Grabber Lime 2020 GT Build Thread

[shogun32]

Jeans shorts and open toe sandals? Oh Giant Meteor in the Sky, where art thou?

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[WD Pro]

Jeans shorts and open toe sandals? Oh Giant Meteor in the Sky, where art thou?

I live in shorts all year round in the U.K. so long pants in Florida just wasn’t happening lol

Anyhow, they are linen and pretty much all the males had either pink or blue in the same design.

Sandals we’re oiled Birkenstock, they were a defo upgrade to my usual choice of Crocs

Wearing a jacket and being tucked in was at special request from my misses - for the ceremony only, but I did stick it out for the day

WD

 

[WD Pro]

I’ve got a few ongoing jobs with the car at the moment but in the meantime, I’ve a few updates that I’ve already posted elsewhere on the forum that I will also add in here (with a bit more info)

I’ve been knob polishing again ...

My original Grabber Lime :

Which made me think about doing a 'Patriot' ...

So I bought a second knob from @Alfa Male and after a bit of TLC, it cleaned up really well

The new knob came with a chip :

And the typical poor finish around the base (although this one is better than I remember mine being) :

After a quick rub on some wet n dry :

I measured before and after and I had to take 0.95mm off to remove the chip - if it was just the rough finish, I guess about 0.25mm would have easily done it

I’m aware that it could make hiding the top of the reverse collar a bit more tricky, but I think the knobs probably have larger tolerances that might affect that fit (like the depth of the relief and the start position of the thread on the insert compared to the one on the shaft etc).

My recollection of the first knob I did though is that it ended up with a bigger flat - but that one still fits my car / covers the reverse collar perfectly.

So here it is in Race Red, Oxford White and Grabber Blue :

Like everyone else at your next Mustang meet, I also bought a T Shirt (from Tesco) :

Is it naughty of me to wear it driving my GT … ?

The black oxide 12.9 diff bolts didn't last long over here before I needed to clean, waxoyl and cover them :

I bought @Alfa Male ‘s second hand mustang mats and although very good condition, they got treated to my normal wash method i.e. chuck them in the bathtub, sprinkle them in shampoo (normally Vosene lol) and hit them with the nail brush :

As expected, very little came out of these mats, they didn't even need a rinse.

I cringe to say this as I know someone will go all out extreme and scrub a hole in their mat, but careful use of a wire brush does wonders to lift flattened pile around the heel area etc :

Done and (hopefully) ready for some embroidery

After messing around under the back end a bit lately, I thought some eye candy was in order :

I had heard (no pun intended) that due to having a spherical bearing in both ends, the links can pivot over time and then foul / rub on the mating components potentially causing some noise, so …

Bottom mount both sides - rubber and stainless washers :

Top inwards facing - O ring sits nicely in the joint :

Top outwards facing - rubber washer behind the OE safety washer :

I will cover all mating faces in a waterproof grease and wipe off the excess after assembly.

Hopefully that will keep them quiet and add a bit of long term dust protection for the bearings.

These are currently being held to ransom though - I can’t fit them until my birthday …

After a bit of a search, I finally managed to find RHD specific dead pedal covers, so we bought two and I split the costs with @Tinpot (they are from Germany ) :

Me being me though, I had to fiddle with it - and ended up sending far to much time getting mine exactly as I wanted it …

Some needle files and a bit of wet n dry :

Allowed be to knock back the brushed finish a bit (top cover) :

Dress up the internal rads a little better :

Remove the laser marks from the perimeter :

And then to stop this :

Dremel the sharp edges / burrs off the back :

Then I re taped the back (bottom cover) and used thinner tape at the ends to allow for the shape of the Ford plastic piece (that wouldn’t flatten out fully, even with the heat gun) :

The cover is much easier to apply with the plastic piece off the car (it simply clips out) and keeping it in the house for a few days will give the 3M tape a better chance to bond :

WD

 

[WD Pro]

Just adding a few posts together of things I have been up to so I can add them into here

It finally came out of winter hibernation :

I stripped off, cleaned up and repainted the only rusty clip from under the hood (the one from the sound tube - that Ford U.K. only sell as part of the full sound tube assembly) :

I used iron remover to clean up the pipe before refitting it :

I finally got my dead pedal assembly (hard to find for RHD) clipped back in place :

I managed to get to the front diff bolts to clean off the rust, apply waxoyl and then cover them to match the rears :

Not the easiest of things to get to lay on your back on the pavement lol.

Whilst I was under there, I clocked the outer toe link bushes which really surprised me

I knew it was sitting a little higher since the diff work was done and using the arch to the line in the tyre moulding, I dropped 5mm from the right side :

And 6mm from the left :

The vertical links still need clocking - but they will be replaced with the J&M spherical versions (once they have been released to me awaiting my birthday ).

The camber arms still need clocking - but they will get done with the alignment.

Can’t beat a bit of colour coding …

Kit supplied by me, embroidery from a local shop - It came about after looking around for someone who can do my mats for me.

Little things, but they keep me happy … lol

First set I’ve found with flags on that actually screw on properly and cover all the brass (excuse the dirty wheel) :

I’m not sure why we get our euro wiring looms undersealed, but after getting the new diff cover etc the temp sensor loom was letting things down :

So I neatened up the wrapping and cleaned the exposed wires back to their original colour :

This post came from here : https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/euro-cars-diff-oil-change-advice-experiences.186902/

It's a bit of a long story, so bear with me ... lol.

In bullet point format :

• I broke a diff bolt.
• Ford took care of the warranty.
• Part of the job was to replace the diff oil.
• Part of the job was also to include fitment of the steeda diff bushes and cradle lock out.

I got the car back and I have to say it was great, much more 'solid' feeling at the back and much more predictable during enthusiastic driving, BUT I had a couple of small issues (although they were far outweighed by the improvements) :

• Full lock turns on a cold diff = huge diff chatter (like the diffs going to drop out or explode kind of loud ).
• Some very marginal gear whine, only when warm and only when on / off throttle at low speeds in first gear (7 to 11 mph driving over speed humps etc). Can't hear it when the speed is faster due to other road noises and it was kind of mild enough where my misses would be like 'what noise ?' lol.

So it would have been dead easy to blame it on the Steeda kit, but as it also drove diffetly I part convinced myself the diff was acting differently, which made me look closer at the diff and the oil change, this is the bit that's especially important on a euro

So UK manual (no friction modifier) :

USDM manual (with friction modifier) :

So a call to my tech confirmed no friction modifier, no mention of it on their system.

So I get the friction modifier spec and part number and go visit the parts department = They recognised the number, but couldn't order it and confirmed it was obsolete and removed from the system several years ago. I think he said the last cost was circa £45

So I bought some of ebay (£13 delivered ) along with some big syringes from Amazon and spent a bit of time under the car :

Sucked 130ml out, squirted in the friction modifier, squirted oil back in to bring the volume back to where I started (I will check it again when cold / level) :

I immediately did a full lock turn in the street, the chatter was significantly reduced.

Took it for a drive with a few roundabouts (and a few wiggles on exiting them lol) then parked it up overnight.

Cold start the following morning, full lock coming off the drive (where I initially noticed the noise) and it was silent.

Got it warm (but not stinking hot) and it was silent over the speed humps coming home.

So in my experience, on my car and its current setup, friction modifier is definitely needed if you want a quiet ride. 'Maybe' you would get away without it on a totally standard car / fully rubber bushed / partially worn diff ?

Interestingly, I had semi convinced myself that some the the nicer driving properties were due to the diff locking up quicker due to the lack of friction modifier and I was worried I would miss that by adding the modifier back in, but as it turns out it's still driving the same so the differences must be due to the steeda kit

Took it to my first local car meet of the year, which I arrived first …

With the field being shut as it was to wet, it soon got busy though …

There are a few other forum members cars in those photos @Tinpot @philmil

WD

Edit for some bad grammar.

 

[NGOT8R]

Nice subtle touches there @WD Pro! I like the stocking cap on the shifter knob too! Gotta keep it warm because you certainly don’t want it to catch a cold, lol.

 

[WD Pro]

Nice subtle touches there @WD Pro! I like the stocking cap on the shifter knob too! Gotta keep it warm because you certainly don’t want it to catch a cold, lol.

I have more ...

One for the oil slick purple / mischievous purple gang :

And I have a special one that will make an appearance for the next festive season ...

WD

 

[NGOT8R]

I have more ...

One for the oil slick purple / mischievous purple gang :

And I have a special one that will make an appearance for the next festive season ...

WD

Your interior still looks like it’s showroom new. How many miles have you put on the car so far?

 

[WD Pro]

Your interior still looks like it’s showroom new. How many miles have you put on the car so far?

Only 2.5k as it’s summer / dry day only car and I missed a week short of three good months last year due to the repair …

Very little of that mileage is commuting though, it’s mostly all ‘fun’ miles - and I’m only about 6k a year total anyway.

I do try to keep cars tidy though, this is my 65k twelve year old daily :

And the drivers mat (original) after it’s recent wash, it’s developed a water leak on its trunk - hence the photo :

WD

 

[NGOT8R]

Only 2.5k as it’s summer / dry day only car and I missed a week short of three good months last year due to the repair …

Very little of that mileage is commuting though, it’s mostly all ‘fun’ miles - and I’m only about 6k a year total anyway.

I do try to keep cars tidy though, this is my 65k twelve year old daily :

And the drivers mat (original) after it’s recent wash, it’s developed a water leak on its trunk - hence the photo :

WD

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I like your style!

 

[2021 Mach 1]

Never a truer word said in jest …

Joking aside, Disney being Disney will actually do you any theme (with characters) that you want, but we didn’t want that and even if we did we couldn’t afford it - having a few characters turn up is about as expensive as the Cinderella coach …

Our video landed this morning so I grabbed a couple of screenshots from my phone. My three ladies :

For those of you that know Disney, the ceremony was at the wedding pavilion (Grand Floridian), the reception was at Sea Breeze point (Disney’s Boardwalk) and for the evening desert party we had a private area for the fireworks at U.K. loch side (Epcot)

WD

Mazel tov!

 

[WD Pro]

I finally fitted by birthday present (J&M vertical links)

It was quite nice to see that my little bit of seal / alignment development must have got spotted as J&M recently amended their kit to include something very similar - more details here :

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...heir-rear-wheels-off-do-me-a-favour-….185422/

On with the pictures :

Dumbest nut design / usage in the world - they are already semi rounded, they get stuck in your spanner and the design is prone to rust :

Evidence that standard vertical links should be clocked :

Done :

This turned out to be a very easy job, this is everything that was required :

The rubber mallet was only used to remove the original links (the bottom bush bites into the ally arm), NOT for fitting the new links !

The wheel change studs are a nice thing to have, but not a necessity.

The old duvet is just a bonus to make the cobbled drive a slightly nicer place to be

I did have a second jack on standby (to move the lower arm independently to the body), but it just wasn’t needed :

I'm not going to put multiple topics on this one post as I suspect I might quote my fitting instructions in future (and quoting a post with multiple topics is a bit of a pain to edit on a mobile)

WD

 

[WD Pro]

After reading probably every vertical link fitting instructions I could find and viewing the same on youtube, it was clear that some people really struggled - I have even seen some guys resort to using a hammer to persuade the new links to fit ...

No way was I doing that to my pretty red links, so I was a little bit nervous about how this was going to go, how long it was going to take me and if I could do it without resorting to brute force and / or marking up the new links.

Turns out it was actually really (really) easy, with nothing more than basic tools and it took me a total of 2.5 hours to do both sides, including getting all the tools out, putting them all away, taking multiple photos and spending far too long procrastinating ... lol

So based on my car (Euro / PP1 / Magride), here is what I did. Yes the steps are abbreviated, but I am sure you can fill in the rest like 'remove wheel' or 'torque bolt using a impact gun until it breaks' etc etc

1. Ignore all instructions and videos that tell you to raise all the back end on a lift or jack stands. THE SUSPENSION NEEDS TO BE SUPPORTING THE WEIGHT OF THE CAR.
2. Chock the front wheels.
3. Lift one corner with a jack under the rear control arm, just enough to raise the tyre off the ground so it can be removed (approx 1/2"). The car should still be pretty much level - level enough not to trigger the alarm on the enhanced security package (i.e. don't assume your rear wheels are safe with that alarm system).
4. If you feel safer, put something under the frame rail BUT DON'T TAKE ANY WEIGHT ON IT, it's a safety measure in the event of jack failure etc.
5. Undo the vertical link top bolt. If (like mine) the bolt is under no stress, it will remove easily by hand and the link will stay pretty much in its home position.
6. Undo the bottom bolt.
7. Pull the top of the link towards the front of the car (enough to unseat the top conical bush) and tap the link downwards with a rubber mallet to remove it.
8. If necessary, clean up the internal faces of the fork in the lower mount of the control arm.
9. If using links with spherical bearings, ensure they are straight relative to the link.
10. Loosely assemble the top bolt whilst keeping the bottom of the link rotated in the gap between the control arm fork and the brake disk (like it's a pendulum on the top bolt).
11. Once the top bolt is in place (but not tight), swing the bottom of the link into the fork of the control arm - a little grease and a bit of wiggling might be needed, but it should go in with reasonable hand force.
12. Look down the bore of the bottom bolt hole, wiggle around the knuckle / brake disk assembly so it looks good by eye.
13. Bottom bolt should go in easy and start the thread without any force.
14. Tighten everything up and you are good to go.
15. Wheel back on, repeat on the other side.

This single picture should be good enough to suss out what I am describing in steps 10 and 11 :

My theory for the people that have struggled - I suspect that lifting the car by the frame and letting the suspension droop puts the link in a position that's slightly out of alignment and places stress on the bushes. That stress makes the new link difficult to align, especially in the case of a link design that resists movement in that direction i.e. (to some extent) poly and (especially) Delrin.

Whilst lifting the lower control arm with a second jack may help to bring the assembly back into alignment, it introduces another variable - and why bother when a single jack under the control arm only (in my experience) holds everything in a near perfect position ?

Hope that helps - I would be glad to hear feedback either way

WD

 

[shogun32]

Inspired work. The problem is pros don't work crawling around on the floor. A trans support jack or doing the swap on alignment stand might be an alternative.

Either way @Hotpart.com got themselves another sale.

 

[KermiStang]

Nice job and glad it worked out mate. Re' "why bother when a single jack under the control arm only (in my experience) holds everything in a near perfect position ?" Well after doing it four or more times now for various reasons, sometimes it does not work like that, and a different (read additional) axis force is required to effect a better alignment for the bolts. It's not a big deal, but if its easier and can prevent stripped parts, why not.

OBTW, when are you going to be rid of the curse of OEM RLCA bushes. It's next level without them.

 

[WD Pro]

They are defo on the list, but only when that arm needs to come off for another reason ...

WD

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