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Old 09-03-2013, 09:43 AM   #196
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Originally Posted by Bearded Banger View Post
Great write ups. Very entertaining read. I need to quit drinking my weekends away and get more into racing.
I need to make more money and get into racing. haha

Good luck to you guys at NASA Nats! I'm sure you are going to kill!
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Old 09-03-2013, 09:48 AM   #197
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Originally Posted by Bearded Banger View Post
Great write ups. Very entertaining read. I need to quit drinking my weekends away and get more into racing.
Definitely. At least you would have something to show for your money spent other than a hangover and pissing it away. It would last much longer spent on your cars.
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Old 09-03-2013, 12:48 PM   #198
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Originally Posted by SlowGreyGT View Post
Definitely. At least you would have something to show for your money spent other than a hangover and pissing it away. It would last much longer spent on your cars.
Meh, the money isn't the issue. I enjoy hanging out. Sometimes I do acquire a hangover and that does suck. Racing would be a lot of fun.
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Old 09-03-2013, 12:51 PM   #199
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Originally Posted by SlowGreyGT View Post
Definitely. At least you would have something to show for your money spent other than a hangover and pissing it away. It would last much longer spent on your cars.
But he still has two cars that are fast than yours so at least he is doing something right
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Old 09-03-2013, 01:18 PM   #200
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Originally Posted by Midnight11 View Post
But he still has two cars that are fast than yours so at least he is doing something right
Family > racing priorites
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Old 09-03-2013, 01:19 PM   #201
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Originally Posted by SlowGreyGT View Post
Family > racing priorites
That's what young and single people don't understand. I was there once thinking having a fast car was everything but then I had kids and does that change everything.
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Old 09-03-2013, 01:26 PM   #202
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Originally Posted by BLK2012GT View Post
That's what young and single people don't understand. I was there once thinking having a fast car was everything but then I had kids and does that change everything.
It's all good. Let them have their fun. Some day they will understand.
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Old 09-03-2013, 01:49 PM   #203
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I get it. Family is definitely a priority. I am not in that position by choice. We all lead different lives an have different priorities.

Again sweet car Fair! Looks like a blast.
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:05 PM   #204
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We do have a family just bc it's different from yours doesn't mean it's not a family lol
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:06 PM   #205
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Originally Posted by Midnight11 View Post
We do have a family just bc it's different from yours doesn't mean it's not a family lol
LOL yea your two dogs are just like kids. And then Gary's young daughter.
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:07 PM   #206
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LOL, okay enough. Back on topic.
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Old 09-17-2013, 12:38 PM   #207
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Project Update for Sept 17, 2013: Lots to cover in this update - the final pre-Nationals aero prep, paint, new wheels, coverage of NASA Nationals, the trip up and back, and plans for 2014. So much to cover that I'm going to break it up over several days. Otherwise it will be a mega update, then the eyes on the Short Attention Span kids will just glaze over and they will skip ahead just to see the pretty pictures. And believe me, there will be a lot of pretty pictures. Brandon went with us to Miller and shot hundreds of pics of dozens of cars, and Ryan worked on the car and helped me find 6 seconds of improvement over the 4 days we were racing at Miller.

Don't forget that virtually every picture in my forum posts can be clicked for a larger resolution image. Some of these pics are from my camera phone (GS4), but the ones Brandon took with his high end SLR gear are obvious and worth the effort to see the higher rez versions.

Pre-Nationals Prep

After our ECR test session we had one more week to do work on the car, and that included painting the entire front of the car. As you can imagine it was a nearly round-the-clock thrash to get the car finished, pretty, and loaded into the trailer. Most of this thrash was done by Ryan, Jason, me and Olof, with some help from Ed (who blew out his knee, yet still stopped by to pitch in).

So over the past three years of owning, racing and developing this 2011 Mustang GT we have learned one thing that has held true on every wheel and tire iteration: BIGGER IS BETTER. This big, heavy car has a lot of power and a lot of mass, and each time we went to a wider tire the car got faster, without exception. We have not found any limit to this rule yet, and even 345/35/18 Hoosier A6 tires were still easy to spin at autocross speeds, as seen below.



And while it looks like those 345mm tires fit the Mustang under stock fenders, they DON'T. They rubbed everywhere inboard, like mad, and wouldn't even bolt on the car without major changes to the rear swaybar (Whiteline style), a Watts Link, and more. It would still take a large amount of chassis fab work to make these fit - cutting the fenders and adding big flares would do it. Unfortunately Amy never allowed this, and even in the final months of ownership (more on this below) she is sticking to this limitation. Without flares the widest we can fit under the stock S197 fenders at the front or back is 315mm - anything wider rubs inboard or sticks past the fenders (and rubs under cornering if you run the ride height low enough). 315mm tires are not very big when you are talking about a 3500+ pound car making close to 500 hp. I looked at a lot of ST1/ST2/SIX cars at the recent NASA Nationals and all too many were on 345mm rears.



In my Sept 20th, 2012 thread update I mentioned that that we were working on solving this tire width limitation by making some bolt-on flares, inspired partly by the AIX Mustang shown above (the flares shown above are not for sale). We had planed on doing this to our 2013 GT, which I bought with the intent of cutting up and building a dedicated ESP classed autocross car. After the SCCA rules SNAFU we changed our plans, so we didn't get to do the chassis cutting needed to develop the S197 rear flares. There aren't any proper flares out there for this chassis (and yes, we know all about the RTR and Shelby versions, and all the rest); by proper I mean flares that can fit REALLY big tires, with a decent aero signature, and that don't cost $6000+. When we bought some extra front fenders, Amy gave us the green light to cut and flare the front. Which we did a week before Nationals...



What we had in mind was something a bit more modern and sleeker than the "cover the top of the tire" flares shown on the black AIX Mustang. Leaving the leading edge of a spinning tire in the airstream creates lots of drag; for lower drag and better evacuation from the fenderwell/undercar areas you want the back side of the flare OPEN, and even curve the trailing edge of the fender opening in if you can. We took some aero cues from several existing race cars and melded that with a little styling from the hard parking ("rough") crowd's flares and made these.



Now I will be the first to admit that these flares are far from perfect; these are very functional prototypes, with which we learned many lessons. I'd say they are a 6 out of 10 cosmetically, but we will make prettier versions. We have learned a lot and have more yet to learn with thermal formed plastic flares - making the bucks/molds, tweaking our heater, improving our vacuum table, and experimenting with more materials. We made all of our own vacuum forming equipment (which I'm not showing on purpose - sorry) and this is about version 1.2 of the flares. We still have several more iterations and technique improvements in store before we make something worth selling. And honestly, most people will want the "more looks/less aero" version with a little more styling (something more akin to this), which we plan to do. And we will make the rear flares, just not going to cut on this car's chassis due to Amy's restrictions on her car. Someone will bring us an S197 we can cut on a little, and we will make the rears around a 345mm wide tire at that time. The fronts clear 335mm wide tires.


The honking oil catch can system

The oil catch can and hoses were upgraded from the old JLT kit we had added (then heavily modified). I talked about this before the ECR test, but in short the new system has a larger catch can (from Moroso) and mounts to the firewall. We thought we routed it the same way as the Boss 302-S race cars, but not quite. Instead of the JLT system that was pulling from just one cylinder head, we pulled air from both, with the lines T-'d together on the right side of the catch can. On the left of the can is a line that pulls from a vacuum source in the intake manifold. So theoretically the engine vacuum from the intake manifold pulls through the catch can, and grabs oil/vapor/air from the top of the motor from both valve covers, and the oil separates out into droplets inside the metal mesh filter inside the can. Once it falls out of suspension it pools in the bottom of the catch can, which can be drained between race weekends. In theory only air goes back into the intake manifold, not "oily air". Burning oil can cause detonation, of course.



So we showed a version of this system before the ECR test and the heater hose we used there was collapsing badly under deceleration/high vacuum - so much so that it made this loud "honking" noise that sounded like a dying goose (see video linked above), even at idle. Pinching off the vacuum source made the noise go away. So we replaced the heater hoses used at the ECR test with suction rated hoses. And it still collapsed on one side. Bruce from Ford Racing looked at the routing and immediately saw the issue - we sill have the PCV valve in the passenger side valve cover. Duh. So that valve closes under load, which puts that hose under extreme vacuum on that side. The fix is to get a driver's side valve for both sides - which deletes the PCV valve, suitable for a race car. We will try this before the next event (NASA @ TWS) and see how it does.

continued below
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Old 09-17-2013, 12:39 PM   #208
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continued from above



The hood latches/pins were a bit of a bear to install. I bought some "flush under mount" Aerolatches (but I meant to get the top mount) and was hoping to install them before the ECR test. Well we ran out of time and instead temporarily installed some simpler Sparco style hood pins for that track test. That took a couple of hours, whereas the Aerolatches took another 4+ hours to do correctly before we went to Nationals. Total PITA, but well worth it in the long run.



As you can see, they are much more aerodynamic, with considerably less drag when installed than the old school hood pin "posts" that protrude above the hood and have a separate securing pin that hooks through the hole in the post. The latches come with templates to use for marking and cutting the tapered oval openings and drilled holes for securing bolts. A very fiddly installation, so take your time and don't rush this. Aerolatches are not something you want to do the night before a race, trust me. It might take you an entire day to do 4 of them, if it is your first time.



The up/down alignment of the posts is critical, as is the angle of the post through the hood/into the latch, as is the latch alignment to the post. But once you have them installed and adjusted correctly (don't be afraid to use a light touch with a sledge hammer to persuade them during alignment) they mount flush, and when open the latches are very visibly so. Some folks paint the top of the latch a bright and contrasting color, so they are even more visible when open. But the black plastic stands out well against the red hood, so we left them unpainted. We used 4 across the hood to hold them down - some folks use only 2, but on an S197 there are 4 rubber "hood bumpers" that make for great spots to mount the pins/latches.



The hood struts we added to this car are nice, but everything has limits. As some of you may remember, one of these struts popped loose last May in some 30+ mph wind gusts, and the hood went crashing into the windshield. This was when the car was parked in the grid, facing into the wind, during an SCCA National Tour event in Nebraska. We had to finish the weekend with a destroyed windshield, and the hood was damaged every so slightly at the rear corners. It broke one hood hinge, too, which we replaced. So we don't trust the hood struts completely, and have been using these + the OEM hood prop to hold the hood from opening completely whenever there is even the slightest breeze in grid or paddock.



But having these self-raising hood struts is convenient, and now that the 3" diameter intake tubing is passing right over the top of the radiator, the hood prop no longer fits with the hood down. With the new hood we had just been using a broom handle to hold the hood up in paddock and the shop after we added the hood ducting and intake tube - but after the stick was bumped, it fell off and the hood bonked into my noggin, I went ahead and grabbed the hood-side mounts off of the old hood and reinstalled the hood struts. Two holes to drill on the hood and everything transferred over. Well except the bottom end of one hood strut was smashed in the previous "paddock incident" (the plastic end cup is broken), so I spent half an hour looking through all of the OEM replacement hood struts at the local parts store, found one that kind of fit, and it worked enough for careful use at Nationals. With some zip ties holding it together. Just use some common sense when pointed into the wind, or you could face the same consequences we did (new windshield + new hood hinge + damaged hood). Called RedlineTuning and they are sending us the plastic replacement end for the strut, free of charge - thanks.



On Saturday before we were to leave Ryan had the calipers off to make new brake ducting backing plates for our car. We've been making these for customers in small batches, and will add them to our website in the next week or so, as front brake ducting kits for the 14" Brembo cars. During the reinstall of the calipers one of the M12 bolts stripped out the threaded hole in the aluminum caliper - which figures, because Ryan asked for new calipers 2 months ago, and I had said "Nah, these are fine..." We figured these holes have been screwed and unscrewed close to 150 times, so it was time to replace them. We couldn't get a replacement caliper on the 3-day Labor Day weekend and were set to leave early Tuesday morning, so I picked up a heli-coil kit at a local NAPA and Ryan fixed that on Monday.



Our previous set of backing plates (our first set we made about 2 years ago) were as bad as most out there, having had the cooling hose pointed mostly at the rotor face. The new ducts our guys built have the inlet moved inboard, to blow air inside the rotor's friction ring and at the hub. This lets the vanes of the rotor pull the air through the inside of the rotor and out, and also cools the front hubs. Our plates have the correct tubing size to fit inside a 3" brake duct hose without having to remove the reinforcing metal ring winding in the brake duct hose, unlike all of the other brake cooling kits we have installed before (including the Ford Racing kit). It isn't that hard to do it right, but nobody else seems to. Our plates are made from new OEM backing plates, trimmed down with a piece left in place to shield the tie rod from rotor heat, yet leaving the rotor face open. We bead blast them to raw metal, cut to fit the round tubing, TIG weld it all together, then have them powder coated black. More on these as soon as we get a batch back from the powder coater and added to our website.

Since we didn't want to get any grief from NASA's "50/50" rule (the car has to look good from 50 feet at 50 mph), we had to pull the car apart for paint before heading to Nationals. We sent the fenders on Wednesday night, and we got them the hood and bumper cover by Friday on the Labor Day weekend. They had it all painted by Sunday, and it came out great. We rushed the heck out of them and the hood wasn't cut and buffed, but we were out of time and picked it up anyway.

continued below
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Old 09-17-2013, 12:41 PM   #209
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continued from above




Once the front body panels were picked up we started to quickly reassemble the front of the car. This happened on Monday - Labor Day - and we spent the entire day getting it all put together. The splitter and lower fascia had to go back onto the bumper cover, the fenders had to go on and be aligned, the hood had to go back on and be aligned, and the Aerolatches had to be reinstalled.



Once the fenders and front bumper cover were on we could finally install the flares, which we built while the fenders were being painted. The flares turned out pretty well for a first effort, but we will definitely make some improvements. We added a cut at the bumper cover to fender parting line, so we can pull the front bumper cover and splitter off to make it easier to roll the car into the trailer.



You can see the side mirror block off plates that Olof built, for both door mirrors. This was "the drag racer" Ed's idea, to reduce drag on the higher speed Miller track; I'll talk about how fun it is to drive the car with huge blind spots, down in my event write-up. Once the flares were trimmed and bolted on Amy and Jason started on graphics, while Ryan was corner weighing the car (came in the first time at a 49.8% cross - good enough!).



We went ahead and kept the quickly built aluminum grill block off plate, which I degreased, taped off and painted semi-flat black. Then the sticker crew added a white Vorshlag graphic, the NASA graphics, and fresh rear flank Vorshlag graphics.



The white wheels had some scrub A6 tires mounted, as the sticker set we had ordered a week before was delayed by UPS. I was freaking out, but luckily our friends from Maxcyspeed were able to swing by and grab the 4 new tires as well as two new front calipers after we had left, then trucked them 25 hours across country and brought them to us in Salt Lake City. Whew!



You can see the hood stripes in many pictures from the event, which are similar to the previous version. These go down into hood duct openings so they are a bit wider in some areas, and we capped the front with a big NASA decal we made. There are also new decals for Whiteline, Maxcyspeed, MagnaFlow, Hoosier and others that were on the front half of the car. We added more contingency decals at the NASA Miller event for GoPro, MCS, Royal Purple and the required NASA Nationals event decals.



These two pictures above, from the Miller event, show how the entire splitter, bumper cover and grill come off as a unit. This makes it easy to load and unload the car from the trailer. It takes about six minutes to remove and 15 minutes to install the front of the car, with various bolted fasteners and the splitter support struts.

continued below
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Old 09-17-2013, 12:43 PM   #210
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continued from above



Other than some new rear pads we installed after ECR (the same rear Carbotechs have been on there for many months of abuse - since before NOLA in May) that is the extent of the pre-Nationals prep on the Mustang. We finished up working on the car and loading it and all of our spares and tools and tires into the trailer at about 11:30 pm Labor Day, we were home by midnight and packing our gear for the trip, and we rolled out the next morning at about 7:30 am...

The Epic 25 hour Tow

The tow from Dallas to Salt Lake City was brutal, no way to sugar coat it. Longest tow we've done, and matched the mileage, windshield time and brutality of the tow to Buttonwillow in California in 2008. Google says 1440 miles, and we added about 3400 miles to the truck with the round trip + trips into SLC during the 4 days we were there. At least this time I wasn't using a gas powered 3/4 ton truck and an open trailer to go over the Rocky Mountains (never again). Amy and I made the trip to SLC by ourselves, and she chose the longer "all Interstate" route that went North out of Dallas on I-35, through Oklahoma to Salina, Kansas, then west to Denver on I-70. That leg is about 15 hours. North out of Denver on I-25 to Cheyene, Wyoming, then west on I-80 a-l-l-l-l-l the way across Wyoming and into Salt Lake City, Utah. The 2nd leg is about 10 hours, and has some mountainous climbs. This "around the bend" route is almost 150 miles farther than the shortest route (through New Mexico), but... we go around the worst climbs and descents of the Rocky Mountains and it is all Interstate. Highest elevation we saw was 8500 feet, and the steepest grade was 8%.



The trip up started Tuesday and ended on Wednesday afternoon, with very little sleep on Tuesday night in Denver. The 2013 F-350 (aka: Clifford the Big Red Truck) pulled up and down mountains like a boss, and was 100% worry free. But our trip wasn't without some adventure - our first trailer tire blowout happened just an hour from home, as we crossed the line into Oklahoma. Thanks Oklahoma! Amy was cruising at 75 mph in nearly 100 degree heat when that first one went, so apparently the BFG load range E tires didn't like that speed and temp. Because we blew another one on the way back, in similar ambient temps in Kansas, but this time I was driving and only going 70 mph.



After that first blowout I dropped our max speed to 70 mph, and re-checked the tire pressures; all 4 were at or near 80 psi, as per the load rating. These tires were only 15 months old, the trailer was loaded properly, and I was frustrated beyond belief that we had two nearly new, perfect looking tires go "BOOM!" Luckily we had two mounted spares, but after the 2nd one went on us during the return trip we stopped at a Firestone and bought one more tire. Now we're going to carry a 3rd spare tire, unmounted. Both tires that blew came apart violently and damaged the fender flares, knocked the side mounted sunshade loose, and slapped rubber all over the side of the trailer. Both blowouts were from the same side. I've lost confidence in this tire and will be replacing all 4 with a different brand.



The trip back was easier, as we had Ryan and Brandon with us (they flew into SLC), so between 3 drivers we each drove less. And with more hands we got the 2nd blowout and spare changed in even less time (10 minutes vs 15). Strangely, two other Texas racers that went to Miller also had 2 blowouts each - it was the hip thing to do, I guess.

Ryan flew in to SLC with a chest cold and Amy got sick on the way back, so the return trip involved lots of Dayquil and Kleenex, but at least Brandon and I didn't catch it. Truck averaged 11.5 mpg on the tow up and 10.8 mpg on the way back, with a MASSIVE headwind from Kansas to Texas. For many reasons I hate truck stops but do love towing with a real turbo diesel 1 ton and the 36' enclosed trailer, so they are a necessary evil. Some of these stretches of driving are incredibly boring, like Oklahoma and Kansas, but Wyoming was pretty cool and Utah had some good views as well. I am not a fan of 25 hour tows and it will take some serious contemplation before we make a long haul like this again. Losing 4 days driving to and from an event is hard to swallow when you run a business and normally work 7 days a week. :/

It felt SO good seeing those flags at the gate entering Miller. OK, so we're there... let's talk about the event!

...in my next post. This thing is growing out of control, so I better break it up. More soon!
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