70 Boss in featured rides

[Payton King]

Am I the only one that noticed the red 70 Boss on the home page or did y'all already discuss it and I am late to the party again?

How slick is that thing? I am curious on the "experimental IRS"

[XcYZ]

Isn't that a bitchin ride? Mike's changing the motor and making some changes to the chassis. He'll probably chime in.

http://www.lateral-g.net/members/murray

http://www.lateral-g.net/members/murray/PICT0007_f.jpg

[T Bell]

d@mn it is. No chrome at all. That thing is sweet!!!

[Payton King]

what is wrong with a Kinsler injected all aluminum 347 stroker? I can see how disappointing that motor must be....yea right

[XcYZ]

Well, there's nothing wrong with that combination, Payton, but a change is in store. I'd really prefer if Mike explained. :thumbsup:

[mazspeed]

That thing is bad ass.

[TravisB]

Mike-where did you get the shifter knob? Also did you paint the inside of knob or did it come that way? I have seen them in in bare aluminum but can't find them anywhere?

car looks nice by the way

[Diognes56]

That car IS sweet. It should be interesting to see what changes he will be making :yes: .

David

[groovyjay]

69-70 my favourite 'stang years! Very cool looking machine you've got there Mike! :thumbsup:

[907rs]

Nasty!!! :evil: :evil:

[Speedster]

That is one of the hottest looking Mustangs I have seen in a long time. It just looks bad ! And a '70 - my favorite year.

[67Sally]

Very nice!!
W.

[69MyWay]

Oh my! I just might become a Mustang lover after all! DANG...that baby is sweet!

[RussMS]

Great Looking Stang. :hail:

[markss28]

Freak Dude!!! that thing is sweet and probably the best PT mustang that I have ever seen. I am really taken back by it.

Great car Mike.

[fvike]

Love the strictly business look! :clap: But shaved doorhandles never look right on muscle cars... :pushbutto

[Steve Chryssos]

That's one nasty streetfighter. The fabbed console and underhood detailing are pure genious. Nice work.

[mehal]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the kind words on the car. It's been a long (and difficult) journey with that thing. I thought it was finally done, but as usual my luck turned bad. To answer a few questions:

ENGINE - I blew the motor last September on the way back from a local car show. The engine just simply started running bad, so after limping home I took it apart and found that my billet steel roller cam had busted in two right at the 4/8 cylinder bank. The engine only had about 2k miles, so I spoke with the shop that did the motor and they said it was either a defect from the cam manufacturer (Ultradyne custom grind) or bad harmonics from the gear drive which they warned me not to use! Either way the motor has to be rebuilt. I was originally shooting for more horsepower (600-700), so I might try and do more cubes but stay with a 302 based block and cleveland style heads - just like the original Boss motor (which I still have).

IRS - Ford had the guy who designed the Cobra IRS do a design for the early Mustang. I think his name was Klaus Arning. Anyway, they never put it into production because it was expensive and did not offer much improvement (sounds unbelieveable). A guy in Utah found the blueprints and began remanufacturing them under CTM Engineering. The whole story can be found on http://www.geocities.com/ctmengineering/mustanghome.htm. The short story is that I screwed around with this thing for 4 years before I got it to work right. It is a fairly complicated multi-link, reverse A-arm setup with leading and trailing links. In defense of CTM, I did have them narrow the thing an inch on each side for my big tires and I swapped the original Dana center section for an all aluminum unit. So these changes probably added to my woes. But I learned a lot along the way and after much money and pain, I swore that if I ever did the car over I would put a double A-arm IRS in it if I could find one that would work.

SHIFTER knob - came from Billet Balls (www.billetballs.com) and I had the center painted.

What's next, well in the course of getting the IRS to work, I found out that the rear frame rails on the car are slightly off due to years of smoky burnouts and racing abuse. I did put an 8 pt.roll cage and subframe connectors in the car, but apparently too late. So between needing a new motor, having a questionable IRS and rear frame geometry. I stepped up and ordered a full sheet-metal frame from Darryl Schroeder race cars in Oregon. He's the guy who built the frame for Chris Titus' 56 Speedster and the 55 Newmad Chevy wagon that was famous a few years ago. It will use Corvette C5 aluminum A-arms (Henry - forgive me!) but will have a Ford/Dutchman center section. I'll pull everything else from my current suspension. I've got a few other idea's lined up, but don't want to ramble on here or bore you with the details until I am close.

I've got a few other projects that I'm working on right now, so the Boss won't be back until next year. You'll appreciate the other rides, so I'll figure out how to post some pics.

Thanks, Mike

[Roger Poirier]

Am I the only one that noticed the red 70 Boss on the home page or did y'all already discuss it and I am late to the party again?

How slick is that thing? I am curious on the "experimental IRS"


I did notice it also. Although I'm late to the table. Too busy working on the goat. Looks sharp!

R.P.

[mehal]

Well let's see if the picture thing works.

The first car is my 60 Ford Wagon/Starliner. There is a concept drawing and an in progress shot from last summer. Its got 22s & 20s, Air Ride, Injected 514 Crate Motor, 6-speed, Baers, etc..

The second car is my 57 Ranchero. Also got a concept shot and in progress from last spring. Its also got 22s & 20s, Air Ride, Injected 460 Crate Motor, 6-speed, Baers, etc..

I'll have a web site up soon with these and a few more projects.

Thanks Mike

[race-rodz]

wow wow and wow, the mustang is killer, and boring us with detaisl is great...keep em coming. the wagon is oh-so-sweet, need more pics, and the same goes for the ranchero

[Al Moreno]

Hi Mike, I cant pick up on all the changes going into the Starliner but by the pics, that thing is going to be Badasssss!!!

Thanks for shring the pics, keep us posted.

P.S. Do you have a contact # for Darryl Schroeder race cars in Oregon?

[markss28]

Mike,

My brother and I are building a 69 fastback. He had wanted to put an IRS in the car, I voted for the straight axle 9inch. Which one in your opinion is the better choice and why?

[MaxHarvard]

Very sweet ride!

[hotwheels]

That is bad ass..............wowza :wow:

[mehal]

Al, Darryl recently moved into a new shop and I do not have that number yet. All I have is his cell phone and I'm not sure if he would want me to post it. I will be speaking to him on Monday and will ask him what number to give out.

Mark in regards to IRS or straight axle, it's really a matter of budget and personal choice or desire. An IRS will almost always ride better and if it is a good design and setup correctly, will usually outhandle a straight axle. I say usually, because sometimes the performace margins between the two are so small and a particular course or driving style can slant the favor towards one or the other. So in my humble opinion the questions below are the decision points that may help you decide.

IRS:
1. Do you want to spend the extra money ($3-5k more)?
2. Are going to build the car more for ride/handling than straight ahead racing?
3. Do you want a bigger WOW factor for your car and suspension?
4. Are you willing to put in the extra effort to make an IRS work in a car that never had one?

Solid axle:
1. Are you building the car on a budget?
2. Are you willing to give up a little handling/ride quality for better straight line acceleration?
3. Are you looking to keep the car as low-maintenance as possible?

All that being said, knowing what a hassle it was for me, and not knowing you, I'd recommend a solid 9 inch with coilovers and a multi-link setup. You'll save thousands and will probably never realize the difference. The best/coolest unit on the market is from Total Control Products by Alston Chassis works and is the design that Unique motors uses in their Eleanor replicas. And if you ask them, they'll tell you their unit is superior to an IRS. Air Ride suspension has also come out with a bolt-in setup for early Mustangs, but does not seem to be as trick as TCP and uses air shocks (which is a whole different discussion).

If you have the money, skill and patience then an IRS is trick and has the ultimate WOW factor, but there are only two somewhat "bolt in" choices. One is the CTM style that I used (link is in my previous post) and the other is by DVS restorations (http://www.dvsrestorations.com/) which uses a late model Mustang IRS. In my humble opinion, I'm not sure I would use either one. The CTM unit is under-engineered and the DVS is ugly and heavy. I have gone a little over the top on the next build of my car by doing a complete frame and custom suspension, but this was the only way I could get the performance, look, and peace-of-mind that I wanted.

I hope this helped, feel free to ask anymore questions.

Thanks, Mike

[markss28]

Dude that sums it up for me. Now all I have to do is convince my brother to stay with the 9inch.