ITS Ford Mustang(s) Build - Stripper Stang Part II

[Ron Earp]

Whoa what a marathon work session we had today! Jeff G and I went at it pretty hard and got much work accomplished. His car just came back from the welding shop from headers and a cage so we prepped it up for interior paint. We used the same paint as on the green car and I have to say it came out pretty good all things considered. Painting isn't that difficult and after doing two interiors I think that I could do an exterior job pretty easily. A nice 65F day here in NC didn't hurt.



We also received most of our rear end setup and trial fitted it. We have much work to do on the rear but at least it is coming together and we now know where we've got to go with it. Forward links off the axle, axle mounts, and panhard rod. Seems like it'll work out pretty well.





Jeff's race motor is done and should arrive this week. Got to get he old stuff out and in with the new. Still a long road to go to have these two on track but we're making progress.

[Ron Earp]

Got a bit more stang work done today with sorting out rear spings and perches. However, most of the time was spent on the T70. I've got a fellow flying in from CA that is looking to buy it so it needed to come out of storage and get checked over. In order to make room we've got a stack of stangs in the garage that will impede Mustang work for a few days. Hopefully the T70 will find a new home and free up some cash/time for other projects.

R

[evanwebb]

Why? Why do you torture us with no update?

[lateapex911]

interior looks sweet! Love that silver! Is the drivers floor modded for a seat?

[Ron Earp]

interior looks sweet! Love that silver! Is the drivers floor modded for a seat?

No. It is cut out so that we can fit ten bags of fine Columbian to the right of the driver.

Why? Why do you torture us with no update?

I figured folks didn’t have much interest so stopped updating.

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Jeff’s car is back and the engine is back from the builder. We put the engine in last week and Jeff and Jeff installed the tranny and rear axle.





Jeff G has been taking a lot of vacation since his company is forcing him to do so, therefore he's getting a lot done on week days.

Last weekend I plumbed the entire car for new brake lines (did mine a few weeks ago) and rigged up a nice proportioning valve in the cockpit.

[Ron Earp]

Most of our work over the last few weeks has focused on the rear suspension. We have finally settled on some proper spring spacers from the roundy round world and fabbed them up into our control arms. Nicely adjustable pieces with spring detents and they don't add much weight. Actually it is a wash since they use shorter springs.



That picture above sort of shows the detail, this one might do better.



And quite naturally we've been taking extensive use of the rear axle language that allows the addition of a panhard rod and addition or substitution of traction arms. We're pretty happy with the rear ride height and adjustability now, particularly with the ability to easily adjust pinon angle. Pinon angle adjustment is critical and can be 1-3% of your horsepower out the window if incorrect. Given that about the only advantage we have with this car is 3.9L of unbalanced mean V6 with good power potential we can't squander our sole advantage.



So both cars have rear suspensions under them, engines installed, and various stages of prep work on the inside.

[Ron Earp]

We've started on the front suspension as well. Actually, we have tons of parts around - perches, bearings, bushings, struts, shocks, and springs, we just haven't finished all the installations.

We've got some cool hollow sway bars for the front that are very adjustable and knock some weight off as well. This picture shows the mounting point on the frame for the bar that was welding on this weekend.



And this one shows the bar.



We've started prepping the front arms and getting ready to mount everything for the front suspension installation.

[Ron Earp]

And, both cars have exhausts. Jeff's was on the car, mine is just back from the ceramic coating process. The exhausts are not identical and I've already got some changes in mind for mine, but I think they'll both be pretty good examples. Mine is all "burnsed up" with their collectors and design. I suspect Jeff G's is going to be just as effective at half the cost. In the end though mine didn't cost as much as I thought it might. R&J Welding in Apex NC did a great job on the fabrication and provided a 20% racer discount. Gotta like that.



I'll wrap mine up and and install it on the car.

Time will be short this weekend though as I'm proud to say my daughter won first place in the 5th grade science fair at her school and has been invited to the state competition this coming Saturday. Be a nice break from car work.

[lateapex911]

Good update Ron. I've been reading along, but not commenting too much. I do have a question. Not to be a jerk, but I'm confused on the sprig perch stuff. Springs are free, so you can do anything you want there, like spacers, adjusters, etc. But wholesale replacement of the perches?? I didn't think you could do that, Can you shed some light on what I'm missing?
thanks. BTW, I can only dream of building a car like you are...the right way,

[Ron Earp]

Good update Ron. I've been reading along, but not commenting too much. I do have a question. Not to be a jerk, but I'm confused on the sprig perch stuff. Springs are free, so you can do anything you want there, like spacers, adjusters, etc. But wholesale replacement of the perches?? I didn't think you could do that, Can you shed some light on what I'm missing?
thanks. BTW, I can only dream of building a car like you are...the right way,

5.3.b.

Spacers, including threaded units with adjustable spring
seats, may be used with coil springs.

We have coil springs. We're using spacers, spacers with threaded units and adjustable spring seats. The car has coil springs at each corner so I read this rule to mean that each corner can have an adjustable spacer. The original perches are there. However, there is going to be a spacer on the perch on a threaded rod. Sits right on top of the perch in fact.

The net result is we gain some weight, about 2-3 lbs per corner realistically, but we gain the ability to actually corner weight the car without using shims under the spring by using an adjustable spacer.

[lateapex911]

Yea, I used those on my car. I thought you had replaced the stock perches or something craaaaazy like that.

[Ron Earp]

I know that some of the ITB Mustangers use them. I think they are legal and will stand a protest should it come to that. If I'm wrong then so be it, we go back to using shims under the springs.

Getting suspension parts from roundy round places is an education.

Me: What length 1000 lb springs 5" OD do you have in stock that are flat ground on both ends?

Them: We sell front springs and rear springs. Which do you want?

Me: Well, on your website you've got a picture of a spring that is squared off on both ends. That's flat ground. I want it that way on both ends.

Them: Where are you puttin' them springs, on da front of the car or back?

Me: Look, I'm a road racer and I'm putting the springs on the front of the car but....

Them: Then you needs front springs. We has got 10.5" and 8" 1000 lb springs on the shelf. How many do you want?

And so on. Eventually we learn that REAR springs are flat ground on both ends, while FRONT springs are flat on one side. This company wasn't happy with me buying REAR springs to go on the front of the car, but since I was paying they compromised their principles.

Once the preliminary work was out of the way the beauty of the situation emerges - you can get coils springs in about any pound rate you want between $40 to $65. New. On the shelf, available now. Spring dyno checked and guaranteed to be the rate specified or they'll replace them. Used they can be had for as little as $50 for a BOX of springs from a local racer. Here are a couple of sources:

http://www.webpage-design.biz/bluecoil/index2.htm

http://www.landrumspring.com/main.html

Both family owned and nice folks. I got rears from these guys, fronts came from another company, I think AFCO or coilsprings.com.

Some aspects of this Mustang development have not been inexpensive, but mainly with time. However one underlying truth is always present - once you find out what you're going to use the parts are cheap.

[Racerlinn]

Keep it coming Doc, we're all following along in a state of jealousy...

[Robbie]

Indeed. This is one of the best threads on this site. Continue bringing the updates!

[Steve35]

Indeed. This is one of the best threads on this site. Continue bringing the updates!

I agree please update whenever possible. Make it a book and I'll buy it!

Steve Coe

[CRallo]

This

Keep it coming Doc, we're all following along in a state of jealousy...

[Ron Earp]

I agree please update whenever possible. Make it a book and I'll buy it!

Steve Coe

Heck, I didn't think all you import drivers would give a rat's ass. Anyhow, a book probably wouldn't be that helpful as much of the real info is missing. It's a build thread, but not a how to thread. On surface I thought the Mustang would be a simple car to build and that most things would be straight forward, but that hasn't been the case on many of the sub-assemblies.

There was a ton of learning to do on the engine as Ford had a lot of minor mid-year changes from 1994-1998. 1998s are even more complicated as it is a transition year that actually has some unique parts, and some shared parts with 99-04. These nuances are important when you're trying to extract maximum power form the engine. And we haven't even tuned one up yet.

The chassis/suspension is another area that requires some forethought, as does the cage structure and attachment points. Some things that seem normal to do might not work out so well for the Mustang.

But on the whole it'll be a simple car to maintain. Its easy to work on, uses inexpensive components, and everything for the car is readily available now and probably will be for the next 50 years.

[benspeed]

My favorite thread - Heck! I even had the interior of the 968 painted silver because I like yours so much :-) Gets back from the shop on Saturday hopefully

[Steve35]

Heck, I didn't think all you import drivers would give a rat's ass. Anyhow, a book probably wouldn't be that helpful as much of the real info is missing. It's a build thread, but not a how to thread.

I love race cars, I don't care if its' a Pinto, Porsche, Miata or Mustang. I love "project cars" and you write very well and are entertaining.
Add the references and your reasoning to build, and go. The book will be a "How I did it" not a "How To".
My buddy Kurt built a Honda powered Mini and sold a few books on the build. http://kimini.com/Reference/index.html

Keep up the great work!

Steve Coe

[Ron Earp]

I love race cars, I don't care if its' a Pinto, Porsche, Miata or Mustang. I love "project cars" and you write very well and are entertaining.
Add the references and your reasoning to build, and go. The book will be a "How I did it" not a "How To".
My buddy Kurt built a Honda powered Mini and sold a few books on the build. http://kimini.com/Reference/index.html

Keep up the great work!

Steve Coe

In general I'm the same way. I like race cars. If it is unique, cool, and races I'm okay with it. Even some of the FWD Honduhs.

I do think the SCCA is import heavy and there are certainly some industry reasons why this is the case. But, on the other hand, we're going to give it an honest college boy try in maybe changing that a tiny bit, at least in the localized region where we race.

A pioneer in the SE ITS region is Jeff Young. He's taken a large-displacement-chassis challenged car with horrible brakes (worse than any stang or Camaro) and with good driving has turned it into a winner. Maybe his efforts, and efforts showing cars like this can be competitive, will get more folks to consider the domestic options. I'd love to see some of these cars in ITS and ITR.

Nice job on the book, you're far more industrious than I am!.