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Topic: Chuck's '83 TBird (Read 70627 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #225
I am running an extra clutch in mine with the F150 "Z" spring.  Was a little chirpy around corners at first but it settled in and has worked great for the last 10 or so years.  Realize I haven't put more than 10,000 miles on it in that time.

The control arm cross mount looks really good.  Be curious to hear your feedback on how the car handles once you get it dialed in.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #226
We'll see what happens with the diff. I may not ever notice a difference. :p

This car has needed a real rear suspension for years.
I modified the front end geometry almost 20 years ago now...
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #227
Better late than never! Just to think I've had my car close to 15 years  :like:

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #228
This rear suspension is definitely different than any Fox car I have seen which is a few but not 100's or anything like what you have seen over your career.  Maybe I missed it other than you had most of the parts but what is it about this suspension that you like or what you expect out of it?  So hard to quantify suspension performance from one setup to another.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #229
This rear suspension is definitely different than any Fox car I have seen which is a few but not 100's or anything like what you have seen over your career.  Maybe I missed it other than you had most of the parts but what is it about this suspension that you like or what you expect out of it?  So hard to quantify suspension performance from one setup to another.

I was mainly looking to un-splay the uppers and get a panhard bar on there (or some other way to lower the rear roll center).
I knew I was going to have to modify whatever I started with, and this was cheap.

The uppers in this kit kinda sucked, and seeing as I needed to make new ones, I made them adjustable and took the liberty of moving the attachment points around to help offset how low the car is.
Also, the front roll center is probably lower than it needs to be, but I was playing around and copying what we were doing at KB's on the front susp geometry. Why? Because I could. :toothless:

It's not a perfect set-up by any means, but it should do what I want in respect of trying to balance the car out a bit.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #230
Been messing around with this thing, as time's allowed between life and other projects.

The diff is ready to go back in, but before I did that, I wanted to deal with the mounting of a couple bits to the axle beforehand.

Since I needed to stay with the lower RCLA rear location, I was re-installing the oold KB axle brackets.

DS went fine.


PS, not so much.



Needed to make a slight modification to get everything to play nice together.



Now to get the diff installed and work on getting the axle bearings and brake stuff mounted.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #231
OK, well after fighting with getting the pinion bearing preload correct, I was finally able to get the diff installed and that all buttoned up.


After that, I decided to dig out the brake parts I've had sitting in the shelf for a while.

Take a close look at that shipping date...


Yep.

From there I try and bolt the caliper slider brackets on and find them hitting the rotor, on opposite sides.

Looking closer...


The hell?!? Yes, the caliper mounting brackets are bent. Both are bent in mirrored images of each other. It's hard to get a picture of, but you can for sure see it when you look at them when unbolted from the axle.

I'm going to see if I can tweak them back in line. If not, I guess I'll need to come up with another set.

I have no idea how they got bent like that. I honestly don't remember where I got them. I've probably had them longer than the brake rotors...
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

 

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #233
Wow.

Crazy that they are both bent.  Did the fixture slip for welding them on?
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #234
Wow.

Crazy that they are both bent.  Did the fixture slip for welding them on?
The bolt-on brackets for the calipers are both bent. Nothing welded here.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #235
Chuck,

Are they the TC or SN95 brackets or custom?

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #236
SN-95, for the Cobra brakes.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #237
How did they get bent like that?
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #238
I couldn't tell you. The only thing that I can guess is whatever car they came from was hammered pretty hard.

I spent some time today massaging the brackets with a 20-ton press.




Got both sides straight again.

I may add some thin shim washers between the slider brackets and the axle mounts,just to center things up a little better, but at least the twist is gone.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #239
So, things have been a little busy the past month. My weekends have been tied up with cyclocross racing since the beginning of Sept, and well, we had our second kid on Sept 1st.  :crazy:

In and around all of that, between house projects, other vehicle projects, etc, I've had limited time to really mess with this.
However, little things are happening here and there.

After sorting out the bent brake caliper brackets, I needed to get a couple more parts and then fab up some brake line brackets.
Grabbed a few bits of s from around the garage, and *insert sounds of cutting, drilling, welding* we have these.




At this point, all I really need to do is seal and install the diff cover, and we're ready to stick the rearend back under the car.

Then I get to try and fit a 3" tail pipe around the rear susp stuff, and see what other things I missed during the mock-up.  :toothless:
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo