OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Yep, that one's mine; a '98 R/T.
Dragon Slayer - 1995 Mustang GT Build Thread - Now With 100 Percent More IRS
- Thread starter nitroram33
- Start date
ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
Sweet man I love those trucks! My buddy had a 99, I'll have to dig up a picture of it. It was super clean and pretty quick when he had it. Cam intake and long tubes with a Cherry bomb extreme muffler. It would wake the dead.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Once the IRS is in, the suspension on the truck (and hopefully a five-lug swap/brake upgrade if I ever get my spindles back lol) is the next thing on the list.
ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
Only picture I could find. And it was lowered down a little more than this when he sold it.
Sadly after it left his hands it went thru half a dozen other people who each destroyed it worse than the previous owner.
Sadly after it left his hands it went thru half a dozen other people who each destroyed it worse than the previous owner.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
That seems to happen more and more as those trucks (and SNs for that matter) get cheaper lol...
RedTwilight
Active Member
Only picture I could find. And it was lowered down a little more than this when he sold it.
Sadly after it left his hands it went thru half a dozen other people who each destroyed it worse than the previous owner.
That's a nice looking Dak! A buddy of mine used to have one that looked almost exactly like that! Same thing happened to his unfortunately. He sold it and the next owner ragged it out then wrecked it.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Snowed today and I didn't wind up wandering out to the shop today before work because I was too lazy to get more kerosene for the heater lol... Good news and bad news though. Bad news is that the MM2 rear IRS shocks from Maximum Motorsports won't be back in stock until "no later than 2/19/16." instead of the original 4-7 weeks from November 10th. The sway bars I ordered Monday also haven't shipped yet from American Muscle.
Good news is these showed up:
Good news is these showed up:
Those calipers are awesome! Did you order them painted?
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Yeah, they come powdercoated from Power Stop. Rock Auto has a kit with the calipers, drilled and slotted rotors, and pads for like $259 before the core refund and shipping. Part number is KC1306A. :thumbsup:
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
We managed to get the car over here and tucked into the shop yesterday after some rain cleared the snow off the roads a bit. Sway bars also finally shipped and should be here Wednesday.
RedTwilight
Active Member
Can't wait to see the car set up!
I need to hit up the Dragon again sometime. It's been several years since I've last been.
I need to hit up the Dragon again sometime. It's been several years since I've last been.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Lemme know if you head this way and I'll drag the Neon out too lol...
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Haven't made as much progress as I'd like, but I didn't manage to finish prepping the subframe/control arms and got the solid axle out of the car tonight before I called it quits. Here's some pics:
Upper arms after bearing removal. You've got to cut off a portion of the bushing shells to make room for the removal tool to seat properly which means being really careful not to cut too deep. The bushing picture wasn't even attached to the outer shell anymore before I started and you could rotate it completely without any real force.
Lower arms after bushing removal and cleanup:
MM gives you these little cups (left) and a small thick-ish washer with which to straighten/flatten the control arm mounting tabs with, which in theory is fine, but in practice tends to pull the center of the tab into the cup and makes it uneven. Instead, I used several of the large spacers that were used for pressing the old bushings out of the arms and subframe and used those to flatten the tabs. Works much better:
Upper arms after bearing removal. You've got to cut off a portion of the bushing shells to make room for the removal tool to seat properly which means being really careful not to cut too deep. The bushing picture wasn't even attached to the outer shell anymore before I started and you could rotate it completely without any real force.
Lower arms after bushing removal and cleanup:
MM gives you these little cups (left) and a small thick-ish washer with which to straighten/flatten the control arm mounting tabs with, which in theory is fine, but in practice tends to pull the center of the tab into the cup and makes it uneven. Instead, I used several of the large spacers that were used for pressing the old bushings out of the arms and subframe and used those to flatten the tabs. Works much better:
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Last time the car will ever have a solid rear axle is below. The top shock nut is already off is why it's hanging so low.
Anybody need a SRA with 3.73s and aftermarket lowers of some sort lol?
Anybody need a SRA with 3.73s and aftermarket lowers of some sort lol?
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
And here's where I stopped for the night. Bolted up the rear brackets and it was quickly apparent that the tank was going to have to come out so I can drill the vertical holes into the trunk. The problem with that is that my heater is a forced air kerosene unit and I'd like to not blow myself up when I pull the tank. So tomorrow, I'm going to wait until about noon and fire the heater up and get it to about 75 in there and then cut it off until I can get my holes drilled and get the plate welded into the trunk...
Driver's side:
Passenger side which is going to be the bigger problem:
Driver's side:
Passenger side which is going to be the bigger problem:
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
IRS is in, just waiting on a couple things to show up before I can button everything up and take it to be aligned. The shocks will be here tomorrow and a brake line adapter will be here sometime between Thursday and Tuesday... Fun notes about the swap that I've learned that nobody tells you:
Turns out that the '94-'95s are still using SAE brake lines and the connection where the rear axle connects is using 3/8-24 instead of M10x1.0 like the '96+ cars do and the IRS does. Also turns out, that when you're not an idiot and put the rear brackets on the right side, that one of the fuel line hold downs are right in the way of the bracket and you have to knock the rivet off and do a little re-routing. When we laid everything out in the floor as it came off the car, we didn't look to see if the brackets were on the wrong side when we got it and since the side holes lined up I didn't think to check until I'd already drilled the holes and welded the plates in and then went to mock up the cradle lol... Wound up having to cut the welds on the plates and notch them to fit in the new locations after drilling the new holes.
Also learned that the MM end link kit only comes with the outer tapered studs and not a new inner bolt which went with the other end links that I sold to lwarior along with an OEM spacer the '03-'04s had lol... Bought a replacement bolt and will just run an extra MM spacer like the '99 and '01s do and that'll be fine. And one more note, the subframe assembly is designed to go in front straight below and when you have stuff in the way to stop that, like say subframe connecters or bent sheet metal from where someone tried to jack up the car in the wrong spot at some point, installing the subframe from the back and sliding it forward is a major pain in the posterior as the frame rail flares out a bit and the cradle is too narrow to come forward into the LCA opening. Speaking of the LCA opening, you'll need to drill that out with a 9/16" bit to get the 14mm front subframe bolts to fit that come with the MM kit.
Turns out that the '94-'95s are still using SAE brake lines and the connection where the rear axle connects is using 3/8-24 instead of M10x1.0 like the '96+ cars do and the IRS does. Also turns out, that when you're not an idiot and put the rear brackets on the right side, that one of the fuel line hold downs are right in the way of the bracket and you have to knock the rivet off and do a little re-routing. When we laid everything out in the floor as it came off the car, we didn't look to see if the brackets were on the wrong side when we got it and since the side holes lined up I didn't think to check until I'd already drilled the holes and welded the plates in and then went to mock up the cradle lol... Wound up having to cut the welds on the plates and notch them to fit in the new locations after drilling the new holes.
Also learned that the MM end link kit only comes with the outer tapered studs and not a new inner bolt which went with the other end links that I sold to lwarior along with an OEM spacer the '03-'04s had lol... Bought a replacement bolt and will just run an extra MM spacer like the '99 and '01s do and that'll be fine. And one more note, the subframe assembly is designed to go in front straight below and when you have stuff in the way to stop that, like say subframe connecters or bent sheet metal from where someone tried to jack up the car in the wrong spot at some point, installing the subframe from the back and sliding it forward is a major pain in the posterior as the frame rail flares out a bit and the cradle is too narrow to come forward into the LCA opening. Speaking of the LCA opening, you'll need to drill that out with a 9/16" bit to get the 14mm front subframe bolts to fit that come with the MM kit.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Some pictures:
Got the new front sway bar in:
Mocked up the brakes temporarily so I could start sorting out the lines:
Took the brackets from the MM rear stainless brake line kit and made them work on the '95 which doesn't have the bolt hole and notch they normally work with. Ignore the brake line routing in this picture (which also shoes the rear Eibach bar and MM endlinks), I just had it bent up out of the way in this one and forgot to take pictures after hooking everything up:
Wide angle shot of the IRS installed with a cameo from the solid rear mount:
That stupid fuel line bracket I mentioned above:
Got the new front sway bar in:
Mocked up the brakes temporarily so I could start sorting out the lines:
Took the brackets from the MM rear stainless brake line kit and made them work on the '95 which doesn't have the bolt hole and notch they normally work with. Ignore the brake line routing in this picture (which also shoes the rear Eibach bar and MM endlinks), I just had it bent up out of the way in this one and forgot to take pictures after hooking everything up:
Wide angle shot of the IRS installed with a cameo from the solid rear mount:
That stupid fuel line bracket I mentioned above:
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Since taking the pictures, I've got the front diff mounts and thus the pinion angle set, got the ebrake cables hooked up (though I need to make a bracket to pull them in to avoid tire rub), finished hooking up the lines to the calipers/installed the MM braided lines, and drilled the holes for the top shock mounts. Should be able to get the mounts finished (have to make the center hole a little bigger per MM's instructions since it wasn't at least 1" already) and get the tie rod ends installed tomorrow morning and then hopefully the shocks get here tomorrow while I'm at work so I can get the coilovers assembled and installed and then all I'm waiting on is the brake line fitting and it'll be ready to fill with fluid and toss the driveshaft and exhaust back in so I can take it for it's maiden voyage to the alignment shop lol...
Awesome work, man! I didnt mean to take the parts you needed lol. Glad you got it all sorted out though. Make sure to let us know how it rides.
OP
OP
nitroram33
Active Member
Thanks! No worries lol, it's my fault; thought I remembered seeing two new bolts for the inboard rod ends in the bag of stuff but apparently it was my imagination... Will do, I imagine it's going to be pretty stiff with the 650 lb/in springs out back lol...
