69gmachine

I've been remodeling my house for the past several years, but for the last year it's been almost a full time job. I don't have time to play with my car right now. I've also been helping my son build a 95 V6 Mustang (with an '01 engine, trans, wiring harnesses and computer) so he'll have his own set of wheels. I've been learning a lot about fuel injection, computer controls and PATS, the stupidest idea Ford has ever come with. I hope to return my car next spring. I'll be back when I do.

Part of the problem is the original design with the shock and spring mounted on top of the UCA. The other problem for you is a very heavy engine. Even without spirited driving I think you may benefit from the extra bracing, not so much for corner carving, but just to prevent the towers from leaning in and flexing at the UCA pivot. Don't waste your time with the ones with a bend in the middle, they're just for looks as the bend acts like a spring. IMO, If you use the export brace you don't need the MC bar except for all out racing on slicks. If you remove the force acting on the towers by placing the shock and spring on the LCA that would help quite a bit, but that may be more than you're willing to do to that car. Another thing to consider is what tires you're using. If you have relatively skinny P235-15 street tires, the tires will flex and the whole car will just slide and not transfer much of the load into the chassis at all if you're really generating a lot of force around a turn. To illustrate my point, you can use any of the G-meter apps on your cell phone and you'll likely find that what you consider spirited driving on the street doesn't amount to much force at all. You may not want to make many mods given its an R code, but anything you could do to lighten the engine weight would help. Just my .02

If you get there early you can park in the surrounding neighborhoods for free. If you want/need to park close you can pay for parking right outside gate 1. Unless you paid to put your car in the showfield there really isn't any spectator parking. There are several small local restaurants downtown. I can't remember the names of any of them though. Nothing stood out as spectacular, but most of them are decent. Several of the regular chain restaurants are out on I-81. The place is huge, I think 81 acres or so. Before my knees fell victim to arthritis I would walk the entire faigrounds at least 3 times looking for deals. If there is something in particular you're lookiing for, do your research to find out what it's worth so you don't overpay. If you see something used that you really like and the price is fair, buy it. It may not still be there later. The vendors selling used stuff often ask wildly different prices for their stuff, so you have to know if it's above or below market value. I'm going to clean out my garage.

It didn't come with a 31 spline rear, but unless you're the original owner, there's always a chance someone has replaced it. Just check the axle hub end. If it has a recessed squared oval in the center it's 28 spline, if it's solid with 3 holes drilled out they're 31 spline (of course this only applies to original ford axles).

I'm in the process of adding new inner wheel wells to the lip of the existing well to add an extra 1/2" so my 315s can move without fear of rubbing. I think it's a lot easier to add room to the inboard side and not have to mess with the body lines. However, I did have to go with a narrower rear so I could use readily available 11" wheels. I'm planning to retain my fold down rear seat and hoping that I don't have to modify it so it still fits. It's going to be close. I agree with your sentiment regarding the look of 335s, but I also want my tires to be functional. The Azenis 615K is the stickiest 200 UTQG rated tire you can get IMO, and the biggest size it comes in is a P315. I don't think a BFG G-force rival (also rated at 200) even made the top 10 at the Ultima Battery street car challenge last year.

It has been my experience that the gauges seldom go bad. Most often it is the sending unit or the wiring. I don't know what constitutes "perfectly" good, but if it passes the grounding test and goes full scale, then try using a 30 ohm resistor to make it go half scale to convince yourself to look elsewhere. As for the tach, it sounds like it's shot. This is the exact same failure mode mine exhibited. I would consider upgrading to a 3 wire tach conversion. The factory tach carries the current to the coil so you don't want to keep driving on it waiting for it to completely fail. The speedometer is most likely disconnected at the dash cluster (but you should do the verification tests to make sure nothing is missing). Remove the dash cluster. Disconnect the cable at the tranny so you can pull enough length through the firewall to establish a solid connection to the cluster BEFORE you bolt it back in place. It's very difficult to ensure a good connection while it's bolted it.

I have to say I'm pretty skeptical of the value of mutliple bonding straps on a radiator. The purpose in this application is a simple DC bond to prevent a dissimilar metals galvanic action. Using a non conductive coolant (distilled water) and providing an alternate path to ground will minimize if not eliminate the potential current flow and resultant corrosion, no argument there. If we were concerned with one of the straps losing it's bond and they just want to have a back-up then OK, but 8? Just not seeing it.

Buddha, disregard request for how you measured. I see that is Ford's spec from curb to curb. Interestingly enough, the 2011 (and I would suppose 2005 through 2014) Mustang has a curb to curb turn diameter of 36.7 ft, only slightly less than 45 years ago. The 2011 BMW M3 has an even larger circle of 38.4 ft.

Buddha, Can you tell us exactly how that was measured? I'm assuming that's the inside diameter of the turning circle, but I would like to compare your numbers to mine (eventually anyway... I can't find my previous measurements and it may be a while before I'm back on the road). The decreased turn radius definitely seems to be a personal preference. Personally, I couldn't tolerate the giant circle mine made as I was cruising in a large caravan and needed to make some tight u-turns. The only way to decrease the radius if you're using a J-car rack is to substantially shorten the steering arm. Even if you have the necessary travel, if you use the stock spindle you still need 3 turns lock to lock to make the minimum radius. I can make it in 2.5 turns with my shorter steering arms. So not only do I have a tight turn radius, but I have a noticeably higher turn rate.

Dynacorn just released a new rack that is based on the GM J car rack but with all new components. The housing is billet aluminum and can swivel 360 degrees. The rack gears are helical cut chrome moly with 7" of travel. It's a bit pricey as might be expected at nearly $3K. It's interesting that they based their design off the GM J car rack. They also mounted the center take off centerlink in front of the rack as I did in my design. Nice looking piece, but then you would expect that for the price.

I recently pulled my 31 spline nodular 9" out to replace with a full floating rear. It only has about 5k miles since a complete rebuild and I've changed the fluid once already since then (had to replace the gasket due to a leak). It has 3:70 gears and a traction lock, and works perfectly. I've never drag raced it, only autocross and cross country trips. I'm in southern Maryland. $900. Let me know if your interested. There are no brake drums as I was using rear discs.