I did it the easy way! I bought one of those special "Canadian Liightweight Specials".
My car is one of the original FR500C's that was campaigned by Blackforest Motorsport in the Inaugural season for Ford. [Ford used Multimatic and Blackforest as the factory teams]
It is an extremely rare car outside of the USA.
[attached is photos of the car at my home]
NICE looking car!
Replicating this car would be cost prohibitive, and they're starting to creep up in value [in 2-1/2years time it will qualify for Historic racing with an FIA Logbook]
Sorry to side track this thread.
If I wanted to build a cheap dedicated S197 racecar, I would start looking for a V8 manual candidate with a nice paint job. [a repaint will cost more than the value of the car]
Then go insane on gutting the car, [I mean everything possible].
I would use stock brakes with race pads and keep the ABS.
Keep the motor stock except exhaust [weight saving] Intake filter, and add an oil accumulator.
Add 4.10 rear gears.
For suspension all I would do is play with spring rates and allignment.
And the biggest expense would be wheels and tyres.
and a simple 6 point cage + 1 race seat and harness.
The majority of the work and gains would be from stripping out the car.
I've seen some pretty good racecars built on the same method [usually in production categories]
If you threw $200K at your car, you only end up racing against others that also spent the same amount on theirs.
Having Fun and driving on the absolute limit of tyre adhesion is what it's all about.
Agreed, 100%. I would also add that the BEST route, at least up this way, would be to start with a high-mile GT, and basically strip the thing down to a bare chassis.
1) Sell the engine and trans, replace with a 5.0 crate motor and controls pack, and a T-56 with good ratios, like a MagnumXL, BossR1, or a Rockland Standard close-ratio box and an aluminum 1-piece shaft. Cat-less exhaust with long-tubes will save a BUNCH of weight. Aluminum flywheel and basic clutch, too.
2) Ditch all the stock electrical junk, and just wire it up old-school. Brake lights and the controls pack stuff is really all you need for a track rat. More involved if you want to build a night-capable enduro car, but for a typical sprint race or HPDE car, that's all fluff. Seriously, the electrical system weighs around 50lbs! (PDB, RCM, SJB, etc, plus a TON of wire).
3) Refresh the suspension: Best dampers you can afford, replace all the bushings up front with delrin/aluminum; all rod-ends out back, including the PHB. Watts weighs. Hydraulic or electric rack is up to you, depending on which donor you have.
4) Early GT500 brakes. With the "new and improved" weight, you won't need the 12-piston carbon-ceramic cross-drilled bling brakes that also cost a fortune. Stock rear calipers. GT500 HCU and Boss302 ABS module, wire in the wheel speed sensors and the two power leads, done. Bonus points if you relocate the block away from the nose.
5) Strip EVERYTHING out of the interior, including the seam sealer, weld-in a nice cage, bolt in one good race seat (plus belts and nets), and done.
6) Swap the stock diff for a TruTrack or gear-style diff, and either 3.73 or 4.10 gears (depending on your usual tracks). Diff cooler will be a good thing to have, as well.
This CAN be done for around $30K (USD) plus the cost of the donor, less the sale of the engine and trans. What you're left with is a ZERO-mile drivetrain, and nothing but what is essential to start, stop and turn, and essentially a build that would need to be restricted down to fit into American Iron. Long-term survivability is high, consumable expenses are relatively low (Toyo or Hoosier R-comps), and it'll be a hoot to drive, and should scale between 3000 and 3100 without driver.
Obviously not a complete parts list, but you get the idea from the broad strokes. Yes, you can "improve" on this list, but it will drive the cost upwards for "relatively minimal" gain. Skip the accumulator and go to a GT350R oil pan, for a net cost of ~$1000. Automatic V6 donor can save you bucks, but you'll need to replace the rear axle assembly.