S197 Kiwi Track Rat's Boss 302 resurrection Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[mwjscn]

Looking great with the stripes back on! No one would ever know it had an unfortunate bump before just looking at it.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Resurrected and renewed , the SBY LS will maraud around the island of New Zealand , taking no prisoners and delighting the Ford faithful...........that is a bit of a verbose way to say she looks friggin fabulous!!!

 

[FilxNZ]

Well it was a bit of a fun, but sad day yesterday (Sunday). I went to one of our local tracks, Pukekohe Park Raceway for their last ever motorsport event. Sadly the track is closing down as the owners are converting it to purely serve the horse racing community. For anyone that follows the Australian V8 Supercars there has been a number of events here over the years and many of the more famous New Zealand drivers will have cut their teeth at this track.

It's and old circuit with minimal run off areas and unforgiving walls, coupled with being fast and bumpy it takes a some nerve to really conquer it. Personally I think it is (or now "was") the scariest track in NZ to drive at 10/10ths. I can't say it was my favourite track, but I will miss it and in a small country with very few racetracks it is a real shame to lose one as new ones don't come along very often.

As this was a track day and farewell to the circuit I was lucky to have managed to secure a ticket. The flipside was there was lots of other people that also wanted to attend so it was very busy. So quite a few cars on track in each session and I didn't really get any really clean laps. However as always the Boss was heaps of fun, the wail of the exhaust note bouncing off the concrete wall outside turn 4 is something I will remember for a long time. Just for reference I managed a 1:21.5 and a bunch of 1:22s which I was reasonably happy with given the crowded track and I was a little conservative as I really didn't want to be the guy that stuck it in the wall on the last day.

What's cool also in the last session of the day there was (as far as I could tell) no other Mustangs (or other American cars) on track, so I think I can say mine was the last ever Pony car to lap Pukekohe out of what must be thousands and thousands of laps by many different Mustangs over the years.

Here is a pic or two from the garage I shared with some Porsche people who were kind enough to squeeze my car in with them. Hopefully some action shots will surface in time as there was a few photographers around.



And this sign as you exit the pits kind of sums up for me..............

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Most of the Porsche folks I know are pretty cool. We all tease about other vehicle makes but most of us love a variety of cars and the Great Plains Porsche Group in my part of this Blue Globe was the group that got alot of drivers on the track. Decades back, when Insurance regs were a bit more reasonable they actively invited all interested drivers to DE Events. I actually became a Porsche DE Instructor and their example spread over to other Clubs ( BMW, Audi, etc. ). Oddly it never happened with the Corvette Club, but they were so big they always sold out with their own group. Things change and today most folks run with NASA or SCCA, but I still have fond memories with the Porsche guys. Sounds like they are a good group in NZ also and so cool you got to run the track prior to its closing.

Sad news, especially with NZ's rich history of talented drivers to come from your small Country!

 

[FilxNZ]

Most of the Porsche folks I know are pretty cool. We all tease about other vehicle makes but most of us love a variety of cars and the Great Plains Porsche Group in my part of this Blue Globe was the group that got alot of drivers on the track. Decades back, when Insurance regs were a bit more reasonable they actively invited all interested drivers to DE Events. I actually became a Porsche DE Instructor and their example spread over to other Clubs ( BMW, Audi, etc. ). Oddly it never happened with the Corvette Club, but they were so big they always sold out with their own group. Things change and today most folks run with NASA or SCCA, but I still have fond memories with the Porsche guys. Sounds like they are a good group in NZ also and so cool you got to run the track prior to its closing.

Sad news, especially with NZ's rich history of talented drivers to come from your small Country!

Thanks Bill! I agree most of the Porsche people I have met at the track are really great folks. It's the ones that think their Porsche is a status symbol that mainly irk me.

I forgot to also mention this older gentleman had wandered over to look at the Boss between sessions, turned out to be a guy called Bruce Anderson who is a well known Mustang and Ford race team owner in New Zealand. He was there in his 2020 Shelby road car and we chatted Mustangs for a bit. Here's a pic I stole off their Facebook page of two of their race cars (Mustang and a mid 80's Australian made XE Falcon) from a recent Touring Car Masters (TCM) race.


And here's a Youtube Link to the onboard in the Mustang in one of the TCM races a few weeks ago. This is with the grandson driving at Pukekohe (noting for this meet they ran the old circuit format without the right/left chicane at the end of the straight).

 

[TMSBOSS]

With the graphics on you gorgeous Boss complete. It may be time to update your.
She sure has come back to life.

Well done!

 

[FilxNZ]

With the graphics on you gorgeous Boss complete. It may be time to update your.
She sure has come back to life.

Well done!

Good point. I have updated the vehicle profile.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Very nice!

 

[FilxNZ]

Some action shots from the Playday on Track (the group that organised the event) FB page.

 

[FilxNZ]

Well the months roll on and as it had been quite a while since I used the car I signed up for the morning session at our local track, Hampton Downs. The weather forecast was good but as is typical for winter at this location it was actually cold, damp and foggy at the track in the morning.

I didn't do a lot of prep. I had been out at John's (Bad Influence) shop earlier in the week and fitted a diff breather/catch can but aside from that all I did was bleed the brakes with some higher temp Pagid brake fluid and put some temp paint on the rotors.

When I arrived in the morning I spotted another rare Boss, a Boss 260 powered GTP Falcon, so naturally I snapped a pic. This is based on an early 2000s "BA" Falcon. The Boss 260 was a 5.4 engine iron block with some funky heads and Cobra R cams. Ford listed it at 260kw (330ish HP) at the crank, but rumour has it that was always very "under cooked" and they make quite a bit more power.


The track was hilariously slippery for the first session, I basically used 3rd and a little 4th gear - counter steered everywhere, mostly fun when it was provoked but slightly edge of the seat stuff when you are out there searching for grip and can't find it. How you proper race guys do it in the wet, with traffic around you at the same time....phwoooaaaar, much respect!

The good thing was I think the brake fluid worked as the brakes were consistent, even in the last session with a much drier line and me really pushing them hard. The temp paint seems to indicate they're getting to around 600deg C. So for HPDE I think the stock 14" 4 piston Brembo's and some decent pads are ok. So while I am still tempted by the S550 6 pistons and 15" rotors I think maybe some better/bigger ducting than the stock LS 3" ducting solution might also help and be enough for what I need.

On a separate note if anyone remembers back to nearer the start of this thread I was planning on using the Boss for a "south island track tour" event in 2022 (along with John in his GT350), but I got Covid and was not able to go. Now the entry for the 2024 event is opening tomorrow so I am going to try and get us a couple of spots (usually sells out in under an hour). It's an amazing event blending all the HPDE/track day stuff with this incredible road drive through the back roads of the south island of New Zealand.

The time table is a bit more compressed than last years event but I have mapped out a tentative route from where I live in Auckland. The tracks are the red dots, one in the north island and 3 in the south island. (Note I will be driving back but Google Maps wouldn't let me enter any more destinations). So it will be approx 4000kms (2500 miles) over 12 days in March next year

 

[Ludachris]

It's pretty impressive that NZ has that many tracks for its size.

 

[Mad Hatter]

@Fabman has some 4" duct plates that work very well. The larger tubing can be more difficult to set up though as you have some pretty tight spaces to navigate. Love my S550 brembos but to be honest, at track speed under 125mph/200kph , the 14" brembos with good pads and ducts does the job well. Pads and discs are cheaper as well.

 

[302BOB]

the 14" brembos with good pads and ducts does the job well. Pads and discs are cheaper as well.

Bigger is not always better..............I don't care what she says!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mad Hatter]

Bigger belly? Bigger Butt?

 

[302BOB]

You're getting close!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fabman]

@Fabman has some 4" duct plates that work very well. The larger tubing can be more difficult to set up though as you have some pretty tight spaces to navigate. Love my S550 brembos but to be honest, at track speed under 125mph/200kph , the 14" brembos with good pads and ducts does the job well. Pads and discs are cheaper as well.

 

[FilxNZ]

It's pretty impressive that NZ has that many tracks for its size.

Unfortunately we lost one recently (as mentioned above) and arguably the best track in NZ, Highlands Motorsport Park (also in the south island), wasn't included in this tour as there wasn't any days available for the organisers.

@Fabman has some 4" duct plates that work very well. The larger tubing can be more difficult to set up though as you have some pretty tight spaces to navigate. Love my S550 brembos but to be honest, at track speed under 125mph/200kph , the 14" brembos with good pads and ducts does the job well. Pads and discs are cheaper as well.

Thanks Mad Hatter and @Fabman I'll send you an IM to work out how to order them. I was thinking of going to the BMR (or similar) tubular rad support to make some extra space. I have an ever growing list of tweaks I want to implement before the tour next year.

 

[Fabman]

Unfortunately we lost one recently (as mentioned above) and arguably the best track in NZ, Highlands Motorsport Park (also in the south island), wasn't included in this tour as there wasn't any days available for the organisers.


Thanks Mad Hatter and @Fabman I'll send you an IM to work out how to order them. I was thinking of going to the BMR (or similar) tubular rad support to make some extra space. I have an ever growing list of tweaks I want to implement before the tour next year.

Yup, that's what I did and @Mad Hatter too....definitely makes the process way easier.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

So cool you will finally get to do your " Track Tour " and we do expect plenty of pics ! Sounds almost like " One Lap of America " with changes, but at 2500 miles of driving and the track time, you guys are doing every bit as many miles or more. Excited for you guys and we will all enjoy getting info on your racing exploits!

 

[FilxNZ]

So cool you will finally get to do your " Track Tour " and we do expect plenty of pics ! Sounds almost like " One Lap of America " with changes, but at 2500 miles of driving and the track time, you guys are doing every bit as many miles or more. Excited for you guys and we will all enjoy getting info on your racing exploits!

Thanks Bill, yep I'm very excited to at have secured tickets, it sold out in 20 mins yesterday! It is non competitive though many of the folks attending are very competitive people, so there is always a lot of friendly banter and bragging rights at stake. The way the organisers have structured the tour is slightly differently to prior years. This time they are running 3 separate trips - Bikes, Cars and "Prestige".

Prestige has slightly smaller groups on track and allows people to have insurance cover at the event, so that means it will be full of BMW M cars and Porsche GT3s and GT4s, with a smattering of McLarens and Ferraris. I really entered the Prestige tour more as the timing in early March suits me better and it also covers 4 tracks (the other groups do all the 3 south island tracks twice) so has a bit more variety. I'm guessing there might be a few raised eyebrows when a stick axle Mustang shows up!