Rear Wheel Clearance Work

This morning, I did a bit more work on the wheel opening of the rear quarter panel in hopes of stopping the rubbing noise when going over large bumps.

I started out by measuring three inches down from the quarter panel onto the tire.  This is to simulate the amount of total movement possible based on the distance from the rear axle to bump stop.  This is shown below by the black line on the tire.  

I then used a lug nut tied to a string to run a straight line down from the inner fender lip.  The two silver marks on the tire and fender are showing where the string begins to touch the tire.  These are the areas I will need to focus on removing material.  

I then remove the wheel and decided to measure the width of the fender lip.  This would give me an idea of the amount to remove.  In the past when I removed material, it was from the essentially where the rub starts now forward.  This can be seen a bit in the measurements shown below:

Somewhat below each measurement with a small arrow are updated numbers.  The first set immediately below is what was accomplished through cutting and grinding.  The second set of numbers is a small change which occurred from rolling the lip ever so slightly with a body hammer.  My overall change is maybe 1/8" in most places which really isn't much at all.  

With the wheel off, it is apparent the tire is also making contact just inside of the wheel well above the lip.  The rub has removed all of the undercoating in the area.  There is not much to do about this aside from a wheel with more backspace, raise the rear with new leaf springs, or a fender flare (not going there).

The trouble is that these wheels are not produced in this size with more backspace.  There are a few others which are made but then I'm switching out wheels that I just purchased.  I think I will go with new springs to raise the back up around 1/2".  This should help and will not look bad.  While I doubt it has an impact, I hope this will center the rear axle a little better as that might remove the issue entirely.

At this point, I don't feel bad cutting on the fender well area as I expect to replace the back quarter panels due to all the rust.  Unfortunately, the hitting the inner lip with the hammer caused a crack in the paint.  At least this all happened before painting the car.

02/16/2020 Update - I drove around today with my son and daughter in the car.  I hit several larger bumps but never had the wheels scrape.  I have, however, heard the tire go up high enough to hear it rub along the upper section of the quarter.  While not great, that does not damage the tire and seems to have no impact on the quarter panel.  I still plan on raising the rear just a little to help reduce this rubbing even further.

Front Suspension Maintenance

This morning, put the Mustang up on jacks and removed the front two tires.  I started by cleaning up the suspension parts a little as they had grease and grime on them from the road trip to Tulsa.  Afterwards, I moved on to the bulk of the work which was checking the torque of everything and greasing all the joints.

I removed all the cotter pins, removed, and then torqued all the steering pieces again just to make sure they are done right.  There was a torn tie rod boot on the inner, driver-side tie rod which connects to the center link.  Luckily, I purchased a set of Scott Drake tie rod boots years ago and didn't use them.  Since I had a pack of two, I swapped both the inner tie rod boots out.

I found the bolts which hold the strut rods to the lower control arms were not torqued well.  The rest of the bolts seems to be just fine although there were a few I put a slight bit of a turn on with the wrench.  I figured now that I've driven it a fair amount it is best to make sure all is well.

I then purchased some Ford/Lincoln/Mercury grease at NAPA and pumped grease into all of the zerk fittings.  Several took much more grease than I was expecting.  Unfortunately, I found the boot on the driver side upper control arm must have a pin hole as it leaks grease out the side.  If I replace the front springs, that would be a good opportunity to fix that if I decide it is bothersome.  The part is a Moog K8142 and it is only about $20 on Amazon.

Since I had everything out, I thought I'd top off the steering box with grease.  I checked StangerSite.com and followed his instructions to turn the wheel to the right, remove the fill bolt, remove the bolt farthest from the fill hole.  I then stuck the end of the grease gun in the hole and filled until grease came out the bolt hole.  Wildly, I pumped 120 times before grease came out the bolt hole.

The website also indicates you then turn the wheel to the left and then fill again.  This time I was only able to pump the grease gun four times before grease came out of the bolt hole.  I tightened everything up and called the job done.

What is weird about the steering box is for it to take 124 pumps of grease it must have been quite low.  The steering box has 4,000 miles on it since being rebuilt in late 2011 by Stanger (Randy Meyer).  As part of the process, he fills it up and you do nothing but install it.  This makes me think he must have sent it without much in it.  Thing is, it is hard to tell as when you take off the fill plug, you can see grease as the gears push the grease to the sides of the box so I always thought it was full.  

I drove around and really did not notice a great deal of difference in the steering.  I won't sweat it and just consider the maintenance done and move on.

Debating Front Suspension Changes

My front coil springs are made by Eaton Spring and are sold by NPD as part number 5310-8.  The springs are rated at 428 lbs to compress an inch at 11" tall.  They were originally used on big block cars and on those with a 289 with A/C and the heavy duty suspension option.  

When I originally purchased the springs, I cut a bit off at a time and ultimately ended up with 3/4 coil removed.  At that point, I thought the ride height was about perfect.  a few years later, while I had the engine out for work in December 2011, I decided to do the Arning drop which is supposed to lower the car a little.  While I had the suspension apart, I cut another quarter coil off the coil spring for a total of a full coil removed. 

As time has gone on, the car has continued to change.  When the engine went back in, it had an aluminum intake and heads.  In the last year, I added more weight back in with the air conditioning system and the big block style radiator.  I can now only fit one of my two jacks under the front of the car as it is so low.  

At this point, I think the front suspension is too low.  I took the front wheels off this afternoon to inspect everything, I noticed the upper control arm is hitting the bump stop.  I don't drive crazy but at times I hit a bump and there is a hard thud noise.  I thought something was loose which is part of the reason I was checking but now I wonder if it is because the suspension is bottoming out.

I've not really considered how much space exists between the upper control arm and the bump stop.  I put the wheel back on and rolled the car around a bit to get it leveled.  It seems I only have about 2" of travel before the front suspension which is not all that great.  From some quick reading, a street car should have about 2.5 to 3" of travel which would be measured at the wheel.  With all of this in mind, I'm not sure if I bottom out or not.  

For later reference, I decided to take a few pictures of the ride height with a measuring tape.  The fender well opening is right at 24 3/8" at the highest point.   The lower control arm is essentially parallel to the floor at ride height. I'm not sure how high I should take the front suspension but perhaps 25" would be good as that would increase my travel on compression at the UCA to 2 5/8".  I'll continue to think on it as I save some cash for the parts.
  

While looking everything over, I noticed there was some play in the passenger side wheel.  I'm not sure where it is coming from but it looks like the steering linkage.  I'm going to see if I can't check the torque when I get everything a once over.  For when that time comes, I dug up the torque specs...

1) Tie rod end to spindle arm: 30-40 ft/lbs*
2) Steering tie rod to center link: 30-40 ft/lbs*
3) Pitman arm to center link: 35-47 ft/lbs.
4) Idler arm to center link: 60-80 ft/lbs*
* Tighten to the low limit of the specification, then tighten the nut to the nearest cotter pin slit and insert the cotter pin.

Diagnosing Driveshaft Vibration

There is a driveline vibration that I can feel mostly when slowing down but sometimes at other points.  If I push in the clutch when the vibration is occurring it does not stop.  This gives me the impression it is not related to the engine or transmission.  My suspicion is that it is the driveshaft yoke or length.

It is unfortunately almost impossible to get pictures of the driveshaft and yoke installed as the vehicle is so low to the ground.  However, I was able to get the following picture of the yoke in the transmission while at ride height.  The worn section where there is no paint is .375" wide and represents the amount of movement occurring.  Many say you need .75" free play at the transmission and I guess that is a safe number as it is double the movement I see.

The trouble is that after taking this picture, I disconnected the driveshaft from the rear axle.  I then pushed it forward to see how far it would go into the transmission.  The driveshaft slide all the way forward until the neck of the yoke touched the transmission seal.  That is a total of 1.7" of movement which is way more than the .75" that is recommended.  

I took the yoke out of the transmission and measured it.  I put all of the measurements below so I can reference them and determine what I want to do.  The best replacement part appears to be a Spicer 2-3-4871X which is identical except it eliminates the end of the yoke which has no splines.  I'd planned to start by just replacing it until I noticed the driveshaft is way too short.  

I then started looking into a new driveshaft and found a few different options:
1) I called a local shop to price extending my current driveshaft from 50" center-to-center up to 51" center-to-center.  They said it would be $280 using my existing yoke and u-joints.  This is rather expensive.

2) I've considered a Denny's Driveshafts replacement as it is a 3" aluminum driveshaft, new u-joints, and the new Spicer yoke.  The tough part is that it is $450 but that is only about $100 more than the local price after I add a new yoke into the deal.

3) Some have purchased a stock driveshaft for a 2006+ explorer (4door, V6, AT, 2 wheel drive) and it is an aluminum version that is already the proper length.  From what I understand, they are sold rather inexpensively.  I'd have to add a yoke and new u-joints to the price as they use 1330 u-joints.  I'd also have to play the local place to balance it which based on the other prices would still be at least $100.  

https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/explorer-aluminum-driveshaft-fixed-65-vibration.910770/

I'm going to think on it for now as it is not horrible but is something I want to correct soon.

12/06/19 - After thinking on this a bit, I just decided to bit the bullet and get a Denny's 3.5" aluminum driveshaft.  I then don't have to worry or think about it.  It will just be done right.  It will take about 4 weeks for them to build it so it should be ready around the beginning of next month.

Windshield Seal Inspection

On the return trip from Tulsa, we encountered a heavy storm and water was leaking into the car.  It was leaking an incredible amount from under the dash but I could also see it coming in from the top of the windshield.  My immediate concern was that there rust holes all under the trim so I purchased a little trim removal tool from Summit and decided to take all the trim off this evening. 

With all of the trim removed, it is apparent all the original sealant is dried out, cracked, and falling out.  I can take a small flat head screw driver and easily find places I can slide it right past the sealant and the rubber seal.  I imagine the rain just went through these same areas when driving down the road at 70.   

Most of the sealant along the bottom of the window had long since cracked and fallen out or was just trapped behind the trim.  The good news is that at this point I don't really see any rust.  Of course, I could still remove the window and find a ton of problems. 

I'm not sure if I can attempt to remove, reseal, and reinstall the window by myself or not.  I cleaned up all the cracked and broken sealant, cleaned the trim with some 0000 steel wool, and put everything back together for now.  I'll have to think on this a bit and see if I want to do the work myself. 

I'll definitely need to replace the windshield trim clips if I do the job as a few are missing or bent.  I added a Scott Drake C5ZZ-65423A26-B to my Summit order and it is an exact replacement so I'll need a few more of these.  I believe there are about 20 but I don't recall exactly. 

If I chose to do this work myself, I'll reference the following YouTube video from Mustangs to Fear as it has good detail on the process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7Prioj9Xo&list=LLlIn764U3jAxR_rROoPoIWQ&index=13&t=0s

New Radiator Overflow Tank

Once I upgraded to a larger radiator before the Tulsa trip, the old plastic overflow tank I was using no longer fit in the original location.  Very little actually fits beside the radiator so I decided to get a nice stainless steel version and make a custom bracket to hold it.  This week I started that process by ordering a Spectre 2" X 13" overflow tank (Part # 4179).  

The tank arrived this past Thursday and I started work on installing it yesterday morning.  I used a piece of 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/16" aluminum angle to form the bracket.  I cut down one side so that it would fit the mounting area along the side of the radiator shroud perfectly.  I then worked on the other side to make two tabs which matches the tabs on the overflow tank.  With those things done, I drilled a few holes to mount everything up.

I painted it with the Krylon 1613 paint that I used on most of the under hood parts.  I then installed everything using some stainless steel bolts I picked up at Lowe's.  Its a much better option than the old plastic container which I zip tied to the fender apron in order to make the trip to Tulsa.  With the new container in place, I removed the plastic one and was able to reinstall the windshield washer tank.

The final product looks good.  Just about every overflow tank seems to have a 1/4" inlet which does not match my 3/8" radiator nipple.  I'm going to run a 3/8" to 1/4" adapter so that I will not have any leaks trying to use a clamp to get 3/8" hose to secure on a 1/4" inlet.  

Ford Nationals - Areas for Improvement

The car ran near flawlessly and I'm proud to have built something to make the trip.  There are always was to improve and I'd like to think through some of those so I continue to improve the car.  The things that come to mind include:

1) I need to get some stiffer rear springs or find out what is going on with the passenger side rear tire.  It continues to rub the quarter panel.  It did it a few times on bridge transitions on the highway.  I can just see it destroying a tire.

2) Car tends to follow uneven areas on the highway like grooves.  It also gets rather sketchy when there are a large amount of unlevel and bumpy areas of the road.  I'm not sure if this is just the manual steering or the low profile tires.

3) Once it started to rain especially hard, I noticed leaks which seem to come from the wiper arms  and then all around the top of the windshield.  I don't think I installed new gaskets around the wipers arms which might explain some of the problem.  I'm not sure if the windshield is no longer sealed or what might be causing the windshield to leak.

4) The passenger door is a little difficult to open.  I think this is primarily because the portion of the latch mechanism that is mounted in the door jamb is not aligned properly.  I've tried to change it before but the screws which hold it in place don't want to budge.  I'll have to work on it again.

5) The left turn signal indicator on the instrument cluster does not light up when the blinker is on.  I imagine the bulb is out which is simple to fix.

6) There seems to be quite a bit of vibration in the drivetrain.  It is nothing I have not felt in the past.  It is just noticeable after hours of driving on the highway.

Ford Nationals - Day 4 - Car Show & Drive Home

Another round of storms made it through Tulsa last night.  The forecasts all mentioned heavy rain and potential hail through the morning hours of the day.  Luckily, the hotel allowed me to park overnight under the front covered entrance area.  

I expected to wake up this morning and find it raining but it had stopped about an hour earlier.  It was raining all around Tulsa but not in Tulsa itself.  The car show was somewhat on the way out of town so I decided we would stop for a while.  If it started raining or there were no cars to see, we would just hit the road.

The car show was at the Southern Hill Marriott.  We parked and made our way to the car show area at about 8:15 and cars were just starting to find their spots. The rain no doubt impacted the turn out as I think many expected it to rain and likely left town already.  However, as the morning progressed, the clouds lifted and more and more cars arrived.

Aaron and I looked at the cars for a while and eventually decided we had seen what we needed to see.  Cars were still arriving but we would be here all day noticing ones from a distance which seemed to have just arrived and walking over to them.  At 9:30, we decided it would be best to leave and get an early start.

We headed south on 75 which is a decently smooth road with few of the potholes we found everywhere else.  We cruised with the morning sun shining and the A/C running.  It was starting off as a much better day than the weather suggested.  This continued until we made it to a few miles north of Durant, OK.

Just outside of Durant it began to storm like crazy.  The kind of rain where everyone is pulling off the highway and you can't see anything.  I've driven the Mustang while it sprinkled but never in the rain before.  There was no avoiding it this time.

It was not long before we noticed numerous leaks in the Mustang.  I don't think I put rubber gaskets back on the wiper arm brackets so there were some leaks there.  What was more surprising is that I think I must have a bad windshield gasket or rust holes at the top of the window as it was literally pouring water in from around the top and down the sides of the front window.  I certainly did not expect that.

We stopped in Durant and I pulled under the covering of a gas station.  Aaron dried inside the car some while I dried off around the windshield frame and put duct tape on it to seal up the area.  I did not want to but we still had five hours of driving ahead of us and the weather showed there were many storms still ahead.

We ate at a Sonic to wait out the rain a little.  When we left it was not raining but it took only minutes for it to start raining rather hard again.  Thankfully, the duct tape was doing a good job.  However, we now had no radio as I turned it off out of fear water was getting on it.  I tried turning on the headlights only to find they no longer worked.

We drove for hours home hitting rain sporadically.  We must have been driving in rain for a least and hour of two of the trip.  On several instances, it was hard to see the road but we continued on working our way back home.  We had old shirts from our bags in the back seat soaking up water in the floorboard as we drove but we made it home.

I was a little frustrated at the rain, other drivers, and that the trip was ending on what seemed to be a low point but I tried to stay upbeat.  In reality, we will likely look back on this and laugh in the future.  I guess I could not have prepared much for this as I would not have even considered the windshield would leak.  I suppose this was the point in the road trip where you earn it as mechanically we had no troubles.

We made it home at 6:30 in the evening and had Father's Day dinner with my wife and daughter.  It was a good trip.

...

I don't know exactly how it is possible but I tracked all of my mileage and the gallons from each refuel on the trip to check my gas mileage.  It seems that I was able to average just a little over 20 miles per gallon on the trip.  I drove a little slower than I normally would (65 or 70) but was still mostly going the speed limit unless the road was bad.  I'm impressed.

Ford Nationals - Day 3 - Tulsa Raceway Park

Ford Nationals - Day 2 - Hallett Raceway

We left the Dallas Holiday Inn Express at about 7:15 in the morning as we wanted to make it to the Hallett Raceway before registration check-in ended at noon.  

We cruised all the way without any difficulty.  We had the air conditioning running and the cooling system ran at 180 the entire time.  The weather was perfect with a light wind and in the low 80s.  You could not ask for better.  

We made it to registration at 11:55 providing just enough time to check in.  When we parked, I was beyond happy the car had actually made it.  I felt rather confident but had many others who acted as if I were crazy and would be left stranded in Oklahoma.

We made it right as the Corinthian Vintage Racing group was lining up to start racing.  My son was amazed at the cars, how loud they were, and how fast they went.  He immediately began taking pictures himself.

Ford Nationals - Day 1

Starting mileage for the trip is 3,510.2.  When we finished up the day, our mileage was 3714.4.

I'm going to track my gas mileage as well.  For those purposes, I filled up last at 3370.2.

Preparing for Ford Nationals - Radiator Upgrade 4 - Radiator Arrival & Installation

The radiator arrived this evening and I immediately started work on the installation.  The outlets for the radiator align perfectly with the stock hose locations in the vehicle which will simplify installation.  The remainder of the radiator appearance is almost identical to that of the CC379.

While I did not expect it, preparing for Tulsa has turned into a last minute thrash to have the car ready.  I left work a little early and started work around 4:30 but did not finish until almost 9 o'clock.  Tonight, I have a work event for almost all of the evening so there really is not much opportunity to drive before leaving Thursday.  Needless to say, I'm not especially confident without at least a little drive time.  

The radiator installation took a while as there was quite a bit to do. I had to move the trans cooler plugs to the new radiator, adjust my new lower radiator brackets, mount the radiator, drill fan holes in the shroud, mount the shroud, connect the temperature sender, mount the shroud, install a new upper hose, mount the temp controller and relay, find a new place for the overflow tank, fill up the system, run it some, and then fill it up again.  

A new upper hose was needed because my original hose was too short to stretch to the new port location on the radiator. I used a Gates 21953 which is especially long so you can cut it to fit.  I ended up cutting about four inches off so there is plenty of material to work.  The hose seems to be of good quality so it is likely better than the factor lettering one I was using.  

Mounting the shroud to the radiator on the battery side is a chore.  There is not much way to get to the back of the bolts without removing the battery.  There really isn't much room to work around the much larger radiator.  I'm hopeful it is worth the work and expense.

The front of the radiator was previously entirely covered by the AC condensor.  There are now sections visible on both sides of the condenser although the receiver/dryer covers some of the driver side.  While it does not look like much, I hope that helps with my cooling troubles.  I figured it before and I have 25% more surface area but switching from a 1" -2 core to a .63" -3 core likely cut surface area of the core by 5%.  

It is barely visible below but the new upper radiator hose is contoured slightly differently.  I noticed as the hose I was using almost made contact with the tension pulley for the AC.  This one is routed a little differently which is good as it provides plenty of room around the pulley.

At some point, I'll get a new overflow tank.  I've used this piece of junk for a while but it works.  I'm glad I've not purchased one of the types which mount to the side of the radiator as I no longer have any room.  Luckily, I could remove the washer tank and it mounted using one of those bolts.  I'll call this good enough for now as I don't see another option.

Preparing for Ford Nationals - Headlight Adjuster Repair

I hoped the new radiator would arrive in the mail today but it was unfortunately delayed in Dallas.  Instead, I decided I'd work on repairing the headlight adjuster which I noticed was broken a few days ago.  I'd have just waited but the headlight was somewhat flopping around in the mount which would not work for the trip.

You can tell at the bottom of the image below, the actual mount for the headlight adjustment is completely broken.  

I purchased an entire repair kit but for now only installed this one part.  You should remove the fender for the job but I just removed the headlight from the headlight extension.  I then used a combination of crazy attempts to unscrew the screws from the back of the adjustment mount.  I then managed to get the new one installed.  I'll now need to get the car running again so I can adjust the headlights properly for the trip.

Preparing for Ford Nationals - Radiator Upgrade 3 - Mounting Bracket Work

This evening, I worked on a way to mount the new radiator in place with the inadequate mounts I purchased from Scott Drake.

The following looks sketchy at best but I made two mounts which connect to the factory radiator mount location and extend over to the lower mounts on each side of the radiator.  The saddles at the bottom will then hold some weight and protect the bottom of the radiator from large bumps.  These will hold the radiator, along with the top mount, from moving either forward or backward once installed.  

Driver Side:

Passenger Side"