S197 Boss 302 in Chile Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[Mad Hatter]

Hmm. checking the Watson roll cage. Its made from 1.75" Dom thats 0.120" thick. Which is the same as my main main loop now. the tubing I have available and used for the extension is 1.70" seemless steel and 0.138" thick. Its really not so far off the Watson specs. Just heavier...

There is a 1.89" pipe thats also 0.138" thick but that seems really heavy.

 

[Fabman]

Hmm. checking the Watson roll cage. Its made from 1.75" Dom thats 0.120" thick. Which is the same as my main main loop now. the tubing I have available and used for the extension is 1.70" seemless steel and 0.138" thick. Its really not so far off the Watson specs. Just heavier...

There is a 1.89" pipe thats also 0.138" thick but that seems really heavy.

A well designed and properly triangulated cage can be made from much thinner material.
Mine has .120, .095, .085 and .065 in 1.75 and 1.50 diameters. It's both lighter and stronger/stiffer than most even though it has much more tubing in it. That per foot weight of tubing adds up quick so selective sizing really pays off. Being stuck with one size for everything means you have a minimalist cage that offers far less stiffness than optimum and still excessive in weight. There has to be a better option....

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Your rules seem fairly fluid there , whereas in the US the specs required by SCCA, NASA, IMSA , etc. are fairly similar , so the rule of thumb is always to match your cage to the rulebook, imho.

Watson matches many of the Automotive Sporting Regs, so that is a good base of information to use.

 

[Fabman]

Your rules seem fairly fluid there , whereas in the US the specs required by SCCA, NASA, IMSA , etc. are fairly similar , so the rule of thumb is always to match your cage to the rulebook, imho.

Watson matches many of the Automotive Sporting Regs, so that is a good base of information to use.

Yes, .120 is legal everywhere so its commonly used in production built cages.
NASA requires .120 cages so that drives a lot of this. SCCA is .095 for a car like the Mustang. Its quite a bit lighter and more than strong enough when built correctly. You don't have to build every single part out of .120 though....just the required bits. Everything else can be much thinner. All the cross bracing etc. that is in there for stiffness can be half that thickness and half the weight.

 

[Fabman]

1.5 x .065 = .992 # Per foot
1.75 x .065 = 1.17 # Per foot
1.75 x .095 = 1.68 # Per foot
1.75 x .120 = 2.09 # Per foot
1.75 x .134 = 2.31 # Per foot
1.789 x .134 =2.52 # Per foot

You can see how quickly this adds up.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Sourcing decent tubing has been a ongoing problem down here, will see what we can do. Might even think about importing but that can be a hassle.

 

[Fabman]

Sourcing decent tubing has been a ongoing problem down here, will see what we can do. Might even think about importing but that can be a hassle.

I bet if someone imported 1000' tube you could make a tidy profit selling it to cage builders down there.

 

[Fabman]

Sourcing decent tubing has been a ongoing problem down here, will see what we can do. Might even think about importing but that can be a hassle.

What you need is a sharp cage builder down there making quality cages out of proper material....is there enough racing to support something like that?

When I was a pup in the stock car industry one of the local builders made a ton of money loading junkyard chevy v8 parts and speed parts and so-forth into containers and shipping them to Australia every couple months.
He literally got rich doing that.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Had to make a fuss and get several cars to take out the roll cages made out of exhaust pipe.... The dam things were actually coming apart at the seems with track use...... never mind crashing...

Unfortunalty I think we have abut 100 cars racing in all of Chile....... Not the biggest market!

 

[Mad Hatter]

What you need is a sharp cage builder down there making quality cages out of proper material....is there enough racing to support something like that?

When I was a pup in the stock car industry one of the local builders made a ton of money loading used chevy v8 parts and speed parts and so-forth into containers and shipping them to Australia every couple months.
He literally got rich doing that.

would be nice, but I think we are too small, Most of the Porsches and Bimmers import their cages from Europe. The ones that come direct from Porsche have some pretty interesting price tags!!

 

[Fabman]

Had to make a fuss and get several cars to take out the roll cages made out of exhaust pipe.... The dam things were actually coming apart at the seems with track use...... never mind crashing...

Unfortunalty I think we have abut 100 cars racing in all of Chile....... Not the biggest market!

3 world problems....too bad.

 

[Fabman]

Sounds like importing a Watson kit is the best option.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Its a sensible option....

 

[Mad Hatter]

Well, things are opening up here at full speed. The small track day got scrapped and we are having our first full official race of 2021 on the same day but at our big 2.7 mile track. Basically everything is open now as long as you are wearing a mask and have your vaccination certificate. That means we now have three Cayman GT4 cup cars joining the list as well as most of our category. For us its quite a list, with a total of 7 of the Cayman GT4s (cups and not) plus the odd gt3 and other assorted rockets. Expecting about 25 cars.

I have two sets of R7 slicks with each set having about 20 heat cycles.... They all look great still, with no cording showing but past their prime for sure. Will see if I try these new Chinese slicks or break the piggy bank for a new set of R7's.... or more likely try to survive on old tires.

This will be the first time in years we see a camaro at the track. Its my friends sons car, he learnt how to drive on a simulator and went out and won his first race at 15 years old, still with out a driving permit and beating a horde of older drivers in a small FWD category. Now, his car is an old rivals, 2010 Camaro SS with about 500 rwhp and totally stripped interior. I will be interesting how we do against each other. As far a raw talent goes he as me beat, but it is a Chevy so you never now....

Car is still at the shop... (been pulling out my hair), But its been promised for this Monday so I can get the stickers on and get the alignment checked before the race. Shops and delivery dates but thats an old story. Just the way things are.

I was hyped all week thinking that my baby would be home and I would be polishing the car.

 

[Scootsmcgreggor]

Go get em!

 

[Mad Hatter]

Will try!!.....

or better yet will follow master Yoda's advice.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Does any body have any info on the compatibility of the gen1 heads on a gen3 block?? thinking into the future, and was wondering if my ported gen1 heads have a more limited life then I thought.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Does any body have any info on the compatibility of the gen1 heads on a 5.2 or gen3 block?? thinking into the future, and was wondering if my ported gen1 heads have a more limited life then I thought.

 

[bauern]

Gen1 heads will fit on both 5.2 and Gen3 blocks. The only issue may be the head gasket as the oil supply hole in the gasket is smaller in the gen1 engines. The size of the hole may be irrelevant but a gen1 gasket with the proper overbore maybe available, I haven't looked.

 

[Fabman]

Gen1 heads will fit on both 5.2 and Gen3 blocks. The only issue may be the head gasket as the oil supply hole in the gasket is smaller in the gen1 engines. A gen1 gasket with the proper overbore maybe available, I haven't looked.

Here is a guide to the difference between gens and what fits what.