S197 Ken Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[Fabman]

I looked at the Garmin as a cost saver. I can sometimes learn and improve more in one session with the Garmin than I did in a full day with other systems.
For a few years I looked at the guys who poured over data as folks i just did not understand. Now, I do a cool down lap, shut the car off and start looking at data. Then I get out of the car. Likely because I needed to get “some skills” before data meant anything to me. Now, I can’t get enough. Overlaying fastest lap over optimal laps shows me where I can improve. I guess I’m getting better.

love your build.

I love my Garmin, I just need an easy way to wye it in with my radios so I can hear both.
I tried a stereo wye cord and stereo ear buds to hear garmin in one ear and radios in the other but for some reason it didn't work.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Maybe a separate system, bud for each ear would work. Old school, keep it simple.

 

[Fabman]

Maybe a separate system, bud for each ear would work. Old school, keep it simple.

Yeah, that's my last resort.....my custom molded earbuds fit so well I hate to use anything else.

 

[Ken R]

I looked at the Garmin as a cost saver. I can sometimes learn and improve more in one session with the Garmin than I did in a full day with other systems.
For a few years I looked at the guys who poured over data as folks i just did not understand. Now, I do a cool down lap, shut the car off and start looking at data. Then I get out of the car. Likely because I needed to get “some skills” before data meant anything to me. Now, I can’t get enough. Overlaying fastest lap over optimal laps shows me where I can improve. I guess I’m getting better.

love your build.

that is a good way to view it that I hadn't really been thinking off, I was just looking at cost of entry but certainly session improvements vs the price of seat time is more valuable.
I appreciate the advice and the kind words about the build!

 

[Ken R]

I love my Garmin, I just need an easy way to wye it in with my radios so I can hear both.
I tried a stereo wye cord and stereo ear buds to hear garmin in one ear and radios in the other but for some reason it didn't work.

if I am following correct I would guess you need a cord that is isolating your buds per left and right side so both the Garmin and the radio could be plugged in at once. are you only getting one or the other or is it a jumble of both?

 

[TMSBOSS]

that is a good way to view it that I hadn't really been thinking off, I was just looking at cost of entry but certainly session improvements vs the price of seat time is more valuable.
I appreciate the advice and the kind words about the build!

Seat time, drivers mods are the best bang for the buck after tires and wheels. Solid feedback, at least for me, gave me the best bang for the buck regarding seat time. A solid coach in the right seat will likely beat any gadget you can use. Drivers mods are definitely why most of us are in hobby.
Unfortunately, the only seat time I’ll be getting any time soon will be running the snow blower on my John Deere. 12” predicted.

 

[Ken R]

Seat time, drivers mods are the best bang for the buck after tires and wheels. Solid feedback, at least for me, gave me the best bang for the buck regarding seat time. A solid coach in the right seat will likely beat any gadget you can use. Drivers mods are definitely why most of us are in hobby.
Unfortunately, the only seat time I’ll be getting any time soon will be running the snow blower on my John Deere. 12” predicted.

they definitely are and I used to have that at the forefront of when I went to the track and it has seemingly gotten buried behind all the other things I want to do or know. In the absence of an actual coach this would be a good addition
oof I feel that all too well I gotta get out my trusty shovel and have at it but I think we are only expected to get about half what you are ha

 

[twistedneck]

I wanted to take some time to create this build list as hopes to maybe help some others out as I did a ton of research on this site to answer many of my own questions as the process went on. I did my best to use vendors that support the site and I used quite a few of them.
The car started innocently enough as a 2005 GT with a stock 4.6L and a 5 speed trans. I thought about going with the newer 5.0 in the S197 chassis but after I saw NASA had a spec series with these cars I was set on the 3 valve. After a couple months of nationwide searches on auto sales sites I found one 15 minutes from my house and then the building began.
While the Spec Iron is the ultimate goal I figured I may as well have some fun with it for the time being and go a little outside their rules for now.
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From what I could tell no body issues with the car and the owner I bought from did a pretty thorough suspension job on it which helped. It was Eibach shocks/struts, springs, sway bars, GT500 strut mounts, and bump stops. Based on what I was reading from most people these cars were under-tired and under-braked so those were the first two items to get addressed.
StopTech ST40 calipers with their 2 piece aero rotor and stainless steel lines (Ordered from Maximum Motorsports) and some 18x11 Apex EC-7 wheels were underway. Since I went with the 18x11 wheels I needed Ford Racing hubs with APR studs along with some 25mm spacers from OP Mustang, I was originally going to go 18x10 wheels but after talking with Cory from Apex he recommended the wider wheel and I am very glad I went with them. It seemed tire choices were pretty up in the air so I figured I would give the RT660's a go as they were priced good and I was rather certain I would be limiting the tires more than they were limiting me.
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After this I moved on to address the rear end, despite the previous owner doing a lot of suspension the lower control arms were not changed out so the angle was wrong and I got a good bit of wheel hop as the rear did not want to squat under acceleration, I went with Maximum Motorsports relocation brackets, control arms, and panhard bar to help really keep the rear planted. To help out the front I added some caster camber plates and went with the Vorshlag ones. To get full utilization of them I had to cut open the strut tower opening, a 2-3/4" hole saw gave plenty of room and I can get about 3 degrees of negative camber.
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Lastly there is the hood, I was reading a lot about overheating issues and front end lift at high speeds due to lack of venting in the hood along with no under tray. I was going to hold off but Trackspec was running a good deal on their vents around the holidays last year so I decided to capitalize. Nothing like cutting holes in a perfectly good hood, it took myself and a buddy the better part of 2-3 evenings to measure and cut everything as we are both very particular but they came out great.
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Outside of this I added some GLOC R12 front and R10 rear pads from KNS Brakes and have been regularly changing/checking fluids and just working on getting as much seat time as I can. Michigan really limits the season but I have been thankful enough to get in 10 events at 5 different tracks so far this year and the car feels great, taking disturbances in the tracks at speed took some getting used to but it just takes time and I love it. I really wanted to make this build reasonably priced as possible and get as much seat time and I could have saved some money with cheaper calipers like the Brembos with single piece rotors and the narrower wheels but I am really happy with the choices I made and I think the next step is a trailer to get to some events further away and more track time!
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Roll couple looks completely dialed in.. aka front and back have the same consistent tire gap at max roll. and those wheels and tire combo.. you running enough negative camber? that don't look like no -3.5 degrees!

 

[Fabman]

if I am following correct I would guess you need a cord that is isolating your buds per left and right side so both the Garmin and the radio could be plugged in at once. are you only getting one or the other or is it a jumble of both?

It kills both

 

[Tonymustang302]

Seat time, drivers mods are the best bang for the buck after tires and wheels. Solid feedback, at least for me, gave me the best bang for the buck regarding seat time. A solid coach in the right seat will likely beat any gadget you can use. Drivers mods are definitely why most of us are in hobby.
Unfortunately, the only seat time I’ll be getting any time soon will be running the snow blower on my John Deere. 12” predicted.

R u back in IL

 

[Ken R]

Roll couple looks completely dialed in.. aka front and back have the same consistent tire gap at max roll. and those wheels and tire combo.. you running enough negative camber? that don't look like no -3.5 degrees!

Roll couple has felt good too! If I remember correctly it is just over -3 degrees, I have been happy with the tire wear and the few pictures I have seen of the car loaded in a corner the outside tire looks like it is pretty well planted so I haven't messed with it from that too much

 

[Ken R]

It kills both

hmm let me think on that, I am fairly certain there is a way to do it, might have to get a little creative is all

 

[TMSBOSS]

R u back in IL

I am. Freezing my thinned blood at the moment. This will be my first full winter since 2005.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Quit your complaining , you could be back in Mississippi which seems to have a horrific tornado every week. I think I prefer the snow over the insane weather those in the South have been having this Winter. Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia have had some wicked weather over the past month and a half.

 

[EF1]

I am. Freezing my thinned blood at the moment. This will be my first full winter since 2005.

I do not envy you. I have not endured a northern Michigan winter since 1995. I don't think I could handle it again and I know my wife couldn't, she is an east Tennessee native.

 

[Fabman]

I’m just here in California like:

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Sal in the Sol ! Fun in the Sun with the Fabman , he definitely isn't the Sadman, but he is cruel to his friends in the Midwest, he is a Badman !

What a mean guy, ha,ha!

 

[Ken R]

I have been rather slow to update but now that it's all done I can post a complete thought. While Road Atlanta was a very good time I neglected to mention on my last lap of the last session I turned my clutch into dust. Last replacement was with an OEM one so I decided to upgrade to a more aggressive race clutch, after some searching I landed on the Exedy Mach 400. As far as I can tell the Exedy ToB is the same as the OEM but given that was the biggest issue I saw people having I ordered an actual Ford OEM one and paired it with the Ford Performance pilot bearing. Initial install wasn't bad but as some may have seen I got into the weeds on the ToB spacing. So in short how much the ToB is compressed when fully installed, OEM is about an inch and after taking my measurements (bell housing face to ToB - engine face to pressure plate fingers) I was at about 0.406" so I called Exedy and discussed with them what I was seeing and what needed to be done. They stated that their clutch is designed to only have about 0.5" of travel so I added a short spacer to bring the number to 0.41" so not much but the balance is between not being able to disengage the pressure plate and disc and not having it over extend when the clutch pedal is pushed. Considering I was doing this job on jack stands in my garage I REALLY didn't want to have to tear it apart again because the ToB overextended or I couldn't get it into gear. Realistically I probably didn't need to add the spacer but I had it on hand so I figured why not. It seems like the main difference is in the pressure plate fingers, the OEM ones stick out much further than the Exedy ones and my assumption is this is to provide more room to ease onto the clutch for street driving and provide a mechanical advantage making it easier to push the pedal. The Exedy one is more on/off than having a large pedal movement for blending.

OEM Pressure Plate

Exedy Pressure Plate

"Neutral" position of the ToB, fully pushed down here is right around 1"

Exedy springs
OEM Springs
So the spring pictures I found as an easier visual on why the Exedy needs less range of motion than OEM to fully disengage since when the clutch is pushed those will invert and remove the disc from the flywheel given they are obviously closer they need to travel less.
So far I have ran 3 track days with the setup and I have been very happy with it, it takes a minute to get used considering the pedal range of motion is less but it's not hard to get used to and has been much smoother on track

*I am no clutch expert, this is just my understanding of the system, so if something is incorrect please let me know and I will edit the post so others aren't following bad info*