roadhouse racecar build

[Roadhouse]

Hello all-

I was encouraged by NFSBOSS to start a build thread on my work-in-progress racecar so here we go I will apologize in advance for the length, as this will chronicle my history with the car for the last 3+ years.

Background info:

I special ordered my 2012 Mustang GT (only options were Brembo brakes and 3.73s) and picked it up in August of 2011. I had no experience with sports cars and didn't even know how to drive a manual, but I knew I wanted a fun car so I thought "what the hell" and dove right in. I live about 40 miles away from Hallett Motor Racing Circuit and would pass by the track frequently going to college (OSU) and back home. I always thought it looked fun and now that I had a fun car and a little disposable income, it was finally my turn to try my hand at open track driving.

Brand new and unmolested


My original plan with the car was to do a few simple mods (exhaust, springs, and tune) and just have a fun street car. But after my first track day that all went out the window. The track bug bit HARD. I loved it. I was slow and terrible but I had so much fun.

First day on track. Only mods are springs and exhaust.




Man I was slow
http://youtu.be/UqxgOp6TPvk

Started doing a few more track days at Hallett and decided I needed some new wheels. I picked up 2 sets of 18x10 SVE drifts.


After a year or so I made the jump to R-comps, roll bar, and race seats. I also decided to start trailering to and from the track. Many of you are all too familiar with how this progression works...lol




So...fast forward to the present time. In September of 2014 I did an open track weekend at Hallett and during that event was when I decided I wanted to get into wheel-to-wheel racing. I will be building the car to primarily race in Hallett's COMMA race series in the GT2 class. However, the car/cage will meet NASA ST/AI requirements should I decide to go that route at some point in the future.

Modifications to the car as it sits:

Exterior
-18x10 SVE Drift wheels (tires vary but Pirelli 305/645./18 slicks are my favs)
-ARP wheel studs
-Flat black roof vinyl
-Homemade WC-esque splitter
-Grille removed
-Rear bumper cut up
-Sparco hood pins
-Steeda spoiler
-Ford Racing tow hooks

Suspension
-H&R race springs
-Koni adjustable shocks/struts (yellows)
-MM CC plates at -3 degrees
-Metco UCA and mount
-KB rear LCAs and relo brackets
-MM panhard bar
-No rear sway bar

Engine/Trans
-Ford Racing 47lb injectors
-AED e85 road race tune
-Lethal Performance O/R X-pipe
-Homemade "Vorshlag" type exhaust
-MGW Gen 1 shifter
-Spec stage 4 clutch
-Spec aluminum flywheel

Interior
-Trim/panels/carpet removed
-HVAC system removed
-Audio system removed
-NRG suede race wheel/Gen 2.5 quick release/short hub adapter
-Sparco Evo II seat and side mounts
-Watson Racing seat mount

Brakes
-Carbotech XP 24s/10s
-Centric blank rotors
-Ford Racing brake ducts
-Titanium heat shilds
-SS lines


I don't really have a timeline for the build, just working on prepping the car as I have extra time. My wife and I are also building a 1960 Austin Mini for her so that is taking up time. And $$$! Currently the Mini is in the body shop. The guy who is working on her car right now will also be building my cage when the time comes so ideally her car will come home before mine goes out. We'll see Here are a few picture of the car at it's peak before I started tearing it apart.




http://youtu.be/epwSCc7pptw

And here a few recent pics of the car







Thank you for following my progress. I will try to document my journey well as I attempt to turn this into a racecar

 

[VoodooBoss]

Looking good so far but we need to find you a grille for that beast!

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Yeahhhhh buddy!

 

[cloud9]

That's awesome Logan and I don't think you could have ever been classified as slow!

 

[Tucson 302]

Logan since you sold me your sub belt clips did you bolt your subs thru the floor? Car looks good dude!

 

[Roadhouse]

Looking good so far but we need to find you a grille for that beast!

lol,,,It's been grille-less for so long now!

 

[Roadhouse]

Yeahhhhh buddy!

You were a big inspiration for this build!

[quote author=cloud9]
That's awesome Logan and I don't think you could have ever been classified as slow!
[/quote]

Ha... did you watch the video of my first track day?? :

[quote author=Tucson302]
Logan since you sold me your sub belt clips did you bolt your subs thru the floor? Car looks good dude!
[/quote]

Thanks Derek! Yes, I will be bolting the bolts through the floor. That's next on the list. Need to get some new belts, too. I sold my Latch-n-link belts and I'm looking to pick up a nice Camlock 6 point.

 

[DGRacing]

Good luck with the build! Great start.

You are among the few crazies like Drew and myself who've undertook this painful but rewarding task.

Darren

 

[Roadhouse]

My good friend Centri5.0 came over yesterday and helped me scrape out some of the sound deadener and seam sealer from the car. What a guy...spending his free time scraping this crap out of my car with me. NOT FUN. We managed to get both floor pans done all the way up to the firewall and then barely made out way into the back seat area. Torch and scraper works pretty well. I will hit the whole car with a wire wheel at some point to clean it all up. Maybe some goo gone in a few places.






When I started gutting the car I was really hoping to hold on to all the crap I scraped out of the car so I could weigh it. Well, we ended up moving a few weeks back and about half a bucket made it in the trash. Here is what we scraped out the other day:



Half full on the scale: 6.8lbs ( photo go right side up :/ )


Empy. Wouldn't even register a weight. (neither will this one)


So I had about this much in the bucket that I threw out awhile ago. And counting the small bits in my shop vac I might have pulled out 10-15 lbs already? This stuff definitely weighs more than I thought...

 

[Roadhouse]

Good luck with the build! Great start.

You are among the few crazies like Drew and myself who've undertook this painful but rewarding task.

Darren

Thanks Darren! Yes, several people have told me I'm crazy. I'm sure you heard some of them, too. :

Your race prep turned out great, btw. If my car turns out half as nice I'll be thrilled.

 

[Budget Boss]

I know of this all to well. Vorshlag did my cage and they did an awesome job. However, I think if I had to do it again I would get the Watson racing cage and just modify it so it had the Nascar bars for the doors. Also, I purchased the floor heat shield from Watson and that needs to be modified to fit were as if I had their cage it would just drop in. Also, the Watson door handle relocation bracket they sell is only needed for the drivers because of the net. On the passenger's side it can remain in the original spot.

The racing bug is a lot of fun and really expensive. Enjoy it!!!

 

[DGRacing]

I know of this all to well. Vorshlag did my cage and they did an awesome job. However, I think if I had to do it again I would get the Watson racing cage and just modify it so it had the Nascar bars for the doors. Also, I purchased the floor heat shield from Watson and that needs to be modified to fit were as if I had their cage it would just drop in. Also, the Watson door handle relocation bracket they sell is only needed for the drivers because of the net. On the passenger's side it can remain in the original spot.

The racing bug is a lot of fun and really expensive. Enjoy it!!!

Indeed it is.

By the way, I see that big 777 Vorshlag wing and am wondering if there is wind tunnel data on that thing somewhere?

 

[Budget Boss]

Indeed it is.

By the way, I see that big 777 Vorshlag wing and am wondering if there is wind tunnel data on that thing somewhere?

No wind data on it. Still getting used to it. My breaking zones have shorten a lot and my straight away speeds have decreased. On the plus side I am getting faster lap times with the wing. I would say it's a choice after you now what class your racing in and what the rules are for aero. Also, come down to the tracks your racing on. Most of the tracks in Texas are small tracks with lot of turns with the exception of TWS which will be closing down in June of this year.

 

[Roadhouse]

I know of this all to well. Vorshlag did my cage and they did an awesome job. However, I think if I had to do it again I would get the Watson racing cage and just modify it so it had the Nascar bars for the doors. Also, I purchased the floor heat shield from Watson and that needs to be modified to fit were as if I had their cage it would just drop in. Also, the Watson door handle relocation bracket they sell is only needed for the drivers because of the net. On the passenger's side it can remain in the original spot.

The racing bug is a lot of fun and really expensive. Enjoy it!!!

Your cage did turn out great! I enjoyed following all the posts from Terry and his crew during your build. The plan is to have my cage mirror the the Watson Racing cage, with Nascar door boors on driver side only. Not sure if we will run two bars parallel like WR does or just "X" the passenger side. I am also planning to use the stock dash cage and just have the A-pillar bars tie into into it, like Drew did on his car.



Good to know about the floor heat shield and the door handle relocation. I've been wondering why the handle needed to be moved since it still functions fine in the stock location but that makes sense that it would interfere with the net.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

You were a big inspiration for this build!

Just so long as you don't blame me when your bank account is empty later

 

[Roadhouse]

 

[Budget Boss]

The plan is to have my cage mirror the the Watson Racing cage, with Nascar door boors on driver side only. Not sure if we will run two bars parallel like WR does or just "X" the passenger side. I am also planning to use the stock dash cage and just have the A-pillar bars tie into into it, like Drew did on his car.

I went with the NASCAR bars on both doors, so that I can take riders. Since I am still in HPDE3 with NASA it helps to be able to bring someone along for check rides. Also, it's nice to get more experience drivers out with you that can help you figure something out on a track or see if you making mistakes or bad habits that they can see and you don't realize. Just something to think about.

 

[Roadhouse]

I went with the NASCAR bars on both doors, so that I can take riders. Since I am still in HPDE3 with NASA it helps to be able to bring someone along for check rides. Also, it's nice to get more experience drivers out with you that can help you figure something out on a track or see if you making mistakes or bad habits that they can see and you don't realize. Just something to think about.

Those are good thoughts...

 

[Roadhouse]

I'm not sure how others have done this, but since I removed all the HVAC system out of the car I needed to bridge the coolant system. Here is my first (weak) attempt at a crossover. The hose is too pinched on the left side and needs a right angle. Hoping to address that this week sometime.



Looking at this picture reminds me that I haven't started my car in 5+ months and it hasn't been on a battery tender :-[ I'm secretly hoping that when I go to start it (maybe this week??) the stock battery is dead and I can upgrade to a lightweight battery. I guess we'll see...

Ordered some safety parts today:

-Schroth 6 pt camlock harness and eye bolts
-Schroth right side net
-Flat mount fire extinguisher quick release bracket
-Joe's Racing battery cutoff switch (going to try to install in left side dash vent hole like the 302S cars so it's easily accessible to both driver and corner worker)

 

[Budget Boss]

Just something to think about with the kill switch and that is to have two of them. One on each side of the vehicle. That way if your knock unconscious and your vehicle is laying on the drivers side someone can get to the kill switch on the passenger's side.