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S197 Eric's Candy Red S197 Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

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1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Calimer tore the trans back down on Monday. Well as suspected 4th gear broke. I don't know how or why a Calimer stage 2 with less than 1200 miles is already in pieces behind a naturally aspirated car that makes less than 450 rwhp. I was told that the broken gear went through the trans and damaged everything. They even said that the input shaft was twisted. I am guessing that a piece of broken gear became wedged somewhere and bound up the gears causing the twist. I asked for pictures and still have not received them. It looks like a Tremec is in my future. I can't see paying Calimer for another build after this experience. Well on the bright side I will probably have an almost new MGW X-Spec standard length installed for less than 1200 miles and a Steeda 1 piece aluminum drive shaft for sale soon.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,275
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
You'll need a different clutch as well, due to the change in spline count on the input shaft. Though you may be able to get away with just new friction disc(s), since that's what interfaces the input shaft. I confirmed with Exedy that their Hyper Single can be swapped between MT82 and TR6060 with just a friction disc change, though a replacement disc costs nearly as much as the full clutch kit. Looks like you have a Mantic; you may want to contact them to see if you can do the same.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Thanks for pointing out the clutch spline issue. I realize that and have already talked with Geoff at Mantic and he is sending me an RMA to send hime the clutch for refitting. Calimer wants to rebuild as a stage 3 with a 26 spline shaft and give me what I consider a very slight discount since his stage 2 didn't make it 1200 miles. Either way I need to re-disk the basically new clutch, so it is a wash on that. I can get a Magnum XL for about $400 more than Calimer wants to rebuild again and I get an actual warranty instead of another rebuild with basically no warranty. I can sell the almost new MGW and my one piece drive shaft to offset the cost of a new drive shat. I also have the option of having my one piece shaft modified for the conversion by a local shop. I have not talked with them yet to get the cost.

The other issue is the gearing is going to be off and I will need to upgrade ring and pinion to get it back in line. I will have to do this over the winter since this unexpected expense was not budgeted. I was planning on upgrading my trac loc for a Thorsen or Eaton Tru Track this winter anyway, but this will necessitate a different gear ratio. I am still trying to figure out which ration Tremec to get. Any input on the wide or close ration would be appreciated. I know with the current 3:55 rear it will be slow off the line, but I don't drag race and only drive occasionally on the street. I will have to live with it until the differential upgrade over the winter.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
My clutch came back from Mantic over the weekend with new 26 spline disks. Geoff at Mantic Clutch USA has been great to work with. He refit the clutch with the new disks and had it back to me in just a few days. He also ran a bunch of gear ratio calcs showing the gear ratios of the MT82 and the two versions of the Magnum XL with different ring and pinions to help me decide which Magnum XL to buy. I decided on the close ratio box which has been difficult to find and I live close to two different Tremec Elite Distributors. They only had the wide ratio available. I managed to get a close ratio Magnum XL kit from a distributor out west. It should be here next week. I also received shipping confirmation from Shaftmasters this morning. The new drive shaft should be here on Thursday. Things are finally coming together.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
The Tremec T56 Magnum XL is finally in and I am working on breaking it in now. I ran into almost every delay that was possible. It took about a month to find a close ratio swap kit plus another 8 days to ship it across the county, but I consider myself lucky to have found one when I did.

IMG_0901.jpg

The install wasn't without its problems either. I had some trouble indexing the QuickTime bell housing. Measurements indicated that it was out of spec and I needed off set pins to correct the alignment. I sourced the off set pins and the measurements were all over the board. I figured out the magnetic base on the dial indicator wasn't sitting quite right on the flywheel bolts. I removed 2 fly wheel bolts and determined that I didn't need the off set pins. The straight wall pins were damaged when I removed them, so a trip to the Ford dealer the next day and I had new straight pins. The bell housing indexed to within spec.
IMG_0903.jpg
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
The next day I pulled the bell housing back off and installed the clutch using the alignment tool that Mantic sent. A friend was coming the next day to help me muscle in the transmission.

IMG_0904.jpg
Everything looked good so far. The trans slid right into the splines with two of us maneuvering it in. It stopped as the trans started onto the bell housing alignment pins. We tried everything we could think of and couldn't get it that last 1/4" or so. Some said to use the bolts and draw it in carefully. I didn't want to break anything and didn't want to try it. We fought with it all afternoon and gave up. The next day I pulled it back out and started measuring everything. I figured out that the alignment tool I was sent was .09" smaller in diameter than the input shaft on the trans. Mantic sent a GM 26 spline alignment tool instead of the Ford tool. The splines line up, but the clutch wasn't quite centered on the pilot bearing. The tapered nose of the shaft has hitting the shoulder of the bearing. I was able to find a steel 26 spline Ford alignment tool at Silver Sports Transmission which is local to me the next day. The bell housing and clutch came back off and reinstalled using the correct alignment tool. I started to slide the trans back in and couldn't quite get it by myself. The same friend came back over 2 days later to help. I slid right in tight to the bell housing in under 5 minutes. He didn't believe it was in after the ordeal earlier in the week. Now to finish bolting it up and complete the wiring.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
The next problem came to light during final bolt up. We finished bolting the trans to the bell housing and moved to the drive shaft. Somehow ShaftMasters managed to build the drive shaft 1 1/4" too long, so it wouldn't fit. I called them and they had me take a bunch of measurements and admitted they made a mistake, but would make it right. They offered to send a FedEx call tag immediately. I had to make a trip to Michigan the next day for a family function, so I dropped it off on Friday afternoon on my way North. They had it back on a FedEx truck Monday am. Mistakes happen and they admitted it and did what they could to make it right. I can't ask for more than that.

The wiring wasn't quite as plug and play as I was led to believe. The differences in wiring are as follows:
1-Speed sensor of the Magnum XL requires 2 wires the MT82 has 3 wires. Not difficult, but you have to figure out which 2 wires to use and splice on a pig tail that plugs into the trans. Also, the index points are different between the two, so you either have to buy an all in one conversion harness with a signal convertor box that you program via a wifi connection or make the changes in your tune for the new gear ratios and speed sensor indexing. I chose the latter, since the car is tuned with HP tuners anyway and my tuner said it would take less than an hour to correct the speedometer.

2-You do not use the skip shift solenoid wiring from the MT82, just tie it up out of the way

3-The speed sensor on the Magnum XL is on the front right of the trans and on the rear left of the MT82, so the wiring has to be extended. I was sold a $35 plug and play harness for this that did not plug into the existing harness on my 2011, so I had to cut both harnesses and splice together. I am guessing it fits the 2010 and earlier cars. All I really needed was the $12 pigtail since I had to cut and splice anyway.

4-The Magnum XL uses an electric reverse lock out solenoid and the MT82 uses a manual reverse lock out in the shifter. Tremec says this one is required but I think at this point it is optional. I test drove the car a couple of times before wiring this one in. If you don't wire it in you can still put the car into reverse. It just takes more force to get past the lock out springs. If I had a track only race car I probably would have left it out. I was sold the harness and control module with the transmission swap kit so I figured I mine as well use them since my car is dual use and sees more reverse backing out of parking spots. The only difficulty here was locating a keyed power source in the console. I planned on using the 12v cigarette lighter plug in the back of the console, but it was hot all the time. I spent some time downloading wiring diagrams and determined that the unused plug in the console of my car is used on automatic cars for the gear selection indicator. It is in the manual cars and not used, but is switched power. This worked perfectly.

Before buttoning up the console I took the opportunity to install the Xineering blip control module that I purchased last spring. Since the car was down most of the summer I wasn't in a hurry to do it. I installed a lighted rocker switch on the side of the console to turn it on and off. I chose this over the lower dash since I can't reach the lower dash when harnessed in. This location is easy to reach and protected by the parking brake handle, so you can't accidentally hit it.
IMG_0906.jpg

I am finally back on the road and working on the break in miles and prepping the car for CMP the weekend of October 7th.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
I have almost 500 break in miles on it so far. Everything feels good, but I think the clutch needs a little more time to finish smoothing out, about 150 of the miles have been interstate with very little shifting. The stock shifter feels pretty good, but it isn't an MGW. The ball sits a little higher and the throws are a little longer than the X=spec I had on the MT82. I am going to give it some more time before either replacing it or shortening the shift rod.

I went ahead and drained the break in fluid and refilled tonight. I ran a magnet through it and strained it as a precaution. I didn't find any particles in it. I plan on re-torquing everything tomorrow night and will continue to drive it around town before prepping it for CMP October 7.
 
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1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Checked the torque on all the bolts Saturday. Everything looks good. Also installed a JPC Racing drive shaft loop, since the Steeda one I had with the MT82 wouldn't fit. It will work fine but the bolt holes didn't line up between the two pieces. a little coaxing on the shop press solved the problem. I plan on driving it some more this week before changing wheels and final prepping it for CMP next weekend.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
The car didn't fare well at CMP, as has been posted elsewhere, another car had a brake failure going into turn 14 about 14 minutes into the first session of the weekend and hit me as he tried to go inside and spun out of control. Mechanically the car is fine and with a little persuasion on the rear fender I was able to make all of my scheduled sessions, but the passenger door, quarter panel, and rocker trim need replacing. I have been waiting about 6 weeks to get on the schedule at a local body shop. My appointment came up today and the parts are here. I should have it back around the end of the month with plenty of time to prep for spring.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,420
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Sorry to hear about your incident and I imagine no offer to help pay for it came from the guy who did the damage. Not common for folks to pay , but you never know , occasionally someone ponies up a little help. Glad you are ok as noted prior and tough for Christmas gifts to be new body panels.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Thanks for your kind words. There were several TMO members there that weekend and I think the incident was discussed in the event thread. It was a pretty good hit, but didn't feel bad at the time. I was actually surprised by the amount of damage that was done until I watched the video. I am glad that I spent the money on a good roll bar, proper seats, harnesses and a HANS. I wasn't hurt and managed to salvage the weekend. I jacked up the car and pulled the fasteners that were left on the rocker trim to remove it. The wheel and bearings were okay. All that was left was prying the bent fender away from the tire with the handle from my floor jack and I was back on track.

The other driver was remorseful and did offer to help with out of pocket expenses. He thought that I could run it through my street insurance and thought it would be a deductible. I figured when he found out what the damages actually were that I wouldn't hear back from him. I was wrong, he was a stand up guy and made a significant contribution which helped ease the sting.crash picture.jpg
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
I think I was lucky in that there doesn't appear to be any structural damage. The rocker is straight and the floor didn't buckle. The door was hit hard enough that it pull the striker mangling the back edge of the door jam. A complete quarter panel replacement isn't cheap, but it fixes everything but the door and plastic rocker cover. I was able to locate a used 2011 door with the same paint code in a local junk yard that is helping keep the cost down. The mirror was already taken off, but it has a good window, handle and other hardware. I figured $500 was a bargain for it.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Spoke with the body shop on Friday. My car is in the paint booth and should be done in another week. This will give me plenty of time to prep it for NCM in late March. Nothing like a track weekend for your birthday.
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN
Car looks great. A bit of a boring detail and I hope I haven't missed it earlier in the thread, but how did you for your tow hooks? I'm still looking for a solution for my car so interested to see how S197 people are doing it.
I don't remember if the tow hook install is documented in the build thread or not. Some forum members are really good at documenting their builds, I am not one of them. I hit the easy button on this one. I bought the kit from from Cool Tech LLC. They used to make tow hooks, oil cooler kits and some safety items primarily for the Boss 302. They are still in business, but they discontinued their line of products for the S197.
 

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