knuckless

a recent post got me thinking...

I cannot stand all these Eleanors people are making, they make 1966 Eleanors, 1968 Eleanors, Eleanor Coupes, Eleanors from 1973. Holy crap enough with this car. It looked great in the movie but now it has worn itself out. Don't get me wrong, I used to love the car, but now its just to much for me.

I love any GT-500 or GT-350 because they are rare pieces of American automotive history and you don't see enough original ones or even clones. But if your going to make a clone make it right, don't make a GT-500 coupe or a whatever year Eleanor. Make it a GT-500 Fastback or a 1967 Eleanor.

So my question is, what do you like better, the GT-500 or Eleanor.



This is entirely my own opinion and I apologize if I offended anybody who has built an Eleanor or a GT-500 Coupe. They look amazing, no doubt, just not my style. Again its only my opinion.

easttennmotors

or how about not copy anyone and do something original, everyones answer to everything is ssbc force 10 discs, 18 inch torq thrusts, 347 stroker, t5 trans and a few shelby badges and stripes.

KRPerf

You'll be happy to know that my shop just put out a '67 Shelby GT500 Super snake clone. The only thing not Shelby is the color or the drivetrain. After all, Azure blue is a great color and a Terminator, 6 spd, IRS is way better than what Shelby originally put in them

knuckless

you gotta love the super snake, 175mph at the speedway, fastest factory mustang ever, to bad that was the only one ever made

427 snake

Think of the rpm's it was turning. Funny thing ' My father had an opertunity to buy that years ago for one tenth of the declared value of it now. If hindsight was forsight!!!

knuckless

well look what you got now, not a bad car at all, i bet if you got it on the speedway you could come close to 175mph, then again if you got near 700hp...

easttennmotors

krperf, how is an irs better, as an experienced road racer I can assure you that a solid axle rear is the way to go irs has never lived up to its promise simply because there are certain engineeringfactors that cannot be overcome, you can use a anything watts link, 4 link, 3 link, whatever you choose but so many cobra owners took out the irs because it couldnt take power. wouldve been worth alot more with a proper 427, a toploader casingw/jerico strait cut gears, and a floater rear end w/leaf spring watts link setup and spring loaded center traction link.

KRPerf

eastten, don't equate the inability to properly setup an IRS to it being inferior. In fact, if an solid axle were superior they would use it in the best race cars, ie Formula one cars. Also, with regard to the power. It is just like a straight axle, when power is increased, modifications must be made. Nobody runs 500 hp with a stock straight axle. So why do people think they should be able to get away with it on an IRS?

Besides, when we did our clone, it recieved a strut front conversion from a 99-04 Mustang. This way, we could run all the modern suspension components offered for the late model Mustangs. I can guarantee this Mustang will be more comfortable in addition to being more versatile on many different road conditions.

The idea of that car was to build a car that looked like an old '67 Shelby GT500 but had all the handling, power, ride and creature comforts of today's '03-04 Cobras.

easttennmotors

well in that sense your taking away the essence and experience of a 67 mustang. And as far as IRS im discussing in a sedan style car ie mustang new or classic any fendered road race car for that matter that is a front motor rwd car. A 1500 buck coleman floater 9 inch rear end and a watts link w/some proper springs will be just as effective as any irs on the market heck substitute a panhard rod for the watts and its pretty much a nascar rear end.

IRS is an awesome concept but unless you have f1 money and a 2500 or less lb car you have alot of setup problems and still suffer from the toe out, positive camber gain problems that a 9 inch has under hard braking causing wheel hop and its a heck of alot easier to fix on a live axle than irs . also on a front engine car or car that is not heavily rear weight biased you have virtually no anti-squat on an irs which takes away alot of power to ground potential and among other things an irs does not have a consistent contact patch which can lead to premature tire wear at the race track. like i said unless you have f1 money good idea but its probly not happening. In the long run the atleast 8000 dollar difference just doesnt make alot of sense.

as far as the front, an unequal a arm coil over setup with penske or koni coil overs would be much better. strut suspensions are used for cost effectiveness and most lowering springs are just a pain. they also lose their vertical load effectiveness base on positioning, have positive camber gain problems and you have to increase the tire scrub radius the bigger the tires and wheels are. even though a strut has good roll center characteristics if done right that is negated by the other factors.

bottom line ive ridden in 03 cobras with everything under the sun done to the irs and front suspension and ive ridden in a289 66 with progressive coil springs, a cobra automotive traction link, 200lb leaf springs, new bushings andbilstein shocks from cobra automotive that drove much better imo. maybe its driving style but I consider myself a good racer and i know what i want out of a car and the biggest thing I know about a good chassis or suspension is that less is always more.

67 evil eleanor

Both. I thought the Eleanor craze was wearing out, but I was wrong. Seems its still going strong. I can't see the "E"s as being any different thanany other"Restomod" Mustang. I can't understand why they are often targetedforagood ole bash, at least on this forum. To each their own. As for me, I am proud to own my "E". After all, under all that fiberglass and paint,its stilla Mustang. As for the KR, I like it too, but due to all the air headed drivers on the road,its not worth the risk to drive on the public roads. It can only be original once, and other that a monthly trip around the block, it stays in the barn. As far as the"E", its out in townonce or twice a week. I can enjoy it without the risk of destruction to an original. But then, I enjoy all Mustangs.
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