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!

S550 GT350R Race Car Build Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

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

6,363
8,187
Just for the sake of it, when you get a chance, throw a tape measure on those APs and try and give me a ball park minimum diameter. Reason is, and I've been whining about this for a long time, is that I'm thinking the way to go for 75% of the track guys is to use a steelie with Hoosier bias ply stock car tires. They will take a fairly large caliper like an Outlaw because the wheel is so thin. It would save track day guys a lot of bucks to be able to run $100 dollar tires and $60 wheels, even if the calipers were a bit more.
 
Just for the sake of it, when you get a chance, throw a tape measure on those APs and try and give me a ball park minimum diameter. Reason is, and I've been whining about this for a long time, is that I'm thinking the way to go for 75% of the track guys is to use a steelie with Hoosier bias ply stock car tires. They will take a fairly large caliper like an Outlaw because the wheel is so thin. It would save track day guys a lot of bucks to be able to run $100 dollar tires and $60 wheels, even if the calipers were a bit more.

Essex (AP reseller) got a template on their website for those caliper.

https://www.essexparts.com/storage/wysiwyg/Fitment template Ford S197 Mustang front CP9668-372.pdf
 
Starting to move on to Aero. Was originally going to shakedown with the R rear wing, but it uses different mounting locations to everything but the GT4 rear wing which is $$$. I love the look of the GT4 piece, but the class rules limit size which is why it's curved. Decided to go with the APR, which is ordered. So I'll be selling an OE rear R wing...

Based on experience with the R (crazy hood lift) I'm going to put a large center vent in the Hood, and do everything to reduce losses through the facia. The factory shrouding is pretty good, but I'll close off every gap I can find.

Also fabricated a close off panel for the factory oil cooler intake today, as I stacked a larger Setrab Oil Cooler in front of the Radiator:

fullsizeoutput_b55.jpeg

Test fit it:

fullsizeoutput_b57.jpeg

Need to drill mount locations, clean it up and paint Flat Black.
 

ChrisM

Mostly harmless.
1,180
1,419
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
South Carolina
Very nice! Are those any good for street use? I've looked them up and saw they had multiple thicknesses. I figured the thinnest are for purpose-built racecars.
 

Big Black

Good, fast<del>, and cheap</del>
I've been whining about this for a long time, is that I'm thinking the way to go for 75% of the track guys is to use a steelie with Hoosier bias ply stock car tires. They will take a fairly large caliper like an Outlaw because the wheel is so thin. It would save track day guys a lot of bucks to be able to run $100 dollar tires and $60 wheels, even if the calipers were a bit more.
I'm a noob but I need more info..Moderator(s), please take this over to @blacksheep-1 garage...sounds like a good idea
 
492
387
DFW, TX
I'm a noob but I need more info..Moderator(s), please take this over to @blacksheep-1 garage...sounds like a good idea
My vintage car raced on bias ply Hoosiers. There was a spec, circle track tire some people used because it was super cheap.

They're not like modern radials, you aimed ten feet before an apex but by the time you got there you would have drifted enough to hit it. Great fun!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
Nick, do you know the weight of the Watson full cage? I cant find it on their site.
@spartan I haven't seen any published weights. The 4 point roll bar is a touch under 40lbs. I'm guessing the full cage is in the 120-150 range, but that's just a guess. The S550 cage design is very similar to the S197, and gutted, caged S197 race cars were typically 150+ lbs lighter than street cars. Have not yet seen and data points on S550 caged cars.....
 
I was thinking the same since this would be one of the ultra-rare opportunities to paint the BIW the elusive prototype Liquid Blue color. Did you consider this?

Yes, Liquid Blue and Red were both on the short list, but I've had both Blue and Red cars before....

Meanwhile, gave the Car a Christmas gift with the rear trim/badging:

IMG_4904.jpg
 
Did you trim your dash top to fit the cage or did you have Watson do it? Wondering how hard it is to trim. Maybe I can use yours to make a template. I'm using the same cage so it should be close.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top