2003 Mustang Cobra convertible getting e-level setup!

[2fup]

Looking forward to seeing the Cobra Phil congrats!! a job well done.Here is the car that i will be putting accuair system on


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[Fastphil]

As Ratfink said, we have had an eventful couple of days. Friday was a marathon day of 18 or 19 hours, but we ended up falling short of the goal line. We really worked hard to get the car done, but it became obvious that we just weren't going to make it. What did us in was the mishap on day one, in the first hour or two of our project. The damn torn brake line that ended up making us replace all 4 of them killed us because we had to flush and bleed the entire brake system. When we ran out of fresh brake fluid at 4am on Saturday morning, we realized it wasn't gonna happen.

Anyways, here is the rest of the stuff that went on.

Michel started off Friday's work by designing and fabricating a tank mounting bracket. This was necessary because the tank mounts over the spare tire well, and one of the two bolts was directly over the tire. Even though the system is functional, the bracket is still evolving. We have not yet determined how to attach it to the floor in front of the spare tire well.



Meanwhile, I was finishing up the power wire for the compressors at the front of the car. We had fished it through the inner fender on the driver side so that it doesn't clutter up the underhood area. Not like a wire takes up a ton of space, but space is already at a premium with a 4-cam supercharged V8 under the hood. In case you're wondering, the other little box with the car on it is one of those rust inhibitor doodads. Don't ask me if it works. I guess we'll find out in 30 years.



Once we got the wiring done and the tank temporarily installed, the rear suspension was fully functional. We were finally able to remove the car from the garage to turn it around and clean up the floor while it was out. It was also a great chance to take a couple photos and a video.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnDd8qEfcJM"]First drive of in-progress Bagged03Cobra - YouTube[/ame]

With the car turned around (not much room to work on all 4 corners at once due to the sandblast cabinet), I was able to have a closer look at my right front tire, which was heavily damaged from rubbing on the inner fender liner. It's hard to tell in the pic which spots on the fender liner are where the tire rubbed. It doesn't look like much, but it's the only real possibility and the angle looked right. In any case, the damage is done, and I now need two new tires. We heated and mashed in the sections where it was rubbing.



We drilled the A-arms to mount the lower plates, then fiddled around with the upper spring cups before we figured it would just be easier to drill a couple more holes to pass the air line through. The way Ridetech suggests to route the air line is difficult, runs close to the exhaust and steering shaft, has some very tight bends in it, and virtually eliminates the possibility of the hose having a straight shot into the quick-connect fitting in the cup. Their instructions also say to cut an inch off the all-thread stud before mounting the cup, so I did it. Turns out an inch is way too much. I had to go to the store to buy a new rod, and the correct length was about 1/4 inch shorter than what Ridetech supplies. Why they don't just cut it to length before shipping, I don't know.




Michel then mocked up the ride height sensors. Unlike the rear, there were a couple of options, but one stood out for its clearance, travel and ease of installation.



By this time, it was getting towards midnight, and I got sick of taking pictures because I just wanted to get it done. We finished up the front suspension install, plugged the air lines in to get it functional, and routed the sensor wires. I'm really happy with how we routed the wires. They're completely out of sight and out of harm's way. Michel showed me a trick he used on his Harley, using a vacuum cleaner to draw a length of yarn through the K-member support brace. The plan was to draw the yarn through, then tie the sensor wires to it and pull those through. The yarn didn't do it because it kept bunching up somewhere, but we used some stiff electrical wire and that worked like a charm. There was no other practical way to get the sensor wire from the passenger side back to the driver side, because even tie wraps would shear off as soon as I go over a speed bump.

Once we got that done, we put the front suspension back together. We were then able to move the slack in the wires and air lines back to the rear of the car, using a ton of tie wraps as we went. Just for kicks, I took this pic of the ass end sitting just above the ground while the front was on stands.


We then put the rear on stands as well, so that we could double-check everything. At this point, we were still plowing ahead full steam, thinking we would get it done. Then we started bleeding the brakes. Through carelessness, the master cylinder had run dry while the torn line was on the car. Anybody who has had this happen knows what I'm going to say next: There was so much air in the rear brake lines that it took over an hour of bleeding before we ran out of fresh brake fluid and called it quits for the night. It was 4am, and we were spent.

Next update for today's work is coming shortly.

[02Saleen]

awesome work man! ive been a long time lurker but i figured id register and start posting! Im currently getting ready to bag my mustang as well, with a full ridetech setup

[Ratfink]

Looking forward to seeing the Cobra Phil congrats!! a job well done.Here is the car that i will be putting accuair system on


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Man this is one sweet ride.

[Fastphil]

awesome work man! ive been a long time lurker but i figured id register and start posting! Im currently getting ready to bag my mustang as well, with a full ridetech setup

Thanks man, glad I could draw someone into the fold. I'm new here too, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Fastphil]

For anyone who's reading the updates directly in their email, I added a bunch to my latest update, so click through to check it out!

[Fastphil]

Today was a short day because I had a hard deadline. I had already missed my previous deadline for the All-Ford show. I didn't care too much about that because I was wanting to go for the drag racing anyways, and I wasn't gonna drag race with a bum tire and an untested suspension system. But the family BBQ was something I wasn't going to miss.

With 3 liters of fresh brake fluid in hand (I wanted to be damn sure I didn't have to go back to the store to get some more!), we picked up where we left off, bleeding the brakes. There was a shedload of air in the rear lines, but once we got the old dirty fluid out, I was able to recycle the fluid by dumping it back into the master cylinder reservoir. Turns out 3 liters is way too much, so I'll return the two unopened bottles tomorrow. The front lines were pretty clear of air because I had let them gravity-bleed after installing the new lines. It was just a matter of flushing out the old fluid and making sure there was no more air. Now that I've driven the car, I know without a doubt that when the reservoir ran dry, air must have gotten into the ABS system, because the pedal is nowhere near as firm as before. This is the number one reason why I'm hesitant to bleed brakes on any vehicle unless I'm damn sure it's necessary. I'll have to get it done at a shop, along with an alignment and two new tires.


Once the bleeding was done, we put the wheels back on and got the car off the stands. I put the finishing touches on the air lines and wiring between the rear seat and trunk. There's so much stuff in there, it's pretty impressive! Michel strapped the tank into the trunk so that it wouldn't move around while driving, then we ran the e-level's self-programming function. It measures travel then sets the presets at 10, 50 and 90% of the suspension's travel automatically. It's pretty neat to watch.




Finally, after almost 6 full days of work, the car was on the ground and out the door. There are things that remain to be done, but the car was rolling and fully functional. The trunk panels still need to be cut and put back in after the tank is installed. We have to keep the spare tire accessible, and cut clearance holes for the heads of the compressors, and in the front panel for the air line to pass through. I have to go under the dash to double-check the wiring I did because I think I didn't tap into the best sources for ignition and lighting. We have to silicone all the red air hoses where they pass through the body so that water doesn't get into the car. The custom-fabricated bracket for the VU4 manifold came unglued from the floor. On the drive from Michel's house to mine, I noticed the soft brake pedal as mentioned above, and probably the brake backing plate on the left front wheel is slightly touching the rotor. There's also a brake fluid leak somewhere in the left front wheel. That's all I can think of for the moment. (I made this list as a future reference for myself, and of course to inform all the readers as well).

I didn't have time to clean up the car and take good pics, so without further ado, here is the finished product!









I'll let you figure out which pics were taken at which height preset because I wasn't keeping track. It's worth mentioning that as long as the road is smooth, the car is fully driveable when completely aired out. The rear tires still rub on the bumper/quarter panel joint, but that's no big deal. Even the slightest crown in the pavement causes the car to scrape, so it's probably no more than 1/4 inch off the ground when aired out.

The neighbor kid who came by on day one came out to see the finished product. His mom said that my care is *really* nice.


Giving credit where credit is due: Thanks to my girlfriend Veronique for holding down the fort while I spent way longer than predicted in the garage working on this project, and still loving me through it all. Thanks to Michel's wife Jo-Ann, who treated me like family while I was stealing her husband's time and attention, and for feeding us so well all week. I can't imagine what we would have eaten if Jo-Ann wasn't around. And last but not least, thanks to Michel (Ratfink) for agreeing to tackle this project in the first place, and for doing so much of the hard work, despite the headaches. Without your commitment, I would have never even ordered the parts. All the above people and I were on vacation for the duration of this project.

No animals (well, maybe a few mosquitoes) were harmed during this project, and everthing was done in an ecologically friendly manner (well, except for the inherent burnt hydrocarbons that a supercharged V8 spits out). That's it for now. I'm here to answer questions, accept praise, and ignore criticism until we get back in the shop to work out the bugs. I see lots of people are viewing this thread, but not many comments coming in. Let's hear your thoughts, people!

Later.

[Pat]

Legendary, amazing work! This picture took the cake for me:

[Ratfink]

No animals (well, maybe a few mosquitoes) were harmed during this project,

Humm, I do remember a cricket that was relocated in the shop vac.... but he was really annoying.

[stout90]

sick cobra!

[Fastphil]

Here's a quick video we shot today, Michel got the first drive to see if everything was good. It's kinda long and doesn't show much, but it might be worth watching anyways.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-_xwHv5kSU"]Fully functional first drive of Bagged03cobra - YouTube[/ame]

[Sticky4]

Great build, I love the CCW's and bags on a car which isn't a BMW or VW!!

Looks really good, I installed my own bags and know how rewarding that is...

Plus you're from the QC too!!!

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Legendary, amazing work! This picture took the cake for me:

Co sign. Looks amazing.

[Fastphil]

Thanks, guys. I'll try to get some better pics soon, but my first priority is to relax while I still can.

[Fastphil]

I just took care of a few of the problems on the list I had. It was in fact the brake backing plate that was scraping on the left front rotor, so I just pushed it out of the way. I also double-checked the wiring job I did under the dash. I must have been in a daze when I did it, because both wires were tapped into the wrong circuits, and not even just switched around as I was expecting. I found the proper circuits with a test light, and now the keypad lights up with the ignition on, but the dimmer function doesn't work. I'll have to check that. The keypad also shuts off now when I turn the ignition off, and the compressors stop running when the ignition off, as they should. Turns out the pancake button has to be held for 3 seconds to work, and it works just fine. That was a user error. There's no brake fluid leaking in the left front wheel either, it must have been some leftover fluid that was trapped somewhere when we were working on the car. So that's it for working on the car until next weekend. I'll be shopping for tires tonight.

I've made a couple of observations so far: The car is harder to get out of now, because the ground is higher up! The road also looks a lot closer when aired out. The ride so far is less jiggly than it was, but I'll have to try it on some more familiar roads to make a final conclusion.

Later.