Dragon Slayer - 1995 Mustang GT Build Thread - Now With 100 Percent More IRS

[nitroram33]

Yet more rain has messed our timeline up. Updated post 3 to reflect what we've managed to get done. The list of what we've got left to do (mostly for my use lol):

1. Swap fuel tank from parts car
2. Tighten down driveshaft
3. Change fluid in differential
4. Install new rear pads/rotors
5. Swap sway bar from parts car
6. Install wheels with tires swapped over from parts car
7. Put fluid in trans
8. Install last stubborn collector bolt
9. Plug EGR and smog pump vacuum lines
10. Install battery
11. Fire it up check for leaks
12. Bleed power steering and cooling system
13. Register/tag, alignment, and then my friend should be good to go until we put it back on stands for more mods this winter.

 

[nitroram33]

Got the tank and sway bar off of the red car and pulled the brakes off as well. My little cube tool for the rear calipers didn't want to fit into the slots to turn/compress the piston back in so my friend is supposed to be grabbing the proper tool from Advanced today and we should be able to get the brakes on, rear diff gear oil swapped out, and the sway bar from the parts car on this evening and maybe the gas tank off the other car as well. Should be running again by Thursday.

 

[punched281]

Cool build, lots of work done!

 

[nitroram33]

Thanks! Ran into an issue where the previous owner had installed the springs incorrectly when they did the lowering springs and lower control arms where they were only half in the upper spring pockets. Got that sorted between rain storms and assuming no more rain it should be running tomorrow for the first time in over a decade...

 

[nitroram33]

So today makes 2 months exactly from when we purchased the parts car from Copart. It's also the day that we finally got this thing running again for the first time in a decade. After an initial no go due to a bad starter relay, the Mustang lives!

[video=youtube;F66Qp7N4fvs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F66Qp7N4fvs[/video]

 

[nitroram33]

Just got back from taking it for a quick test drive following a top off of trans fluid and some toe adjustments and all appears to be well other than a little fine tuning we'll need to do with the clutch cable. The plan is to get it inspected and tagged on tomorrow, aligned Wednesday or Thursday, and then do a little more fine tuning this weekend and then drive the shit out of it lol...

 

[nitroram33]

He finally got it aligned last week and we swapped out steering shafts yesterday because the plastic bushing inside the slip joint section of the shaft had broken and there was a ton of play in the wheel. Luckily we had an extra steering shaft laying around so that was an easy fix. We finally took it up on The Dragon today along with my little Neon R/T coupe. The Mustang definitely needs some more suspension work before it can keep up on that road with the Neon, the coilovers and other suspension work on it doesn't make for a very fair fight with just lowering springs and rear lower arms on the 5.0. Oh well, something to do this winter...

 

[nitroram33]

And here it is holding up faster traffic lol:

 

[nitroram33]

And one of us together after getting stuck behind a motorcycle that wouldn't move on the return trip:

 

[Z06killinsbf]

Cool project, that thing needs a date with a buffer BAD lol

Glad y'all got it up and running again.

 

[nitroram33]

It needs an entirely new paint job, really. The red that's on it now was sprayed over the original black paint by a previous owner and the clear is gone from pretty much the entire car...

 

[ElrodKTPQ_89]

Anything new in here?

 

[nitroram33]

Anything new in here?

Just waiting on December to buy the rest of the parts to convert the front to coilvers with MM's Mm2 struts etc., been busy with my projects lately so he's just been putting some miles on it on the weekends. Decided to go IRS instead of panhard bar in the rear which should happen in June hopefully, gonna throw the whole MM catalog at a 03/04 IRS setup when the time comes lol...

 

[Big_T]

Great build!!!! Question on the K member, i was thinking about doing it to my mustang while the engine is out but i read the UPR k member brings the front wheels forward about 2 inches to improve the stance but how is it with clearance? because i have 17" staggered wheels on my car and i also will be using coils but not UPR coils which i also read you need to use UPR coils with UPR tubular k member. True?

 

[nitroram33]

Thanks! It'll work just fine with other arms and coilovers. As far as I know, the UPR K member leaves everything right where it is from the factory and has a ton more clearance (especially around the steering shaft and headers). The MM K-member is probably the one you're thinking of; the K-member moves the control arm pivot points on the MM forward .75" and with the offset arms they offer you can go forward another .75".

 

[Big_T]

ops, i was thinking about the QA1, check here its all weird with moving crap forward and what not.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/qa1-tubular-kmember-7995.html

So the UPR K member is totally worth the upgrade? what was the mod you had to do to the new arms?

 

[nitroram33]

We used stock replacement arms (you'll also need UPR's bolt in spring cups if you don't plan on going coilover) because we were going to keep the stock springs for now and the stock arms don't clear the radius of the main tube on the new K-member and I had to grind it down A LOT on that front edge on the driver's side (enough so that I had to weld in a reinforcement panel underneath) and a decent amount on the passenger side. With tubular arms and coilovers that won't be an issue.

 

[steveeoaktree]

Excellent fab work. It's apparent that you know the Mustangs top to bottom... The transformation is excellent as well!

 

[nitroram33]

Thanks, but we didn't really do all that much yet lol, the interesting bits are still to come...

 

[nitroram33]

Snagged a Fox body upper and TB with both sensors earlier for cheap off eBay earlier. Need to pick up a Fox throttle cable and a couple other little things and then I can get that out of the way which should make things easier in the future...

Should be purchasing everything for the front suspension on Monday or Tuesday.