Inherited a Street Beast from my dad

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by ziggy75

Does anyone know about the crank driven power steering pump? It has one and my original intent was to remove it but now I am having second thoughts.

If I was in your shoes, I'd take a look at what I have in front of me. If you have an engine with a power steering pump and a power steering rack, then keep it all, hook it up and use it.

OTOH, if it was me and knowing what I know now after owning a Cobra with power steering, I'd remove the pump (and keep it for possible later use) if the rack is a manual one. Just my $0.02.

Keep in mind whichever way you go now you can always change it later. In my (brief) experience, these cars are projects, they're never really completed.

[ziggy75]

He opted for a power steering rack. It is already set on the frame and attached at wheels. It would seem to be fairly simple to reuse the current pump at crank and run a line to the rack and a line to a reservoir. The current reservoir is a can that is attached at the engine. My thoughts were to remove this and use a power steering reservoir off a newer ford and attach on fender apron.

[ziggy75]

Just curious as to how often you guys strayed away from the manual and went your own way. I was looking at the book the other night and it appears to be somewhat non specific on certain areas. Almost like someone who has never explained how to put a car together wrote it. If I recall, he ordered a painless wiring setup for the car. I think it came from SB for the car.

[Wbulk]

Most manuals with a few exceptions are not very good. That's the nature of the industry. Most are general and vague. Instructions like install suspension or install wiring are typical.

[joyridin']

One of the reasons you see so many SB and CMC Cobras for sale unfinished is because their manuals were so pathetic, your average weekend mechanic did not have a clue how to assemble it.

Use the manual for a few body panels, a few frame pieces, and that is about it. The rest can pretty much hit the trash.

[Tom Wells]

ziggy75,

You may want to be careful with using/rebuilding the crank-mounted PS pump. There are several threads like this one below on 460ford.com which seem to point toward a few "gotchas" if you want to use that rig. Not saying you shouldn't, just saying it's a bit of an oddball setup and has some potential pitfalls.

Here's an example:

crankshaft driven powersteering pump - 460 Ford Forum

If you go there and search on "power steering crank" or "power steering crankshaft" you'll get the full flavor of some experiences with this pump, what to do if you want to use it and also a way to change over to the more modern(?) version if you decide to.

Hope this helps,

Tom

[MOTORHEAD]

Tom: ironically, the link to the thread on the 460 ford forum was posted by the OP of THIS thread, and his father !!

PS: A lot of marine engines use crank drive raw water pumps. Only one small bracket to keep pump body from rotating, takes up very little space, and no belt to come loose/break. Hadn't heard of it being used for PS pump, but why not?
FWIW, my opinion is to keep the PS. Easy steering=quicker steering, a+in these cars that can spin on you in a nanosecond !

[mptech]

FWIW, I used a Painless Wiring harness and Power Steering on my Factory Five build and would do it again. Highly recommend them both.

I'm running a healthy 302 and it's a lot of fun, but a friend has a well-built 460 and it runs GREAT and really sounds good (nothing like the Big Block sound). With all of that torque I'd look at 3.27 or lower gears too.

Good Luck on your build, sounds very special.

[RedEye]

Ziggy, PM Sent

[Tom Wells]

ziggy75,

Maximum embarrassment over the link! Hope it didn't cause any downer.

Tom

[ziggy75]

Tom,

When I saw the link, before opening, it sounded familiar. No apologies needed. He was inquiring about the same thing as I am.

But I really appreciate all the help and condolences from all of you.

[cycleguy55]

I ran across this which, while not focused on Street Beast cars, provides some insights into spring rates, sway bar sizing and driving style, and how the relationships among those components should be considered - particularly when selecting spring rates and shock settings.

Ignore the advertising at the top and go to the 'Coil Spring Selection Guide' tables near the bottom. Also, please note the caution / disclaimer about using this guide for vehicles other than Superformance brand cars. For clarity, I'm providing this link for insights into the inter-relationships of the different elements and things to be considered, not as a rule book to be followed for your car, or any other for that matter.
Cobra Valley's SHOCK & SPRING Suspension UPGRADE

BTW, the information on sway bars (Cobra Valley's R/T Street & Racing Sway Bar Package) has me curious about what exactly is on my car. I do know the adjustments on my QA1 coilovers are set about their mid-point, which would be too firm if I were to follow the Performance Unlimited guide for shock settings. OTOH, I believe my car carries more weight than Superformance cars, so a bit firmer may be in order (though it would seem mine are set much firmer).

[ziggy75]

I browsed through Okieguys site on his build. I got to the end and saw the, "After 6 years I'm finally at the final assemble stage. It's now going together like the "kit" that it should have been." Does it really take 6 years to build??

[ziggy75]

I am looking at assembling the rear axle soon. My dad had taken it apart to put in a 31 spline setup from an Explorer that I bought him. He already has the 31 spline axles. My questions is this.. What all should I be replacing to put this together? I really need to think hard about what gears I will go with. Currently, the setup is stock which is what came with a 94 Mustang. So they are either 2.73 or 3.08 gears. Ive only changed gears once in my lifetime and that was with the help of my dad. This was around 12 years ago. I see kits that offer everything which will run me around $110. I would hate to spend more than is needed.

[cycleguy55]

I have 3.00:1 behind my 460 and they work fine with my transmission. Combined with the 3.28:1 first gear ratio, I have a combined ratio of 9.84:1 and it will launch pretty well. With my tire size of 295/50R15 (overall diameter of 26.6"), I'm running 2,650 RPM @ 70 MPH.

Your choice of rear end ratio will depend upon the overall ratios - 1st gear as well as top gear. As this is primarily a street car, how much highway or freeway use do you expect?

The first thing is probably to determine exactly what you have in both rear end (count the teeth) as well as transmission. How tall are your rear tires going to be? What is the maximum RPM you expect to run? Once you have that information you can go to any one of many gear ratio calculators, plug in your ratios and see whether that will work for your intended usage. The one at Calculators is pretty good, but there are plenty of other online calculators.

[Tom Wells]

ziggy75,

It depends

But you knew that...

First, what transmission do you have or plan to use?

I use C-6 automatics which have a 1:1 ratio in third. I use 2.73 8.8 rears and am very happy with the results.

If you have or intend to use an overdrive trans, you may want a higher number axle, say 3.55 or 3.73

To find out what ratio is installed in the rear you have, count the ring gear teeth (the large one with the big hole in the middle) and the pinion gear teeth (much smaller with no hole). Then divide the ring gear count by the pinion count. An example is: ring gear 41, pinion 15, so 41/15 = 2.73333 which is called a 2.73

Hope this helps,

Tom

[ziggy75]

I believe its a C6. It is what came with the 69 Lincoln. As stated earlier, the carrier is still in the axle but I plan on switching out the carrier with a 31 spline Explorer carrier. The axle that he bought ended up having a broken axle, which he didnt realize until after we got it home. He wasnt too happy about that. I have a set of 17" Cobra R rims. So I am thinking 245/45-17's.

As for replacing bearings and such, should I purchase the $110 kit and do everything? I would hate to go through it all if it doesnt really need it.

[Tom Wells]

ziggy75,

Hmmm....

Rebuilding a differential is not a beginner's chore. The pinion depth needs to be exact, and the tooth engagement pattern takes some labor to get correct.

Here's a sample of "how-to": 1998 Ford Mustang Cobra Budget Rearend Rebuild - MM&FF

The fancy limited slip isn't needed for normal street use; you can use the standard one from Ford perfectly well.

If you search on "mustang 8.8 axle rebuild" you'll see a bunch of hits describing how other folks get it done.

Then, you decide. Is it better to have a pro do this job? I can't answer that one for you - I have done a couple and they didn't always turn out perfect - perhaps yours will!

If it was easy, someone would have already done it LOL

Tom

[ziggy75]

Thanks for the link. I will take a look at this later. Like I said, I have changed gears once but it was 12 years ago and it was with my dad. I am trying to remember what all we did. It was a really loooong time ago. I know that we did not replace any bearings. I completely forgot about the crushed sleeve. I know we replaced the clutch pack. To be completely honest, the gears went together perfectly. We didn't need to change anything on shims. This is probably why I do not remember much about it.

[mdross1]

Our 460,5 speed with over drive has a 3.73 gear it works for me, quite a bit of aggressive driving also a great cruiser. You cannot beat the painless wiring strongly suggest drawing up your own diagram as you go along for future reference. You might not like the power steering time will tell