Parts:

• Moog ball joints (2)
• Steeda offset a-arm bushings
• ball joint press
• wrenches
• primer & paint

The first thing was to disassemble the suspension. I have the shorter H&R Race springs in my car, which made removing (and installing) my springs possible without the use of a spring compressor. The control arm bolts are often so tight they need a breaker bar to remove. But getting access to the bolts isn’t all that difficult.

Once you have the arms removed, time to get them torn down. Start by removing the ball joints with a ball joint press. While not hard, the ball joint is press fit and takes a little bit of time to remove.

Removing the bushings isn’t very hard, just smelly and messy. A few minutes with a torch and they were burnt out. To get the shells out, carefully cut a notch through the shell, but not through the a-arm. I used a sawzall with almost zero pressure, and checked the cut’s progress every few seconds. Cutting through the shell releases the tension on the arm and allows the shell to easily slide out.

Use the opportunity to clean up the arm and apply some fresh primer and paint.

The new ball joints go in about as easily as they came out. It isn’t rocket science, it just takes some effort and time to crank down on the press. Just be sure the new ball joints go in squarely.

Some people reuse the stock shells and just slide in the new bushings, but the offset bushings used here required 0.100 to 0.120 inch of spacing on the shells from the control arm (2 dimes stacked together are about 0.105″ thick. 2 pennies are 0.115″ thick). The new bushings come assembled in their shells, so separate them to work with just the bare shells. To press in the shells I was able to configure the ball joint press in a way to get the job done. Some people have an issue keeping the “ears” of the arm from collapsing. The easiest solution I’ve seen was where someone used a socket that was just the right length as a spacer.

After the shells are in, pressing in the busings is pretty easy. Grease up the bushings with the supplied grease, and in they go. The sleeves go back in last.

A little admiring of a finished arm. And this temperature reading was taken in the shade – it was hotter in the sun on the driveway where all the work was done.

Then everything goes back together the opposite of how it came apart. The only difference is I waited to torque down the control arms with the car on some ramps when the suspension was loaded. It’s a little harder to get at them this way, but I wanted to be sure the arms were at ride height so as not to get any “preload” torqued in them at an incorrect angle.

I hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with the car before doing the rebuild, so the “before and after” is difficult. What was instantly noticeable was the lack of popping from the worn ball joint. I also noticed extra tightness in the feel of the steering, which was probably due to both the fresh ball joints and bushings, and a little extra feedback due to the extra caster. Again, all this touchy “feely” stuff is very subjective. I wish I’d had more time behind the wheel autocrossing to give a better before and after, but such is life.

Would I do it again? Yes. But a few weeks after I did my car, a friend and I swapped a set of the Ford a-arms in his car. With the exception of one of the stock springs being really difficult to reassemble, it was a much easier job, and on the street you really can’t tell the difference in the slight alterations to the geometry caused by the offset bushings. I’d only recommend going this route over buying the new a-arms if the slight offset in geometry is that important to you. In my case, it was.

Buying a set of plans can be a little scary because you don’t know what the plans are going to be like, and the final product will be completely up to your own skill level in assembly. Quite a few of these sets have already been sold, and everyone seems happy with them. Aside from the benefit of working from plans being very budget-conscious, it allows you to tweak the final product to your specific needs. Not only do these plans have the templates to cut the large panels, it has a complete parts listing from Home Depot, which makes for a very handy shopping trip.

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I gathered all of my materials, cut out the templates, traced the pattern onto the wood (I used cheap, light, 1/4″ OSB), and cut out the two large patterns. The patterns have large arcs on them, which fit the interior just fine. However, with the rigidness of the wood, any little imperfection in your cut can cause fitment issues. I cut just outside the lines, then trimmed the panels down to fit.

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After test fitting the panels, I wrapped them in carpet, and screwed them together.

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The plans have you letting the carpet wrap around the front of the top panel, but not the rear of the top panel, so that the carpet can run up the hump into the hatch area, under the factory rear carpet. My factory carpet was in horrid shape, so I chose to use a piece of the same carpet I was using for the kit to cover the hatch area, and I had it run from the hatch area down the hump and tuck under the top panel of the rear seat delete.

After a final test fit of the panels, the last thing to do is to fasten the panel down with a piece of metal strapping. If I were to make any complaint about the kit, the photo that shows where to attach this to the chassis isn’t very clear. But if you look at the floor pan of your car, it’s actually pretty obvious where it goes, so use your common sense here.

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I first bolted the strapping to the chassis, then bent the front up at a slight angle, so that when the RSD is in place, the front of the strapping is making contact with the underside of the top panel. I lifted up the front of the RSD just enough to squeeze my arm through, and using a pen I traced an outline of the front edge of the strapping onto the top panel. I used this as a reference for where the strapping should be fastened to the underside of the RSD.

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I was very happy to discover that once the strap was fastened to the bottom of the RSD, and the unit was slid back into place, the rear edge of the strap was able to slide down over the top of the stud so that I see no need to bolt the kit down. The strap keeps the RSD from moving front to back, while the whole thing is wedged in tight enough between the side panels that it cannot move side to side. And because of the way the RSD fits into the contours of the side panels, it is difficult to get the kit to lift up. However, it’s easy to stick your finger down behind the top panel to pull the strap up and remove the RSD.

As for weight savings, the entire piece weighs 11 pounds. I’d previously removed 86 pounds from the rear seat assembly, sound deadening and tar, so adding the RSD back into the car still results in a net loss of 75 pounds. The OSB I used is pretty flimsy, so I wouldn’t trust it to hold a whole lot of weight. But it’ll be perfect for my use.

Overall, with a shipped price of $20 (at the time of my purchase), I consider these plans a no-brainer. It all depends on what your time is worth, but even at minimum wage I doubt you could create the template and parts listing quick enough to make it worth your hassle. Go ahead and order up a set, you’ll be glad you did. I’m certainly satisfied.

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As the Mustang takes another step toward becoming a dedicated autocrosser and loses it’s status as a semi-daily driver, certain niceties are no longer a necessity. A little extra road and engine noise, a little extra heat, and the option of hauling around more than a single passenger become less of an issue. Insulation, sound deadening and the rear seat are sacrificed in an attempt to make this car compete for Biggest Loser. So, what’s it all weigh?

Lower back seat:	11lbs
Lower seat bracket and seat belts:	8.5lbs
Upper back seat assembly and attached carpet:	30lbs
Sound deadening (under carpet and behind rear hatch side panels):	25.5lbs
Tar:	11lbs
TOTAL:	86lbs

86 pounds isn’t too bad for an afternoon’s work. And while I’ve done tar removal before, this time isn’t wasn’t so bad – it all came up pretty easily.

Not all camber/caster (CC) plates are created equal. Having purchased a Mustang with a set of CC plates installed by a previous owner that ended up being too worn out to continue to use, I purchased a new set from Maximum Motorsports. At first glance, the polished aluminum plates don’t look too bad, not counting for patina. However, upon closer inspection, the difference in quality between the new part and the older part is quite obvious.

If you take a good look at both pieces, you’ll notice that the Maximum Motorsports plates have a far sturdier construction, should last much longer, and are a much better overall choice, especially when the “C” word (competition) comes into play.

Front Brakes

Swapping the front brakes is essentially a bolt-on swap with spacers and brake lines. First, remove the stock brake, rotor and spindle. And you might want to take care to not get any brake fluid on painted parts – as it’s harmful to the paint. I wasn’t careful and got fluid all over my a-arm.

One thing to be sure of, don’t do this:

I’ve removed brake lines at least a dozen times before, and aways got away with using my standard Craftsman box-end wrenches. But not this time. I completely rounded off the head of the nut – even vice grips wouldn’t get it off. I ended up cutting the line just behind the nut to get the stock soft line off. I also went out to Sears and bought a new set of flare wrenches.

I ended up having to buy a new nut, which took forever to find (Autozone, O’Reilly’s, NAPA, another Autozone, Ford Dealership, and finally found it at Pep Boys), and a flare tool. I bought a Pro Form tool, which broke on the 3rd test fitting – so I don’t think I’ll be recommending that brand tool to anyone anytime soon.

The only trick to fitting the sn95 spindle is the ball joint – the stock Fox stud is too tall. The good solution is to press in a set of sn95 ball joints and be done. Or better yet, some of the trick Steeda X2 or Ford ball joints. Because I needed to keep the stock ball joint, I took the castle nut, drove down to the local hardware store and picked up about $8 worth of spacers in assorted thicknesses. Simply use the spacers to set the castle nut high enough that the cotter pin can hold it in place.

For the brake lines, I picked up a set of braided lines. But be aware that the Cobra calipers changed the thread pattern in 2002. If you have well stocked parts stores nearby, you can take the stock Fox soft line and the stock sn95 soft line to the parts store and find an adapter. Many do this and it works fine. I, however, have poor luck finding supplies at the local stores, and also didn’t have a set of stock sn95 soft lines as they were butchered in their removal from the donor vehicle.

Rear Brakes

The rear brakes were a bit more work, but weren’t really that big a deal. Again, the first step is to remove the stock fox drum brakes, and also remove the axles and backing plates.

To take out the axles, you’ll need to remove the diff cover, take out the center pin retaining bolt and center pin, push each axle in slightly so that you can get to the C clip. After removing the C clip, the axles can be pulled out.

After the stock axles are removed, you can remove the backing plates from the ends of the axle housing, then install the SVO backing plates and axles. The axles go back in the same way they came out.

After you have the new axles in place, you can bolt up the diff cover (be sure to clean it thoroughly and use a gasket and/or some sealant), and fill it with fluid.

Now we get past the bolt-on stage, but it’s nothing at all that difficult. The stock fox hard lines will need to be shortened and attached to the SVO soft lines. The SVO soft lines’ bracket bolts to the lower control arm bracket on the axle housing. Some housings have the holes already drilled, but mine did not, so I positioned the bracket on the axle and marked my hole. I drilled and tapped the hole, so that the soft line bracket can be easily bolted and unbolted to the axle housing.

Once the soft lines are bolted to the axles, you’ll get a good idea of where to cut the stock fox hard lines. Again, you’ll need to break out your flare tool. I cut my hard lines just a little longer than they needed to be. The hard lines are soft enough that they can be tweaked to get it all lined up. By leaving a little extra line, I gave myself a little cushion in case I screwed up the double flare. After cutting the hard lines, be sure to slip on the flare nuts before flaring the line. After you flare it, you should be able to attach the hard lines to the soft line at the soft line bracket.

After attaching the hard lines, I then mounted the rotor and caliper, and attached the soft line to the caliper.

If you take your time, everything should come out pretty clean and factory looking.

Master Cylinder, Booster, and Proportioning Valve

The first thing you have to do is remove the stock booster and master cylinder. I climbed under the dash, removed the booster arm from the brake pedal, then the bolts that hold the booster to the firewall. The same bolts that hold the booster are the same ones that hold the pedal assembly in. Be ready to spend a little time getting the wrenches up in there, because things are tight.

After the stock booster and master assembly is out of the way, it’s a good time to gut the stock proportioning valve. Because of the changes in front and rear brakes, and the master cylinder, the stock proportioning valve can no longer be used. Ford has a plug, part number M-2450-A that can be used for this purpose. I removed the stock plug, and all associated components, and plugged the opening with the new Ford plug.

The later Fox Mustangs use a 3 port master cylinder, where one port goes to the rear brakes and then a separate port to the right front and left front. Early Fox master cylinders and the sn95s use a 2 port design, where there is one port for the front brakes and the other for the rear. For the conversion I used the $25 part and instructions from sn95Brakes.com. The only problem I had was that the adapter was supposed to fit tight with the line coming out the rear of the adapter at no greater an angle than 15 degrees. Mine simply wasn’t tight enough at that angle, so ended up a bit more – but everything worked just fine.

There are plenty of places around the ‘net talking about installing the huge sn95 booster into a fox. People have found that if you drill out the top left (when facing the firewall) bolt hole, you can slide the booster in without having the beat on the strut tower. I did a little of both; I drilled out the hole a bit, and then “clearanced” the strut tower with a BFH. It takes a little patience, but if you’re expecting a tedious job, it isn’t so bad. To make things a little easier on myself, I also removed the windshield wiper motor, and pulled the wires and loom as out of the way as I could get them.

After getting the booster and master cylinder in, time to move back under the dash to reattach the booster rod and brake switch. When reattaching the brake pedal to the new booster rod, there have been some reports of the brake light switch interfering with some of the under-dash bracketry. I had this same problem. The solution is to use a sn95 connector on the end of the switch, but in a pinch you can remove the connector and bend the tabs over. This worked just find for me.

When it comes to installing a new proportioning valve, this has to be the easiest part of the job. On the passenger’s side of the firewall is a simple butt connector on the brake line. I removed it, and in it’s place installed a new proportioning valve from Maximum Motorsports. I followed their directions and this was a no-brainer.

After all is said and done, the hardest part of this swap is under the hood – replacing the booster, master cylinder, gutting the proportioning valve, and doing the 3-2 port conversion. But once it’s done, it’ll be a modification you’ll not regret as the braking becomes nothing short of amazing.

Resources

• SN95Brakes.com
• Maximum Motorsports
• Rounded off brake line fittings – Corral forums
• Rear Disc Conversion

A friend was upgrading his 88 hatchback to an all-black interior and passed along his mismatched gray and blue belts to me for free – a deal I rarely pass up. However, seat belts from an 88 won’t bolt in to a 92. It turns out, the stamping on the inner panel changed on the 91 model year, and so earlier belts won’t bolt in. So began my search.

Since I too am wanting to migrate my interior over to the ever popular all black, I first started searching for some black seat belts. In my few weeks of searching, the best price I could find was $300 for a set of used 91-93 black belts. There were a few cheaper, but the sets were incomplete. I began looking at using black sn95 seat belts, as they aren’t as desirable, thus less costly — there was a set on eBay for a “buy it now” of $80. Using these belts meant modifying the brackets to get them to mount up, and there were stories of the locking mechanism not working correctly if the assembly is mounted at the wrong angle. I then moved on to buying a set of 91-93 belts in whatever color was cheapest. The best I found were a set of red seat belts for $130.

Something just doesn’t set right when relying on seat belts that are used, first of all. These things are designed to hold you in your seat to save your life, and you’ve no idea of a belt’s previous life when buying one used. Did the belts come out of a car that was in a serious accident, where the belts and assembly have been seriously stressed? Also, there are many threads about the fact that the factory belts sometimes fail to lock when they get old. I’m sure in most cases used seat belts can be safe, but it’s an odd risk to take.

I ran across one thread where someone had used a set of aftermarket belts with good success. A little more searching and I came across a set of belts that are new, meet or exceed federal ratings, and cost less than the used black belts I was able to find. I purchased a set of black seat belts, with a neat chrome “aircraft style” latch, for about $140 delivered.

The seat belts went in just fine, with little to no drama. The mechanism bolted right up to the inner panel. The factory insulation has a cutout for the stock belt. All you have to do is match this angle when you mount it up.

The upper shoulder mount bolted up, just like factory. The only issue was the mounting of the lap belts. I planned on reusing the factory bolts, and so did not order a hardware mounting kit. The factory bolts are designed for a lap belt with a 5/8″ mounting hole. The mounting holes on the new belts were just a little too small.

I simply opened up the holes a little with a 5/8 drill bit (which I’m sure voids any warranty these belts may have had), and everything finished up nicely.

And there you have it, a very attractive, cost effective, and safe solution.

Resources

• SeatBeltsPlus.com
• Seat belt conversion – Stangnet Forums
• Question on seatbelt swapping – Stangnet Forums

My original plans in writing this article were to make it a very complete AOD to T5 swap guide. But that was before I found this site. Not wanting to recreate the wheel, the focus is on the particular issues I faced, along with an overview of the swap. Besides, if you really need every nut and bolt covered in detail, you probably should have someone else do the swap.

Parts

• transmission
• bellhousing
• flywheel
• pressure plate
• new flywheel bolts
• pilot bearing
• throw-out bearing
• new rear main seal (optional)
• clutch fork
• clutch cable
• clutch alignment tool
• manual pedal assembly (with neutral safety switches and quadrant)
• manual transmission harness
• shifter and knob
• lower shifter seal (generic aftermarket piece)
• shifter boot and manual trim panel

Doing an AOD to T5 swap consists of 2 main parts; inside the car, and outside the car. I decided to start inside the car because I wasn’t in the mood to get greasy.

Part 1: Inside the Car

Step 1: Drop (and Remove) the Steering Column

The first thing I did was remove the two front seats and drop the steering column. The column needs to be dropped in order to swap the pedal assemblies. I’ve read that it can be done without dropping the column, but I’ve also heard and read that its much quicker and easier if you do. After doing the swap, not only would I drop the column, but I’d completely remove it.

Before dropping the column, the column harness needs to be disconnected. I used a small flat-head screwdriver to help pull apart the harness connectors, but you could do it without. Go gently here, or you’ll break the plastic clips that hold the connectors together.

There is also another component that needs to be disconnected before you can remove the column; I believe it’s called the shift lock actuator. What this component does is prevent you from shifting out of Park without pressing the brake. Without the AOD, you don’t need this. The cable coming out of the bottom of the mechanism attaches to the shifter.

Step 2: Remove Pedal Assembly

Before you can start unbolting the pedal assembly, you first need to disconnect the brake booster rod and brake light wiring from the pedal assembly. It’s easy enough to do, just make sure to take note of how it fits together so you don’t have any problems when installing the manual assembly. With the column dropped, there should be 4 remaining bolts on the firewall holding the pedal assembly in. I was able to get to all 4 using some long extensions, and it really wasn’t too bad.

After everything is unbolted and disconnected, take a break if you’re short on patience. Taking out the pedal assembly and putting in the new one can take a little while. Of course I dropped, but didn’t remove my steering column. If the column is removed, it should go a lot easier than it did for me. Pull the front of the assembly down first, as it mounts to 2 of the steering column bolts (which were removed when the steering column was dropped), then pull the assembly away from the firewall.

Step 3: Speedometer and Clutch Cables

The speedometer cables on automatics are routed through the hole the clutch uses on the manual equipped cars. You’ll need to pull the gauge cluster, disconnect the speedo cable, pull it through the firewall, and feed it back through the appropriate hole. This hole is slightly higher and to the left (when looking at the firewall from the engine compartment) than the hole the speedo cable came out of, and that the clutch cable will use. My car has a large power cable going through the speedo cable hole, so I used an existing slit in the steering column seal for the speedo cable. At some point I’ll rewire the stereo, and will correctly route the speedo at that time. The clutch cable can then be routed through the firewall. Using a little lubricant can help ease fitting the grommets into the firewall. Reattach the speedo cable to the gauges and you can screw the instrument cluster back into the dash.

Step 4: Install the Manual Pedal Assembly

When searching for a used manual assembly, I was told the housings were the same, and that you could just bolt a clutch pedal up and be done. Not so. There is a tube through which the clutch pedal mounts that is nonexistent on an automatic pedal assembly. Not to mention a complete pedal assembly will get you the electrical switches for the clutch to correctly activate the neutral safety switch, and a clutch quadrant if you’re not planning on upgrading.

The factory clutch quadrants aren’t very good and are commonly upgraded. However, because I plan on autocrossing my car in E Street Prepared and class rules don’t allow this upgrade, I reused the factory quadrant that came with my assembly.

I was able to install the manual pedal assembly by reversing the way the other one came out. I fit the bottom two firewall bolts first, then lifted the front of the assembly up onto the other bolts. Install the nuts on the firewall, then attach the clutch cable to the quadrant, and hook up the brake booster rod and brake light switch.

There are a few extra electrical connections to hook up for the clutch. These wires were installed, but jumpered, from the factory. There are two jumpered pairs behind the left kick panel (actually, only one of mine had a jumper), and a third jumpered pair behind the stereo and center console. Simply unplug the jumpers and plug them into the pedal assembly.

There’s one ting left to set on the pedal assembly. There’s a little plastic clip on a plastic rod that sticks out the back of the neutral safety switch. Slide the clip all the way up snug to the back of the switch, then press the clutch pedal to set it at it’s proper distance. When you press the clutch, the clip contacts and pushes in a tube that goes around the plastic rod. When this tube is pressed in, it activates the switch. I initially didn’t set this, so the switch wasn’t working, and made me believe I had a short.

Step 5: Install the Steering Column

The column goes in just the way it came out. Install the column, then hook up the column harness connectors. However, don’t reinstall the dash panel under the column or the shift lock actuator. You’ll want the panel off to remove the center console, and you’ve no need for the actuator.

Step 6: Remove the Automatic Shifter

To start, you’ll need to remove the center console. You can remove the shifter without removing the center console. It isn’t easy, but I did it. However, I wasn’t able to get the lower shifter seal installed without removing it. So, go ahead and remove the console now.

Because of the way my aftermarket stereo was installed, I first had to remove the head unit. I have read that you can pull the console by unplugging the radio from the harness after the console is loosened and pulled back slightly. Your mileage may vary.

There are two bolts, one on each side behind a pair of plastic covers on the sides of the back of the console, and two screws on each side of the front of the console. The two on the driver’s side should be easy to get to, and you can get to the other two by opening the glove box. You’ll also need to disconnect the trunk release, the cigarette lighter, and the power rear view mirror remote, if you have one. And you’ll need to remove the shifter console cover. You should now be able to remove the console.

Now you can get to taking the actual shifter out. Simply unbolt the shifter base, and unhook the shifter cable and the shift lock actuator cable. You can also pull the shift lock actuator assembly out from under the carpet as well.

Prepare to get greasy.

Part 2: Outside the Car

Step 7: Remove the AOD

While not the simplest thing to do, it’s not that difficult either. There are countless sites on the internet that cover removing the transmission, as well as most manuals and even many magazine articles. So I’m not going to go into detail here, just remove the transmission, torque converter, and flexplate.

The only thing I will mention is the transmission cooler lines. You’ll likely not be reusing them, so you could just cut them out to make it easy on yourself. I took a little more time and removed them so that they could be reused, as I’m going to try and sell most of these components bundled together as part of an AOD swap kit. For some reason, some people do want to swap an AOD into their car. Beats me.

Step 8: Swap Transmission Harnesses

Okay, so technically this is inside the car. In order to do this, you need to have the harness disconnected from the transmission. Its easy to do at this point, after you’ve removed the AOD, and before you’ve put the interior back together. This is one thing many people skip over, choosing to jumper the AOD harness and do without a functioning neutral safety switch. Finding a manual transmission harness is easy enough, and they are definitely easy to install. The transmission harness plugs in at the left kick panel and is routed under the carpet and goes through the driver’s side of the transmission tunnel. Just pull back the carpet, which should be very easy to do without the seats or center console installed, and unplug the AOD harness. At this point the harness should be completely disconnected, making it easy to also just pull the harness through the transmission tunnel from the passenger’s compartment. Plug in and route the T5 harness the same way you found the AOD harness.

Step 9: Install the T5

Again, this is a procedure that has been beaten to death elsewhere. Be sure to use new flywheel bolts, and it’s also a good time to replace the rear main seal. Install the T5 already (and flywheel, clutch, pilot bearing, throw-out bearing, and clutch fork).

One thing worth commenting on, is fitting the shifter through the hole in the transmission tunnel. Mine didn’t fit. The B&M shifter base is a little taller than the stock base, so it could very well be a combination of factory tolerances regarding engine and transmission mounting points, location of the hole, and what shifter base you use. Not to worry though, because it was easy to bend the thin metal for clearance.

Step 10: Clutch Cable, Transmission Harness, and Speedometer Gear

Installing the clutch cable isn’t very difficult, it just takes a little heft to feed it through the shifter fork. The transmission harness plugs right up, with one connection toward the top of the transmission, one on the side, and one at the speedometer cable. Straight plug and play. Be sure to get the appropriate speedo gear for your car’s gearing and for the specific transmission you’re using.

Step 11: Install Shifter & Lower Shifter Seal

There are some differences between transmission tunnels. I’m not sure if these differences are due to the year of chassis, or because of the type of transmission from the factory. The images with the black floor pan are from the 92 GT (factory AOD), and the white is an 88 coupe (factory T5). My guess is there are differences due to transmission type. The 92 GT has a much lower, rounded tunnel, while the 88 coupe has a taller, flatter section of tunnel.

These images also illustrate why a factory lower shifter seal wouldn’t work in my situation. First, you can see the shifter was designed to sit flat on the top of a manual tunnel, when compared to fitment on an automatic tunnel. You can bend the trim ring to fit the automatic tunnel, but then the factory rubber seal wasn’t high enough to clear my B&M shifter. My solution was easy, and very sanitary. I picked up a $20 generic boot from my local autoparts store. This worked beautifully. I could be used by itself, or allows plenty of room for a factory boot that attaches at the center console to slip over.

Step 12: Interior

You’re just about done. You can now put the interior back together (be sure to take the opportunity to vacuum the carpet before putting the seats back in) and enjoy.

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Mad Props

Here are the resources I used for the swap:

• Auto to 5 Speed Manual Transmission Swap – Stinger Performance (WARNING: pop-ups)
• AOD to T5 Transmission Swap Questions – Corral Forums
  
• AOD to T-5 Transmission Swap – Do I need harness? QUICK! – Corral Forums
  
• Steering Column Wire (where does it go) – Stangnet Form Archives
  
• What to do with 3 pin connector on column (AOD to T5 swap) – Corral Forums
  

ESP
In Street Prepared and Prepared, cars are classified along “lines.” The 79-93 Mustang and 79-86 Capri are all listed on the same line, so parts can be updated and backdated between them. Here intake and exhaust are open, struts, springs, wheels, tires, swaybars, panhards, torque arms, suspension bushings, camber/caster (CC) plates can all be changed as well as updating/backdating between designated years. You cannot add non-stock subframe connectors, non-stock rear gears, aftermarket control arms, do much internal motor work or add forced induction. The Fox chassis hasn’t proven to be competitive due to its poor suspension geometry, flexible chassis, and low power (comparatively). The sn95s make a better choice because of their stiffer chassis, better front grip, and better power of the modular Cobra or 351 Windsor from the 95 Cobra R.

Fox vs. the Competition
Unfortunately, the Fox chassis Mustangs are a bit outclassed in ESP. The current top cars seem to be the 3rd and 4th generation F-bodies and the sn95 Mustang. All 3 of these cars have at least superior suspensions, and the 4th gen. and sn95 have superior rigidity and power to boot. The F-bodies come with torque arms, which are far superior to the Mustang’s “quadra-bind” 4-link. sn95s have the option of an IRS (factory equipment in the 99-04 Cobra), otherwise, an upgrade is needed to make the playing field level. Beyond tuning with bushings, springs and Camber/Caster (CC) plates, there isn’t much hope for improving the Fox’s front suspension. However, I don’t know that a truly competitive version of the Fox has been built and driven by a national caliber driver – at least not since John Ames.

Building a Competitive Fox?
The two advantages the Fox have are size and weight. In my opinion, maximizing the weight advantage would be the biggest key to making one competitive. Less weight is a big factor in any vehicle’s performance. There is less weight to accelerate, stop, and change direction. In autocrossing’s fast transitions, this advantage is amplified. So I would think that the Fox’s only hope at being competitive is to weigh far, far less than the competition. Additionally, every advantage that can be taken in the rulebook would have to be taken. What follows is my own personally recipe that could be used to build as competitive a Fox as possible.

First, I’d start with a coupe, as they’re lighter and stiffer. Yes, the hatchbacks have better balance on the scale, but all the weight is up high (that big piece of glass is heavy), which is not a good thing. Even better would be to start with a no-options coupe. Better yet, start with a 79-86 coupe (commonly referred to as 4-eyes), as some Foxes were equipped with very light weight aluminum bumpers, and can be fitted because of the update/backdate rule. (My favorite Fox is the 85-86 coupe, so that would be my pick.) The bumpers are sometimes hard to find, but they do turn up occasionally on eBay and a few forums. Take this light weight car and remove every bit of sound deadening to make it even lighter. Even the front inner fender liners can be removed.

Since most of these cars are now getting pretty old, one would probably benefit from some fresh suspension components. Coilover conversions, aftermarket A-arms and LCAs are not class legal, so no need to drop the extra bucks there. Good aftermarket bushings will do in the control arms. If you’re resourceful, you can get a set of early Fox LCAs with the round bushings – the later LCAs have large oval bushings. Its best not to go with too stiff a bushing in both upper arms, as it can amplify the roll-bind which will make the snap oversteer that much worse. Its better to go with a stiffer spring and lighter swaybar, and there are many different size swaybars available. I have even heard of many running NO rear swaybar as it helps get the power to the ground. I’ve heard of spring rates up front running in the 600-1000 pound range, and 175-375 out back. Just don’t pick springs that lower your car too much, as your camber curve will be ruined (not that its any good at stock height). A good set of shocks and struts are definitely worth the money, and as the spring rates go to the stiffer range, they become even more important. You can even go as far as getting them custom valved to your car’s weight and spring rates. Camber/Caster (CC) plates are pretty much a necessity, especially if you plan on lowering your car at all. And pick a good set so you don’t have to worry about them wearing out.

Fitting any kind of sizable tire under a Fox can be tricky. Anything much wider than stock and you’ll almost certainly be rolling the fender lips. Many have squeezed 16×10 inch wheels under their car, with careful attention being paid to offsets. 16 inch tires have taller sidewalls, which offer a little more forgiveness and make the car a little easier to control at the limit. 17 inch wheels are more available, however, and offer much wider tires. 17×9-10 inch wheels with 275/40s should fit with a bit of massaging. If you’re willing to flare the fenders, you can go for the big guns and some 17×11s with 315s.

Stock Fox brakes suck. But luckily, there is an answer; the 93 Cobra R. These cars came with sn95 Cobra 13″ front brakes. There is some dispute as to what the 93 Rs had for brakes out back, so the SVO Mustang makes that choice easy. Master cylinders are open, so pick your poison. Running the SVO rear brakes will cause radically different front and rear offsets – something to be aware of. Of course these are 5 lug brakes, which will require 5 lug wheels, so plan ahead. Those on a budget can use the SVO front calipers and stick with 4 lug, but they’ll still provide mediocre performance at best.

A common method of stiffening up a Fox is subframe connectors. However, as of this writing, subframe connectors are not legal (although there is a proposal to allow them for the 2008 season) in a Fox, so no luck there. The convertible cars did make use of some extra bracing, but the parts are getting hard to find and the improvement may not be worth the weight and headache. Best to just go ahead and get a good roll bar with door braces. It will add some extra weight, but it will stiffen up the chassis and will give you a place to safely mount a harness.

The best engine option is found in a 93 Cobra. If you decide to build one, the iron GT40 heads are not the same as the Cobra heads, and cannot be used, at least not legally. And if you do find a set of Cobra heads, be sure to swap the cam too, as the Cobras had unique camshafts. Basically, you have to build a numbers matching 93 Cobra motor to be legit. You can use whatever intake and exhaust you wish, so thats where you should focus. Don’t pick too big an intake that sacrifices low end power. Long tube headers are better than the shorties, so don’t even bother with them. Go straight for the big guns, and get a matching mid pipe and cat-back. You can even run dumps to save the extra weight of the tailpipes. The electronics can be upgraded as well, and probably should be, as you’ll want to squeeze every last bit of power out of the motor.

The best transmission to use is the Cobra spec T5, although any T5 will do. You can upgrade the clutch, and swap out to an aluminum flywheel, as well as replace the rear differential with something better, such as a Torsen T2R, but you can’t upgrade to an aluminum driveshaft. 3.27 gears are the quickest ever offered in an 8.8 equipped Fox, so that makes for an easy choice.

Inside, a good set of seats can help lighten the car a bit more, as well as provide much better support than found in most Foxes. The center console can be removed as many Foxes came without them. A good harness can help keep you secure, as long as you can properly mount one to a roll bar. Otherwise, a good lap belt will do in a pinch. If you have a hatchback, you can replace the rear seat with a rear seat delete that mimics the 93 Cobra R, otherwise there isn’t a lot else you can do to the interior, except maybe add some more reliable and accurate gauges.

The final step is to ditch the quadra-bind rear suspension. You can legally replace the uppers with a panhard or watts-link and a torque arm or upper links such as Steeda’s 5-link or Evolution Motorsports 3-link. I like the look of the EVM 3-link a lot, although I haven’t done enough research to know if its definitely class legal.

Could such a car be competitive on a national level? With the right driver, who knows. But if you want to have the best chance of being competitive, I think this is how to do it.

Insanity Ensues
I went through all that to say this; I’m planning on building an ESP Fox. Will it be competitive? Nope, at least not more than mildly so on a local level. However, I happen to have a Fox as well as many of the components listed above, so the build should be cheap. And I’ll still be able to have a lot of fun.

My own build will start with an AOD equipped 92 GT. It was originally purchased with the intention of resto-modding it with a mod motor swap and some other goodies and making it a clean daily driver. However, the decision to sell my race chassis has left me without a race car. Since the decision to sell the chassis was based largely on financial reasons, and I happen to have a ton of spares that just happen to be ESP legal, it makes sense (to me, at least) that I build the GT as a dual purpose daily driver and ESP autocross toy.

What is autocross?
Basically, its a miniature road course set up in a parking lot or maybe some blocked off roads and marked by cones. The competition is divided into classes depending on car and modifications, the course being run one vehicle at a time, with each run timed. Every cone hit adds two seconds to your time and you usually will have three or four runs, with quickest time winning. 5.0 Mustangs will find themselves in one of the following classes; F Stock (FS), E Street Prepared (ESP), Street Modified (SM), C Prepared (CP), X Prepared (XP) or E Modified (EM).

The Fox Mustang
When someone refers to the Fox platform Mustang, they’re generally referring to the 79-93 model years. The 94-04 Mustangs are commonly referred to as the sn95, but are still Fox based. People who try to autocross either of these must be either sick, or hopeless Mustang nuts (or both?), as these are poor handling cars, plain and simple. The suspension design comes from the 78 Fairmont for goodness sakes! In 2005, the Mustang got a complete redesign with the s197 chassis and is much better handling, but the s197 isn’t the focus here.

All Mustangs from 1979 to 2004 use a strut front suspension. Strut suspensions are simple designs that use only one control arm, a spindle, a strut and a spring on each side of the car. This design can be manufactured inexpensively and is light weight, but it also limits the performance potential of the suspension. Dual A-arm suspensions can be designed to perform far better than a strut style suspension, but this doesn’t mean that strut suspensions all perform poorly; both the M3 and 911 use strut designs. And just because its a dual A-arm suspension doesn’t mean it handles well – check out the Mustang II’s Pinto sourced front suspension. The problem is, the strut design in the 79-93 Mustang plain sucks. From 79-93, every few years the k-member was tweaked for a little better geometry, so basically, the newer the k-member, the better off you are. In 94 the lower control arm (LCA) length is a little longer which widens the track which makes them a little better. The 96+ (when Ford switched to the modular motors) has even better geometry.

The rear suspension in all of these cars, except the 99-04 Cobra, is a non-parallel 4-link solid axle design. Here the upper control arms (UCAs) are at dramatically different angles to the LCAs so that using only these 4 arms the rear end is held in place during both torsional/twisting forces (acceleration and braking) and lateral forces (left and right turning). The problem with this is that when cornering, the UCAs bind as the car leans over. This is because the angles of the UCAs and LCAs conflict and need bushing material for compliance. When the compliance is gone, the suspension binds and the rear end suddenly loses traction, resulting in snap-oversteer. Many think (myself included) that aftermarket UCAs or harder bushings in both ends of the stock UCAs make this problem worse as they offer even less compliance, creating even more snap-oversteer.

How do you fix these problems? The most common way is to bandage them with higher spring rates and after market control arms. The real solution is to redesign the suspension. Companies such as Griggs, Maximum Motorsports, and Evolution Motorsports are taking care of this upper-end market. Most people who are more into the autocrossing V8 pony cars than Mustang brand loyalty choose a 3rd or 4th generation GM f-body (Camaro or Firebird). These are far better handling cars with the 3rd generation cars having a strut front suspension far superior in design to the Mustang’s. The 4th generation cars get a short-long arm (SLA) dual a-arm front suspension and both 3rd and 4th have a torque arm rear suspension. For what its worth, Griggs’ and Maximum Motorsports’ popular rear suspension redesign for the Mustang also utilizes a torque-arm.

That’s as deep as I’m going to go into the specifics of the Fox Mustang’s suspension geometry. If you’re interested in more specifics on the Mustang’s suspension, Miracerros.com has a really nice write-up on Late Model Mustang Suspension Basics.

FS
Just because this is a stock class, doesn’t mean you can’t modify anything. Air filters, struts, shocks, tires, brake pads, cat-back exhaust and the front sway bar can all be changed. The Fox is completely outclassed by the sn95 cars, and the newer s197 chassis is even better.

ESP
Street Prepared and Prepared work with cars classified along “lines.” The 79-93 Mustang and 79-86 Capri are all listed on the same line, so parts can be swapped between them. Here intake and exhaust are open, struts, springs, wheels, tires, swaybars, panhards, torque arms, suspension bushings, camber/caster (CC) plates can all be changed as well as updating/backdating between designated years. You cannot add non-stock subframe connectors (currently), non-stock rear gears, aftermarket control arms, do much internal motor work or add forced induction. The Fox chassis hasn’t proven to be competitive due to its poor suspension geometry, flexible chassis, and low power (comparatively). The sn95s do far better here because of the stiffer chassis, better front grip, and better power of the modular Cobra or 351 Windsor from the 95 Cobra R.

SM
At first glance, SM sounds like a good fit for a Fox as it allows several of the common upgrades; subframe connectors, gears, cowl induction hoods and radical engine modifications. However, you can’t change any of the control arm mounting points, and you can’t replace the k-member, so you can’t fix the poor front suspension’s geometry. In SM, a rear wheel drive car has to weigh 1800 pounds, plus 200 pounds per liter. This puts a stock 5.0 Fox Mustang at 2800 pounds. Stroking the motor or adding forced induction will cause more weight to be added. However, the most the car will have to weigh is 3100 pounds. In general, SM is a faster class than CP and doesn’t allow you to truly “fix” the suspension geometry, which is far more important than horsepower in autocross. In a nutshell, you should be able to build a more competitive dual purpose street-autocross car for CP than for SM.

CP
C Prepared has to be the coolest class in Solo2, period. CP cars tend to be crude, gutted, stiff V8 sedans with loud exhausts and very fat tires. The high end prepared cars have completely redesigned front and rear suspensions that are usually adjustable, high rpm, high horsepower 310 CID V8s (cars with engines over 310 have to weigh 3000 lbs, 300 more than 310 engines) and radically flared bodies to cover the massive slicks. Having a tubular k-member adds 10% to your base weight as it causes your car to be considered “in excess” as a tube framed car. You can modify the heck out of your stock k-member though. And forced induction is a no-no.

XP
XP in an interesting class, as it’ll allow you to run any engine you want, and figure out your car’s minimum weight from a formula. You could run a LS Chevy in your Fox if you wanted. However, “in excess” cars are not allowed, so you couldn’t do a k-member swap. But you could still modify your k-member. XP will end up a hella-fast class though.

EM
So, where do you autocross your twin-turbo modular powered, tubular k-membered, IRS equipped FOX? EM, that’s where. And you’ll be uncompetitive on anything other than a local level. The typical cars here weigh half as much as a Mustang, have as much power as any Mustang out there, and are usually as, or more, purpose built than a CP car.