What are those black boxes in the rear wheelwells??

[W30bob]

Hi Guys,

I asked this question on most of the Mustang websites when I had my '03 GT and nobody knew what they were. I've asked the local Ford parts guys and they have no clue. I've looked thru the Service Manual and can't find a mention of them anywhere. Now I get a new Cobra and I see they are on this car as well. I'm talking about the little black box directly behind each rear tire in the fenderwell. There is one on each side, they have no wires running to them, so I'm stumped. What do they do??

Thanks,
bob

 

[Corner-Carver]

Those are the boxes that make the clunking noise, the engine ticking sound, and the rear end pops and tinks. j/k

Don't have a clue and haven't paid attention to them.

 

[W30bob]

Wow! So that's how I get rid of the clunking in my drivetrain...I'll have 'em yanked out by sunrise! Hopefully once I take them off my throwout bearing will behave better too!

bob

 

[SnakeBite98]

Pretty Sure you're talking about the Torque Boxes, no clue what they do but if you do a search i think there was a thread about them in the SN95 section.


edit: nevermind the search, i did it, try this : http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113388&highlight=Torque+Boxes

 

[W30bob]

SnakeBite98,

That link describes the torque boxes, which are steel parts of the unibody under the car that the rear control arms attach to. The two black boxes I'm talking about are square plastic, directly behind each rear tire, between the body and the rear fender. On the driver's side it's in between the inside of the rear fender and the emissions canister (there is no emissions canister on the passenger's side).

bob

 

[P49Y-CY]

thats a good question ive often wondered about those things myself

i am guessing that they are some kind of vibration dampeners

 

[SinisterX]

take-em off, I ganed 2 tenth's in the 1/4. They weigh 100lbs. each

 

[SoCalSnake]

The answer is....(from Corral.net i think)...

"Does anyone know the purpose of the black boxes behind the tire in the rear fenderwell?

I think they absorb the impact of a crash. It must be some kind of impact absorbing device.....Who knows, they might be little black boxes that record our driving behavior for waranty purposes.

This is the correct answer, I had a retired Ford (Safety) Engineer walk by my driveway last month while I was BS'ing with a friend of mine and we struck up a conversation.....that guy told us gobs of safety related info pertaining to the 'stang..

Here is what is supposedly does:

"In a rear impact crash, that device will "bump" into the rear wheels & allow the car to "move" forward (instead of letting the rear section crumple up and lock up the rear tires). The device in essence, allows for the vehicle to be "bounced" ahead and keep the occupants safe in a rear-end collision."

I'm paraphrasing the above based on said conversation....

I took them off months back and weighed them. They were less than a pound without any dirt in them. They were about 3 lbs when full of dirt and gravel. I actually put them back on because I think it covered up unsightly stuff back there. Hell, they're only a lb. I eat more than that in a day's time.

It's not the boxes that weigh alot, it's the brackets. Mine are gone"

I was going to remove mine....trying to remove everything that is "non-essential" on the snake. Haven't figured out how to remove the metal brackets....it looked like they were welded to the frame?

SoCalSnake

 

[03Cobra_Poison]

automatic wheel hop distributor:bored:

 

[SnakeBit]

I remember that thred on Corral.net. There was one other use for those boxes though. They can collect little bits of rubber from vehicle abuse (wheelspin) and aid in the voiding of said abused vehicle's waranty. So, they're a safty device AND an Abuse Detector, they are two, two, two functions in one. :xpl: