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1989 Ford Mustang Notchback - Project Real Street Part 2: Suspension And Chassis - Suspended AnimationProject Real Street's 1989 Ford Mustang suspension and chassis receive upgrades prepare us for battle From the December, 2001 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Mark Houlahan Photography by Chuck James, Steve Turner
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Someday our little '89 notch... Someday our little '89 notch will be coming off the porch to run with the big boys-just like Jarad Large's coupe-or at least with NMRA's Rob Kinnan in a little grudge race. When enhancing your Mustang's performance, be it suspension, power, or braking, there is always the urge to throw the best of the best at your project. Let's face it, we all want 800 hp; 15-inch, six-piston brakes; and the level ump-teen-million suspension package from XYZ's catalog. Sadly, many of us don't have the scratch to feed this kind of urge. This is why we worked with the National Mustang Racers Association to devise the class and rules now known as the 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Real Street class. The Real Street class is formulated on building a powerful Mustang with real street-level performance parts. No back-halving, no motor plates, just simple, proven, performance parts commercially available to anyone. Building a car in this manner not only makes racing somewhat affordable, but it also brings back the excitement of who can tune and drive the best-not who has the biggest sponsor and deepest wallet (my apologies to the Pro guys). The crew at HP Motorsport... The crew at HP Motorsport ably handled our rear-suspension needs. The company supplied us with its Mega-Bite rear sway bar and Mega-Bite upper and lower control arms. Also shown here are HP's Mega-Bite Alignment Plates, transmission crossmember, and driveshaft safety loop (to be installed later). Editor Turner discussed the project in the Jan. '01 Bench Racer, and we followed the crew at D.S.S. for the Real Street engine buildup in the July '01 issue ("Getting Real," p. 39). Naturally, being a magazine, our car is going to lean toward the top of the Real Street scale, but you needn't make all the modifications we do. Just keep in mind the top competitors are always going to push the envelope. This month we prepare our four-cylinder chassis for competition with class-legal parts from HP Motorsport, Anthony Jones Engineering, Tokico, Maximum Motorsports, Baer Racing, Mark Williams, Wild Rides, and Eibach. We also had our previously installed Maximum Motorsports rollcage properly welded up and converted to work with MM's swing-out door-bar kit. Horse Sense: When building a Mustang for any class of racing, be sure to pick up a rule book from the sanctioning body before ordering a single part. This way you will know what is legal for your class. You can build on your project with the aid of the rule book for fewer problems come race day.  Removing all of the stock...  Removing all of the stock components is the first order. Our piddly 7.5 axle was expunged from our notch many months ago to make another car "go away," so we had to yank only the four old upper and lower control arms to get started.  Before installing the new...  Before installing the new HP Mega-Bite arms, we felt it would be best to reinforce our stock torque boxes with Wild Rides' Battle Boxes for both the upper and lower torque box areas. These bolt-in reinforcements really help the weak factory torque boxes take the power.  In order to make room for...  In order to make room for installation, strip the rear seating from the car and then scrape away any undercoating and sound deadener that will interfere with the installation of the Battle Boxes. If you want to save some real weight, strip your chassis of all this stuff!  Line up the Battle Box outer...  Line up the Battle Box outer brace with the two factory holes in the torque box and drill through one of these holes.  Secure the outer brace and...  Secure the outer brace and inner brace together with one bolt and angled spacer. This will help in drilling the remaining holes.  Drill the second and last...  Drill the second and last vertical hole and secure the Battle Box with another bolt and angled spacer.  Lastly, drill the two horizontal...  Lastly, drill the two horizontal holes and secure with their hardware. You might want someone applying pressure to the inner brace (with a 2x4 or other object) so that the holes are drilled true.  The Battle Boxes for the lower...  The Battle Boxes for the lower torque boxes are easily installed by slipping them through this outer opening and securing with the original lower-control-arm mounting bolt. SN-95 cars will need minor trimming of this opening.  With the Battle Box held in...  With the Battle Box held in place by the control-arm bolt, drill through the four mounting holes and drop the bolts and backing plate into place inside the car.  While a helper holds down...  While a helper holds down the bolts inside, use a deep socket with a swivel attachment to make tightening them easier.  Our Battle Box installation...  Our Battle Box installation is finished. We can now proceed with installing our control arms and Mark Williams-prepped 8.8 diff.  The HP Motorsport Mega-Bite...  The HP Motorsport Mega-Bite upper control arms are direct-fit replacements for the stock uppers. Install them with the supplied hardware and torque to 80 lb-ft. If your factory mounting holes are metric, they will need to be filed or drilled out to 11/42 inch.  The HP Motorsport Mega-Bite...  The HP Motorsport Mega-Bite lower control arms are installed next. These arms are adjustable, just like the uppers, for pinion angle and axle alignment. You will reuse the stock mounting bolts for the lowers.  HP Motorsport provides spring...  HP Motorsport provides spring spacers to adjust ride height depending upon which mounting hole you use on the company's axle-mount bracket. The spacers can be stacked if necessary.  Our Mark Williams-prepped...  Our Mark Williams-prepped 8.8 showed up nicely crated and fully ready to rock with an Eaton Posi wrapped in 3.73 gears. The crew at Mark Williams welded up the axle tubes for strength and converted the axle ends to 9-inch big-bearing style before bolting on a set of Baer 12-inch, five-lug brakes over their own MW MasterLine 31-spline axles. Look for a full buildup in an upcoming issue.  The only preparation we had...  The only preparation we had to make to our new 8.8 was to add the HP Motorsport axle-mount bracket to the housing. This bracket easily bolts on once the stock shock-absorber mounting bolt is removed.  Once the HP Motorsport axle-mount...  Once the HP Motorsport axle-mount brackets are installed and a set of spare five-lug wheels mounted (we plan on using Welds for Real Street), the Mark Williams 8.8 assembly is easily rolled out to our project and readied for installation.  With the 8.8 in place and...  With the 8.8 in place and the lower control arms bolted up to the axle-mount brackets, we decided to use the lower hole for now, as we simply wanted to get the car on the ground and to the chassis shop. The Eibach drag springs were installed in the rear at this time too.  Slipping the Tokico shocks...  Slipping the Tokico shocks under the derriere of our Project Real Street will finish up the basic installation. These shocks are five-way adjustable without removing them from the car. This makes for quick pit adjustments with nothing more than a pocket screwdriver.  With a twist of the jack,...  With a twist of the jack, Real Street's hind quarters are back on the ground for the first time in several months. Now we can move on to the front suspension and the chassis upgrades.  Since we were starting with...  Since we were starting with a four-pop Mustang, the complete front suspension and brakes would need upgrading for Real Street. We started fresh by dropping the complete subframe after unbolting the struts and yanking the front coils.  The Anthony Jones Y2K member...  The Anthony Jones Y2K member easily bolts into the stock mounting location with the original bolts. While the tubular arm/coilover combination is popular at AJE, we opted for the bolt-on spring perches to use the regular control arm and coil spring setup, which is the only legal option in the Real Street class.  As per the Real Street class...  As per the Real Street class rules, factory-stamped control arms must be used. We reused our four-cylinder arms with a good inspection of the ball joint and a fresh coat of Eastwood Chassis Black paint.  While most lowering springs...  While most lowering springs are shorter than the stock spring and require little effort to install, the Eibach drag front springs are considerably longer and will require the use of a spring compressor. Be careful when installing these!  While we are several months...  While we are several months away from any serious attempt at an alignment, we bolted down our HP Motorsport Mega-Bite Alignment Plates with their adjustments centered for now.  With the Alignment Plates...  With the Alignment Plates secured to the top of the strut tower, we were now able to put our Tokico Drag Struts in their proper place and snug them down. All of our suspension will be rechecked and tightened once our project is at full race weight.  The last item we need to install...  The last item we need to install to finish off our front suspension system (and literally hold everything together) is our Baer 12-inch, five-lug, brake-upgrade kit for the front. This system comes fully assembled on a modified spindle and easily drops into place.  We contacted AGR for one of...  We contacted AGR for one of its new high-performance, rebuilt 15:1 Mustang rack-and-pinion steering units for Project Real Street. Real Street rules dictate that the race car must have a complete and operational power-steering system in place. Since this car had the slower four-cylinder rack on it-not to mention it was leaking-we opted for the new AGR piece. AGR's racks include new inner tie rods, boots, clamps, performance valving, and urethane mounting bushings.  Our new AGR 15:1 power rack-and-pinion...  Our new AGR 15:1 power rack-and-pinion is bolted to our AJE K-member. We also used Baer's ultra-trick anti-bumpsteer tie rod ends on our AGR rack to prevent steering jitters when we visit New Jersey or Michigan.  You'll notice we attempted...  You'll notice we attempted to use Maximum Motorsports solid rack bushings (inset), but their inner diameter was a mismatch to the K-member, causing us to temporarily mount them as shown to steer the car. We will order different bushings or modify these at a later date, as keeping the rack steady will keep us relaxed when the frontend comes back down after the launch.  Also picked up from the Maximum...  Also picked up from the Maximum Motorsports parts bin is the company's steering-shaft kit. The solid feel of this shaft kit will make for no slop in the steering system-not to mention the great header clearance.  Maximum Motorsports' full-length...  Maximum Motorsports' full-length subframe connectors take frame strengthening to the extreme by offering several more inches of attaching area by running the connector all the way to the end of the subframes. These connectors also feature a crossbrace attachment.  To prepare Real Street for...  To prepare Real Street for the Maximum Motorsports subframe connectors and weld up the rest of our chassis upgrades, we headed to American Motorsports in Orlando, Florida. The complete subframe is cleaned to bare metal with sanding discs, completed here by Wes Hall.  After securing the crossbrace...  After securing the crossbrace to the seat-mounting bolts, the subframe connector is clamped in place and securely MIG-welded by welder/fabricator John Starling.  The subframe connectors use...  The subframe connectors use small metal tabs to weld the connector to the crossbrace. Each tab is carefully clamped into place and MIG-welded to finish the job.  After the completion of our...  After the completion of our frame connectors, we asked John to MIG-weld all the factory torque box seams, as well as the newly installed Battle Boxes, for the utmost in strength and resistance to tearing with hard launches.  The mounting location of the...  The mounting location of the sway bar is determined from the included instructions. The proper-size holes are drilled into the rear framerails with a Unibit-type drill bit until the sway bar mount just fits the hole.  After assembling and installing...  After assembling and installing the new rear sway bar, the location for the end-link mounting tabs was determined and the tabs were welded to the rear-axle tubes. The fit of the bar necessitates the removal of any tailpipes, so we will investigate our exhaust options later.  When we originally installed...  When we originally installed this Maximum Motorsports rollcage kit last year, our previous editor ordered the kit with fixed door bars. Editor Turner wanted the ease of swing-out/removable bars, thus we had to have the fixed bar stub cut/ground off.  The swing-out door-bar conversion...  The swing-out door-bar conversion kit includes these new stub plates for the floor end of the door bar. The originals were simply bolted in. We removed the fixed bar and then MIG-welded the floor stub in place after locating the door bar properly.  With the door bar positioned,...  With the door bar positioned, the locating tabs are MIG-welded to the main hoop. The two tabs are welded in a horizontal position and the lock pin slides down vertically through them and the door bar.  Our swing-out conversion is...  Our swing-out conversion is complete. We later had American Motorsports weld up the rest of the rollcage backing plates and install two down bars from the main hoop to the upper torque boxes to tie everything together. Next on the agenda-painting the engine compartment and installing the drivetrain. 5.0
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