S197 Weekend Track Warrior Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[AboveAvgJoe5]

With the front splitter done, I took to mirroring the 302S trunk lid bracing to install the Nine Lives Racing big wang. Thanks to @zajac for the inspo on the brackets. I picked up a V6 deck lid with no sat antenna or wing holes as a cheaper alternative to patching mine at an auto body shop.

With a few pics that @zajac shared and using cardboard to mock up 302s-esque inner wing supports, I spent a night or two learning super basic design using OnShape. The free version is pretty intuitive and I came up with the following


I sent this off to sendcutsend to produce out of .125 inch thick aluminum and was super happy with the cost, quality and speed of delivery.


Then, I modified 1 inch aluminum spacers from Amazon to fit in between the outer and inner skins and inner brackets to secure the wing. The bolts go through the top wing holes, rubber isolators I quickly whipped up for weather and paint protection, outer and inner lid skin and aluminum bracket. Longer bolts are needed with this setup since the Nine Lives were too short. My wife’s help made it much much easier to align everything. Would be near impossible by yourself. I then riveted the support where it contacted the inner skin. Since I’m still learning to weld, I had a local weldery add supports similar to the OE 302s as well.



Wing performed great at 0 AOA with the 3/4 inch gurney at VIR although it’s definitely gonna take a little time to use all the added advantages of the aero. For anyone else buying the Nine Lives wing, I’m happy to share the file for the inner skin brackets. This was my first time doing this sort of thing and am super happy with the results. Need to get the wing powder coated locally and clean up inner trunk lid paint.

 

[AboveAvgJoe5]

In between VIR and NASA instructor training this past weekend, I secured new Vorshlag MCS double adjustable coilovers with the GTS spring setup from a forum member and promptly upgraded from the Koni yellows.

To prepare for the coilovers, I borrowed the strut cutting tool from @blacksheep-1 and cut the tower holes using a 2.75 inch hole saw. A little deburring with a sanding wheel on an Dremel and touch paint and it looks OEM. Thanks again Rob!!

Install of the coilovers went somewhat smoothly. The rears were drama free when I got an assist from the seller and Vorshlag on removing the OEM junky rubber spring isolators for install of the spring and height adjuster. The fronts were a little of a pain since you have to remove the brake duct backing plates to get the strut to spindle bolts out. With 25mm spacers up front I still had to be sure to use all available room on the upper strut bolt to ensure clearance of the tire on the coilover. Had to adjust this once because I was optimistic and originally set it up for max camber. The size and weight difference of the coilovers vs the yellows is significant and the quality of the MCS strut body is awesome! The setup with the yellows, MM road and track springs and camber plates is for sale for anyone interested.

Post alignment and corner balance from Heinlein Racing Development in Northern NJ, she was ready for instructor training at NJMP.


The instructor training was awesome and I successfully passed the requirements to became an instructor! I didn’t really get the chance to test out the new setup since I was passenger side for most of the training and Saturday was a wash out so that’ll have to wait a bit. The car did feel much more composed and balanced though.

 

[EF1]

Keep us posted on the new set up. I am considering the same set up on my next upgrade cycle.

 

[AboveAvgJoe5]

Keep us posted on the new set up. I am considering the same set up on my next upgrade cycle.

Will do!!

 

[twistedneck]

Nice job on the camber increase clearance deal.. i actually opened mine up by hand using a dremel (i had the tool but liked the slot look vs the larger circle look)..
One thing, i was watching all those AJ hartman and Race Louvers videos and one of the most unexpected and biggest gains they had was adding tire deflectors to the front at the ends of the splitter. this was a giant reduction in drag and even decreased lift. With that big boy tire exposed up front i bet you could really benefit from them and they are cheap too if you make out of sheet metal.

PS those MCS coilovers are so sweet looking.. i ended up going with the 2 ways from Cortex the JRi kit all the way around and i'm so happy but i'm still loving the look of those MTS setups. how did you like the ride?

 

[Badger]

Next up, I began a front splitter build to match with a Nine Lives Racing Wing on order.

A 77inch TV box makes for a perfect canvas to sketch out a splitter outline.Went about 5” from OE GT lip out front and 2.5” on each side ahead of the tires using a wood block.View attachment 94108

I used 1/2” hard maple plywood for the splitter and a router to round the leading edge with a longer slope on the underside.
View attachment 94111

I used 1x1” aluminum angle with a million cuts to create a fence that I riveted 3” plastic to block air flow.
View attachment 94112
The splitter is chassis mounted at 8 points. One set as shown above is L brackets attached to flat stock attached to the body area below the headlights. Another set uses the combo of kazespec engineering chassis mounts and professional awesome quick release mounts.
View attachment 94113
The front of the splitter is mounted using the OE mounting locations in the 302S bumper bar and professional awesome rods with built in titanium skid pucks under. The rear is mounted using threaded rod into the factory Z brace. Primed the splitter and painted 3 coats with some black deck paint I had leftover.
View attachment 94114
Splitter is very strong with slight flex up front to give under impact due to the PA rods. No issues during first track weekend of the year. I’m super happy with the result and of course have the cardboard to make additional.

Love seeing the kazespec brackets! Still got to prototype on my car.

 

[AboveAvgJoe5]

Thanks fellas!! I love the new coilovers but haven’t been able to really test them out because I’m troubleshooting a couple issues. Two or three track days now where I’ve only gotten a session or two in.

I’m getting a loud quick pop when shifting. Started on downshifts only but now also occurring shifting into a higher gear. It sounded like it was coming from the rear of the car. I pulled the diff cover off tonight and don’t see any metal and the ring looks fine. Any ideas?

 

[twistedneck]

Thanks fellas!! I love the new coilovers but haven’t been able to really test them out because I’m troubleshooting a couple issues. Two or three track days now where I’ve only gotten a session or two in.

I’m getting a loud quick pop when shifting. Started on downshifts only but now also occurring shifting into a higher gear. It sounded like it was coming from the rear of the car. I pulled the diff cover off tonight and don’t see any metal and the ring looks fine. Any ideas?

Sounds like a trans thing, clutch and everything else works fine.. and now just a single gear?

 

[AboveAvgJoe5]

Sounds like a trans thing, clutch and everything else works fine.. and now just a single gear?

Rebuilt the MT82 with carbon synchros, the bronze shift rail stop and bronze shift pads. Threw in a new slave and Hyper Single as well. Have a replacement master cylinder that goes into the pedal assembly which will go in next weekend.

 

[AboveAvgJoe5]

With the shifting issues, I decided to yank the trans and rebuild it. Trying to memorialize this here for others planning to do this with things I learned mostly after I did something dumb. Getting it out and then in the car on jack stands was by far the most difficult part.

Once you have it out of the car, disassembly and reassembly is actually much more straight forward than I expected. My first time opening a trans.

I did purchase the Ford detent pin removal tool and a large OTC 2 jaw puller which made things a lot easier in my opinion.

First, I pulled the rear flange off by using an impact on the large nut and HF 3 jaw puller with a socket.

Next, use the Ford detent tool and a slide hammer to remove the 2 small and 1 large detents on the rear section of case. Also remove the shift fork pivot bolts at this time. There is one on each side of the case.


With that off you can remove the case bolts. I would also completely hammer out the 2 pins holding the case together because they’re super tight. The large 2 jaw puller from OTC worked well here. I would put the large nut back on and use that with a puller vs the socket method which kept leading the puller to be cockeyed.



With the case apart, this is what you’ll see. I then removed the shift rail (black rod in pic below) stop using the detent tool. I then used a screwdriver to pry up a bit on the reverse shift rod where it goes through the mid case plate and wiggled it off the synchro. You can also wiggle the 1st/2nd gear shift rod and shift rail out at this point. The reverse synchro then comes off easily with a 3 jaw puller.

Where things don’t come off by hand very easily, the 3 jaw puller is your friend.

When the shaft was broken down to this point, I focused on removing the mid plate bolts and shift rail retainer. There is a spring under there so be careful when taking that out. I then used the large OTC 2 jaw puller under the mid plate to pull everything off seen below.

Next post will cover removal below the mid plate.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Great stuff on the trans

 

[DarrylS76]

Rebuilt the MT82 with carbon synchros, the bronze shift rail stop and bronze shift pads. Threw in a new slave and Hyper Single as well. Have a replacement master cylinder that goes into the pedal assembly which will go in next weekend.

Hey man so how do you like the GTS set up over the koni yellows? I m about to get yellows N steeda springs but thinking about going the extra yard and getting the coil overs. Also Are they cheaper then cortex ?