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S197 Kiwi Track Rat's Boss 302 resurrection Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

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118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
If you saw Bad Influence's recent update we finally made it to a decent track day, this was down at Taupo International Motorsport Park. They were running their shorter configuration which was a lot of fun but cuts out the long back straight that would have suited the Mustangs. There's a lot of corners that flow into each other with minimal straight sections, so it's a real challenge of placing the car on the correct line.

Anyway, I learned some stuff on the day. Most importantly the Boss is heaps of fun! I mean so much fun I was grinning under my helmet, enjoying the whole experience. It was well balanced and easy to drive, those Ford guys knew what they were doing when they put that LS package together. Secondly the brakes and tires worked well so that was a moment of relief as you never really know until you get out there. Thirdly the Advance track is a bit irritating, I need to work out what to do there.

I'm hopefully going to get out to our local track later this month, which will give me a comparison to some of my previous cars but for the moment I can say I absolutely love it, definetly worth all the time and money! I didn't get any pics on track but here's a couple from the carpark with Bad Influence. :)

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Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
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Blair, Nebraska
Can't you turn all the nannies off completely? Part of the system is holding the traction control button for over 5 seconds. You will find the car really wakes up once all the nannies are put to sleep!
 
Can't you turn all the nannies off completely? Part of the system is holding the traction control button for over 5 seconds. You will find the car really wakes up once all the nannies are put to sleep!


You can, it still comes back on in certain situations. The Boss 302S abs module is the only way to defeat it completely, well I think there is a way to splice some wires but I'm not sure which ones.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,352
Exp. Type
Time Attack
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20+ Years
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I know when instructing folks often did not hold down the TC button long enough ( 5-10 seconds ) to turn off Advancetrac ( light shows up ) and it appears it might have been engaging constantly for FilxNZ. I know the best solution is to get a BossS ABS module , yet I only had my 12 and 13 Boss 302s activate when my tires were down to cord. On my 13 LS is took 10 seconds to kick off the Advancetrac.
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
I know when instructing folks often did not hold down the TC button long enough ( 5-10 seconds ) to turn off Advancetrac ( light shows up ) and it appears it might have been engaging constantly for FilxNZ. I know the best solution is to get a BossS ABS module , yet I only had my 12 and 13 Boss 302s activate when my tires were down to cord. On my 13 LS is took 10 seconds to kick off the Advancetrac.
Thanks Bill, I need to try this holding down the button for 10 seconds thing. I wasn't doing that correctly by the sound of it. If that resolves most of the intrusion I can probably live with it. Otherwise the 302S ABS module might be worth investing in.
 
1,161
2,116
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
SoCal
Thanks Bill, I need to try this holding down the button for 10 seconds thing. I wasn't doing that correctly by the sound of it. If that resolves most of the intrusion I can probably live with it. Otherwise the 302S ABS module might be worth investing in.
It’s a combination of holding the traction control button down while pressing the brake pedal. The dash should say “AdvanceTrac Off”
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Fun topic that always comes up!! With the TC button you can turn off the traction control.But it will come on again if the car gets pushed at the track. Fords way of saying... I can save you from your self, you hooligan!

So you can cut pins, put in the 302R abs sensor or just get a good tuner to turn it off completly. But in all of the above, the TC and abs warning lights come. But abs still works.

I went with the tuner option to leave it 100% off and has never come back on for years now.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
You can, it still comes back on in certain situations. The Boss 302S abs module is the only way to defeat it completely, well I think there is a way to splice some wires but I'm not sure which ones.
A TUNE! also a option. 😅 But to be fair Lund told me it can be done. And then AED turned it all the way off for me in my track Tune.
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
I finally made it to my favorite local track, Hampton Downs, yesterday. They run a morning HPDE session once a month alongside a bunch of other activities at the circuit (cars & coffee type show, track cruise, skid pan, etc). On these types of days you get 3x 15 minute sessions and they only run 2 groups (a slow/novice and fast/experienced) so it's a quick turn around. I had rolled the dice a few weeks ago and booked a spot, but as is typical for winter track days in New Zealand the weather wasn't ideal with fog and a cold, wet track (Air temp was around 12C / 54F).

Here's a pic in the carpark around 9:30am, pretty gloomy but at least it wasn't raining I guess.
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While I was excited to finally get a run at this track I can tell you it wasn't without a few nerves at the prospect of dealing with the conditions, I've seen this track bite a few people in the wet over the years. Luckily they gave us an extended warm up / familiarization session to start with (controlled speed not exceeding 65 mph) and that gave me a bit of confidence in what the grip level was like.

I was in the fast group with a couple of late model M3s, 911s and a few caged race cars so I figured I would also be watching my mirrors, but thankfully in the end there was only about 10 cars in the fast group, so the track was pretty empty. They delayed getting started a bit after that to see if the fog would clear up, that gave me time to for a quick beverage - there's only one coffee to drink in these situations 😄
52173140966_87eda8540c_c.jpg

After a while they gave up waiting on the fog and we got the call up to head out on track, I strapped on my helmet and sucked in a deep breath and lined up. What an adrenaline rush the first few laps were as figured out where I I could lean on the car and where you just had to be cautious. But it was awesome fun and I'm still blown away at just how entertaining and forgiving this car is to drive. The mid corner grip was fantastic, you can really lean on the outside front tire especially in the lower speed corners. The braking was also predictable and stable, though I still need to figure out the "judder" under brakes (I am thinking it might be the steering rack).

Not unexpectedly the main struggle I had was traction out of the corners. I was getting wheelspin in 3rd under WOT so I mainly ended up short shifting to 4th and pedaling it from there. I left stabillty control on but a times it is still very intrusive so that is still on my list. I dropped about 5 seconds a lap over the next two sessions going from 1:39s in session 1, to 1:34s in session 2 and 1:29s in session 3 where a few dry patches were starting to emerge. Right near the end of session 3 I got the check engine light came on (turned out to be a P0300-C misfire code) so I also need to look into that as I thought the crank relearn had sorted that out.

The other minor thing I need to get done are some sort of tow hook solution. I don't really want to cut the bumper but the track management team weren't all that happy about letting me on with no tow hook so I'll do some research on what to do about that.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,352
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
I am sure you will get a bunch of info on various tow hook options and since only had one on my Boss S and there is a factory built in hook up for the Mach 1 I don't have much information. I do know the guys on TMO will jump in with different options and there are some options that will keep you from cutting up your bumper, but...................you may be taking things apart on the Boss you just got together, ha.

Man, you definitely had the right coffee to get wired for the track!
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,352
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Scoots,

What a perfect comment and one so many of us share and concur! This is one of the best things about TMO , members from around the World get help, information, insight and it does not always come from those of us in the US. I know that items we get from members on different Continents can often give us insight into things coming to the US or only recently available ( tires used by bnight in Bulgaria is a good example ). Conversely, we can here in the States can help others where few items are available, understand what products are solid along with others that may be problematic ( poor quality, constantly out of stock, companies that are out of business, companies with poor service , etc. )

We have all enjoyed FilxNZ's journey and I look forward to his continued racing adventures!
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
Well it's been a minute since my last post. Not a lot has happened but I've been driving the car a bit on the street and having a lot of fun. As I think I mentioned earlier in this thread the paint match between the repainted and original parts has always been just a touch off. I eventually decided to rectify it and sent the car back to John's shop where he disassembled the rear and sent it back to the painter.

It turned out to more to do with the clearcoat than anything in the paint match as I understand it. Anyway John just got it back this morning and sent me this pic. It's a little hard to tell in the picture but I'm very excited to have this part completed. Then I'll finally get the stripes added soon as well.
52402815296_ea3d490020_c.jpg

While it's on the hoist she's getting a fresh service and fitting some new front rotors as there was a terrible "judder" under hard braking with the old ones. Not sure if they were warped or just weird brake deposits but I ordered these Raybestos rotors from Rock Auto. Hopefully they are OK, I guess time will tell.
52403253030_64704d65ae_z.jpg
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
I got back to the track at Hampton Downs yesterday for one of their Sunday morning sessions. Hot, humid day at 25 deg C (around 75F) and the track was greasy in the first session from overnight rain but it dried up. Car performed flawlessly and the new rotors eliminated the brake shudder so that was very great. Probably no surprise to anyone but oil temps were a bit of an issue, I was doing around 3 decent laps before running a cool down lap. The RT615K+'s seem pretty good. Still working out what pressures work best though.

My best lap of the day was a 1:19.05, which I admit is fairly meaningless as obviously it's not a competitive day but also I'm a heap of seat time away from anything resembling a consistently good lap. For context though it is quick(ish) for a street car and I was on pace in my group with a G80 M3 and a new shape Camaro ZL1 (none 1LE) though they were faster on the straights but probably on more street orientated tires (and maybe also with the value of their cars) not attacking the course with the same reckless abandon as me in my the dirty old stick axle Mustang! :p

I'll try and get some video at some stage, took a couple of quick pics. This guy in the 997 GT3 it was his first day ever on track as he had just bought it. He spun off in one of the sessions, luckily no damage but I imagine it was a white knuckle moment.

52570488649_90c8b82063_c.jpg52570660325_e39f577e78_c.jpg

Also a couple of pics from weekend before last, I went down to help a friend that was racing in an enduro event. One of the supporting classes featured this awesome fastback Mustang and several other fast Fords! I'll try and find an engine bay picture of the fastback, it sounded insane at WOT!

52555260317_9b8e210ded.jpg52555260322_7865a8dd67.jpg52556010804_84619728b5.jpg
 
Last edited:

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Well it's been a minute since my last post. Not a lot has happened but I've been driving the car a bit on the street and having a lot of fun. As I think I mentioned earlier in this thread the paint match between the repainted and original parts has always been just a touch off. I eventually decided to rectify it and sent the car back to John's shop where he disassembled the rear and sent it back to the painter.

It turned out to more to do with the clearcoat than anything in the paint match as I understand it. Anyway John just got it back this morning and sent me this pic. It's a little hard to tell in the picture but I'm very excited to have this part completed. Then I'll finally get the stripes added soon as well.
View attachment 79937

While it's on the hoist she's getting a fresh service and fitting some new front rotors as there was a terrible "judder" under hard braking with the old ones. Not sure if they were warped or just weird brake deposits but I ordered these Raybestos rotors from Rock Auto. Hopefully they are OK, I guess time will tell.
View attachment 79938
I tried out the Raybestos discs and so far so good. Funny thing is that they are not squealing like a stuck pig with the race pads.
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
I tried out the Raybestos discs and so far so good. Funny thing is that they are not squealing like a stuck pig with the race pads.
Mine squealed terribly with the Pagids until after last Sunday's event. Now they're not too bad. I did get a very soft pedal late in the 3rd (last) session, but I think that was a combination of me over driving the car and the quick turn around between sessions maybe didn't help as nothing got a chance to really cool off.

Looks like some cool old Cortinas and Falcons. Those were quite fast and nimble in their day!
Those are Mk1 Escorts in the pic alongside the Falcon (though there are also lots of Cortina's racing in NZ as well of course). Down here in NZ we get a mash up of British, Australian and US Fords, makes for some fantastic racing.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,352
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
I stand corrected and admittedly I should have know about the Escorts since I ran against a couple of Cortinas years back and that's what I get for not looking more closely ---- Senior moment # 427, ha!
 

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