I just want to publicly repeat my really really great suggestions for your popping-out-of-gear issue:
A) attaching a bungee cord that you can stretch around the shifter when it's in second, and
B) making some sort of wooden gate that you can flip down that locks the shifter in second
Don't thank me, thank my smart brain
In reply to NONACK:
You don't need mudflaps, you need rock tamers!
Fixed:
fidelity101 wrote: In reply to NONACK: You don't need mudflaps, you need rock tamers!
The cones were asking for it 
This car is awesome. Thanks for sharing and I'll be paying attention to its exploits.
The original plan for my blue Mark VII was exactly what you are doing with your Mustang. Please post more stuff so I can live vicariously!
Any pics of the 5 link?
In reply to The_Jed:
I don't have any pics of the 5-link, but it's one of these (just much dirtier and with aftermarket LCAs as well):
Update coming soon hopefully, I've been working way too much on my Celica and Buell instead...
pics of the buell or ban
Hotlinked to the PO's build thread!
Fix or Repair Daily
In preparation for tomorrow’s rallycross, I had some crap to fix. First order of business was the cooling fan- testing confirmed that the relay was once again functioning, but would refuse to switch back on after continuous use (I left it wired to a battery overnight, disconnected, and then tried to reconnect it again and it didn’t activate). Being a 30 amp relay, my best guess is that maybe it failed due to the fan running close to the amperage limit? I replaced it with a 45 amp relay, wired to run whenever the key is in the “ON” position. This way, at least I can tell if the fan is working every time I start the car.
The next step was my 2nd gear issue. I’m afraid that the T5 may already be E36 M3ting the bed, but I might as well eliminate other possibilities before I rip the trans out. The internet has multiple accounts of this problem being caused by old, hard rubber shift boots, so I ripped mine off. Surprisingly, this has made it significantly easier to engage 2nd, so maybe there is something to it- I guess I’ll find out at the event tomorrow.
Finally, some weight reduction I had been putting off- gutting the doors. I had left the entire window mechanism in both doors in place, and locked the windows in the full-up position, for fear that I would lose the option of having windows while it was still cold out. But now it’s spring, and therefore angle grinder time! A quick note on angle grinder safety that I haven’t heard anywhere else: although everyone knows the rules about eye protection, I have an additional rule which has served me well, especially when using a cutoff wheel. If you can’t get a tourniquet on it, don’t put it in plane with the cutoff wheel. They explode, I’ve even seen them go through guards on some Harbor Freight models, and you’re going to have an easier time driving yourself to the ER with a belt around your arm than with a severed jugular.
I left the internals of the door in place, eyeballed the location of the door seal, and went after the doors with the cutoff wheel. Mustang sheet metal is insanely thin, so I was done pretty quickly. After liberating the windows from their mechanisms, I threw out the rest of the door innards and cleaned up the cut edges with a grinding wheel. Leftover generic edge trim from the spoiler project was used to insulate the edge, and this is what I ended up with:
The rope is not only a door pull, but allows me to put the windows back in: they slide up into the top half of the door, and the rope gets wrapped around the bracket on the glass. Of course I didn’t take a picture of this, or the window net I installed afterwards, but if anybody wants pictures just let me know.
Tomorrow’s event should be interesting- it’s at Kempton, which is actually a very good venue with consistently poor turnout for some reason. There’s a ’71 Bronco in my class, which should be cool/terrifying/fascinating.
Looking at all that door wiring reminds me about how I managed to remove almost 40lbs from my car by pulling all the unnecessary wiring, power lock mechanisms, switch consoles. It's worth the effort to rip all the window wiring out now I'd say.
Also, while you're at it, why not remove the side mirrors for more weight savings? Not like you're going to drive this car on the street :)
Btw, I assume you talked to Kevin about picking up those tires for me, yes? Muchos Gracias!
masterchef604 wrote: I just want to publicly repeat my really really great suggestions for your popping-out-of-gear issue: A) attaching a bungee cord that you can stretch around the shifter when it's in second, and B) making some sort of wooden gate that you can flip down that locks the shifter in second Don't thank me, thank my smart brain
Re-engineer things so it's easy to change the trans. On the RX-7, I can get the trans out without disconnecting any wiring or removing the exhaust - starter swings out of the way on its cables, floor is recontoured so the shifter tower will clear it without tilting the engine, there's a handful of bolts that I deemed unnecessary, etc. I had the trans out in five minutes the last time I changed it. In an hour, I had the trans changed, oil changed, pinion seal replaced, and repaired some threads in the floor.
Or you can switch to an automatic, but that's no fun since they just work.
Kempton?
irish44j wrote: Looking at all that door wiring reminds me about how I managed to remove almost 40lbs from my car by pulling all the unnecessary wiring, power lock mechanisms, switch consoles. It's worth the effort to rip all the window wiring out now I'd say. Also, while you're at it, why not remove the side mirrors for more weight savings? Not like you're going to drive this car on the street :) Btw, I assume you talked to Kevin about picking up those tires for me, yes? Muchos Gracias!
Tires should be a go. Wiring teardown may happen, I think if I do that I'll pull the dash and remove all of the now-useless wiring from the harness. The side mirrors are staying, they're surprisingly helpful when it comes to getting the car in and out of the garage, and unloading. Besides, it may still occasionally see street use with an AZ transit tag...
Are you running your upper arms in the upper mount hole or the lower mount hole; 98% or 65% anti-squat, respectively?
Upper- 98%
The choice had nothing to do with antisquat, however: with the springs removed, there seemed to be a lot less bind overall when articulating the axle and compressing the suspension with that setting.
Interesting. I've been wondering how the traction situation was with so little weight over the drive tires. I'll bet you can pick it up. Like physically grab the rear of the car and lift it. But, apparently, that hasn't hampered you at all, judging by your run times!
Do you have any more videos?
NONACK wrote:bluej wrote: Kempton?Kempton.
Hmm. That's not much farther than frostburg from here. Good luck!
The_Jed wrote: Interesting. I've been wondering how the traction situation was with so little weight over the drive tires. I'll bet you can pick it up. Like physically grab the rear of the car and lift it. But, apparently, that hasn't hampered you at all, judging by your run times! Do you have any more videos?
There should be more videos after today 
The rear suspension can be lifted to full droop by hand, but you can't physically lift the back of the car with two average sized people. I think that's mostly axle weight though, and I would guess that nearly 1/3 of the rear weight is unsprung. As a result, rear suspension changes don't seem to do much, but rear tire pressure changes have a significant impact on handling. The traction situation kind of sucks, but it has enough power to use whatever traction its got ALL THE TIME, so it's largely a matter of finding that fine line instead of just spinning the tires to the point of digging trenches.
BMR Kempton Rallycross 5/4/2014
So, if you live in the Northeast (or a lot of parts of North America, I think) you know it rained a E36 M3load this week.
It was REALLY GODDAMN MUDDY. Since I had never driven the Mustang in mud, I totally berkeleyed up my first run- I understeered right off into the biggest pond available, and, to the cheers of spectators, workers, and competitors alike, decided to avoid getting stuck by gassing it and mud bogging my way straight through the thing. This set to tone for the morning, with much mudslinging. In between the first and second runs, the car wouldn’t idle due to all of the mud on the air filter.
What I learned here was: half tread rally tires suck in the mud, but the car will keep turning as long as the entire run is a festival of drifting and Scandinavian flicks, so that’s what I aimed for. As usual, I hit lots of cones, but went fast- I had the 2nd fastest raw time out of all of the cars for the morning. My cooling fan behaved itself, the second gear grind was still there but no more popping out, and everyone loved the show.
It dried up a bit in the afternoon, allowing me to go even faster (and therefore provide more of a spectacle). The course had a 180 pivot cone (think Ken Block) which I was able to “back it in” and rotate around to my satisfaction. My offcourse excursion and many cones kept me out of first, but I had fun anyway. Oh, and I got the car really dirty. And lost a headlight, and both mudflaps.
On the way home, I stopped at a “pay and spray” car wash, cleaned the Mustang off, and got yelled at. Today was a good day.
So... I'm thinking about selling this and keeping the funds on hand while I wait for an appropriate Group 2 car to pop up for sale.
Tell me why I should or shouldn't?
You might only get challenge money for this when a gp2 car may be about 4-10k and that does not include licensing and safety gear.
In reply to fidelity101:
Well, of course, but Stage Rally is where I eventually want to go either way, and having an extra challenge car worth of $$$ put away, plus saving by not towing to Rallycross events for a whopping 12 minutes of seat time- it won't pay for a car with a logbook, but it would help.
You'll need to log in to post.
