Giggling like a school girl

[turbohunter]

Yeah I thought the carbon fiber might be a bit overkill.
I have a real good shop close to me so I'll drop in and get'er done.
Spent all yesterday trying to finish the rust repair. Just when you think you're close you find another spot that better get fixed.
Oh well, soon.

[turbohunter]

Well, back to cleaning. This time in the front.
Ripped the front suspension out today and went after the grime.
I swear I've put a trash can full of dirt and scum into the garbage.
Found a helpful little tool to get the undercoating off.
It's the Dremel tile and wall board cutter.
Here's a vid that will give you the idea.


OBTW use a breather with this thing. You WILL wear everything that comes off.

If the embed doesn't work here's the link.
LOL and it didn't.

https://youtu.be/0XyRnXLT7e4

[Bolted to Floor]

That does work good. Should make clean up of the drive way easier.

[turbohunter]

That does work good. Should make clean up of the drive way easier.

Yup piece of cake.

BTW will you Fairlane guys take a look at these pieces.
When I pulled the front end apart these are what came off.
It doesn't look like stock Fairlane stuff to me.
For one, I thought the calipers should be dual piston.

[turbohunter]

Think I have it figured out.
I think it's '68 stuff.

[Nightmist66]

Think I have it figured out.
I think it's '68 stuff.

Yeah, it should have had 4 piston "fixed" calipers.

[turbohunter]

Well two days on these wheel wells and they're finally clean.

BTW ordered the Opentracker DIY bearing kits for the control arms as well as a set of roller perches.
Question for you guys. In my mind I'm thinking the Shelby (or whatever) 1 inch drop for the top a arm would also help geometry on a drag strip as well as the curves (which I'm not concerned with).
Thoughts/experiences?

[Nightmist66]

Hey Marc, as far as the Shelby drop, maybe Jay or someone else will chime in on that one. For the strip, I don't think you would notice as much as if you were doing a road course after the drop. It does help the geometry, the factory setup is less than ideal, that's for sure. One thing I did to mine was get the "camber kit" from Opentracker to positively lock the camber setting with the supplied blocks. Super easy to install. I went with -1° for the camber, this is a good street/strip setting imo. I wish I had the money to get the upper control arm bearing kit at the time but rollerized everything else. I bought the Global West tubular lower control arms(67 mustang) that have the spherical bearing and screw in ball joint. I could not be happier with them! The fit, finish, and ride is excellent. I also got the tubular tie rod sleeves from Global West. I have the Opentracker roller spring perches as well. I also bought the roller idler arm from Opentracker to help with the manual steering. I will be putting the upper control arm kit in when I go through the motor in the future. Everything from Opentracker and Global West is top notch imo. Great job on the car so far, it looks like it's coming together nicely.

[mlcraven]

Marc: project is really coming along nicely, going to be a great ride when you get it out the door.  Those pics of the front fender wells brought back some memories of several winter nights in the garage with the Cyclone a few years ago, at the end of each night I emerged looking like a coal miner and was immediately directed into a hot shower with a bar of soap by the better half.

Attached pic (I found it on FB) provided for inspiration.

[turbohunter]

at the end of each night I emerged looking like a coal miner and was immediately directed into a hot shower with a bar of soap by the better half.

LOL Thanks for the laugh. And yes I was unrecognizable a few times.
My wife actually took a picture once. She got quite a kick out of how ridiculous I looked.
No I'm not posting it.

My Opentracker parts just showed up. Man they are nice pieces. Smooth as silk.
John the owner is a very nice gentleman and gets the order out quick.

[Lenz]

Marc, diggin' the prep work and can sympathize with both you and Michael on the grunge commentary. I had two sets of clothes, and one set wasn't fit to be washed with the others, they got their own special treatment.  Favorite memories from such activities include questions like "you aren't going to sit down in here, right?"  The car looks great, keep the updates coming.

[BruceS]

Marc,
The "Shelby drop" lowers the upper control arm inner pivot points (I thought it was 3/4") but have heard 1" mentioned in this forum.  This mod changes the camber curve, meaning that as the suspension travels upward the camber of the tire will increase at a greater rate than stock.  This was first done by Shelby on the GT 350s to enable the outside front tire tread to contact the road more evenly under hard cornering in road race applications.  The stock camber curve caused the tires to be loaded more on the outside of the tread during cornering, and reduced the car's cornering capability.  IMO this mod would not do much good in drag applications. 

Something to check if performing this mod on your car is to make sure the upper ball joint doesn't bind before the suspension reaches "full bump" or maximum upward travel.  You could check this with the spring off as you're putting the front end back together. 

Hope this helps!  And nice job on the Fairlane so far,
Bruce

[turbohunter]

Thanks Bruce
I'm familiar with the drop.
What I'm curious about is, is it as good for a drag car as for a corner carver?
When the weight transfers to the rear off the line, the front suspension unloads and the top of the tires/wheels tip in. Would doing the Shelby drop give you better control in that situation. I assume yes.
However I've been accused of fixing problems that don't exist before. So is it worth drilling two more holes in my car to fix a nonexistent problem.
Drag race only.

[Heo]

What the Shelby drop do is turn the car from understear to overstear
Due to the changed cambercurve like bruce said
I have done that to a few Mustangs it realy change the handling
and make the car much more fun to drive
But in a drag car i cant see any plus sides...

[Nightmist66]

Hey Marc, more food for thought. I also made some flat upper shock mounts to replace the factory pyramid shaped ones. I used 1/4" steel plate. It will give you more/better rise and also limit the downward travel to save low hanging headers like mine. Plus plus. Also, if you're serious about street/strip, you can ditch the sway bar. That will help with rise also.