[5_0Muscle]

SLA changes the car completely. These cars are phenomenal with SLA's. I'd like to do one, but I think I'll stay with a conventional coil over simply because I'm not sure I'll have the patience or time to build a proper SLA set up myself and I don't want to pay someone else to do it.

The SN95 would have been a game changer if ford put an SLA style front suspension in them stock.

GREAT work by the way!

Thanks. I agree, I can't believe how great the car handles right now.

 

[5_0Muscle]

Haven't been great of keeping this up to date. My YouTube is closer to realtime, but I'll try to bring this up to date.

CAM rules for 2023 had a line stating horns are required equipment, which I had removed long ago. Additionally Autocross Week also states a horn is required. I installed a universal horn in the factory location and used factory wiring, relay, and horn. But instead of using the steering wheel button as I don't have a clock spring I ran the interior wire directly to a push button in the center console.

Since I changed to EEC-V the engine fan has not been controlled by the ecu. The EEC-V outputs a PWM signal to a fan controller, while the EEC-IV just controls a on/off relay. I've been using a switch to turn the fan on and off, but that doesn't control it very well as it can overcool or if gets switched off (which is has) can quickly overheat the engine. I used a fan controller from a crown vic fan, a fan motor from a taurus fan, and a fan blade and housing from a SN95 mustang. Overall it works, but at recent autocross with 80-90 ambient it's still getting into the 220-230 degF range although I have it set at 202 degF. I don't know what the temperature was with the EEC-IV setup, but I might need to start looking into other cooling upgrades. I still run a stock radiator and I don't know what thermostat is currently installed.

Lastly, I'm deviating from my every Friday release schedule to get the Autocross Week videos out. Day #1 dropped today. First day is check in and Summit Racing paid for a go kart session for everyone. We did a "qualifying" session and then four fastest from each of those sessions did a 20 minute feature race. I just barely made it into the feature race, #16. I quickly made up a lot of places, but got greedy on one corner going on the outside of someone and went off and got beached. After waiting for someone to come push me out I lost almost all of my places. With the remaining time I was able to get up to 13th position. But I definitely had found some pace and my quickest lab was good for 4th fastest overall. Go karts were so much fun and something I want to do some more of. This was really my first time with proper carts other than some amusement park ones when younger.

 

[5_0Muscle]

Day 2 of Autocross Week, which is the first day of actually racing. I out classed myself by reading the rules too literally. The rules for Classic, which my year car would fit into, said stock style suspension components. My car doesn't have stock style, but still uses some stock mounting points. But I read that and moved myself to Super Sport, which turns out to be Porsche GT3, Camaro ZL1, C5, C6, and C7 Corvettes. No way in hell I'm keeping up with those cars. Especially without PAX. But I'm up for the challenge if I can't change class.

First event was at Pitt Race on their skid pad which is a large somewhat flat asphalt pad. It does have some sloping that caused some off camber turns. The course was fast and fun, but I just could not get a handle on it and could not break out of the 63s range. To be competitive I needed to be in the 60-62 second range. One thought I had was my mind was probably preoccupied with the 3 hour drive ahead. Which I have never done in this car before and it has had overheating and drivability issues previously.

The drive.....was absolutely fantastic!!! We took back roads to Punxsutawney, PA, which was the required check point. We had a pop up car show in the town center park which was cool. The car cruised perfectly straight and coolant stayed right at 202 deg where I had it set. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first drive. Huge relief off my shoulders, hopefully I can race better now.

 

[5_0Muscle]

Day 3 of Autocross Week was an absolute blast. Best day so far. The autocross was at UMI, which is a circle track with a tight infield. So having grades, barriers, grass, poles were all new to me and took a bit to get comfortable with. Once I was confident in the grip I really pushed those things out of my head and concentrated on hitting my marks and looking ahead. I really noticed in a few spots, namely the lefthander going over the small hill onto the circle track that looking ahead here allowed me to pick up the throttle earlier which resulted in a lot of time gain.

Also, I overheard someone asking why they got bumped up to a higher class. I asked a simple question about being in a higher class with a car that should be lower and they said my car should be in Classic not Super Sport. Yay! I can now race with cars similar to mine and potentially be competitive. I also heard some of the cars in Classic had subframe swaps which is technically different from factory....But I'm happy they moved me without me really asking or pleading my case.

I really pushed the car and myself at this event. I think this might have been the best I've ever driven and I was having fun. All those things led to me winning my class and by a good margin, 0.360 seconds. Which doesn't sound like much but in the world of competitive autocross that can sometimes be hard to find. Again we got so many runs, I did 14 out of 16, which helped to get comfortable and push.

Afterwards, we had a long highway drive from Clearfield, PA to Akron, OH with a checkpoint stop at Summit Racing in Ohio. Driving the car on the interstate sounds like it would be dreadful, but I had the best time just cruising in a convoy with 8 other cars. Highlight moment for me. Not on the interstate yet but here is the convoy, can also see the smoke from Canada:

Next day is at Dragway 42, which is going to be the fastest and longest course yet.

Now for the video:

 

[5_0Muscle]

Day 4 of Autocross Week at Dragway 42 was fast. The course was on the dragway paddock roads that form a grid system. It was over a mile long and took forever to walk. I only got one walk but it wasn't too difficult to read. During the drivers meeting they said it will be over 90 second course and if you're at or under 90s then you're flying. I've never been on a course so long, so remember every corner could be a problem.

After the morning session I was in the 90 second range, although not clean. The pressure was on for the afternoon session to get some fast clean runs. The best I could do were some 91 second runs, which was good enough for second in class. I was excited for that and definitely helped my overall position.

I had a great convoy crew with other guys from North Carolina.

The checkpoint place for today was Trick Flow, which I run Trick Flow heads so I was excited to check out the facility. It's a lot smaller operation that I thought, which is pretty cool. Then I got to show off my car some and answered a lot of questions about the engine and suspension setups. I think they should sponsor me

Then I completed the drive back to where we started at Pitt Race. I was finally reunited with my truck and trailer after about a 500 mile round trip. Back on the first night I slept in a tent but Pennsylvania at night gets colder than I thought. Instead of setting up my tent and possibly being cold all night again I just slept in the back of my truck. It was the most comfortable thing, but I didn't freeze.

Going into the last day I'm sitting 3rd in class overall and have the possibility for second if I drive well. However, this is the location that I did the worse at on day 1 and my competition is very good.

Video time

 

[5_0Muscle]

Day 5 of Autocross week!!! I was back at Pitt Race skid pad where we started. It was time for redemption on this course. The course was basically the reverse of the one on Tuesday. Which runs better since you start slow and end fast. I felt the momentum was in my court and the car was driving well.

This Porsche 944 was also in my class and had a LS crammed under the hood. Since they were basically the same color our cars were nicknamed the Battleships. I had a great time meeting and hanging out with new people.

Now for the racing...Things started off really well. I went into the lunch break (5 runs) sitting first in class. I brought my front splitter but didn't run it all week as I was worried about it hitting during street driving. But now we were at the last location. I asked the guys in my class if they caried if I put the front splitter on, they didn't. So after lunch I installed the front splitter to see if I could pick up any more time. I didn't. Not sure if it was my driving or the splitter. For the last run I removed it again and ran my second fastest run. So maybe the car is faster without the front splitter?

Unfortunately, the other guys in my class were able to find time after lunch. I dropped to 3rd by the end of the day. What was cool was that out of the 4 events we had 3 different winners, so competition was really close. If I had done better on the first day then maybe I could have finished higher overall in class, but I finished in 3rd place in class and super stoked with that. Really gives me confidence that the car and I are competitive outside just my local region. I need to work on being more consistent and running faster times earlier instead of my last run. But I hoping to do more events outside of my local region.

Thanks for following along!
Video:

 

[5_0Muscle]

Hot off of autocross week we went to a local autocross. But before we did that we drove from VA to Pittsburgh so Ashley could go to Taylor Swift. I didn't go to the concert as I'm not spending that much on tickets, but I'm always down for a road trip. Plus I got to drive my new daily driver, a 2017 VW GTI. It's a very fun car and decent on fuel (but way better than my Duramax).

The event was at the same site that we ran back in April, where I didn't do so well (finished in the 20s for raw and pax). But I've done some good upgrades since then (lower rear spring rate and more front caster), plus a lot of driving. Ashley has won last two events with this club. So expectations are high for both of us.

We started the day by receiving our 2nd place trophies from the 2022 season. I know a little late but some things take time. This is the biggest trophy I have ever won.

Ashley ran in the 2nd heat and had 4 other ladies in her class. She drove well, but not with the same fire she had at the previous event. She was definitely trying though. She was the fastest lady in raw time, but her class is PAX based. She finished 2nd by 0.069s!! So close but that is still really good point haul for the year end championship.

I ran in the 3rd heat and had 7 other competitors in my class. One of them being a PAX killer (0.793) HCS 911 with a very fast driver. Along with some fast corvettes. But I know my Mustang is fast . On my second run Ashley rode with me and she's my good luck charm. I set a banger of a time which went unmatched in class (based on PAX). But, it was also a banger of a run overall. So I finished 1st in Class, 1st in PAX, and 3rd in Raw. (Note the RX8 was actually a corvette, forgot to change car in software)

I did a little test during this event inspired by my results during Autocross Week where we ran some runs with the front splitter and some without. Interestingly, Ashley and I both ran our best times without the front splitter. Now that could be heavily influenced by our driving. Neither of us are 100% consistent. I felt the car handled better with the front splitter and the rear was less loose, but my times were slightly slower. I do know that my car is usually it's fastest when the rear feels loose. It rotates very well and can get through some tricky sections. The jury is still out if it's faster with or without the front splitter.

Now for the video:

 

[5_0Muscle]

This event was at a local circle track and was the first time in recent history that this club ran at this venue. Out of precaution, they designed a very conservative course, which I appreciate. No reason to run the risk of putting a car into the wall. The more they run at the site and figure things out, I'm sure the courses will get faster and stay safe.

For this event it was just me, as Ashley had a prior commitment. The weather was very hot and did cause some very warm coolant. It didn't overheat but it was getting to the 230F range which is wild on a 40sec course. I'll address this later. But back to the event, after seeing the other cars I knew competition was going to be tight. I set a goal of being in the top 5 in PAX, which was going to be tough but doable.

I ran in the second heat out of four total. It took several runs to start pushing the car and figuring out where the time was. My times after the 3rd run were good for 2nd in PAX, but I knew there were some really fast drivers in the third and fourth heat. There was a very tight slow sweeper onto the finish straight. I have always been against downshifting and prefer to just stay in second gear as much as possible. But this turn was so slow that on the 4th I decided to try a downshift to first gear. This netted me some time but it wasn't that much faster than my 2nd and 3rd run. Next place I knew I needed to fix was the infield sweeper. I was going too hot into this turn and pushing wide on the exit. I initially thought maybe I could go wide entry to get a good run out but it just wasn't working out. For my last run I made sure to slow down for the infield sweeper and stay tight to cut the distance. This along with being more aggressive in a few other spots netted over a 1 second improvement!! So at the end of the second heat I was sitting 1st in PAX and 2nd Overall. But I knew that would not hold after the remaining two heats.

As I watched and worked the remaining heats I watched fast times being set and my position tumble. At the end of day where did I end up?? Raw time I was able to stay in the top 10 with a 6th position. Then for PAX I finished 4th!!! I met my goal of being in the top 5. I was sitting in 3rd PAX until the BRZ's last run, so close. But that driver is a national champion in a CSP Miata, so I wasn't surprised when he jumped up the standings once he got a clean run. And the Mini Cooper is winning almost every event he enters (turbo 4cy has more HP than my V8).

This event was so much fun and I'm stoked with my standings.

I finally got around to putting a gopro on the front suspension. Check out run #3 for a full run of just the suspension working. It is a super cool view seeing the SLA actually going up and down, along with seeing the tire flex. It has me more convinced that maybe 285 on 10.5 would be a better option than the 295. Also it's interesting to see the lower control arm rotate some due to the sway bar. That is going to need attention in the future.

Check out the full event video:

 

[5_0Muscle]

Attended another local autocross in the drag strip parking lot. The weather was HOT. Which provided another challenge for us. My car does not have AC or even a blower motor (this may be something I rethink in the future).

The course was typical for this location although they changed the start line location and included a loop. But the tight 180 sweeper and weird offset slaloms avoiding bad asphalt were still there.

I ran in the first heat. There was one other CAM-T car but not prepped, just a beautiful 86 Mustang. But the CAM-C GT350R was running with this club for the first time this year. Last event I was able to out PAX him, let's see if I can once again. After my first couple of runs I was fast, but not clean. Additionally, after my second run my car became a dual driver car. One of the other guys that was codriving a Corvette only got one run before that car broke. So I let him codrive a couple runs with me. This was fun but put more heat stress on the tires and engine. On my last run I finally got a clean one but it was 1 second slower than my fastest dirty run and that dirty run I screwed up the last obstacle which caused me to go over the finish quite slow. In the end I finished 5 in class, while my codriver finished 2nd. Him and I both had times which if were clean would have been first in class and top PAX. 😞

Ashley ran in the third heat, so the sun was in full force by this point. She ran clean mostly, but struggled to push herself faster. I rode with her on the 4th and 5th runs. Her 4th run was 2.5s faster than the 3rd run, but with a cone. For some reason she drives more aggressively, when someone else is in the car. I think at this point she was sitting 3rd in class, with one run left. Just needed to repeat 4th run but clean. Fifth run was clean and fast but 0.06 secs slower than 4th run. She had first in class at this point, but one lady left to run. The other lady jumped her by 0.044 secs after PAX. Ashley finished the event with a respectable 2nd place. Since she was so close in time (0.044s) to first place, she still brought home really good points for the year end championship (99.9 to be exact).

I reviewed the TrackAddict data collected for my runs, Ashley's, and my codriver. For some reason I could not figure out the last slalom before the finish. Entering the slalom between Ashley and I, I was only a few MPH faster. But the rear axle came around on me multiple times. I'm not sure if I was braking and upsetting the car? This compromised backsiding the next cone and getting back on the power. While Ashley did it perfecting and was able to get back on the power to the finish right at the second cone. She went through the finish 10mph faster than me, which is tons of time!

Comparing my last run, to my fastest dirty run I lost time in the launch. For those that say the launch doesn't matter that much, it definitely can depending on course design. I bogged bad on my 5th run. I think I rushed and didn't get the car up on 2-step long enough and launched the car when rpm was starting to drop or something. Then that last slalom, which I couldn't get right.

Overall I lucked out for the overall PAX championship, in that a number of the other fast drivers were at another event. I finished 8th in PAX out of 74 drivers. But it was my event to lose. The car was capable of winning top PAX, just I wasn't on that day. I know I shouldn't be hard on myself, but I was super bummed I didn't win since I was so close. True Champions are on it all the time and don't have off days. Still working on it...

Video time!

 

[5_0Muscle]

I bought a new toy...a S1 sequential shifter! This is something I've had my eye on for a long while. They had a sale and I'm a sucker for precents off and free shipping.

This shifter installs on a normal h-pattern transmission and makes the shifting behave like a sequential. So upshifts are pulling back and downshifts are pushing forward. No more mis-shifts. Overall, I think this is just a really cool piece of engineering.

Installation in the car requires some cutting of the transmission tunnel to fit the shifter. But overall install is super simple until it comes to aligning it. The mounting holes are oversized to allow the shifter to move in all directions. Additionally, it includes a 1mm and 2mm shim plate. So it was a lot of trial and error trying to get smooth shifting.

I also bought the gear indicator cause otherwise I'd have no idea what gear the car was in. I mounted it on the steering column so it's right in front of my view. I want to figure out some way to clean up the carpet around the shifter, but not sure at the moment.

After a test drive it's quite fun to drive. I don't think I would want to daily drive it, but it's more geared towards race cars anyway. Shifting is easy, but I am having an issue with reverse and 5th. Since they are on the same forward/back gate I think I need to try a different shim.

But for now here is the video on installation and first drive:

 

[5_0Muscle]

We completed our first autocrosses with the new shifter and new radiator last weekend. I thought I had the shifter alignment all good, but as Ashley was driving to grid the second gear shift was grinding. I had about an hour until event was going to start, so I tried messing around with the alignment of the shifter. No matter where I placed it, it wanted to grind 2nd. I took out the 1mm shim plate and tried some more. Finally got to something halfway decent. I'm wondering if it's temperature related.

On course I had no issues shifting to 2nd. Ashley did have issues on the second day. For her I'm thinking it might be she's having trouble fulling disengaging the clutch. I think a hydraulic clutch may be in my future. But the 1-2 shift felt same speed as before, which is what I expected. I didn't think the shifter would be faster at shifting, actually it might be slightly slower. But I got it for the 2-3 or the 2-1 shift, which I attempted one 2-3 shift and 3-2 shift during autocross, but decided it was faster to bounce rev limiter momentarily then to shift.

From Fabman's suggestion I am going to try Amsoil ATF to see if that helps with the cold shifts. Otherwise, it may be the 2nd gear synchronizer and that will have to wait until off season. So I would probably reinstall the Steeda Tri-Ax for time being.

As far as the radiator, Sunday was HOT but coolant temperatures remained manageable. I had the fan set to turn on at 200 degF. While on course and throughout the runs the coolant temperature would climb 15-20 degrees, but would come back down after the run ended. I wasn't seeing any more 230-240 degF coolant temperatures. So I'm happy about that. For efficiency, I think I would prefer a little higher than 200 degF, but the car is mainly raced on course and not driven on the streets.

Autocross results and videos will be coming soon...

 

[Dwain]

yeah, its most likely the synchro and blocker. My guess is the faster engagement of the shifter overwhelms the syncro because its right at the point of failure. Good news is the T5 is extremely easy to rebuild... Bad news is the 1/2 synchro requires the entire output shaft assy to be completely disassembled but its still an easy job. I can fully disassemble, replace parts, reshim and have it back together in about 5 hours.

 

[267154]

Great thread and cool car!
I may have missed it but is the Taurus fan motor a direct bolt in to the stock SN fan?

 

[Nitrous SSC]

Very sweet ride. That suspension design is intense.

 

[5_0Muscle]

Autocross event at NCCAR, which is a road course in North Carolina. This was the first event with the S1 Sequential shifter, see post #31 above. The course...let me say...was challenging. I think they used all of the cones they owned. It was fun though, just was difficult to get a clean run.

*Disclaimer, results have still not been posted, so going off of unofficial results from what I can remember at end of the day.

There were 4 drivers in CAM-T, most of us only got one clean run. Unfortunately, my only clean run was 2 seconds slower than my fastest scratch runs and slower than the person in first's (Nwanagu) only clean run. I was looking forward to having a good battle with him as he's a national level driver and is going to nationals, but we ended up battling the course. There were only two heats, so Ashley had to work on course during my runs. Oh yea, the course was changed from when I and Ashley had walked it in the morning. The course was over 1 mile long and fairly simple so we only walked it once and headed back to paddock. Apparently, there were some people that suggested changes that they did to the course. So mine and Ashley's first runs were going in blind basically. Only I didn't know the course had changed until I was driving, I never heard an announcement (there could have been one) or mention during the driver's meeting. Luckily, Ashley was able to watch my video some before her run.

For ladies class there were 2 drivers. Ashley was able to get 2 clean runs out of 5 total. She improved greatly from her first to last run. I had to work during Ashley's runs so I couldn't give any feedback or helpful tips. I think she did quite well figuring out the course and pushing herself to go faster. Higher speed courses and ones with off course distractions (ie grass) like this one get in her head. She finished 2nd in Ladies class.

I don't have any overall results. It would be nice to be in top 10, but I don't think so with that "slower" clean run.

Video:

 

[5_0Muscle]

yeah, its most likely the synchro and blocker. My guess is the faster engagement of the shifter overwhelms the syncro because its right at the point of failure. Good news is the T5 is extremely easy to rebuild... Bad news is the 1/2 synchro requires the entire output shaft assy to be completely disassembled but its still an easy job. I can fully disassemble, replace parts, reshim and have it back together in about 5 hours.

I'm going to try AMZOIL ATF first. It's weird once warm aka several autocross runs there isn't any grinding. But yea it's not hard to rebuild, just wasn't planned. I'll have to dig into my memory bank, as I rebuilt one way back in high school. I am looking at making a SN95 "Z" spec T5 though to get better gearing. First is just too low and useless.

Great thread and cool car!
I may have missed it but is the Taurus fan motor a direct bolt in to the stock SN fan?

Yes the Taurus fan motor had same bolt pattern and fan blade attachment as the stock SN95 fan. The electrical connection is different though.

Very sweet ride. That suspension design is intense.

Thanks. I need to go fast

 

[267154]

Have you considered an Astro A5 transmission? I run one in my boosted '94. They shift like butter and remain lightweight.

Do you think the Taurus fan motor is an upgrade over the factory SN fan motor? Thanks.

 

[5_0Muscle]

Have you considered an Astro A5 transmission? I run one in my boosted '94. They shift like butter and remain lightweight.

Do you think the Taurus fan motor is an upgrade over the factory SN fan motor? Thanks.

I have not, but I'll take a look.

I'm not sure if the Taurus fan motor is an upgrade, it doesn't seem like it spins any faster than factory SN. They are the same size, so I'm assuming same power. Reason I changed was get the flying lead wires to make wiring to the fan controller easier. I could have made a short adapter harness between the SN and CV fan controller, but this was cleaner solution for me.

 

[267154]

I have not, but I'll take a look.

I'm not sure if the Taurus fan motor is an upgrade, it doesn't seem like it spins any faster than factory SN. They are the same size, so I'm assuming same power. Reason I changed was get the flying lead wires to make wiring to the fan controller easier. I could have made a short adapter harness between the SN and CV fan controller, but this was cleaner solution for me.

Here's an A5 for sale:
Astro a5

 

[5_0Muscle]

We had an autocross event with the local club we are trying to win trophies with. This was event #5 out of 8. Going in Ashley and I are both first in class and I think I am 1 or 2 in overall PAX.

The course was easy to read and fast. It had a fast right hander which put me into a 4 wheel drift, which was fun. Not sure how much it was hurting my overall time though. Again the back 180 sweeper was the most crucial element to get right and was the biggest difference between Ashley and I. I was able to get a good run out and hold throttle through the following elements, where Ashley checked up at the following elements. But I think she was thinking she couldn't fit through there, albeit it was tight. She also was having trouble with the shifter still. She did several runs starting in 2nd gear so to have to shift. But it was a little tougher getting off the line and she didn't like it. This probably played into her finishing order for this event.

For results in ladies class, Ashley pushed but couldn't find the pace and finished 3rd in class. Not quite the result she wanted, but there will be two drops at the end of the year. So I'm still confident she will lock in first place in Ladies this year.

For my class, I was able to lock in first in class by almost a second after PAX and had Top PAX at the end of my heat with one heat left to go. I had a rerun, I was currently sitting first in PAX and the cars in the last heat were slower street cars (DS, ES, HS, GS, etc). I was overly confident that I would keep top PAX and decided not to take my rerun. Well... that was a mistake as I watched several cars jump me in PAX by hundredths and thousandths of a second. By the end of the day I was 0.195 seconds behind top PAX and 0.008 seconds behind fourth. The top 5 were really close and the top 11 were all less than 1 second behind top PAX. But I am ahead of my main competition for that end of the year overall PAX championship, so it was still a good day.

Video: