cutting coils...we all knew you were untrue to good ways.

 

thats the color of my wheels.

 

Figures you would complain about it

Actually, when I get back to my apartment sunday, I'll give you the title/author and page numbers of two books covering cutting springs, both saying it's a legitimate method of lowering a car when it's done right. But until then, I leave you with this. Look towards the bottom.

But then again, I'm sure you know way more about mustang suspension than the guys at MF (and one of the advocates of coil cutting is the builder of one of the most wicked v6 mustangs I've ever seen, not to mention the man who designed an built the first setup to allow an m112 blower to be mounted on a 3.8l... I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about) and two separate authors

*edit: correction, I actually have the page #'s and everything written down.

Try reading Chassis Engineering by Herb Adams, taking note of pages 33 and 35; pg33 covers the pros of cutting springs, and pg35 covers actually how to cut springs correctly.

Also, look into 1,001 High Performance Tech Tips by Wayne Scraba. Specifically, take a look at page 86, tech tip #510, which also goes to state (in a few more words) that cutting coils is okay provided you don't use heat to cut them, which will lower the tensile strength of the spring.

 

Hey Chris this mustang project is sounding excellent with everything you plan on doing to it, even if it does take a couple years to completely finish your young!. The gold wheels look really good to. And you would be smart to grab a cheaper dd civic as the gas milage would be great. this sounds like a sweet project though and a fun one at that. When you get out of training do you plan on finding a job in the auto industry right away?

 

Yeah, there's a BMW shop I'm looking into down in Cincinnati, Ohio; they're adding 6 maintenance bays this summer (when I graduate). My friend went down there (he grew up like a half hour from Cinci) last time he went home and talked to the owner; the owner was complaining that it's hard to find guys that want to work on only BMW's. The shop itself is a dealership, but they specialize is performance. I'm going to be going down to Kentucky with my friend at the end of the month, so we're probably going to end up stopping in at the shop, and I'll probably end up filling out an application lol

*edit: I'm also probably going to end up installing the exhaust hangers tomorrow... hopefully it clears up the annoying rattle I have at 60-70mph and occasionally idle. Also, it'll give me an opportunity to tuck the mufflers up a little bit for more ground clearance when i lower the car.

 

Okay, as it turns out, I can't re-hang the exhaust (which works out for me anyway, I'll explain in a little bit) today. We own two jacks (a 2-ton and a 3-ton) and 6 jack stands. The 2-ton jack leaks fluid and doesn't lift worth a d**m, and the 3-ton jack and 2 stands are currently being used on my parents' Expedition 20 miles away. The other 4 stands? Holding up my '78 Fiat X-1/9 lol (I really need to get that thing running lol).

Anyway, I took a look under the car today... I know for a fact what's causing the exhaust rattle. The hanger I rigged up is holding the driver's side muffler about 1/4" from part of the frame, so when the exhaust hits the right frequency, it taps up against the frame; the new exhaust hangers should take car of the problem.

Now anyway, I noticed a few things with the car. First off, the exhaust clamps are rusty. I'm going to see what I can find at Autozone/Advance as far as rust prevention (I'm thinking truck bed lining should do the trick lol), sand down the clamps, and use some of whatever I find on the clamps. Next, with how close the tailpipes are to the gas tank and brake lines, I think I'm going to get some exhaust wrap and sealant and wrap the section after the mufflers that goes up and over the rear axles. Another thing I noticed; where I managed to slice my brake line is leaking again, so I'm going to need to tighten down the fittings when I go to re-hang the exhaust. Also, because of the leak, I'm starting to get low on brake fluid (which is no problem; I happen to have some fluid sitting in my garage anyway), and while I was checking fluid, I noticed I was low on power steering fluid.

So basically, here's what I need to do to it in the next month:
-Oil change (I'm slightly overdue)
-Re-hang the exhaust
-Wrap the exhaust tailpipes
-Take care of the surface rust on the clamps
-Replace my ball joints
-Replace my front swaybar endlinks/bushings
-Paint my front swaybar
-Cut my springs
-Get the car aligned
-Add power steering fluid

... it's going to be a fun month...

 

if you dont like rusty clamps then go to your local napa autoparts and buy some band clamps.

i believe those are stainless steel and the seal great!

 

Ehh, not too worried about it, I just don't want them getting worse; besides, 4 of the 6 clamps have the pieces where they mount to the hangers welded to them, and I don't really feel like welding lol

Anyway, I decided to put the stock headlights back on for now... I got tired of how the projectors look, so I decided to take them off until I can find some VHT NiteShades to smoke them with.

 

All right, anybody remember this?



Yup, haven't given up on it... actually, to be honest, I forgot about it until today. Right now I'd say it's about 50% done; I have most of the actual diffuser fiberglassed, but I still need to glass the dive planes. Also, it's going to need about 6-10 hours of heavy sanding, paint prep, and the final painting before it's going to be done. At any rate, I started sanding a little bit, but gave up maybe a half hour later, since the coarsest sandpaper I had on hand was 220 grit, which was taking forever. I'll probably pick up some coarser paper this week and start wetsanding with 60 grit and work my way up to about 1000 grit before painting it. Like I said originally, no body filler will touch this part, so the fiberglass itself is going to have to be perfect before I spray it.

*edit: All right, I've been thinking... I'm probably going to finish up the rear diffuser and throw it on, not worrying about function too much. However, this summer I'll probably make a new one from ABS plastic that actually covers the gas tank completely, from the front of the tank all the way to the rear bumper. If that doesn't decrease drag/turbulence a little bit, I don't know what will. I might bump the design down to a 6-plane design (down from the 8-plane I have now), but I'm not sure. Also, I'll probably block off the rear of the wheel wells and make the side planes taller than the center planes, basically to protect the diffuser from the pressure wash of the rear wheels.

And yes, I've been doing research on mustang diffusers/aero

 

man you have alot of talent when it comes to all this working on your car (I remember back when you were painting sanding body pieces for your car back before you sold the civic I think?) and I was impressed then. If you could land a job in that BMW dealer that would be great for yourself and should be alot of experience to gain from it. That diffuser looks pretty good already is it fairly functional? and "'78 Fiat X-1/9" sounds interesting. jeeze.......you might own more cars at one time then I have lol :P