The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

S197 3V Fabman's build; How did we get here? Build Thread

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
1,081
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
San Diego
Eligible vehicles. Must be American made sedan vehicles from 1960 to present (there are other requirements as well).

AIX rules are here.
Thanks. Strange how series just up and dis/appear, American Iron used to be real popular... used to :(
 
@Fabman you were say you may not race next year. Here may be a different option that appears to be more laid back. when the Pittsburgh vintage grand prix is in town the run races at Pitt Race with all the classes but add modern historic v8s because they are too much to run the regular Shenley Park Street races.

You would get some action with vipers and other beasts. You car is technically old enough I think. Just a thought if you wanted to travel around the us and play.

I don't know if the are historic races on your side of the would though or if the class is at other events.

I'd hate to see you completely go away. You're a very talented driver with an awesome car!
 
1,119
1,110
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Lenoir City TN

$4,041.68 looking at one right now...
Have you checked with Modern Drive Line. They are a Tremec Elite Distributor in Western Idaho, so not too far from you. When I was hunting one no one in this side of the country could give me an eta on a close ratio swap kit. MDL had 2 in stock and had it on a truck the next day. I paid about that for the swap kit with the bell housing, block plate, and mount plus the necessary wiring harnesses.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
@Fabman - you've mentioned a "dyno incident". What happened at the dyno? That was on Saturday, correct?
The guy working the dyno thought my trans was a sequential and ground the gears severely trying to shift without the clutch. Check the thread above for details. It died a painful death. The whole race I could not get the car in gear….watch my in car video of the Sunday race for details. I literally coasted across the finish line because I couldn’t get the car in gear.
 

Ron McCall

Pantera1889
I originally thought that way too, but HP was limited beginning in 2022 to reign in the high 3 figure and low 4 figure HP numbers and the high cost to be remotely competitive. The participation was dwindling and had been declining for years nationally. I think it was a great change after proper consideration.
A simple ban on power adders ( turbos and superchargers ) would have taken care of the crazy HP combos and made it easier for lower cost cars to compete. And no dyno testing !

Ron
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
The guy working the dyno thought my trans was a sequential and ground the gears severely trying to shift without the clutch. Check the thread above for details. It died a painful death. The whole race I could not get the car in gear….watch my in car video of the Sunday race for details. I literally coasted across the finish line because I couldn’t get the car in gear.
Send the bill to the organizers? Pretty damn bad they ruin an expensive gearbox. They should have competent people doing this stuff.
 
6,362
8,184
A simple ban on power adders ( turbos and superchargers ) would have taken care of the crazy HP combos and made it easier for lower cost cars to compete. And no dyno testing !

Ron
IMO that doesn't work, you can have specific engine mods and go through a potential teardown every race, or, you can modify what you want as long as it dynos the correct hp/ weight.
Much simpler to dyno and less expense for all.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
Send the bill to the organizers? Pretty damn bad they ruin an expensive gearbox. They should have competent people doing this stuff.
Naw, I didn’t tell him you needed to use the clutch. He saw my sequential shifter and assumed it was a clutch less trans. I should have told him. Not blaming him.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
A simple ban on power adders ( turbos and superchargers ) would have taken care of the crazy HP combos and made it easier for lower cost cars to compete. And no dyno testing !

Ron
That’s one solution.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
An unlimited, NA rule package eliminates the tear down procedure and the dyno.

Ron
The only problem with that is it favors the big inch motors. A coyote can’t be bored/stroked to much more than a 5 liter while the ls motors have combos that are huge. FI equalizes all. So I don’t know what the solution is. Personally I would like to see a much higher minimum weight. Building a super lightweight car is more work and expense that a big hp motor. I’d like to see something like a 3000# min weight and a 350 cuin max and let the rest be free.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Down here in Chile we went the simplest possible way we could. We made lap time brackets using historical averages to come up with our classes. Your class is dictated by your lap time. Leads to some pretty odd grids, but it eliminated complicated rules and rampant cheating. fast cars in slow categories get some pretty heated ribbing till they grow a pair and move up. Very simple for the local race scene. Don't even weigh the cars...

Every year we end up reducing the time categories to keep up with the improving cars and drivers.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Basically we have a big difference in driver experience and cars. If we put them into logical groups we would have to few cars to make the minumum track number (to pay for the track $$) and the winner would be a forgone conclusion. This way we get around 20 cars on the grid at the same time. You can have a class with new guy in a M3 loosing to a little Toyota turbo (happens all the time). So far it has worked, but it might just be due to local conditions.

With the ITE, I imagine cars like the Factory prepared GT4 Clubsport cars with leave us all far from the podium, meaning no one would race.
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
6,519
8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
Everyone wants a non restricted class until they actually get one, then money becomes no object, this is what killed Can Am in the early 70s.
Exactly. Seen this play out over and over in circle track.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top