1993 Ford SVT Cobra Front Suspension - Straightening the Slithering Snake Part 1

The vertical sheetmetal at the firewall is neither the thickest nor the strongest stuff in the chassis, however the factory pinch weld doubles the metal in thickness and integrity.

This is where the back two mounting points of the strut tower brace fasten. We will have to relocate our vacuum tree as well as reroute the wiring harness once we install it permanently.

We know, it's begging for a powerplant-but all in good time. The fact that the car is missing many of its major components has actually aided our installation of the new parts.

The Road & Track Box steps up to Maximum's XL subframe connectors, which are 65 inches long and feature multiple attachment points in addition to the gusseted seat-bolt crossbrace. The connectors are also prebent to follow the contours of the Mustang's floor for optimum ground clearance. The connectors are shipped as raw metal, and we painted the top and sides of them since it would be hard to paint those areas once they're on the car. Here, Mark Johnson removes a bit of the paint from the tabs prior to welding.

Aside from installing a rollbar, welding in the subframe connectors is the best way to strengthen the unibody chassis. We used a Miller 210 MIG welder to join the pieces together. Subframes, on most occasions, will offer an immediate difference in ride quality, as you'll notice the chassis no longer flexes like it use to. This allows the suspension components to do their jobs more efficiently.

The subframe connectors have side plates at various areas to prevent twisting. They also offer more contact area to weld to the chassis.

Maximum Motorsports supplies these rectangular plates that are welded over the bend in each connector to further strengthen them.

Many subframe connectors offer seat-bolt crossbraces, but none are as heavily gusseted as the XL connectors. These are included with the connectors in the Road & Track Box and must be welded also. Once all of the welding is complete, run a wire brush over all of the bare metal and welds, and then prime and paint them however you like.

Next month, we'll start on the rear suspension and show you what we did with the rear axle, as we received just a housing with the Cobra at purchase time. While we won't be installing Maximum Motorsports' torque arm next issue, we will towards the end of the project so we can bring you our before and after experiences once project Stolen Goods is hammering the curves.