Found a set of nearly new rear adjustable Konis specifically made for the IRS suspension. Just need to make some custom upper mounts.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_016.jpg

Also got the pass side upper shock tower piece bent up. Stretcher shrinker combo works miracles with ease. Also got the drivers side upper piece tacked in, and worked on the front filler panel. Most things are almost ready to weld in.. but I ran out of Argon so I have to wait another couple of days to get the bottle filled.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_040.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_041.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_042.jpg

Managed to work on the car a bit over Christmas. Hoping to maybe even get the car back down on the ground soon enough. I got a Longacre caster/camber gauge for Christmas this year so it was time to put it to the test. It is a nice billet piece with lots of bubble levels on it. The only unknown parameter in the mix was the caster that needed to be set for the vehicle (as camber is relatively easy to measure with a digital level). Ford recommends 3.6-4.3 deg caster on the Mustang. We are setting it to approx a min of 4.5 and max of whatever the caster/camber plates allow. The larger number will mainly be used on the track. These numbers are generally agreed upon in the Mustang world, and lower recommended numbers are based on the fact that the Mustang was designed with the "average" vehicle owner in mind. The shock towers were simply slid forward until we saw the measurements we wanted. They are now fixed in place.

Also managed to find a barely used pair of 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot PS2 tires to try out on the car (same size/model as a newer Viper so they are not that hard to find). They were mounted up on the car and we ran through a clearance check and they fit perfectly. The hardest part about getting a tire to fit is while turning the tire when the front suspension is compressed, and they also need to clear the coil-over suspension.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_043.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_044.jpg

Also moving right along on the front strut towers. Have all of the pieces tacked together on the driver's side and everything fits great. Should be able to weld these in soon. Just need to add a piece in the top corners and they should look factory stamped.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_045.jpg

I managed to find a set of barely used Schroth 4-point harnesses. They are the Rallye 4 models. They tie into the stock mounting points on the front, and use the rear lap belt anchors in the rear. They also have a buckle to detatch the shoulder harness so someone can sit in the back which is nice since they are designed to be installed with the rear lap belts still in place. These are actually DOT approved unlike many other racing harnesses out there. Since the cars will be driven regularly on the street and on the track - these seemed to make the most sense.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/sparco_torino_003.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/sparco_torino_004.jpg

Finished tacking in the rear side of the drivers side strut tower. Just need to make some small pieces to clean up the top of the strut tower and it will be time for final welding. Everything fit together and matched the contours much better than expected.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_046.jpg

Made a close-out panel at the rear of the pass side strut tower. In order to clear the air dryer for the A/C and to to mate up with the new firewall, it was just easier to make this from scratch. Once this piece is done, the strut tower can be finished as well.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_047.jpg

Decided to put everything together once again and check all the clearances one more time before we start welding parts to the car. The hydoboost unit and the hood hinges clear the new strut towers, so we can now proceed with them as in that location.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_048.jpg

Finally have the drivers side tower completely welded and finished up and ready to tack in.. it's about time! Pass side is welded and should be finished up tomorrow night. Just need to blast everything and paint it to get rid of all the contrasting colors. I quickly splashed some black primer on one of them to keep me insired :). Also have all of the close-outs done and ready to weld in too. Just need to make a jig to be able to plasma cut a k-member to fit and make it very easy to do more than one. Can't wait to actually get a real motor in there.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_049.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_050.jpg

Finally found a steering wheel for the cars.. been looking for a while on this one. Two reasons for this choice: the style is "somewhat" similar to the original with the single horizonal bar, and secondly Sparco has been clearing out some wheels on Ebay cheap so this made them affordable too. We'll see what it looks like in the car I guess. The model is called "Veloce" and is leather with the perforated leather strip at the top.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/spa..._wheel_001.jpg

Moving right along on the front suspension. Pass side strut tower is done and ready to tack in. Next step was to make a perfectly centered and tight fitting k-member. The one we have been using to date is hacked up and really only for setting things up. Time to make another jig for this. As you can see, nothing too elaborate, but it serves it's purpose. We used reference holes on the part used at the assembly plant to locate the jig. Then we made up 2x4's that are the exact width between the frame rails. Finally two pieces of plywood are used to conform to the curves of the part. To use, the jig is placed on a Mustang K-member, sockets are placed in the 4 holes to located jig and then a utility knife blade is used to scribe lines on the parts. After that, we break out the plasma cutter and trim/grind to suit. Works like a charm! Making one for car #2 is now a breeze.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_051.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_052.jpg

We used it to cut the k-member shown and it fits perfectly. That will make it very easy to weld in. Started on making up pieces to run under the frame rails to clean up the package and add a bit more stiffness. Kinda looks like the k-member was meant to be in there. Just need to make up the rear ones and the k-member will be ready to go in. Only thing left now is to weld in the filler panels and modify the motor mounts. After that, the front suspension is done!!
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_053.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_054.jpg

When we removed the shock towers the steel was flaking away a bit, but I thought it was nothing out of the oridinary. The more I picked away at it.. the larger the hole got. Have to attack this before the towers go back in. Should last a couple more years now. This also brings up the question - how the heck do you get at this area if the stock towers are still in the car? Most people do not have the novelty we do by not having them in the way. Still have to fix the underside where the rest of the water went and rotted things away. Once this is done, front suspension is ready to be welded in for good (finally).

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_055.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_056.jpg

Since the front suspension is finishing up, time to move back to the rear once again. Had a lot of time to think about this one now, so time to put it in action. Biggest issue with designing anything in the rear is the tire clearance. Fitting the 315's back there requires lots of room. Couple of constraints here - the outer fender lip since the tire will sit within it, the springs and the shocks. We went back and forth on coil over shocks, but in the end they are expensive and take up precious tire clearance. The Koni 3012 dual adjutables we wanted were $500 each alone + springs and they are impossible to find used. As you may have noticed, we likely to track things down at discount prices. They also do not provide the most desirable load path as the shock mounting holes are outboard of the frame rail. Many of the aftermarket kits out there use single shear mounts on the outside of the frame rail which we are not big fans of. The shocks even without the coil-overs will require notching the frame, although very minimally. The result here.. the springs and shocks will mount in separate locations like the stock Mustang.

In the end, this is how we decided to mount the spring. We are using the stock spring pocket on the lower control arm, but using a much smaller spring. We started with 2 u-bends as you can see, and turned them into a doughnut. This way we maximize surface area to distribute the load. Just need to add a flat plate in the middle and a small wedge to angle the spring as required. In this configuratins, the springs sit directly under the frame rails. Then we simply add a mount to the frame rail. Notice we are also adding an adjustable sleeve for fine tuning the ride height. Since we are running fairly stiff springs all around, we will be using helper springs (very low stiffness) to keep the springs in place when the suspension goes into full rebound.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_017.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_018.jpg

Moving right along - have the Mustang K-member mounting tabs completed. Only thing left to do it shift the engine mounts back 3" to get the engine as far back as possible. Since the steel on the stock mounts is 3/16" thick, this means the std brake won't cut it. Have to move the the hydraulic press for these bends. Got them ready to weld in over the weekend. Will get them welded in this week and then it is finally time to weld the front suspension permanently into the car.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_057.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_058.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_059.jpg

Also found a complete vehicle wiring harness set from a Mustang GT and heater box / ducting parts.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/torino_wiring_005.jpg

You never know what you will find on Craiglist.. that is for sure. Responded to an ad for a Mustang rear suspension and a couple of hours later.. ended up with another Cobra IRS in the driveway. This one is out of a '99 Cobra (28 spline inner/outer axles). Could not pass up the deal at $175. Not sure where it will go or what to do with it.. but it will find it's way into another project - no worries there.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/IRS_99_stash_001.jpg

Got the motor mount extensions tacked in and ready to go. Likely won't go much further with these or drill motor mount holes until the actual engine goes in and we can check clearances. That way it can go back as far as possible. To do that we will just cut the studs off an old set of motor mounts which will allow the motor to easily slide back. K member is now ready to weld in. Just need to finish up the strut towers are front suspension will be almost done.. finally!

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_060.jpg

Started working on the strut tower stiffening braces. These will directly tie the strut towers to the upper "shotgun" pieces on the body. These tie into the reinforcements plates on the Mustang strut towers.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_061.jpg

Started pulling everything apart before the re-welding begins. This one definitely screamed Kodak moment. This is a close to a skeleton as it will go - will be a nice picture to look back on. The car sure looks awful like this :). Everything from now on will be an uphill battle and the car will start to look better by the day.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_064.jpg

Finally have the drivers side strut tower completed and ready to weld in. Got the stiffener plate welded on and have all the close-out panels welded in and ready to go. Hope to finish the pass side one this week and get them welded in for good. Only a year behind schedule on these :).

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_062.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_063.jpg

And that bring me up to progress made this afternoon..

Finally stuff on the front suspension is going in for good. Final prepped everything on the drivers side strut tower, drilled all kinds of holes for plug welds and welded everything in. We will wait until we get the car on a rotisserie to well all the way from top to bottom. With the plug welds ground down, it looks like the pieces were supposed to be there. Just need to weld in the pass side and it will be time to put the k-member in for good. Almost done with the front - hard to believe.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_065.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/tex...t_susp_066.jpg

On that note - time to catch up on the rear suspension. Finally decided how to do the rear mounts on the IRS. We used one of the 2.5"x1/8" tubes we have made up for the front mounts, cut one in half and will use the 2 pieces to make up both rear mounts. We lucked out and it looks as though the rear tubes use the same 5" radius as our bends do. Big thing is the rear mount will still clear the 315's with stock wheel lips. Just need to go grab some more steel to make up the actual brackets that bolt to the frame as we used a scrap piece for now that was a bit too small. Next we need to make up pockets in the frame for the shocks and clearance for the upper control arms. We'll be on the ground in no time.

http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_019.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_020.jpg
http://www.twintorino.com/images/Texas_IRS_021.jpg

Cool stuff
 

I'm definitely taking the easy way out on my Torino build.

Very nice! sure looks bullit proof.

I just read this from start to finish. I like what you are doing with this. You should have two of the most unique Torinos out there when done. The Cobra IRS and modular motors are a great way to go.:thumbsup: