The Bitch is Back!

[The Bitch is Back!]

Back in about 2006 I bought an Air Ride rear cradle as the base for a triangulated 4 link QA1 coil over suspension. For the control arms I made them from 1-1/4" x .095 wall 4130, Tig welded and normalized, tube adapters for 3/4" QA1 xm rod ends.

I made the lower shock mounts adjustable, and they bolt to the stock spring pad on the rear axle. After assembling I could see something wasn't right. Turned out the upper left coil over mount was 3/4" off. Nice. I could have eye balled it closer than they did. By the time I noticed screwed up mount, Air Ride had been sold to Chris Alston. Should have made my own rear cradle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rear lower coil over brackets prior to welding.

 

 

Bob

[The Bitch is Back!]

Had a pair of 70 big bearing drum spindles on hand but didn't know I could use my 69 hubs with different bearings. Doh! I had already made brackets to mount 13" 01 Cobra discs to my 69 disc spindles, but when I learned of the needed bearings I made some brackets for the 70 spindles.

 

 

This is why I went with the 13" Cobra front brake. OEM vs 01 Cobra :)

 

 

 

Bob

[The Bitch is Back!]

Well, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Suppose I'll start with the convertible seat risers. As others have done, I spliced the fb model from NPD onto my stock seat risers. Since I had them out with the intent to install the one piece convertible riser, I moved them back 3/4" for leg room. I also installed some self fabbed convertible inner rockers.

 

[Trans am nose drop]

I just did it on my '69 TA clone racer. I copied that yellow car above, which is here in Houston as well. Its not too hard if you can weld. Here are his pics:

 

https://1970mustangvintageracer.shutterfly.com/551

 

I'll try and post pics when my car gets rolled out into daylight. Right now I am installing the rear bulkhead panel and rear roll cage legs.

 

Dude, post up the roll bar tab pics! Pleeese :)

 

Bob

[Steering Box]

Mine is 1-1/8". My understanding is 69-70 is 1-1/8 and the earlier were 1". Don't know what year they changed.

 

Bob

[3 1970 fastbacks]

Dang, I didn't know Debby Downer posted here :) Nice find! He lives in Omaha,, which last time I checked is a good sized city with plenty of buyers. If an out of towner buys something, they deal with shipping. That is if he wants to sell anything.

 

Bob

[Paint Interior Heater Metal Pieces?]

Great minds think alike!

I just walked into the house from the shop after painting it with spray Rustoleum. Put them in the oven to dry :)

 

Bob

[Paint Interior Heater Metal Pieces?]

Non a/c or concourse car. The flapper vent piece and heater core surround frame weren't painted on mine, probably all. You guys that have gone thru them, did you paint them? If I don't, I'll be long dead by the time they rust up anyway.

 

Bob

[Heater Box Switch/Resistor]

Coils? What coil? Just kidding, yeah it looks fine. Famous last words :)

 

Bob

[Which aluninum heads for 351W?]

Back around 12-14 years ago, one of the magazines did an aluminum head comparison. They bolted on AFR 185's and gained 75hp on the dyno. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the big names.

 

Bob

[Heater Box Switch/Resistor]

I'm in the process of rebuilding my heater. It worked fine 14 years ago when I tore down the car, and decided while the car is apart to get a new heater core. I was looking at what my NPD catalog calls the "Resistor heater switch" and wondered if I should replace it also. Do they go out often? Should I replace it while I'm at it? Is OEM better than after market? BTW, NPD only shows 65-67.

 

Bob

[Took the car for a long road trip .... issue]

I have to strongly disagree with you. The leaf springs need replaced. They are a little more than flat/straight.

 

A little more than flat is more arch than the GT350 had. Click link to see pic.

 

http://s782.photobucket.com/user/robertpmcdougal/library/Mobile%20Uploads?sort=3&page=1

 

Bob

[Finally Making Some Progress.....]

Thanks. The rollbar has been in for about a year. The yellow is just tape

 

Is it documented here? I looked but didn't see anything :(

 

Bob

[Finally Making Some Progress.....]

Very nice! Did I miss it when the roll bar was installed?

 

Bob

[Long Time Coming... My First Resto!]

Nice. You'll like those bump steer studs, should be able to eliminate nearly all toe change.

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

Hmm... when I called NPD they said the hardware was a bolt. I didn't even think about it being an eccentric bolt. Glad it worked for you, it sure looks good under there!

I totally screwed up on my earlier post about the eccentric bolt path. Doh!

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

have you tried to use the crossmember that NPD sells?

 

No I haven't, but I do like it's design. I think you'd need several eccentric exterminator plates made to adjust the lower arm correctly if the tie in plate is used. Obviously the tie in plate doesn't need to be used, but I think they are reflected in the $200 price. So might as well use them.

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

If you're planning on getting the NPD unit, be aware the the stock eccentrics will only align with the lca in the full in and out positions if you use a longer bolt and tie into the support plate.

 

Bob

[Where do we go from Retro?]

I'm liking this car. Nice to see she's got some hips again. A lot of those wheels would fit right in on our cars. I hope it doesn't look like crap in person.

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? We don't need no stinking benders. OK, no more movie lines. No, I don't have a bender. I do have a race car fab shop in town however. I drew up the cross member plans full size and had them bend (23°) some 1-1/2" 4130. At my old job owned by my ex they had a real nice $230k bender. Such is life.

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

I would think there would be a market for these! Especially if it were thick enough to safely jack the car up with.

 

Hmm... after I showed my brother my cross member he said I should market them.

 

Bob

[anyone did the Reinforcement Plates for Crossmember MOD or bought the reinforced part]

Nice fab work RPM.

 

I notice the picture Juit posted (WCC) has the reinforcement plate but doesn't have the slotted hole to tie the crossmember to the lower shock tower/LCA like what is shown in the Boss302 manual. It is my opinion that if you were to go through the effort in making a crossmember, that you would tie the LCA to the crossmember.

 

Thanks buening. I eliminated the eccentric adjusters and offset the bolt hole so that I have two positions for the lca bolt 3/4" apart. The problem trying to use the tie in plate on the cross member is the LCA bolt can be anywhere in the circle pattern of the eccentric. I have an adjustable LCA so my LCA bolt will stay in one position, and have only one bolt hole in the x member plate.

 

Bob

[Title Help]

"IF" this were my car, and since it is not stolen, and only the last registered owner signature is needed, I would conveniently "find" him to sign a bill of sale. He might even be in your neighborhood, or in the parking lot at the DMV. The dmv doesn't know or check to match signatures. I've had extremely good luck locating folks who I needed to sign DMV forms. Or... you can jump thru the DMV hoops and their headaches.

 

 

 

Bob

[69 Coyote Build]

Thanks, now we need to drive it so we can get the suspension dialed in. We spent 6 hours installing the stripes today.

 

Wow, 6 hours! I guess that's pretty close to the book time eh?

 

Bob

[1970 Grabber Green Project]

Me thinks you missed your calling in life. Should a been a Mustang restorer. Oh wait, you are!

 

Bob