S197 s197hpde3v Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[JDee]

My car sits outside all summer, rain or shine.
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Now those are some serious louvers!!!!

 

[PatientZero]

Looks like you have more louvers than hood.

Doesn't get hot though, lol. 194 max at the end of a 20 min session and that is with a stock thermostat. I'm sure I could get it cooler if I so desired.

 

[GT4Pop]

I don't know if it qualifies as part of the build, but I scored a budget enclosed trailer today. 2019 Cynergy 8.5x24 v-nose, already has a winch installed. I need to figure out flooring and cabinets/storage. And I was playing with custom trailer tags.

 

[PatientZero]

Nice. I've wanted to upgrade to an enclosed for several years now but still haven't done it. Have you tried putting the car in it yet to get an idea of weight distribution and space?

 

[GT4Pop]

Nice. I've wanted to upgrade to an enclosed for several years now but still haven't done it. Have you tried putting the car in it yet to get an idea of weight distribution and space?

Not yet, I literally dropped it off at lunch and drove the mustang back to the shop. My wife's Mazdaspeed 3 drove in and wasn't close to dragging. I might try the mustang tonight if it doesn't rain. I expect it will need race ramps to lift up the door and get a better approach.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Nice find with your new trailer I pulled a 24' for years. Weight distribution should be fairly balanced with the car to the rear, within a foot of the ramp and tools/cabinets to the front. You do need to drop the front of the trailer. The trailer needs to be level for the suspension to be happy.
I have had Aluminum over plywood and vinyl coin over plywood floors. I recommend the vinyl. Putting aluminum sheets in which are thick enough to avoid wrinkling is just too expensive. The vinyl is fairly easy to install and patch, if the damage is small, 1" or smaller. RTV the same color fills and blends well. Pay a few buck more and buy the vinyl which is wider than the floor, usually 8"6" wide. Seams will always come apart with use.

 

[GT4Pop]

Test fitted the car yesterday. The race ramps made for easy loading (of course one got damaged in shipping, but they knock off $100 for me to keep them). I installed a lower hitch to level the trailer too. Positioned the car about a foot inside the back door and strapped it down for a test drive. It doesn't sway and handles abrupt lane changes well, much better than our travel trailer which is not surprising due to the difference in CG. Did discover fuel jugs will have to be mounted ahead of the car because the tires will hit them if mounted along the side walls. I'm thinking of installing a light duty work bench/countertop in the v-nose. Mount a 2 wide x 2 tall fuel jug rack along side wall between the car and side door. A toolbox on the other wall across from the side door. One of the oil and aerosol can racks with the fold down tray mounted on the side door. I also want to install an rv style 12v converter that will power all the 12v lighting and keep the battery charged and mount a 30 amp plug on the outside for shore power. I've ordered black coin rubber flooring and glue. And I'm going to try using led strips for inside and pit side lights. Around medium on the weirdness scale is the electric tongue jack previous owner installed that will lower itself down on it's own. Has happened about 4 or 5 times now, fortunately it was parked at the time. I'm probably going to add a shut-off switch going to the jack power source until the mystery is solved.

 

[TMSBOSS]

My power tongue Jack has a clutch you have to engage/disengage when switching between manual and electric operation. If I leave the clutch disengaged, the tongue will drop on its own. If you can download the manufacturers manual for your Jack, there may be something similar.
I’m liking your mod list for the trailer so far.

 

[GT4Pop]

I ended up replacing the tongue jack with a different electric one and installed it with a Jack-e-up which allows you to remove the jack from the tongue mount and move it back 7" so the tailgate will open. I've been gathering trailer gear and car parts and dragging ass on installing them. I did finally get the car back on jack stands and checked my brake temp paint, the color was very similar on all 4 corners. I noticed under heavy braking from 130+ it feels like the rear of the car sways a little. I'm thinking it's from too much rear braking. I'm going to go from DTC60 to DTC70 front pads and see if it fixes my swaying. Should have more soon.

I almost forgot! I may have put a deposit on a DOB kit last spring when I was still thinking drag racing. The follow up email and payment came due and Jason upgraded some of my parts for road racing and some of the parts are showing up.

 

[Apex3V]

@GT4Pop I'm just now finding your thread, I think you've done a fantastic job so far building your car! I cant wait to see what you do with the department of boost setup, You should try some different venues also, I love VIR but part of the fun is learning and driving in different arenas/regions. Best of luck and I cant wait to see your progress!

 

[GT4Pop]

@Apex3V some friends and I have been talking about going to some other tracks this year. They are coming up with a schedule.

 

[GT4Pop]

My new radiator arrived Friday and I'm installing it today. I went with a fluidyne 3 core 3 pass aluminum radiator. I'm also putting in a lower temp mishimoto thermostat but I noticed it looks different than what came out. Is this normal?

 

[GT4Pop]

I removed the stock GT rear spoiler and installed a GT500 rear spoiler painted satin black to break up all the gloss black. Also worked on the trailer some more. Installed a 30amp RV plug on the driver's side and a 4 plug outlet with gfi. I had some 2 inch square tubing laying around forever so I decided to use it to mount a plywood counter in the v-nose. I was debating how deep to make the counter but decided if it's too big I can cut it back. And got some e-track mounted to the walls. And added aluminum strips to ceiling to mount LED light strips.

 

[GT4Pop]

I took the car for a shakedown drive over to a friend's flat garage floor to check alignment and scale the car. I changed the adjustable strut mounts from El Cheapo to an MM type with a uniball, now the car is about 3/4" lower in front. Cats drag on everything, lol. It's around -3.3° camber L&R and toe out 1/16". I forgot the gauge instructions so I faked it, measured 5.9° L&R which is probably wrong but both sides read the same so that's all I was worried about. Weight is 3571 without driver, 3776 with me. Temperature runs around 180 to 186. I have fan low set to 170 and fan high set to 180.

 

[GT4Pop]

I attended Winterfest 2023 at VIR. I signed up for the intermediate (orange) group and got an instructor to ride with me. He had several suggestions and I guess I've got a ways to go yet. With the radiator and thermostat upgrade coolant temperature was between 192°F and 198°F depending on how close I followed. That's 30°F cooler than the previous high temp of 228°F. There was an off track excursion at turn 17 and I mowed some dead grass but didn't hit anything and car was fine. My camber was set at -3.3° and I noticed front tire temps were hotter inside than outside by around 20°F. I guess I need less negative camber? Maybe go back to -2.8° ? Or should I loosen up front swaybar so the car rolls onto the tire? It's pretty neutral right now so I'm guessing camber adjustment. I also changed to a GT500 rear spoiler, can't tell that changed anything but appearance. I'll add a couple corner pictures, it has very little body roll. I probably need to raise the front end somehow since I've got about 2 inches ground clearance under cats and trans scoop. And I'm fixing to add supercharger and intercooler at 100ish lbs, it'll literally be on the ground. Lol. Currently have Whiteline springs.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Sorry I didn't get back sooner, yes it is, as you have found out, the Mishimoto T sta is functionally the same as the old unit, looks like you are having fun.
You should go ahead and do the cooling mod that I suggested, this summer it will be getting really hot in VIR, Even if you don't do the mod, I'd prolly time to ditch those heater hose/plastic one way fittings behind the intake. The intake somes off in about 20 minutes.

 

[CodyAW21]

I attended Winterfest 2023 at VIR. I signed up for the intermediate (orange) group and got an instructor to ride with me. He had several suggestions and I guess I've got a ways to go yet. With the radiator and thermostat upgrade coolant temperature was between 192°F and 198°F depending on how close I followed. That's 30°F cooler than the previous high temp of 228°F. There was an off track excursion at turn 17 and I mowed some dead grass but didn't hit anything and car was fine. My camber was set at -3.3° and I noticed front tire temps were hotter inside than outside by around 20°F. I guess I need less negative camber? Maybe go back to -2.8° ? Or should I loosen up front swaybar so the car rolls onto the tire? It's pretty neutral right now so I'm guessing camber adjustment. I also changed to a GT500 rear spoiler, can't tell that changed anything but appearance. I'll add a couple corner pictures, it has very little body roll. I probably need to raise the front end somehow since I've got about 2 inches ground clearance under cats and trans scoop. And I'm fixing to add supercharger and intercooler at 100ish lbs, it'll literally be on the ground. Lol. Currently have Whiteline springs.

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I would adjust the camber before the sway bar if you feel like the car is pretty neutral. I unfortunately didn't have a thermometer to read tire temps, but I ran -2.8 with 0 toe and had very even tire wear; cut off sharply on the shoulders of my tires because my suspension is too squishy and the fenders scrub the tires as a result. I still have an embarrassing amount of roll despite beefy sway bar on full stiff and roll correction via extended ball joints

 

[GT4Pop]

@blacksheep-1 I plan to replace those hoses when I install the DOB intake. That'll change it to 2007+ plumbing too. I'm waiting on the last few pieces to start the install.

 

[GT4Pop]

I would adjust the camber before the sway bar if you feel like the car is pretty neutral. I unfortunately didn't have a thermometer to read tire temps, but I ran -2.8 with 0 toe and had very even tire wear; cut off sharply on the shoulders of my tires because my suspension is too squishy and the fenders scrub the tires as a result. I still have an embarrassing amount of roll despite beefy sway bar on full stiff and roll correction via extended ball joints

I had -2.7 last time out and didn't feel any real difference going to -3.3 but I didn't have the tire temp probe until this time. I'll probably go bak to -2.7 and check temps next time. I didn't notice an excessive amount of roll from behind your car, especially compared to some of the other cars out there.

 

[blacksheep-1]

If you can, in you garage, max out the caster first, before you take it to an alignment shop and see what happens. I'm basing this on your statement that with more camber you couldn't tell much of a difference.
Drop a few psi in front to kill some spring/ bar rate just for fun and try it out.