Mods you never thought you'd do... I just did some

[Givens]

When I bought this car I thought I'd just drive it on the weekends and take it to the track every now, and then. I really never thought about making major changes to the car, but the more I take it to the track the more changes I wanna make.

So when I took the car out for the first time this year I noticed there was a small drop of oil under the diff and knew I needed to reseal the cover. I was thinking about ordering the FRPP cover as I just have the stocker with the brace. But then this happened...

I ran across this 8.8 out of a Fox body, with 3.55 gears. full spool, Strange 35 spline axles, racing diff cover, 9in ends 5\8 studs , and welded tubes.

It wasn't as clean and I would have liked it so I worked it over some.

I cleaned up some of the old welds

Here it is painted and getting ready to put in the car

I order the Team Z grip series 1, it comes with upper and lower control arms, anti sway bar, Strange double adjustable shocks, and drag springs.



Here it is all installed on the rear end, it was all pretty strait forward on the install.

I pulled the IRS so I could get started with the install, here's the IRS and SRA sitting side by side.

I went ahead and order torque box reinforcements, I think they'll be a good idea at my power level and the direction my car seems to be heading in. Here is some of the install I started taking pics but then started slacking some.

I started with the lower torque boxes, I marked it so I would have a good reference to cut, I started off with a metal cut off wheel. I ended up using a saw zaw that I cut the blade in half, so it wouldn't be so long. It seemed to be a lot easier to use and worked much better.

Here it is installed, I had to make a few more cuts to get it to be able to fit in there.

Here is what it looks like in the car when your done, the upper are real easy, you just drill the holes for the torque boxes and install the bolts. I welded them on the bottom not sure I have any pics of that.

I took the uppers back out and stripped away the sound deadening material so I could weld them on the inside.

I haven't welded the inside yet I have a few more things to do and i'll get back to that.

To explain a few things I went with the Fox body rear end cause its an 1.5" shorter than the 99 to 04 rear, so that 3/4 of an inch on each side. Some claim the IRS is even wider than the SRA, I haven't measured it yet I guess I should.

I have a few more mods to install, I just never thought I'd be going SRA or Auto this just came in from Freddy Brown freshly rebuilt 4R70w with trans brake built for 1200hp.

Please feel free to share mods you thought you'd never do, I know I'm not the only one....

 

[cj428mach]

E85 and a t56 magnum

 

[NateDogg]

I like this thread idea.

I never thought I'd be pulling a motor out of one of these cars. But I had to when I bought this one.

I barely drive them. I'm on my third on and I've probably put a combined 5k on them. So to pull the motor to do cams was something I thought I'd never have to do.

 

[NateDogg]

double.

 

[MG0h3]

Damn Givens thats changing it up for sure.

 

[Givens]

I like this thread idea.

I never thought I'd be pulling a motor out of one of these cars. But I had to when I bought this one.

I barely drive them. I'm on my third on and I've probably put a combined 5k on them. So to pull the motor to do cams was something I thought I'd never have to do.

I drive mine maybe 1000 miles a year and I've pulled the motor to put cams in also. You might as well put head studs in it while your there.

E85 and a t56 magnum

I'm on E85 also just no magnum, but I thought about it, had to rebuild my T56 about 100 miles ago.

 

[NateDogg]

I drive mine maybe 1000 miles a year and I've pulled the motor to put cams in also. You might as well put head studs in it while your there.

Yup, went with the ARP 2000s.....just incase lol

 

[Givens]

Damn Givens thats changing it up for sure.

Yea, i guess so, it always ends up being more work than I anticipated

 

[MG0h3]

Ive always said I wont do that to this car but Im contemplating going turbo now. Ive had turbo stick cars and wasnt really happy so I know where thatll end up.

I sometimes think I should dump this one and get a new GT but I cant get over the looks of the cobra.

 

[Givens]

Ive always said I wont do that to this car but Im contemplating going turbo now. Ive had turbo stick cars and wasnt really happy so I know where thatll end up.

I sometimes think I should dump this one and get a new GT but I cant get over the looks of the cobra.

Oh I'm with you I already bought a turbo kit, I'm not putting it on this year cause I don't have everything I need. I bought an 01 cobra motor complete just for the upper and lower intake, plus front timing cover.

I've thought about buying a new GT also but I like the looks of this car to much.

 

[MG0h3]

hahah. Thats hilarious.

What kit did you go with?

 

[Givens]

hahah. Thats hilarious.

What kit did you go with?

I bought a Hellion single kit off of a local guy, I got a real good deal on it. I may sell and buy a different kit. It was just to good to pass up.

 

[MG0h3]

You in Houston? Someone on here has one there. I havent decided if that one or a CG kit would be better.

 

[mkb116]

Twin turbo, 6r80, solid axle, cage is next. Geez. Shoulda bought a dam GT and cut it up.

 

[MG0h3]

Twin turbo, 6r80, solid axle, cage is next. Geez. Shoulda bought a dam GT and cut it up.

lmao

 

[ITSTOCK]

I wish I had room like you have to work! Working out of a 2 car garage sucks.

I'll NEVER hack up this perfect condition low mileage car and put a cage in it!

6 months later....

 

[Givens]

Twin turbo, 6r80, solid axle, cage is next. Geez. Shoulda bought a dam GT and cut it up.

Wow 6r80 that's sweet, I knew some people were working on it, didn't know anyone had it figured out. How do you like it and how is it controlled?

I wish I had room like you have to work! Working out of a 2 car garage sucks.

I'll NEVER hack up this perfect condition low mileage car and put a cage in it!

6 months later....

Nice cage, is that a 6 point? Looks like it came out really nice, I'll be putting in a cage here pretty quick.

It sucks getting kicked out of a track but if your running that fast then you definitely should have one in the car. The shop is a byproduct of what I do, so it works out nice, plus I've done a lot of work in a two car garage I feel your pain.

 

[IllCobra]

I'm with Nate, I never thought i would be pulling out the motor on my car and be installing different heads. I was just going to get my 4 thread heads worked on but ended up finding a set of DC casting heads for cheap and went that route. I also went with ARP 2000 heads studs.

I can say right now that I would never turbo, cage, SA, or auto the car...let's see if i stick with that as time goes haha

 

[ITSTOCK]

Nice cage, is that a 6 point? Looks like it came out really nice, I'll be putting in a cage here pretty quick.

It sucks getting kicked out of a track but if your running that fast then you definitely should have one in the car. The shop is a byproduct of what I do, so it works out nice, plus I've done a lot of work in a two car garage I feel your pain.

It's an 8 point 10.0 cert. I did it more for safety than anything, as the car should be running mid 9's at 145 with nitrous. For how cheap a custom cage is, it just seems stupid to not have the added safety feature. Plus, if I really want to remove it, it will take about 10 minutes to cut the bars out, then I just have to replace the carpet and 2 speaker grates on the rear deck.

The line that I was unwilling to cross was the 8.50 cert /through the dash cage.

 

[apex svt]

Doing the solid rear end build, arb, welded torque boxes as well. Someone's I think I'm hacking up my car but then I think what's the point of all this power if I can't stick it. Told myself I'd never do a cage, sticking to that one. My track doesn't require it