S550 Upside Down and on the Wrong Side Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

[GAR944]

Whenever this thread pops up I immediately think of a Diana Ross tune..........I know, I know nothing to do with cars................

I heard the first few beats and instantly knew.
Glad you get a kick out of it.
You guys are a great bunch of people. Awesome that people who have never met and unlikely to have a fun connection with others who share a common hobby.

 

[GAR944]

View attachment 108689 This is the front pair for the Multimatic DSSV shocks I put on my car. 5/8"bearing bore, 16mm"shaft. I only had one set, (long story). Getting them from Multimatic is theoretically possible but no time line given and $$$$$. So I ordered 5/8"mis alignment spools that were the correct heights (very close) from QA1 products. Perfect fit for the bearing, .005" tight for the shaft. What to do? Backyard lathe, chucked the new spacers into my drill press and then used a carbide burr to open the bore a little at a time, stopping often to test fit onto the shaft. Material is very hard so it was slow going even just taking 5-6 thousands. I would call Watson, they are great and will help you figure what you need. Just let them know what shock shaft diameters and the bearing bore diameter.

Looks like this might be easier than i thought. Still need to get parts made but pretty straight forward.
This was my original spherical bearing with top nut and lower part is part of the spring plat form. The 2 bearing are similar in height, like close enough not to be worried.
I just have to have those parts remade for the slightly larger 3/4' bore. Tweaked the design to simplify as i know how much clearance they will need. Extended the top nut to get a socket onto it as its buried deep in the FP350S housing and done.

Will revisit the top nut as its slightly smaller than the outer edge of the bearing top face, might got up a socket size and see if it will still clear.
First iteration and its now midnight so that will do for today.

 

[biggsy]

Curious to see how to do it. Been wanting this camber plate for years but thought you needed the DSSV coilovers.

 

[steveespo]

Looks like this might be easier than i thought. Still need to get parts made but pretty straight forward.
This was my original spherical bearing with top nut and lower part is part of the spring plat form. The 2 bearing are similar in height, like close enough not to be worried.
I just have to have those parts remade for the slightly larger 3/4' bore. Tweaked the design to simplify as i know how much clearance they will need. Extended the top nut to get a socket onto it as its buried deep in the FP350S housing and done.
View attachment 108693View attachment 108691
Will revisit the top nut as its slightly smaller than the outer edge of the bearing top face, might got up a socket size and see if it will still clear.
First iteration and its now midnight so that will do for today.
View attachment 108692

And just like that.........

 

[GAR944]

Curious to see how to do it. Been wanting this camber plate for years but thought you needed the DSSV coilovers.

This is the bearing according to the FP350S parts list.

Part Number PWB-12T, Aurora Bearing PWB-TG & PWB-T Series Spherical Bearings - PTFE Lined - Self-Lubricating On The Timken Company

Browse Part Number PWB-12T, Aurora Bearing PWB-TG & PWB-T Series Spherical Bearings - PTFE Lined - Self-Lubricating in the The Timken Company catalog including Part Number,Item Name,Description,Bearing Type,B - Ball Bore,D - Outside Diameter,W - Ball

cad.timken.com

3/4' internal diameter.
It just a matter of making the inserts for the thread on the end of your shock and lower part to adapt to you top spring platform.

Given they are $250US at the moment, just grab a set. At least you wont get reamed on international freight.

 

[bnight]

Curious to see how to do it. Been wanting this camber plate for years but thought you needed the DSSV coilovers.

it's better if it's attached to a DSSV coilover though

 

[biggsy]

This is the bearing according to the FP350S parts list.

Part Number PWB-12T, Aurora Bearing PWB-TG & PWB-T Series Spherical Bearings - PTFE Lined - Self-Lubricating On The Timken Company

Browse Part Number PWB-12T, Aurora Bearing PWB-TG & PWB-T Series Spherical Bearings - PTFE Lined - Self-Lubricating in the The Timken Company catalog including Part Number,Item Name,Description,Bearing Type,B - Ball Bore,D - Outside Diameter,W - Ball

cad.timken.com

3/4' internal diameter.
It just a matter of making the inserts for the thread on the end of your shock and lower part to adapt to you top spring platform.

Given they are $250US at the moment, just grab a set. At least you wont get reamed on international freight.

You are right. I can worry about the measurement and how-to later. This site really does empty the wallet

 

[GAR944]

Hoses turned up, way nicer than the previous ones. Bonus is they are lighter and more flexible.

Had some options and went with BMRS hose and fittings.

Pushing Boundaries in Motorsports Performance | BMRS

The Challenges of Modern Motorsports Motorsports push vehicles and components to their absolute limits, with teams battling harsh environments and the limitations of traditional parts. Components face extreme temperatures, high pressures, constant vibration, and debris. Standard parts often...

bmrs.com

The guys at Motorsport Connections even had a look into my issue of blowing the hose end off. It appears to them that the hose i was supplied wasn't what they considered appropriate for the task. Rubber component was a bit soft for their liking. Needless to say i won't be going back to that supplier. Fittings were fine as they are the same as a brand they supply with a really good reputation.
Makes me feel a bit better that it probably wasn't my incompetent arse that couldn't screw a hose fitting together.
Either way i'm going compression crimp fittings for anything under pressure in the future.
All fitted back to the car already, now just putting the rest of the front end together.
Wanted the oil system all sealed up before i start chopping into the tops of the strut towers.

 

[steveespo]

Nice work. I should do the same. Had two oil line failures. One my fault, one not. What a mess and the second one cost me $630 for track clean up.

 

[GAR944]

Nice work. I should do the same. Had two oil line failures. One my fault, one not. What a mess and the second one cost me $630 for track clean up.

$1200 worth of hoses is still cheaper than an engine in my case. I was lucky this time. Learnt my lesson and the old do it once and do it right.

 

[biggsy]

$1200 worth of hoses is still cheaper than an engine in my case. I was lucky this time. Learnt my lesson and the old do it once and do it right.

Improved racing offers BMRS and they offer the option of them making the lines. Once I get the measurements, that's what I plan to do because this is something that has been on my mind.

 

[GAR944]

Improved racing offers BMRS and they offer the option of them making the lines. Once I get the measurements, that's what I plan to do because this is something that has been on my mind.

The one benifit of making your own is you get the alignment of the end fittings clocked correctly. They then make great templates for crimped hoses. Just be aware or you need double swivel ends at both ends of your hose. Talk with the guys who end up making them where you can get away without swivel fittings. Save some dollars.

 

[GAR944]

Once again, sucker for punishment, while it was in the air and all the underneath plastics off, might as well attack the new camber plates.
For those not following all the details, got hold of some FP350S camber plates from Watson Racing. Very nice of Pete Fortener from Watson Racing to go through the hassles of organising the international delivery for what was a small order in the grand scheme. Unfortunately for me what i saved on the plates as they were on special i paid for in freight. Being on the other side of the globe is a bugger for things like this.
Needless to say is was very happy when this turned up.

Race car porn, the ducks guts so to speak. Well it was until @steveespo posted his version that comes on the GT4 Mustang, Dark Horse R Mustang. 21 Car in another thread. I still love the look of mine and they are period correct for mine as its a 2017.
After overlaying them on top of my current tops and trying to work out how they place i ended up totally confused. I used the 3 black bolts on top as my frame of reference and nothing seemed to line up. If i rotated them to pick up the mounting holes they were more castor plates than camber plates. Spent some time on the internet looking for every picture i could find of a FP350S strut top. Not a lot out there but i knew where they should sit and the holes didn't line up with anything. Ok, maybe they drilled a new pattern to suit. Reached out to Steve and asked if he knew or knew someone who might. Graciously he gave me a name to contact. At that point something he had mentioned triggered my sometimes slow brain and i started comparing photos.
My units are reversed compared to every picture i have seen of them. The picture on the left is from the manual for the race car, mine is the one on the right. Now these units can't be build backwards as the end plate with the bolts coming from underneath are countersunk into the main plate.
Not sure what my version is but, same same but different.

Now that i had realised that, turn them around and surprise surprise, the 3 mounting holes line up with the factory holes. Who would have thought. Confusion reigned in and progress can begin.
Now everyone talks about how to enlarge the hole in the strut top for normal camber plates, been there, done that. These suckers require the complete removal of the hump on the strut tower. Oh, and cutting off the bolts for the strut brace.
A bit of thinking, some measuring and trial with an oscillating saw proved its pretty thick steel.
Don't know if you guys have Bunnings, bloody great big hardware store, where you are but they are about 1/2 a mile down the road from me.
If you are in Australia, you go to Bunnings to get whatever the better half has tasked you with for that weekend, and you pick up a Bunnings snag, ie BBQ sausage in bread with onions and sauce etc. Its tradition.
In my case though, this is the sucker i was after.

Fits surprisingly well over the top mound of the tower. Take it slow, that sucker can grab. Vacuum at the ready and slowly slowly.



Cuts the top layer off with a hole slightly larger that the lower opening of the 2nd layer.
Now the serious butchery begins, as if the first part wasn't rough enough. Time to clean up the rough cut to give a nicer outer edge. Laminate trimmer, "baby router" for the win, just add carbide bit with flat cut end.
Realized that the top surface is far from smooth and got the oscillating saw to work taking the raised lip from around the edge. Set the depth on the trimmer and removed the flakey bits from the upper layer.
Did a trial fit of the plate and realised that the hole needs to be opened up further to allow the spherical bearing plate to move its full travel. Pulled the plate completely apart, after digging out my imperial size spanners. Seriously, whole car is metric and the make the race parts imperial. Lucky i've had old British cars. Well a Morris Mini with a 1275cc engine and disc brake upgrade. Mounted the bare base plate and marked out the extra cutout.
Then we get to cut 2 thicknesses of steel at once. This thing works a treat.

And you end up with something like this.

Put the plate back together for a trial fit.

If i rotate the block around i have probably picked up close to 3/4' from my previous max strut tops. Have the feeling i won't need to run these at maximum. Time will tell once its all finished. Haven't finished cutting the 2nd side but close. Then strip it down and clean up the tops and give it a coat of paint before putting it together again properly.
It's a big job but not actually that hard assuming you have the right tools handy. The hardest part was removing the strut tower brace, have to lift the trim piece at the bottom of the windscreen. To do that you have to remove the wiper arms, those things can be a pain in the butt. I also wanted to remove the secondary plate that bolts to the base of the windscreen.
@biggsy I may have been premature with my comment of just grab a set, but at least you now know what you need to do, i have faith in your talent.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

The hardest part was removing the strut tower brace, have to lift the trim piece at the bottom of the windscreen.

Any idea whether this introduces some sort of unwanted flex?

 

[GAR944]

Any idea whether this introduces some sort of unwanted flex?

The factory brace only goes back from the top of the towers to the top of the fire wall cavity hiding the windscreen wipers where its bolted to a second plate that bridges to the firewall just under the windscreen. Not what i would call the most rigid structure. Will it flex more, probably, will it be a significant amount of flex, i highly doubt it. Most modern cars are way more torsionally stiff than their older counterparts. The factory FP350S didn't have it, pic below. Admittedly it was stitch welded also. Will i notice the difference, highly unlikely. I will however notice the camber gain i get back after reducing it when going to 11' rims on the front.
Would have probably had to remove it anyway for when i finally get around to doing the Cobrajet manifold that is sitting patiently in my garage.

 

[GAR944]

Spent some time over the weekend and got everything cleaned up and assembled properly. Well 95% properly, I still need some parts made, but in the interim a coke can was sacrificed to make shims to pack out the small difference in diameter for the spherical bearings. If memory serves me it was 0.15mm overall difference.


Either way they get me my camber back and then some. Both sides read just over -5 degrees so I can now get them set properly knowing I am deciding what to run and not limited to that's all I can get.

That's a 305 on an 11' X 19 tucked inside a stock GT guard.

I may have to go up to a 7' spring as the top attachment point is higher than previous. I'm pretty close to the top of the thread for the lower spring plate. Or I need to grind the concrete at the crest of my driveway before it grinds my exhaust off.
It's booked in for an alignment as I'm sure the toe is miles off now and after all the tyre discussions recently I'd be stupid to run it without seeing where everything now is and dial the camber back some.
Just happy it's back on the ground and running without any issues so far. Boy did that oil get everywhere.

It was on special so I stocked up as I keep finding spots where it has drained out of.

 

[biggsy]

great progress!

unfortunately I was a day late. they no longer sell them. I guess I will have to wait 5-6 years until they have left over stock.

 

[GAR944]

great progress!

unfortunately I was a day late. they no longer sell them. I guess I will have to wait 5-6 years until they have left over stock.

To be honest they wouldn't be that hard to duplicate. If you ever want to go down that path I can easily get you some measurements. Would help to have a friendly machinist on board caus one off work is scary pricey I'm finding.

 

[bnight]

Either way they get me my camber back and then some. Both sides read just over -5 degrees so I can now get them set properly knowing I am deciding what to run and not limited to that's all I can get.

That's a 305 on an 11' X 19 tucked inside a stock GT guard.
View attachment 108980

Aren't you scrubbing tires on the inside fender that way ? At -3.2 With the 295/35 I'm rubbing on the fender liner (if you removed them maybe you are safe) at full lock.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

when i finally get around to doing the Cobrajet manifold that is sitting patiently in my garage

Interesting. Any idea when that might happen? I have always wondered why track day guys are not using these, as they pick up horsepower up higher where you will be driving on track.