![[Company Logo Image]](_borders/IMG_0838.JPG)
|
|
|
|
December 30th, 2008 Still trying to get everything completely prepared for the Shelby 427 All-Aluminum Engine that I ordered from Pops back in August. They still do not have all the parts and its been almost 5 months now. Sent 65% deposit, so a bit worried, but hopefully the wait will be well worth it (or they may have run off with my fat deposit)... Today I ran a 4/0 welding cable all the way from: The point of this wire will be to relocate my battery into the trunk of the car for weight distribution and cleanliness in the engine compartment. Since I am doing all of this, I decided why not just put two batteries along the side of each rear quarter and connect them in parallel? This cable is the thickest you could go and since it is a welding cable, it has many many strands, thus making it much easier for the twists and turns involved when running the cable. 4/0 would be impossible to run, unless it was a welding cable, I'd say. Using some old frames that held capacitor banks for battery trays, which are the perfect size for this project and already treated as to not corrode. Planning on using 2x Optima Batteries for this project, but will not purchase until the battery trays are welded into the trunk and the paralleling cables are prepared. Scot, who is extremely knowledgeable and handy, was a huge help with this project. January 10th, 2009 Today I put in the Control Products subframe connectors that I ordered from Chassisworks. Part Number: PKG-SFC-02. I also bought the MM-FD-01 poly motor mounts for future 427 engine installation. This subframe connector and support kit was pretty pricey for 'pieces of metal', but a perfect fit. Did some research on whether to bolt or weld these in and everyone says to weld. It hurt me to do it, but I welded in the left and right side connectors. There was also a support included in the kit that goes from the subframe connectors to the 'square' plate that comes between the frame rails on the bottom. I had to drill holes into this plate for installation of the support. Pictures of this in the car can be found under the 'steering/suspension' section of the website. This is all part of 'beefing' up the chassis to handle the 427 bored into a 496 engine that will eventually go into the car (hopefully one day, sweating...) I also noticed an increase in handling from this installation, so it was a very good investment in my opinion. January 29th, 2009 It is hard to find battery terminals for 4/0 cable! Found some locally from a very helpful company named American Alternator and Battery. They even crimped them onto the cables for me. I am worried about battery acid/corrosion in my trunk, so I ordered a couple of glass-lined batteries from them as well (they are definitely not cheap!). You can even mount these upside down or drill into them without any leakage. They were also a perfect/snug fit to the battery trays. I welded bolts facing upward to be studs for mounting the battery trays. The trunk area has very thin metal, so take precaution not to burn through. It looks very clean though, because I just punched the studs up through trunk mat. I needed 4 cables prepared. 2x for each battery to be grounded separately. 1x for joining the positive terminals on each of the batteries. 1x that came from the solenoid switch routed to the back. I think that when I go back to pick up the batteries, I am going to get a 5th cable prepared that will tie together the 2x individual battery grounds. Each battery is 750 CCA, so in parallel I'll have 1500 CCA! The 4/0 will definitely be able to handle it :) This is in preparation for the 427 engine. February 10th, 2010 Had my car appraised and got insurance through Haggerty. The insurance is about 4x times more than my Allstate policy was, but the Haggerty insurance insures me for the appraised value of the car, theft, etc. etc. Heaven forbid if I would have totaled the car with my Allstate policy, I would have only gotten the Kelly Blue book value of ~ $8000 :( March 8th, 2010 Installed the windshield header that I had chromed (the piece that the sunvisors partially cover which is originally painted black). It looks beautiful. I plan to have the sunvisor brackets also chromed sometime. Paul's chrome located in PA did an amazing job. March 17th, 2010 Put Coil-over suspension from Chris Alston's Chassisworks / Total Control Products in my car after various problems with my previous setup (discussed under the Steering/Suspension section of the website). It is a wonderful feat of engineering and the car handles like a dream now! Once again, I went to Steve Hall (seems to be the only guy that can align cars well in Chattanooga) at East Ridge Tire and Alignment to straighten everything up. April 3rd, 2010 Installed the chromed sunvisor brackets. Now the entire sunvisor section is all chromed out. Looks so much better than the original pot metal. April 8th, 2010 Well, I guess when you have 615 HP / 576 lb-ft Torque, even a factory 9" rear axle will break on you (which it did)... Micah at Hudlow Axle hooked me up with a beautiful set-up that is rated for 1000 HP +. They did a professional top notch job and even had it powder coated. Once again I went to Chris Alston's Chassisworks / Total Control Products for a sweet looking FAB 9 housing. I picked a 3.5 ratio. August 12th, 2010 Put in a sweet stereo system. Have the front 4x speakers amplified and 2x bass speakers on a mono block amplifier. The new stereos have an USB iPod connector which charges your iPod while listening and also your iPod can be controlled through your radio. Pretty nice. September 10th, 2010 Charlie at Brakes and Hoses re-located my fuel pump to near the gas tank to make it a push instead of a pulling type. When the fuel pump pushes, it puts out a lot more than pulling. He also replaced the gas line with stainless steel braided type. November 15th, 2010 Bought Slide-a-Link Traction Bars. My favorite part about the instructions state that 'A Large Variation of Pre-Load from Side to Side Will Cause the Vehicle to Launch Erratically'. Sweet! Pictures can be found under the "Steering/Suspension" Tab. November 18th, 2010 Going to order Total Control Products PKG-TWRB-01 which is a kit including Shock Tower Braces, Truss Braces, and a Monte Carlo Brace. Also ordering a set of Quickset 2 Shocks for the rear (since the ones that came with the front coilover kit were so sweet). November 25th, 2010 Put in a new electric fuel pump which is higher volume and much less noisy. It has a gerotor gearset instead of the traditional noisy vane pump. December 1st, 2010 Slide-A-Link Traction Bars installed and adjusted to the 'Street' setting. The car 'launches' even better now. Also installed the Quickset 2 rear shocks. December 6th, 2010 Total Control Products Tower Brace Set installed. Pretty much bolt-in and go. I was worried about clearance issues on the Monte Carlo bar, but there were none. There might be if I had Air Conditioning, but I'm not certain. March 29th, 2011 Installed a 3 Quart ACCUSUMP made by Canton Racing Products. Whenever I let my car sit for a month or more, I was always worried about the oil draining away from the cylinder walls, etc. What I did was pull the distributor and run the oil pump with a drill to build the oil pressure up before putting the distributor back on. What the ACCUSUMP does is keep oil pressure inside the crankcase at all times which pre-lubricates the engine components before engine startup and also provides more continuous oiling while the engine is running.
|
|
Send mail to
Phil@69MustangConvertible.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
