Chapter 9
Making Things Right

by Ryan King
9/08

If you’ve read Chapters 3-8, then you know I ended up finishing Stage 2 prematurely.

Like a lot of men their first time out, I didn’t perform as well as I would have liked to…during my car build.

What can I say? I bit off more than I could chew.

Thankfully, life provides the opportunity for mulligans.

As I mentioned at the end of Chapter 8, for Stage 3 I was going to turn the Project LX ’87 into the car I had intended when I started Stage 2. At least I was going to try, anyway. We’ll get to the results later.

While I was pleased with the engine I’d built in Stage 2, I had already decided to finish the original design I had short cut to get the car on the road, before I had even gotten it done. Not only did I have a desire to have an all around higher performing car than a stock 5.0, but there were a number of problems that cropped up with the extra 45 cubic inches and resulting higher output. First and foremost, traction had become a serious issue. A close second was a lack of improved handling and braking to compliment the performance.

As time would have it, the technology had changed since I’d initially come up with my idea for Stage 2. My tastes and desires for the way the car would ride and drive also changed, and lastly, I had learned a few things as well.

All that coalesced into a need to revisit my original plan. Although I’ve just recently explained the “design” I’d come up with for this car in Chapter 5, I’m going to revisit it briefly due to some changes between the design of Stage 2 and the one I would execute for Stage 3.

Throttle body: 65mm Ford Racing – same as before.

Intake manifold: Trick Flow Street Heat – changed from a Ford Racing Cobra. The reason here was that Trick Flow had just come out with their new intakes and I was seeing some numbers in magazine tests that made it more tempting. It was also cheaper AND it took care of the airflow distribution problems of the stock and GT-40 designs caused by the doglegged (read kinked) runners at the front of the engine.

Cylinder heads: Ford Racing GT-40X – changed from Ford Racing GT-40Y. Here again, a new set of heads had just come out, ones that flowed better and would better compliment the larger displacement while still accepting the pedestal mount rockers that I was more comfortable with installing.

Valvetrain: Crane Cams 2031 (same as used in Stage 2) – changed from a Ford Racing E303 grind. As I’d mentioned in Chapter 7, after making a call to Crane Cams and talking with one of their techs, I learned that they had had some issues with the power band of an E303 in a 347 and that the 2031 was a better choice. With that in mind, I decided to stick with the 2031 I’d installed in Stage 2, but would upgrade the rockers to the Crane/Cobra 1.7:1 pedestal mount aluminum rollers, which this cam was designed to be used with, but which I had decided not to install due to cost.

Headers: BBK 1 5/8” equal length short tube, ceramic coated – same as before. Not to knock the Ford Racing headers I’d installed during Stage 2, which are nice stainless steel pieces, but the BBKs that I’d read them tested against whooped all over them on an otherwise stock 5.0. That, coupled with the ceramic coating, made me eager to try them out on the 347.

Rear End: 3.55:1 gears and modified differential – changed from an otherwise stock rear end with 3.27:1 gears. Why the change in gear ratios when I’d claimed that the 3.27s were the better choice in Chapter 5? Well, like I said, I had limited experience (read only theoretical) choosing optimized gear sets for combinations and had never actually done it myself. I decided to err what I thought was on the cautious side and do exactly had been done with the model I was following as I’d described in Chapter 4. And what about the “modified differential?” That little gem was something I’d picked up in my research. In the Traction-Lok differentials, there are two clutch packs – one on each side – used to drive the axles through the spider gears (which also allow slipping for going around corners and such). These clutch packs have three clutches each. By using partially worn clutches and steel plates, removing one steel plate and adding a fourth clutch disk, you can effectively increase the friction surface area and improve the lock-up intensity or reduce the amount of slip it allows when tire spin occurs (which is why the car tends to push to one side or the other during burn out, the two tires are turning at different speeds). Now, this also makes the lock-up and release more aggressive and jarring during normal driving, but, in my opinion, oh so worth it.

Suspension: Global West – changed to a less aggressive composite design (read, one I decided to put together myself in hopes of creating a chassis that would handle and drive the way I enjoyed). In Chapter 5 I was very vague about my suspension choices, noting only that I intended to go with a “Global West” suspension. That direction changed completely and I’ll explain why. Del-a-Lum bushings. Not that I don’t like them, quite the opposite, however, I decided that since I wasn’t installing a seriously beefed up engine, only a mildly modified normally aspirated 347, that something a little softer might be in order. Now, it should be noted that Global West claims there suspensions are just as soft if not softer than competitive polyurethane bushed suspensions. I have no experience using their Del-a-Lum bushings, but I know that the durometer (hardness) rating is higher than that of poly bushings and I wanted to err on the side of caution, as well as choose something cheaper for the time being while I learned a little more about designing suspensions and choosing suspension components. To that end, my choices were as follows: PST polygraphite bushings (graphite impregnated polyurethane) in stock control arms, Ford Racing stock replacement front control arms with improved ball joints (lower friction, longer lasting than stock), Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs (which have softer rear rates than the stock components, allowing for better grip of the rear tires with a solid axle on rougher pavement as well as more dynamic weight transfer during corning) and Hotchkis Delta adjustable caster/camber plates. Lastly, replace the shocks and struts with KYB GR-2 verticals and Gas-a-Just quads.

Brakes: 1993 Cobra disc – changed to stock disc/drum. Why? Cost. The brakes were still in good shape and didn’t “need” to be replaced. Seriously, I should have gone with the Cobra components looking back, especially considering the engine I had in the car, but I was (and still am, quite honestly) learning.

Wheels: 1993 Cobra (17”x7.5”) – changed to AFS Cobra R replica 17”x8” front and 17”x9” rear with four lug bolt pattern. The reason was more traction. I wanted bigger tires in the rear and those were the biggest wheels that would fit in the wheel wells. Okay, I also wanted better looks and I think the Cobra R design looks a lot better on this body style.

Tires: 245/45ZR17 – changed to BFGoodrich KDWS 245/45WR17 front and 275/40ZR17 rear. The reason for the change – as I explained above – is traction, traction and more traction. The KDWS tires are all seasons. The reason for all season tires was that I had every intention of using the car to drive to work, even in the winter and it needed to be prepared for all four seasons just in case the weather hit while I was out.

Keep a look out for Chapter 10, I’ll be covering the installation of the new suspension as well as the gears.