mustang at teh drags again...

[fordfreak300]

well today I had a better day with my car at teh track. I ran a 14.900 @ 93.248 I had a 2.23 60' so i still have some room to work with my set up and gain some traction. I still need to do the struts.shocks./ I have the KYBs up front still which are tight and dont; transfer weight to well. The lift bard worked great. I think i tore something yup though I get some rear steer out of the car now. I'll look into it tomorow. If anyone has some idea's what to look for. We pulled off the side of the road and checked everything but it seemed to be fine. Torque boxes were still in tact, they are welded. The upper and lower control arms are tight. I will chedck the shock mounts tomorrow. Any other ideas?

[Coupester]

Seems odd that you would have torn something if not slicked down ...

About 7 years ago when I had my first h/c/i combo in an 89GT, I truly didn't care about the car at all ... didn't have subframe connectors, welded torque boxes, nothin ... after about 50 dragstrip passes on slicks, the only thing I noticed was the hatch started to fit a little funny ... I definitely twisted the frame a little bit, but didn't tear anything on the unibody.

[makemeknowit]

I'd have to agree with Coupester. With a 2.23 60' time you're aren't sticking it near enough to trash the torque boxes.

[underdogGT]

Lift bar?? Is the car launching good and than about mid track it seems to get a little squirley???

[v8only]

from the video of him racing (and in person) I saw, his launch, and mid track looked great. He had even steady throttle through the launch, with slight tire spin, then it hooked up quickly and stayed hooked up till the end of the track. I couldn't see anything from his racing that would lead me to suspect something went wrong. You have solid bushing'd rear control arms right?? I've always heard how tough those are on cars, I'd suspect something went wrong with them, as your problem occured after install, consider some pro3i arms poss, mm knockoffs, but with the right bushings. IDK beyond that. I think the connection between the new control arm install and the problem is so strong that would be the first place to look.

[fordfreak300]

underdog I left the tire pressure up on the tires as before I started lowering tire pressure I got talked into running the mustang trophy class, where i made it to the finals.


Ever dang bolt had come loose on my control arms. Even the tack welds had broke. Probably cause of the crappy welder I was trying to use. It had a very inconsitant wire feed problem. I returned it. that was another story that was in another thread. I tighted everything back up again. today and i will be trying to find out a way to keep these bolts tight. I will say I loved the bars. They are the southside liftbars. But if I can not find a way to keep these bolts tight, and i may use some JB weld on them to do the job, then they are comming off. I do have my torque boxes welded and I have subframe connectors. I did not tear anything which is good. i was running my tire pressure at 12psi and gettingbetter traction. I had started the day out with 18psi with the new bars and never did get a chance to lower them down. But the car would spin at first and then hook. When it hooked, let me tell you it hooked. If I could have droped some tire pressure I think i would have seen some great 60' times. I shift so fast that it hits the rear hard and I couldn't tell you if it was getting squirly when i shifted as it was hiting so hard. But ont eh drive home everytime I left off the gas it wanted to rear steer for a second, and when I got back on the gas it rear sterered back to normal. Today i found all the bolts loosened up. I had tightened them so tight I was bending the metal. then I out slight tackwelds on them that seemed to not hold. I am thinking it is either time for JB weld or some different control arms. I actually really liked these though. I want toget this issue resolved before I goto slicks, WHich is one of my text steps I have planned for the car. along with the struts/shocks 70/30s front 50/50 rear.

[fordfreak300]

ohh I am very happy i did get a new best yesterday though. I knwo had I been trying to continuously better my times vs running the braket race i would have gotten my times lower.

[fordfreak300]

tightened all the bolts up and with in 4 miles the problem was back. So i am goign to crawl under the car yet again and put some red lock-tite on everything and if it happenes again then these lift bars are history.

[Coupester]

I am thinking it is either time for JB weld or some different control arms.

First of all... even the thought of that 1st suggestion is the ultimate jig rig shlop fix I've ever heard of. You've got pinion angle issues my friend!

First off, those Southside bars are OLD SCHOOL technology. They clunk around and apply abnormal pressure and force where there shouldn't be any. Back in 95 when 5 liters were still "the rage," yea ... Southside bars were the hot setup. But not anymore!

I'm sure you've heard this time and time again -- but you want a control arm with a polyurethane bushing on the chassis side, and a spherical bushing on the rear end side.

Several vendors carry said product ...

[fordfreak300]

Yeah i know about the poly on one side and spherical on the other. these bars fit my buget very nicely. The thing is I did nto have this problem the entire week before going to the track. only after being at the track. on another note I forgot to add this only happens at speeds above 35 mph. The exact problem is I let off the gas, the rear wants to come around to the right, i hit the gas it goes back to left and everything is fine and going straight. AS long as I stay on the gas it goes straight as can be. i am already second guessing my purchase. I did talk to a lot of people over on the corral who use these same type cars who love them. I got them very cheap. I honestly just don;t have much money to spend on mods right now. This seemed like a cheap alternative. I installed new tubular uppers at teh same time. I got both uppers and lowers togteher for very cheap. The uppers are just a replacement and not designed to change pinion angle. I meassured them against my stock uppers and everything seemed the same to me. i installed them with my stock lowers and the pinion did not change. I am really starting to think about changing the bars but would prefer toget this problem worked out first. I took everything apart and put red lock-tite on and put it all back together tight. I checke dmy uppers and I was able to get maybee on turn out of each bolt although it was very difficult. If it doesn't drive right tomorrow I will go baqck to stock upper and lowers and go with my original plans of 93 cobra uppers and nice lower. But that will be way into the distant future.

[fordfreak300]

red lock-tite worked. man these things are seriously harsh when they are workign right. i'll be boxing in my stock lowers and then sellign these lift bars. i had to make a 6 hour round trip drive today and my butt hurts beyond belief. And my car was nto fun to drive at all. I felt every bump and then some.