Just one of those days...

Getting back to work was complicated. This delay was due to the death of a family member of mine and the rain. I missed the trip yesterday, but Mr. Butler and Michael made a run to CNS junkyard in Walkertown, NC to scavenge for more parts for the mustang. With them they brought back rear brake caliper mounts, parking brake cables and various other odds and ends. Today we started with a modification of the rear brake mounts. Since we’ve upgraded to bigger Cobra brake components, the mounts needed to be made wider to accomodate the bigger rotors. I used an angle grinder to fix the problem. After about 30 minutes of shaving the metal, the mounts were installed and ready for use. While Michael removed the old parking brake cable and installed the new one, I worked on spacers for the motor mount. We ran into a complication where the motor mount is not going to bolt down where we though it was. The steering rack was up too high so I used a piece of flat bar to fabricate two spacers to place under the motor mount. This should eliminate the problem.

Since we were on a time crunch, we rushed to load the car onto Mr. Butler’s trailer to transport it to his house. Tomorrow we plan to escape the cool weather outside to go to his home shop once again. Mike and I then finished up the day by collecting all the needed parts for tomorrow’s adventure.

I'm sorry for the disappointment, but we forgot the camera. All of today's progress was not photographed and will be greatly missed.

Just one of those days, I guess!

Sunny Sunday at Danville Autocross

This morning Mr. Butler, Michael, and I met at the Butler homestead to begin our exciting journey to the Danville Airport to compete in an autocross event. The day started at the shop where we changed Mr. Butler’s tires to competition treads and gave the Cobra a quick tune-up. From there we traveled to the retired runway on the back side of Danville Airport. After signing waivers and paying the entry fee we were given the opportunity to walk the track and scope out a driving strategy. Today, Mike and I were only going to be passengers so that we could get some experience of what it is like to scope out the track and plan your next move. Mr. Butler is a fierce competitor and won 1st place in his class. His best time was a well respected 61.19 seconds. Not bad for the size and weight of his Mustang and the length of the track. We were also given the privilege to experience the driving skills of many other well respected drivers in the circuit. There was and amazing array of cars and drivers who participated in today’s event. Many of the autos were stock and street legal.


Lookin' ready...


Subaru. Lookin' mean


Lotus Elise. One of the better competitors of the day.


Last minute preparations.


One of the few trucks of the day. A great time was run by this guy. Size didn't seem to play a factor after seeing the way this beast was tamed by its driver.




Waiting patiently for a wild ride.


Tires turning, rubber burning, drifting, and body roll all in one package. If you look closely, you can see the surprised look on Mike's face.

Super Steering Rack...

Our journey started out on the right foot with the installation of the steering rack. We were extremely down on our luck in trying to find a manual steering rack, so instead of letting the disappointment crush our spirits, we improvised. My father taught me a trick to make the hydraulic steering rack a manual steering rack. We topped the rack off with a spot of power steering fluid and then looped a hose from one fitting to the next. This allows the fluid to transfer from one side of the rack to the other while getting the same effect of power steering without the actual power steering components. This method actually increases the steering ratio, giving you a quicker steering response. After completing the rack, Mike and I removed the old weather stripping from around the doors and then proceeded to remove the doors themselves. With wore out hinges, the doors have a dragging problem. Our solution is to replace the door pins to give the doors a new, smooth action.


Lifting the steering rack up into position.




After attaching the rack to the spindles.


This is a shot of the new fittings that hold the looped hose that allows the fluid to transfer from each side of the steering rack to the other.


Not very complicated, but it gets the job done.


Michael holding the passenger side door after we removed it from the car.


Where the hinges bolt to the body.






A pic of me removing the damaged, dry rotted weather stripping.






Taking a second look at the completion of the steering rack before we headed inside.

Hood slammer...

Last night Mr. Butler successfully retrieved the needed brackets and clips for us to install the new stainless steel brake lines on the front. After installing the brake line braces and attaching the fittings, Mike and I put the new pads on the calipers and bolted the calipers to the mounting brackets. From there we proceeded to put the master cylinder back on the firewall. A new mount was put in place of where the booster once sat. This new mount is to hold the master cylinder on the wall so that the new pedal can push the piston to apply pressure on the lines. After completing the brakes, Mike and I decided to place the hood back onto the car so that we would no longer have to take it on and off of the car every time we were to work on it. After a few minor adjustments, we had the hood in perfect working order. It was a great addition to the car and gave a new idea to how the car will look when it is finished.

This is a pic of the new brake pads mounted in the left front caliper.

The freshly turned front brake rotors.

Putting on the left front caliper.

Since we upgraded brakes and brake lines, it was confusing on where to exactly run the new lines. We finally decided to use the existing mounts just to be sure that there was no rubbing.

The four-cylinder brake line mounts wouldn't house the larger lines. To resolve the issue, Mr. Butler brought us a beefier set of mounts off of the 5.0 at his house. Notice the teal color.

Patience is the key. Stripping a brake line fitting is serious business!

This is a pic of me installing the master cylinder mount.

The aluminum plate behind the master cylinder allowed us to install the master cylinder without the brake booster.

Installed new lines.

This is the back side of the new brake pedal where the piston is connected to the pedal.

The Maximum Motor Sports Racing pedal.

This is our new proportioning valve. A proportioning valve allows you to regulate the amount of fluid that is needed on the back brakes.

Mike placing new bolts in the hood hinges.

Great way to end the day!

Coil overs and such...

Today’s goal was to begin placing the new front suspension components beneath the front of the mustang. Mike and I started by assembling the new coil-over spring setup onto the new Bilstein high performance struts. After completing the assembly, Michael assisted me in reinstalling the control arms and front spindles. We then proceeded to attach the struts to the control arms and then compress the strut so that it could be placed into the caster/camber plates on top of the strut tower. The freshly painted caster/camber plates are what allows the car’s alignment to be adjusted. After a few tedious times of correcting the spacing of the struts, Mike and I tightened all of the bolts and attached the sway bar to the control arms. After completing what we could of the front suspension, Mike and I proceeded in installing the rear shocks. In order to do so, we had to heat and bend a wrench to reach down into the shock compartment.

This is a pic of the new caster/camber plates, struts (Bilstein), and various tools needed to attach the new struts to the car.

Here's a picture of the left control arm and spindle. After taking the control arms out of the 5.o mustang, we realized that one of the ball joints was damaged. We had a new one pressed in by Beroth tire in Madison.

Here's a picture of Mr. Butler heating a spare 17mm wrench so that we could bend it in a shape so that the rear shocks could be tightened. The rear of the mustang has a tight compartment that the top of the shock comes up through, making it impossible to get standard tools into position.

When bending tools, be sure to remember not to stress the metal. It is always better to bend a little, reheat, then bend some more.

The caster/camber plates had a few dings and needed a fresh coat of paint.

Cleaned up and ready for install.

In order for the new plates to bolt in, Mike modified the adjustment holes so that the plates could be adjusted with ease.

Mike attaching the strut to the control arm.

Me placing the spindle back onto the control arm and checking the bolts.

This is a shot of the strut after it was pushed into the strut tower.

After re-attaching the sway bar.

The finished product.

The same procedure was followed to install the other side.