Jan. '04 - Cockpit, Suspension

1/2/04

After clearing ice and snow out of the driveway, I started working on the cockpit area, drilling and riveting the passenger floor panel into place. It took pretty much all day, but it shouldn't have. Serves me right for buying a cheap Harbor Freight-type air riveter that jams up with the rivet stems every three or four pulls. It pulls them just fine when its clear, but for some reason the stems don't like to shoot into the little catch cup on the back of it, so I have to disassemble the tip every few pulls to clear it. I should have just gotten a manual one. Oh well.

I didn't get the holes lined up just right, but close enough, since I'll be lining the cockpit with some kind of Dynamat-type heat/sound insulator and carpet. Went through 3 double-ended drill bits, lost a couple of bit tips when they broke off...they'll be bouncing around inside the frame tubes.

First I outlined the frame tubes from underneath on the bottom of the aluminum panel, then marked off every 1 1/2 inches. Probably more than necessary, but at least I can say I'm thorough. I drilled just of the few of the holes in key spots, then put the panel back into place and marked through the holes...they weren't quite centered where they needed to be, so I adjusted the alignment of the marks before drilling the rest.

Put down a bead of silicone...again probably more than was really necessary, but I'm thinking the silicone provides some vibration dampening for the cockpit, so the more the merrier. Within reason.

Cleco the panel down, put the rivets in, and start pulling...stopping every few to clear the riveter.

Done. The outside edge (bottom row in the photo) won't get riveted until the body is on and I put down the under-door panels. The hole in the top edge of the floor is for the stock E-brake, but I have a Fiero E-brake that well go on the left side of the driver's seat, where it can be reached without unbuckling the seat belt. I'll have to rivet in a block-off plate there.

1/7/04

My backordered seats finally arrived, along with new front lower control arms. Once my steering stuff gets here, I can finish off the front suspension.

1/10/04

While my lower control arm with the bad balljoint threads was at a machine shop getting fixed, the replacements arrived from FFR, so I was able to get them installed and put the coilovers, spindles and brakes on. I opted to keep the newer-style arms, because it looks like I can use a little bit wider wheel in front without worrying about rubbing at full lock. The newer arms are a about 1/2 inch narrower where the wheels would make contact because the 'legs' of the A are welded to the middle of the bushing tubes on the new ones, versus on the outside for the older style.

The newer style can be seen here.

Actually the newer style pic is a little out of date as well. The new arms I got from FFR have the crossbar on the A is not a tube, it's just a solid bar of steel like the brackets pieces. The new arms can be used on either side, as well. The old ones are side-specific.

Everything's not tightened down yet, and won't be until my replacement steering rack gets here...I decided to yank the one that was on there to get a Flaming River manual unit, so I sold my power rack, steering pump and lines. Then I changed my mind again and ended up buying another used one (luckily for exactly what I sold mine for). I decided the Flaming River rack ain't worth it for now, and the general consensus among FFR autocrossers is stay with the power rack. Changing your mind gets expensive on a project like this!

Seems almost a shame to put grungy old used part on with the new stuff, but it won't be all shiny for long. A closeup of the driver's side:

1/18/04

Well, the freakin' frigid weather continues, so things are going slow. If I'm lucky the temp get above 10 for a few hours during the day...the heater is able to raise it about 30 degrees on average. Just barely tolerable when you're sitting/standing on freezing concrete and handling metal tools and parts, even with gloves. I was hoping we'd have another wimpy winter like the last few years. Oh well.

Anyways...

Got the pedals all bolted in, along with the master cylinder. The kit uses the Mustang brake and clutch pedal assembly. The existing switches can be left on to run the brake lights, cruise control clutch shutoff, etc. I chose to ditch the cruise switch, and replaced the brake light switch.

I marked where the pedal normally attaches on a Mustang...this pedal has been cut 1.5" and a new tube has been welded in so I can use the manual brake hole, 1.5 inches below the power brake hole. The shorter distance between the pivot point and the brake pushrod post provides more leverage to compensate for the lack of power assist.

You can see in this shot that the brake light switch attaches to the pushrod post (the copper-colored contacts are where the wire harness will attach. The switch straddles the pushrod itself (can't see much in this shot). The end of the pushrod acts as a cam to trigger the switch when the pedal is depressed.

The brake pushrod itself is part of the Mustang brake booster assembly. Basically you tear it apart enough that you can pull the rod out. When it comes out, there's a big flexible end attached to the end. Gotta heat that thing up to melt the rubber a bit so you can yank the pushrod itself out. Some people opt for a trick adjustable-length pushrod, but this one seemed to be just the right length as is. I may end up putting a spacer or two in front of the master cylinder if I don't like the pedal position, but I won't know until I get to where I can put the seats in.

I must say FFR has all their ducks in a row for build quality. The brake pushrod lines up pretty close to perfect, as does the clutch cable hole.

The throttle pedal is a Russ Thompson billet piece. After reading about all the FFR builders' problems with having a too-responsive pedal by adapting the Mustang pedal to their car, I opted for this one. Should make it easier to modulate the power this beast will make. Another tip alot of the FFR builders suggest is to have the brake and clutch pedals bent slightly away from the gas pedal...anybody with wide feet would tend to brush the other pedals when they push one. Not a good thing. I also attached the pedal pads to the left side of the arms, rather than down the center, for a bit more room. Won't be hard to switch those to the center if I decide I like that better. We'll see. Not much room for a dead pedal as it sits. That will suck on long trips.

An angled shot, for good measure.

1/25/04

OK..finally got a replacement power rack in after selling my original donor rack intending to buy a manual one. Then of course I changed my mind and hand to snag another rack and pump. D'oh. Oh well. I had it steam-cleaned and sprayed some pseudo-aluminum-looking paint on. The lines were in sorry shape, so I'll end up replacing those. I also snagged a universal from the same person to replace the stock Mustang rag joint. I didn't like the looks (or weight) of it, so I'll just hold off and put a nice Flaming River steering shaft later on.

The driver's side suspension, complete with new stock tie rod ends. Mikey wanders over with his stock tail wag end (jeez I crack myself up). He always keeps his ears back in the garage...the noisy propane heater makes him nervous.

A bit better angle on this shot...the tie rod end and LCA are pretty close to parallel, which hopefully means I won't have much in the way of bumpsteer. I have offset rack bushings in...at first I had them set to raise the rack, but I didn't like the angles, so unbolted the rack, rotated the bushings 180 degrees, and reinstalled. Much better.

Thanks to Techmaster Tob, I could get the steering setup bolted in, temporarily, so I can get the steering shaft cover riveted in. It is a fiberglass piece FFR provides with the kit to cover the gap where the steering shaft comes through the driver's footbox. Most of the steering stuff will come out again to make dropping the motor in a bit easier.

It's starting to resemble a car now...got a steering wheel in there and everything...if only temporarily. Brake lines are up next.