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S197 2011 Mustang V6 Performance Pack: Building the wrong car for D Street Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

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Maybe so, it depends on how thoroughly they tech. IMO, it's the other competitors that do most of the teching, there are such a myriad of cars that are allowed to run, that the organization can't possibly be on top of every little nuance of every model and sub model, the competitors call out the cheaters, and then the SCCA looks it over. I think again, IMO, that's why certain areas get away with things, all the competitors are getting away with what's called a "cheater's handshake" , then when they run a national event, they get nailed.
It's not just the SCCA either....local short tracks have a claim rule, $750 and you get the winner's engine in the econo-mod class. The thing is, everyone is sort of interpreting the rules kind of liberally, so when you get claimed, the claimer has to give you his engine, which is as illegal as yours is, so no one ever gets claimed.
 
Wow, didn't expect to see so many responses in here. Very grateful for the knowledgeable input about resolving the rear ride/wheelspin issue. Got some time to work on the car last weekend and dialed the shocks back to a quarter turn off full soft in addition to adjusting the Strano bar to the softest setting. Happy to report that most of the "nervousness" has been dialed out of the rear end over rough roads. Played around with the car on some back roads and the car felt much better, can't wait to get the freshened up parts on the front end and see how the car responds.

Finally got some pictures of the front bumpstops from RE suspension as I hope that these will play a significant role in tuning the setup for D street (as they did last year in my H street civic). For those not familiar with SCCA street rules you can ONLY change one swaybar, shocks/struts, cat back exhaust, drop-in filter, bump stops (must be stock height), brake pads, maximized factory camber adjustment and whatever size tire you can stuff onto factory width wheels (+/- 7mm offset). As seen on Miatas (E street), the soft spring rates of most factory cars means that they spend a lot of time on the bump stops in an autocross setting. By tuning the bump stops, there is some advantage to be gained in affecting the overall spring rate of the car which can positively influence the handling dynamics.

Quick recap: I sent RE suspension a front factory bump stop as well as a front Ford Performance bump stop (from the jounce kit). Surprisingly, on their dyno they were essentially identical in rate. They went through their inventory and set me up with a bump stop identical to the factory height but with a quicker ramp up rate as well as stiffer overall rate. My theory behind using these in the front is to help mitigate brake dive with the stock springs and hopefully help control the Mac Struts camber curve in the front end. AFAIK the V6 PP got the same front springs as the 2011 GT ~122lb/in (the rear part #'s are identical ~154lb/in), but I've read that they may have been a shorter or different front spring due to the lighter V6 (any insight on this would be greatly appreciated). Below I've got some pictures of the front brake dive from the end of last season (with 17's and short leftover tires from the Civic would literally scrape the air dam under hard braking, the dyno chart from RE, and a line up of the bump stops.
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If anyone needs any bump stop tuning done, Donny at RE suspension is amazing. I don't think we would've been half as successful as we were last year on the SCCA tour without the bump stop tuning, we beat many cars on MCS shocks/custom valved Koni's using RE bumpstops in conjunction with OTS Koni's.
 
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Minor update as I procrastinate grading papers this morning:

Preventative maintenance being done on the car over the past couple week. Cooling system refreshed with factory parts and threw in some new plugs, nothing exciting. Ordered up some BG trans fluid from OP Mustang to throw in the tranny as I've read good things on here. Still debating pulling the trak-lok diff for a rebuild, really waiting to see what the season schedule is going to look like (the earliest confirmed autocross dates are in September...).

Front Koni's have been assembled with factory springs, RE bumpstops, and ford top hats; just waiting to get an alignment date. Anyone have any experience slotting front strut bolt holes per the FSM?

Not sure the best way to go about it, but if the rulebook allows it to get more negative camber then we are doing it!
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
FSM?? Slotting for more camber? Really don't feel comfortable with slotting the front struts, but camber bolts work fine without getting the rat tail file out. I have MMS camber plates which get me to -2.5 camber and upper and lower BMR camber bolts get me all the way to -4.5.

If thats not what you are talking about.....Please ignore me!!
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
I assume ‘Factory Service Manual’ but Factory Stock might be for the class rules.

I’d be surprised if this is allowed.

But if it is, I’d use a diamond bit like used on misc rotary tools like Dremel. Increase the width of the hole inboard as much as you are allowed per class rules.
 
Thanks for the insight on strut slotting, I think I misspoke as the more appropriate term might be enlarging the lower strut mounting hole. This isn't something that I've dabbled in before but Ford offers autocrossers some "support" by writing some language/procedure into the Factory Service Manual. Usually these provisions are created by the factory to help cars which were in accidents back into alignment spec, but in the SCCA Solo rules this is used to maximize alignment specs.

SCCA Solo rulebook language: "If offered by the manufacturer for a particular model and year, the use of shims, special bolts, removal of material to enlarge mounting holes, and similar methods are allowed and the resulting alignment settings are permitted even if outside the normal specification or range of specifications recommended by the manufacturer. If enlarging mounting holes is specifically authorized but no material removal limits are specified, material removal is restricted to the amount necessary to achieve the maximum factory alignment specification."

Service Manual for enlarging lower strut hole: http://iihs.net/fsm/?d=726&f=Camber Adjustment - Front.pdf&p=2

Ford also offers these "Crash Bolts" that make it easier to get max alignment specs (although at 140 bucks I'm sure traditional camber bolts would be cheaper if they were allowed): https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-lower-control-arm-adjust-bolt-4r3z3b236ab

I'll be using both the strut hole enlargement and the factory camber bolts above to maximize negative camber and hopefully help with tire wear. Unfortunately the koni's don't have the etching for the enlargement like the factory struts, so I'll have to make a template and have the extra careful. Just wanted to see what tools others have used for this type of work

Thanks again for the insight,
-J
 
Things are still moving forward very slowly here in NY, so no racing updates just a little more maintenance/autox prep.

This weekend flushed the tranny and filled with BG Syncroshift II from OP Mustang, trans definitely felt smoother after a couple miles. Not that we had any trans issues, but I'll have to wait until winter to see if it helps with the cold weather stubbornness of the MT-82.IMG_6305.JPG

Finally got the Bridgestone RE71R's mounted up to the Enkei's and test fit them on the car. 265s on an 18x8.5, but drastically lighter than the factory 19's. They certainly feel the wheel well up more than the stock setup, but nothing like most of y'all are running on here with 18x11's. Alignment tentatively scheduled for the 27th, praying for some racing action in July.IMG_6270.JPG
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Not too much going on, but I guess some progress is good progress
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
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Exp. Type
Time Attack
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20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Sticky ole Bridgerocks, mean and nasty Black Enkeis, you are so wrong , because you got one of the best mods available , completed ------ the serious tire and rim intimidation factor.

Congrats , you just gained two seconds per Coniferous Timed Track!
 
Finally got to run the mustang on for the first time this season yesterday with NNJR SCCA, and had a blast co-driving with my father. First I want to shout out NNJR for putting on a great event with a pretty fast/flowing ~40 second course. It was really awesome to see 99 people come together and follow the Covid guidelines/restrictions so we all could scratch the racing itch in the safest way possible.

Prepping the car was the typical last minute affair (as it always seems to be for the first event of the season), I installed the front Koni's on Friday afternoon and had the car dropped off at El Gato Engineering for an impromptu alignment Saturday morning. Steve & Teddy were very helpful in getting the car dialed in and I appreciated that they were able to get me out the door with plenty of time to get the rest of our equipment together for the race on Sunday. Unfortunately we weren't able to get as much camber up front as I wanted given the time constraints, but I'll be back to get a touch-up on the alignment in the near futures.

I've been curious about the weight of my mustang and the guys at El Gato were kind enough to throw her up on the scales. The car is essentially stock with no weight reduction (I didn't even take my helmet out or classroom supplies from the trunk lol), but I was happy to see she was sub 3500lbs with the 50 mile gas light on. Keep in mind my car has the glass roof option and premium package/leather.fullsizeoutput_f18.jpeg

On Sunday we arrived at Metlife Stadium early, got the car setup for the day, and prayed that the rain would hold off for our first event with the updated setup. Our competition for the day in D street consisted of an Evo X, a couple Focus RS', a FRS, a Camaro 1LE turbo, and two BMW's. In the morning we came out of the gate a little too reserved as we tried to get the "rust off" while simultaneously learning the increased limits of the car. The car was definitely much more composed, and the levels of grip were significantly higher with the new setup. When the morning 4 runs were all said and done I was sitting 3rd place in class and my old man was sitting in 7th out of 9 cars.

In the afternoon I came out faster than I had in the AM, but wasn't happy with my driving. Comparing solo storm logs from the morning I was definitely overdriving some sections and underdriving others (especially the high speed slalom), I never trusted the car enough to really push the limits in the slalom. Temperatures continued to rise all afternoon and definitely favored those cars running Rivals/Yokos (especially the co-driven cars). Although we were faster in the afternoon and feeling more comfortable, I slipped to 4th in class (.178 behind a Focus RS) which was disappointing but didn't really damper the ecstasy of being back on track. The margin between 1st/2nd (Evo & Camaro respective) and 3rd/4th was larger than I care to admit, so it's clear we have a lot of work to do if we want to make the class veterans uncomfortable.

Out of 99 cars (23 of which were Pro's), I placed 55th in overall PAX. A lot of room for improvement moving forward I've got a lot to learn about driving this car well. Snapped a few pics of the car on course below and will eventually get around to uploading some solo storm overalled GoPro videos of the car on course (still learning the new software update). Next event looks like its July 11th and I can't wait to get back out there!

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Finally got a chance to play around with the GoPro videos and we were able to figure out the new solo storm update for overlaying data. A little father/son video comparison in the V6 pony:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Its pretty clear that I over overdrove the finish (LOOOOOSE!) and I'd say I was too wide from the cones on the left hander before the big sweeper which cost some distance/time. My father's having a hard time adjusting to the size and "power" of the mustang coming from his NA Miata, especially in the slaloms. Always entertaining to look at the nuances between our driving styles/inputs, but would love to hear some feedback from some of the TMO cone chaser conglomerate.

Hope everyone had a safe holiday weekend,
J
 
Update: The BRAKES WORK!

Ran with NNJR SCCA and had some serious concerns about the brakes holding up after our previous outing. We're having a bit of a heatwave up here in the northeast and we saw temperatures of 93 degrees with the heat index over 100, aka the perfect weather to stand in a parking lot chasing cones. In lieu of the brake issues at the last event I elected to not have my father co-drive the mustang (he drove his GTI in GS instead) to see if the car would hold up for a more "normal" run schedule, 7 runs with ~8 minutes between them. Thankfully the brakes stayed strong throughout the entire event with one driver on a fairly fast 50 second course with 3 heavy braking zones. I also followed DaveW's advice and shut the car off between runs/disabled traction and stability control before each lap, definitely the way to go to mitigate its intervention.

Used a crappy Harbor Freight infrared thermometer to get some data on brake temps between runs, although I highly doubt the accuracy. Prior to the first run the front rotors were at 110-107 degrees and the rears were 105-95, I'm assuming the differential was due to one side baking in the sun. Peak rotor temperature I observed immediately after my runs was 312 (LH)-290 front and 181-175 rear, both numbers did drop off when the car was given time to sit in grid between runs as expected. For comparison my fathers 2017 GTI and buddys 2019 Civic S never saw front rotor temps over 240 degrees, although they were in lighter cars and 2-3 seconds off my pace.IMG_6475.PNG

Getting more comfortable trusting the car in slaloms/higher speed transitions and was able to take 3rd in class. Can't get the Solostorm software to play nice with the GoPro, so here's a quick video of my last run of the day:


Hoping to run with the NNJR PCA at the Pocono North infield autocross next weekend to test out the brakes with more speed, if they hold up I think we'll try co-driving the mustang again at the next SCCA event on 8/9.
 
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Oof, you have hard competition up there. At least Tamra and Andrew were in PDS but you still got stuck with Bruce (don't know Sang). Great job in raw time with such a great group!

Tamra is super fast. Watch her line compare to yours.
If you could tighten it up a bit you would save quite a bit of time. You need to beat Bruce in the Camaro!
 
Oof, you have hard competition up there. At least Tamra and Andrew were in PDS but you still got stuck with Bruce (don't know Sang). Great job in raw time with such a great group!

Tamra is super fast. Watch her line compare to yours.
If you could tighten it up a bit you would save quite a bit of time. You need to beat Bruce in the Camaro!

You're not kidding, the competition up here is stiff. Our local club on Long Island doesn't even hold a candle to to NNJR in regard to driver or course quality, so most of us pay the toll and head out over to Jersey to run. I made a mistake a posted the wrong link above (Dad driving the mustang back on 7/12), so I went back and fixed it. My driving style is a little "different" than his lol

Working on getting more comfortable in the car so I can keep in on the limit, but Bruce's Camaro is the next target (we ran H street together in 2018) and then Sang's Evo. I happy that I got within a few tenths of Andrew, but Tamra is insanely fast! Good find on her video, I didn't even think to look for it, I can't believe how smooth she was especially in the finish...
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
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Connecticut
Look ahead. No, further ahead. ;) Watch Tamra's helmet just before the big left-handers, then watch yours. Especially the one at about 00:14 in your run - you're focused at the apex cones instead of the exit / next gate, and you end up several feet off the next gate because of it. Tamra's right on that next cone. Again for the big left at 00:27 in your run, you seem to be driving gate-to-gate instead of treating the gates/pointers as one big arc.

Whenever you begin a turn, you need to know where the exit is so you know how much turning you need to do. If you don't know where the exit is (the cone that limits your track-out after the apex), how do you know how much to turn the steering wheel at corner entry? For both the corners above, Tamra is sighting the exit before you do. For the big left at 00:27 in your run, the element before it is a right "clamshell" (single cone & pointer apex on the right, 3 cones in a curve on the outside/left). As you pass it at 00:26, your sight is locked on the next gate, which is the start of the big sweeper. As Tamra passes the clamshell at 00:30 in her run, she looks left to locate the exit of the sweeper (using her peripheral vision to still see the next gate / sweeper entry). She continues to sight the exit, and the following slalom entry, as she drives through the long left sweeper. She's smooth because she knows what's coming up in the course before you do, because she's looking further ahead than you are. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit harsh, sorry, I'm just trying for constructive criticism.

I tell my students you need to be looking (and thinking) about 2-3 seconds ahead of where you are in the course. You shouldn't be thinking about the next gate, you should be thinking about the next entire element (sweeper, slalom, Chicago box, etc.). There's nothing you can do about anything 1/2 - 3/4 second away or less - the car's path is already set, physics has taken over, and human reaction time is too long anyway. From 3/4 second to 2 seconds out is the "correction" zone - you still have influence on hitting a cone or not, but you should have a well-defined path you are taking through the course. You should have all your large inputs for the car for the next 2 seconds planned, and are making small changes to those inputs to keep the car on the path you planned. And more than 2 seconds out is where you are still charting the course of the car. Thus you need to be at least glancing 2-3 seconds up the course all the time. Sometimes that can mean looking out the side window or even behind you on a tight 180 (2019 Solo Nats West/corn side).

And glad you got the brakes figured out! 🥳
 
Look ahead. No, further ahead. ;) Watch Tamra's helmet just before the big left-handers, then watch yours. Especially the one at about 00:14 in your run - you're focused at the apex cones instead of the exit / next gate, and you end up several feet off the next gate because of it. Tamra's right on that next cone. Again for the big left at 00:27 in your run, you seem to be driving gate-to-gate instead of treating the gates/pointers as one big arc.

Whenever you begin a turn, you need to know where the exit is so you know how much turning you need to do. If you don't know where the exit is (the cone that limits your track-out after the apex), how do you know how much to turn the steering wheel at corner entry? For both the corners above, Tamra is sighting the exit before you do. For the big left at 00:27 in your run, the element before it is a right "clamshell" (single cone & pointer apex on the right, 3 cones in a curve on the outside/left). As you pass it at 00:26, your sight is locked on the next gate, which is the start of the big sweeper. As Tamra passes the clamshell at 00:30 in her run, she looks left to locate the exit of the sweeper (using her peripheral vision to still see the next gate / sweeper entry). She continues to sight the exit, and the following slalom entry, as she drives through the long left sweeper. She's smooth because she knows what's coming up in the course before you do, because she's looking further ahead than you are. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit harsh, sorry, I'm just trying for constructive criticism.

I tell my students you need to be looking (and thinking) about 2-3 seconds ahead of where you are in the course. You shouldn't be thinking about the next gate, you should be thinking about the next entire element (sweeper, slalom, Chicago box, etc.). There's nothing you can do about anything 1/2 - 3/4 second away or less - the car's path is already set, physics has taken over, and human reaction time is too long anyway. From 3/4 second to 2 seconds out is the "correction" zone - you still have influence on hitting a cone or not, but you should have a well-defined path you are taking through the course. You should have all your large inputs for the car for the next 2 seconds planned, and are making small changes to those inputs to keep the car on the path you planned. And more than 2 seconds out is where you are still charting the course of the car. Thus you need to be at least glancing 2-3 seconds up the course all the time. Sometimes that can mean looking out the side window or even behind you on a tight 180 (2019 Solo Nats West/corn side).

And glad you got the brakes figured out! 🥳


Always appreciate constructive criticism Dave, I've got a long way to go towards becoming a top level driver like Tamra so any insight is helpful (especially from a seasoned vet like yourself). Will definitely be more mindful of my vision/thinking and relying less on reaction to keep the car more composed. Hoping to put some of this tidbits to use this weekend if Pocono isn't rained out on Sunday. Looking forward to hearing some more feedback when I get some more videos up
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Try thinking about looking ahead during your course walks. I'm always trying to plan 3 things when walking - where the car is, where the car is pointed, and where I should be looking. Doing this for each major course element helps me memorize the course. Don't try to remember each cone; breaking the course into 6-10 major units (slalom, S-bend, sweeper, etc.) is much easier to remember. Before the entry for each element, I want to sight the exit of it, and before the middle of each element I want to already be looking for the entry of the next element. This lets me drive a smooth, planned path through the whole course. When I walk the course, I'll often stop and say to myself, "When I'm here, I want to be looking there." I might even point with my arm to reinforce it.

After I finish my second walk, I try to play back the course in my head like a movie. If I can't, I walk again until I can. When I'm sitting in line for a run, I play that movie back in my head, thinking about car placement, direction, and where I'm looking. If you watch downhill skiers on TV, you can see them dong this behind the start house before their runs - eyes closed, body moving as they imagine carving each turn. When I do this I'll even move my hands on the wheel and flex my feet for the pedals, trying to build muscle memory for the run. I'll even plan on making corrections like counter-steering on the exit of a particular corner where the car got loose on the last run. You want to be proactive when driving the car as much as possible, so your reactive driving (corrections) is minimized. As my Dad, who started autocrossing in the early 60's, would say, "Drive the car, don't let the car drive you."
 
Update: brakes still work but the Motul fluid is getting darker after each event (still amberish). Ran with the NNJR PCA at the Pocono infield last Sunday, and had a great time. Car drove well with no brake fade despite getting 9 runs and hitting ~85mph in 3rd gear on one stretch of the course. Finished 8th in PAX (SCCA multipliers for non-PCA cars) and raw timed 17th overall. Definitely a different experience using the curbing to rotate the car and will definitely be back at Pocono for another next event in September or October

Morning run video:
NNJR PCA POCONO Infield Autocross 8/2


There was a open track day on the main course running simultaneously and saw quite a few s197's, Boss 302's, and even a few Shelby GT350's battling it out with some exotics. Was anyone from TMO out there??
 

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