Nicks 63 Uni

[kstones63]

I got the IRS reassembled today in the truck.

The strut rods that are going up to the frame will set the pinion angle and keep the front from twisting under torque. I have to put those mounts on tomorrow.
The crossmember is mounted right up next to the floor but when we put new rubber cab mounts in, that should give it enough clearance. The existing mounts are basically non-existent right now.

The truck should sit low enough when the proper tires and wheels go on. I don't have the shocks mounted yet so I am guessing at the ride height but I think I am pretty close.


Kevin

[kstones63]

I missed my guess at the ride height. It sits to low in the back.

The instructions with the new cross member said that I would have to relocate the lower shock mount inward 2" on the lower control arm but we ordered the cross member with a 3" drop so the shock mounts are lower and I thought that I could get away without moving the lower shock mounts. I guess that I was wrong.
You can see in this pic that the lower control arms are uphill to the outside and the LCA should be level with the ground.

If I move the shock mounts inward on the LCA and the upper shock mounts outward I should be able to get plenty of adjustment for ride height.

Kevin

[Toyz]

Kevin,
it looks like Ya'll are going to need some wiiide wheels and tires. It should look great!
I'm still debating Shockwave or coil over. I could easily mimic the Jag dual-coil over; just don't have a clue as to advantages/disadvantages. I would think the duals, with the lighter coil rates, would allow a smoother ride and more damping action. Any thoughts?
Paul

[rickairmedic]

Well no point in raising the rear just drop the front some more .


Rick

[kstones63]

Paul, I don't believe that with the Jag you would want to run only 1 shock on each side. My guess would be that it would put undue strain on the lower control arms. There is not an upper control arm on these and I would think that it would try and twist the LCA. The dual shocks should make a nice ride.
Those tires are about 3/4" from the inside of the fenders. We will have to use an offset wheel as wide as we can get under there.

Rick, If I lower the front down to match the rear, the front cross member and the oil pan will be dragging on the ground.

Kevin

[LM14]

Did you move your rear axle centerline at all? Looks like it is probably in the stock location still. I'm considering moving mine 1.25 to 1.5 forward to make it look better in the wheelwell.

Thanks,
SPark

[kstones63]

I moved the rear axle forward at least 1". The tires that are on the truck are only 26" tall so when we get the proper tires on it they will look like it is forward.
The front was moved forward 1 1/2" and it now measures wheelbase at 122 1/2".

Kevin

[Toyz]

Kevin, I agree that single springs would not appear to be a solution on a system without an upper control arm. I am working on the Mark VIII application currently.
I'm not sure what I want to do within reasonable cost constraints. I could use the stock (slow) airbag setup, go with aftermarket bags or shockwaves. It would be quite simple to mount coil-overs or Shockwaves in the stock air spring location. However, the Mark utilized shocks mounted ahead of the control arms. With the broad lower control arms, I can see no problem with avoiding that positioning, but I could easily modify that location to add a second set of coil-overs. I think the ride and probably handling with improve with the duals ala Jaguar, especially with the shorter overall shock length; I'm just not sure if the improvement will justify the effort and expense.
I'm open to any and all suggestions or experiences along these lines; I've done multi setups for hostile terrain, just never for lowered applications.
Thanks,
Paul

[kstones63]

From everything that I hear, the Shockwave is supposed to be a great shock/bag setup. I would also think that they would mount in real easy in place of the stock airbag.

Kevin

[kstones63]

Made some more progress this weekend. I got the radius rods mounted for the lower control arms.

I decided to move the shock mounts on the LCA today. I made a guide the size of the shock bolts so that I could line up the proper angle and clamp it in the mill.

I drilled it out as far as I could and then used a couple of cutting tools to finish the hole size.

Here is the finished product. The outer mount needs to stay in this because another piece bolts to it.

I am considering plating between the two shock mounts. Any thoughts on if that should be done?

Kevin

[Toyz]

I wouldn't think additional strengthening would be needed if you have duplicated the factory design. The thru-bolt should help deter any potential stress. Since the load should be distributed equally; I would expect the increased load at that point to be negligible. That appears to be something which could be added later if the load was found to change greatly. The wall thickness of the LCA appears quite substantial; I can't determine for certain if you used a thru-bushing; that would also add strength IMO.
Any idea of the effects of the move on actual required spring rates? It probably could be easily calculated.
Spring positioning in relation to LCA pivot points was one of my concerns when trying to come up with a cleaner design for the Mark VIII conversion.
Paul

[nstones63uni]

Hey guys still out on the road. Currently I am out in Florida I will be out here till November 9th then ill head home. Then i can start working on the truck again. My dad really has not had a chance to work on the truck that much. Which is why their has not been any updates on the truck at all. I sent some money home and my dad ordered me some headers. We are looking in to this plate where we can mount on the motor where i can put a top mount supercharger on it

[kstones63]

Here is a pic of a part that I made while I am out of commission. This is the rear mount to hold the lower control arms in place on the rear suspension. This probably will end up at the chrome shop if we have any other parts to go.
I probably won't have much work done on this until Nick gets back home for a while so he can do the work and I can supervise.



Kevin

[Arrowhead]

We are looking in to this plate where we can mount on the motor where i can put a top mount supercharger on it

Really cool build. I know I'm new here but am curious what supercharger your thinking of using. I built a 4.6 with a 6-71 GMC blower and EFI and had to build my own intake adapter setup if I can be of any help.

[kstones63]

We are looking in to this plate where we can mount on the motor where i can put a top mount supercharger on it

Really cool build. I know I'm new here but am curious what supercharger your thinking of using. I built a 4.6 with a 6-71 GMC blower and EFI and had to build my own intake adapter setup if I can be of any help.

Nick is thinking about the top mounted supercharger like the Kenne Bell or something similar. We bought a set of adaptors to go from the 5.4 DOHC to 4.6 DOHC intake. We are putting a Cobra intake on it for now and maybe later the supercharger. I want him to get the truck finished or at least closer to being done before he spends the money on a supercharger.
That looks really cool with the blower sitting on top of that engine.

Kevin

[kstones63]

We have been doing some work on Nick's truck.
We got the adaptor plates to put the 4.6 Cobra intake on the 5.4 engine. It works out well. This intake is close to 4 1/2" lower than the Navigator intake. Then I decided to raise the engine up higher to give the pan more clearance and that meant remaking the trans mount. I had to cut into the trans tunnel some to give that big 4R100 trans some more room. I will make a plate to cover the hole and then we will make a console that will cover the patch.
We will have to do something different with the water outlets but I have already found the parts to do that. The water lines going to the radiator will have the t-stat in line instead of all the bulky extra hoses that were stock. We will also bring the water return lines from the back of the heads to the front to help cooling the heads.

We picked up a hydroboost and master cylinder. I mounted that where the hydraulic clutch cylinder would have been. This gave us plenty of clearance at the valve cover.

I had to make a larger hole in the pedal mounting bracket to be able to get the modified brake pedal in.

This is the starting of the brake pedal mods. I still need to finish this and hopefully that will happen this weekend.

This is going to work out well. It is just another hole to be filled in the firewall.

We should have more done this weekend.

Kevin

[kstones63]

This is how I finished the brake pedal. I left the pedal in the original location, welded a piece of 1" DOM, bored it out to 11/16" so the bushing would fit properly and made a new bracket to go to the master cylinder.



We have the steering column hanging in the truck. I ordered the wrong steering joint, so I had to send it back and get the proper one coming here. I hope that it shows up this week so I can get it hooked up this coming weekend. The brake pedal is close to the column but it should have plenty of clearance.


We found a set of 67 Mustang seats with the tracks and got a set of brackets from Bill in Tucson. This should make it easier to get the seats installed rather than using some later model seats.


Kevin

[randyr]

Clever fix on the brake pedal, Kevin! Are you keeping the new steering column at the same angle as the original? Clearance with the brake pedal shouldn't be an issue unless Nick has big feet!

[kstones63]

Randy, The steering column needs to go out the original opening. I am going to move it up to the top of the opening so it will match up with the Jag steering rack(hopefully).
Nick bought a new Mustang fuel tank set up for the EFI so it is here ready to be installed. We have the in tank fuel pump and sending unit for the gauge. We are thinking that we are going to have the fuel cap under the floor with a door in the bed. Probably use a door like the Mustang Bullitt uses.
I don't think that I can make the taillight slide out like I did on my truck because the taillight on the uni is smaller. Mine is tight to get the fuel nozzle in so the uni will probably be impossible.

I hope to have the seats installed this weekend.

Kevin

[luckystiff]

good to see everything got to you guys in good order.

Build is looking good. I need to get back on mine in the worst of ways. Time and money, which I seem to have neither of lately...ken....