Evolution: Mike Maier's Blue Mustang

[Mike Maier]

Those of you with weak stomachs, do not like change, and believe 1978 gave us everything that we will ever need please back away now. Those of you who are still reading, welcome to 2016. This is a short story about evolution.

Many of whom who have been present during this metamorphosis have shown excitement and other have shown disgust. Over the life span of Ol’ Blue the pro-touring scene has evolved and so has Ol’ Blue. The purpose of this evolution has also changed over the years.

Going back 12 years Ol’ Blue wasn’t the old blue you know today. It was a mere gift to Mike’s wife and was nothing that would get much of a second look. It began as a “seafoam green”, 289ci with an automatic transmission. When first seen before the wedding Brianne though, “Mike sure has a lot of work to do.” After a quick 1 month to build the car it was ready to get driven to and from the wedding. It evolved into a simple performance street cruiser complete with the same 289, a toploader 4 speed, 9” rear end, blue paint, and a cleaned up interior. Over the next few years the car was a cool street car that just got driven. In 2008 the industry also began to evolve; performance parts and events alike. Good Guys Rod and Custom developed their autocross series. A couple years later the Run to the … events began to pop up around the country. During these early days most people were competing with their 350 horsepower, medium tires, and some bolt on suspension parts.

We then saw another level of evolution when people began to develop suspensions, chassis, and powertrains to get an edge on the other competitors. This drove companies that were content with leaf springs, panhard bar, bilstein shocks, and a Shelby drop to develop their knowledge of these vehicles to keep up with the trend. Now we have competitive events like Optimas Search for the Ultimate Street Car where if you want to compete you must push the envelope on development.

Without the evolution we would still be happy with polyglass tires and eight tracks.

FrZI8CTgFo0

[rustomatic]

Do it!:bang:

[65 347]

Good god, your making me sick and excited at the same time.
Good luck with the change.

Mike

[SSLance]

Ya gotta love on them sometimes to make them better... I don't think I'll ever cut the fenders on Barney but I'm all for everyone else cutting theirs...if that's what they are into.

Subscribed...

[SBDave]

go on...

[Ron in SoCal]

If it's good enough for Matt Alcala, it's good enough for most anyone :)

[DBasher]

Time to loop the soundtrack....

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

awesome!

[sanddan]

What a tease!

[Mike Maier]

As per the intro on the last write up we had touched on keeping up with the times. Ol' Blue has gone through its evolution's and we had come to a cross roads. Do we lay over and leave the car or do we continue with the thoughts that made the car what it is now? Over much deliberation the decision was clear; Continuing is the only way to go!

With the decision now made we had to choose a path. Over the years we have done as much as possible to milk every second out of the old coupe. We could possibly fine tune a couple of tenths, but what we needed was seconds. Over the last few seasons it became apparent that we were among the skinniest of cars. As the years went on the manufactures have seen the benefits of widening the car and reducing weight transfer. This distributes the weight more evenly across all four tires throughout the turn, reducing the strain on the outside tires. As we noticed we were the narrowest by about 4" with respect to the rest of the field, not to mention taller than most as well, this only exaggerated our problem. The fix is now clear... Widen and lower to get on an even playing field, maybe even a bit of an upper hand.

Setting parameters is the first step. Scope crepe is a killer for jobs like this. The old..... I'm here so why not.... Always adds to the job. We do not have time for this so we added up what was realistic and this was a 2" drop and a 4" wider track. We can keep most of the guts of what we have with this. Re-engineering the front chassis will be at a minimum and the rear will need vertical clearance among several other things. Our one bit of scope creep needed will be a new wiring job. The wiring has been the same as the day the car was bought. Our goal was to be finished by the Circuit of the Americas Ultimate Street Car event.

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[seancarole]

Dude I always wondered what you looked like after so many movies !!! Chopping it up. Hopefully this has a better outcome but where are the hot babes and cheesy music?:snapout:

[Jr]

Mike,
Are the front fenders metal or fiberglass?

Please keep the pics coming.

[Mike Maier]

Mike,
Are the front fenders metal or fiberglass?

Please keep the pics coming.

The front fenders were carbon fiber. After modification the fenders are still carbon, however the flares were hand fabbed out of aluminum.

[GrabberGT]

So which direction are you going with this?

http://www.maierracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/65-66-italian-monster-kit-01.jpg

OR....

http://www.maierracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/65-66-gt-350-full-race-kit-01.jpg

How are you modding your suspension to get even more drop?

[Mike Maier]

It will resemble Franks 65' Fastback (Lower Image), however with a street tone to it. To lower the car is has been fairly easy. For the rar we used our MOD2 rear suspension and making new lower control arm brackets to account for the reduced ride height. This led into fabbing clearance for rear end and driveshaft. For the front we also used the same MOD2 front suspension that has been in the car and made new control arms and modified spindles

[Jr]

The front fenders were carbon fiber. After modification the fenders are still carbon, however the flares were hand fabbed out of aluminum.

I can't wait to see the updates. Thank you for sharing with the community.

[Beach Cruiser]

Are you going to make COTA?

[MSTSFabbed]

Excellent! So is this still a work in progress or are you teasing us?

Can't wait to see more!

[Mike Maier]

Excellent! So is this still a work in progress or are you teasing us?

Can't wait to see more!

It is a delayed, sped up build. The car is already in Texas for the COTA USCA event.

[DBasher]

Have fun this weekend with the new set up, Mike. I'll be sure and check in with the rest of the crew at the MiniNats...you know, make sure they're "working".

:thumbsup:

[Mike Maier]

The decision has been made. Old blue is getting lower, wider and new wiring. We will need new front control arms and spindles. The back will need a little more, the plan is to keep the guts of the MOD2 , but just raise it up in the car to keep all the geometry. This is super easy when your talking with your buddies, But somehow every time when the tools come out only one or two guys are left ready to work. Well that's better than none.

The first order of business is to pull all of the old parts out and the mock up the rear end housing and the front hub to their new proposed locations. At this point we put all of the hard pivot points into the computer and started to figure out what would be the best plan of attack with respect to geometry. Every thing in the car is built off the cars foundation and that is the geometry.

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The front suspension is already a prototype R&D MOD2 and its mounting points are all vertically adjustable. This made everything much easier and all of the pick up points were shifted up and this got us most of the way there. With the new ultra low ride height we could not get everything we wanted out of the chassis mounts. We ended up employing a drop spindle to get the rest of the job done.

To get the width increased we made up an extended set of MOD control arms they are basically a stretched version of the 65 MOD1 control arms.

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The back was a little more involved. We took out the prototype MOD2 rocker system and installed a new standard equipment MOD2 rocker system. However with the new ride height, the frame rails were much too close to the axle. The remedy was to simply raise the rails for vertical clearance. Also the rear end housing had to be dealt with. The lower control arm brackets needed to be corrected for proper geometry. This turned out to be one of the most labor intensive pars of the job.

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While all of this fabrication was going on we also had some basics to attend to. The wiring has been plaguing us over the years. This also had to be ripped out and remade. We have also had growing pains with some torque arms as of late and this put a bevy bind on our drive shaft. Our beautiful Dynotech drive shaft was getting beat up bad so a couple of fresh Dynotech drive shafts had to be made up.

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By this time we started to get a handle on things. Progress was slow but consistent . The rear end seemed to take for ever. We had straggling to do's here and there to wrap up loose ends. Things like mounting brakes seem to skip the big list.

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Once we got the chassis components completed. We then moved on to the body work. We still had not come up with much of an idea how we were going to flare the car. We had several ideas, but none of them stuck. Finally mike stayed late one night and roughed in a flare concept out of cardboard that wasn't half bad. We left the car like this for a day or so to let it marinate for a while just to make sure.

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At this time the decision was to be made on what/how we were going to make these flares. We found some aluminum in the shop that looked like it would do so we started cutting patterns out. This was handled by Mike and shop guru, Gary Mole. Gary was the one in charge of the wiring and anything else that Mike came up with. With uncharted territories like this Mike was reassured with Gary's confidence and they kept going.

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After a couple of days of thrashing we called up an old friend for the paint work. Arthur from Alameda Collision is one of those body shops that still understands the privateer. He took the car in and got it out in record time. The boys down there really did us right. While the car was at paint mike met up with the family for a short recharge.

Once the car got back from paint the guys had about a week to get Ol Blue back up and running for the first practice. Doing their best for the customers already slated during the days all of this was done at night. Every thing from trim, alignment, and interior had to go back together. This was finished up at about ten at night the day before the first test.
The goals for the first test were to make sure everything worked as planed. Then to start tuning. This was a lot to ask at an autocross given the number of laps possible. Ultimately the main and final goal was to improve the transitional control of the car. The way the car feels as it is setting into the turn; Although the car was not tuned yet Mike could clearly feel the difference. This was for sure a good first test. The car stayed all together and it continued to feel better every run.

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[andrewb70]

Car looks great!!!

Andrew

[GrabberGT]

:thumbsup:

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[Mike Maier]

Now that old blue has started to take shape thoughts started to turn towards wrapping up the car. Small odds and ends needed to be attended to. We have been having oil temperature challenges as well as final wiring odds and ends. The car now had to be completed by Thursday to be able to get down to the Falken hauler in Fontana, Ca. This is about an 8 hour drive and this didn't start until about 4 pm Thursday. Friday morning Mike and Steve Hobaugh woke up and dropped off the car uneventfully to the hauler. At this point all that could be done was done. Now the small things that were undone needed to be handled in the pits of COTA.

https://www.mikemaierinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/unknown-2-1024x768.jpg

Now we needed to hustle home for one of the final test days for Frank Stagnaro's 65' Mustang before the SCCA Nationals in Nebraska.

Once the week passed we jumped on the plane to Texas . This was a much needed week off. The hours have been flying by and wearing us out. Once we got to COTA we opened up the doors to the rig and started to get things ready.

Keep in touch to see how old blue runs.

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[GrabberGT]

Good luck. Looking fwd to hearing the rest of the story.

It must not be as hot there as it is here. Their grass is still green.

[WSSix]

Looks great! Good luck at COTA everyone

[Jr]

Looks good. How wide of a front tire are you running, and how big is the motor?

[glassman]

Good luck down there Mike!!! Us Livermoron's will be cheering ya on...

those white wheels look awesome on there. funny, the car looks naked without stickers on it....

Cheers, mike

[rustomatic]

I like it--it's definitely more in line with the personality of a car that is destined to be used only in anger. The kids will undoubtedly "reconize" more effectively, but may also diss you slightly for not being perfectly Hellaflush. This car needed some raditude.

So what are the digits on the new track width/footprint? How about tire/rim size? Are we square?

[Mpcoluv]

Does anyone livestream this event?

[Flash68]

Love it.

[67XR7]

Does anyone livestream this event?

I know its too late now, but in the future optima usually does streaming via periscope, sometimes larry from PT.com will do live streaming via periscope as well.

[Mike Maier]

Mike Maier Inc Meets Circuit of the Americas

As we arrived at the track, the first order of business was to unload the cars, do the final registration and prep for the day. The order of events for us was the autocross, speed stop, design and engineering review and to round out the day we went on the road rally. All of this had to be done in 100+ degree heat and a ton of humidity.

As we embarked upon the autocross we knew it was going to be a lot of work. After the rebuild of Ol' Blue we attended one autocross before leaving for Texas. It was to be expected that the set up was going to be off on the car, springs, bars and shock adjustments were going to be a given. After the first few runs the car was not great, but not bad at the same time. A severe case of understeer was present. We started to tune on the chassis but we were cut short by an odd brake pedal/master cylinder problem. The pedal was feeling strange, when all of a sudden the pedal went to the
floor. The culprit was a bent master cylinder pushrod which we replaced in haste on the grid. The new master went in and as the car went to line up to make the last run a second master pushrod bent. This ultimately ended our chances at the autocross. Old Blue finished second by about two tenths. Over lunch we took a closer look at things and it turned out not to be the quality of the master cylinders but an alignment problem with the way we had set up the balance bar. When we replaced the master again we made sure to reset the balance bar and hurried off to the next event.

The next event was the speed stop; this is basically is a drag race launch into some sort of a U turn, then through a gate or slalom ending in a stop box. Our first run out was a solid one. The brakes now were amazing and they weren’t even dialed in yet. We continued to progress with our set up and the times kept dropping. Finally we were in a heated battle with Jake Rozelle, Jake has been the force to be reckoned with, his Camaro is a wonderfully prepared beast and consistently fast. Every lap we would beat each other by thousandths. Between laps we kept making adjustments through spring rates and sway bars. This ultimately led Old Blue to the win by just a bit. Finishing up with the speed stop we had but minutes to make the design and engineering review so off we went.

Design and engineering went fairly smooth. Admitting this is not one of our current strong points, we have been focusing on performance first then looks. Making sure the interior looks factory is cool but fast on the track is number one for now. With the new wiring all the lights worked perfectly; gauges and horn were on point. This will be a point of interest for the future for sure. D&E delightfully treated us well and took interest in the engineering of our car and rewarded us with a 9th overall.

The road rally was a pleasant one, USCA was nice to us this time. A total distance of 24 miles in 100 plus weather was plenty. This is basically a road worthiness challenge to the cars to make sure that they are actually streetable.

Finishing up Saturday was welcoming to us. A long and hot day full of constant hustle. We definitely had little issues, but this is to be expected with so many new parts on the car. The other bonus was every change that was made was an improvement to the car and its performance. The car kept getting better and the times kept dropping.

Sunday morning came quick. The road course consumed this whole day. First cars were out at 8:30 am. Corrected temperature would be 108 degree’s. Put your big boy pants on for this one because it’s going to get dirty. First order of business is to get the car prepped and drivers meeting which was the typical pre-track talk, passing zones, flags, don’t crash and burn, use the whole track and big speeds. Got it! First session out is the observation lap. This is to familiarize yourself with the course. We come in and I can feel that the car is tight (understeer). I could also tell you that even after my studying the course I was even more confused with track direction. Upon our first session out Blue made it about half a lap and a bolt came out of the shift linkage leaving the car stuck in 4th. So now we have three sessions left. We repaired the car and make more chassis changes to free up the car even more and have another go at it. This time we had to start at the back of the grid due to not having a time in the previous session. Now we started working through the traffic, the blue car was starting to feel good. The track started to come to us and learning the course became easier as we went. The third session was now time to get after it. Before we went out we made a sway bar adjustment and we hooked up the Wilwood balance bar adjuster to tune the brakes on the course to speed things along. This followed up by a quick flush of the brake fluid, now was the time to get after it. On our second lap Old Blue laid down a time that put us ahead of Jake Rozelle. However this guy would not lay down, he was going to push as hard as possible to keep his position. We had one more session left and we made one final spring change to hopefully get us some more time. By this time it was peak heat, cars and people were dropping like flies. We get out on track and we dropped another second off the lap times ending us at 2:29.0, which was enough to leap frog us to first over all in GTV for the weekend. As the weekend finished up Old Blue had mixed it up with McLaren’s driven by a national champion, a Porsche GT3 RS and Z06 Corvettes.

As a first weekend out we consider this a huge victory for the MMi team. The car progressed all weekend and it no doubt is faster and it is only going to get better. We owe this success to our supporters and team members. It would not have happened without them.

Falken Tire

Wilwood Brakes

Lucas Oil

K&N Air Filters

Ultimate Performance

Dynotech Drive shafts

JRi shocks

Quarter Master

C&R Racing



Also, we need to thank all the people who helped at night in the shop. Coming by late seeing Mike looking worn and throwing in a hand was huge. Even the Texas contingent of MMi supporters showing up at the track and unconditionally lending a hand through brutal heat. Old friends of the family coming up with an oil cooler last minute made from an air conditioning condenser that saved our rear in the heat. Special thanks to Garret Ankeny from Currie enterprises to offer his help to make sure we had what we needed to be at the top of our game. Gary Mole did an amazing job on everything he touched. Most of all, our fearless leader Brianne guided us through the battle with great poise. Thank you to all. Our little shop lives from your support and friendship. We look forward to the next meet.

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[Mike Maier]

4D9FPFoVRP8

[Sieg]

Congratulations Mike!

Great to see the successful changes, the car looks great. That's a fast and technical circuit to attack cold turkey. :thumbsup:

Thanks for a great right up also, I'd say I wish I could have been there, but in that heat and humidity it would be a big lie! :lol:

[rustomatic]

Nate Diaz had the proper response: mRbW2auOOqc.

[taxidermy man]

What color blue is that? it looks like the old Shelby blue that is supposed to be a secret custom mix.

[WSSix]

Congrats Mike and crew. Fantastic work all around!

[GrabberGT]

nice job. Where did you land on your track width?

[Panteracer]

Mike great to see all the hard work paid off
Love to see you are always adjusting and tweaking
the car. You inspire us old guys to try to make our
cars a little better

Keep charging

Bob

[E.rodz]

love the whole evolution on this car! love the race stance how wide outside of tire to outside of tire is it now? what does this beast weigh in at ? keep up the inspirational work!

[Centerforce]

Well we found our new favorite mustang. Coupe, low height, huge flares-whats not to like here? We'd love to see more pictures!

[65 347]

Mike
It was great meeting you again this weekend. The new face lift to old blue looked great.
Would love to see you come out to Chicago for the Fall MCA Mustang Expo event at the Autobahn in Joliet, Oct 1&2

Mike

[Coneman]

any updates? Easily my favorite Mustang