Ohio BS thread!

[Tygerr]

She's alive!

Oh man. She feels good too. I was never able to burn chirp tires from a stop before. Now she just pulls like never before. It's amazing what a little cleaning (and optimizing) can do. There's some strange noise coming from the front drivers side wheel now though, and it makes a strange noise when turning right, but not left. Cars do NOT like to sit.

[Pyro81]

Originally Posted by Tygerr

She's alive!

Oh man. She feels good too. I was never able to burn chirp tires from a stop before. Now she just pulls like never before. It's amazing what a little cleaning (and optimizing) can do. There's some strange noise coming from the front drivers side wheel now though, and it makes a strange noise when turning right, but not left. Cars do NOT like to sit.

My car has been sitting for 3 years...wonder what surprises it has in store for me...

[Tygerr]

Does she start?

[Pyro81]

Yeah, it'll start if i charge the battery. It's ran okay during the few time that i had to drive it. Last time i drove it was last september when i brought it home from the storage garage.

[nadthomas]

Originally Posted by Lunar Limelight

I spend too much on my car

$102 on paint
$78 on basic needs
$91 on new leather
$50 on interior parts

And I still need tires

Be glad you have a cheap car to mod, where used parts are plentiful. Yeah, I never though I would call modding the cougar cheap, but it is by comparison.

Summer Wheels and Tires - $1800
New Lugs Nuts - $50
K&N CAI - $250
Diablo Tuner - $280
Paint - $20

Total - $2400

$2400 invested already into a car that I am NOT modding. There are about another $2400-3k in NEEDED suspension and brake upgrades that will have to wait until next year.

[wadespencer99]

I'm going through and re-doing all of my suspension before fest.

New lower control arms with ball joints and bushings
New wheel bearings
All new strut mounts
New front strut bearings
New front and rear endlinks
Front sway bar bushings
SVT front sway bar
Roush rear sway bar with bushings
Box in rear sway bar mounts on rear subframe
New rear insulator bushings
New struts
New tires
Alignment

Should handle like new when it's done!


See anything I missed? How much wear can inner and outer tie rod ends get? Should I replace them while I'm doing everything and getting it aligned? Car has about 100k on it, and handles like a wagon with four loose wheels

[Tygerr]

Originally Posted by nadthomas

Be glad you have a cheap car to mod, where used parts are plentiful. Yeah, I never though I would call modding the cougar cheap, but it is by comparison.

Summer Wheels and Tires - $1800
New Lugs Nuts - $50
K&N CAI - $250
Diablo Tuner - $280
Paint - $20

Total - $2400

$2400 invested already into a car that I am NOT modding. There are about another $2400-3k in NEEDED suspension and brake upgrades that will have to wait until next year.

How is that cheaper then a cougar?

Wade. I wish I knew more about suspension. Are these bushings and bearings somewhat easy to replace? I need struts/springs anyway, maybe I could just do that while I'm at it.

[JAMallott]

Originally Posted by wadespencer99

I'm going through and re-doing all of my suspension before fest.

New lower control arms with ball joints and bushings
New wheel bearings
All new strut mounts
New front strut bearings
New front and rear endlinks
Front sway bar bushings
SVT front sway bar
Roush rear sway bar with bushings
Box in rear sway bar mounts on rear subframe
New rear insulator bushings
New struts
New tires
Alignment

Should handle like new when it's done!


See anything I missed? How much wear can inner and outer tie rod ends get? Should I replace them while I'm doing everything and getting it aligned? Car has about 100k on it, and handles like a wagon with four loose wheels

I would do the outter tie rods atleast. Our car (or atleast mine) were very weird. The inner tie rods are round around the base where they screw onto the rack. Most cars have two flat spots on them so you can get a special tool on them to remove them. Mine were perfectly round. I couldn't even get the right side off because of there being too much stuff in the way.

Now one of my teachers has been a Ford master tech for over 35 years now and he said he had never seen an inner tie rod perfectly round lol.


To test the tie rods, jack the front of the car up so the wheels are off the ground, and wiggle the wheel back and fourth. If it feels really tight and there is no play, they are fine. If you can feel/see/hear the play, the outters need replaced atleast.



I did some much needed work on my car today once I got off work. We had a lift free so I stayed after and changed both my O2 sensors, fixed my bumper PROPERLY with bolts and not zip ties or duct tape . And I also changed my oil to Mobil 1 full synthetic and substituted in a quart of Lucas to try to get rid of some of this knock. Also with all the horror stories of Synthetic oil finding new places to leak from, I'm hoping this lucas will thicken it up some to prevent that.

Just a few more things I need to do before fest!

[nadthomas]

Originally Posted by wadespencer99

I'm going through and re-doing all of my suspension before fest.

New lower control arms with ball joints and bushings
New wheel bearings
All new strut mounts
New front strut bearings
New front and rear endlinks
Front sway bar bushings
SVT front sway bar
Roush rear sway bar with bushings
Box in rear sway bar mounts on rear subframe
New rear insulator bushings
New struts
New tires
Alignment

Should handle like new when it's done!


See anything I missed? How much wear can inner and outer tie rod ends get? Should I replace them while I'm doing everything and getting it aligned? Car has about 100k on it, and handles like a wagon with four loose wheels

Looks good wade. I have heard that the front sway bar and bushings are a ***** though.

[nadthomas]

Originally Posted by Tygerr

How is that cheaper then a cougar?

Wade. I wish I knew more about suspension. Are these bushings and bearings somewhat easy to replace? I need struts/springs anyway, maybe I could just do that while I'm at it.

Ummm....because by the time I'm done I will have invested about an equal amount into mods on the GTO as I did on the cougar, but I'll only have a fraction of the number of mods.