fivehunsky
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- Mar 12, 2010
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So, I figured since we "ice dancers" got our own subforum I should take advantage of it and start my build thread over here.
Some of you guys might have seen the "drifting pictures" thread I started a while back. If not, check it out. There are alot of cool pics and a few cool vids as well
http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55419
Anyway, So, Ive been sliding my mustang around for almost two years now. Its really a great platform for our sport. Its very stable while drifting once its properly set up. And while it is low on power compared to the cars I normally drive against it makes up for it with good grip and smooth line control. I love it.
Driving with Doug VDB at Texas Motor Speedway
Last year was pretty big for me. I havent been in the drift biz for very long. Only a few months before I purchased the mustang. But, this car helped me have a fast learning curve and I progressed quickly. I competed in the "Lone Star Drift" Texas series put on by www.fabricatedmotorsports.com as well as one round of the Extremedriftcircuit series. I also got invited to go to the final round of Formula D at Toyota speedway of irwindale for the ProAM competition. That was a pretty big deal seeing how FormulaD is the NASCAR or drifting. It was a pretty awesome year overall. But, at irwindale I learned the hard way the the concrete in California is just as hard as the Concrete in Texas.
Here is the result:
It was a very hard hit. I over-rotated into the inner bank and went from around 60mph to zero in about 10 feet. Thats not including the all four wheels off, almost tried to leap a k rail, jump the car did. I tried to get it put back together for the competition as the wreck happened on day 2's practice but it just didnt drive right and I failed to qualify. Pretty expensive trip overall lol. But, I had alot of fun and met some really great people.
I brought it home and did one more round of lone star drift before I decided to put it up and rebuild it.
Marty at Autocomp Racecars in Haltom City TX (Dallas/Fort Worth) Has been behind me and this car since day one. He is a super awesome dude with some crazy fabrication skills. The shop is mainly a road race oriented joint but he likes drifting and since we met has helped alot of guys in the local scene out with everything from tire mounting to full builds. He is the motivational force behind anything that actually happens to the car. I love it and I am doing alot of the fabrication work but he is responsible for all of the welds and definitely has alot of swing on decision making. Just wanted to thank him before this thread really goes anywhere.
So, now that you know why its cut up I can move on to what Im doing with it.
I dont have a bunch of pics at the moment but I will definitely update as I go.
First thing that happened was all of the dead material was trimmed off of the rear of the car.
trunk for sale
cleaned up a little
Once we got it cut down we could start figuring out what exactly we needed in the rear. So far the plans are to tube everything from whats left of the frame rails back. We are going to make a subframe type setup that is easily replaced if it gets bent. The rear panels will be hung with dzus fasteners and very small tubing. Just enough to hold them up. I will make a larger push bar to support the bumper and help reduce impacts that everything else will be built off of. The panels themselves will be either trimmed factory quarter cuts or the fiberglass ones being used in the similar s197 being built in canada in here. Havent decided. I have alot of parts to replace and not so much cash lol The rear window will be a plexy unit.
The interior of the car was already stripped and caged after the car started drifting. I have updated it with different bar setups for different sanctioning bodies as well. As of right now the cage is beefy and legal for just about anything lol.
I also finally decided to gut the doors as well. Im searching for a magical sub 3000 pound mustang but Im not sure how possible it is because nothing I pull off ever weighs anything. We will see.
Thats actually all I have at the moment. I will post up some more when I get back up to the shop and have pics to go with what Im typing.
Till then. Here is how she sits at the shop.