Reactor No.4

[Chev Korbin]

Hello all, I would like to introduce one of my projects, Reactor No. 4. She is a 1986 t-top mustang and will be my daily driver. I have dubbed it sort of an executive rat rod style, street sleeper. My focus will be on street manners, reliability and function. I have a pretty tight budget so I will also be doing as much of the work (if not and hopefully all) my self. Here she is as she sits now,...








here are a few shots of where she started,..







The '86 was just a shell and I cannibalized the '90 for the engine and transmission, and a few other parts here and there. The '90 was filthy and the body was beyond my ability to repair,..



Anyway, it has come a long way and now that she is running I am looking forward to the next phase of her build which will be all pro-touring! The most important part of the build for me is the suspension and IRS. It is the defining characteristic of how the car feels and handles on the street. Keeping in mind that this will be my DD for some time to come, the IRS will also dictate how I am going to build and tune the engine. I am not trying build a torque monster drag car, rather a swift agile (street)corner carver. The engine that is in the car right now will hopefully come out in the next year or so and I would like to put in a coyote. I will probably put the pushrod motor in the cougar for a bit since it has relatively low miles and I really want to drive my '67 again! The next phase of my build will involve body work and paint, tuning and upgrading the suspension and components, and A-lot of interior work!

Well thanks for looking everyone and don't hesitate to ask questions if you all have any!

[xsboost90]

nice! Interested to see the IRS go in. And more pics of the cougar!

[Chev Korbin]

Thanks, The IRS is actually already in/under the car, just don't have any good pictures. Ah yes the cougar,... that car is my first and when I do start that project, the pictures will be abundant... oh yes.

[Tig]

Very cool.
I had a 90 that looked exactly like your donor but, mine had 10 wheels.

Lookin forward to your updates especially with the IRS

[Chev Korbin]

Thanks Tig, yeah I really like the titanium color, might go darker when I get around to painting the Reactor. I perposly (well financially, hehe) didn't upgrade it because I wanted to have a basis of comparison when I do start suspension upgrades and rebuild the IRS. I gave it a solid once over and took care of some rust and called it good. It had really low milage and wasn't abused

[bonecrrusher]

How hard is it to mount up that IRS unit?

Its that from a 03 Cobra Terminator?

[Dave B]

I love the look of the car, in the second picture, it's looks awesome with out the spoiler. I had a 79 Capri, and sold in when I bought a 88 5.0L new...I should have kept them both.

[Chev Korbin]

How hard is it to mount up that IRS unit?

Its that from a 03 Cobra Terminator?

It was not hard to mount at all, drilled 4 holes to mount the rear IRS cradle brackets and everything bolts right up. I did remove the bump-stops and upper control arm mounts. The hardest part was plumbing up the brake lines. My IRS is out of a 2001 Cobra.

I love the look of the car, in the second picture, it's looks awesome with out the spoiler. I had a 79 Capri, and sold in when I bought a 88 5.0L new...I should have kept them both.

Thanks, I have been going back and forth on whether or not to run a spoiler,... I'm leaning towards the latter. The hatch is from a gt and I do have the wing,. looks decent actually, imo

[LERM]

This thing is COOL. I'm a sucker for a fox mustang.

The IRS swap idea is super intriguing. Big brakes and better handling in a near BOLT ON package? Seems too good to me true.

Strong work under the hood as well. Its obvious some love and attention was paid under there...

[Chev Korbin]

Thanks LERM! I'm diggin your fox too. Can't wait until I can get mine on a track or auto-x. Need to do some front suspension work and rebuild the transmission before I can even consider racing her though.

[Chev Korbin]

I have seen so many awesome updates on other builds and realize it's been a bit since I posted any updates. Truth be told I haven't been able to work on the car lately but I did get some stock springs under the front of the car. Sits all up high like it came from the factory again, but I did eliminate the "bottoming out" from the short springs that where on the car. I may pull them back out and cut a 1/2 coil out to bring it down just a bit. Starting some body work soon, just small stuff really but I have decided to get rid of the t-tops,.... I know I know. Just turning into more hassle than they are worth in my opinion, like 3x as much to do weather stripping and if anything ever happens to the glass, they are a bit pricey to replace. It's been a pain to locate the right door glass and also stretching my budget. I can spend 1/2 of the cost and chop a roof from the junk yard and hopefully sell the tops with the roof/t-top bracing and make it out under budget.....might not doit till next spring but if anyone is interested pm me.

[DrFraZZy]

Hell no.. dont even bother cutting the ttop.. just keep it garaged! I know they are pricey to replace but they are worth it in the end. Wait until you finish it and you will be glad u kept it.

[Chev Korbin]

I hear ya FraZZy but I have tried before to get rid of the t-tops in a way that would suit the fans; I have tried several times to trade the chassis for a non t-top hatch and it has always fallen through. Either the person bails or their trade a rust bucket and the t-top is in excellent condition rust wise. I have modified it enough that it can only be run with IRS or a Torque arm rear suspension..... Ill probably sit on it for a while but its just not my thing. Yes I know, "why did I buy it then?", well at the time it was just sort of an investment that I couldn't pass up and I didn't even know it was t-top until I went to look at the car and make an offer,... I almost walked away. Anyway I have fortunately been able to put some time and money in it and now I'm beyond the point of no return. I'll still put a roof in the shed and see, but who knows, maybe i'll be able to get a suitable chassis to drive, restore the t-top to a four-eye and garage it.... only time will tell

[Chev Korbin]

So finally got around to rebuilding the transmission,.. well I'm in the process anyway. The transmission that was in my donor failed shortly after I bought it and I put in a used one. I was having to be really gentle going into second and third; had to let the rpm's come way down before shifting. It had also started leaking and got noisy as a result. So, I took it out and disassembled it.



All taken apart....


.... second gear is badly worn


reverse idler gear took a hit


Luckily I do have a few T5's on hand to cannibalize for parts. I'll see if I can get a second gear out of one of them along with the idler gear. New synchros and bearings have already been purchase along with a few other choice items which should make for a nice stout box when it's all said and done. I'll take some more pictures of the process for all the voyeurs out there, hehe.

[Chev Korbin]

Took apart a blown T5' for second gear.....



This was a sad case of two gears trying to be engaged at the same time.... doesn't quite work so well. Third gear is completely destroyed and the cluster gear is trashed. Fortunately I was able to salvage the second gear and slider,.. after disassembling the main shaft for the T5 that will be rebuilt and inspecting the slider, it also needed to be replaced. Still have to clean the case so I can install the cluster gear and the main shaft. Should have the main shaft assembled and ready to go and the T5 back together no later than Monday.... more to come

[cbpldc]

Nice work! Having owned 7 Fox's, I have a bit of a thing for them.

Chris

[Chev Korbin]

Well.... was sick for a few of the days I had planned on finishing the transmission so that was a little bit of a set back.. also had to have the driveshaft shortened. Now I have to remove the clutch because the pilot bearing has walked loose and is out behind the friction disk. Anyone ever have this happen or run into this problem? Anyway, transmission is done and waiting to go back in but now I have the dilemma of going to a solid bushing or staying with the roller bearing. The transmission had a lot of play in the input shaft when I took it out which I think contributed to the pilot bearing "walking" out. I have always heard that the bell-housing needs to be trued and checked for runout before using a solid bushing. I don't have any experience with this subject and I am now on a time crunch to get the car back on the road. I remember that the bearing fit snug when I installed it; I had to press/beat it in, and now that the transmission is set up nice and tight with no wobble Im thinking the bearing will work just fine. I have seen plenty of pictures on them failing and what it can do to a good transmission, but I am very respectful of the fact that this is one of my only means of transportation and I do drive conservatively with an occasional spirited spurt here and there but nothing abusive.... yet...

... What are all your thoughts? I would appreciate any experience you all would like to share on the matter.

[Chev Korbin]

Well,.. transmission got rebuilt, driveshaft was shortened, pilot bearing and clutch friction disc where replaced and front springs had a coil taken out. The top of the front fender well openings sits at approximately 25-3/4" and the rears sit at just under 26". The mustangs stance is pretty much level now and I can move on to planning the next few projects. First though, new toy..........



Still need to get a couple 220v outlets installed; one for the welder and one for the air tank. I would like to start on body work so I can paint this summer but now I am debating weather or not I want to go ahead and x the T-tops or wait until maybe next year to do it. I don't want to be on a strict time frame but seems to be that way lately. In all likely hood I'll have to wait..

Still have a small list of upgrades sitting on the shelf, waiting on few more components to gather but progress is being made and I can drive her on a daily basses....

..small update, but until next time

[Josh@Ridetech]

Nice job! I'd like to see the IRS install as well.

[LERM]

Its awesome that you can fix the trans yourself. Even cooler, now I know that you are a resource for when I give it a shot myself! I have a t3550 in the corner of my shop that needs fixed, I plan to go through it when I get caught up on my other 1001 unfinished projects.