|
Post by eliotsdad on May 10, 2007 12:17:04 GMT -5
I apologize if I'm including too many pictures here. I'm trying to document the things we've encountered trying to fit a 2003 Mustang Cobra IRS under Eliot's '63 Meteor. First, we had to take off a lot of parts:Then, we got ready to roll the IRS under the car:We had to jack it up pretty high to roll it under. No, we're not adding hydraulics to the car! The stance. Front needs to go down a bit, I think. That's a stock 2003 Marauder driveshaft under there, which appears to be about 2" too short to use.Even using the largest offset wheels we could find, the fit is too tight.So, we're going to have to cut on the car. Since there will be grinding and welding going on back there, we wanted to drop the fuel tank. First, since the electric fuel pump was still in place, we pumped out the gas. We found a few extra gas caps down there behind the gas door. I guess when the previous owner dropped one down there, they just bought another cap.Next, we used sheet metal shears to cut away part of the wheel housing: And pounded the inner wheel lip flat, after trimming it back:It's much better now: There is clearance on each side.Then, we took measurments to help us in fabricating front and rear mounts for the IRS:
|
|
|
Post by ca on May 10, 2007 13:03:18 GMT -5
how kool is that gonna be - a corner carvin Meteor
|
|
|
Post by Joeyman on May 10, 2007 13:03:20 GMT -5
Awesome.........great mod..........It turned out great. What gear's are in there and what size tire's R those.
|
|
|
Post by w2zero on May 10, 2007 15:23:04 GMT -5
Cool, even more detail than you posted for FCA! I had always wondered about doing one with the T-bird IRS but this is much more tech.
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on May 10, 2007 16:55:34 GMT -5
Awesome.........great mod..........It turned out great. What gear's are in there and what size tire's R those. It's a 3.55 Limited Slip, and the tires are 245/45ZR17.
|
|
|
Post by roy on Jun 8, 2007 14:46:39 GMT -5
Very,very cool. You must let us know how she handles & rides should be awesome on open track.
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on Jun 13, 2007 12:51:45 GMT -5
Yes, I'll give a report about that when the time comes. We still have a pretty long way to go before it's roadworthy!
|
|
|
Post by roy on Jun 14, 2007 10:15:44 GMT -5
Did i miss pics? Didn;t you have to build some kind of sub-frame to hold the IRS? did you just mount to exsisting rear sub? I looked under a T-bird Super coupe sometime ago, to me it looked just way to wide to use without shortening axles, hangers, well, it looked to daunting of a task. Do you have a shop? Would this be something you would consider doing for customers? could you e-mail me regarding this
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on Jun 19, 2007 15:01:47 GMT -5
Did i miss pics? Didn;t you have to build some kind of sub-frame to hold the IRS? did you just mount to exsisting rear sub? I looked under a T-bird Super coupe sometime ago, to me it looked just way to wide to use without shortening axles, hangers, well, it looked to daunting of a task. Do you have a shop? Would this be something you would consider doing for customers? could you e-mail me regarding this You should be able to see pictures in the original post. This Cobra IRS was almost too wide to use. The SVT Cobra IRS had to be engineered to fit in just where the solid axle had gone in the Mustang GT. As it ends up, there are 4 bushed mounting locations, pretty much at the 4 corners of the thing. In a minute, I'll post pictures of the brackets I'm fabricating to attach these 4 mount points in the IRS to the Meteor's rear frame rails. No, I don't have a shop. I'm just a backyard (driveway) mechanic. Looking at the mounts I'm fabricating, you may even think of a better way it could be done.
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on Jun 19, 2007 15:14:11 GMT -5
If I had to do this over again, I certainly would've spent more time looking for a "smarter" kind of steel stock to start with. If I could've found a "deeper" channel, it would've saved a heap of cutting. As it was, I made all the pieces out of square tubing from Speedy Metals. Stupid mistake #2: For not a whole lot of money, Speedy Metals will cut the stock to length for you. Lesson #3 -- Any kind of hand saw ain't gonna hack it! I made exactly one cut before I abandoned that method! After that, I tried a plasma cutter, but it was messy, and didn't want to cut deep enough. So, the rest of the cuts were made with a cut-off tool (I'm a little slow ...). Lesson #4 -- I need a bigger compressor. While the cut-off tool is great, it is an air hog. So, here are the pieces. The longer, beefier ones go on the frame rails, and the shorter, squarish ones go on the IRS itself.And here they are, being test fit into place. The rear is a nice, snug fit. I need to make gussets to connect the 2 bracket halves, and then weld the whole thing together:Fronts have a gap between the bracket halves, which will have to be bridged. I wish there weren't that much overhang, but having seen the fairly flimsy stamped bracketry that was used on the SVT Cobra, I'm not too worried.
|
|
|
Post by ca on Jun 19, 2007 19:35:10 GMT -5
and me = i usually pick stock that is too skinny so i git to worry about it. with the stuff yur usin you could lash down the USS Enterprise and it aint goin NOWHERE!
|
|
|
Post by w2zero on Jun 19, 2007 23:23:00 GMT -5
Are you welding sleeves inside the Meteor "frame" rails? nice pics of the install. Yes the air cutoff tools are hawgs for sure. I use a 14" chopsaw courtesy of Harbor Freight for the big stuff and and electric die grinder for the fine work. Y'all are some d**n fine driveway fabricators in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on Jun 20, 2007 7:12:29 GMT -5
Are you welding sleeves inside the Meteor "frame" rails? Sleeves? Not sure what you mean, w2zero ... enlighten me!
|
|
|
Post by w2zero on Jun 20, 2007 10:48:11 GMT -5
Since there isn't a lot to the frame rails on our cars, just stamped and spotwelded sheetmetal. I would weld a steel pipe or tube wherever a bolt penetrated. That way you spread the stresses to the frame rather than just to the edge of the hole. Much like the hole for the rear shackle penetration.
|
|
|
Post by eliotsdad on Jun 21, 2007 9:46:02 GMT -5
Since there isn't a lot to the frame rails on our cars, just stamped and spotwelded sheetmetal. I would weld a steel pipe or tube wherever a bolt penetrated. That way you spread the stresses to the frame rather than just to the edge of the hole. Much like the hole for the rear shackle penetration. Ah, yes, I see what you mean. I had actually drawn a picture of just such an arrangement, but had forgotten about it. Thanks!
|
|