....yeah I've been lazy since my trip to Texas a month ago when the car left black and came back white. I got the salt off but it needs a detail for sure.
Update for January...a couple things done and another event in the books.
First-stuff done to the car...
-I got 3.31 gears installed. After that autox in November and my last run at ECR, I needed the 55's GONE. Just a really terrible ratio. Anyway, I went down to Vorshlag to have that done and they confirmed what I had been thinking about my diff carrier bearings- they were shot.
Here are two of the rollers from the bearings- every single one of them looked like this. NOISY. AS. HELL. Anyway- here's what I think happened- I think I had been losing more gear oil than I figured. Low fluid=more heat=trashed bearings. Anyway, now that I have a real, non-leaky catch can I think I'll be ok.
After the bearings got replaced, they finished setting up the gears, and they're nice and
noise free. I also had some ARP studs pressed in the axles while they were out.
Jan 25- MSR-Cresson- SCCA Club Trials.
The TX region SCCA decided to hold a club trial event with the rest of their races at MSR-Cresson. Club Trials is a time trial- cars get transponders, and you compete for times. I was happy to learn about this, as I had never been timed on a big track before. I know NASA has TT as well, but you have to get through all of the HPDE to get there. I intend on working on that, but this event was a fun (and cheap) event I could do now.
Cresson, TX, is not very local to Vorshlag (Plano TX). I drove down to Cresson after getting my work done and stayed the night there. The next morning, I got up and drove to the track...kind of. DO NOT trust Google to get you to MSR-C in the dark. It will send you down a gravel road in a neighborhood. Anyway, I eventually found it and got ready to go.
Nice sunrise:
We had 24 entries for the Club Trial event, 8 of which were coyote/roadrunner-powered Mustangs.
Me:
Brian S:
Jan M:
Terry & Amy:
Jerry C
Aaron S
I don't know this guy but he has a pretty car
Anyway- session one was (mercifully) a lead-follow. I had never driven MSR-Cresson so I was glad for this. It was kind of hard to get my bearings and figure out where the line was, just because we were going to slow. Anyway, I at least knew what the track looked like.
Session two- So we had no order to the grid- we just "lined up." Chaos ensued. I passed probably 8 or 10 cars on the first 6 laps and finally got a clean look on lap 7- I ran a 1:29.1. I thought I did ok for never having been here before. There were a couple corners I knew I was doing wrong, but I couldn't really see the line, drive it, and deal with traffic on a new course all at the same time.
Video:
I unfortunately forgot to charge the GoPro so I only got video of that session, session 3, and about 2 minutes of session 4.
Session three- it had warmed up some, and I didn't bleed my tires down any more...so they were really pumped up and the car was sliding all around. Didn't crack 1:30.
Session four- Terry rode with me and showed me where to go and where the braking points were. I changed my upshift points (there are only two on the 1.7CCW) and it felt a LOT better. I also got the line through a couple corners I had previously been unsure of, and ended up getting a clean look after I backed way off of the cars in front of me. I ran a 1:27.4 this session, so that's a nice drop from the earlier 1:29.1
Me hopefully scaring Terry:
Session five- I went out alone this time and...the low fuel light goes on on the first hot lap...dammit! I didn't bother to look before I went out. Sure enough, the car starved on the second hot lap in a fast left-hand complex towards the end of the lap! I still managed a 1:27.2 with that...but dammit that was going to be a 1:26.X. I tried another hot lap and it was even worse...so I took a cool-down and came in. I was happy to see that the time drop I got from Terry's coaching stuck with me, so I suppose I learned something.
End of day results:
I was pretty happy with this- Terry, Amy and Ken, yeah they should be fast. 4th was some sort of Lotus, Mike DuSold drives a crazy twin turbo LS 67 Camaro that sounds like a jet fighter, and Whitener is an SCCA national champion in a *cough*CRX*cough*. SOO...maybe that one hurts. Brian and I were close all day, and he's been doing track events a lot longer than I. Anyway, a good day.
1st and 3rd
2nd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
Impressions of new parts-
Rivals- I really liked the Rivals- better than the RS3's, and much better than the Pilot Super Sports. Very nice feel, they make a lot of noise, tons of lateral grip. Anybody looking for a streetable track setup, the 295/35/18 Rival on 18x11 wheels would be tough to beat.
3.31's- much better than the 3.55's I think. Autox will be the true test of this, as will a couple places at ECR where I had to shift to 5th briefly or bang the limiter. I liked the taller gearing- I didn't feel any noticeable torque/power loss and the gears last longer. Good stuff.
Anyway- next thing...probably Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma. I've never been there and it's only an hour away! Looks like fun. I guess I'm on break for February...oh well.
Me too, I'm bummed I didn't do this MSR event. I wasn't sure what a solo club event was so I passed. Damn it. I've got new additions that needed thrashing.
I am not a member of SCCA. However, I would have like to have done that event as I will be there in March with NASA and it would have given me a chance to see the track. If ya all make it out on the 22nd, I'll see ya there.
Good job out there, Mark! You improved a bunch throughout the day, and did damned well for your first Time Trial and what... only your 2nd track day?? I really liked the 18x11/295 Rival set-up on your and Jan's cars. Those levels of grip from a 200 TW tire shouldn't be legal!
I agree with you on the gearing... the Getrag + 3.31 set-up seems to work very well for the Coyote motors, shorter tires we tend to all use, and Texas road courses.
As you can see in the above video, with 3.31 gears (with some extra grip and aero) for the the MSR-C 1.7 course it was just 4 easy shifts per lap, using 3rd and 4th gear only (peak of about 7100 rpm in 4th), just about perfect. 2nd gear was too short for the 3 chicane "Rattlesnake" section, but using 3rd gear still never got below about 4000 rpms. And with the extra torque of the Coyote over the Boss.... it works. Revs were 4000-7000 the whole time.
And of course the 3.31s will work better in autocross - you will be doing a lot less 2-3-2 shifting in Solo, which will save you lots of time. The 3.55 and 3.73 gearing is just terrible with the Getrag's ratios, and only probably works for drag racing. If you have a choice, and are in a 2011-14 5.0 6-spd, get the 3.31s... Ford kinda goofed putting the 3.73s with the "Track Pack", in my opinion.
Mark, it was good meeting you the other day. I finally read through this build thread. Wow, I don't think I have ever spent that much time on one thread topic. Really great info and great job keeping it documented. Keep it up.
Mark, it was good meeting you the other day. I finally read through this build thread. Wow, I don't think I have ever spent that much time on one thread topic. Really great info and great job keeping it documented. Keep it up.
Mark, next time you visit a track, try mounting the camera farther back. We have a great view of the track, but I want to see your steering inputs as well. Sorry, but that's what you get for posting your vids on forums . I've had good luck with using a sticky mount and a suction mount on the back window looking forward. Just make sure to set your exposure to spot metering to make sure the GoPro isn't metering the light from inside the car, otherwise you'll only be able to see inside the cabin and everything out the windows will be overexposed.
You need to change your thread name to NOT another ...TT build
Mark, next time you visit a track, try mounting the camera farther back. We have a great view of the track, but I want to see your steering inputs as well. Sorry, but that's what you get for posting your vids on forums . I've had good luck with using a sticky mount and a suction mount on the back window looking forward. Just make sure to set your exposure to spot metering to make sure the GoPro isn't metering the light from inside the car, otherwise you'll only be able to see inside the cabin and everything out the windows will be overexposed.
You need to change your thread name to NOT another ...TT build