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Saturday, September 23, 2006

goin' to a weddin'

here is a shot of the beautiful mrs k, pretending she wasn't just applying make-up. we were on our way to a wedding (congratulations, anthony and lacie!) i thought this was a good opportunity to take a couple shots of the new ride.
in this shot, mrs k was ready for the picture and gave me a coy little smile. here you can see that the car has been lowered a bit, evidenced by the non-4-wheel-drive look that is so depressing about most sn95 mustangs. before i bought the car, i took a gander under the car and noticed the red springs (eibach, mac, no-name?) and subframe connectors. what are subframe connectors? all mustangs (with the exception of the new s197's, which are 2005 and newer) are flexy fliers. the '99 plus cars, called sn95/new edge, are the stiffest of those, but in convertible form they do the mombo over bumpy roads and in hard corners. subframe connectors are tubular metal rails that are welded or bolted on from front to back to stiffen the chassis so the suspension can do better work. also, there is a "roll bar". not just cosmetic, this attachment braces the car just behind the doors, across the back seats to keep twisting forces down. and, it looks sort of trick, with led brake ligthts on the backside. plus, it looks like a basket handle.

the absence of any power-producing modifications, along with the presence of the handling modifications sited, tell me the previous owner was a bit more interested in the mustang's real shortcomings. too many owners (myself included) figure more of a good thing (power) is better and neglect the piss-poor ride/handling dynamic of these antiques. i vowed never to fall back into that trap, and power modifications can come only after all handling issues have been addressed.

2 comments:

Patrick said...

You seem to know so much detail about so many things that it makes my brain hurt!

Locking you and Cleeland in a room together to discuss the minutiae of cars might be reckon to be a good cage match!

Pedal Brake Pedal by TK said...

and if john mcraven comes, i'm out. i'm humbled.