XR7-4.6’s disjointed build thread 2 Electric Boogaloo

Chingon1 said:
What’s the ETA for the full exhaust?? Kinda itching to hear this bitch. Super uber jealous, cammed V8’s are just rediculous cool. Kinda wish I spent the extra cheese on a set for my bird when it got the PI heads.
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It depends on a few things but soon. It actually went a lot quicker than I expected to get it all laid out and tacked together, I thought I’d need to get the straight sections bent just a tiny bit for them to line up but with the extra clearance of my crossmember and some slop in the slip joints I could take advantage of it kind of fell together.
 
Tying up some loose ends. First the tedious task of brake bleeding, nothing special to share here but fuck speed bleeders, fuck vacuum etc. just use the baseball bat you use to roll your fenders with and hustle 😆

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Other mostly uninteresting task was adding BACK toe compensators, but if you followed my build since the old place I had deleted them with the belief that stiffer poly bushings don’t really need them (largely because the even stiffer Delrin bushings most certainly don’t)… but seeing as how I still have some wheel hop even with poly everything and the California subframe bushing mod(lopping out 1/4” of sleeve to significantly preload the stock rubber bushings… which either someone in the club in California invented or is only feasible in rust free CA cars lol). I since have a better grasp of how the Toe Compensators truly work and feel paired with the stiffer bushings might just possibly be the cheap wheel hop solution right in front of me…

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These were the guts of my stock ones I’d been running since installing poly bushings

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So my rationale is this; Wheelhop in our IRS isn’t the typical vertical motion common in 4 link solid axle/trailering arm IRS suspensions. Our cars issue is forward/back motion caused by deflection in the knuckle bushings, H arm(LCA) bushings and the physical IRS mounts, and indeed everybody who has delrin/UMMV bushings in these spots has verifiably solved wheel hop…


…but I’m a cheapskate, and stubborn, so here’s my rationale* Ford was right all along, the toe compensators purpose was to eliminate toe in under acceleration(as the tires essentially try to outrun the chassis), the toe compensators are literally two ball joints per side without any NVH characteristics, they’re designed so the soft rubber LCA bushings have compliance vertically over bumps and whatnot but not allow hard acceleration to let them comply laterally to the extent of a toe-in condition, hence their name. Ford’s purpose as I’ve read wasn’t so much for wheel hop remedy but to make the handling more predictable (favoring understeer). But my thinking is stiff/stiffened bushings as well as stiffer shocks/springs I already have, plus the reintroduction of these things might just be the low budget magic combo.
 
Nice work. You are going to have a beautiful exhaust system when you are done. I hate exhaust work so much, but most of that is because I'm always working on rusty Michigan junk.

That is how I bleed brakes by myself (which is 99% of the time). The case for my 1/2" torque wrench is usually the perfect length. It takes time. Pump, pump, pump, insert torque wrench case, go to wheel, loosen bleeder, tighten bleeder, back to the cabin to repeat. Doing all four wheels to change brake fluid is an exercise in patience, but it always works. I've never had a ton of luck with vacuum other than to get fluid started, but I'd never trust it for a complete bleed. I've never used speed bleeders. Concept sounds great, but I've heard otherwise in practice. I'm sure a pressurized bleeding system tool would be awesome, but I'm too cheap to purchase one when my torque wrench case is free :). Not sure of other makes, but a lot of later model Lexus and Toyotas use the ABS pump to supply brake power assist. On the rears you just loosen the bleed screw and the pump pushes fluid through. I was doing a '21 4Runner a couple of months ago and forgot about that. It wasn't until the end that I realized they still used the same system I had first seen on an '04 Lexus.
 
KevinVarnes said:
Nice work. You are going to have a beautiful exhaust system when you are done. I hate exhaust work so much, but most of that is because I'm always working on rusty Michigan junk.
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I get it! I don’t even drive this car in winter anymore in over a decade but I sprung for 304 stainless for literally everything including the questionable Amazon stainless flux core welding wire! I can’t not do SS after what I’ve dealt with here!

I’m also not a welder in the wildest stretch of my own delusions, but my well hung pipe laying is pretty fun 😆

That is how I bleed brakes by myself (which is 99% of the time). The case for my 1/2" torque wrench is usually the perfect length. It takes time. Pump, pump, pump, insert torque wrench case, go to wheel, loosen bleeder, tighten bleeder, back to the cabin to repeat. Doing all four wheels to change brake fluid is an exercise in patience, but it always works. I've never had a ton of luck with vacuum other than to get fluid started, but I'd never trust it for a complete bleed. I've never used speed bleeders. Concept sounds great, but I've heard otherwise in practice. I'm sure a pressurized bleeding system tool would be awesome, but I'm too cheap to purchase one when my torque wrench case is free :). Not sure of other makes, but a lot of later model Lexus and Toyotas use the ABS pump to supply brake power assist. On the rears you just loosen the bleed screw and the pump pushes fluid through. I was doing a '21 4Runner a couple of months ago and forgot about that. It wasn't until the end that I realized they still used the same system I had first seen on an '04 Lexus.
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I have had speed bleeders in my front cobra calipers and when I swapped them in they worked great, I bought another pair from the parts store for the rear this time around and they were just terrible, I just reused the stock ones in the end doing it the normal way. I never had any luck with gravity or vacuum ever, maybe I’m just not patient enough.
 
My one-man brake bleeding contraption consists of an old Gatorade bottle with a wire coat hanger wrapped around it, a hole drilled in the cap, and a length of clear plastic tubing that snugly fits on the bleeder fitting. Pour about an inch of fresh brake fluid in the bottom of the bottle, run the tube through the hole in the cap down into the fluid at the bottom, attach the other end of the hose to the bleeder, then hang the bottle from the car so that the bottom of the bottle is above the bleeder. Next crack the bleeder loose, go into the car and slowly pump the pedal a few times, then come out and look at the tube. The hose and reservoir in the bottle will act as a check valve to allow air out, but not back in. When there is fresh fluid and no more air pockets in the tube, close the bleeder and move on to the next wheel.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
So my rationale is this; Wheelhop in our IRS isn’t the typical vertical motion common in 4 link solid axle/trailering arm IRS suspensions. Our cars issue is forward/back motion caused by deflection in the knuckle bushings, H arm(LCA) bushings and the physical IRS mounts, and indeed everybody who has delrin/UMMV bushings in these spots has verifiably solved wheel hop…


…but I’m a cheapskate, and stubborn, so here’s my rationale* Ford was right all along, the toe compensators purpose was to eliminate toe in under acceleration(as the tires essentially try to outrun the chassis), the toe compensators are literally two ball joints per side without any NVH characteristics, they’re designed so the soft rubber LCA bushings have compliance vertically over bumps and whatnot but not allow hard acceleration to let them comply laterally to the extent of a toe-in condition, hence their name. Ford’s purpose as I’ve read wasn’t so much for wheel hop remedy but to make the handling more predictable (favoring understeer). But my thinking is stiff/stiffened bushings as well as stiffer shocks/springs I already have, plus the reintroduction of these things might just be the low budget magic combo.
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Interesting, looking forward to hearing the results! May put this on the list for mine if it works out well for you.


You all need to invest in one of these lol .... Worth it for $50, it makes bleeding brakes so much easier. Also faster, I flushed new brake fluid through all my cars with it. Also use it to empty the power steering reservoir out every oil change and put in new fluid.


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Kenz said:
Interesting, looking forward to hearing the results! May put this on the list for mine if it works out well for you.


You all need to invest in one of these lol .... Worth it for $50, it makes bleeding brakes so much easier. Also faster, I flushed new brake fluid through all my cars with it. Also use it to empty the power steering reservoir out every oil change and put in new fluid.


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That is what I have. I've never been overly impressed with it for bleeding brakes. Maybe I'm just not using it properly.
 
Corrected an unforeseen snag today; so to recap going way back to my DOHC swap I did the steering shaft mod to clear Mustang exhaust manifolds, using extra aftermarket U joints, shaft sections and a custom firewall mount for a support bearing. Simultaneously I also swapped in a 03 Cobra rack with a unisteer U joint as it uses a triangle coupler rather than the stock rack’s 36 spline coupler. This all worked very well though it was a bit rupe golbergian and had zero collapsibility (I tend not to sweat safety but that always bothered me a little).

Fast forward to now, with the install of Kooks headers I was able to restore the factory steering shaft and get rid of the mod setup, but what remains obviously is the Cobra rack and unisteer U joint, and hooking it up to the stock shaft/column resulted in the steering wheel turned left with the tires straight, or the tires pointed right with the wheel straight…”huh” …. Actually if you go back and treat yourself to the open header video you can see this issue as I discovered it… Ok no biggie, just adjust the tie rods right? Wrong! It took 11 turns per side to get the steering wheel centered which resulted in the left tie rod being right on the edge of adjustment…

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So what’s up? Well have a look at the end of our stock steering shaft, it’s typical 3/4 DD shaft(other than the breakaway) but the column u joint attachment randomly veers… you guessed it counterclockwise to the left, exactly where it put my steering wheel.

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Even though Mustangs use the same column we do their steering shafts don’t have that twist, they’re just clocked differently. An idiosyncrasy that hadn’t/wouldn’t have occurred to me making a custom steering shaft from scratch.

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The solution then is pretty simple, replace it with straight DD shaft, right? Wrong! Though the sleeve section of the shaft would gladly accept universal DD shaft, it’s not a perfect fit, there’s slop to it, which you’d absolutely be able to feel through the wheel, the way Ford mitigated this was embossing these nylon pads into the portion of shaft that goes inside the sleeve, taking up all the slop.

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(The one at the end is mangled as I had modified it for mock-up purposes)

Sooooo… what am I to do, you ask? Well as I said the stock shaft is just DD shaft, I can just lop off the end section and move the U joint into that. Mind you it does veer wildly at the breakaway but there is enough straight section (about 5/16”) before it curves into it, but that’s not enough, what I did was utilize the full 3/4” round stop and blend it right into the DD shape in front of it. Worked like a charm!

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Steering wheel now turned pretty much exactly the same amount right as it was left before, but this time I’ll have plenty of inner tie rod to correct for it(I bet it’ll be exactly 11 turns per side)

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XR7-4.6 said:
Corrected an unforeseen snag today; so to recap going way back to my DOHC swap I did the steering shaft mod to clear Mustang exhaust manifolds, using extra aftermarket U joints, shaft sections and a custom firewall mount for a support bearing. Simultaneously I also swapped in a 03 Cobra rack with a unisteer U joint as it uses a triangle coupler rather than the stock rack’s 36 spline coupler. This all worked very well though it was a bit rupe golbergian and had zero collapsibility (I tend not to sweat safety but that always bothered me a little).

Fast forward to now, with the install of Kooks headers I was able to restore the factory steering shaft and get rid of the mod setup, but what remains obviously is the Cobra rack and unisteer U joint, and hooking it up to the stock shaft/column resulted in the steering wheel turned left with the tires straight, or the tires pointed right with the wheel straight…”huh” …. Actually if you go back and treat yourself to the open header video you can see this issue as I discovered it… Ok no biggie, just adjust the tie rods right? Wrong! It took 11 turns per side to get the steering wheel centered which resulted in the left tie rod being right on the edge of adjustment…

View attachment 13189

So what’s up? Well have a look at the end of our stock steering shaft, it’s typical 3/4 DD shaft(other than the breakaway) but the column u joint attachment randomly veers… you guessed it counterclockwise to the left, exactly where it put my steering wheel.

View attachment 13195

Even though Mustangs use the same column we do their steering shafts don’t have that twist, they’re just clocked differently. An idiosyncrasy that hadn’t/wouldn’t have occurred to me making a custom steering shaft from scratch.

View attachment 13196

The solution then is pretty simple, replace it with straight DD shaft, right? Wrong! Though the sleeve section of the shaft would gladly accept universal DD shaft, it’s not a perfect fit, there’s slop to it, which you’d absolutely be able to feel through the wheel, the way Ford mitigated this was embossing these nylon pads into the portion of shaft that goes inside the sleeve, taking up all the slop.

View attachment 13197

(The one at the end is mangled as I had modified it for mock-up purposes)

Sooooo… what am I to do, you ask? Well as I said the stock shaft is just DD shaft, I can just lop off the end section and move the U joint into that. Mind you it does veer wildly at the breakaway but there is enough straight section (about 5/16”) before it curves into it, but that’s not enough, what I did was utilize the full 3/4” round stop and blend it right into the DD shape in front of it. Worked like a charm!

View attachment 13190View attachment 13191View attachment 13192View attachment 13193

Steering wheel now turned pretty much exactly the same amount right as it was left before, but this time I’ll have plenty of inner tie rod to correct for it(I bet it’ll be exactly 11 turns per side)

View attachment 13194
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I was hoping you could just turn the wheel one "triangle lobe". Seems this worked out though!
 
Finally finished welding my exhaust, I got my technique down 😆

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Which is to say practice practice practice, then pay someone to do it for me lol

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It’s so quiet now, you can even hear my neighbors landscapers nearly drowning it out
 
Sounds great! Plus the bends before the mufflers looks like a perfect place for cut-outs in the future.
 
Thats a sharp machine. Love it
 
First extended run to temp early in the day. Lots of oil coating still in the new pipes so don’t be too alarmed by the smoke, most of it burned up driving it today, but here it is in all its glory


Also life imitates art lol



I just realized I just realized my tips match my muffler!

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Glorious V8 noises! Sounds sweet, can’t really tell how loud it is through the phone I’m betting it’s spicy. We’re thsoe 2.5” tips??
 
Chingon1 said:
Glorious V8 noises! Sounds sweet, can’t really tell how loud it is through the phone I’m betting it’s spicy. We’re thsoe 2.5” tips??
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The tips are actually 3”, it’s definitely loud by npc standards but it’s really no louder than it was when I had a similar true dual exhaust with a different mid mounted magnaflow, the headers and cams just make it sound a whole lot better, like I put a chorus and analog delay pedal in the signal chain lol:gpunk:

I bit the bullet and bought a Zeitronix wideband gauge to match the setup I already have, currently I’m debating where to put it. I intended to get a SN95 column gauge pod but it looks like it’ll interfere with the cluster bezel to me… anyone running one to confirm? I have a plan B but I’m not in love with it
 
I have the column mount pod, it’s pretty cool. kinda obstructs the lower half of the RPM tack, up to 2000rpm but good visibility overall.

I put the water, oil pressure and AFR gauge down by where the ash used to be.
 

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Chingon1 said:
I have the column mount pod, it’s pretty cool. kinda obstructs the lower half of the RPM tack, up to 2000rpm but good visibility overall.

I put the water, oil pressure and AFR gauge down by where the ash used to be.
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The lack of cluster bezel doesn’t ameliorate my primary concern 😆
 
Yea 😅 Are you gonna do the A pillar mount?? I didn’t go that route because it’s kind of a burn; going for a bit of the sleeper look.

Oh oh I get it, it doesn’t affect the bezel, I just took mine off because I’m fixing a crack in it, it fits just fine with this pod.
 
I wouldn’t do A pillar mount unless I could find the Lokar 3 pod one. But really I’m only really interested in having just a wideband gauge as far as additional gauges from stock so the column one appeals the most.

Does the column pod have the hole precut for the manual mustang key release too? That’s another thing that’ll bother me
 
You mean this lil square hole?? I just snapped this right now. My 97 didn’t have that. I don’t have it all the way down because the boost vacuum line pushes the pod up a bit and I don’t want pinch it, it supposed to sit flush with the key hole cover.

The pod kit comes with double sided tape to secure it down.



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