I sold my '66 Bel Air about a month ago after working on it for a year and realizing it's girth was always going to limit what I could do with it. I lost time and money on it, but it was fun while it lasted. The guy that bought it already has plans to restore it, which great for him, I really wasn't interested in going back to a original cruiser.
So! Time for a new project, something cheap, quick and with some RallyX/Stage rally potential.
There were a few cheap RX-8s, but I was scared away by Renesis horror stories.
I was really close to buying an E36 323is that was clean, well maintained and cheap, but then I saw an ad for a 1986 Mustang SVO with 119K miles, a quick test drive and I was hooked. It runs, drives, engine and transmission seem healthy and surprisingly everything works on it. Which is a bit of a shame, because my plan is cage it and enter it into as many local events as possible, RallyX, AutoX, HPDE with the goal of one day entering Ojibewe Rally or LSPR.
First issue to tackle was a whining in the LR, after checking the brakes, I figured it was an axle bearing. After tearing it down, I found a chipped up bearing, but also a pitted axle shaft. I replaced the bearing and threw the axle back in, I'll have to decide later if I want to go to an 8.8 or get the SVO specific axles for the 7.5. Good news is after replacing the bearing, the noise is mostly gone and everything else in the diff, including the spiders, ring and clutches looked great. It should be able to handle some abuse before I decide to replace axleshafts or the whole axle.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
I am a little stuck right now trying to decide between moving towards a stage rally car or a track day car. I'm not really interested in a dedicated AutoX car and it is hard to beat the appeal of sliding this thing through the dirt, but maybe a few track days will help me decide.
Tough part is my balljoints are worn and the SVO ball joints are not serviceable. So I am swapping for some SN95 arms that are similar length, but will change the ride height with the stock springs, even better my stock springs in front are toast (you can see it has a bit of rake).
So I am between ordering factory V8 GT springs, that will give me a stockish right height, slightly high spring rate and with the factory Koni shocks, would be a pretty good dirt setup. Or, I can order Ford Racing C springs that will bump up the spring rate from 380 to 650 and lower it about an inch and have a sweet street setup. What to do..
I know there are a few people pn here that have rallyx a fox body, any advice?
I'm pretty sure '85.5 and '86 SVO's came with the 8.8" rear axle. '84 and 85 had the 7.5", lower HP (175 vs 205), inset headlights, and different intake manifold.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
Not sure it is quite that simple, but maybe. I wonder if I could still get away with rallycrossing on Ford C springs, apparently they don't lower Fox bodies as much as the slightly heavier later models. It's tempting to give it a try, but with GT springs only $65 a pair, I am leaning towards using those until I narrow my focus.
In reply to wawazat :
Not sure about that, mine is an 86 and definitely has a 7.5". I know there are other differences with the 86 though. I'm not too concerned since i looked to be in great shape other than the minor pitting and if it goes nuclear, an 8.8 is readily available via craigslist.
I dug into the Mustang a little deeper today pulling out the original control arms and swapping in the SN95 arms, new tie rods and a solid steering shaft. The shocks need to come out for a degrease, but despite their appearance, they still work great throughout the adjustment range. Someone went crazy with the undercoating, they went right over the struts and spindle
I also started pulling the rear control arms out to replace with my ebay special arms and make room to install the torque box braces. Again dealing undercoating over shocks and bolts, but I was suprised to find the factory quadralink shocks still feel smooth, they might just go back on after I get all the gooey undercoat off
olso3904 said:
I dug into the Mustang a little deeper today pulling out the original control arms and swapping in the SN95 arms, new tie rods and a solid steering shaft.
I'd be interested in learning about that steering shaft. Is that stock off of something else or...where did you source it?
I have a fox body on C-springs (albeit a 5.0) if you want to see how it sits. I think somewhere around page 8 of my thread shows how it was with stock control arms and the Motorsport C Springs.
In reply to ClemSparks :
It's a Borgeson that I bought from ebay for $170, my stock rag joint was toast and apparently the solid shafts clean up some of the numbness foxbodies have.
I like the way your car sits, I was worried it would be way lower than that. I might be sold on buying my own set
Hello from a fellow Minnesotan!
I saw the Biscayne at the Minnetonka Drive In this fall before it was for sale, then saw the for sale ad... That seemed like a cool car.
Excited to see what you do with the Fox, I definitely understand knowing the limitations of the big old Gm's. They can be coaxed to perform, but you seem leaps and bounds ahead to move to something smaller and more modern like the fox.
In reply to Gunchsta :
Nice! Where abouts are you from?
Yeah, it's still a little painful to think about all the time and $$ I spent on the Bel Air and how little I got to enjoy it, but that's the way it goes sometimes. The Mustang has already been a ton of fun to rip around with in stock form, now it's time for a long winter of building!
I saw you do some autoX, what group are you doing that with?
I haven't seen a clean one in MI, it's on my want list. Have fun with it.
edit: that isn't priced as if it's made of solid gold with Diamond studded bolts.
In reply to olso3904 :
I'm from Richfield. I am a member of MAC, and I mostly try to hit their practice/test days at DCTC - I haven't participated in an official event yet. I'm putting together a Civic right now in hopes of doing more driving events. I'm coming off of some bigger, older domestic stuff as well. I put together a 63 Nova a while back that I had a ton of money into as well, and though it worked well for what it was, it would have needed a lot more money to get it to that next level.
You from the Minnetonka area?
In reply to FunkyCricket :
I looked on and off for awhile and jumped on the first one I saw, luckily it is fairly clean, the underside and panel corners have a few crusty spots, but mostly superficial.
But! A really clean one popped up for sale after I bought mine
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/d/1984-mustang-svo/6737454069.html
Gunchsta said:
In reply to olso3904 :
I'm from Richfield. I am a member of MAC, and I mostly try to hit their practice/test days at DCTC - I haven't participated in an official event yet. I'm putting together a Civic right now in hopes of doing more driving events. I'm coming off of some bigger, older domestic stuff as well. I put together a 63 Nova a while back that I had a ton of money into as well, and though it worked well for what it was, it would have needed a lot more money to get it to that next level.
You from the Minnetonka area?
Nice! I lived on Irving for a few years. I live in Carver now.
How is MAC? I would be interested in dipping my toes with DCTC and SCCA Track Nights, seems like a good starting point. Your Civic looks fun, how far along are you?
I hear that, after I got my Bel Air driving, even with decent power discs, sway bars, springs and quick ratio steering, my wife's F-150 felt more at home being swung around corners than the big B-body. It really needed some big money spent to get where I wanted to be. Oh well, I lived out a street NASCAR fantasy for a few months and moved on.
In reply to olso3904 :
In my somewhat passive experience MAC is great. I did an autocross class with them and the instructors were really helpful and nice. DCTC is a really fun place to run. They split it up into 2 sections for the autocrosses I've done there, but I know that you can do some pretty inexpensive time attack/track days there on the full course.
The Civic is coming along, I have a build thread for it on here keeping track of progress. It's been the biggest project I've tackled so it's a learning curve on how to prioritize parts acquisition and installation. I have a lot left to do but it's getting there. Engine is in, body panels are painted, interior is cleaned.
The fox should be a good platform, certainly a wealth of information and aftermarket out there for them.
Do you already have the SN95 control arms? I’m pulling a bunch of stuff off of my 92 that you may be able to use.
In reply to akylekoz :
Dang, just installed some Moogs I ordered. If you have other parts let me know
I also wrestled my rear control arms out to get my torque box reinforcements in and put in my poly chinese control arms
And while making room for the rollcage and torque box braces I pulled up the carpet to find Ford factory workers gloves left on the floorpan, seems like someone had a "not my job moment"
I got the suspension put back together for a test fit and ran into a few snags.
The torque box reinforcements with in with a fight and I'm sure they don't hurt anything, but I am skeptical of the advantages of them, especially the uppers.
And, while I am still suprised of how nicely made the rear control arms are for $100, the hardware shows out cheap of a kit it is. The upper control arm bolts are 1/2 too long and the lowers are 1/4 too short.
The caster plates when in pretty nice too, but I had to reuse some of the factory spacers to get it to sit in the right location.
The real trouble is the Moog front springs. I wanted to keep the front end near the factory height, since the rear was sitting perfect with the factory springs, but in order to switch to the SN95 arms, so I have replaceable balljoints, I had to go to regular GT length springs. I found a set that had a spring rate close to the SVO (SVO was 380, GT was 410). They went in with a decent amount of effort and definately gave me enough ground clearance... maybe just a little too much. They also feel quite a bit softer than the factory springs, but it is hard to judge since the factory springs were broken. Hopefully they settle a bit otherwise I might have to start lopping coils off. I also need to adjust for adding seats and a cage, but I would get alot that will rest towards the rear
can't say I know what torque box reinforcements are specifically, but when you build the cage, make sure to build the feel of the main hoop (and front downbars) on plinth boxes that attach to both the floor and the sills (much stronger), and then tie those into those reinforcement plates shown in your picture.
Also lets you drop the cage down to do the top welds, so it's tighter to the roof. Way better than cutting holes in the floor...
i.e.
In reply to AnthonyGS
That is full trim, minus the seats. 
In reply to irish44j :
That's a good idea, I'm trying to do a rough layout of the cage and was looking at the best way to mount the main hoop. Looks like most people put a hole in the floor just in front on the crossmember and run a spreader across the floor to the crossmember and door frame. I like the box idea, but does it give you enough room to drop the cage down far enough to weld the top seams?
Also is it easier to run a halo bar or separate side bars with a windshield bar, or do tech inspectors have a preference?
I debated how much spring to cut off to try to level the car out and was almost started with 3/4 coil, but decided to sneak up on it and started with just 1/2 of the tangent side. Good thing i did, because the car now sits level with the seats and some ballast thrown in.
Next project is to weld on the subframe connectors and then start laying out the cage.
I added 230V power to my garage when I put a sub-box for my heater in last year, but I still need to make an outlet and start shopping for a bigger welder. I have welded 3/16th with my 140amp welder, but not sure I am comfortable using it for a cage.
On that note, ARA, NASA and RallyAmerica all recommend 1.75x.095 tubing for main bars and I am on the fence about going to .120 for main bars, just because any wheel to wheel bodies require it. Do most rally cages use .120 or os .095 the norm?
You may want to do some research on the rear suspension of these cars and how well upper control arms like the ones you purchased work with the rest of the system.
Go read and come to your own conclusions. This can be a touchy subject so I'll just leave it at that.
