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S197 Team Old Goats Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

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Hi everyone. I had a 90 Mustang GT ( origional owner ) summer car, always had a liking for them. I came across the 2005 as part of a sponsor deal. It was a flood salvage car, automatic. It has camber plates, a coilover package, exhaust and cold air and a decent cage. Its sat if a field a few years and I decided I better get on it. So Im busy now !

Its like Xmas at my place, boxes keep arriving.

I do hope to keep this thread updated. I have the oil catch cans installed, new clutch installed when I put in a used manual transmission. At that time I pulled the air conditioning. I should have put a heat shield on the starter at that time. Its now on the to do list.

I have a ls1 944 track car thats in a million pieces.
I endurance race a first gen awd eagle talon.
I ice race chevettes and now another awd eagle talon.
I have a 930 chassis 935 clone. Im just needing time and money to put a LS in that. I picked up a 4.8LS to put in this car. Almost have all the parts, just zero time for it right now.
My tow rig is a 2006 Silverado 2500. 32foot enclosed trailer and a flat deck.
 
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Picked up the paint yesterday. 2 shades of metallic grey, lime green accents, the graphics ( cobra design ) are in the mail and should arrive soon. I need to pull the wrap, and cut holes for the fender and hood vents before I do the paint. Car below is kind of the color scheme idea. I hope no one in my club is using 197 as a number as numbers are coming with the decal kit.

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The cage meets rules requirement for my club racing. But I am going to add to it. Used my dimple die kit for the first time ever, had that for several years ! Was bang on notching most of the new bars. Welding in tabs for window net, probably also a tab for a center net, dimple die bits to tie cage to a and b pillars. some extra diagonal tubes on the halo. I wanted to support the a-pillar part of the cage with a additional tube. I ran two pieces of tape, the tape closer to seat really gets in the way of my foot getting in and out. So out comes the dash so I can go the path closer to dash. Will add a seat back brace, camera mount while I’m in there welding.

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Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,349
Exp. Type
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Blair, Nebraska
I like your choice of paint colors and I have been thinking seriously of using a similar green for my class designation and numbers , though I will just be putting them on with decals on magnetic vinyl. Interesting build and where do you usually race in Alberta?
 
I like your choice of paint colors and I have been thinking seriously of using a similar green for my class designation and numbers , though I will just be putting them on with decals on magnetic vinyl. Interesting build and where do you usually race in Alberta?
The numbers and decals are all vinyl. I just had a paint sample of lime green to check that it didn't clash with the colors in some weird way. Home track is Edmonton, Calgary has a new member track, but the club arranged 2 race weekends this year so I am motivated to get on a new track. The new one has about 100 feet of elevation changes and looks spectacular. My home track is pretty small. Funnest racing I ever did was we when our club ran support races for the Edmonton Indy events, but that was over ten years ago. Ran my LS1 944 in those events.

My build should go pretty fast. I hope to have welding done in two weeks ( cage upgrades and jack rails\stiffen kit ). Rest is bolt ons. At that point I can get out and bed in brakes, start a shakedown, etc.

I will be making a removable front bumper\splitter. I have damaged enough bumpers loading lowered cars into trailers. That will take some fiddling.

Changing gear ratio from the automatic 3.3, adding a better LSD, installing the surge tank, battery relocate will all happen after I get the car together so I can get some testing in.

What I have not decided is where on the bumper to duct to the radiator. Seems that above a splitter and blocking off the fog light opening is the logical choice. Since I will be venting the hood, and I am upgrading the rad I dont think I will have heat problems. If I go off track I would have to stop and make sure the opening isnt blocked from grass. If I block the lower bumper opening and duct from between the hood and bumper it will make the removable bumper\splitter a easier thing to build because the ducting wont come off with the bumper. I think it will just look a little weird and might not be as aerodynamic.

Since my bumper has been torn and repaired, and doesnt cover the wide wheels very well I picked this for $168. Duraflex bumper. I will be removing my non functional hood scoop thats on my hood.

If anyone has a measurement of splitter to ground on their track car I would like to know. I probably have to lower the splitter a bit from the bottom of the bumper and then put a small air dam in place to join the splitter to the bumper. I have to take my springs out and measure them to find the spring rate of what I have, its pretty stiff so Im going to try them before I look at spring\shock upgrades.

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Only thing left to weld on cage is the window net tab , a pillar gussets and a kill switch mount.
I kind of want to put a a pillar support bar passenger side , but I don’t think I will.
I did find out today that even though my climate control/fan switches were plugged in, I have no fan, I need to determine why. I may keep factory switches, or I may put a toggle switch in for fan on full and set blower to windshield defog. I should test if the traction control switch is still working while I’m at it. The dash was super easy to get out, whoever put it back in after the cage install had 2 screws in, nothing else ! Probably would rattle and shake pretty bad on the track like that. I think I’m cutting the bottom half off the dash and putting in a flat piece of sheet metal ( for guages )

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Parts are still arriving daily. Feels like the longest X-mas ever :), my wife is getting annoyed, caliper paint for the stock rears arrive 7am this morning....

Picked up the duraflex bumper last night. Im a bit disappointed, the plastics seem a bit thin and rigid. I can see this thing cracking and pieces flying off if I make contact, there doesnt seem to be much flex in this before that would happen. Oh well, should have bought a spare as the shipping was more than the bumper.

I found out why the dash wast not really fastened down. The a-pillar bars and what was cut out of the dash wasnt enough. I could not push the dash up to the firewall. So I had to cut the ends of the dash off. While I was doing that, I chopped a lot of the plastics off the bottom of the dash. I am fabricating a panel ( on a piano hingle ) to install switch panel\guages, etc.

I need some help though. My club has now adopted NASA rules for 2022. I have a brain aneurysm trying to wrap my head around a few parts of the rules.
HP/Weight, car falls easily into ST4 I think. However I have lots of aero planned and I am buying the Zestino 280/650R18 tires. I think my club doesnt have a lot of experience with the new rules set either. Im making some assumptions here without digging into the hp\weight calculations. About 3400lb with driver and 280hp at wheels max hp is how I figure Im ST4 possibly. Thats 12.24 Weight/HP. If aero changes the modifier I can add ballast.

Please chime in if you race with the NASA rule set.

With money ( hp upgrades ) and time ( weight reduction ) I can get to some better numbers and fit into ST3. But Im curious if I can fit into ST4.

The zestino tire , section width is 308MM and treadwith is 280MM ( mounting on apex 18*11 wheels), they label the tire as 280/650R18
Rules say for ST4 over 3000lb NASA section width = less than 282MM. It then goes to say Non-DOT tire width is determined by the size number printed on the sidewall. So if 280 is stamped on the side , is this tire legal for ST4?

I am planning hood vents ( that stick up more than 3/8 ), splitter, wing, etc. Seems ST4 is limited for aero mods, not sure if this just affects the weight I have to have in the car or if my aero mods will force me to ST3.

Hope to make some progress this weekend. Spent the last 2 evenings scraping out some of the sound deading material. Why Im spending time on that Im not sure.
 
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Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Key rule for NASA and SCCA is if a tire or something is not listed do not even attempt to use even if you think it should be eligible. Unless your group has only semi adopted the NASA rules Zestinos are not listed and the other caveat in the US is even if the tire is listed as eligible if it does not fit in their dimensions framework ( regardless of what the manufacturer says ) it can be deemed illegal. ST4, in the US, is letting you know a 275 Toyo RR is what NASA prefers you to use. Unless you are running a V6 it can be tough to get to ST4, but just go to drivenasa.com and click on the NASA ST/TT Classification form and it will give you a good idea where your car is placed. I assume your group is requiring a Dynojet Dyno sheet also, and car weight it figured on car and driver?
 
Thanks for that feedback Bill. Being the first year for NASA rules locally Im not really sure what the club is doing. I know that lots of guys in my club run the zestino tire, its the go to tire for our spec maiata guys. That doesnt mean with the new rules that its allowed, but it will be chaos if they are not allowed, there was just a big delivery of these tires in a group buy to many club members. Yes I will need a dyno\weight factor figured out. Location is Edmonton, Alberta. But it would be good to know if my car is legal in NASA events if I took it south. So your saying its probably not a legal tire in official "NASA" events. Good to know. Being I already have the 18*11 wheels going to a 275 isnt really a option for me. Hoosiers are too expensive ( 315/30/18 ), So the zestinos are my planned route. Otherwise its a NT01 or Toyo 315's ( which sounds like I would need that in the USA anyways )
 
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ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Cage looks like it is coming together nicely.
That seat (Bimarco) doesn't appear to be FIA rated, according to their own website. Check the requirements for W2W or TT for the organizations you want to run with to determine if you need to do something different.

NASA and SCCA requireFIA-rated seats--not sure what the regulations are for orgs in Canada.

Keep the build details coming!
 
Bimarco has many non FIA seats but this one is FIA. My seat mount is in ( at my friends shop ). I should have it next week. Once I have it can install the seat and put in a seat back brace as my seat will be on double locking sliders ( which makes that non FIA if I understand ). I can bolt seat directly to base if I have to run without sliders.

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501
550
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Exp. Level
20+ Years
Snowy North
Suggest that you confirm with your seat mfg that they condone bracing their (composite) seat.

1) Some OEMs design in a bit of flex to absorb initial impact...FIA cert considers that.

2) Bracing can concentrate stress in a location in the seat that mightn't be designed to manage those loads.
 
Good point and I will ask Bimarco. Its my understanding that when a fia seat is past its expiry date, then a back brace is required in many sanctioning bodies ( wont affect me for 5 years ) to continue to use the seat. I know the endurance race stuff I do requires it ( different car ) if the seat is a certain distance from the harness bar on the cage. Thats because in endurance racing most cars are on sliders to accomodate multiple drivers. I also know the back brace is a requirement in that if the sliders fail in a rearward collision the belts can become loose. I think this all stems from a accident a few years ago where that happened. Its very easy to install a seat and have that be non FIA compliant, Im very aware of that. I do want to do safety first. Will share what I find out. If I get the outer tube welded to the cage, I can always pull the back brace, so I will plan to at least get that welded to cage.
 
Well, I usually don’t swear, today will be different. Soaked the plugs in penetrant for 2 days. First one broke, the other three in the head don’t budge.
is my new plug a one piece design so I won’t have this problem again? One of my mechanic friend told me to just pull the heads but that seems drastic.
This really slows me down. Was hoping to bolt the new seat in today.

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6,361
8,183
Well, I usually don’t swear, today will be different. Soaked the plugs in penetrant for 2 days. First one broke, the other three in the head don’t budge.
is my new plug a one piece design so I won’t have this problem again? One of my mechanic friend told me to just pull the heads but that seems drastic.
This really slows me down. Was hoping to bolt the new seat in today.

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Stand by..
 

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