buening

Its my experience that all mustangs even from the factory had the transmission pointing down a degree or two, so having the pinion pointing down only further worsens driveline vibrations. I wouldn't say mine is opposite of conventional, more like mine is commonplace among mustangs (again, based on my experience)

You don't need a CV jointed driveshaft. I've never seen a mustang with those, as they are typically 4x4 oriented. From what you've said your shimmed your pinion so that it is +1° and your trans is -°3, resulting in a driveline angle of 2°. During WOT the pinion will increase to the point where your slapper bars restrict any further wrapping. If the constant vibration is gone then I'd leave your driveline angle alone. Also keep in mind things like driveshaft can be out of balance, axles slightly bent, worn out axle bearings, etc can all contribute to driveline vibrations. There was a thread on the VMF where I was involve (it was a 70 mach) where the guy was having driveline vibrations and I think it ended up being his axles. He went through the entire drivetrain and was testing everything by removing piece by piece and running the car on stands to see if the vibration was still there. Below are two links that you can read through: http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/vintage-mustang-forum/781625-another-pinion-angle-question.html http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/vintage-mustang-forum/773705-pinion-angle-help-70-mach.html

No they are not backwards. The trans almost always points down, so in order to get opposing angles the pinion should be either level or slightly pointed up. I typically have a degree or two so to allow for pinion wrap. My trans is 2.5° down and pinion is 0° with no driveline vibrations that I can feel. Keep in mind the angle changes constantly depending on WOT, part throttle, cruise, and deceleration. Pick your poison in which you want the vibration. With leaf springs the pinion angle can change drastically during WOT. I'm surprised you can feel driveline vibrations only at WOT, typically its a complaint during cruise and part throttle when things are less noisy.

Past forum software changes at other websites (like VMF and Stangfix) resulted in the loss of past subscriptions, FYI

Typically the tailshafts of the trans point down, so you may have less of a driveline angle issue as you may think. Pull the driveshaft and put the angle gauge across the vertical flat of the tailshaft (near the seal)

The temp gauge came with the tachometer cars. You have a fuel gauge at the far right correct? The printed circuit (gauge ribbon) is completely different between tach and non-tach cars (as is the underdash harness). You would have to cut the printed circuit ribbon that touches the posts for the temperature gauge, and then run wires from the alternator to the gauge posts. Indeed it is an amp meter and is pretty useless as a gauge, FYI.

LEDs have come a long way. Early on I had purchased the inverted single LED bulb for my dash and it sucked. Now you can buy multiple SMD lights that can produce more lumens than a standard bulb, depending on what bulb you are wanting to replace. The lower lumen bulbs like the 194 (dash and turn signal bulb) are easily outshined by multi-SMD LED bulbs. There are also different kinds of SMD LED modules, like the 3528, 5050, 5730, etc. See here for difference in lumens and intensity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMD_LED_Module For example if you went on ebay and got a 9-LED with the 3528 modules, it would not be as bright as a 4-LED 5630. The higher the lumen per module, the brighter the light. I have been experimenting with 194 bulbs for the dome light in my F150, which are the same bulbs used in our mustang instrument clusters and turn signals. I've bought the following three to test: 10SMD LED 5630 Non-Projector , 10SMD CREE 50watt LED, and 10SMD LED 5630 Projector The projector one hasn't shown up since I didn't pay attention and its come from Asia, but the non-projector one is definitely brighter than the 194 standard bulb it replaced (has a typical LED bluish hue though). The "50W" CREE one, which I expected to blow others out of the water, was only marginally brighter and one of the two I bought failed within 5 minutes. CREE are typically quality modules but its likely the chinese assembly that caused it to crap out on me.....or they may likely be fake CREE modules. The CREE one did have more of a white light instead of the blue hue, if that matters. There are much cheaper alternatives out there as well if you shop around, for example: Projector and non-projector, but they are just overseas and take forever to ship. I will note the ones above are too deep to use in the instrument cluster if you keep the light diffusers. Be sure to measure and compare dimensions. Also keep in mind that buying a "kit" from a parts supplier doesn't give us enough info as to how many SMDs it has or what type they are, and as you can see from the Wiki site I linked to at the begining, the difference can be huge! If you want to skip the kits and buy bulbs, I recommend getting 5630 modules and getting ones that have the most SMDs as will fit.

LEDs have come a long way. Early on I had purchased the inverted single LED bulb for my dash and it sucked. Now you can buy multiple SMD lights that can produce more lumens than a standard bulb, depending on what bulb you are wanting to replace. The lower lumen bulbs like the 194 (dash and turn signal bulb) are easily outshined by multi-SMD LED bulbs. There are also different kinds of SMD LED modules, like the 3528, 5050, 5730, etc. See here for difference in lumens and intensity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMD_LED_Module For example if you went on ebay and got a 9-LED with the 3528 modules, it would not be as bright as a 4-LED 5630. The higher the lumen per module, the brighter the light. I have been experimenting with 194 bulbs for the dome light in my F150, which are the same bulbs used in our mustang instrument clusters and turn signals. I've bought the following three to test: 10SMD LED 5630 Non-Projector , 10SMD CREE 50watt LED, and 10SMD LED 5630 Projector The projector one hasn't shown up since I didn't pay attention and its come from Asia, but the non-projector one is definitely brighter than the 194 standard bulb it replaced (has a typical LED bluish hue though). The "50W" CREE one, which I expected to blow others out of the water, was only marginally brighter and one of the two I bought failed within 5 minutes. CREE are typically quality modules but its likely the chinese assembly that caused it to crap out on me.....or they may likely be fake CREE modules. The CREE one did have more of a white light instead of the blue hue, if that matters. There are much cheaper alternatives out there as well if you shop around, for example: Projector and non-projector, but they are just overseas and take forever to ship. I will note the ones above are too deep to use in the instrument cluster if you keep the light diffusers. Be sure to measure and compare dimensions. Also keep in mind that buying a "kit" from a parts supplier doesn't give us enough info as to how many SMDs it has or what type they are, and as you can see from the Wiki site I linked to at the begining, the difference can be huge! If you want to skip the kits and buy bulbs, I recommend getting 5630 modules and getting ones that have the most SMDs as will fit.

Metra AW-PW12 is what I'm using, which is what MikeTyler used in the above link. Hardest part is removing the door to get it installed.

Keep in mind when you lower the front you also mess with the suspension geometry quite a bit. Stepping up to the Bilsteins shocks will help some, but you won't get that new car ride since you are stuck with the messed up suspension geometry. Going to a coilover on LCA setup like SoT or TCP is an option, as it improves suspension geometry. SoT uses much better shocks compared to TCP. My front suspension isn't bad (mostly stock form), its the rear that drives me nuts. I have 4 leafs with Bilsteins and rubber bushings and feel every crack in the road from the rear and seems there is little cushion/give when hitting potholes or the full-width roadway patches that have settled.

Ah I didn't see that you got 1". I read you were thinking about 1/2" spacers, which are too thin to have studs.

Try Hose Fittings Etc in Fremont. They are a Parker fitting store and pretty sure they make hoses too. Call before you make the drive (510) 661-0151

Did you have to get longer studs? I went with Baer billet hubcentric 1/2" spacers on the rear of my car and lets just say the studs weren't long enough:

Yeah correction, mine grabs the upper part of the valance. Scared the crap out of me the first time it happened after I aligned the car!

Ah the joys of wide tires! Even with flares, you will still be restricted by the fender body line at full suspension travel (assuming you are tucking it high like shown in your pics). Your flares may be well into the body line bend nearest the opening. Another thing to watch (I'm sure you've done this) is to turn the steering from lock to lock, and watch the tire clearance to the fender and frame rails at full lock.....with caster set. At the caster I want on my car currently with stock suspension, the 245 tire rubs the fender at full lock. It appears I will have to build in some caster into my custom tubular arms assuming I ever get to that point. Its only taken me a year to build my strut rods :lol: Joys of having young kids i guess.

Wow that intake is a thing of beauty!!!

Wow that intake is a thing of beauty!!!

Based on my analysis the highest stresses are bending of the plate that attaches to the LCA due to braking and other out of plane forces. There is also a lot of tensile force on the clevis thru-bolt that attaches it to the frame, as well as the bolt that goes through the rod end but it is in double shear (twice the shear capacity). Indeed there are a lot more forces when you eliminate the bushing. However, see the link below. If that Falcon can handle hitting a tree at the tire and shear off the ball joints while the bushingless strut rod was still intact, then I'd say our worries are mostly put to rest :p http://www.stangfix.com/index.php?threads/falcon-versus-a-tree.16723/

Based on my analysis the highest stresses are bending of the plate that attaches to the LCA due to braking and other out of plane forces. There is also a lot of tensile force on the clevis thru-bolt that attaches it to the frame, as well as the bolt that goes through the rod end but it is in double shear (twice the shear capacity). Indeed there are a lot more forces when you eliminate the bushing. However, see the link below. If that Falcon can handle hitting a tree at the tire and shear off the ball joints while the bushingless strut rod was still intact, then I'd say our worries are mostly put to rest :p http://www.stangfix.com/index.php?threads/falcon-versus-a-tree.16723/

LOL, oh you guys! Actually as long as the tube was perfectly plumb it drilled in quite easily. It would occasionally get out of plumb and would lock up on the bit, but for the most part I was able to lightly grip it with mechanics gloves on. Actually, tapping the ends was harder than drilling it! Mike the swedge tubes should be fine for street driving. Lots of people have used them and I haven't really heard of anyone bending or snapping them. I was in a fabrication mood so I figured I'd go all out and do the DOM route.

LOL, oh you guys! Actually as long as the tube was perfectly plumb it drilled in quite easily. It would occasionally get out of plumb and would lock up on the bit, but for the most part I was able to lightly grip it with mechanics gloves on. Actually, tapping the ends was harder than drilling it! Mike the swedge tubes should be fine for street driving. Lots of people have used them and I haven't really heard of anyone bending or snapping them. I was in a fabrication mood so I figured I'd go all out and do the DOM route.

I bought a 2' length of 7/8" OD x 0.156 wall DOM tubing, cut it in half for the two strut rods, and threaded one end in 5/8"-18 LH thread and the other 5/8" - 18 RH thread. The ID of the tubing is just a tad smaller than the 37/64" drill size for the tap, so I had to drill it to that (which is a bit of a challenge drilling straight without a lathe). I used 4 of the welding triangle magnets atop my drill press table to keep the tubing vertical and plumb (going through the hole in the center of my table), then held the tube with my hand below the drill press table with a glove on and drilled it out. Once I had the drill press head centered over the tube it was pretty easy. Lots of tweaking till that point though.

I bought a 2' length of 7/8" OD x 0.156 wall DOM tubing, cut it in half for the two strut rods, and threaded one end in 5/8"-18 LH thread and the other 5/8" - 18 RH thread. The ID of the tubing is just a tad smaller than the 37/64" drill size for the tap, so I had to drill it to that (which is a bit of a challenge drilling straight without a lathe). I used 4 of the welding triangle magnets atop my drill press table to keep the tubing vertical and plumb (going through the hole in the center of my table), then held the tube with my hand below the drill press table with a glove on and drilled it out. Once I had the drill press head centered over the tube it was pretty easy. Lots of tweaking till that point though.

Hey that clevis CAD drawing looks familiar ;) This post is ironic, as I am almost finished making my strut rods (its only been over a year LOL). I will post pictures up when I get done.

Hey that clevis CAD drawing looks familiar ;) This post is ironic, as I am almost finished making my strut rods (its only been over a year LOL). I will post pictures up when I get done.