Crashed my Fastback - The rebuild thread

[fvike 173]

Alan, it always has been, and it will :001_cool:

Got a second coat of primer on it, so the floors are pretty much done for now. So it's going up on the rotisserie soon.

 

 

TCP: Notice the crude modifications to the rear floor pan to accomodate the exhaust pipe around the torque arm? Not very nice but it works. Any plans for an exhaust system for the RPSS with rear tail pipes? That would be something I would appreciate. A lot of people run side exhaust with the RPSS, but that wasn't something I wanted. This was a problem I encountered while installing the system, and the solution was to "massage" the floor. Please slap your CAD engineer in the back of the head and see if he can come up with some better way to do this. :thumbup1: BTW, thanks for following my build.

 

[Total Control Products 24]

Our test cars had 3" exhaust running from the headers back to just before the housing. There should have been plenty of space. Weird. Getting the exhaust over the housing is fairly easy; getting it out the back is where it gets tricky. You can do it, but you better be good with a tube bender.

[fvike 173]

No, getting it over and past the axle was easy. I just used a regular Flowmaster 15807. The problem is getting it out of the X-brace and around the torque arm. Just not enough real estate there. I just don't have a good picture of my exhaust system when it was installed.

[fvike 173]

 

Just found this on my harddrive. I must have found it on the internets some time. It's not my car. Anyway, it shows a routing trough the RPSS. If you could make that and offer it as a kit, I think it would sell. A lot of racers run on tracks with sound restrictions, and having exhaust out back helps that.

[Total Control Products 24]

 

Frode, I want to clarify something. I understand that the picture above is not your car. Do your components (frame, watts link, torque arm) look exactly like that?

 

The picture above is not TCP suspension. It is a knockoff made by Unique Performance.

[390mach1 49]

How well does the G bar system work?

[Total Control Products 24]

How well does the G bar system work?

It works awesome! We have customers running it on daily drivers, pro-tourers, track day guys, and I have one customer who (with some chassis stiffening) is running 8.50s at the drag strip.

[390mach1 49]

I'm just looking at the entry level. My car will be just driven maybe once or twice taken to the track. (1/4 mile)

[Total Control Products 24]

I'm just looking at the entry level. My car will be just driven maybe once or twice taken to the track. (1/4 mile)

 

Then it should exceed your expectations! Give us a call and we can go over any questions you might have. My extension is 247. I don't want to clog up Frode's thread.

[fvike 173]

Frode, I want to clarify something. I understand that the picture above is not your car. Do your components (frame, watts link, torque arm) look exactly like that?

 

The picture above is not TCP suspension. It is a knockoff made by Unique Performance.

 

I got the genuine TCP stuff; don't worry about that :thumbup1:

 

 

The Unique suspension was knock offs? I thought they made them on a licence or something. But the UP people were crooks.:001_9898:

[Total Control Products 24]

I got the genuine TCP stuff; don't worry about that :thumbup1:

 

The Unique suspension was knock offs? I thought they made them on a licence or something. But the UP people were crooks.:001_9898:

 

Good job! I'm glad you were able to get the exhaust through in the end.

 

They originally purchased suspension through us. Eventually we discovered that they were making their own stuff mostly because we had people calling with weird tech questions and issues.

[fvike 173]

Some progress;

 

Removed the suspension.

 

Got the car up on the rotiserie...

 

 

 

 

.. and removed the X-brace and e-brake cables. So next step is cleaning up the underside.

[fvike 173]

Not much has been done over new year, but I'm halfway trough the non-glamour part of car resto. Rear footwells may need to be swapped out. They are pretty thin in some places.

 

 

[70Nightmare 20]

Looks like everything is coming along well with ur rebuild. Slow and steady wins the race lol.

Edited January 22, 2014 by 70Nightmare

[Kris 90]

Where did you get your rotisserie? I have one and it is nice but is big and takes up a lot of space. It looks like yours can fold up for easy storage.

[fvike 173]

Where did you get your rotisserie? I have one and it is nice but is big and takes up a lot of space. It looks like yours can fold up for easy storage.

 

It's a friend of mines. He used it on his '79 Mustang resto, so I just had to get mounts for the '69 made. I don't know where he got it. But it's a fairly simple design as you can see, so it's something that easily can be DIY'd.

[RPM 1,190]

Not much has been done over new year, but I'm halfway trough the non-glamour part of car resto. Rear footwells may need to be swapped out. They are pretty thin in some places.

 

"While I'm at it"

Yep, said that myself several times during my rebuild. At some point I gotta stop coming up with more crap to do. Nice job you're doing.

 

Bob

[fvike 173]

I'm starting to see the end of the scraping and cleaning - I think. I just got the wheel houses left. And all the tight places. I got a feeling that those places are going to be time-consuming.

 

 

I also have this door I started on this summer, but didn't finish. So rust began to attack it, so I need to get it primed. I bought a MIRKA Ceros electic sander to speed things up with the door. 'Cause doing it manually sucked! And that's why it wasn't finished the first time.

 

 

[gsxrken 21]

Looks like you are checking all the right boxes, Fvike. Great attention to detail and parts selection, too. I am curious to hear about how that rear suspension works when you are all sorted.

 

Two tips with the TCP power rack I might share- depending on what power steering pump you went with (I used a KRC one) you might need to restrict the flow a bit. Mine was too light of an effort with the as-shipped flow valve in the KRC pump. The other is to make sure you really fasten the inner tie rods securely to the bar that is bolted to the rack. I developed a shimmy in the steering wheel and upon inspection found that my inter tie rod had loosened somehow, and the tie rod beat up the hole in the bar so that I had to get another one from TCP. This still bothers me to this day because I did not leave that nut loose. I think it's bad design to have so much load on a relatively thin bar like that.

[RPM 1,190]

Question for you fvike. In the first pic of post #167 what are the C shaped pieces at the rear of the sub frame*connectors*for? Looks like they have two holes in them. Are they just for support, or does something bolt to them?

 

Bob

[jmlay 80]

Those are TCP subframe connectors. The "C" you refer to is where the cross brace attaches.

 

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/subframe.html

[RPM 1,190]

Ah, thanks.

 

Bob

[fvike 173]

Looks like you are checking all the right boxes, Fvike. Great attention to detail and parts selection, too. I am curious to hear about how that rear suspension works when you are all sorted.

 

Two tips with the TCP power rack I might share- depending on what power steering pump you went with (I used a KRC one) you might need to restrict the flow a bit. Mine was too light of an effort with the as-shipped flow valve in the KRC pump. The other is to make sure you really fasten the inner tie rods securely to the bar that is bolted to the rack. I developed a shimmy in the steering wheel and upon inspection found that my inter tie rod had loosened somehow, and the tie rod beat up the hole in the bar so that I had to get another one from TCP. This still bothers me to this day because I did not leave that nut loose. I think it's bad design to have so much load on a relatively thin bar like that.

 

Thanks for the input! It's going steadily forward with this project, albeit not as fast as I'd wish. Anyway, I've had both the rear suspension and the rack installed many years, so I've experienced both things you mention. I've changed the flow valve in the KRC pump (can't remember which one right now) and I've had the problem with the shimmy. (Replaced the bar too.) I remember using the cotter pins the first time, but the second time I didn't because the castle nut was way past the hole when I tightnened it up. I flooded it in Loctite instead.

I also have dual shims between the frame and rack mounts to space it down to clear the Moroso RR oil pan. I had to get new oil pipes for the rack too, because of the engine resting on them. That's what one gets when changing parts on a car. Can't expect every part to fit all application combos.

 

As for the rear suspension, it works really well. It is very stiff, it is a race suspension, but it works well on the street. The car changes direction as a go cart (true-trac diff), the platform is very stiff. Other than a busted damper due to a bump over a drainage pipe that I hit hard (over 60 mph/blind corner - great combo!), and a sheared bolt (I over-torqued it) it has worked flawlessly. I have to this point run 245/45-17 Michelin Pilot Sport tires, and the car is capable for more g-forces that the tires can handle. That's how well this suspension works. So wider tires and more grip is on the to-do list.

 

jmlay: Correct. :thumbup1:

[Total Control Products 24]

I remember using the cotter pins the first time, but the second time I didn't because the castle nut was way past the hole when I tightnened it up.

 

This is why the tie-rod adapters include a pair of nylon lock nuts. Also handy when the stock tie-rod studs are over long and rub on the boots. It seems like all the manufacturers have differing ideas on how long they should be. You can grind the tip off for clearance and install the lock nut.

 

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/download/instructions/7903-TIER-02.pdf

 

:001_cool:

[fvike 173]

I looked at my rack today. I used the cotter pins. I've had no issues with it after installing the bump steer kit. :)