White's '95 GT "Unicorn"

[weendoggy]

Don’t.

My check engine light came on the third or fourth time I extracted myself from underneath the car.

Not to worry. My body light came on before I wrote that.

 

[white95]

Today was the day.



Brake line modified with a tee fitting. Longer term plans call for a 4 channel abs pump and another line ran to the back.



Pics were sporadic because of a time crunch. Did stop to take a few along the way. This was during the initial install and realizing LCA pockets needed some massaging.





The brake pads/rotors will be reworked soon.



After a bit of a fight, nearly knocking the car off jackstands (wheel chocks people!!) and some professional amateurism antics, the front mounts were situated. Instead of cutting slots in the frame rail for the vertical mounting bolts, the decision was made ahead of time to weld the rear brackets in. Here we were marking the frame rails to weld the rear mounts in place.





Sitting back on terra firma, I took a moment to admire our handiwork.



Back to work. We finished the brake hose install, installed the driveshaft and the rear tailpipe mounts.





This concluded the install phase and now the wait for shocks to deliver and the time to have the exhaust sorted begins. Big shout out to my friend, William. He is a godsend, always down to work hard and puts up with this crap. A lot of pressure washing, additional POR15 coating, setting the bump steer and putting the fuel tank in also awaits. First, I have a turnaround at work to tackle.

More to follow.

 

[ju015dd]

Details, later.

Pics, NOW.

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Sweet!!

 

[96blak54]

The badass-ness of this car keeps growing!

 

[white95]

Still waiting for parts but MM call to confirm that Bilstein has my shocks in production. Leveled the tail pipes a few days back because I was tired of seeing them crooked every time I pulled in the driveway. It will take some effort but I’ll get the side profile where I want it.





After work yesterday, I sprayed what I could reach with a pressure washer to see how stubborn the grime would be.







Results were ok but she will need a little de-greaser and sweat equity.

 

[white95]

View attachment 38444

Let's revisit this post.

Doesn’t look as if I will attend any race events for the remainder of 2024. Bummer. I have had everything get in the way this year and I will likely sit out Jan-June in 2025 as well.

This is all subject to change, as it usually does. I just have way too much I need to do with it before I can justify competing.

The list:

1. Swap front brake calipers and install new rotors & pads PENDING

2. Install battery iso setup, power distribution setup, new ground buss. PENDING

3. SLA swap.. I lack the required shocks to install this and just need to put the car on jack stands, assemble what I have and measure for them. Once that happens, I don’t see the point in swapping it back to the strut setup and I’m afraid it’ll sit on jack stands until 2025. Just way too much going on right now to justify the cost. MEASUREMENTS OBTAINED

4. Replace the horizontal rod of the PHB. Once the SLA goes in, the rear shocks will become a liability and will need to be replaced to keep up with the front. However, there is a firm chance I will be IRS swapping the car down the line and I am hesitant to continue developing the current rear suspension setup.
IRS SWAPPED

What are you gonna do with yourself when its all done lol

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

To be determined.

Hey, thanks for reading! What you're seeing is actually a panhard bar, not a watts link. They're typically in the $400 range.

https://www.stangbangers.com/home/2...-watts-link-three-must-know-facts-from-steeda



I have not gone IRS with this car and likely will never do so. There is nothing wrong with a well sorted IRS but I decided to modify what I had on hand.

This post did not age well.

I seemed to remember hearing the irs does slightly better in turns that are rougher but idk how true that is

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

As it should, it’s an IRS! It’s hard to properly describe the way it behaves because I’ve only used my setup for about 170 miles. I feel I need to put many, many more miles in various situations to give a proper review.

16,230 miles later, I will say this about the TA/PHB combination:

It works as advertised. The amount of rear grip always amazed me. So good, in fact, it made the front end feel like doo-doo. This is why I went with the adjustable front sway bar and it put me on the path to the SLA.

On the street? It went where you pointed it. You could take a 90* turn from the middle of an intersection and not stress the rear stepping out. This is also attributed to the RT660 315's because I dared not to try this on the Atlas tires.

Open track and Autocross.. The car was "point and shoot" and I found myself not being able to get on throttle early on very tight corners without the front pushing. This required lifting to settle the nose and then reapplying throttle. Could very well be a driving style thing and not the setup itself. Another aspect I found unsettling was hitting the burms in chicanes. it would jackhammer the rear end and led to wild, white knuckling the car to keep momentum.

I'd run another TA setup but with a watts link and better dampers.

 

[white95]

Still waiting for shocks to be delivered and I’m trying to stay patient. I’ve never been more anxious to drive my car.

 

[ttocs]

wouldn't a splitter help with the grip up front if it was done right?

 

[white95]

It would but would require a bunch of additional work. Not street car friendly.

 

[weendoggy]

It would but would require a bunch of additional work. Not street car friendly.

So true, long nose, lower front = damage.

 

[white95]

Got the shock shaft reducing spacers in from MM today. They won’t work with the Viking shocks that came with the IRS. The stud is too short. Story of my life.



Bummer. More waiting.