hey! I've been cheerleading right along!
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hey! I've been cheerleading right along!
Oh I'm just giving folks a hard time. If someone else had a build thread I was following and mentioned something not quite right I'd call them out too.
Things are coming together though. If I wasn't headed to the beach for some R&R I could fire it up on Saturday, but that will need to wait a few days.
For those of us who have built cars, or scour the rules for competitive advantages, these things have all gone through our minds. It's interesting to hear new takes.
Careful with the straps Ron: if you end up in the kitty litter, they WILL simply connect their tow strap and pull you out sideways, ripping up/off a bumper cover in a heartbeat (or cut the strap).
Always assume the car will be pulled 180 degrees, not just straight on. - GA
headed to the beach?!?!? get back to work!
uhoh, here come the critics... :p
speaking of which, where in the rules does it talk about something like the diamond plate floor? I'd like to do something like this too... Have a ghetto one in there now, in fact.
The strap is a compromise. It is attached to the "frame" huge bolts, but, the bumper cover hangs down a foot below that attachment point. The bumper just isn't strong enough to handle towing (in my opinion), so we ended up with what we got. Tis true, it'll only work for towing straight +- 15 degrees or so, but we were hard pressed to come up with a better solution.
The front one will take side pulling in one direction pretty well, but not in the other. Mustangs do not have great structures for towing. I feel the front radiator subframe is too weak, and the suspension subframe and "frame rails" are too far away from the front to be of much use.
Wooo hoo!
Jeff and I did a bit of work on moving cars around and in-between primed the green car and fixed oil leaks. We had a couple of fitting leaks but all is good. Primed it, at high priming RPM pressure would head up to 75psi and then the bleeder would kick in and bleed the excess pressure off. All solid.
I think we're ready for a start up on Sunday.
I don't mind sharing on the internet or the paddock. If you want to crawl around the car, look at it, hell, I ain't shy about letting people I know drive my car - go to it.
The tow strap location on the front is fine.
My STO Mustang has blown-up on-track many times and the tow hook has worked fine.
They have even used it to get the car on the roll-back.
The only thing I added was drilling two small holes in the bumper cover above the strap and a zip-tie to keep the strap from blowing backwards towards the radiator.
Sure the zip-tie breaks whenever the strap is use, but they are pretty cheap.
http://www.titaniummotorsports.com/
We did exactly the same so the strap would stay in place. The Mustang isn't an easy car to tow and we've had a lot of discussion about how to best prep it for strapping down to the trailer. It isn't nearly as easily towed or strapped as my old Z was.
Now that doesn't sound good! We're hoping to avoid that blow up part.
True that. It also doesn't say you can cut the floor, but, you ain't getting a modern race seat in a Mustang, level, unless you do something of that nature. You aren't gaining an advantage, unless that advantage is having a off-the-shelf seat and bracket. To me IT is about competing with your friends and your competitive items need to be legal - weight, engine, tranny, suspension, brakes, cage, etc - those things matter. I'm not discounting rules or advocating any such thing, heavens no, but frankly I couldn't care less if you want to delete your wipers, washer bottle, your wiring harness, and all that mess as long as you're legal with the primary things and over minimum weight. It is about power to weight and suspension, make sure that stuff is on the up and up. That said, our intentions are for these two cars to be 100% legal under anyone's definition.
Truth. Ultimately you are paying for anything that happens to your car regardless.
It is what it is. Hopefully, you'll be around if you need to tow the "SuperHondaVTECYOIntregaIGotNoLowEndHorsepowerBeas tButIBeFast"out of the trap and say "Hell no dude, don't tow my car like that".
When you in RDU for some beers?
Ron Earp ... "The Mustang isn't an easy car to tow & we've had a lot of discussion about how to best prep it for strapping down to the trailer."
Have you considered running the tie-down straps thru the wheels? I had some 4' straps made up by Deist. I just loop 'em thru the wheels & use the standard tie-down straps to hook 'em up to the trailer D-rings. All for corners done in minutes. Another upside to the separate straps is that they are a lot cheaper to replace when they do get worn. BTW, as an owner of a '98 Mustang GT, do any of you know how they were originally tied down to the transporters? Japanese cars have these really neat tie down hooks, but the Mustang has zip. :shrug:
That is what we came up with as well. We plan to get straps of a proper length and run them through on the rear wheels and secure with a clip to the trailer. On the front we'll use straps as well through the wheels but have the ratcheting style up there to pull everything taught.
I've got no solid idea how they held these damn things down. As you mention they don't have convenient eyes for hooks and there are no screw in locations for a hook like some European cars. My best estimate is that they were held to transporters using wheel straps.
Actually, Ron, You have been "tripping over" the mounting points for a while. Post number 187 shows a verticle slot in the front frame horn, outboard side. Yes, you mounted your sway bar originally at that point, then moved it a little farther forward.
Two more are on the nearly-horizontal surface just forward of the front chassis mount for the rear lower trailing arms.
Ford uses a "T" shape hook (connnected to a chain) to hook into the oval slot. The "T" sits at 90degrees to the slot, so it won't slip out. Then the chains are drawn down to compress the springs while in transport.
I know they were used in the '71 Pinto that I built for BS, back in; the day. I'm not sure how much earlier they were used.
Good racing,
Love the build!!
Bill:024:
Whooot, we got a running Mustang 3.8L V6 ITS car!
yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One down, one to go. I worked on some wiring that needed to be finished and then we fired it up a few minutes before four pm. There were some teething troubles - air in the cooling system and an oil leak, but other than that she fired up within a crank or two and within 10 seconds was smooth.
It has a weird exhaust note though. On the street cars it is muffled via three chambers, but with a less restrictive exhaust you can hear that funky 90 degree V6 action. A warble of sorts, definitely not as smooth as a V8, but not as blatty as an inline four. I've got a video that loaded up to Facebook easily and I'm trying to figure out how to link it here.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldWD7Unurio[/ame]
All in all we're damn pleased. One down, one to go.
Good job guys!!!! I know that feeling and it is a damn good one!
A bit more work has been happening in the mornings and evenings. Wiring is being completed, fire system run, radios installed, and the red car is getting its exhaust plumbing wrapped up.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...onfirepull.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/.../roncooler.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...t/jeffwrap.jpg
Data acquisition is taking a lot of time due to wiring and setup of various devices. For example, on the GoPro camera with the Tmate the housing must be cut in numerous places to allow for the data cable, power cable, and the SD card to be removed and inserted.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...t/rongopro.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...rst/rongps.jpg
The radio antenna was put in the stock location but I'm not sure how I like that or if it'll be optimal for functioning.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...st/ronannt.jpg
I've still got mucho wiring to do for getting signals into the Tmate but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We're planning to have the green car up at the May VIR event, at least for the test day, so I've got to get the wiring knocked out before this weekend. Glass has to be installed on Thursday, oil leak fixed, then we've got to spend Sat aligning the car. Hopefully it'll be road worthy on Sunday so we can hit the streets and dyno tune it the following weekend.
Cameron would probably chime in and talk about antenna ground planes and all that voodoo. Short answer always seems to be 'middle of the roof' for those things.
K
nice touch Ron!
A couple of shots showing routing for cable bundles. I know it is boring, but a hell of a lot of work goes into getting the bundles routed efficiently. The big one carries camera data, power, cool suit power, fire pull, 12V accessory line, plus a spare deactivated 12V should the need arise. The little one on the drivers side has fuel pump 12V, fuel level sender, plus brakes, turn signal, and running lights.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...insidepass.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...insiderear.jpg
With the exhaust now having been switched to the passenger side I'm not concerned about that cable bundle getting too warm.
Paint the inside rear deck lid flat black......unless you don't plan on using the rear view mirror on sunny days.
Ron Earp: "It has a weird exhaust note tho. On the street cars it is muffled via 3 chambers, but w/a less restrictive exhaust you can hear that funky 90 degree V6 action."
I gotta ask ... Why did you opt for a single exhaust system? Weight? Or to maintain an OE looking system (w/cat) for street legality? It seems like all that nice work on the headers would have been compromised somewhat w/the two (2) 90 degree bends on the driver's side exhaust pipe.
Also, I am playing catchup on this post tonight & noticed back a bit that someone inferred that the V6 & GT Mustang use different front bumper covers. While the Cobra cover is unique, the V6 & GT use the same bumper cover. I have a '98 GT w/320 RWHP & w/the OE bumper cover & radiator ... & no spoiler &/or additional ducting. And I can guarantee that you will have no cooling issues.
There was also a note about the Mustang being a "bottom feeder" ... this is correct. But that means that most of the cooling air comes thru the lower part of the bumper cover ... NOT under the bumper cover. The air passing thru the cover will form a high-pressure area which would prevent most of the air coming under the cover from going up & thru the radiator. It will, however, pass under the radiator & be drawn up to the negative pressure area behind the radiator ... & this, of course, would have a negative effect on any air attempting to pass thru the radiator. For those (ex- & current) 240Z drivers, you will remember a nifty little factory piece (74810-E4100) from the Euro model that bridged the gap from the radiator core support to the oil pan (if I recall correctly) that prevented the air from flowing up behind the radiator. With the plan for the 2015 Mustang to be marketed globally, maybe these types of crossover parts will be someday be available from Ford ... tho too late to be of any use on the SN95 Mustang (insert heavy sigh at this point).
Check post #303, although you can't see much unfortunately from that angle. The exhaust system has been redone and now has very smooth transitions: 3 into 1 merge collector R&L, gentle transitions into a 2 into 1 merge collector in the center, then straight back to an axle dump.
A properly sized and designed single exhaust can make just as much power, or in some cases more, than a dual exhaust. A lot of work has gone into the collectors, pipe lengths, and pipe diameters of this system. Off the top of my head there are five different pipe diameters used in this system and I hope they'll pay dividends. Don't take my word though, give some of the exhaust design shops around Moresville NC, or Burn Stainless a call, you might be surprised at the system sizing they provide . Also, on the cheap you can use PipeMax; I found that the results it returned were not significantly different from the two exhaust design places I consulted and it is definitely cheaper, $45.
More updates coming - red car was started, green car got more progress, and I'll put the complete photo write up of the homemade coolsuit system V3.0 up as well since folks have PM'ed and emailed me about that.
Burns and the old HeaderDesign software (now defunct) both kicked out a single exit with a y pipe for my car (V8) as well. The exhaust note on my car is pretty mean, sounds very Winston Cupish as I think the basic design is that merge collector system than Runt Pittman put together with them in the early 90s. I have a number of different diameters in my pipes as well, nice smooth transitions, a y pipe and the a single exit.
I'm pretty convinced the single biggest HP improvement I saw on my car was the exhaust as it is tuned to move the torque peak up and thus peak HP up.
First up is the homemade driver cooling system, EarpCool V2.0. A few people have asked me details about making one of these and instead of writing about it I took pictures while I assembled it this weekend.
All you need is a cooler ($8), hose ($5), insulation for the hose ($7), a live well pump ($19, bought the good one), assorted pvc barbs/hose clamps ($3), and to make it like the real deal, some dry break connectors (~$20) that you can purchase here:
Everything else you can get from WallyWorld and you should be under $60 all in, including the connectors. If you spent more than that then you did something wrong.
Pictures should pretty much tell the tale.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/.../earpcool1.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/.../earpcool2.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/.../earpcool3.jpg
Part Three:
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ni-cooler6.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ni-cooler7.jpg
You might need to use tape as a bushing to get that little plastic barb to fit in there correctly. Apply some epoxy and call it a day.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ni-cooler8.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ni-cooler9.jpg
Part Four
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler10.jpg
And no, I have not noticed any difference in water temps by bundling the lines. I am sure there is, but these things are plenty cold.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler11.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler12.jpg
Very light. Weight with lines, pump, and lid was just under five pounds.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler13.jpg
Part Five
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler14.jpg
I put rivnuts into the steel floor to mount the cooler. Then I drilled down through the cooler and attach the unit that way. So that the bolts don't become heat sinks I bond foam and silicone over the top of them (not done yet) to insulate them from the ice water.
It was a difficult thing to work in the trunk area for the wiring and plumbing of the fire bottle and cooler system.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-ronincar.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...i-cooler15.jpg
You can see the bolt heads and the sealing silicone in the bottom of the unit.
And, tada, all done.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...coolerdone.jpg
Now, if you think about it ahead of time you can properly position that spigot on the side so you can drain the water out of it. All I have to to is pull up that rubber connector seal, push the button, and the water will drain out through the bottom of the car.
Ron--You make a great teacher.
The real weight of the device is with the ice water, however.
Of course, but, this unit is lighter than the FAST unit we compared it to (it is going in the second stang) by 3lbs. And, this little unit has the advantage of a screw on top. No messy straps, latches, and all that jazz that allow the water to spill out of the cooler.
Just for grins, you should have mounted the cooler right next to the fuel cell. Then try to fill them both at once. Ahhhh, things you learn how NOT to do at LeMons. ;)
Hot damn. I think I'm going to "finish" the green car today. I lot has happened over the last week with sorting and fixing various things, putting a rough alignment on the car, rough corner weighting, and tidying up lots of small jobs that needed tending to. the last two items I have to fix before the car can be driven is to mount the harness and oil catch can.
Here is a picture of the working dash. The Aeroforce gauge there can display items off the CAN bus and log them plus sound alarms on two parameters. The wide band is displayed on this gauge as well as the oil pressure. The Traqmate is doing normal Traqmate things plus has oil pressure, wide band, water temperature, throttle position sensor, plus brake on/off, as well as controlling the GoPro HD camera. So far everything has testing as "working", although the sensors have yet to be scaled in the Traqmate.
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ddle/dash1.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...le/fosters.jpg
http://www.gt40s.com/images/Mustang/...ddle/dash2.jpg