On my first build, HM1078, the car came with a Lokar #EHB-7000F, flat-mounted eBrake handle. The originals angled up and there was definitely room for improvement. My first pass was to modify the mounting of it and the way it attached to the cables. The Ford TBird IRS eBrake system was pretty in-efficient and this mod was marginal, at best. This is a link to the earlier posting. After multiple attempts to make it work, I found a Lokar #EHB-7016 Transmission mount handle. This provided a longer handle which increased the leverage. I modified it to fit the Hurricane frame which became Mod level#2. ThisRead More →

This is where I made my first mistake. The thinking – brakes aren’t that big a deal. I got lucky on wheels and 15″ tires are, well, hard to find. But brakes, well the second set is only additional money on top of what you ‘ve already spent on the first set. BRAKES ARE IMPORTANT on these cars. Don’t cheap out. Brakes e-Brake Rotors & mounting Alignment came kind of easy for me due to my professional background, but I did learn a few new things. Bumpsteer Alignment Corner Weight WheelsRead More →

In the process of developing a brake set for 15″ pin-drive wheels, I was introduced to the world of brake rotors and brake hubs. No more single cast units, no more factory stock units. I chose Wilwood as a supplier and as I got into it, I learned there are a number of little tricks to attaching the rotors to the hats. The hats (front and rear) use eight 5/18-18 bolts to attach the rotor to the hat. Many are using red loctite to assemble these and ‘calling it good’. But a recent article in Hot Rod (Jan, 2019; High-Tech Braking Systems) caught my eyeRead More →

Spindle Replacement The tapered joints of the balljoint are pulled into the spindle with 100 ft/lbs of torque. These joints are tight! To remove or replace parts, some recommend putting a pickle fork tool between the ball joint and hit it with the biggest hammer you can find. I was concerned this would destroy the rubber boot that surrounds the balljoint. A jacking screw generates the necessary forces to safely take the joint apart without destroying anything. I made the screw using a 3″ piece of 1/2-13 threaded rod and two coupling nuts. I cut a couple 1/4″ pieces of the rod and threaded themRead More →

Wheel alignment “Stringing” a car is the way racer’s do wheel alignment. You don’t need a fancy (expensive) computer aligner if you are willing to do some setup and understand basic measurements. Setup: Prior to starting the alignment process, you need to determine the desired ride height of the vehicle. Adjust your coil-overs to the height you want and the vehicle is setting at the desired ride height. You should know the rolling radius of your tires. (It is not the diameter of the tire divided in half). To do the alignment, the frame should be setting level. I cut up some 2 x 6Read More →

Staying with the period correct theme, your selection of wheels is pretty narrow. I chose Trigo wheels, now being produced by SoCal Speedshops. (They’ve purchased the line from Lynn Park) The system uses an adapter that bolts to various bolt patterns and provides the large center thread for the knock-off. The pins serve as a lugnut to hold the adapter on but also serve as the drive pin in the wheel. As such, their location must be pretty exact. All five need to line up just right so they will slip into the recesses in the wheel. Trigo makes a bolt spacer template that helpsRead More →

The basic IRS comes with Ford brake calipers from a 93-97 Thunderbird. One of Ford’s better ideas is the way the emergency brake is actuated. Normally, on a bowden cable, the inner flexible cable is pulled to create the movement. The outer cable serves as an anchor. In this application, the inner cable is fixed to the caliper and relies on the movement of the outer cable when the inner cable is shortened by by the movement of the  brake lever. Sounds good on paper but in reality, it sux. If there is any extra movement, it decreases the efficiency of the setup. In this case,Read More →