S197 @4o6racing Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[Adam Ginsberg]

First off, nice work, Thomas.

Second - it's great to see WSIR management investing in Big Willow. I like the new pavement (although the white "fog lines" were....odd), however, by Sunday, being offline was not wise, as there were a LOT of marbles out there.

What I'm perplexed about is the slurry coating - being NASA SoCal was the first group to use the fresh surface, the new slurry was shiny, and VERY reflective. It made it nearly impossible to distinguish new slurry, from, oooo...OIL, or coolant. They also slurried the hot pits, which, IMO, wasn't a wise use of track funds. The hot pits, while a bit rough, don't require the same level of finish as the rest of the track - they could have left that alone, and saved their hard earned funds for the rest for the rest of the repave in 2024.

The curbing was never great, but it's very bad now. Much of the new pavement overlaps the curbing, hiding it considerably. None of the existing curbs were repainted, nor repaired, and I can only assume they'll be redone during the rest of the work in 2024. And.....and, the back side of the curbing has gotten worse with respect to "drop off"....don't drop a tire over a curb.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the track repaved (T7/T8/ and especially T9), and watching how it wears in.

 

[Fabman]

Here’s a video for anyone interested in a bird’s eye view of the new surface

This track is on my bucket list. Maybe a visitors run with NASA SoCal next year....

 

[Fabman]

2023 was a bust for me...I got 1 1/2 laps all year.
Man my trans quit coming for the checkers at Nationals (coasted across the finish line) and then 1 1/2 laps into the very next outing the motor broke....that car hung together just long enough to get that trophy and it died.

 

[67GTA]

First off, nice work, Thomas.

Second - it's great to see WSIR management investing in Big Willow. I like the new pavement (although the white "fog lines" were....odd), however, by Sunday, being offline was not wise, as there were a LOT of marbles out there.

What I'm perplexed about is the slurry coating - being NASA SoCal was the first group to use the fresh surface, the new slurry was shiny, and VERY reflective. It made it nearly impossible to distinguish new slurry, from, oooo...OIL, or coolant. They also slurried the hot pits, which, IMO, wasn't a wise use of track funds. The hot pits, while a bit rough, don't require the same level of finish as the rest of the track - they could have left that alone, and saved their hard earned funds for the rest for the rest of the repave in 2024.

The curbing was never great, but it's very bad now. Much of the new pavement overlaps the curbing, hiding it considerably. None of the existing curbs were repainted, nor repaired, and I can only assume they'll be redone during the rest of the work in 2024. And.....and, the back side of the curbing has gotten worse with respect to "drop off"....don't drop a tire over a curb.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the track repaved (T7/T8/ and especially T9), and watching how it wears in.

Thanks Adam! It was interesting to compare the data to the March laps. My timer breaks the track into 3 sectors - map below. Considerable time gained in Sector 2 - (-0.726) and Sector 3 (-0.457) but lost time in Sector 1 (+0.376). I couldn’t get comfortable getting into T2, so I would lift early and over-slow the entry. The new surface is so much smoother, but just couldn’t build confidence on the high speed sweeper with the green surface. I think it will be really fast this fall once it rubbers in and cooler temps!

 

[twistedneck]

Oh oh….you’ve seen it before I’ve seen it….I’m so jelly.
Glad you got it all handled, Shaun is a really good guy and he’s super smart so you are in good hands.

Old thread but talking about Shaun AED.. when we tuned my stuff years ago (Gen 1 coyote) we actually got to work with one of the main guys who designed the Coyote i can't say his name but Shaun actually had a nice debate with him about how far to open my exhaust cam timing. it was righteous. ended up my engine ate up all the intake cam advance we could throw at it!

 

[twistedneck]

I was hoping to have install pics and some initial impressions on the new Penske setup since they were delivered 3 weeks ago today. When I ordered the package, I had Cortex ship it without camber plates since I already have Vorshlag plates. The KW strut uses an OE style spring perch, so I knew that a coil spring adapter would be needed. The beauty of Vorshlag’s modular design makes this pretty easy. Except this is the first set of Penske’s they’ve done for the S197. I made a call to Penske to get the technical specs for the strut shaft. Guy that answers the phone remembered assembling the order for Cortex a few weeks prior! First batch of parts from Vorshlag weren’t quite right - sent 14mm upper spool instead of 16mm. No big deal and they were on it immediately to send out the correct ones. Took a bit more back and forth to get the stack up height correct - the lower spool needed to be shortened to allow full thread engagement of the top nut. I opted to have a local aerospace machine shop modify them. Big mistake. They managed to screw one of them up badly enough that it won’t work. Lucky for us, their regular business is airplane parts… Vorshlag was on it again and had new spools on the way same day - should be here Friday.

Quick note on the Penske’s. Cortex just recently launched their new website, and the Penske packages are now listed on there. The stigma on Penske’s has forever been a $10k price tag. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see they’re not much higher than equivalent MCS or JRi setups. And with the Cortex package, you get the custom offset strut lowers for wide tires. So it had me wondering, what’s the catch with the lower price? We’ll, when I was talking to the guy at Penske, I asked him the difference between these and the inverted option that Penske sells for the Mustang (which are $10k for double adjustable). He said the internals are the same with the dual-bleed shaft design, and he actually likes the Cortex better because the adjuster knobs are on the top of the strut rather than under the car when installed.

This whole process has restored my faith in American small business at it finest - from Fillip at Cortex on the upfront guidance, to Terry answering the phone at Vorshlag when I called, to Geoff at Penske who couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful.

Also found these gems. Couldn’t bring myself to mount the reservoirs in the trunk with hose clamps and janky brackets. Took a chance on these mounts, since they’re designed for motorcycles. Fit is perfect!


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(This is on a bike-not actual pic of my car yet!)

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And one of the actual shocks and struts - dig those custom Cortex strut housings!

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I recognize all of those names except swap the Penske guy for the JRi guy.. this community is top notch, man those Penske's look special.

 

[67GTA]

The mailman delivered some SPECFAB Racing goodness today! These things are sooo light and well made. Thanks @Fabman !

 

[Fabman]

The mailman delivered some SPECFAB Racing goodness today! These things are sooo light and well made. Thanks @Fabman !

View attachment 89624

Thats some pretty sexy lookin’ race car stuff right there…..

 

[67GTA]

Continuing the discussion on rear rotor heat, but moving it off @Tri-bar thread. Here’s some pics of the rotors that I swapped out this weekend - definitely building heat. This is with the 302S ABS module so no nannies. I’ve had previous sets wear until the grooves are gone with lower compound pads. These cracked well before wearing out.

Is there really enough rear rotor heat generated to cause this? My thoughts are 1) rear brakes don’t do much work so they wouldn’t generate excessive heat, 2) in order for sufficient heat to travel to the seal, lots of other heat sinks need to get hot,

Also, has anybody taken rear rotor, caliper and pad temps?

 

[Fabman]

Continuing the discussion on rear rotor heat, but moving it off @Tri-bar thread. Here’s some pics of the rotors that I swapped out this weekend - definitely building heat. This is with the 302S ABS module so no nannies. I’ve had previous sets wear until the grooves are gone with lower compound pads. These cracked well before wearing out.

View attachment 89781
View attachment 89782

Two words: “cryogenic freezing”.
Your rotors will last many many times longer.
I always freeze new rotors when they go on for the first time.’’

 

[1 old racer]

Two words: “cryogenic freezing”.
Your rotors will last many many times longer.
I always freeze new rotors when they go on for the first time.’’

Same here. Back in 1993 I actually co owned a Cryo treatment company and our two largest customer base were Molding and racing hardware. I ran Cryo rotors as well as other items on my dirt bikes, cars, jet ski and even my motorhome and let me tell you that it does make a difference in product life. I know I am a the odd man out here but I run cross drilled rotors all of my track cars including my Mustang and have worn them out but have never had one crack on a track car, (I did have one crack on my tow rig back in the early 2000's but when I pulled it off and measured it was worn well below the min thickness). Back in the day many race teams used our services to treat all sort of components ranging from trans gears, suspension components to brake rotors. we sold the company to a customer back in 1996. It was fun meeting and dealing with the type of people that used our treatment services. Check out a company called "300 below" and you will see what it can do for you.

 

[67GTA]

Round 6 of Mustang Drivers Club

Speed Ventures decided to mix it up a bit and scheduled Round 6 on a rare 13CCW day at Buttonwillow. I’ve run a couple different clockwise configurations, but never CCW. Talk about a confidence killer! For some reason, the learning curve on Buttonwillow reverse config seemed steeper. Spent the first 2 sessions trying to find a rhythm, amidst a lot of traffic and yellow flags. Managed to go sub 2 mins in the second session and was really looking forward to the 3rd session to clean things up and lower that time. I think because everyone was learning the config, the group was still trying to sort out the faster cars to the front as guys continued picking up pace. Only got a few laps in before black flag all. Hopes of catching a clean lap further dashed with the cars all grouped up on hot pit again. First flying lap after we resumed and going for the 3-4 upshift on the front straight, the engine free-revved once the clutch was released. Shifted back into 3rd and it actually engaged, so limped it around the track staying in the same gear. Just before pit entrance I tried shifting down into 2nd. At this point, all gears would free-rev with each try. Coasted into the paddock and loaded up.

I was sitting P2 to @Tri-bar going into the last session, with less than 0.1 needed to move up. Neither of us improved, but on the last lap of the session, a fellow competitor found the hero-lap he needed and leap frogged Ashley and I into P1. The top 3 spots on the podium were separated by less than 0.3 sec!! Still a tight battle for the championship with 2 events left - it’s gonna come down to Buttonwillow in December!

Congrats to @Tri-bar for P2 and @LIGISTX for P4 in class



Also thanks to @LIGISTX for the awesome paddock shot!

 

[67GTA]

As for the transmission problem? How ‘bout a $0.14 roll pin bringing the entire car to its knees!! Can’t make this up - a single roll pin dropped out of the shift selector pin on the main rail. The rail would go front to back, side to side and the detent made it feel like it was engaging the synchros. But the car was literally just stuck in neutral, with the roll pin camped out on the magnets in the bottom of the case. Zero internal damage, just a crap load of work to get it tore down. They say it takes pressure to make diamonds - between work and travel, I’m down to a couple free days between now and the next NASA weekend…



Taking the opportunity to freshen things up a bit. Didn’t realize it had been since Dec 2020 when it was last apart. This time I’ll convert 1st and 2nd gears to symmetrical tooth engagement, swap in a fresh 3-4 synchro sleeve and a new set of Synchrotech all-carbon blocker rings in all 6 gears & reverse. These are really the only performance upgrade blocker rings available and I’m excited to give them a rip. I’ve been very happy with the Magnum XL after the first round of upgrades, and I expect this round will be next level. Putting a brand new Exedy Hyper-Single in (boy have they gone up in price since 2020!) and a new hydraulic slave for good measure.

 

[Tri-bar]

As for the transmission problem? How ‘bout a $0.14 roll pin bringing the entire car to its knees!! Can’t make this up - a single roll pin dropped out of the shift selector pin on the main rail. The rail would go front to back, side to side and the detent made it feel like it was engaging the synchros. But the car was literally just stuck in neutral, with the roll pin camped out on the magnets in the bottom of the case. Zero internal damage, just a crap load of work to get it tore down. They say it takes pressure to make diamonds - between work and travel, I’m down to a couple free days between now and the next NASA weekend…

View attachment 90099

Taking the opportunity to freshen things up a bit. Didn’t realize it had been since Dec 2020 when it was last apart. This time I’ll convert 1st and 2nd gears to symmetrical tooth engagement, swap in a fresh 3-4 synchro sleeve and a new set of Synchrotech all-carbon blocker rings in all 6 gears & reverse. These are really the only performance upgrade blocker rings available and I’m excited to give them a rip. I’ve been very happy with the Magnum XL after the first round of upgrades, and I expect this round will be next level. Putting a brand new Exedy Hyper-Single in (boy have they gone up in price since 2020!) and a new hydraulic slave for good measure.

So glad it was a simple fix and you can get it back on the track. I still haven't fixed my sheared panhard bar mount on the axle. maybe today.

 

[67GTA]

Back together in time for NASA Time Trials. Only two weekends left - gotta make them count. #stickaxlegang

 

[Adam Ginsberg]

Was it hot enough this weekend??

 

[Fabman]

Back together in time for NASA Time Trials. Only two weekends left - gotta make them count. #stickaxlegang


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where did THIS come from....?

 

[SMGDHG]

where did THIS come from....?

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@LIGISTX

 

[SMGDHG]

where did THIS come from....?

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Only the cool kids club can rep the #stickaxlegang sticker

and yes, you are part of the cool kids club (just don't put an IRS in the car or else we will take it back )

We also tag #stickaxlegang on instagram

 

[LIGISTX]

where did THIS come from....?

View attachment 90519