Man, I don't know WHAT is up with my motivation lately (or lack thereof).. had a great time hanging out with Kevin, IZ, Brian and Ben at a car show Saturday and then spent 3 hours discussing build options with Andy so I was all kinds of stoked for a day. Then I tried to pull the rusted body bolts again yesterday and promptly gave up. Somebody come out here and give me a much needed kick in the @$$, PLEASE! It seems like mission impossible, trying to get those stupid bolts out with only 110 electrical to work with :fire: *sigh* I'll tell you what, though: remembering all the times the little fart has aggravated me certainly helped when it came to cutting out body pieces that can be used to patch door handle holes and etc in the new body...
Anyway, I'm slowly formulating a proper game plan for when I DO get his frame out.
~I've decided to stick with a beefed 8.8 over a 9" simply because I have a few spares, I'm familiar with them, and between a truss/c-clip eliminator/welded tubes/Moser shafts and some variety of locker I think it'll stand up to 500+ horsepower pretty well. If I break it, then I'll go with a 9.
~After much discussion, I'm leaning towards something called a
Satchell Link rear suspension design (scroll down to "Derivatives of the 4-Bar system"). I've read about a couple of advantages of this design over a triangulated and parallel 4 links, namely that's it's a compact system and that it provides good anti-squat and a low roll center. While a parallel would probably be best for track use, I still want to drive my truck on winding back roads without him knocking my teeth out.
~No airbag shocks or airbags of any form on Jack's new design... The point was driven home quite clearly when Andy asked me what I'd do if I lost an air line halfway down the track at 100+mph. The answer is "Die"
Coilovers pleeez! Kinda sucks because I was looking forward to the coolness factor, but oh well. Plus the coilovers are about HALF the cost of the shockwaves.
~The front suspension is giving me massive headaches. We all know there aren't any lowered arms available for Explorers so I'm researching other ways to go. I thought about a complete Mustang II front end but the cost and fabrication necessary is too much. There is no shortage of lowering arms available for (can't believe I'm going to say this...) S-10's, and since I have no aversion to chopping the factory IFS off and grafting on something else, it looks like that's what will happen. Picture this but with the mount for a coilover:
My coworker Greg is going to take apart my 4r70w in two weeks and give me the shell so I can have it powdercoated, along with the accessory brackets (Damn it JT, why can't you live closer??
: ), then it gets rebuilt with some Baumann goodies and Red eagle Kevlar junk. Scored a beautiful and practically brand new top end, fuel rails and 42 lb injectors for Jack from an old friend who switched his race Mustang from fuel injected to carburated, too.
Hubba hubba
So while I'm not physically motivated at the moment, the gears are still turning at least
