Chapter 2
Vacation
by Ryan King
Edited by Patricia Kalin
9/05
I love road trip vacations, especially when my car drives right – but if my car drove right, this wouldn’t be much of a story.
The Project GT Mustang began to have directional stability problems just after I got it in February of ‘03, but they didn’t get bad until the following winter.
The problem had become steadily worse until, one evening on my way home from work, the car spastically launched me out of my lane and nearly off the road into a ditch. I had finally had enough and was determined to figure this serious problem out before it killed me.
I looked at many different aspects of the car that would affect directional control, but had I paid closer attention, I would have known what the problem was from the start: bad front hubs. The indicator was that the lack of directional control put no pressure on the steering when the car changed direction, indicating it could only be something between the tires and the steering wheel getting sloppy.
Instead, I chose to stab blindly in the dark. Which, as we all know, is the cure to all automotive related problems – either that, or getting a bigger hammer. One of those two – probably depends on the day, more than the problem.
Since taking careful note of the symptoms and systematically eliminating possible causes wasn’t on my agenda for dealing with this problem, I started by accusing the basic steering components.
While speaking with my good friend (and automotive guru), Jack, I asked him how the steering rack and pump could cause the directional stability problems I was having. He explained how the steering rack and pump worked and how fluid flow could cause the problem, but warned me it could be something else.
Since that was obviously what I wanted the problem to be, I immediately replaced them both.
Not only did the replacement power steering pump and rack not fix the problem, the rack only made the problem worse because it wasn’t rebuilt correctly. Jack came to the rescue and explained that the steering gear was adjusted too tightly at the factory. Thus, I was forced to replace the rack a second time (only to start again, back where I began).
Without a solid direction to go, I took it in to get an alignment done so I could see if it cured the problem.
Nope, sure didn’t.
So far I was batting .000 and just swinging at air.
As my next plan of attack I decided not to just stab in the dark and replace more expensive parts. I asked Terry (the alignment tech) what he thought the problem was. He said that in his experience, it was probably the tires.
I was a little skeptical of his conclusion, but because I’d dealt with him in the past I knew that he had many years of experience with alignments (and a very good understanding of suspension mechanics).
When I got the tires off the car, I could tell easily (by rolling them) that the tires had become misshapen and figured that there was a good chance Terry was right.
My choice was to get a new set of BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDWS tires. I wasn’t very pleased with my choice, as I noted that the car slithered down the road following every groove in it.
Instead of making another change however, I decided to wait and see if I could figure out what the real problem was.
I liked BFGoodrich tires and I assumed all BFGoodrich tires were good so I figured it probably wasn’t the tires.
Then on a rainy day, the tires slithered the car and nearly launched me into the side of a semi.
I was on the phone to BFGoodrich in a hurry.
Suffice it to say that I had another set of tires on the car in a hurry.
This time a set of their G-Force KDW rain tires.
Did that fix the problem?
No.
The steering became hard to correct, and the ruts in the lanes became canyons to climb out of and fall back into. The car trammeled, pulling from side to side, catching every line, rut, lane marker and bump along the way.
Suffice it to say, I still wasn’t satisfied.
I returned to Terry and explained what had gone on.
He put it on the rack, but found nothing in the alignment that would indicate the problem I was having.
I was stumped and frustrated. I had him pull the suspension geometry to the tightest it could be set in an attempt to cure the wandering.
That took care of some of it – enough that I could isolate a problem with what felt like a sticking ball joint.
It seemed to me that when the car would wander, the ball joint would stick and fight me as I would try to correct the steering. Once I applied enough force to overcome the sticking ball joint, the steering would overcorrect, throwing the front end of the car spastically off course.
While the solution wasn’t great, with the suspension geometry tightened up, it would have been drivable for quite some time.
I, however, had nonrefundable reservation for a road trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. A trip that would take me on Going-to-the-Sun-Road, and over Logan’s Pass. It is one of the highest and most treacherous roads in America.
I had four weeks to get the problem squared away and time was ticking, so I immediately went through a series of steps to get the job started:
- I started with a plan: Replace every component in the front end, thus eliminating all possible culprits.
- I realized I was tearing the front suspension out of the car, which was the perfect time to deal with the warped brake rotors that were causing the brakes to shudder (see Chapter 1).
- I realized that doing a brake job was only further reducing the effective time I had to work on the front suspension.
- I panicked.
- I compiled a list of needed parts.
- I ordered the parts.
- I panicked again.
Here’s the list of parts I was replacing:
- Front struts. They were starting to leak and I was replacing everything. I was using stock replacement Motorcraft struts, since I really like the way the suspension drives stock.
- Front control arms. Nothing was wrong with the arms, but I liked the ease of replacing the A-arm over replacing the ball joint. I went with the pair of Cobra A-arms from Ford Racing. The only difference are the bushings (they help reduce NVH) and the ball joints (lower friction, non-greasing Teflon for smoother control).
- Tie rods. After looking at the cost, the HD Cobra R tie rods from Ford Racing were cheaper than the stock replacement from Ford, so I went with them.
- Spring pads and sleeves. The old ones are too worn to reuse.
- Front and rear brake pads. A brake job without replacing pads and turning rotors is just plain sloppy and incomplete. Not to mention the fact that the brakes wouldn’t be nearly as effective with the old, grooved and glazed pads.
- Brake hardware. The repair manual said to replace the bolts and I certainly wasn’t going to risk brake failure.
The following weekend I began a mad tear into the chassis. The departure date for the trip was July 27th and it was already the beginning of July.
Saturday, July 3rd: Patty, my best friend and travel partner, was a willing and stalwart companion on this venture. She kindly offered her assistance in any way she could. We got the car up on jack stands and proceeded to remove the wheels and tear into the brakes. After close inspection, I discovered that all four brake discs were worn down very close to minimum thickness and gouged. With the added complication of warping, there was a good chance the rotors would be no good. That was a chance I didn't have time to take. I was on the phone immediately to the local Ford dealership, speaking with my buddies in the parts department (Don and Chuck) to make sure the rotors were there for me the following Tuesday.
Sunday, July 4th: Patty and I continued to disassemble the rear brakes in anticipation of the arriving parts without further complication.
Tuesday, July 6th: All the parts I ordered from Ford – discs, pads, brake hardware, and struts – arrived on time.
Saturday, July 10th: I started reassembling the rear brakes. Everything was going fine until one of the caliper boots tore. I was screwed. Without calipers, I could go no further. I was forced to order new rear calipers. $300 later that following week, I had a new set of calipers ready to go. At this point, I had effectively lost a weekend and was running out of time with only two weekends left to finish the brakes at all four corners – and the entire front suspension.
Thursday, July 15th: I hadn’t mentioned the arrival of the A-arms and tie rod ends yet – because they hadn’t arrived. To say it was pucker time is an understatement. With the rear brake caliper disaster – and the lack of suspension components – it was looking like I was in deep shit. That Thursday night when I arrived home from work with calipers in hand I was greeted by the absent parts. I was relieved Summit Racing had come through...at least until I got the HD Cobra R tie rod ends out of their box. While I knew they needed to be greased, I didn’t know the heavy duty boot wasn’t sealed to the tie rod end. To make matters worse, it slid around and off its perch with ease. This wasn’t going to work for me on my daily driver, so the following day I was back on the phone with Don at the Ford dealership.
Friday, July 16th: Friday night saw the installation of the rear brakes, but was halted by the need for replacement E-clips (as per Ford’s recommendation) to secure the brake lines to the calipers. That meant I would have to wait until Saturday to finish up the rear brakes. Thankfully, I was able to get something done by removing the brakes on the front driver's side.
Saturday, July 17th: Saturday morning came, and I was on my way to pick up Patty to lend a hand on the car and save me some time. Wouldn't you know that Ford didn’t have the replacement E-clips available for the brake lines? That led us on a wild goose chase around town, until we discovered that no one carried E-clips with the correct shape to secure the brake lines. With much of the day lost, I finally reused the old ones and got under way: I was pleased to discover that not only was Patty a help with much of the detail work required for good vehicle assembly, she excelled. We worked hand-in-hand into the evening, stopping only for dinner before quickly getting back on the job. With only a few hours left in the day, we were able to remove the entire driver side front suspension assembly...right up to the strut.
Waxing philosophically, one might think that one time consuming problem on a project that was rapidly running out of time would be enough to raise the hairs on the back of a person's neck – and I think it would – but wouldn't many make it that much more dramatic and suspenseful?
Of course.
I was beginning to think that this was some sort of movie plot gone bad. That is, bad for me.
The upper driver's side strut nut wasn't coming free and it was starting to get late. I enlisted more help in the form of both my Mother, Cheryl and my Stepfather, Jim and the four of us tackled the problem.
We used a number of different strategies on the strut nut over an hour and a half, but to no avail.
As a last ditch effort, Jim came to the rescue with a grinder.
Long about 11 O'clock at night, we were finally able to get the strut nut off, and as a group we looked at the passenger side with distress – it hadn't come free yet either.
With a jack under the passenger side suspension to keep it from releasing under spring pressure once the nut was removed, we all buckled down and went to work.
Patty and I removed what remained of the driver's side strut nut and Jim got to work with the grinder on the passenger side.
The second nut wasn't as stubborn and it wasn't long before it was off. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Sunday, July 18th: Thankfully, with only one more weekend left before the scheduled departure date, Sunday was a productive day. Patty and I got the passenger side suspension disassembled the rest of the way and managed to get started reassembling the driver side.
Friday, July 23rd: Happily, Friday was the start of my vacation and I jammed hard and fast that day. The only glitch was cutting down the main shaft of the spring compressor tool, so it would fit in the chassis with the fully compressed spring. That night I finished assembling the driver's side suspension by myself but for the rest of the weekend I was accompanied by Patty who fought like a trooper with me 'til the end.
Sunday, July 25th: Saturday was much of the same, but come Saturday night, the front suspension and brakes still weren’t done. The end couldn't have come much later. Sunday night (at around 10 O'clock) saw me under the car with the entire crew watching, as I used my head and neck to set front brake caliper mounting bolts to 95 lb/ft of torque.
Monday, July 26th: We were scheduled to leave Tuesday, and Monday morning I was able to get into the alignment shop to have the alignment done. We had accomplished our goal.
Tuesday, July 27th: We managed to make our appointed departure, even if it was a couple of hours late due to some last minute late night car washing and complete exhaustion.
Our trip to Glacier was extraordinary and was one of the greatest experiences of both of our lives – to see the photos of the trip, click here or the link above.
Going-to-the-Sun-Road? As Patty noted upon seeing it in person, "It's aptly named."
Going-to-the-Sun-Road is a single 52-mile stretch of road that climbs up over 3,000 feet to an elevation of a little over 6,600 feet, twisting, winding, and snaking right up the Continental Divide. There is no shoulder, and only the brief mention of a barrier between a vehicle and a 3,000-foot plummet. The lanes on this two-lane road are not much wider than a passenger car (and in some places not wide enough for the 36 foot tour buses that traverse the pass using only one). All this means that if a person were to lose control of their vehicle for only a moment, it could mean a quick end.
So how did the car perform? The overcorrection problem was fixed, but the problem with the wandering, heavy steering, ruts and trammeling persisted.
I was glad to find out that the repair work hadn’t been for not, the problems with the over-correction were galled tie rod ends and a sticking passenger side ball joint. The car managed Going-to-the-Sun-Road and Logan’s Pass with only a little drama, but I knew I still had some work to do to get the front suspension working right.
I thought I had replaced everything in the front end but the strut mounts, so when we got back I took another look at the last alignment.
The specs showed the nonadjustable stock strut mounts were not allowing Terry to bring the caster into spec, which could keep the steering from self-centering. With all that I had already done, I just made the decision to finish it off with a set of Ford Racing adjustable strut mounts from Summit Racing.
The result?
I was wrong, but it was an improvement.
It took several more months for me to realize what the remaining problems were: The front wheel bearings in the integral hubs, tires and a second bad replacement rack.
A quick yank of the steering wheel both ways confirmed the wheel bearings were bad when they made a loud growling noise. Replacing them got rid of the wandering problem, while replacing the BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDW tires with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S’ fixed the problems with heavy steering and rut following. The trammeling took a while longer, but I eventually figured out the inner tie rod ends in the rack were bad and just replaced the whole blasted assembly a third time.
I later found out, that had I asked Jack to diagnose the car, instead of leading him into diagnosing the power steering, he would have told me to look at the bearings first. But, obviously, I thought it was better to make assumptions and stab in the dark.
Another lesson learned.
Now that the GT’s suspension and brakes are back to fighting shape, I’m going to get the engine tuned up and ready to run.
Stay tuned, in Chapter 3 I’ll dig into the powertrain and give the car a complete performance review.
I’m fairly confident that I’ll find there’s a lot more performance in this pony than I’ve found so far.