Started on May 4 by robench
My 2002 Tii is still a few years from being roadworthy and I was getting the itch to get back on the track. I found a deal on a Mustang that was far less than the price of the performance parts already installed and bought it on a lark. I flew to Texas with some spare parts/tools and drove it home to Seattle via the Southwest. Boy, there is a lot of desert in this country.
Since then I've completely gone through the suspension, interior and engine. It's been a lot of fun working on it, and it's payed off with a nice track car that is pretty fast and well sorted. I don't have too much into it (not counting all the labor) but It's a bit faster on track than an E46 M3, so it's pretty good bang for the buck. See below for the long list of modifications. I'm an engineer by training and it's an interesting challenge to get a nose heavy sedan with bad suspension and small fenderwells to handle well.
I use it for open track days, autocrossing, and even a little drag racing. It's a rough, noisy, god-awful road car, but it's comfortable enough to drive it to the track.
Modifications
Drivetrain:
The engine has a freshened stock bottom end with a reasonably well matched set of top-end parts. It should be good for about 360HP. A lot of the engine mods were already in place when I got the car, saving me a lot of money.
Body:
Weight savings, safety equipment, and bracing
Suspension/Brakes:
The front suspension has extended lower ball joints to keep the front roll center height reasonable despite being lowered. It also has a bump-steer kit to keep it pointed in the right direction.
The rear suspension has a panhard bar for lateral location and roll center control, relocated lower control arms for additional anti-squat, and adjustable spring perches for setting corner weights.
What's next? I'm not sure. I really need to stop playing with this car and just use it. I should by spending my time on my other projects, but if I do change anything, it would be this:
I found a shortblock on Craig's list and sent the heads to Baker Cylinder Heads in Nevada for repairs . They were welded up and reshaped with all new valves, springs, retainers. 13 of the 16 valves were bent/destroyed in ...
July 2009 with the BMW club at Portland International Raceway.
Chunks of aluminum from the disintegrating cylinder blew back into the intake system and went through the other cylinders causing dents in the "good" pistons and combustion chambers. It will be interesting to see what the crankcase looks like when ...
You can see where the valve heads pounded a hole through the piston. That's where the oil in the intake system came from. Note the big cracks in the cylinder wall. I'm guessing that was caused by the piston getting ...
The exhaust valve head made it out the port and was stuck in the header.
Beaten to a pulp on the right rear cylinder. Intake valve head stuck in the port. Sparkplug stuck too. The head is a total loss.
Looks like I overran the rev-limiter on the 4-3 downshift and floated a valve. Yuck, this is going to be expensive to fix. I don't have the heads off yet, but note the damage to the valvetrain in the picture. ...
Broke some sort of internal engine component during the last session of a PIR track day. When down shifting from 4th to 3rd at the end of the back straight, a strange rattling noise started and there was a huge ...
Just measured the weights: - 3200 lbs with 1/2 tank of gas - 55.8% F, 44.2 R weight distribution (with driver) - Corner weights even in front, 80lb off in the rear (with driver) Better distribution that I thought, but ...
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