The rack was a remanufactured part that had a defect in it. It looked liked it had been clamped in a vise at some point due to the marks on it. It developed a 2 inch long crack right in the middle of the vise marks. I installed a new rack that looks like it was deburred and have had no issues.

The ABS unit is a 2006 Corvette Z06 unit. I used the Z06 unit because it has the right calibration to match the Brembo calipers I'm runninG. Same piston volume as the PBR calibers.

The hardest things I had to were:

Getting passive rear wheel speed sensors in the Ford 9" with the correct number of teeth to get the pulses per rev correct. I ended up using 2004 Mustang wheel speed sensor and 2006 Mustang tone rings. I have a ton of time in making the backing plates to get the wheel speed sensor, park brake and the caliper to all fit up robustly. The front wheel speed sensors are production C-6 Corvette on the DSE front clip.

Building all the brake hardlines. I have about 40 feet of S/S brake line in my car. I purchased a hydraulic flaring tool to get all the flares right. For the inverted flares and the metric flares.

Building the wiring harness so it is not susceptible to EMF or noise. Routing it in the car to keep it away from heat and is durable.

Of the things that I did on the car ABS brakes was the hardest because it was the first time I tried it. I still have a prop valve in the system so if it faults out I will not have too much rear bias.

I got the system to work by tricking it to think it was installed in 2006 Corvette. Due to the fact I have a stock C-6 ECM in the car I hooked the CAN data stream up between the two. The other sensors were faked or installed.

Mark

in other words, being a GM suspension engineer helps a ton.................... :lol:

Jody

And being and to read a wiring diagrams.....We also built the engine harness from scratch. Lots or wires. My buddied Ryan Kuhlenbeck wired the whole car and built all of the harness. He had about 200 hours in just wiring the car and making the harnesses. :hail:

WOW!! Mark :hail: :thumbsup: :hail:

Ryan is a great (and smart) guy. Glad to meet him.

Congrats Mark on all the progress so far on the ABS.

Maybe a mini build book devoted just to making ABS work on these old cars?

Nice work Mark!:thumbsup:

Good seeing you at VIR, sounds like your pretty sure the rack was given the squeeze in the vise causing its failure. Did you end up changing the mounts at all? Cheeses you off that your weekend got cut short by no fault of your own.

I never realized how much flex these cars go through, until VIR. The apexes on the S turns at 120mph, tires left the ground on more then one occasion. Fun weekend. Ron

That response about the ABS was helpful. Thanks!

jp

Looking forward to Pahrump. Joe does awesome work.

Once I know all the bugs are worked out I can tell more. I'm still in the development part of this program. I do not want to give advice to people on brakes. If it goes bad it can go real bad. I have been pitched off track a few times due to ABS glitches. I want to know it works very well before I tell how I did it. It is still a WIP (Work In Process). Once I have sorted it out I'll let the Lat-G guys know. :thumbsup:

Mark

Sounds awesome. :cheers:

jp

Well so far I have a 60-0 mph braking down to 107 feet :D

I need to look at breaking in a turn and split Mu.

Stielow

For those who don't know what "split Mu" is (like me 5 minutes ago :) ):

when a vehicle attempts to brake on a surface with uneven friction coefficient such as on wet or icy roads it is called a split Mu scenario

But 107 feet sounds good. Real real good. Thanks very much.

jp

For comparison to the 107 feet.
I found this from a 2009 ZR-1 Corvette test.
"A set of carbon-ceramic brake rotors are included as one of the Corvette's most notable upgrades, and they're no joke. They provide enough bite to haul the ZR1 down from 60 mph to a stop in just 96 feet, an amazingly short distance matched only by the $192,000 Porsche 911 GT2."

Hmmm I'll assume thats what caused the 4th gen F-bodies to plow through corners on the track. I have heard it called " Ice mode ". Basically when you introduce race rubber and hard braking on the track the computer was confused on the what to do and released the brakes.

Mark do you know if the newer generation software was calibrated to a different outcome? I would assume so as I have not heard about vettes having this problem.

We were just glad to be part of such a great project!:thumbsup: Looking forward to seeing the car again at LS fest in a few weeks. and...you still owe me a ride! lol :D

Paul

Hi Mark, its a bit off the subject but I just read a few posts back that your a GM Suspension Engineer. Just a quick question, I'm doing a C5 drivetrain conversion here in Australia to a Holden Ute. I'm modifiying the Holden chassis for the C5 cradle. I'm working out cradle height at the moment, could you tell me if the cradle is level to ground or is it tilted back some degrees when installed in the C5?.

regards Tim

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Photo0378.jpg

Well I did my first SCCA AutoX today in 15 years. It was just liked I remembered. Due to the fact I haven’t been to a Detroit Region SCCA AutoX in a long time I sent the “Director” of AutoXs an email as to what I should do. He said you HAVE to be there before 8:00 to get teched and the first car would be on track at 9:00. OK! I got up at 6:30 this morning got ready and hit the road in my car with visions of cones in my head. I got to the parking lot at 7:45 sharp to see 6 other cars in the parking lot? OK so now I’m here let’s get teched. Some old guy looked at my car for 30 seconds and put a green dot on the windshield and a sticker on my helmet. OK now it is 8:00 LET’s GO because I’m excited. Not so fast you need to go register. OK LET’s GO. I went over and stood in line. When I got to the front of the line the grumpy SCCA lady said I need to see your SCCA card. I said well I registered on line and I didn’t bring it with me. Well after some phone calls I got my number and I was READY to go. At 9:30 we got to walk the parking lot. We walked the lot until 11:00. Alright NOW I’M ready to go. “Not so fast you are in the second run group so you need to work the “Course” as a cone chaser”. OK LET’S GO. I stood in the middle of a parking lot in full sun for 2 ½ hours in 95 degree heat. So when I finished my worker session I got to RACE……I belted in my car sunscreen in my eyes and sweat beading up on my sunburned face. I lined up and launched my car I ran up through first gear….wait….I stayed in first gear for the whole lap. OK I still have visions of cones in my head and I think I can go a little faster. 38.6 seconds later I did go faster……Yeeeehaaaa.
So, for sweating my butt off I got 5 – 38 second laps in a parking lot in Detroit. So for my $25 entry fee I got 3.2 minutes of track time. Or it cost me $7.81 a minute for “track” time. I can go to my local track and run a track event for $200 for 4 – 20 minute sessions. So that is $2.50 dollars a minute for track time and I DON’T HAVE TO STAND IN THE SUN. Humm.. so Auto crossing is cheaper?

As I drove home past all the blight in Detroit with my A/C blowing ice cold on my sun burned face I had a chance to reflect on the day……I still think this sport of ours has a place in it for everyone. If you do something and you like it keep doing it. If you don’t then stop. We all got into this to have fun. I’m going to stick to open track events and the muscle car shoot outs and suck it up during the AutoXs.

I get it. I understand AutoXing. It is just not my cup of tea…..


Check out my fancy numbers.

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/q...l/DSC_3148.jpg

Great write up Mark! And you're right -- in this hobby you get to pick and choose, and do exactly what YOU want to do.

I always say to people -- there are two kinds of car guys... Greasers and waxers... I'm a greaser. I like hands on... I don't like to wax or clean. I like to DRIVE to a show - but I don't like to show.

SCCA must be full of a lot of retired NCRS guys... they sound very similar!

:woot:

Lol ... last Monday was $200 for 2 1/2 hours on 3.56 mile 19 turns, auto x is for imports!

I think autox is for events like goodguys, i.e. limited space, allows spectators a chance to see the cars as part of their entry into the show, allows rides for spectators, and more importantly it allows vendors to show their stuff to the public for hopefully future business.

It's fun, but it's very limiting for cars and drivers like you Mark. From what I've seen most cars that are fast on open track events do pretty well on the autocross also, but cars that are fast on the autocross are not always fast on the big course.

Cool car.

Now this quote I like!

This is a 100.000 plus dollars car with 8 dollar painters tape decals priceless

Very true Mark. Great write up!:cheers:

I think autoxing is like practicing kissing your cusin so when you get that date w/ cheerleader you are all ready to go.

I've never seen the numbers broken down like that Mark, well put. I haven't autocrossed for years, now (as soon as the car is ready) I am an instructor for a local open track group. Almost as much track time, but for free with a lunch thrown in! Yes, most of the track time is driven with one eye on the rear view mirror, but we usually get 2 12-15 minute "instructor sessions" that are wide open.

Autocrossing has it's place, that's where I started. But, once you get a taste of open track, it's hard to justify going back. For the competitive juices, I wonder how time trials compare?

First... lovely car, as are all the cars you have done.

This is the same reason I dropped drag racing, $100k+ car and a handfull of passes.
I decided seat time is what I want and goin' round corners is even more fun.

Nice story.. How long was it before you started having visions of Wine and Cheese tasings with the Ferrari group? LOL

Just curious... what class did they put you in and what was the competition like? Im going to be AutoXing my car in the coming years and sometimes wonder exactly where they think our heavily modified street cars belong. Not that I plan to actually compete but...

My local SCCA runs every other weekend just 10 miles from my house. The lack of track time and all the BS you mentioned is why I have only gone twice all year long.

I like to autocross when there is nothing else but the open track has won me over for the rest of my days.

My experience is that AutoX is "it" as long as you haven't done anything on a real track.

There are a few guys who will beleive AX is the end-all. They like the short intense competition. That is totally cool with me.

Once a person does an open track event, AX will typically seem tame. The duty cycle of work (picking cones) to play also is a negative for AX (but needed for the whole event to work).

Open track is the coolest thing - until you race wheel-to-wheel. At that point lapping seems pointless :-)

I was addicted to track days until I started Spec Miata racing. Not that I won't track the Camaro, but I don't do it much. With the exception of Motorstate and Optima Faceoff, I have not autocrossed in almost 7 years.

You pretty much hit the painful AX thing on the head Mark. It is good for newbies to learn car control. Once you have some basic car control, AX is a complete waste of a weekend day IMHO. Soooooo boooooooring. It is cheaper to buy a ticket to an amusement park as you still get the joy of waiting in line for an hour to get a 38 second really fast ride on roller coasters (that are likely faster overall frankly) and you don't have all the pain of maintaining and burning $$ on fixing a car, tires, gas, etc.

Many of the AX guys, when I really press 'em, come back to an idea that at 60 mph if they loose it they feel they have more chance of catching it and coming out better than at 120 mph on a long sweeper... so I think it is that fear and lack of ability that keeps AX going. Fine by me, and I would prefer fearful and slower people not be on the track when I am on it, so AX certainly has its place, but I agree, not my cup-o-tea.

'Course, if I had it my way everyone would have to run a lap like Top Gear does with celebs, in a simple, provided car, but have to beat a specific and reasonably fast time just to get their driver's license. Half of the Top Gear celeb board should have their licenses revoked until they learn car control and how to actually drive = different topic :lol: That is what AX would be good for :thumbsup:

Wow......you guys must run with clubs full of asses......


I've been auto-crossing with Oregon region of the SCCA for about 10 years now. I love track days too but the expense is too great for Me in this economy. The cost of fuel and registration on a track day covers the entry fee for Me and My wife for an entire season of Autocross. The courses We set up around here are usually 45-60 seconds and can be almost 1 1/2 miles long and we usually get 6 runs. I get two seasons out of a set of tires and the rest of the vehicle wear is negligible. But beyond the relative limited drive time the friends and camaraderie with the "regulars" in the club is priceless.

The difference in lapping and actually competing is huge for Me as well. I've won three regional championships in three different classes, one national tour event and I'm usually in the top third in the Oregon region club which has five national champions as members.

If your bored autocrossing you need to learn to drive faster.

Mark, it sounds like the Detroit area club is very unorganized and could handle some more dedicated people.

Remember the SCCA at that level is all volunteer. If you don't like the way things are going but still want to be involved, get more involved. Become a member of Your local Solo Committee.

I can see those of you who are lucky enough to have real exciting tracks near by like Blackhawk farms, Road America, Willow springs, Infinion etc...that track days would be that much more enticing. Portland International Raceway is fun but flat and 12 turns......gets a little boring after a while. The autocross course is different every time and keeps it fresh.

I will be at the Milwaukee mile on Monday . I run with the Midwest Council guys . They call it HSAX . Its run on real road courses .
Blackhawk , Autobahn , no cones :unibrow: You get three (3) lap practice sessions and guarenteed three timed sessions , usually 5-6
A have a 86 C4. Its compettive ...the kicker is I have just over 6k in it
Thats including the cost of the car ,
125 .00i s typical cost of a day A Class for just about any car

Sounds like time attack......

http://redlinetimeattack.com/ti/rl/index.html

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0174_large.jpg

Scott picked my car to feature this month. :lateral:

https://lateral-g.net/members/stielow/

I cracked up at this :thumbsup:

Stielow

Very cool! Love this build! So it's Salsa Red...that's a great color! :thumbsup:

Cheers to that :cheers:

One of the finest examples of a serious well thought out Pro Touring car!
Can't wait to see it live one day, hopefully at a track.