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Thread: My '79 Coupe

  1. #1
    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    Default My '79 Coupe

    Long overdue update.... For the last few years my coupe project has been on hold. Things like time, priorities, moving, and money kind of got in the way, you know 'life'. I really haven't driven it much over the couple of years, in fact the last time that I drove it on the street was when I moved it from my old house 20 months ago.

    A little back story. I purchased the coupe out of the Portland, OR area in 2006. It had been floating around various for sale forums for 6 mos before I finally jumped on it. I bought it sight unseen for $1000 and paid the owner another $200 to trailer it up to my place just north of Seattle. It was two owner, low mileage car (92k original miles) in great shape for its age. It started its life with my family as a father/son project. Body, paint, carpet, and seats were done in 2007; wheels and tires in 2008. After that, I had picked up a engine and transmission from a totaled '88 Turbo coupe. The initial plan was to keep the car a turbo-4 to keep my son's insurance rates down. After my son and I 'traded' cars (he didn't like driving the stick), it morphed into my personal project 2 years later.

    In the fall of 2010, I recovered the seats with TMI's pony vinyl skins (parchment on black). The fall of 2011, I bought a rusted out 82 Capri RS to harvest the 5.0 and T5 along with the related bits to do a factory looking engine swap. A couple of longtime members from here offered to help with the swap.. Since then, only some trim, dress up items, and a carb rebuild by our infamous Neil (WHTLTHR79RS), the car has basically sat.

    Finally, this summer I have some free time and motivation to continue working on the coupe. First item on the agenda is to upgrade the Pinto sized 9.3" front brakes to 11" SN95 version. I have collected most of the parts required over the last couple of years.

    Here is what I am starting with. A hold over from the Mustang II, behold the 9 inch disc brakes.

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    The strut and spring was pretty easy to get out. Having and electric impact wrench made easy work of the bolts holding the strut to the spindle (15/16” head and 7/8” nut). The strut was completely worn out. After I pushed it in all the way, the shaft only came back out about 1/2”. A day later, it still had not come out a full inch. I did not need a spring compressor to remove the spring although I did run a tie down strap through the spring and a-arm so it wouldn’t go far if it launched out of the pocket.


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    I tackled the a-arm next. I had to go out and buy a 30mm impact socket (easier to find than a 1-3/16” ) to fit on the head of the a-arm bolts. The nut was 15/16”. Once the impact started spinning the bolt, it was fairly easy to unbolt. After breaking the front one loose, I unbolted it by hand. It took a little longer but I didn’t want to damage the bellows on the steering rack. Unlike some of the stories that I have heard about, these weren’t rusted and came out rather easily.
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    Here is what is going in:

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    These are old stock FMS arms (date coded 9/97 and 10/97) that I located last spring and FMS ‘C’ springs that I have had sitting in a box for a few years.




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    Last edited by Mustang Marty; 07-24-2017 at 02:31 AM.
    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

  2. #2
    FEP Super Member mustangxtreme's Avatar
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    Very cool Marty. Good to see you back on the old girl.
    Dave

    If common sense was common wouldn't it just be sense?

    1983 Capri L T top 5.0 efi aod
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    FEP Power Member magnum517's Avatar
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    Very cool!! Glad to see you are back on it. Look forward to seeing more progress!! Thumbs up!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    --86 GT vert.306,Powerdyne blown 7 psi, E303, ported E7s,MAF conv, BBK shorties n OR H, 3" Mac Pro Dumps, WC T5, 5 lug'd, 17" Bullitts, 3" cowlhood, SN95 Gt front brakes, 4.11s.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mustang Marty View Post
    Long overdue update.... For the last few years my coupe project has been on hold. Things like time, priorities, moving, and money kind of got in the way, you know 'life'. I really haven't driven it much over the couple of years, in fact the last time that I drove it on the street was when I moved it from my old house 20 months ago.

    Here is what I am starting with. A hold over from the Mustang II, behold the 9 inch disc brakes.

    I had to go out and buy a 30mm impact socket (easier to find than a 1-3/16” ) to fit on the head of the a-arm bolts. The nut was 15/16”. Once the impact started spinning the bolt, it was fairly easy to unbolt.


    Old Project Links
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...Project-Update
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...led-New-Wheels

    Marti Report
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...eport!!!/page2
    5850 coupes were built with the turbo 2.3l 4sp
    Of those 5850 cars, 235 were painted Dark Jade Metallic
    Of those 235 cars, 2 had black leather bucket seats
    Of those 2, only 1 had a standard (non-tilt) steering column
    This is that car.
    Eight with that colour paint and trim code is pretty crazy! Our Light Medium Blue, blue leather interior 79 Ghia is over 100 so that is pretty cool!

    I laughed at the 9" brake comment. Our 2.8 79 had them too but we upgraded to the take off 10" from my 82 GT. The 5.0 in 79 had the 10" upgrade

    Also a funny comment about the socket! I never had a 30 mm socket but actually had a 1-3/16" from my 3/4" drive set. It's the only time I've used it too!

    Glad you are working on the car Marty. While I would probably have stayed 4-lug for purist/originality reasons, I see people's reasons for upgrading; I did my own '82 with the Mach 1 (Cobra) upgrade! Our two 79's will stay four lug for now.

  5. #5
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Good luck with this build. I did a frontend rebuild on my 86 and was about ready to scrap my car by the time I got the bolts out on the passenger side A arm! Plus the bolt holes in the K member were oblonged.

    The SN95 spindles have clear advantages over the foxbody units. Ackerman is the main advantage. Also the sealed bearings are a plus.

    If they made a 4 lug hub for the SN95 spindle it would be a no brainer on a foxbody honestly.

    I had to go 5 lug to fix the Ackerman. I went with new bushings, 95 spindles, X2 balljoints, caster/camber plates, 99 calipers, Baer rotors, Monroe struts, MM bump steer kit, and low miles stock GT springs. I had to source camber bolts to get the right geometry on my 86.

    Steering is way better than stock using an underdrive pulley on the crank (and an overdrive pulley on the water pump) with a 93 Cobra length belt, large PS fluid cooler, reman rack, synthetic PS fluid, a fresh reman PS pump, etc. the steering feels better than it does on my MKX now honestly.

  6. #6
    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments, guys!

    I guess the benefit of the 9" brakes back in the day is they would allow the fitment of 13" wheels. I found out about the different sized discs back when I owned my first Fox Mustang in the mid 80's. A co-worker had a Fairmont sedan that he bought some cheap Appliance chrome wheels for. Since I was a starving pump jockey back then and needed tires for my car, I bought the 13" wheels and tires for my car. The fit fine in the back but wouldn't clear the rotors up front. I sold them to my roommate to use on his Pinto instead.

    I thought about staying 4 lug and had purchased some later V8 Fox spindles. I could rock the new 16" TRXs which would be cool since this car originally came with them. I had done V8 spindle swap before on my old McLaren when I upgraded it to SVO brakes. But since I was doing all of that work again with this car I thought it would be fun to do something I hadn't done before. I love the wheels that are currently on the car but the tires have aged out. Since I need to buy new tires anyway, these are the wheels that I am going with:



    My 2001 in it's better days. After 7 years of my son driving it, it is a little worse for wear. (he has a 2016 Focus now) Shortly after buying it, I bought some wheels from a 2000 GT Spring Edition. They are basically the same wheel as the standard 99-04 GT wheel but with a bright brushed surface instead of painted. Since my 2001 back on it's stock 15" V6 wheels, these have been sitting in my garage for a few years.


    I was able to start the reassembly after recieving some needed parts. One of those parts was new a-arm bolts. I ordered a set from Jegs for $25/set of 4 bolts & nuts. While they were in good shape, I don't know what the other side will be like so I am replacing them. The shank is the same size as the original but the bolt head and nuts are smaller (15/16 and 13/16 respectively) but both have the flange style head.

    I had a little trouble getting the arms in due to the new bushings. After not finding much online about installing new a-arms, started looking at options. I noticed that the inside pockets, the sides where the nuts are tightened on the bolts bulged inward slightly as if it was caused by the torquing of the nut. I tapped the area with my small 2.5 lbs persuader. It didn't take much, only 3-4 taps (not much room to swing) and it slid right in.





    After the arm was in, I slid the spindle on to the ball joint. I slipped on the spacer that I bought from fordstuff in the parts sales forum. Fit perfectly and looks more professional than a few stacked washers.






    The replacement 'C' springs were really short compared to stock. To help prevent them from falling out while compressing them with a floor jack, I used Maximum Motorsport's spring installation tool (http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Sp...ang-P1232.aspx). It helped to hold the bottom of the spring so I didn't have to be near it while jacking up the a-arm. I bolted up the Koni to the spindle and the strut mount . The hub was missing most of the studs so i installed 5 new ones as well.





    "These go to 11" OK, maybe 10.9" I figured this was a good stopping point for the day. I still need to buy some tie rods ends and finish painting the calipers. While this car spends most of its time in the garage, the rusty knuckle look of the original calipers is not what I am going for. Red would clash with the green so I went silver.

    Last edited by Mustang Marty; 07-25-2017 at 02:40 PM.
    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

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    FEP Super Member JTurbo's Avatar
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    Looking great!
    1979 Indy Pace Car Mustang 302 / 5spd
    1982 Mustang GT T-Top 302 / 4spd
    1986 SVO Mustang - 1C

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    FEP Power Member SchoolBoy's Avatar
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    Keep it up man!
    If you blink at the end of the straight away you'll miss the twisties and what fun would that be!
    1982 Capri RS 5.0L
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    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    Just a quick update from last weekend.

    I painted the calipers silver with 'Mustang' lettering. I purchased vinyl decals made for using on calipers, but instead of using them as intended I painted over them. I laid down black paint before installing the decals. Before spaying the silver I painted over decal with black to prevent the silver paint from bleeding underneath. After the couple of coats of silver dried, I peeled off each letter with an xacto knife.




    I was able to pull out one of the wheels and install it on the car. The tire is a little big (255/45-17, 26" dia.) so it won't completely clear the front air dam. I had the same issue with the 245/50-16 (25.6") tires that I bought with the ARE wheels which caused me to downsize them to 225 (24.9"). I will need to do the same on the 17" wheels. A 225/40 or 215/45 should fit without issue.


    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

  10. #10
    FEP Super Member xctasy's Avatar
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    see below

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    FEP Super Member xctasy's Avatar
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    I love the way the front on the Fox Mustangs curves in to only just cover the bigger tires. It makes the whole car look really European, almost Ferrari 365 GTC/400/400i/412i like. Not European in a whimpy, reserved manner, but kind of ripped, the way the best V12 Ferarris of the 70's carried the big section Michelin tires with a really modest covering over the gaurd.

    The inner fenders of other Foxes define where you need to cut the outer guard without having to re-invent the wheel. BMW Rider's method is a little "Heroic" if you don't want to lay again your awesome green paint, but the Sterling Foxs and later specialty S shells used a 660 mm, 26" wheel Poly Ethylene wheel house insert, which allows you to establish the 1991-1993 Front gaurd modification Ford made on the V8 Foxes in that year. When Jack Telnack did the final concept of the Mustang Fox body, he used the A310 Alpine Renault as his target car, and its Gotti 10 slot three piece 75 BA wheels but with Pirelli P7's.

    Everywhere in the Ford empire, the new Japanese front wheel covering legislation was employed, so the tires were dropped back to 190 from the 225 used during the design phase. On the Bigger Sterling XR7 and Thunderbirds, 220, with huge arches and the Mustang track, not an issue.

    After the late 1978 Georgia Aerodynamic tests for the Blackwood Australian XD and XE Falcons, the Australian Granada based cars had the same issues,

    Eg 1, my 1984 XE Falcon



    Eg 2, rego authorites left the gaurd alone if you had Mad Max style Roo Bars





    and everywhere at Ford Asia Pacific, they attempted to draw the cars tight in to the tires. It backfired when the Japanese MIT rules got accepted elseware, Fords 1982 XE wasn't legal in Japan. GM kept up with the Ford process of warping the nose around the tires....the 1995 Chev Cavalier then had to have all its front gaurd pressings reworked to be legal in Japan as the exported Toyota Cavalier



    The ER 60 H 15 and 205/70 HR 15 and 220/55 HR 390 tired Falcons in 1982-1984 were the coolest looking, but the worst to fit nice 27" 235/60 16's on.

    Eg 3. Aussie 1982 Fairlane Sportsman. No room for 225's.


    Then they got Jap-ified in 1985 with the wide steel wheel arches.



    The Nana state gaurd coverings on an XF with 245/50 15 tires. Bleah!






    BMW Rider's solution again (although others have done it too, not just him).







    Attachment 81864

    http://www.gbsalpine.com/wheel/gotti/eng.html

    The Mustang Fox was most likely originally designed around them and Pirelli P7's. Jack Telnack, the Chief Designer of the 1979 Ford Mustang, and two other guys, one probably Euro Escort, Taunus, Cortina IV, Granada II/III designer Uwe Bahnsen , are pictured debating the esthetics this 1979 photo.

    But the Renault Alpine A310 came out with them first





    Quote Originally Posted by xctasy View Post
    BBS rims were originally split rims, so you can mess around with offset.


    Grab a plastic LINCOLN MARK VII 84-92 1984-1992 FENDER LINER INNER FENDER, drop a Mustng fender and you'll see that it just takes a little guard pump to fit 275's in the front. LSC's were designed to take 245/60 16's, but will take much more. Its the height and width that prevent the bigger tires going in.





    Quote Originally Posted by PredatorGT
    You lost me on that explanation on swapping parts of wheels with other wheels haha
    Quote Originally Posted by PredatorGT
    Ok I think I understand.. You just pop the bottom part of the fender and bumper and fab something up to keep them popped out.
    Quote Originally Posted by BMW Rider View Post
    This afternoon I figured I'd have a go at the inner fenders to see how they might fit up to the modified fender. On a hunch I grabbed a pair of inner liners from a 94 Mustang thinking that they just might work with a bit of trimming. The 94 wheel opening is much larger than the Fox fenders have and the lower part of the fender is wider too. The lower part of the plastic was the part I had to trim the most. Basically I just held the plastic up in the fender opening and marked the outline of the fender. It took a couple of times to get the plastic trimmed down in all the right places to fit. Once I had them cut down they fit almost as if they were made for the car. I love it when a hunch pays off.






    Attachment 110203

    Attachment 110204

    Attachment 110205

    Attachment 110206

  12. #12
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    The upgraded brakes and suspension are looking good!

    In regards to your front air dam rub, in my experience the rub is generally the inner section of the fender extension. The tire actually clears the outside of the fender extensions, but due to the extension protruding so deep into the inner wheel area it will cause a rub, especially if there is any suspension movement downward.

    Many times, you can simply trim the inner section off the fender extension and gain the necessary clearance for the larger tires. I actually run 255/40/17's on my PC on 9" wheels and only had to trim the extension slightly to gain enough clearance. Obviously every Fox is different, your tires, ride height, and suspension alignment will all affect the actual clearance you have and need, but I would seriously consider that before downsizing the tires. If you take your time and make a nice clean cut that is the same on both sides, I guarantee that only the most hardcore Fox enthusiast will notice and it doesn't affect the strength of the fender extensions in anyway. Good Luck!
    ​Trey

    "I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"

    "I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."

    Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
    Current Mustangs:
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    1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
    1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
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    FEP Senior Member BMW Rider's Avatar
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    I'll add in a bit more context on my fender clearance mod. The main reason for doing it was due to the 1 1/2" forward offset of the front wheels with the MM K-member and control arm set up. I am using 91-93 fenders with the larger opening, but still needed to open it up further due to the setup. In the pictures I had 9" wheels with 255/40-17s on them. I am going down in size for the fronts to 8" wheels with either 245/45s or maybe even 235/45s. The biggest issue I was having was the backspacing to the coilovers required using 1/2" spacers to clear. That pushed the wheel and tire too far outward to get good clearance to the fender for suspension travel. The options were to either flare the fenders or go with narrower wheels and tires. Flaring the fronts without doing the rears would have been visually odd, and I was not really looking for a wider rear stance, so narrower wheels it was.

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    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Shove the struts out to midpoint and no farther. Max out caster on you plates. Get camber bolts and dial your camber back in. Set your toe then go have it aligned again.

    Does wonders, believe me!

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    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wraithracing View Post
    The upgraded brakes and suspension are looking good!

    In regards to your front air dam rub, in my experience the rub is generally the inner section of the fender extension. The tire actually clears the outside of the fender extensions, but due to the extension protruding so deep into the inner wheel area it will cause a rub, especially if there is any suspension movement downward.
    That is exactly the issue. With the wheel toed in like it is now (no adjustments have been made yet) I can just get my fingers between the tire and extension. In the pic below, you can see the rub mark made when the car had the 245/50-16 tires on it. On a level surface they would rub every time I made a turn. On an uneven surface, such as pulling out of my driveway, they rubbed at around one full turn of the steering wheel. The 225's that I have/had installed only rubbed with excessive body roll, as in taking a hard turn at an intersection. It does look like I could trim it back an inch or so to eliminate the rubbing at this point. I was afraid that the edge would catch the tread an damage the part. In the search for these 10+ years ago there are no reproductions and most of the ones that I found looked like they were damaged by tire contact.







    Quote Originally Posted by erratic50 View Post
    Shove the struts out to midpoint and no farther. Max out caster on you plates. Get camber bolts and dial your camber back in. Set your toe then go have it aligned again.

    Does wonders, believe me!
    I'm sure the alignment is all wonky at them moment and once I get it a rough alignment it should be better. Right now visually, the tire is really toed in and has a ton of positive camber.


    Other Mustangs that I have owned seemed to also have a tramlining issue when I've had 245's installed. I would like to avoid it as much as possible since the freeways here are full of ruts.
    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

  16. #16
    Moderator wraithracing's Avatar
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    In my experience tramlining can often be due to a specific brand or type of tire. Some tires on certain vehicles just seem to be more prone to this issue than others.

    The other issue is suspension component wear and quality. A worn out suspension in regards to bushings, ball joints, tie rods, etc. is more prone to tramline than a suspension that is in good working condition with everything tight.

    Suspension alignment will also affect your cars tendency to tramline. If you are running a lot of negative camber than the tire already has a tendency to want to turn due to the alignment (think of how a motorcycle turns). So your alignment settings can also affect the vehicles tendency to tramline.

    As you stated that with the smaller width tires you didn't have as much of an issue. The question is was the alignment done with the smaller wheels and tires or the larger as that can be an influencing factor also. Just some things to think about and consider. Your issues may be one, some, or even none of the above, but generally there is a way to eliminate or reduce tramlining in most vehicles. Good luck!
    ​Trey

    "I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"

    "I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."

    Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
    Current Mustangs:
    1969 Mach 1
    1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
    1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
    1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
    1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently

    Current Capris:
    1981 Capri Roller
    1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
    1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
    1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
    1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts

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    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    While my son was in town last weekend, we went out to the local "pull a part" and scored a 8.8 from a 94 Mustang GT. It took us about twice as long to pull it than we planned (with no jacks allowed in the yard, it was hard to remove the control arm bolts with with the weight of the axle working against you.) We grabbed it along with the spare and some miscellaneous other parts for my 2001 Mustang. When we heaved it in to the bed of my truck, I saw the tag read "2L73"... pretty standard for a 5.0 Auto. No biggie as I was planning on buying gears anyway. I thought I would show my son how the gear ratio works by spinning the axle and watching the pinion turn.

    I figured that the pinion would turn about 2 3/4 times for each rotation of the axle. To my surprise, that was not the case. I noticed the pinion had moved one full turn when I has spun the axle only a quarter turn. I looked at what I was doing a little closer and watched the little paint mark on the pinon go by just over 4 times for each revolution of the axle. So it seems that the 94 was sporting some 4.10's! It is a little more gear than I wanted for a stock 82 5.0 and an unknown T5, but since this car is a summer cruiser, I just may try them out for a while.
    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

  18. #18
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    4.10's are great if you have a 2.95:1 low gear T5. The T5Z is the most common one like that, but there are others.

  19. #19
    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    After a business trip and a cold, I finally got back to the coupe. Here is how it sits as of last night. The strut was blown on this side as well. I didn't bother removing it from the spindle this time and remove the arm, spindle, brake, and strut as an assembly. The arm bolts were a little more difficult this time and proved a bit too much for my electric impact. My breaker bar with half of my racing jack's handle was the leverage that I needed. After reading the horror stories, I'm glad that I didn't need to cut them. I should be able to start cleanup and assembly on Saturday. There actually some nice green paint under that dirt.





    Here is the rear end that I picked up a month ago after its initial hit with the power washer. It cleaned up nicely. I went back and forth about painting it. After a couple of hours with a rag and brake cleaner, I decided to paint it the same color that I painted the spindles. I had to buy new backing plates (best price was Tasca Ford in R.I.) since whomever got to the rear before me snagged them. At least the left the calipers since those were worth $120 in core charges.



    In between my cold and lack of free time, I painted and put together it all together. Just about ready to slide in.


    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

  20. #20
    FEP Power Member Mustang Marty's Avatar
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    Nov 2004
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    My outer tie rods arrived on Friday, so I had the last of my needed parts to button up the front end. I was supposed to order the ES2128RL rods that are called out for my 79. Since I knew that I had to adjust the rods out on both sides, I opted to buy the ES2150RL that is for the 82-93 cars since they open design which allows me to see the thread engagement.

    When I compared the two tie rods I noticed that later rod is nearly 3/4" longer than the rod that was on the car. I threaded on the new rods and tightened the lock nuts to their original position. I could tell at this point that the rotors looked straighter than they did with the original rods. After mounting the tires and doing a quick measurement, they toe'd in about an 1/8". Not too bad. I will recheck it once I look at the other settings.

    Only a couple of things to button up on the front then I am on to the rear.

    79 Mustang Coupe - Jade Green Metallic - 5.0 5Sp - Purchased 2006
    17 Mustang Convertible - Triple Yellow Tri-Coat - 3.7l Auto - Purchased 2020
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    01 Mustang - 3.8 Auto True Blue - Oct 2001- Apr 2022 RIP
    85 ASC - McLaren 5.0 SC - ASC White - 5.0 CFI Auto - Owned 2004 - 2016
    98 Mustang - White - 3.8 5pd - Owned 1998 - 2001
    84 Mustang SSP - White - 5.0 5sp - Owned 1993 - 1998
    84 SVO - Charcoal - 2.3t 5Sp - Owned 1989 -1992
    79 Mustang Ghia - 5.0 Auto - Owned 1981 - 1986
    68 Mustang Coupe - 302 Auto, Yellow - Owned 1980 - 1981

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