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NW Shelby Club 40th Annual Midwest Invitational at Road America June 19-21

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cloud9 said:
Looking forward to the rest of the story Steve :)

Here's the video of my best lap on Friday. It's the same as I posted on the Lap Time thread. I have a bunch more video to go through but probably won't have time tonight.

Road America 6/19/15 on the stock brakes, P springs and dampers, stock airbox and intake with some takeoff Pirelli 305/660/18 & 315/680/18 slicks. My goal has long been to breakout below 2:30, but I didn't know if I'd get there without a brake or coilover upgrade.....or until I switch to the GT350. I hit 2:29.46 last Friday and got pretty excited. The video includes the prior lap at 2:30.76 where I got stuck behind a Vette coming out of Canada corner. I was actually on pace to run an even faster lap but couldn't get around him until the Billy Mitchell bridge.

Here's the vid. My data acquisition system is in my rear end, and it doesn't support video, so it isn't as fancy as Steve's. :)

Gary,

Very, very smooth driving, and a fantastic couple of laps on a perfect Blue sky day. Congrats!

I'll have to study this more for my next visit to RA -- you are using more curb in several corners than I was and your entry into the carousel is also wider -- love that whole section down to Canada 8)

So what's the breakout goal for the GT350 now ;)
 
Black Boss said:
Gary,

Very, very smooth driving, and a fantastic couple of laps on a perfect Blue sky day. Congrats!

I'll have to study this more for my next visit to RA -- you are using more curb in several corners than I was and your entry into the carousel is also wider -- love that whole section down to Canada 8)

So what's the breakout goal for the GT350 now ;)
Thanks Nick, especially from a hot shoe like yourself. There is some curbing that's drivable, unlike the exit at 5 and 1 if you don't get too far off.

Good question. You're putting a lot of pressure on Ford now. 2:25 too much to ask? ;D
 

steveespo

Lord knows I'm a Voodoo Child
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Great driving Gary, super smooth.

Back to the story;
So from 9:00am (when I stopped crying like a bit@h) until 11am we got the car jacked up drained the rest of the fluid, cleaned the underside a bit and dropped the panhard rod and diff cover. That is when I saw that 3 bolts were completely out of the ring gear, 4 more were backed out and only 3 were still holding torque. This gear and differential have been in the car for 4 years but I guess vibration had worked them loose.
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Saw this once before at VIR, a friend in a 2009 GT with swapped in Torsen had 2 bolts back out and get chewed up. He wasn't able to save it, I was hoping I could. Looked at the ring and pinion and there were no marks or damage visible. We rotated the axles and there were no sounds or binding, plus the worm gears visible in the Torsen looked fine too. This could be fixed. Only problems were the holes in the cover and a full set of replacement ring gear bolts. Called 2 Ford dealers who had none in stock, and none were available across the upper mid West distribution network. Next I tried auto parts stores half didn't know what I was talking about the other half knew they didn't have them. So I went on the road, found the correct 7/16"-20 grade 8 bolts at Fastenal, only problem is they were 1" and needed to be 3/4", easy I'll find a machine shop and have them turned down. Searched Google and found a shop 5 miles away, great. Well got there and the shop was out of business, WTF? Next I saw a gun shop and figured they might have a lathe, went in but the man wasn't a gunsmith just a dealer. So I figured search for a repair or muffler shop, just needed a band saw or cut off wheel and a vise. Set sail for shop in Plymouth but before I got here I saw a sign with hot rod flames for a place called Revolution Performance, figured this had to be the place. Pulled in and the shop was a Harley mod shop, all kinds of milled billet and water jet parts so I figured I was set. Turns out all the machinists left at 11 on Friday and locked up all the cutting tools for the mills and lathes. The kid at the front knew a shop called Integral Machine and called ahead for me, cool. After drawing me a map!?! to County road M then to State road C and finally County T. I found them and we got the bolts trimmed down.

Meanwhile back at the track the guys from Mueller Motorsports had taken the cover back to their shop to weld up the holes. They got this done really quick and dropped it off with John at his trailer. He texted me and I was on the way with the RTV, gear oil, scrapers and off course the bolts. It is now 3pm and I am not really in the mood to crawl back under the car, but I have to get it ready for Saturday morning.

Got back under and mopped the rest of the gear oil out of the housing, sprayed it with brake kleen and kept wiping it out. Used a magnet to try and attract shavings as well as find any big pieces. I had accounted for 2 full bolts and parts of a third but not the full bolt. After 10 minutes trying to see and feel every crevice I said to myself, button it up.
Cleaned the bolts holes and added large amounts of red loctite to the bolts and snugged them up. Gary had to text Rick for the torque specs since we couldn't open the online manual PDFs on our phones. With that info I torqued them up, RTV'd the cover and bolted it on. My daughter helped me funnel new lube in through my cooler return hose and we had it filled up by 5:30pm. Being exhausted and having a dinner appointment with everyone I called it a night leaving only the panhard bolt torque and a test drive for Saturday morning.

Saturday dawned a beautiful day and I got to the track at 6:30, tightened the Panhard rod bolts (159 ft/lbs....oops too much should be 129) and test drove it around the paddock where all seemed smooth and quiet. Finally ready for action at RA. Two sessions with scrubs and the car felt great but best time was in the 1:40.xx range, had to swap to sticker Contis during lunch (while Gary's wife Theresa cooked me a burger and a cheese brot, thank you T) and went out 3rd session and posted the 1:36.10 shown in the Lap Time thread. Not record breaking but pretty good for first time at the track and a sore back from laying under it the day before. When I got back to pits i got out of the car and told it the I loved it, loud enough for Theresa to hear and laugh, but I do love the car even when it tortures me.

More on that in part three or "why wouldn't the clutch pedal go to the floor in the first session Sunday, five minutes after I offered Black Boss half a session"

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What happens to Carbotech XP-24s when you put them on a GT500 with a mad Brit driving
 
I'm glad you got at least one full day in. I had my extra diff cover ready for you two. BTW I now have two extra functional slave cylinders ready to ship as well. ;) I replace the first at 10,000 miles and the second at 20,000.
 
It was one of the most heroic track repairs I have seen. I was told Steve had amazing mechanical skills, but it was cool to see them in action. It was also hilarious the extremes we'll go to to salvage a track weekend! I've been there done that! ;D

I'm just glad I wasn't on his back bumper when he shot that 7/16" slug through the diff cover :eek:
 

drano38

Wayne
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Looks like a great time and beautiful weather.
Congrats on the improved lap times.
And that's some great wrenching Steve!
 
Here's some more video from Friday afternoon. It was probably the most "fun" session of the weekend. Great mix of cars including a C7 Z06 (saw him twice) a C6 Z06, Porsche GT2, NASCAR stock car, Nissan GT-R and some fellow Mustangs.

It was a clear blue day in God's country (Wisconsin) 8)

https://youtu.be/HEIBrGi2aIw
 

steveespo

Lord knows I'm a Voodoo Child
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Cookeville TN
Looks good Gary, but Dean Martin ran a 2:20.309 in practice yesterday on the same tires you run. Must be the Cortex watts link. ;)
You are a stone cold killer out there, it's fun to watch how smooth you are on track while going so fast.
See you in Nebraska!
Steve
 
Thanks guys. Yea I have a ways to go to run in HIS class :p I'm guessing his car may not have a license plate or the stock Brembos either :D Maybe I was on his "old" tires lol. Those Pirelli takeoffs are a good value.

Looking forward to seeing both of you in Nebraska!
 

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