[petmotel]

The black track car is fully ready to go, it's still up on jack stands to keep the mice out of it. I got more aggressive with the camber up front it's now about 3 degrees. I had to yank the tranny back out and replace the Spec pressure plate, second time I've tried to use it, but it causes an engine vibration. Replaced it with a new Ram plate and it smoothed out.

I have everything I can think of to do the red car except exhaust, but I didn't get the black car stored for winter to make room in the garage to work on it. I've got a fresh Dart 363, Astro A5, Cobra brakes all around, the full MM upgraded/powdercoated IRS with Truetrac carrier, full MM front suspension including K-member, coil overs all around, and Pro-M engine management all waiting to go in. Should keep me busy for a while come Spring.

Jay

 

[Potomus Pete]

I joined Corral especially to say good job to you. I have watching for the past year and this is one of the best garage cars ever. Wish I could see it for real. Potomus pete 1990 LX

 

[Peter92lx]

I joined Corral especially to say good job to you. I have watching for the past year and this is one of the best garage cars ever. Wish I could see it for real. Potomus pete 1990 LX

Thank you and welcome to the corral. Its been an adventure for sure.

 

[Peter92lx]

I finally got the car out to an autocross this last weekend at the NMCA West event in Fontana. It was a really good time had so much fun racing with a lot of San Diego SCCA guys. The event is a ton of fun got 18 laps over the 2 day event. I ended up getting a Special Recognition award for the Wilwood brakes cool car award. It was one of the best autocross races I've done. I'm already signed up to do the next one at the end of March.

The car ran good and those Yokohama A052 are pretty amazing even in the cold. The first day was really cold could couldn't get any heat in the tires but the A052 worked great. It was cold enough the tire pressure barely changed between runs. My last set of 3 runs I didn't even stop to check the pressures I just ran them. The second day got warmer but not by much and they started to work event better. The car felt great it was really well planted mid corner and turned in really well. I never had any issues getting it pointed where I wanted it to go. I just had to work on how I was applying the gas out of the corners. I few of the runs I was transitioning to the gas to hard and causing the car to step out. I made a couple small shock changes in the front but not much just wanted to learn the car and see what needed to be changed. I think the spring rates are on point just think it just needs some fine tuning with the shocks and alignment. I have a really strong base to start with. I think its going to be a really fast car.

I only have one of my 3 run sessions recorded from Saturday for some reason my gopro didn't charge the night before so I don't have anything from Sunday. I was going to film from the outside of the car Sunday since the in car video I took on Saturday I didn't like that much. This is my best lap from Saturday. It's not that good its really hard to see the course from the camera angle.

The one thing I need to look into is the ABS brakes because they didn't work at all and I'm not sure why. I was still locking up the fronts on the car and the ABS module never triggered. Not sure if its the module or the valve body that might not be functioning right. I was able to manage the brakes fine was just hoping to have a bit of a safety net from hurting the tires.

It was a really great weekend of racing. It feels good to have the car out doing what I built it to do. It makes all the long hours in the garage and frustrations worth it.

 

[Peter92lx]

I decided this weekend I would start to focus on getting the car smog tested. I have a diagnostic tool that will do the normal tests on the sensors when the car is engine off and engine on. I started with checking the timing once the car was warmed up since it needs to be a 10 degrees which it was so I moved on to the engine off test which the car passed fine. Then I decided to take the car out for a drive to test the new speedo cable I had to install since the last one went bad this one is number 4. I got the car out on the road and the new speedo cable lasted about 10 min before it seized up and no longer worked. Which sucks since I need the speedo to work for the smog test. So I took the car home to run the engine running test which it did throw a code of 13 which means the idle rpm is to low so I need to look into that issue.

I can not figure out for the life of me why this latest speedo cable failed. I know why the first ones failed they got to close to the exhaust and melted. This last one I had covered it with heat sleeve wrapped the exhaust where it came close I made sure it had smooth bends in it but it locked up. It makes me want to switch to a GPS based speedo and get rid of the cable but I don't feel like doing a Dakota digital dash in my car or something like that. So ordered a new cable and hoping I have better luck this time. If I can get this working I'm going to make an attempt to get it smog tested in the next couple weeks.

 

[Peter92lx]

I wanted to get your guys thoughts on radiator hoses. It looks like my upper one is leaking a bit around the connection to the radiator. I tried to tighten the clamp but doesn't seem to be helping. I'm not sure if I want to go with a parts store hose or something like a motorcraft one. I did some research and people have said the motorcraft one is the good. I also thought about going silicone again like mishimoto but not sure how good they are and all I really need is the upper hose I don't feel like buying a whole house kit when all I need is one hose. What do you guys use on your cars?

 

[petmotel]

1993 FORD MUSTANG Continental Belts and Hoses 5001 Continental Super Elite Blue Hose Kits | Summit Racing

I know you don't need the whole shebang, these Continental hoses have always done right by me.

Jay

 

[Peter92lx]

1993 FORD MUSTANG Continental Belts and Hoses 5001 Continental Super Elite Blue Hose Kits | Summit Racing

I know you don't need the whole shebang, these Continental hoses have always done right by me.

Jay

Those look good and not a bad price compared to the others I have looked at so far.

 

[Peter92lx]

I picked up something for a summer time update to the car. I've wanted to add an Accusump to the car to help with the cold starts and have insurance when I'm out at the track and autocross. I should have added it when I did the oil cooler but wasn't sure if I was going to go this route. I'm not going to mess with this until the summer. I have fresh oil in the car and don't feel like wasting it. The summer right now I will have a 2 moth break so I figure that will be a good time to work on it.

The only real place I have to mount it is the trunk of the car. I'm planning on scaling the car before this NMCA event at the end of March and seeing what side of the car I should mount it on. I'm going to try and weigh the car with 7 gallons of gas I think that should get me through a Autocross weekend fine without running into fuel issues. When I run track days I'm going to fill the car since I'm not as worried about weight when I'm just having fun at the track.

Before the summer I'm planning on running 3 autocross events and 2 track days. So I should be able to get some good seat time in the car.

I'm also still looking into the leak from the upper radiator hose. I'm not sure if the dried up fluid I saw on the sway bar and on the radiator was from the Jan 2 event when it leaked a little or if its something new. I cleaned up under the car any oil or power steering fluid that was on things from when I had leaking power steering line and connecting the oil cooler. It hasn't been leaking but I want to make sure.

 

[petmotel]

I liked your idea of wrapping the exhaust close to the rear diff, differential temp being an issue with the IRS. I'm wondering if you feel that has significantly impacted the diff temps? Couple other questions, how are the oil temps with the oil cooler, did you get speedo cable problem sorted out?

Jay

 

[Peter92lx]

I liked your idea of wrapping the exhaust close to the rear diff, differential temp being an issue with the IRS. I'm wondering if you feel that has significantly impacted the diff temps? Couple other questions, how are the oil temps with the oil cooler, did you get speedo cable problem sorted out?

Jay

I'm not sure if it made a difference. It should have since its keeping the heat from the exhaust off the center section which is something most people mentioned was part of the problem with them overheating. The other thing is the factory diff with the clutch packs generating heat. When I talked with Jack he mentioned a good place to start was wrapping the exhaust. Since I have a torsen I don't have to worry about the clutches going bad from heat. The main thing I need to worry about is the seals. I'm using ford seals so they can handle more then auto parts store seals. I have a temp gauge I still need to hook up so I can monitor it. I'm going to try and get that hooked up before the end of April track day.

The oil cooler is working good. Normally I would see temps around 230 at the autocross at this last event they wouldn't get any higher then 190 no matter how hard I was pushing on the car. I was also doing back to back runs and the temps still wouldn't get any higher. Even the second day of the event that was warmer still wouldn't get any higher then 190. The true test is going to be end of April at chuckwalla. By the end of April it will probably be between 70-80 degrees at the track which will be about 20 degrees warmer then it was the last time we were at the track. Then the end of May event will be even hotter so it will be nice to see how it works in April.

I got a new speedo cable for the car and working on a better routing solution. I think part of the problem is the trans is an inch back which isn't much but the angle the cable enters the trans might be part of the problem. I'm trying not to get frustrated with it right now. There is a part of me that wants to rip the factory dash out and do something aftermarket that has a GPS speedo. I just want to try and get it smog tested it kind of doesn't really matter at this point if it passes or not I have a trailer now and there isn't going to be any events that I can just drive the car to all will be 100 to 300 miles away. I just feel like I built it to be street legal and I'm going to give it my best shot. I still plan on keeping insurance on the car so I'll still be able to get moving permits whenever I want.

 

[Peter92lx]

So I fired up the car today and now I know for sure I have a leak from the upper radiator hose. I also have an oil leak that looks like it's coming from the Mocal sandwich plate adapter but not 100% sure. I'm going to take it off and look it over tonight good times.

 

[petmotel]

Leaks are the worst! I hate dealing with leaks, I try so hard to do everything right while building the car to not have them, so when a leak does show up it's frustrating. It does seem to be a part of the process however.

Jay

 

[Peter92lx]

Leaks are the worst! I hate dealing with leaks, I try so hard to do everything right while building the car to not have them, so when a leak does show up it's frustrating. It does seem to be a part of the process however.

Jay

It's really annoying right now I think what caused the coolant leak was the track day at chuckwalla. I don't run a glycol based coolant in the car. I think the night before the event it got down close to freezing. The car was sitting in the trailer but it was still cold out and the trailer isn't insulated. The next morning when I fired up the car I had a couple leaks one from the upper radiator hose on the radiator side and one on the lower radiator hose at the water pump. They both stopped at the event but the upper one started to leak again its not allot but it's something I will have to fix. I'm going to order the hoses you mentioned to give them a try.

I didn't get a chance to look at the oil leak last night. So I'm going to try and get to it today. I can solve it by disconnecting the oil cooler since I didn't have a leak before. Its not really need for the autocross but I will have to get it solved before the track day on April 24. Hopefully its something that is easy to fix. I've a read a few threads mentioning cleaning the surfaces and remounting the sandwich plate fixed the problem with a leak. But I also heard someone mention a pin hole in the casting and another person mention a small crack in the casting. I didn't see anything when I looked it over before installing it but we will see. If it turns into a big job then I might just install the Accusump sooned then later especially if I have to drain the oil out of the car.

 

[Peter92lx]

I was able to get the oil leak in the car fixed this weekend. I ended up taking the sandwich plate off cleaning everything and installing a new filter and that seem to fix the problem. Not sure what part fixed it but its not leaking anymore so that is all i care about right now. Now the plan is get the water leak fixed and work on getting 7 gallons of gas in the car and get it ready to corner weight over the next couple of weeks. Then I need to get it out for a test drive and get the autocross tires on it. I can't wait to get her out again.