Not a Torino Not an FE
 

Working backwards from the last track day out.

Here is nothing special but a race car none the less and one I ended up rebuilding.

Out of the trailer

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https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-S2B4VRH-L.jpg

One of us is taking the wrong line:headscratch:

You guess who

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I learned you Can NOT out accelerate a 911 Turbo with 340 rwhp no matter how much weight you have stripped out of your car.:shakehead: :shakehead:

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-8jSsvFs-L.jpg

But not all P car drivers are Pr#@*s

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I learned Sonoma is a challenging track that is a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

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And as always I was reminded good friends at the track make the day.

Thanks for the pics Siegmiester.

More details on the car to follow, maybe.

I want more details...I know it's an old Bondurant car and than an AI before you got it, how far from stock is it? This car and this event is what got me looking at these and older fox bodies.
Spill the beans!

I wish it was a Fox body those have way more style.:(

It's a 99-04 Wedge but the platform is pretty much the same, and the formula for a cheap track car is also.

My car has always been a track car. Back in the day it was a Bonduraunt car then it was updated to compete back east in SCCA and then in Texas as an AI car.

I bought it with a worn out motor and the basic suspension set up and then ended up doing a but load of work bringing it up to it's current spec.

It is nothing fancy but it works well as a track mule and is class legal for NASA AI so I can race it in the series.

Any early Mustang can use the same simple formula to be a competent track car.

Bolt on Maximum Motorsports crossmember, lower control arms with camber caster plates on the front. Coilover strut conversion on all four corners. Plain yellow Bilstien HD struts and shocks. Mine has an old Bonduraunt torque arm in the rear but a Maximum Motorsports torque arm would be the choice. and of course a Panhard bar.

The brakes on it now are 13" Stoptechs up front and stock GT brakes out back. Hawk DT70s front and rear but if you didn't have Aero in the rear then runs 60s out back.

The Aero is some no name wing out back with some big end plates I added, a home made splitter up front with blocked off radiator opening breathing just from the lower opening and some track spec hood vents.

The class limits you to an 18x9.5" wheel and a 275 35 18 Toyo tire so that is what I run. High dollar CL Enkei RA1s on all four corners.

For power in the class you can run any Ford in any Ford or any Chevy in any Chevy ect... Mine is based on a 4.6 2v. I fragged the block and then found a Ford Motorsports boss block with 94mm bores so mine is now a 2v 5.0 mod motor. The class limit is 9.25lb of car per hp (if you have antilock brakes) so my motor is built to get me to a legal 340hp. Heads are ported, headers and intake and better throttle body cams and a tune on the PCM.

I would buy one with a Windsor based motor if I did it again. Cheaper and lighter.

The transmission is a stock T45 with a Findanzia AL flywheel and a Excedy puck style clutch. Out back I have a 3.50 torsion diff 8.8. I wish it was a 3.70 but that's what it had.

The car weighs about 3300lbs with me in it.

You saw it run at Sonoma. I had never been on that track before but the car works well enough to run some decent lap times. It is pretty fun to wrestle around a track.

I would say it is a great platform to get you out on track. It works well enough yet it isn't perfect so it makes you drive and it has a pretty good fun factor for the $$.

We did have a lot of fun at Sonoma!!!


Awesome car!

Fox FTW

That's good info, and Sonoma is indeed the awesome track--I can't wait to get back on it. I think a big part of what makes it so cool is that it really embodies the shape and quality of a lot of the good roads in northern CA (and other places), like the one I live on . . .

I drove a '92 Fox-body that had the full Maximum Motorsports kit on it, with drag radials, from South Carolina to CA, and I was really impressed with how it worked (while not compromising ride quality or submitting bad NVH). Another cool thing about the MM stuff is how it's priced so much better than a lot of competing bolt-on stuff out there (and we know it works) . . .

I'm betting that the only time that 340 hp really becomes evident as slightly less than you want is on straights, like at Thunderhill. Most of the time, it's probably quite sufficient.

Like the old saying - More HP will make any car faster on the straights - but less weight makes a car faster EVERYWHERE.....


LOL


Just sayin'

Yes we did. I wish I had had a chance to try and chase down the yellow car.:)

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-HsHQRQD-L.jpg

Thanks for the props on the car. It isn't a show piece but I did put a lot of sweat equity into making it usable and presentable.

I can hardly wait to get back to Sonoma and see if I can whittle down my lap times some more. Day one I got to 2:04 and day two I got down to 2:00. My Traqmate failed me on my last session so I don't know what I ultimately ran but I will take a 2:00 flat for the first time at the track.

That is the point with the platform. If someone wants a track toy that has a v8, it a little bit of a handfull at times but can actually run some decent times on a budget just bolt on the MM stuff to a Fox Body or SN95 and have fun.

It's all the HP to weight ratio. My car is somewhat light but still a bit of a porker at 3300lbs with me in it (part of that issue is my Sasquatch A$$). I am at 9.7lbs per hp which isn't great but the class only allows me 9.25 to 1.

If it were just a track car then I would run 10.5" wheels on all 4 corners and try and get closer to 8 to 1. That would be a lot of fun.




Light is Might :thumbsup:

Sweet! I'd love to have my fox out there!!

Nothing should be stopping you.

When I got the car there were a lot of things that needed attention. One was the butchered stock dash rattling around while on the track.

It was dubbed the 200hr dash by someone on this site. It didn't take that long but it did take me longer than it should have.

Some cardboard to mock it up.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...pskmyhptjq.jpg

Some work on the sheer and brake

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psdhvmawhb.jpg

A little paint and Bingo

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psnyfgr6sl.jpg

Of course Weld reminded me today I didn't need to build this for the car to be trackable.

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Dash looks good, Rob.

You mention some class rules and if it were just a track car you'd run a 10.5" wheel all around. Are you racing door to door in AI or some other class?
:cheers:

I hope to have my comp license the first of net year and Run NASA American Iron. :flag2:

Yes actual door to door racing.:confused59:

Nice! Soo, you're going to need a back up car? :D

:headscratch: Let's hope it doesn"t come to that.:rolleyes:

Could you give me an idea of cost for the weekend...fuel, tires, pads. Just curious :peepwall:
Folks talk about a spec Miata being cheap, I can't/won't go there.


Inbox is clear and no, not yet. LOL

Oh this is going to be fun!


Fuel? Depends! Pump gas or 110+ Octane..... 110 at the track is $10 a gallon -- I use 5 or 6 gallons per 20 minute session. You'll get 4 to 5 20 minute sessions per day. Yup -- that's right -- we'll call that $250 per day. ONE THIRD that on pump gas.

TIRES? Depends on how fast you go! I used to get at least 3 track weekends from a set of Hoosiers.... now that I go faster and put more heat in to them - I might get 3 Days -- that's one weekend plus one day of another weekend. Yeah --- so $1800 ish for a set of Hoosiers...


Brakes -- again - how fast you going - do you threshold brake - trail brake? I chew a set of pads in about a years worth.... so call that 3 track weekends. Relatively cheap. My car runs big brakes - big pads - very nice and thick.... until you grind em into the ground! LOL


Track ENTRY FEES - $500 for a two day event

Oh - and then you have HOTEL and FOOD and BOOZE (for Lillard)... and getting to and fro

:popcorn2:

I wish I had enough track days under my belt to really have a handle on the costs but sadly the weekend you saw me run was day 6 & 7 on track.:bang:

Tracking a car is never cheap. Period. Some cars are cheaper to run but nothing is cheap.

Saving money by driving a Miata? Hmmm. :bitchslap:

So brake wear I cannot comment on yet although who needs brakes, they only slow you down.:lostmarbles:

My low hp v8 does not eat like Greg's but I still burn about 15 gallons for a full day. I pay $9 a gallon for leaded 110 by my house so figure $130-160 for a days fuel.

The Shelby club events are more expensive. You can run with other groups for far less. In my area you can usually figure about $175 a day for track fees so low end $350 up to the $5-600 that Weld is talking about for a full weekend. Some times tracks like Streets of Willow have entry fees as low as $110 with some groups.

Big name tracks = more cost. It costs more to runs at Laguna Seca or Sonoma than say Buttonwillow or Chuckwalla.

The Spec Toyo RA1s, and now Toyo RRs, in a 275 35 18 cost about $1100 a set. It looks like I will get 4 weekends out of my first set of RA1s. The RRs will wear faster and if I up my speed on track they will wear faster yet. I'd bet I will get 4-5 track days from a set of RRs. The RA1s wear like iron so I bet they would always give me 7-8 days even if I get to be fast.

Figure you will bleed your brakes after every weekend. Oil and fluid changes are up to you.

Then you have to get to the track and back. For me that is a Diesel pulling a 40ft gooseneck with a sleeper section (I probably should post some info on that at some point) up front at 8mpg. So for a 100 mile trip to the track add another $60-75.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps66zostqc.jpg

So a weekend away staying in my trailer is about $1k give or take.

Also remember that you can't leave anything alone. Maybe you can but I can't. If the car runs a little hot then you have to cut to cure.

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Track Spec make a great product and my engine temps really dropped when I added these and my radiator duct project.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...pskfxeqhmj.jpg

Who Cares What It Costs -- Worth Every Nickle!!

That pretty much sums it up.:thumbsup:

Just set some clear attainable goals and get after it.:superhack:

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Done!

August 2016 comes to mind.

:cheers:

:headscratch: Target finish date for BMF? :cheers:

Setting the bar that low to start huh? :lol:

No no no...way too ambitious there.

Was that Sonoma? The same trip that little girl got pushed in the pool....what an a$$hole! LOL
:thumbsup:

What kind of a kid (okay it was a girl) falls in the pool with little more than the pointy end of an index finger! Kid needs to set some better goals.

BMF isn't on track yet :stirthepot: :lmao:


That guy was kind of a dick.:rolleyes:

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These threads are soo much easier when you already know the ending.:relax:

In these later model cars there is so much wiring. You may get the idea to un-loom the wiring harness of your race car and eliminate all the unneeded wires. Windows, radio, door locks, signals, anti theft system, GEM box that makes the door ding sounds and alarms.

On one hand I don't recommend it. :bang:

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http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps2upxoutq.jpg

On the other hand it did eliminate over 26 lbs of extra crap that I didn't need and I now know what wire goes to what in the car:cheers:

Nice job!!!

Thanks

When I bought the car it was cheap. It was cheap because the motor was advertised as tired. It turned out to be even more tired than expected. It lasted a day at Streets of Willow and an evening session at Adams.

That led to a complete rebuild that then blew up after a day at Streets of Willow a trip to Buttonwillow and then back to Streets of Willow to last all of 5 laps.

I had the engine built and the builder stood behind the build even though it was probably the tune and a marginal cooling system that killed it.

So as I pulled the motor out for round three I took a few other precautions.

One of those projects was better cooling.

I bought a new radiator with a larger core.
I bought a big Setrab Oil cooler.
Johns at Tracspec hooked me up with some hood vents.
I built a sealed radiator duct from the grille to the radiator.

Start with the basics.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psjfdiiocq.jpg

Some mock up.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psaoqhgvyc.jpg

A couple weekends with a shear, brake and bead roller.

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That solves the problem of getting air in.

Great thread RD :thumbsup:

I voted for the Fox body.

I was talking about the 'Vette.....

Thanks G. We have a showdown at Buttonwillow :thumbsup:

You'd vote for anything that runs on a track at this point. Another six months and you will be Shopping for a Miata.

That red one I kept passing at Sonoma or another one?:D

:relax: :popcorn2:

there is grip to be had with some aero. There is nothing sophisticated about the aero on AO bit it does have a splitter and a wing that I added some substantial end plates to.

When building the duct for the radiator I wanted to reduce the pressure behind the radiato to get the maximum airflow and cooling.

I also wanted to get the air coming in the grille out from under the hood to reduce front end lift and enhance what front downforce I have.

John at Trackspec helped me with some patterns to check fit of his vents. Like Weld most people vote for the Vette so there are vents for C5s & C6s but none for a lowly New Edge 2000 Mustang.

John had a set I felt would work well.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps6axtzvhi.jpg

Cut to cure is what they say.


http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psodjpfxzs.jpg

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The test fit before final triming confirmed they gave the radiator airflow a good exit path.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...pskfxeqhmj.jpg

On track the operating temps were way down and the car seems to have better front end bite.

At least enough to duck under any Orange 69 Camaros I need to pass at Buttonwillow.

Wow! Nice fab work!! You must have quite the shop down there to work in!


Can you build some Camaro flares??

I like it. Been preaching it for years. Not for heat though. My car always runs under 200 even on the hottest days. First time I ever noticed lift from air getting through the front grill is when I had a fiberglass hood on my car. When I went to the aluminum front clip it was game over for the hood vents. Didn't want anyone welding on the thin gauge aluminum hood. There are other options for me but for now I'm leaving it alone.

If your goal was the least possible points in the D&E portion of the USCA series, your work is done here.

Ouch.

That is the goal:thumbsup:

The car is for an actual race series.

Ugly or not it gets the job done.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...psmsqzi5vm.jpg

Appears to have just the right amount of pro-touring going on there!