Initial Maintenance - Sway Bar Bushings and End Links

I expect that I'll ultimately replace the front sway bar but I don't know when I'll find that to be the most reasonable next upgrade.  Until that time, I want to continue the maintenance to make the car run and drive as close to its original ability.  With that in mind, I'm going to swap out the sway bar bushings and the end links.  

The end links I decided to use are made by Energy Suspension (Part# 9.8167G) which have two different size bushings allowing it to be set at a few different lengths from 6 3/8" to 5 7/8".  They are polyurethane and made in the USA which is nice.  The nut on the existing sway bar end link looked as if it has been removed before so I'm not sure if what was on the car was stock.  However, measuring from the center of the end links was 6.5".  Since the car is slightly lowered, I removed the end links, put the car on the ground, and measured with the sway bar end parallel to the ground and found I need the new ones set to their lowest length of 5 7/8".  

The stock end links are in the middle of the picture below.  The new end link on the left is set to the 5 7/8" length.  On the far right, you can see the configuration that makes it the longer 6 3/8" size.  I ultimately set them both to match the one on the far left.  

The bushings I'm using for the way bar are 1 1/4" in diameter and are also made by Energy Suspension (Part# 1.51408G).  These are also polyurethane but there isn't anything on the packaging to state if these were made in the USA.  The bushings I removed were still quite flexible and looked fine except for the inner surface that touched the sway bar.  That inner surface had worn off the sway bar coating, caused some rust, and the inside seemed like it was coming apart a little.  

It wasn't my original intention but with everything removed, I decided to clean up and paint the sway bar.  I cleaned it with some super clean, sanded down all the spots were the existing finish (which seemed to be powder coating) had chipped or was rusty.  I then sanded the whole sway bar with 220 grit, then used a red Scotch-Brite pad on the whole bar, painted the ends with Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer (as they were a little rusty to start with and it seemed like good insurance), and then coated the sway bar with VHTs Roll Bar & Chassis paint (#SP671 - Satin Black).  The paint takes 48 hours to dry so there was a bit of waiting involved to reinstall the sway bar.

I was going to work through cleaning the original sway bar mounting brackets but after soaking them in Evap-O-Rust overnight, I decided it would just be better to buy a new set.  The originals are rusty and it will take quite some time to get them to look reasonably good.  I also need new hardware which comes with the new bracket.  Since I'd already be waiting two days for the sway bar paint to dry, I ordered a new set of sway bar brackets (LMR branded LRS5486A).  They come with a nice, solid mounting block to use in place of nuts which made what was a challenging installation by yourself a little better.  

I debated cleaning the mounting points on the car but decided to wait.  There is much more to clean and taking forever on these little mounting spots would do little good right now.  As is normally the case, I scratched up the bar a little getting it into the car.  However, I touched it up so that it isn't visible but I'm sure plenty of rock chips will show up soon enough.  

I drove it around the block a little not expecting much of a difference but the responsiveness when turning is much improved.  It feels quite solid so this was worth the time.

Clutch Cable, Quadrant, & Firewall Adjuster

The clutch pedal feel has been rather inconsistent with the Mustang.  I expected the clutch cable was worn and stretched which was contributing to the problem.  The Mustang also retained the original plastic clutch quadrant which also wasn't helping the situation.  Today, I handled both by replacing the clutch cable (Ford Performance #M-7553-C302), clutch quadrant (Maximum Motorsport #MMCL-6), and added in a firewall clutch adjuster (Maximum Motorsport #MMCL-3).

I started at the transmission and worked my way up to the clutch quadrant.  I was surprised to find the clutch fork cover was in horrible condition and had rust holes through it completely along the bottom.  With it removed, it was rather easy to remove the entire clutch cable including the connection just above the gas pedal.  There wasn't anything visually which made me believe the cable was bad or excessively worn.

Removing the original clutch quadrant is a little challenging... even with the front seat removed.  This is mostly due to a spring designed to hold the adjuster into place on the pedal.  What was then more challenging was the installation of the new clutch quadrant.  The mounting hole was slightly too small.  After considering options and trying a few different things, I ultimately put some 320 sandpaper on a 3/8 extension and it slide into the mounting hole which allowed me to just slightly expand the opening, so it fit perfectly.

With the quadrant installed, I worked on the firewall adjuster.  I'd considered using the LMR adjuster that came with the firewall brace I purchased but prefer the black anodized one from Maximum Motorsports (see below). I was going to install the LMR firewall brace but found that it doesn't really match the contour of the firewall and leaves a gap between it and the firewall.  I decided I'd just install the Maximum Motorsport part without the firewall brace and return the LMR kit.

The firewall adjuster requires almost nothing to get it into place.  The original stock cable retaining screw is removed, That same screw is used in one of the two mounting holes with the new adjuster.  You then drill another hole for mounting the other side.  I'm typically opposed to drilling any holes in a car but did it anyway and mounted it with some #8 - 3/4" black screws.  

I ran the cable from the transmission, mounted it to the driver side frame rail area using the integrated bracket, and then ran it through the adjuster.  There is a unique spacer you need to install on the cable according to Maximum Motorsport so I took care of that job.  The cable then easily slid onto the quadrant.  I've mostly adjusted the clutch just using the stop nuts at the transmission end leaving all the adjustment at the firewall for later use.  

I then a Maximum Motorsports document on how to setup the firewall adjuster.  They suggest you spin it all the way in, leave the frame rail mount off, fasten the clutch cable at both ends, and pull on the cable towards the front of the car.  As you do so, the transmission side of the clutch cable sleeve is mounted so it stays in place.  You will find a gap form at the firewall adjuster, and you need to adjust it out to fill that space.  I did that and adjusted a little at the transmission and now the pedal starts to engage at 2 or 3" off the floor.

While I was at it, I the speedometer cable was leaking at the transmission.  I checked and found that I still had an O-ring for the transmission in my '67 Mustang parts.  I cleaned up the area a bit tonight and swapped out the O-ring.  The leak wasn't bad but I expect it was the O-ring as it was a little on the hard side and seemed to have shrunk slightly compared to the new O-ring.  

I drove the car for a day or two and all seems reasonably well.  That also gave me time to get a new clutch fork cover as mine was in horrible shape and actually had small rust holes.  I picked up a E6ZZ-7513 which is made by Daniel Carpenter.  These never fit great as I used two on my '67 and they generally need some metal forming on the front to fit into the bellhousing.  On the positive side, it included the screw which normally isn't included (LRS-55981S2-1).  With it now in place, this project is wrapped up and the clutch works a bit better now.  

The car now has 81,927 miles on it which is 301 miles more than when I purchased it.