring.

  19. #59
    Red Captain MikeFleming's Avatar
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    I have 10" springs and no shims at the top - just the bearing retainer stack. Move the weight all the way to the chassis.
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  20. #60
    Some Boost
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    Have you had any clearance issues with the spring and the shock towers?

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