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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chris Stephens" data-source="post: 1479284" data-attributes="member: 24095">So I have done a HORRENDOUS job of keeping this build thread going...my little ADHD brain starts letting things slip, next thing you know, it's been 2 months! Ok, TOOOONS of changes have happened in the time since I posted here last. I'm gonna try to recreate the timeline here with some older posts from other places. This first commentary was from the weekend after my last post, more in-depth info about the September AutoX event:Well, another AutoCross weekend down, another failure to video the entire weekend. I got all my runs from Sunday, but haven’t gotten them up on YouTube yet. I’ll add the link tonight or tomorrow to them. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB4PgLTWok0&list=PLCKWf4I2QKtjcnfdgcN8eC3zj_uEXF1ud" target="_blank">Here's the link</a> if anyone is interested)This weekend was really tough. The course was fairly technical, lots of fast transitions needed. Plus, we really hurt the car with the halfway changes we made.We got the quad shocks out and the Watts Link in Thursday and Friday night. Install was pretty straightforward, but drilling the frame rails was harder than anticipated, probably because of the slow air drill and the old bits we had laying around. The bars Jim sent appear to clear everything just fine. We did not get the Torque Arm installed though.We got the Stiffler’s full length subframes installed, but not the jacking rails or the cross bracing. My pinch welds are pretty messed up, so we’re gonna have to straighten them a little before those go on.We also put the new solid steering shaft in. I can’t tell if that made a difference in steering response BUT it wasn’t rubbing the header anymore, so that alone is a big improvement from last month.The place where I think I messed up was removing one of the upper control arms in the rear. I had read about the Poor Mans 3 Link and thought eliminating some of the binding in the uppers might help. It did not. I think you typically have to raise the rear spring rate a lot when you improve from the 4 link, which I knew, but we didn’t have anything stiffer to put in. So I thought we might put a little understeer into the car….I was wrong. We put a LOT of understeer into the car. The rear end felt a LOT more hooked up, but the front end just sucked. Hard turns we were having to let off a lot to not push around. I never got it just right myself, so I didn’t have any great runs.We tried adjusting the Watts Link a bit, raising it up hoping to loosen the car, and it made dramatic changes to the feel of the car, but no real improvement in times. I thought it got better, personally. I couldn’t control the car on day one. We lost all of the really good braking we’ve always relied on, so I was locking up wheels and pushing in the turns a lot the first day. Could not get the car to slalom worth a crap. The next morning was a little better, by raising it up one hole, then the afternoon was even more controllable with it up another hole. My slaloming improved greatly on Sunday afternoon. I had a S197 Mustang guy ride with me on a clean run, and he said he thought I was really composed and controlled in both slaloms, a marked change from the previous day. His advice was just to take it faster next time. I did, and it would’ve been a really good run, except I screwed up and entered one really slow spot too fast and the car pushed and took out some cones.To give you an idea of how bad we made it…one of my friends drives a bone-stock 1995 Cobra, and he beat me by a full 2 seconds.So, overall, Watts Link definitely made a huge improvement in the rear and the car felt more stable and less prone to sudden oversteer, but running the PM3L was a huge mistake with the 250# Steeda springs still back there. I think it would have been just as bad with the torque arm. After feeling it this weekend, I am reeeeeally hoping the coilover kits make it here soon…(END OF SEPTEMBER COMMENTS)</blockquote>