That time again...
 

Well, well, well. Its that time again... I'm about to install all the "soon" stuff in my signature. Now the question is: What to do next?

Suspension: check
Chassis: check (for now)
Power: Power. Hmmm. I'm running out of bolt ons. I don't have enough for a blower, but I'm wasn't planning on doing that for a little while anyway.

Any sugestions?

Thanks.

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1997 Cobra
Suspension: Steeda G Trac. Tokico Illumina shocks and struts, Sport Springs, upper and lower control arms, cc plates, rear adjustable sway bar, front sway bar, subframe connectors, bushings, Cobra R wheels

Exhaust (soon): FRPP ceramic headers, Bassani X-pipe w/ cats, Dynomax Ultra Flow cat-back

Bolt-ons: 4.10s, Steeda Tri-Ax, Pro-M 80mm, K&N, Steeda Underdrive pulleys, Steeda timing adjuster (soon)

Sounds like that should be enough to keep even the most serious gearhead happy. Do you plan on keeping the car streetable, or are you building a racecar?

Also, what RPMs do you run at 60 MPH in 5th gear? I am getting ready to install my 3.73s, and expect my RPMs to increase by 400 RPM, which means I will go from 1900 RPM to 2300 RPM.

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'97 Cobra, K&N, Rio Red

It will always be a street car, but not a daily driver, so I can forgive some milage loss, and added ride harshness. Although so far I'm actually getting better milage then stock. Basically I want to be street legal and streetable but out run and out handle pretty much anything. 911 Twin Turbos for example. http://www.mustangworks.com/interact...oard/smile.gif

For the 3.73 @ 60, it should be closer to 2150-2200. 3.73/3.27 * 1900 = 2167
At 70 I'm right at 2500.

Not that bad really.

How about some drag radials (always good)? Other choices include some combination of alum drive shaft, upgrade to a 5 link suspension, torsion type differential, Brembo (Cobra R) brakes. I've heard that there are a few intakes about to hit the market (about freakin time), maybe even that, or a set of Cobra R cams.

I don't know. The car is deffently a long term project, so any of the above would be fine, and I'm not in any hurry. I'm just looking for feedback or opinions.

What are the advantages of an aluminum drive shaft? Weight?

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'97 Cobra, K&N, Rio Red

Weight is a minor advantage. The real advantage is that they are less prone to drive line valbration, which can occur at speed (80+) when running gears.

So that may be something I should consider after installing my 3.73s. I have seem them in catalogs for around $150. But why would running lower gears amplify the vibrations? I guess because of higher speeds....

An aluminum driveshaft will help out in a couple areas. 1. Aluminum is lighter than stock steel, and so reduces your drivetrains rotatiing inertia, this decreases the power lost between the crank and the rear wheels, which in effect will increase acceleration. 2. Aluminum is not as hard as steel and so driveline vibrations are absorbed more effectively. 3. Aluminum is tougher than steel (it has a larger elastic range on the stress-strain curve, this does not mean it's stronger, just that it is more resiliant to abuse). When higher gears are used more stress is placed on the drivetrain components. Aluminum is less likely to fatigue due to the increased stress because of its superior elastic capability.



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2000 GT Conv. 5speed
Triple Black
Current Mods: K&N
Future Mods: Too Many to list

The vibrations are caused by a harmonic that forms in the drive shaft. When you install a higher gear set the drive shaft is spining faster at any particular speed then before you installed the gears. So the vibrations become more noticable at a lower speed.