Chad held the UPR double antiroll...
Chad held the UPR double antiroll bar in place while Rob Lewis welded the mounts into place. Poor Chad had a rough go of it because he's an F-body guy surrounded by Mustangs here at Rigid Race Cars, but we cut him some slack. After all, he was being a team player.
Of course, this driver is also concerned about getting the power to the ground, so I contacted Jeremy Martorella at UPR Products, who promptly shipped out its Extreme Duty Pro-Series rear suspension package. The system includes double-adjustable upper control arms and single-adjustable lower control arms just like the standard Pro-Series kit, but the Extreme Duty system incorporates larger spherical bearings and fasteners that will stand up to extreme power levels. With its double antiroll bar, the suspension is 7-second capable on the dragstrip. Our particular kit was shipped with offset lower control arms that offer extra tire clearance. Additionally, our lowers do not include spring perches because we chose to run coilover shocks.
While wrapping up our research and parts ordering, it was actually quite an honor to speak with Chris Alston about our Fox project. The man is a wealth of suspension knowledge and he knew just what we needed.
Rob must have spent half an...
Rob must have spent half an hour taking measurements before finally welding the lower tabs for the antiroll bar onto the housing's back brace. He wanted to make sure it was perfectly symmetrical before he welded them into place. We appreciate that level of precision.
We covered all of the particulars of our Fox build and he selected his double-adjustable coilover conversion kit. It includes Chris Alston's Chassisworks double-adjustable VariShocks with separate knobs for rebound and compression dampening. The knobs have an adjustment range of 16 clicks. The billet-aluminum shock bodies are threaded for coilover spring collars, and the shocks feature spherical bearing mounts at each end to minimize the suspension bind caused by bushing deflection.
Chris threw in some adjustable lower shock mounts to work with our Strange Engineering housing and an extra pair of springs so we can do some thorough suspension tuning. We will examine the suspension tuning in more detail when we install the front suspension and dial it all in.
With parts collection complete, we loaded up and headed north for another trip to Rigid Race Cars outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Rob Lewis is the owner/fabricator at Rigid Race Cars and he has my trust to work on this car. To say that your author is a bit picky with this car is a bit of an understatement, but Rob does awesome work at a reasonable price, so we're proud to have him on our team.
Speaking of pride, all of the components installed in this Phase 3 article were manufactured right here in the USA-something we can all be proud of! Follow the captions as we show how our Fox rearend was upgraded for strip duty!
Once the welding was completed,...
Once the welding was completed, we were technically finished installing the rearend and suspension, but we spent a decent amount of time drooling over the finished product. I'm a sucker for a nice rearend, and they don't get much sexier than this! Just look at that sheetmetal housing and all of that billet goodness, with chrome-moly everywhere. Mmmm.
Here is a front view of the...
Here is a front view of the Strange 9-inch rearend with the aluminum Ultra Case, billet aluminum pinion support, and chrome-moly yoke in plain sight. Also visible from this angle is the amount of offset UPR Products engineered into its Extreme Duty lower control arms. This setup is more than capable of handling anything our new power plant can dish out.
Although all of these components...
Although all of these components truly are stock-suspension replacements that bolt right in with little effort, this picture shows a lot of what makes Outlaw Drag Radial cars work. The 40-spline Strange 9-inch is able to handle well over 1,000 hp without breaking a sweat. The UPR suspension is able to handle that power as well, while offering full adjustability of pinion angle, preload, and more. Chris Alston's Chassisworks VariShocks allow independent adjustment of compression and rebound dampening, as well as ride height and corner-weight adjustment in the springs. Four-piston disc brakes ensure maximum stopping power, while the 5/8-inch wheel studs are practically indestructible.
The rearend upgrade is complete,...
The rearend upgrade is complete, but our '89 Mustang will not be leaving Rigid Race Cars. The LX is scheduled to receive a full chrome-moly rollcage.
We are not building a racecar...
We are not building a racecar out of our little stocker. But when we try to make a few passes with this new engine mated to our ATI ProCharger F-1R, we're gonna need all the rearend, suspension, and chassis we can get!