Michael, when you get to the front suspension area, let's walk through how to mount the AXT-Star upper control arm & shock mounts.

No negatives from me. I think the roll angle is about 1.6°, so it's pulling more lateral G's than I thought it would. That's good. We just need to stiffen the bar & see what else it needs to stay balanced. Might need more rear spring rate.

I'd like you to show how you built your muscle car body into a tube chassis, including what you did for clips, cage, suspensions, steering, brakes, etc.

Hi everyone!
I'm really not sure if this truly belongs here or in the muscle car section, but the car is a tube chassis so here goes. This is my '69 Mercury Cougar that I've had since I was 15. Several years as a street car, but more as a partially assembled track build of constant scope creep. This car has been my education and a constant challenge to myself to do better. I can't wait to keep learning, and she's not done teaching me things. Not by a long shot. .

If I could do it all over again, would parts of it be different? Yes, and I may touch on some of those items if appropriate. Would some stay exactly the same? Also, yes. I have evolved with the car over more years than I'd care to admit. Skills and workmanship has improved, knowledge has expanded, and compromises have been made due to my own development over the coarse of such a long project.

Here's a few pictures of the car as it was.
Mild 351W, 4-speed, 3.89 gears, TCP front CO conversion w/manual rack, leaf rear, Vintage Venom front and rear disc brakes using New Edge/SN95 mustang PBR 2-piston calipers in front. The car drove alright. Right around the time all that up there was done, I bought an '04 Cobra. All of a sudden my fun driver did EVERYTHING BETTER than my toy car. Un...acceptable.





Here's the car today. Never done - I will be redoing the flares, paying attention to making it one color eventually, maybe try my hand at some composites for the heavy body parts...on and on, better and better. I've had the car on track a couple times with a setback or two but I'm about ready for some more track time!

EFI Yates SBF 2004 season Busch series engine, Jerico 4-speed, front geometry by RSRT, RSRT decoupled 3-link, AP brakes, 18x13 wheels front and rear. Other than the roof and about 18" of front frame rail, every other component has been modified in some way.

Actually the rear bumper is untouched...hmm...









I'm going to try my best to cover as much of the build as I can. Still trying to figure out where to start. The beginning of the track only build, or in the waaaay beginning? Like I said above, there was a lot of this, then that, or maybe this... Car almost driving again, then I was just like, "But if i just...". The car isn't built to any set of rules other than safety items. Feel free to comment or ask questions!

Before you comment on the roll angle in the track photo, Ron, I have the front ARB set to max stiff for the next outing as we discussed. Had to make a shady transaction for my media guy at work to take another pic from the same angle haha!

Before:









After: (Coming Soon!!!)

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Such a wicked looking hot rod. Glad you're going to events & actually running it hard.

IIRC, we changed the geometry,  suspension set up & strategy, but not many parts.

Did we go with a bigger front sway bar?

I always say I am finished with the car, and it is for the most part, but the reality is every I always find something that needs upgrading, fixed or just needs changing for the sake of change.
This Winters project is to fabricate a new set of headers.
Ground clearance has always been a challenge with the side pipes and 2.25" primarys So the plan is to modify the subframe and reduce the primaries to 2" in order to gain some ground clearance.

I compete with the car in a variety of events like the Optima series, hill climbs and land speed events.

I am just getting started on this, stay tuned for more updates.

Based on some changes to car the lower I needed to raise the trans tunnel. Not something I'd want to do again.

In 2016 I was trying to understand my suspension better and how to get my car handling better in autocross. I purchased Performance Trends suspension software and I entered a drawing for a suspension workshop. I ended up winning and got to attend Ron's 7 Secrets of Suspension Mapping, Set-ups & Track Tuning Workshop. I ended up attending Ron's two other workshops, 2017 7 Secrets of Advanced Suspension Tuning and 2018 7 Secrets of Total Car Performance. After the 2016 workshop I measured up my car and had Ron do a full front and rear work up.