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S197 3V Steve's FR500S Thread Build Thread

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I think by now most of you have seen my previous thread debating my purchase of FR500S #28. Well, if you have.... you'll know I took the plug!

I thought I'd start a thread to capture my work (and fun) with the car!

Since getting the car shipped up to Connecticut I've spent the last month really on the cleanup of the car and walking through what's on the car and what should be on the car (and missing).

I started first by removing the old graphics

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And the car needs a ton of cleanup inside

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Having removed (over the course of about 3 weekends) the glue left behind from some very cheap and thin vinyl; began this weekend to claybar and orbital with a bit of paint cleaner.

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Hood clayed and cleaned

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Once I get the car cleaned up I'm going to get it on jack stands and work through the suspension. The FR500S Sachs/ZF coil overs are discontinued but had a nice chat with Sachs North America who said they can do a complete rebuild on them for $375 a corner.

Interesting thing about the Ford Racing bits is most of the parts are rebranded from other vendors. For example, the springs are Eibach and the caster / camber plates are Maximum Motorsports pieces and are still available. Sachs still manufactures the FR500S components under different part numbers.

As I start disassembling parts I'm going to document FRPP part numbers and the third party numbers.

I'll create a spreadsheet and maintain it here for others.

Short term plan is to get the car prepped for HPDE & Time Trial events for next season.

Long term plan is to run it for a few season and do a full restoration on it. The car came with a pretty decent spares package and I've begun to pick items up off eBay, etc...


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Decided to spend the afternoon looking at tires which has the potential to be a huge thread on its own....

My question is around section widths.

The Ford Racing documentation lists the spec tires as being:

Wet - BFG KDW 255/45R18 ($230 ea.)
Dry - BFG R1 245/40R18 ($320 ea.)

Hoosier has these IMSA Contis on closeout:

Wet - Conti EC-WET 245/40R18 ($150 ea.)
Dry - Conti EC-DR ST 245/45R18 ($110 ea.)

Should also note - I'm looking to run them on the GT500 18x9.5" rims as I like the look and more importantly the car came with 2 sets so would be looking to haul a full wet setup in the trailer to the track.

We all know the width number on the sidewall of a tire isn't standardized. For example "245" can mean something different based on the tire. Take a look at the actual measures section widths:

BFG KDW: 255 Actual Measured Section Width: 10"
BFG R1: 245 Actual Measured Section Width: 9.8"
Conti Dry: 245 Actual Measured Section Width: 9.8"
Conti Wet: 245 Actual Measured Section Width: 10.6"

It's clear to see the Conti wet is more than a half inch wider contact patch (still fits the 9.5") rim..... and they're $100 a pop which means I can get a full set of wets and a full set of drys for the same price as the R1s...

Anything I'm missing here?

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Last edited:

JDee

Ancient Racer
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That's not a lot of tire, 245s are what we ran on GS cars back in the early 90s and those cars were lighter than these cars are. You can get a lot more tire than that on a 9.5" rim. Cheaper and better are often mutually exclusive, especially when talking about race cars.;)
 
+1 on the tires. If you're not limited by a class go 18x11 all around with a 305 or 315. You can easily find takeoffs online for 125$

Keep a set of the 18x9.5 to run a rain setup.

Also thread width is more important than section width. Rule of thumb is thread width should be equal of the rim width
 
Appreciate the feedback. Some more research is needed.

Wonder why they ran 245s in the Miller Cup... [emoji848]


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Last edited:

JDee

Ancient Racer
1,797
2,001
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
5 miles from Mosport
Here's a quote from an article on the Miller Cup series from R & T in 2008:

"The spec tire for the series is a BFGoodrich g-Force R1, sticky DOT-legal rubber in a moderate 245/40R-18 size that will allow the cars to move around a bit."

Allowing the cars to move around a bit would have made for good racing in a spec series, but if lap times matter then they're not going to do the job against the newer wider rubber that is in use these days. Calabogie runs 245 Contis on their S197 school cars and they do generate good predictable grip and are lots of fun to drive, but they'd go much quicker with more tire. Might be a fine starting point, but I'll bet down the road you'll be wanting more. The risk is that what you learn about the car on a narrower tire may not be helpful in terms of what the car needs when you eventually go to wider tires.
 
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I'm running the PWC spec 305/660 and 305/680-18 pirellis DH slicks on BBS 18x10.5" wheels on my 302S. It really likes that tire combo. You will need a 5/8" or 3/4" spacer on the front to let the BBS wheels clear the suspension.
 

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