Vorshlag 2011 Mustang 5.0 GT - track/autocross/street Project

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How anyone could logically put these two cars in the same class is beyond me.

Members of the STAC have said openly that they don't really care about Pony cars/Mustangs, and that they think this request to move the S197 from STX to STU is pointless, but at least they have agreed to it so far. Your volume of letters could not be ignored. The STAC now actually seems more concerned with adding a virtually-never-raced, low production two seat Corvette (non-Z06 C5 Corvettes, to be exact) into STU than helping the much more common S197 Mustangs and Pony Cars be competitive in their new class. They sit around and compare thrust vector calculations rather than using any logic or common sense about vehicle choice. Just... ignore the whole Corvette-to-STU thing, it will blow up in their faces. Please write a letter opposing it, of course. I feel that if more Mustang folks just show up and run STU, then they can't ignore these cars forever.


Mark's fifth run in STU was his fastest and good enough for second out of four in the class.

Big thanks to Mark C. for the co-drive, and to the folks in STU at this event for being cool with Mark running in the class "a bit earlier" than the planned class move (2014-ish), hence the STU* class marking in the video description above. Mark drove his tail off and took second place out of four in the class, but I don't think traditional STU racers across the nation are too worried about these heavy metal pony cars moving into the top ST class. The 3500-3600 pound V8 S197s will need some help (more tire and/or extra allowances) if they are to ever trophy at the National level against 3000 pound AWD cars making 350+ whp. After having prepped and raced in several AWD turbo Subarus and EVOs as well as E36 M3s in STU, I know it is a rough road ahead - but at least the car is going into the a class that allows a little more usable tire.

Vorshlag 2011 TT3 Mustang GT - Pre-Nationals Preparation

There is so much going on to our red 2011 Mustang GT that I really don't know where to start. I've been gathering front end parts for this planned aero re-work for a couple of months now, and the fabrication work to make the changes we wanted have been going on for the past week or so. As I've said several times in this thread, we're taking our street car Mustang GT to the NASA Nationals and throwing our entry into the TT3 class. Many racers think I am foolish to even try, and they may be right, but since we're not going to the SCCA Solo Nationals (always the same week as NASA's road race Nationals) we wanted to go check out NASA's big annual shootout instead. We have a lot of customers who will be at the NASA Nationals that we can see and I've never driven Miller Motorsports Park in SLC, Utah. It should be fun.



Miller is a large, fast track with straightaway speeds exceeding 160 mph in TT3 trim... we think. The track is located in the desert just outside of Salt Lake City, so the altitude is 4000 feet, which means the air is a good bit thinner here than in Texas. We are developing a MASSIVE new splitter up front with a ducted hood to hopefully help with the high speed push we've been experiencing this year, and to compensate for the thinner air in SLC. We designed this splitter in-house and had it water jet cut to our specs, and everything else shown below is also being built here at Vorshlag.


Left: The "let's take a look" phase, showing the 3" aluminum tubing. Right: Off with the Leguna Seca splitter.

This new mega-splitter (10.25" long at the nose) should make considerably more front end downforce than the 5" long ABS plastic Leguna Seca splitter did before, and hopefully it will help with cooling (which is also more difficult in thinner air) as well.


Left: Since she won't let us cut on OEM sheet metal, we bought another hood. The 19" wheels are on for "ease of pushing". Right: Proposed ducting.

We have moved some things around under the hood in order to make room for the large holes we're adding to the hood (a used 2010-12 stock aluminum piece) to better pull air from behind the radiator. The OEM coolant reservoir is no longer sitting behind the radiator on the right side, it is now relocated off to the left side of the engine bay, out of the airstream we're adding.


New bumper beam is 1.75" x .120" wall DOM tubing and it bolts on to the frame rails. Plenty strong, but less bulky than the OEM beam.

The cold air inlet tube is no longer blocking the left side of the engine bay like the factory routing. Now it goes over the top of the radiator support towards a Corvette style air cleaner located in the space where the old bumper beam was. A new tubular bumper beam replaces the stock piece and will anchor the down-stays for the splitter as well as a tow hook. It looks like the 3" diameter tube snaking over the radiator support wouldn't fit under the hood, but this 3" aluminum tube (with a MAF sensor plate welded in place) does clear with the hood down. The hood has been clearanced on the bottom side (two of the three layers of aluminum were notched), the center mounted OEM hood latch is gone, and the hood will be held in place by four aero latches.

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Left: Radiator ducting coming together and air inlet looming above. Right: Ghosted image showing the insides.

These changes seem like trivial things, but it took a good bit of fabrication work to re-route the inlet tube and to relocate the coolant reservoir. The added "real estate" behind the radiator and in front of the engine will have some "waterfall" air deflectors we create down in there. These will help push the incoming air aft of the radiator up to the hood openings. These will not be 100% perfectly sealed, but it doesn't have to be to still gain some significant front downforce.


Left: Upper grill block off plate and new "sacrificial bumper cover". Right: Cold air inlet plumbed through radiator ducting.


We have two modifications in store to reduce drag. First, proper fender flares for the larger 12" wide front wheels. Second, we've sealed off the entire upper grill area with all of the cooling air coming into the lower grill opening in the CS lower fascia. A sealed aluminum radiator box has been fabricated to force air from the lower grill to the entire frontal area of the radiator (actually, to the a/c condenser - yes, this car still has A/C. Hey, we live in Texas!). A smooth grill cover will be made to help reduce the drag on this huge, "inverted" factory front grill. We have an aluminum grill cover for now, but it will hopefully change shape soon.


Left: Front rework is getting closer. Note the relocated coolant reservoir. Right: The blue hood is clearanced (and photoshopped red!)

The splitter we made is from sheet aluminum (6061-T6) that we had water jet cut to our drawing. It is very big. The picture below shows where Ryan was with the fab work on Monday the 12th, but we've gone much farther than that by the time you read this.




Ryan is deep into the middle of this fabrication work and I will hopefully have time to show a more polished look before we roll out to Utah on a 22 hour tow in three weeks time. We're mocking up the front flares tonight and we will have a surprise in store on how we make them. We are showing more of the TT3 Mustang's front aero work in real time on our Vorshlag Facebook page, too.


Tires - What To Use, What Is Affordable?

The number one budget busting item on our race car is still tire costs. We've been using Hoosier A6 and R6 tires this year, and with Hoosier's generous contingency program plus a string of wins we have won about 16 tires so far, but we've used more than that. We didn't have any TT3 competition at Hallett, which means no tire payouts, so we were out of luck for more fresh tires to take to NASA Nationals. I found a close-out deal on some Continental tires, quickly read the TT rules, and bought a pallet of them.


Left: 320/650/18 fits perfectly onto an 18x12" wheel. Right: Mountain of 305mm and 320mm Continental GT slicks.

The mountain of Continental tires arrived last month. I had hoped to use them in TT3 events and in testing, with the Hoosier A6 still being our ringer tire we'd use for one session per day. The A6s don't have more than one hot lap in them at a time, so when I need to learn a new track, a harder tire like these Continental GT tires work better. These Continental slicks are actually made and sold by Hoosier, and I have been told they are pretty close to an R6 in terms of grip and wear.


Left: The 305/650/18 Continental slick fits perfectly on an 18x11" wheel. Right: Note the "tuck" on the 18x10" wheel at right. Too fat.

Well... it turns out I didn't read the TT tire rules very well. All non-DOT slick tires take a pretty hefty penalty over the DOT Hoosiers in TT1-TT3, even if they are harder and slower than a DOT tire like the A6. There was an exception for the Continental slicks used in SCCA Grand Am racing - they are classed as a Hoosier R6 and do not take this penalty. So, I bought a pallet of them... but these aren't the same tires, and instead are from the Continental/Rolex GT class... so to use these admittedly slower endurance slicks I will have to take a 300 pound weight penalty. 4090 pounds is a bit too much to stomach for a race weight, so we won't be using these on a NASA race weekend. I will save some of the 320/650/18s and use them for HPDE events and testing, then sell the 305/650/18s on 18x11" Forgestars as a package. Luckily the 305/650/18s fit very well on 18x11" wheels, so I think these will make some weekend Mustang racers pretty happy. Look for mounted/balanced sets for sale soon.

Cars and Coffee Dallas August 2013



We brought 3 Vorshlag cars to a C&C event this month to show off some of our new shock offerings. I washed all 3 cars myself and we added some subtle decals here and there. Matt's blue BRZ was sporting Vorshlag camber plates and a brand new set of MCS TT1 coilovers which we measured, spec'd and had built to our specs. Brandon's white NB Miata in the middle has our first set of "Bilstein Redline" coilovers that we built in-house, a few days earlier. Once we have the valving tweaked on the rears these NB shocks will go on sale, and I will talk about both of these coilover sets in more detail soon, inside our "Shock Announcement Thread". And of course my 2013 Mustang GT has custom built AST doubles with remotes. We had this car here more to show it off to potential buyers than the shocks it had.

C&C August Pics: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Car-Show...e-August-2013/

Yes, the black 2013 GT is STILL for sale. We had a few nibbles but none of the interested parties showed up to come test drive it. So please - spread the word. I need to turn this car into cash to help fund new Vorshlag product development. For Sale Ad is here.

What's Next?

Some additional fab work is obviously needed on the TT3 car, and the final mounting of the new mega-splitter is happening now. A new, much thicker, all-aluminum fabricated radiator is due tomorrow, which will hopefully help with any other cooling issues (again - in three years of track abuse we have never had a single overheating issue on this car) that we might see from the higher altitude or the reconfigured grill. A track test is planned in the following week and we'll take photos and video using flow vis to see if we're on the right track. As always, I will share all of the progress and testing in this build thread. Hopefully we can add one more update right before we head out to Nationals, with the car all back to one color, after the final track test.

More soon,

[Grandpa]

Fair is officially my new favorite sponsor. I love these detailed write ups!! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to read them all after I get back from the gym.

[Fair]

Originally Posted by SlowGreyGT ... I'm going to read them all after I get back from the gym.

Pack a lunch.

[dmartin78]

Good to see you on here Terry!

[Fair]

Project Update for August 28, 2013: Been a busy couple of weeks since the last project thread update, with the majority of the new aero work completed on our TT3 Mustang after working long hours every day and night. It was a major thrash to get all of this done in a 2 week period. During that time we also ran an autocross event with Amy driving our 2013 GT (STU) and me in Matt's BRZ (STX), and then track tested the new front aero parts on our TT3 Mustang. We're now in the final week thrash to do all of the "clean up work" to the car before we load up and head 22 hours across country to the NASA Nationals Sept 4-8th, so let's get caught up.

S197 Mustang Coilover Tester Needed in Dallas/Ft. Worth Area

Before we dig into the STU Mustang autocross test results, let's get to the reason why we went to this event out of the way - to test some MCS coilovers on one of our shop employee's cars, a 2013 Subaru BRZ. And this has a bearing on the S197, too. How is the suspension on a BRZ important to a Mustang? Well, they have several things in common: both chassis have McStrut front/shock rear suspensions, both have a factory coilover spring on the struts, and both chassis Vorshlag makes camber plates for. They also both are RWD, and they share almost the same track width (about the only dimension they have in common). So our suspension testing on the BRZ does sort of apply to S197 Mustangs.



We also sell MCS coilovers for the S197 Mustang, and in fact we have the first TT1 set in stock that we had built to our specs. All we lack is a tester to buy this set, then let us photograph, install and measure all of the parameters we like to check on a brand new suspension option like this. We've done installs on MCS RR2 doubles with remotes and TT1 singles on other cars, just have get a Mustang buyer to let us install a set for the S197 chassis.


Fitting the custom built set of MCS TT1 shocks to a tester's BRZ, sans springs, for bump/rebound measurements

We need someone local with an S197 that street drives + tracks or autocrosses their Mustang to sign up as a Vorshlag Tester for this first MCS TT1 set we had built. This would include a discounted install at our shop, a free corner-balance, and hands-on set-up help at a local autocross or track event(s). Go to the recently updated Vorshlag Tester Page, read the Tester Expectations, and if it sounds like a fit, sign up to be a tester via the method shown on that page. Don't call, or shoot me a PM, or send a fax, or wire us a telegram, but instead follow the instructions on that page to sign up. If your criteria line up with ours, we can get the MCS TT1 installation pictures for the S197 chassis. This would be another great monotube offering we can provide for this chassis (to go along with the offerings we have from Bilstein, Moton and AST). The MCS units are a bit unique in that they only have a 2 to 3 week lead time, are modular and can be upgraded to doubles or with remotes, and the have very beefy internals, shafts and housings.

SCCA Autox at Crandall, August 18, 2013 - STX vs STU?

So we decided to enter this autocross after we installed the MCS TT1 coilovers on Matt's 2013 Subaru BRZ. This car has been waiting on proper coilovers for almost a year, and after a few fits and starts we finally got a high end, adjustable monotube coilover on the car that was made to the specs we wanted. Working with MCS has been easy and we've installed and sold a good number of their singles (TT1), internal doubles (TT2) and doubles with remotes (RR2) onto our various customer cars.



You can read more about the BRZ project here, but the plan quickly became to drive this car in its Street Touring class (STX) at the same event as two S197s we brought and ran in STU. Amy drove our 2013 GT (which is still for sale - hello, is this thing on??) and Mark C drove again his 2012 GT in STU class, so we could compare times against each other and against the other STU and STX cars in attendance. There were a number of strong regular competitors in STX cars at this event who ran in other classes for various reasons (mostly time of day choices). Still, it was worth comparing to the top ST cars there, so we will, at the bottom of this post section.

Vorshlag Photo & Video Gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E...andall-081813/

So Amy Fair, my wife, is a 3 time National Champion autocrosser (STU-L twice and ESP-L last year) was running our 2013 Mustang GT in STU. This car is far from under-prepped, and in fact had a couple of "illegal for STU" mods, but this was a good venue to test those things because they were both items we've been asking the STAC/SEB to include for solid axle STU cars. The main suspension items were a $5000 set of AST remote reservoir double adjustable shocks with 400F/200R coilover spring rates.



The 2013 also has a big adjustable Eibach front swaybar, plenty of front camber (VM plates), upgraded and ducted 14" Brembo brakes, and 295/35/18 (10mm wider than allowed in STU - for now) Nitto NT-05s (200 treadwear) on our Vorshlag/D-Force 18x10" wheels. It also has Whiteline rear control arm Relocation brackets (also not yet allowed) plus a Whiteline Adjustable Panhard bar, to center the axle since it is lowered approx. 2 inches. This car had zero power mods, as it already made 377 whp with the bone stock 5.0L Coyote motor - which is too much for 295mm street tires to deal with on TRACK (see above), much less use in thae "knife fight in a phone booth" which is autocross.



Have I mentioned that this car is for sale? Oh, there, I did it again. Somebody is going to come by and drive this car, realize what an amazing deal this is, and buy it. And then rub it in other peoples' faces.



Mark C is a bit newer to autocross (couple of years) but has a solidly prepped car as well, and was running on fresh RS-3 Hankooks in 285/35/18. These felt like they had a good bit more stick than the year-old 295 Nittos on our car, so the extra 10mm was probably a wash, if that. Mark's Mustang was on AST 4150 coilovers, 550F/250R springs, BMR adjustable panhard bar, the same 18x10" wheels with the aforementioned "200" treadwear RS-3s (they used to be 140 treadwear but Hankook asked the Pope to sprinkle holy water on them and viola! they are now 200). It also has a Torsen T-2R aftermarket diff, 14" Brembos, and some other goodies, but also stock power.

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SCCA Event Results: http://texasscca.org/2013_solo_resul..._final.htm#STU

I guess the BRZ was fairly well prepped for STX, too. I figured beforehand that we might give the two STU Mustangs a run for the money, and was hoping just to keep within a second of the fast STX guys that I watch in our region, like Brad Maxcy's BMW 328is and Mark Sipe's RX8.

Mark C (STU 150) and Amy (STU 197) ran their 5.0 Mustangs in the first heat of four for the day - which was both good and bad. It was good because the surface temperatures on this concrete lot were lower, as were ambient temps in the morning runs. This meant the tires wouldn't get overheated as quickly - but we still had to spray tires on both cars after runs 2-4. At least the didn't have co-drivers to add to the tire heat. But it was bad because the course surface for first heat wasn't as clean as it gets later. Texas Region SCCA does a phenomenal job in prepping the course, with multiple backpack air blowers and brooms, but nothing replaces car tires scrubbing the surface clean. And the course was a bit tricky. It was long, with a LOT of slaloms and near-offsets, perfect for narrow cars - more of what I call a "Miata-centric" course, which we see a lot since the course designer drives a Miata (love ya JJ!). It also had three increasingly tight 180° turn-arounds that joined long-ish acceleration zones. This was AWD heaven.

Walking it I could see the two STU Mustangs probably having trouble with corner exit traction compared to the AWD cars in their class, as the exits from each major "slow down element" (the three turn-arounds) were pinched off (aka: decreasing) and not what these cars need to "excel". The tightness of the 180s were also going to be tough to navigate in these big cars, as were the slaloms. But the BRZ on 17x9" wheels and brand new 255/40/18 BFG Rivals was almost as wide, at a measured 71" outer track width. So it might struggle through the slaloms, too.



It turned out to NOT be the case for the BRZ. This car was eating up the slaloms! In the video linked above (which has horrible audio, thanks to a previous gen GoPro HD camera) is my best run in the BRZ. It was a GRIP BUGGY, and at 2700 pounds with 255 Rivals, excellent shocks and great camber, I guess it should be. My first run in the BRZ absolutely obliterated both STU Mustangs. Now I did run in heat 4, so the course surface was cleaner. But it was also 90°F, so it was hotter when a ran, too. And I was co-driving in a 2-driver car with Matt, and we had to do fast driver changes - we barely had time to spray the tires, switch numbers and reset the seat/wheel between runs, and we had help (thanks, Olof and Mark).



So it looked like Matt's BRZ was pretty quick for having zero testing, at its first ever autocross. We basically threw a bunch of parts at this car, took some guesses at set-up, and went out there and drove it. Of course the parts didn't suck... custom spec'd MCS TT1 coilovers, 450#/in springs, Vorshlag plates, Whiteline bars, Enkei 17x9" RPF-1 wheels (15.8 pounds) and brand new 255/40/17 BFG Rivals. It needs a test day to get the bars, spring rates and other adjustments sorted, but we tweaked shock settings and tire pressures during the event and it felt pretty damned good.

This car was hooked UP on this course. At 2700 pounds the BRZ has a huge weight advantage on the 3600 pound S197s in STU, but with 166 whp it lacks a bit in the "go" department. I beat on that car like a rented mule, launching from the Start at 5500 rpms and taking it to redline several times on course; even using 3rd gear on most of my runs. These cars have relatively low power levels, but it just didn't matter. This is autocross, where WEIGHT WINS. In the end the BRZ was 3.6 seconds faster than Mark or Amy in STU and 1.5 sec faster than the winner in STU. That was shocking, and more than a little depressing. I mean, sure, I knew the BRZ could be faster but not THAT much faster than two well prepped STU S197 5.0 cars.

Matt, the car's owner and a 5 year veteran here at Vorshlag, is still a novice autocrosser yet beat the 30 car Novice class handily in the same BRZ. So I guess we had the car set-up well enough from the start. Co-driving the car with him in the last heat of the day made it tight on driver switchover timing, and the car slowed down on my last 2 runs - we think from both tire and brake pad heat (he had on the OEM pads and I was turning them to goo with my hectic Left Foot Braking). We just could not get the tires cooled down on our last 2 runs.


Left: Twin turbo LSx powered 68 Camaro on street tires! Right: 2 liters of naturally aspirated fury pumping out 166 whp. Its no Coyote 5.0.

PAX Results: http://texasscca.org/2013_solo_results/tr13_6_pax.htm

I will be the first to admit that I'm no "momentum" car driver, yet the times still PAX'd 13th out of 121, and won STX class by a 2.5 sec margin. My best run in the BRZ was run #3, still with with a passenger on board (took passengers on runs 1-3, then took runs 4-5 solo), so I know the car had more left in it. I feel that the tires were just a tick too hot, and word is the Rivals do not take extreme heat well - but what does well in Texas summer heat with 2-drivers running back to back? Not a whole lot. Normally you don't want to have a 2-driver car in any class in this kind of heat.


Amy driving the 2013 (at left) in the same 180° corner as Mark in his 2012 (at right).

Looking at the results, the two STU Mustangs were bringing up the tail end of their class. It seems that the Mustangs were very close to each other, and in the end Mark beat Amy by .009 sec, which is no small feat. Sure, Amy was coning runs left and right (3 of 5 runs) but her fastest run was clean and on her 5th and final attempt. Maybe her car's tires were past their due date (NT-05s were never that grippy), but she was hustling around that course and stepping on cone bases, cutting good lines. She's been racing since 1993 and often matches or beats my times, but she's a bit rusty in Solo this year. And in case you are wondering, I might guess that.... I might have put a second on her that day in that car, maybe. I almost never beat her by more than that, and we are often in the same tenth (or she beats me) when we co-drive together.



The image above (click or any other it for larger version, as always) is a "composite results" listing I put together of all of the STX & STU cars. I even dragged in some StreetMod and X class entries, that were really STX or ESP cars (but not the entire X or SM classes). Sometimes the online results disappear over time, so I like to make my own copy. This grouping shows all of the cars that matter to the STU Mustang. As you can see there was a good variety of cars in the STU class, including a 2.5L WRX, an EVO X, an E46 M3 (Gaith's car, which we have worked on several times), and the two Mustangs bringing up the rear. STU should be faster than STX, of course, but it doesn't always work out this way.

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It looks like my STX winning time was also good enough to top STU and all of the STX cars at the event but one, as Mark Sipe cleaned up some cone trouble with a hero 5th run (running in Street Mod during heat 3) that put almost 9 tenths on the BRZ. He's a damn fast driver and has been racing that RX8 since about 2006, and it is set up well. Maxcy was fast in his well prepped BMW 328is (running in X class) but also had cone trouble and sat on his 1st run. Since he was in X class and they automatically DSQ the 4th and 5th runs (that class only), and he was a bit closer on his 5th run. Madarash's ESP car was smoking fast, and even with the harder SMod factor he just out-placed me in PAX results. After watching all of my runs on video, there was clearly more time in the BRZ than we saw in this first event, with better driving and a developed set-up. As usual I complained more about power than anything, and there are some proven power mods on these cars out now, too.



In the end I think this event was a better test point for the "S197 in STU" idea than the last autocross where Mark and I drove his 2012 GT in two different heats on differing courses (mid-event course change, ugh). The times we see in these results show another piece of data supporting the request allowing more tire on the Mustangs in STU. Even with 295s and $100 worth of "cheater" rear suspension upgrades, it was still lacking. Both Mustangs would have gotten killed in the old STX class, especially running on the skinnier 265mm tires, so I think STU is still the right move for these cars. Of course everyone can always drive better and Mark will only get faster as he gets more seat time and mods on the car, but Amy isn't new to this sport and neither of them brought an un-prepped STU car.

Since there is still no resolution in sight on the ESP Watts Link rules debacle (delayed until 2015, for no good reason), see I will continue to not build a car of my own around an SCCA class in 2014. This is unusual for me, as I have almost always had a car built around some SCCA Solo class rules since I started autocrossing in the late 80s. Instead I will try to continue to co-drive cars like Matt's STX BRZ or maybe Mark's STU Mustang, at local events through this year and maybe even into next season. Might do the "local" National level events but I won't travel for them. We have been doing 25-30 race weekends a year for the past 7 or 8 years in a row, and it is taking its toll. Amy and I will continue to concentrate our personal cars and efforts on campaigning our 2011 Mustang in NASA TT (as well as another car we are building) next year, which as a club has been a good bit easier to deal with.

We are also on the list for a 2015 Mustang, as soon as they are released, whatever it looks like or weighs. Who knows how the SCCA will class this car, or if it will be heavier than the outgoing chassis? I think that all of the rumors out now of it being lighter than the S197 are wildly optimistic, but I am hopeful that with IRS it might have better corner exit traction. Time will tell. However it turns out we will try to make it better, and track + autocross it to test parts we develop for this new chassis.

More Aero Prep on TT3 Mustang

Now for the stuff most of you have been waiting for - if you even bothered to read the autocross bits above, I thank you. Many of you have been watching the progress of our front aero work from the past two weeks on the Vorshlag Facebook page. But for the rest of you, let's catch up from where we left off in the last update, where we were just starting to get the new aero development underway. Don't forget that almost every picture I post can be clicked for a larger rez version.



One big slab of 6061-T6 x .190 sheet makes up the new splitter, and yes, we probably went too thick and this thing has a sizable amount of heft. Its hard to tell in the small picture above (left) how much bigger the new unit really is. The black one is the Leguna Seca ABS splitter sitting on top of our aluminum BMF splitter. The Leguna piece sticks out past the lower fascia by 5.5". The new unit sticks out front by 10.25", almost double the forward length. It also goes back a couple of feet and is wider by nearly 4" per side, and is mounted 1" lower as well. The extra width is there to better line up with the upcoming tire spats/flares that will cover the front of the 18x12" front wheels. Spinning tires sticking out in the air stream are a big contribution to drag, so we planned to cover the leading edges.



The spacer to lower the splitter was built out of is 1" square aluminum tubing, pie cut on the back side and bent to match the curved contour of the lower fascia. This was then TIG welded back together while held in the fixture shown above, ground smooth, drilled for the existing mounting holes, and bolted between the splitter and fascia it becomes a rigid spacer. Ed cut and shaped this thing one night using his portable band saw, then Ryan (who did 90% of all of the work in this aero mod project) welded and ground it smooth, and it came out looking much nicer than any race part should. If we have ground clearance issues we can remove this 1" spacer and adjust the rear mounting eyes upward to match.



The radiator I talked briefly about in my previous post is shown above. Yes, it is a Mishimoto unit, which is a fabricated, all-aluminum radiator that is much larger than the OEM piece. It bolts in place and has the integral mounts for the A/C condenser, which is still on this car. We were going to buy the Ford Racing Boss-S radiator (M-8005-MGT), but at $750 retail (still $650+ at the lowest shipped price) I just couldn't stomach that. We have had excellent results with Mishimoto radiators in the past on LS1 BMWs (I have one in my new E46 LSx build, one in the Alpha E36 making 490 whp, McCall had one in his Z3 LS1, Matt has one in his E36 LS1, etc). Then we realized... damn, we're a Mishimoto dealer, and they do make an S197 drop-in radiator. We sell this radiator now for $247, which is a steal. I will touch on how it worked in my coverage of the ECR track test, below (excellent).



Above left you can see the "waterfall" air deflector that we built for behind the radiator. There are brackets that hold it in place (not shown in these pics yet) and it has rubber edging and cut-outs near any radiator hose. This deflector seals to the bottom of the radiator but is open on the sides. It directs the airflow up towards the hood ducting, but isn't part of a 100% sealed duct system. We talked to other race engineers and they agreed - the small incremental improvements from making a 100% sealed radiator-to-hood duct system is not worth the added work compared to what we have done here. We could get 90-95% of the benefit for 1/3rd the work. The upper right pic shows the first iteration of the rear splitter mounts. These are custom made pin mounts that go into small spherical eyes that can be adjusted up/down for a better fit. We have 3 on there, and the outer 2 have latching pins.

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Above left are the fabricated struts that hold the front of the splitter and bolt to the fabricated push bar behind the bumper cover. These are adjustable in length and made from aluminum tubing and steel threaded eye ends. They have been weight tested and also proven on track, don't worry. The above right picture is with the hood ducting cut and some corrugated cardboard stuffed in place, for mock-up. Then Brandon did his photoshop tricks and made the blue hood look red.



Building the hood ducting was done in the method shown above. We looked at other ways, and even attempted to weld on the aluminum sheet that the OEM hood is made of. welding was a major chore so we went with rivets. The aluminum side panels have small angle pieces riveted to them and to the hood, and he structure is actually stronger than before due to the boxed shape of the two ducts.



How big are the ducts, and why didn't we just "buy a Tiger Racing hood!", like so many people suggested? Well, as you can see, a human head will fit through the duct openings, so they are bigger than anything we've seen out there. The drop on the ducting is also very deep, unlike any off the shelf hood we have found for the S197. This drop was only possible by moving the coolant reservoir and factory routing of the cold-air inlet to the middle and going over the radiator support. THIS was why we did all of that work. The TR hood also has the ducts in less than ideal placement, in my humble opinion, moving from a low presure (forward) to high pressure zone back by near the windshield. It is also $1500+ for a composite hood that is prone to cracking, and a real bear to paint (according to a body shop I talked to that has done a half dozen), whereas this is a $300 used aluminum OEM hood with just "some fab hours" into it. It is still light and yet strong enough to work for years without cracking. Mostly it allowed us to make the ducting as deep as we wanted in where we wanted, instead of being stuck with an aftermarket composite hood's shape and layout.



As you can see above, Ryan added some epoxy seam sealer to the edges of the hood openings where the sheets of aluminum met. Again, welding this OEM material proved problematic, so we went with rivets and panel bonding epoxy on everything. It is air tight and STRONG. The ducts are BIG, placed in the correct low pressure areas (in theory), and they drop WAY down and grab air from the now uncovered back of the radiator, with more flow pushed upwards from the waterfall deflector. This hood ducting combined with the massive splitter we fabricated should produce significantly more front downforce than the LS splitter we used before, even at low speeds. In theory. Neither Jason nor I are aero engineers, but our mechanical engineering backgrounds aren't from another planet, either. We also know some smart aero guys who gave us a lot of tips.



We never got a good picture with the bumper cover off of the new "Corvette style" air cleaner installed onto the end of our fabricated aluminum intake tube, and now that is all buried under the front end and I don't want to pull it all apart for a pic. Above are a couple of pictures with the clear cellophane still on the air cleaner, but mounted in place. Removing the big, bulky factory bumper beam and foam crash structure and replacing it with the fabricated 1.75" x .120" wall DOM tube allowed a lot of extra SPACE for the rather large air cleaner to sit and draw air from. It is up out of the air stream with just the carbon fiber "lid" visible from the grill opening. It might get a tiny bit of extra airflow from some "ram air" effect, but I doubt it will be noticeable (it wasn't on track). That wasn't the intent of the new intake tube routing and air cleaner location - it was all about making room behind the radiator for the new hood ducting's surface area.



In order to leave as much room behind the radiator for more surface area on the hood, to allow more flow through the ducting, we ditched the OEM electric fan and shroud. Why? The stock fan shroud was VERY THICK (4" or more), and it was also sealed to the entire back surface of the radiator. This is a good thing on a 100% street car with stock grill and stock radiator, as it allows the fan to suck air from the full back surface of the radiator and not just the round area that the fan blade covers. We aren't as concerned about stop and go traffic driving as much now, and once you are up to speed (45 mph or so) on track the "free flow" across the radiator makes the electric fan irrelevant - and in fact, the shroud can restrict free flow at speed. So we added a slim aftermarket 16" diameter electric fan without a shroud. This mounts to the Mishimoto's upper and lower flanges with custom aluminum brackets Olof fabbed up. We have it tied into the factory wiring harness and it functions just like the stock fan (computer controlled). When Ed and I ran the car Friday night to burp the new coolant system (filled with distilled water), the engine idled for about 20 minutes and the fan came on 2 times for about 30 seconds. Trust me, it moves some air. You can feel it sucking in on the front of the radiator and also blowing hard up from the waterfall deflector. We had to wait for the track test to see if the ducting work would pay off with adequate cooling, seeing that we blocked off over half of the grill opening area. We were warned by countless Mustang folks watching the pics on FB that it would overheat and melt the block like the core of the earth, too.



Another area we wanted to improve was the oil / air separator system. We have been using the JLT for over 2 years, and had upgraded their normal kit to have a real mounting bracket (we fabbed) and real metal fittings and lines (the JLT kit comes with plastic bits that eventually crack/leak). It was OK but the kit we had only drew crankcase pressure from one cylinder head - the passenger side. I picked up the can from a Moroso kit a while back and used it in a new system we built. This larger Moroso oil / air separator draws from both valve covers, into the separator, with a vacuum source on the other side of the can. We were pressed for time and simply used 5/8" heater hose for the lines with Norma clamps crimped at each end. We set-up the Moroso can using fittings with hose barb ends that we put together and mounted to the firewall with the included mounting bracket. I hoped the heater hose could take suction without collapsing (it doesn't!), but we had the track test to check that out at.

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I'll cover the new flashy bits and we'll move on to the track test. First you will see coil covers are painted red now instead of blue, which I had spray bombed 2 years ago. A recent Vorshlag customer upgraded to some metal Ford Racing units and gave us his painted red ones, which actually match this car's body color so we swapped them out. Meh, it was a freebie, and the blue covers were a bit garish. The other bit of flash is the GOLD foil on the intake tube. This is not just for hard parkers, as it is used on real race cars all the time. This foil is DEI reflective gold foil, which we've used before on other builds, especially when the intake tube is around a source of radiant heat (like this one, which routes right over the top of the radiator and sticks out in the post-radiator air stream). And Brandon just took this shot (above right) of the air cleaner with the bumper on - note how it isn't really in the air stream, but tucked up behind the bumper cover. Un-ram air.



At left above we have the fabricated aluminum grill cover riveted to the factory grill surround. It isn't the final cover I had envisioned (wanted a smoother, more aerodynamic insert), but it was already made and we went with it for the track testing - and might not mess with it for a while. You can also see the tow hook we finally added to the front of the car. Yes, we went 3 years without a tow hook - and luckily never needed one. Whew! Above right I am doing the "200 pound splitter load test". The splitter doesn't bend, instead the front suspension just takes up the extra compression load, as it should.

We had a LOT of late nights over the previous 2 weeks to get the car track ready, and finished up Saturday night and loaded the car into the trailer at around 10 pm. As I was installing 4 temporary hood pins Ryan swapped on new front Centric rotors, new Carbotech XP20 pads, and flushed a little Motul 600 through the lines. The track prep went to just about the last minute. The plan was to test at ECR on Sunday morning at 9 am.

Note: we did not have the flares completed when we went to test, we do understand that some bad aero drag occurs when the tire is visible from the front like this, but they were partially done before the test - just not enough to mount them. Due to some business reasons, we are not showing the manufacturing techniques for our flares. Nothing revolutionary, but I've never seen flares done the way we have in mind - and it could completely flop, so I don't want to show my ass if it does, ya know? There are some teaser shots of the flares in progress, below, from after the track test.

Dyno Tuning at True Street

We have to back up a couple of days to cover the dyno tuning we had done before heading to ECR. On Friday before we went to the track to test we delivered the Mustang pieced together just enough to get it to True Street Motorsports, who does all of our Mustang engine tuning. The bumper cover and splitter weren't attached yet, but that didn't matter for the chassis dyno pulls. We've been using True Street for close to 3 years, and they have re-tuned our car after each major change. Our motor is bone and cooling systems have stayed all stock, never been opened up, and never given a single hiccup, thanks in no small part to their custom tuning. They've been the folks that kept our dyno numbers solid (430 whp back in 2011) yet keep the tune safe enough to beat on for 3 years and 17,000 miles.


Left: Driving to a corner gas station to fill up with 93 octane. Right: loading up to go to the tuner

Any time you make a change to your Mustang (with regards to power parts) it could need a new tune. I am not a believer in "mail order tunes", because without driving the car and/or putting it on a dyno and pulling air:fuel numbers and seeing the power curve and listening for knock, it is an impossible task to do this well. I am, however, a strong supporter of working with a local shop and getting proper dyno tunes done on your car, in person, with no e-mailing of files involved. Also, before you buy a stand-alone tuner (we use the SCT) talk to your local tuner shop and buy the tuner from them. You are always better off patronizing your local tuner with parts orders. Sure, you might spend $10 whole dollars more than the cheapest of the cheapest online parts wh0rehouses, but it will pay off in the long run with one-on-one help from YOUR shop that does YOUR tune, right on their own dyno. If you have a 5.0 Mustang in live in North Dallas, trust me, True Street is the place to get your go-fast goodies and engine tuning from. Come to Vorshlag for your suspension parts/work, for sure, but go to True Street for your power parts and tuning.



Anyway, Ryan and I stopped by and talked about an upcoming event (see below) then we asked Sean to give us a "safe" tune once again. By safe I mean tune it for 93 octane, fix any air:fuel changes induced with our custom intake tube/MAF, keep the timing curve from being on the ragged edge, and make sure the power curve looks smooth. They are very good at this and won't do "hero tunes" to squeeze out that last tenth of a hp while endangering your motor. We also asked for a few small updates, like going back to the OEM throttle map (removing our "street tire autocross" traction control mapping they made for us).




Since we were about to go race at Miller Motorsports Park in SLC, with an elevation of 4000 feet, we asked for a slightly milder spark curve than normal. That coupled with the intense heat that day (100+F in the dyno cell) made for a slightly softer number than before (I'm not sharing until after Nationals, sorry), but the air:fuel numbers were cleaned up and there were no unusual dips in the power or torque curves. We can also pull out a few pounds with this new number (we were at 424 whp and 3770 pounds on DOT tires in TT3). Of course we will stick the car on a dyno at Miller, to make sure everything is copacetic in case we get dyno'd after competition begins (it can happen, as can a scale check). If we need to add or remove ballast based on their dyno numbers, we can before racing starts. We can also tweak the timing, peak RPM and some other factors trackside if we need to adjust for the elevation, available fuel, observed knock, etc. I used to do a little EFI tuning many eons ago, so I understand the basics, and Sean only allowed us access to the most basic of alterations. Again - I'm not looking to add more power, just to be able to keep it safe. We lowered the rev limiter from 7800 to 7200, for sanity's sake (we only had it set that high to avoid 2-3 shifts in autocrosses; power falls off hard above 6500).

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Test Day at ECR, August 26, 2013

Brandon and Ryan from Vorshlag and racing buddy Jason McCall met up with me and Amy at our house Sunday morning for the trek out to Eagles Canyon Raceway, which is located about 70 miles from our shop. This is our home track, and where I've got the most track miles since I did the first NASA event there in 2008. Lately we have been out at ECR at least once a month, sometimes 2 or even 3 times in a 4 week period. Long story short - this is where we could put in the most reliable laps without "driver course learning" coming into play.

Vorshlag Photo and Video Gallery for ECR Track Test: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E...ay-ECR-082613/



Now the 2.5 mile ECR circuit is far from a high speed test track, as most of the corners are fairly tight with long-ish straights in between (125 mph top speeds). It would not normally have been the ideal location for testing the new aero. And honestly, we didn't think we would put in a full day of data logging and aero testing - this was more of a place to take the new set-up and do basic shake down testing, to make sure nothing fell off or burned up. If we noticed any aero imbalance we figured the semi-fast corners in T1/T2, T4, T9, T10 and T11 might show us. It is also much closer to our shop than any other track, and the folks that run it are very cool and accommodating.



After we got there we had even more folks join us, including Olof from our shop, a Boss302 owner and fellow track junkie Jerry Cecco, and Dave B - who brought his GTS3 BMW our to test with us. We set-up the sunshade and put out chairs while the fluids were topped off and the car was checked out.



Loading and unloading the car from the trailer requires the front splitter to come off, and we've designed the splitter so that it stays attached to the bumper cover and all comes off as a unit. We quickly found that lining the splitter's rear mounting pins up with the mating holes while sitting on the ground is much harder than when on our 4 post lift, even with 3 people shoving it this way and that. After nearly 45 minutes we got the pins lined up and pinned, the front retaining struts bolted on, and the ends of the bumper cover bolted in place. Whew.



Above you can see me standing on the "ankle cutter" again - which always freaks people out. Honestly when you're trying to work on the front of the car you kinda have to stand there. It has been tested to 300 pounds now, too. At right Ryan is strapping on a helmet to take a ride in the Mustang for the first time on a road course. He has driven the car countless times on the street, and even ridden in it at an autocross, just hasn't had a chance to grab a ride on track yet. At most track days he's usually too busy working on other customers' cars or taking temps and measuring data on our own.



We were testing on the newer set of 18x12 Forgestar F14s ($350/each) at all 4 corners mounted with a used set of 315mm Hoosier R6 tires. These wheels and tires were used at NASA @ Hallett on June 22-23 and all day with 2 drivers at the June 29th Five Star Ford ECR track day. So they had some miles, but more importantly they were the same tires we had run at ECR 6 weeks earlier in nearly the same conditions. Any improvements (or slow downs) could at least be nullified from the tires. In the shake down laps Ryan and I did and the car felt LOOSE, but I wasn't really pushing it hard yet, just running some 2:01 laps, checking the gauges (temps looked great all day), looking for any weird deflections in the hood and listening for the splitter rubbing or scraping.


Some external video of when the car was still feeling "a bit loose"

Brandon was shooting pics and video and the whole crew was standing at the pit wall, looking for anything weird, or laughing when I was drifting out of T11 (not on purpose). The splitter did touch on some curbing at the side on a few corners, but it showed no damage afterwards. This thing is TOUGH. One bump under braking into T6 was causing the splitter to barely touch on the front edge, but the old 5.5" Leguna Splitter touched in the same braking zone, so no surprise there. Ryan was very happy with how the car felt, especially the brakes ("WOW, this car really stops"). After a few gentle laps Ryan hopped out and we brought the car in for a thorough look at all systems.

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After that look-see went well, we added some fuel then Olof (above) got in to ride shotgun for the next 2 sessions out. Each run was only 3-5 laps, but we were learning a lot as I pushed the car harder each lap. The car was LOOSE AS HELL, especially in the faster corners. So each time we came in we kept adding more angle of attack (AOA) on the rear wing. For sessions 4 and 5 I went out alone, to push the car at the TT3 race weight we would be running. With the final wing change we managed to get the car a bit more neutral and ran the lap below.



That video has some pretty bad driving from me, as usual, and it was still a bit loose. Even with some ridiculously late braking into T1, which turned into a big SLIDE, plus some bobbles in other corners, the car put down a 1:57.6 lap in 95 degree heat on well worn R6s. The best lap I ever have put in at ECR was a 1:56 back in November of last year, when it was 40 degrees cooler and we were on fresh 315 Kumhos, and didn't have these big driving errors. In June the best Amy or I could get out of the car was a 2:00 min lap, wringing it out all day, so we seemingly found 3 seconds on the same set of tires in the same heat. We could have stuck around for more laps and likely chopped off some more time, but it was getting towards 1:30 pm and everyone wanted to go eat and get out of there. Most of us had not taken a day off in weeks and we were all dead tired, too.

The car did make some funky noises all day, only under decel or idle, which we attributed to the vacuum pulling the hoses shut on the oil / air separator system. We are replacing these with proper suction-rated lines tomorrow.

TT3 Work Continues After Track Test

So the car was barely finished enough to take it to the track but we have a lot to wrap up before heading to NASA Nationals. The car is covered in grasshopper guts, half of it is unpainted, and the temporary hood pins we had installed need to be replaced with Aero latches. The flares aren't done, we have a lot of spares to put together, and the general pre-race prep needs to be redone.


Left: Actual look at the track test event. Right: Photoshop rendering in red

We always see a lot of bug hits on the cars raced in Texas when the grass is high, and this test day was no different. To reduce the impact of bug and rock hits on the radiator (actually the A/C condenser) we've got some Kevlar honeycomb grill protector material coming. This will go on the face of the heat exchanger and stay out of the higher pressure airflow at the grill opening. This stuff us used in circle track to take mud and rock hits and can be cleaned out quickly.



Lots of cleaning has to be done before the bumper cover goes to the painter. We have a lot of little paint work to tackle, too - like the raw steel bumper beam, the unpainted splitter needs some semi-flat black, and the grill cover will likely get some black, too.


You merely adopted the downforce, I was born in it.

Some guys on a fb car page made the Bane connection, above. Strangely that's the 4th Bane reference picture so far (and the funniest). I don't like to name cars, though, and we just call it "the Red Mustang" around here.



The flare mock-ups are shown above, with some photoshop work to cover up a few things. The final flares will look pretty similar to this, and they are open on the back for better air evacuation. Hopefully we have time to post up some pictures right before we load up on Monday Sept 2nd, with a painted car, new graphics applied, and at Nationals we will have another set of 18x12" wheels in a different color installed. A sticker set of Hoosier A6s are inbound, other bits and pieces will be here today, and the hood is already bodyworked and primed. I have to stop here and go finish some more flare work tonight.

Upcoming Events

NASA Nationals< Miller Motorsports Park, Sept 4-8th. Will post up about that probably a few days after we get back. But there are several other events we will be at right after Nats.

Five Star Ford track event at ECR, September 7th. - This is an event we would normally be attending in our Mustang, but most of us will be at the NASA Nationals. Matt is taking his BRZ out that day, and if I can find someone to drive it out there, our 2013 GT will be there for showing. These track events are fairly informal but well run, includes instructors for novice drivers, lunch is provided, and they have great SCCA corner workers present. $150 to sign up and you can see more details here.

NASA @ TWS, September 20-22nd. We will be competing at this event at Texas World Speedway, the 2nd time this event is run on the NASA schedule this year (different direction). They will have HPDE, Time Trials, Racing, and an Enduro. Here is a link to the event sign-up page.

Camaro VS Mustang: The Ultimate Battle - October 5th, Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX. This is a multi-motorsports event being run by True Street Motorsports. This event is billed as a Camaro and Mustang event but is open to all GM and Ford powered vehicles. Events include drag racing and autocrossing; Vorshlag is joining forces with the Texas Region SCCA folks to set-up and run the autocross event. Vorshlag will have cash prizes for the fastest autocross times from both street tire (140+ treadwear) and race tire (DOT R-compounds or slicks) entries. The entry fee is very cheap ($45!) and the sign-up page is here.

There are more events, but that's all I am going to put out there right now. Gotta get to work...

Cheers,

[DirtyD]

You have me wanting to just start spending money, upgrading the car, and getting out and doing this stuff!

So awesome!

[Fair]

Pre-Nationals Update, Sept 2nd, 2013: It has been a very long week and we have been working hard on our Mustang every day since the test. A lot of things have been finished and cleaned up, and the crew is loading the car into the trailer now, at 10 pm the night before we drive to Miller. I will show a few pictures that are uploaded, but will do a better "catch up " post when we get back from the NASA Nationals...



The picture above shows the Kevlar honeycomb grill guard material and the air cleaner, in front of the radiator. If this honeycomb is damaged it can be quickly removed. It is a sacrificial material. A mesh grill out at the opening (high pressure area) would cause more airflow restriction than this stuff right at the radiator surface.



That's the front end all painted and ready for graphics. The guys at Heritage Collision Center in Sherman, TX did a fantastic job for such a short window, and over a 3-day holiday weekend at that. There is some clean-up work to do, as they ran out of color and couldn't get anyone to open their stores to make more, so don't over-analyze the paint just yet. We will bring the car back after Nationals, sans stripes, and they will re-shoot the hood. For the insane time frame we gave them, however it looks fantastic!

Ryan has been working damn near around the clock getting all of the little fab work done. Jason, Ryan and I worked with the flares and they came out "pretty good" for our first time vacuum forming ABS. We will show more pics of the flares when we get back. We learned a lot with this set, and will apply this knowledge and tweak our forming equipment to get a cleaner looking set of flares soon.



Amy and Jason did the stripes in about an hour, and they look excellent. They look like the old graphics but are indeed all new on the fenders and hood. The stripes dive down into the hood ducts and look slick. Big NASA decals adorn the car front and back.



That's the crew, with me on the left, Amy, then Jason and Ryan (with his eyes closed!). Brandon is on a ladder getting the shot. The rest of our guys are at home, asleep, on this Monday Labor Day holiday. Ed was here earlier helping with the build, as usual, but this time sporting a busted knee. We're loading the trailer and Amy and I leave for our 22 hour tow in about 6 hours. Sleep? Not part of the plan.

We hope to have fun at this, our first NASA Nationals. I want to thank everyone at Vorshlag that helped with this 3 week "new aero thrash" and flares prototype work. The final results are beyond my expectations and I hope it all works as good at Miller as they did at our ECR test. I also I can put in some good laps and don't embarrass everyone! Fingers crossed.

More soon,

[Bearded Banger]

Great write ups. Very entertaining read. I need to quit drinking my weekends away and get more into racing.