Aligment. Problems Still.....ARGH

ricardoa1

Registered User
Well here it comes another round of mods, at the same time Im trying to resolve some issues with the car all at once.


Starting with Kooks headers. Getting rid of the Mac shorties in hope that is a restriction in my set up, I will also be deleting the magnaflow highflow cats just in case those are clogged, I dont want to worry about the clogging evar. Then at the same time the Jay Motorsports K-member will be fitted to accept the proper late style motor mounts, intitial fitment proved to be perfect, work of art. Some issues that need to be address that will go with this round of mods. I have to replace the steering shaft boot, I think I need new wires as the number 2 and 6 boot are cooked, not sure if thats causing my stumbles. I took out the spark plugs and I seem to have lean conditions showing on the plugs. Not sure if its normal, aside they look ok. So I am confused about the stumbles.

Next part that needs attention is the suspension. I removed the lower control arms and the strut rod to cotrol arm bushings seem to be bad and the bushing at the Kmember on the arm also seems to be dryrotted. I hope this is the culprit for my suspension clunk/thunk when parking and moving the car around at slow speeds, the lower Bjoint seems to be loose but has no play. So I think I will change those during the upgrades.

I need to source out some teflon seals for the power steering fittings.

I wrote this about the Chucks MM but it got erased when I went to add pics ARGH anywho they need preventive maintenence as the bushing will compress over time and leave the bolt and nut loose and allow the bushing to rotate and shave itselft against the bracket. I will tighten it and hope for the best. I was the first to get these. I would have probably needed new Solid MM by now if I had the stock style.

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Ricardo, just FYI, we dyno tuned another AR powered car this week and with the installation of Kooks headers we lost 30rwhp vs. ported manifolds last year. Car is still a beast though.
 
ditto on the ps line seals... easy and fairly cheap from the stealership. make sure you heat them, and expland themon the spout of a funnel to get them the right size :p
 
Ricardo, just FYI, we dyno tuned another AR powered car this week and with the installation of Kooks headers we lost 30rwhp vs. ported manifolds last year. Car is still a beast though.

?????????? Ok now I am really confused? So is this the correct thing to do?

So stock ported are better then KOOKS :eek:
 
On the arms has anyone verified if the motorcraft ones are original spec Rockauto has them or should i stick with TRW.
 
I'd like to know about the PS seals as well. When i took the threaded fittings off of mine I just used some pipe tape:confused: The car hasn't been started since everything has been put back together so I can't say if I have leaks or not. I'd like to find out though.... I disconnected both ends of the high pressure hose and also the little elbow that goes from the rack to the high pressure line. Are the seals identical in all locations?

Regarding the control arms, I got mine from Rock auto years ago, and they are TRW. They are clean units and the ball joint is sealed unlike other brands. I'd stick with them.

::EDIT:: I guess the seals are Ford part number 388898-S or Motormite part #82540. I'm just wondering if they are the same in all locations. I need them on both ends of the HP hose and the 90* elbow....
 
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Rub it in Riccoo RUB it innnnnnnn

RICCO.....I get a lil play in my poly as well....Nice thing about those mounts are that you can always easily make them solid.

May hav ea projetc for DOug F.....I have a spare poly bushing for CHucks mounts I need to change out and maybe replacing one with something of a different material may be the ticket..CHucks poly seems a lil soft dont it?
 
Well, you aren't going to lose HP from headers, but the point is the dyno is reading significantly lower this year. Its a modern trend of putting too much emphasis on dyno numbers. Even the same dyno can give back different #'s on the same cars over time.

At this point I'm pretty confident that the dyno is reading lower so I take back some of the things I may have said about Rico's car. If going from stock ported manifolds to Kooks doesn't generate a HP gain, then going from Mac's to Kooks isn't going to either. Rico, what cylinders were the leanies? And yes, those wires are cooked.

Looks like the mounts might want a material to buffer them against the metal. Maybe a thin layer of rubber there or maybe even some form of heavy fabric or something to take the abrasion.
 
Maybe Im not so mad you beat me out of those Kooks:D Maybe I should just do some heavy modding on a set of manifolds and throw my shorty mustang headers away. A lot cheaper than doing expensive Kooks headers, now that I would have to buy new

Ken
 
Maybe Im not so mad you beat me out of those Kooks:D Maybe I should just do some heavy modding on a set of manifolds and throw my shorty mustang headers away. A lot cheaper than doing expensive Kooks headers, now that I would have to buy new

Ken

:p You wanted LONG tubes anyways ;)

Dave, I was hoping you would say somthing about the dyno readings and not his set up as much. Still I think the KOOKS will eliminate another "IF" and get me closer to a similar set up as others. I have steering shaft rubbing anyways maybe this will be all end of it.

As for the motor mounts I looked at them closer. I think that dust that you see on one is from other instances of belt slip, I think they have compressed for sure but I take back the statement about rotation and wear, Although I am sure under the correct lift of the engine and vibrations they are bound to rotate slightly. Maybe the stiffer bushing option he offers is a better thing to opt for since our engines with the SC and all components is very heavy, I opted for the softer bushings. This is all a FYI and not a putdown. I think the design is great.
 
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Will the owner of the other car allow you to post set up config and the numbers of the dyno?


Also I found that the number 6 spark plug is the one with the most white chalk on it. The one nearest to the steering shaft.


Another point Dave, this all does not explain why my car does car for more timing we stopped at 28 because we saw not increase. Why can other run 30 on race and not have issues?
 
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:p You wanted LONG tubes anyways ;)

Dave, I was hoping you would say somthing about the dyno readings and not his set up as much. Still I think the KOOKS will eliminate another "IF" and get me closer to a similar set up as others. I have steering shaft rubbing anyways maybe this will be all end of it.

I was told the long tubes dont fit as well. Also I wanted to be like Ira:rolleyes: He has midlengths and look at his numbers. Regardless I am wondering if I should go back to ported manifolds. Everyone I talk to thinks my headers are a choke point.

Ken
 
I was told the long tubes dont fit as well. Also I wanted to be like Ira:rolleyes: He has midlengths and look at his numbers. Regardless I am wondering if I should go back to ported manifolds. Everyone I talk to thinks my headers are a choke point.

Ken

Well you have the stock mustang tubular ones? I think those are more restrictive then stocks.
 
I was told the long tubes dont fit as well. Also I wanted to be like Ira:rolleyes: He has midlengths and look at his numbers. Regardless I am wondering if I should go back to ported manifolds. Everyone I talk to thinks my headers are a choke point.

Ken

Ken,

Hold out for a set of Kooks mid length headers and convert the connections to v-bands.

David
 
ack... a fram oil filter?
Rust on the plugs.. how long have those been in there? What was the gap on them when you removed them? Time to get new plug wires.
 
ack... a fram oil filter?
Rust on the plugs.. how long have those been in there? What was the gap on them when you removed them? Time to get new plug wires.

I did not check, but it does not look like a large gap. Ill take some Macro pics and some measurements. I hope the wires were giving me the bucking. I dont think the plugs are culprit.

And that oil change was supposed to be a short one but I ended up going to ohio and running that there. Ill do a syntec with an ok filter this time around. I was trying to break in the cam.
 
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