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

[Ron Earp]

While you're on the subject of brake ducts, any hints on attaching them to the spindle? Never seen it done properly before- lots of zip ties that melt or don't hold anything in place.

The way to do it is to make a plate that includes mounting holes that mate up to existing bolt holes on the spindle. If I build some for the stang I'll copy something like this:

http://store.kennybrown.com/files/im...e%20Duct_0.JPG

It mounts onto the spindle using the dust shield attachment points. Seals off the inside of the rotor and insures the air passes through the rotor vanes as it should.

[Matt93SE]

Must be nice to have a bolt-on dust shield from the factory. All of my Nissan stuff presses onto the knuckle around the stub. I guess I could have some tabs bent up and hose clamp it around there or something (since I know I can't cut sheet metal w/ close enough tolerances to press-fit over anything!)..

That at least gives me some ideas though. Thx!

[Ron Earp]

It wouldn't be too big of a deal to drill and tap a couple of small diameter holes in the knuckle to accept screws. They would only need to be maybe a 1/4" in.

Or, just toss that car and come on over to the domestic side!

[Matt93SE]

Or maybe I should race a Mazda like almost everyone else in TX....







....Now back to your regularly scheduled Mustang discussion.

[Ron Earp]

Or maybe I should race a Mazda like almost everyone else in TX....

One of the reasons I'm doing a domestic. We were walking around the paddock at VIR and fully 50%+ of the race cars there that weekend were Mazdas. Mazda Sports Car Club of America.

[Ron Earp]

Lots of car work today - Mustang, Lola, and some of those pesky every day driver cars.

Got the dash installed into the car and it is now ready for the cage. Interior is completely gutted and is as light as it'll ever be. We'll be using the factory gauges and augmenting them with a mechanical water temp and oil pressure gauge, along with a wide band O2. You can see the special bezels that will cluster those around the driver, two in the instrument area and one on the column.

The factory gauges work pretty well as indicators and there are additoinal lights that illuminate for low oil, high water temp, and no alternator charging. Therefore we'll be keeping them intact and functioning.

The center console area will house the Traqmate, remote tire pressure monitor, radio, and a few switches for camera and cool system.

[titanium]

Here are the ducts that I'm using on my Mustang.
http://www.lapponline.com/index.php?...7f1cc83dfbc962

[shwah]

For all the effort to remove a few lbs of asphalt, why no Dash2 display and ditch all the guages and cluster? It must be lighter that way.

[Ron Earp]

For all the effort to remove a few lbs of asphalt, why no Dash2 display and ditch all the guages and cluster? It must be lighter that way.

The asphalt is finally all out, a bit more in the back, and it came to 10.4 lbs.

I considered an electronic dash but the Ford piece weighs 2.1 lbs with the bezel, pretty light for what it is. I'll pull it out an take a picture, but it is very flat and thin, all plastic, and there isn't much there. So I could save a pound or so, but I like factory dashes. The other three gauges that will fill the holes are all light Autometer gauges that don't weigh 1.4 lbs all together.

[manny]

Ron, very nice work. I also have been thinking of the V6 platform, just so many parts out there for the taking. Keep us informed as you progress

[Ron Earp]

The car is somewhat of a challenge. Weight is coming out of it but unless the driver weighs zero, and the cage too, it'll never make 2480 lbs weight. But the engine will also respond better than 25% so I'm thinking if I can get a racing weight around 26XX lbs, and all signs point to that being possible, then the car might be competitive in S. I think it could probably hit the 25XX pound zone, maybe, but time will tell.

I don't think it'll be the car to have in S, but if you want to race a particular brand of car, as I did, then you take what you get. I'd not advise someone to strike up a build just yet unless they are dying to race an IT Mustang.

Now the ITR Mustang, I think that one is a full on go. It'll make a lot of power and I know that is can make weight in ITR if the builder is careful. Prices for 1999-2004 Mustangs are dirt cheap too, so if you want a safe bet the ITR V6 Rustang is the way to go.

[Ron Earp]

Busted out the vinyl cutter and did a little stripe work on the Mustang so we'd have a change of pace in workflow. Getting large stripes cut and affixed to the car with no bubbles or runs is not a trivial task. After two false starts and about 12 feet of wasted vinyl I got the hang of it and put the orange stripe with silver trim on the hood. Looks not half bad.

[Ron Earp]

Quite a bit has been happening in Mustang land over the last week or so. We've torn into the transmission for a rebuild and the rear end. Both of these are new builds for me and I've a question for the Ford guys.

The rear end in the car is of course the 7.5" unit. I've prepped the axle and now we're ready to re-install a new R&P, LSD device, and new bearings.

Have a look at this picture:

Hatch Pattern on Bearing Shells

One bearing shell and one bearing race, the driver's side, has a match pattern. The other side does not, it is smooth. I have found no mention of this pattern in the shop manual or other sources.

Q: Is the pattern there to mark the bearing cap so that it doesn't get mixed up, or, was it there to help grip the bearing and one side is wiped out? Any Ford 7.5" rear guys here have some knowledge they wish to share?

Other than that things are going well. Motor got shipped out to the motor guy and the car is ready for the cage pending the builder being free to do the job.

[Ron Earp]

Lots of things are happening with the build but I'm not doing all of them. Rear end is being assembled, cage being installed, and engine being built. The engine builder is about half way through the build and sent a few pictures. Heads are rebuilt and parts are all about ready to go back in.

I hope the rear axle will be done this weekend and I suspect the cage is a few weeks out. I've got the transmission apart and will rebuild it myself. So in theory sometime in November I should have lots of sub assemblies to reassemble.





I've collected a great many of Mustang parts via the second hand market - numerous camber/caster plates, multiple intakes, heads, shocks, struts, bearings, and the list goes on. Typically fairly inexpensive but good quality parts. Having a large number of different items available allows you to pick and choose for your criteria.

For example, I had the standard issue Maximum Motorsports camber/caster plates and they are nice pieces, but, VERY heavy. All steel. A Mustang strut isn't like a standard McPherson strut car because the spring isn't on the strut itself, therefore you can use a lighter piece. The Hotchkis parts are all ally and much lighter than the MM plates which are really designed for a full coilover conversion, which I can't do.

[Ron Earp]

Still waiting for the cage to be finished up and that should be done next weekend. However, in the meantime Jeff G procured another ITS Mustang and it is in my garage being prepped for cage installation. Invasion of the domestics into ITS has begun.



Unfortunately it is exactly the same year and color - 1998 Ford FU, a dark green color. He's going to have the entire car repainted though. White or yellow are the current choices.

2012 might see three new Mustangs debuting in the NCR SCCA. Two ITS Mustangs and one ITR Mustang (V8, not V6). Should be interesting.

[CRallo]

LOVE it!! Keep up the good work!

[FLATKITTY]

Just a couple of pennies worth of thought here ... 1) The dead pedal is retained w/3 sheet metal screws. You might consider replacing them w/larger (grade 5) nuts & bolts; 2) The more weight you remove, the worse your F/R weight distribution becomes. Kind of a odd Catch 22 for prepping a race car. Factory spec (SN95 Mustang w/V6), based upon a weight of 3,071 lbs, is 56.4/43.6 (F/R). After removing everything from the trunk & interior (except the OE driver's seat, door panels & dash), the weight distribution was 59.1/40.9 (F/R) w/out driver. It will be interesting to see how much your roll cage will factor into this. Anyone looked at FIA approved carbon-fiber roll cages for IT? Maybe it can be approved along w/the requested C/F hood & fenders for the ITS Mustang.

[Matt93SE]

Or maybe they could just build a car that wasn't a nose-heavy pig.

[Russ Myers]

Remember, they laughed at IT Volvos, too.

Russ

[Ron Earp]

You never know how it'll turn out unless you try. We're not sparing any effort in the build as I know if it doesn't work out for ITS it is really simple to move the car into a bunch of other SCCA or NASA classes. I like SN95s so it is a platform I can work with for years to come and be happy.

I'm hoping to have the car back with cage in the next week or so. I'll be interested to see how much weight we've added with the cage.