 This shows the Outlaw shifter mounted and ready for action! Nice! |
The trans was filled with TCI Racing Trans Fluid (#950600) to help keep things running cool and shifting firm. The fluid is green in color and specially formulated for racing applications. The finishing touch for the front of the car is the Harwood Industries bolt-on fiberglass cowl induction hood. I ordered the 4-inch “Super Series Outlaw” (#B-26304) which fastens to the factory Ford hinges and uses the factory latch to keep it closed. The hood gave me the extra clearance I needed to allow the use of the Edelbrock Super Victor intake and Wilson Manifolds spacer. The hood fits pretty well after the “normal” amount of trimming around the edges and the headlights to give it the “factory look” I wanted. The gel coat finish is really nice and the underside of the hood looks as good as the outside. It also took a good amount of weight off the front of Project Muscrate which is never a bad thing.
At this point I was ready to go to the track, which I did a couple times before installing the last couple items of the year. The rear suspension always worked really well with the amount of power the previous engines produced, but with the new 347-inch Ford power the launches were really violent and the traction was a “hit or miss” situation every time I came off the line. What I needed was a better way to control the rear suspension movement and that is mostly controlled by the shocks.
So, once again, I went to my friends at Competition Engineering and found that they have a completely “bolt-in” coil-over conversion kit made specifically for the “Fox” chassis Fords such as my Mustang. The kit (#C2055) requires no welding and is truly a bolt-in deal. You simply remove the old shocks and mounting brackets along with the factory coil springs and then follow the directions to install the new brackets and assemble the coil-overs. The top of the coil-over fastens to a bracket that bolts into the existing upper shock mount hole in the chassis. The bottom of the coil-over fastens to the new lower mount supplied in the kit. It really is that easy.
 Here we see the Competition Engineering 12-way adjustable coil-over mounted in the car with the bolt in kit. Simple and effective. |
The coil-overs (#C2770) are Competition Engineering’s 12-way adjustable “Magnum Series” that have an all-aluminum billet housing that’s CNC machined and has a black anodized body. The shock has a 5/8” hardened chrome piston shaft and has 12 adjustments that simultaneously change both extension and compression, also known as “bump” and “rebound”, from soft to firm with a simple turn of the knob. They use standard 2 ½” diameter coil springs and the kit came with 150 lb. springs.
In my case the springs were probably a little too stiff and I will be ordering lower rated springs for next year. The rear weight of the car is what dictates the spring weight. Another nice feature of switching to coil-overs is the ease of ride height adjustment. The coil springs can simply be raised or lowered by using a spanner wrench to turn the spring pads up or down. As long as I was going to be ditching the factory-style coil springs I decided this would also be a good time to upgrade the lower control arms. I went with Competition Engineering’s Magnum Series (#C8007) which are made to bolt in to the Fox chassis. These lower arms combined with my upper arms (#C8005) and coil-over conversion kit basically turns the Mustang rear suspension into a adjustable racing style 4 link setup. The lower arms are basically threaded pipe with Heim ends that use special adaptors to bolt into the factory torque boxes and the new brackets that slide into the existing housing brackets. The new housing brackets give three new mounting holes to allow changes in control arm geometry for more or less “bite” to the tires. In order to get the length of the new arms the same as the ones I replaced I simply laid the old arms on the bench with a bolt in each bushing and adjusted the length of the new arms by turning the Heim ends in and out until the new arms slid easily on and off the bolts.
 Notice the new 4-link-style lower arm going into the adjustable housing bracket. The new arm combined with the uppers and the coil-overs is a nice tuneable package. |
Once everything was bolted into the car I measured various points to ensure the rear-end was square in the car and tightened everything up. My next time out at the track resulted in immediate improvements. I had the shocks set at 5 clicks from zero on the left and 6 clicks on the right. By the time I was done I was down to 2 on the left and 3 on the right and things were looking good.
I believe the springs are too stiff, which is why I ended up so low on the adjustments, but, regardless, it seemed to work as I instantly noticed the car launching straighter and the initial “hit” seemed a little easier on the tires.
As for the track results, I am sad to say I missed my goal for the season. I really wanted to run some nine-second passes by year’s end and I came close but no cigar, as they say. I think I would have gone nines the last day out but prevailing 25-mph headwinds and MONSTER wheelies didn’t help anything in the e.t. department. The “air” was the best I’ve seen in a long time at around 600 ft. above sea level on my gauges, so the HP was there.
One of the problems that day was the headwind and the other was the 250 plus cars that showed up at Cedar Falls Raceway. Man, what was that all about? CFR hasn’t had that many cars in a day forever. So, after getting to the track when it opened at 10:00 a.m. and sitting in line most of the day I only got 2 stinking runs. ALL DAY. Both runs yielded huge wheelies with the front tires touching down about 120 ft. out, and this was the first time I have actually shifted into second gear while the nose was pointed at the sky! That, my friends, is FUN!
Amazingly the second run still yielded a 10.15 at132 mph with a rear tire tripping 1.39 sixty-foot. Two of my customer cars were slowed about 2 ½ tenths and 5 mph by the headwind so I figure the 9’s are there, especially if the wheelies weren’t so big. But, oh well. That’s the way it goes and maybe I get can the nines next spring.
My time for this month is up and I am already looking forward to next year. I have some big plans in store for 2008 as the going fast bug has bitten me and let’s just say that things are looking Super for next year. And I’m not talking supercharged. I’m a naturally aspirated kind of guy you know? I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a good holiday season! This is the time to appreciate the friends and family you have and enjoy life a little. See you next year!
Remember, there is always hope. And, when in doubt, DO A WHEELIE!!! A REALLY BIG WHEELIE!!!
Sources |
|
Competition Engineering |
Harwood Industries, Inc. 17833 State Hwy 31 East Tyler, TX 75705 903-566-6001 www.eHarwood.com |
| TCI® Automotive 151 Industrial Drive Ashland, MS 38603 662-224-8972 www.tciauto.com |