Unorthodoxsn95 (2023 Updates, now with more turbo boost and finally a hood)

50HSN95 · Sep 23, 2019

So I have not touched my car since May, except for dusting it off here and there and staring at it in the garage.

Summer turned into a non stop home improvement project. We needed to replace siding, paint the house, and repair the garage front foundation. That however turned into removing and replacing our driveway, removing and replacing our rotting deck with a new concrete sidewalk and patio, adding a deep third parking stall, and replacing our fence. Hell of a lot of time for this, not a lot of time for the car but it so needed to be done.

We are pretty happy with the results! Unfortunately the Mustang is going to sit another year, but now that I got all of my home improvement projects done, have more of next summer to do hot rod things

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white95 · Sep 23, 2019

Nice work!

Burninriverdiver · Sep 23, 2019

That looks great man! It's worth it sometimes to put the car behind your house on the priority list

50HSN95 · Sep 28, 2019

Thank you! The house had to take priority, siding was getting bad in some spots. So on my days off I got mostly house stuff done, and got a new car part. Finished staining the fence, super happy with how it turned out:

Plus, on a gamble and not really knowing what it would look like I picked up a Thunderbolt style teardrop hood bubble scoop for my car from VFN. It is going to the body shop next week so we shall see how it turns out. I know it is not everyone's cup o tea however I personally like the look! Sorry these are not the best pics, I did not have someone to help safely move the hood out in the open for a better shot of it:

RAU03MACH · Sep 29, 2019

50HSN95 said:
Thank you! The house had to take priority, siding was getting bad in some spots. So on my days off I got mostly house stuff done, and got a new car part. Finished staining the fence, super happy with how it turned out:

Plus, on a gamble and not really knowing what it would look like I picked up a Thunderbolt style teardrop hood bubble scoop for my car from VFN. It is going to the body shop next week so we shall see how it turns out. I know it is not everyone's cup o tea however I personally like the look! Sorry these are not the best pics, I did not have someone to help safely move the hood out in the open for a better shot of it:

House looks good
And I see you found your thunbolt scoop
Good luck with it
It will definitely look good
I have not seen that scoop used in a long time

50HSN95 · Oct 10, 2019

Got a bit of work and wiring done today. Have been working on cleaning up the wiring harness, and trying to finish integrating the trans computer and the Holley EFI into the factory harness. Also got another pad done for the roll bar front door bar. I also moved the power top pump to as it was in the way of some roll bar bars that are going to pass through that area.

50HSN95 · Nov 3, 2019

Picked up a QA1 K-Member and QA1 control arms off of CL. Brand new, never bolted in and all hardware for $425. Pretty decent deal, just need to grab some 5.0 motor plates for it as it came with the 4.6 plates.

50HSN95 · Nov 23, 2019

Got some time to remove the front suspension parts. It is rather nice having a car that has never seen salt or winter. Front end came apart pretty easy. Hell the grey primer coating was still on the bolts for the factory K-member. Picked up a motor bar from Harbor Freight that for the price works pretty damn good. Don't mind the oil pan, when I painted the motor I did not prep the pan very well, I have since removed the paint and just left the zinc coating.

Sorry for the kinda crappy pictures, did not realize my phone camera had a smudge until after the fact.

I think this thing had the original shocks, or someone was a devout Ford fan at some point and put factory parts in it.

As the K-member I bought had the mod motor plates I had to go pick up the 94-95 Windsor plates. A half mile trip down the road to the QA1 factory and I was in business! Nice being that close.

Front is kinda on hold until I can order coil over parts next month. Next project is to pull out the rear end and work on getting the torque box reinforcement plates welded in as well do some stitch welding around the upper control arm mounts. Also in the mean time I should probably get the motor actually running......to see if it actually runs and such. Been lazy and have not wanted to finish some wiring and other little items.

Overtime has wound down at work so I actually will get some days to work on the car, rather than just work all of the time.

50HSN95 · Dec 11, 2019

Few more parts today, nothing exciting. Strange SA struts, Strange coil over kits, and QA1 170lb 12" springs. Going to start with 170lb and see how it works on the front end.

I have decided on Baseline Suspension Street Launch parts for the rear, along with TeamZ rear factory location springs, and Strange SA rear shocks.

**edit**

I was looking at QA1 all the way around for suspension, however the more I researched the more I realized the importance of getting the upper control arms into a position where I can correct the instant center for the rear end. Not a super end of the world thing with the factory location for street driving, but I plan to eventually add more power, and want to get the chassis dialed in before I start to pour more coal into it down the road.

Patientzero · Dec 11, 2019

That shop looks great! A 2 post lift would be real high on the priority list if that were mine.

50HSN95 · Dec 12, 2019

Patientzero said:
That shop looks great! A 2 post lift would be real high on the priority list if that were mine.

That is on my task list for my new garage/shop we are going to build in our back yard, but I have about 3-4 years before I'm able to build it.

50HSN95 · Dec 29, 2019

So my un-diagnosed ADOS (Attention Deficit Oooooohh Shiny!) kicked in today and I got a bunch of shiny goodies coming for the rear end of my car.

As mentioned above I was debating between stock location and relocated UCA's. I decided I wanted to go with a relocated UCA configuration. Having read a number posts, and after talking to a few people, including the business owner I settled on Baseline Suspension for the rear end. I was on back and forth between Baseline, and Team Z for quite a while. I also liked the idea of having a bit more street-able ARB, and Baseline has the options I was looking for.

While I just ordered stuff today, I can say so far that the owner of Baseline, Kevin Slaby, has been very helpful. He got back to me on a weekend (I was a bit shocked) about questions on his suspension parts and helped get me pointed in the right direction. I went with his:

- Street Launch UCA kit
- Street / Strip LCA's
- Street Poly Anti Roll Bar (ARB)

https://www.baselinesuspensions.com/index.php?route=common/home

The way his ARB mounts is also something that I like as well. It has mounting plates that put it up at the trunk floor forward of the rear end. The sandwich plates will allow me to tie it into my cage in the back adding to rigidity. Should work pretty well.

I also picked up:

- Strange SA rear shocks
- Wild Rides 8.8 Rear Housing Brace Kit 2.0
- Moser Engineering aluminum rear diff cover

This should take care of the rear end, and the 8.8 brace kit from Wild Rides should help keep the rear as square and stout as possible. Granted I dont have huge overall power levels, I only want to do it once, and predicting that it will stick with M&H drag radials this will help reduce overall load on the axle tubes.

I also got this little guy to help get my cage installed, and to help with other welding projects:

It is only a DC rig, but being lift start it is a very nice unit. It has auto on / off gas solenoid, and supper compact also! It has been a bit since I have picked up a TIG torch but getting back into it pretty fast. It's nice as I can pick it up, and put it inside of the car with me while working.

With that, anyone here ever welded their axle tubes? If so, have you welded all the way around the tube? It seems like the way to do it from what I have read, just looking for some input on it.

RedTwilight · Dec 31, 2019

50HSN95 said:
So my un-diagnosed ADOS (Attention Deficit Oooooohh Shiny!) kicked in today and I got a bunch of shiny goodies coming for the rear end of my car.

As mentioned above I was debating between stock location and relocated UCA's. I decided I wanted to go with a relocated UCA configuration. Having read a number posts, and after talking to a few people, including the business owner I settled on Baseline Suspension for the rear end. I was on back and forth between Baseline, and Team Z for quite a while. I also liked the idea of having a bit more street-able ARB, and Baseline has the options I was looking for.

While I just ordered stuff today, I can say so far that the owner of Baseline, Kevin Slaby, has been very helpful. He got back to me on a weekend (I was a bit shocked) about questions on his suspension parts and helped get me pointed in the right direction. I went with his:

- Street Launch UCA kit
- Street / Strip LCA's
- Street Poly Anti Roll Bar (ARB)

https://www.baselinesuspensions.com/index.php?route=common/home

The way his ARB mounts is also something that I like as well. It has mounting plates that put it up at the trunk floor forward of the rear end. The sandwich plates will allow me to tie it into my cage in the back adding to rigidity. Should work pretty well.

I also picked up:

- Strange SA rear shocks
- Wild Rides 8.8 Rear Housing Brace Kit 2.0
- Moser Engineering aluminum rear diff cover

This should take care of the rear end, and the 8.8 brace kit from Wild Rides should help keep the rear as square and stout as possible. Granted I dont have huge overall power levels, I only want to do it once, and predicting that it will stick with M&H drag radials this will help reduce overall load on the axle tubes.

I also got this little guy to help get my cage installed, and to help with other welding projects:

It is only a DC rig, but being lift start it is a very nice unit. It has auto on / off gas solenoid, and supper compact also! It has been a bit since I have picked up a TIG torch but getting back into it pretty fast. It's nice as I can pick it up, and put it inside of the car with me while working.

With that, anyone here ever welded their axle tubes? If so, have you welded all the way around the tube? It seems like the way to do it from what I have read, just looking for some input on it.

The axle tubes on my '93 were welded all the way around. I also have the Wild Rides housing braces. My suspension is Team Z solid dbl adjustable lowers, Team Z stock location drag springs, Baseline Outlaw relocated uppers and Strange single adjustable shocks.
Very close to your setup.

50HSN95 · Dec 31, 2019

RedTwilight said:
The axle tubes on my '93 were welded all the way around. I also have the Wild Rides housing braces. My suspension is Team Z solid dbl adjustable lowers, Team Z stock location drag springs, Baseline Outlaw relocated uppers and Strange single adjustable shocks.
Very close to your setup.

How do you like the Team Z stock location springs? I was debating on using these as well.

RedTwilight · Dec 31, 2019

I like them and they seem to do well.
Though I'm not making enough power to really put them through the paces yet.
On my '93 coupe with this suspension setup with 4:10 gears, MT 26x10.5 ET Street R's at 14.5psi, and launching at 43k; I'm able to cut low 1.7 60ft times. The engine is still the stock factory sealed '93 long block with just a few bolt-ons.
So I'm not really making enough power to see much of a difference yet.

50HSN95 · Dec 31, 2019

RedTwilight said:
I like them and they seem to do well.
Though I'm not making enough power to really put them through the paces yet.
On my '93 coupe with this suspension setup with 4:10 gears, MT 26x10.5 ET Street R's at 14.5psi, and launching at 43k; I'm able to cut low 1.7 60ft times. The engine is still the stock factory sealed '93 long block with just a few bolt-ons.
So I'm not really making enough power to see much of a difference yet.

Copy that.

50HSN95 · Jan 4, 2020

Rear suspension parts in. Very nicely packaged, and some fairly stout stuff also. Kind of funny to have red parts in the rear, and black parts in the front but not the end of the world I guess.

I also picked up a SCT X4 tuner from Unleashed Tuning for my Fusion with custom tune, so time to have some fun with the EB also.

50HSN95 · Jan 19, 2020

After getting my gas garage heater installed life in the garage in the Minnesota winters has gotten a lot easier. I was able to get the front end finished, and removed the rear end. Have some parts from Wild Rides to weld onto the rear to strengthen it a bit, and with the rear out it will make installing the torque box reinforcement plates a bit easier. The Baseline Suspension Street ARB has a number of plates to bolt/weld in also. These actually should make for some good top side plates to tie the back of the roll bar into also. I'll post pics as I make progress on that install.

And the aftermath is a nice pile of parts. I was pleased that everything came apart quite nicely, and there was virtually no rust on anything. Not pad for original parts at about 168,000 miles.

Going to take the opportunity to remove the mounting points for the quad shocks and clean up/paint the rear end while it is out. Probably going to do some seals also as I have to pull the axles for new 3" wheel studs as well.