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

[SPiFF]

I'd suggest pushing on one to get it ready for CMP....

Yes, I would agree. Probably 75% chance the SPiFF uber motor v.3 won't make Road Atlanta, so I have signed up for CMP.

BTW, Ron, you get more done in a weekend then I have accomplished my entire life. Amazing. I am glad Hondas pretty much work out of the box or I'd never make it out there at my level of fab skill ....

[lateapex911]

yea, Ron, don't take that as a criticism...I KNOW you've done your homework. I applaud your research and agree 100% with Spiff about your fantastic work ethic.

[Ron Earp]

Thanks for the kudos fellows. We have worked tons on these cars but I'm sure we have made, and will continue to make, mistakes. Just part of doing it.

Today is clean up the Kingdom of Stang. I'll get some before and after shots of the storage above my shop. We've got more parts than we'll ever need, but scant little organization. That will change.

[lateapex911]

When you're done my garage attic...and basement...await your touch.

[Ron Earp]

Long day today but it was very productive. We started out with this:







And within about seven hours went to this:

[Ron Earp]

And further improvements:









We built multiple shelves along two walls, one 16 ft long, one 12ft, and a couple of 6 footers. We also built two lofts.

Up in the attic storage space is a lot of stuff, probably more than you realize:

*Three cross members
*Three trannys
*Two engines
*Lots of heads
*Lots of intakes
*Two bumper sets
*Two doors
*Two front clips

And that is just the big stuff. There are brakes, axles, rear ends, springs, flywheels, pressure plates, etc. and now everything has a place and is pretty well sorted.

Successful day. Win for all.

[lateapex911]

So Ron, I see you have lots of heads, intakes, etc. Did you flow them all to find the best? Have you done the same thing with pistons and rods to find the lightest, then match that??

[Ron Earp]

So Ron, I see you have lots of heads, intakes, etc. Did you flow them all to find the best? Have you done the same thing with pistons and rods to find the lightest, then match that??

How shall I answer that? Yes. However, what makes this thread different from a "How To" thread is that this thread doesn't contain all those little details....

[CRallo]

Forum needs a *like* button for posts.

I'm the scientist and Jeff G's the engineer, and we bring in Jeff Young for the heavy legal and bolt stripping, therefore we're one of those synergistic fabrication teams that can do it all. We didn't design the bar but were impressed with the design. John and Bruce Griggs used it on their ITE road race cars with the same mounting design and they didn't fail. Their attachment of the bar to the arm is different from ours though as their race cars used tubular arms where as we have to use the stock piece, but the concept is the same. Just requires a bit of adaptation.

It is "reasonably" light. What is interesting is that the V6 Mustang front bar is hollow already thus it isn't overly heavy. The new bar is a pound or two heavier, but much stiffer, than the stock bar. The mounting hardware vs stock is about a wash. We've got some heavy heim joints but the stock parts had some damn heavy bushings that we don't have. The stock mounting brackets were very weak looking but worked, so if you don't like the looks of these do not drive a Fox car with a roll bar, you'd be scairt!

You know, maybe it doesn't work well but I think it will. One thing is for sure, if you do the same old thing everyone else does don't except to get a better result than they do. It is good to try new things.

[lateapex911]

How shall I answer that? Yes. However, what makes this thread different from a "How To" thread is that this thread doesn't contain all those little details....

Hey! You edited that!!

I saw what you REALLY did.
I'd expect nothing less.
Guess thats saying enough, eh mr Secretive?

[Ron Earp]

Guess thats saying enough, eh mr Secretive?

Hey, you know how it is - you've got to work hard to get information thus you're not likely to give it up easily. Reliable 3.8L info is quite difficult to obtain and given the large assortment of factory 3.8L parts from 1994 to 1998 you must do a lot of background work before trying to build. And a lot of that work involves procuring parts and making measurements; not terribly expensive or hard to do but definitely time consuming. I've been buying and inspecting V6 stang parts since 2008. There's a lot to look at.

[Steve35]

I've been buying and inspecting V6 stang parts since 2008. There's a lot to look at.

Good for you, that's the way to build a race car!!

Steve

[lateapex911]

Yes, this is a proper build. I will be interested in learning the output and seeing the results on track. Of course, Ron will likely guard the output like a bag o gold, LOL

[Ron Earp]

Nah, I'm pretty open with the results and helpful with folks doing the same car as I am. These are sort of odd ducks though and there probably isn't a ton of interest in duplicating them. I expect power/torque to be outstanding (relative to ITS), braking to be okay, and handling to be so-so. Overall how will it do? don't know but I'm having fun building it and looking forward to running it on track.

[Mark Gray]

I've got the engine back in my old car!

So I'll Be "BACK IN BLACK" at Buck Muse @CMP!

Are you going to have that "STRIPPER STANG" ready so we can have some fun???

[Ron Earp]

Hey Mark,

Great to hear you'll be out in the BMW. Good job!

The Stripper Twins won't make the Buck Muse but they will be at RRR in April, May VIR, and the Memorial Monster. Wish we could get them to CMP in March but with work travel, and lots to do on the cars, we've got no chance.

R

[Mark Gray]

Hey Mark,

Great to hear you'll be out in the BMW. Good job!

The Stripper Twins won't make the Buck Muse but they will be at RRR in April, May VIR, and the Memorial Monster. Wish we could get them to CMP in March but with work travel, and lots to do on the cars, we've got no chance.

R

Work travel!!! Where are your priorities???

[Ron Earp]

We took the day off yesterday to head up to VIR to see how Mr. Young made out in ITS. He made out very well with the overall pole and the win in ITS. Great work!

Today work continued with the focus being on Stang #1, the green one. We got the stater reinstalled, pared down a wiring harness, and got the header pipes and collectors on.

Stripping the wiring harness is a pain in the ass, but it is essentially for a 100% build when you're looking for pounds. Pounds add up to tens, and tens to hundreds, so you've got to do it when you're working with a porker. Do you really need that bolt? How heavy a gauge of wire do you really need? There are certainly areas where I can stand to lose more weight off the car but for the first iteration we'll be at 95% lightness.



I got the header tubes installed and that was definitely a difficult job. Inline motors are so much easier to work on. The exhaust system has individual tubes that are not connected to a common flange so that makes it nice for positioning, not so nice for installation as it definitely takes longer than a common flange system. All mandrel bent, stepped primaries down to a Burn 3-1 collector, short length, multidiameter with a step ring, then each side into a Burns Y collector. Here are a few shots:

[Ron Earp]

Once I got the primary tubes fitted I put the collectors on.



I've still got a bit of wrapping to do on the collectors but mainly it is finished up.



The header system dumps into a single exhaust and you can see the two of the merge collectors in this photo, the Y- and one 3-1. You can also see the steps in the pipes.



Pains were taken to make all the lengths equal but that never works out in practice as you need to make some comprises. In this system I went for straighter pipes with less bends over making them perfectly equal. Not all exhaust gurus agree that this is the best method, but that is the way system V1.0 is done. I expect there will be a V2.0 and V3.0 before we're all done.

I also went over to Advance auto to pick up some tie rod ends and brake calipers. You have to like $45 front brake calipers with an essentially lifetime warranty. Working with the Advance manager we also found out that many Mustang parts cross-reference to other Ford parts that are cheaper. We've learned that if it is branded "Mustang" then in some cases the part will cost more than if it is for a Crown Vic, Aerostar, or F150.

[lateapex911]

Two bungs Ron? An extra for just in case? or an EGT and a Air fuel?