it looks like it was a fun day.

Great to see you gettin that thing out Bryce. That thing scoots!

Awesome. Glad you finally got that thing out there. Looks like you need to dial in the camera mount a little now. LOL I may have to try that. Did you mount it to the dome light fixture holes?

Thanks Luke, it was my Bday so the fam had to come out. But it was great. My wife even said she wanted to ride along next time! I will have to corner weight the car now with her in it. AHHA.

I really enjoyed driving the car. Thanks guys.

Yep, I removed the dome light!

Awesome! Glad to see you made it to the first SCCA event of the year! Cant wait till our region starts.

Still one of my favorite builds. :thumbsup: Looks like a great way to spend a birthday.

What are you running for a trans cooler?:headscratch:

It was fun.


Thanks Rob, I have an external 10" x 12" trans cooler. I do not remeber the brand. I put it in 10 years ago when I built the aluminum radiator core support. I am adding a fan soon though.

So here is my list of stuff to complete before the next event.

The trans cooler needs a fan: installed and wired. Moves some air!
Remove local trans temp gauge and move to the dash: ordered and ready to install
Install 400 lbs/in springs: ordered and all the coilovers are removed.
Install gauge into the engine oil pan to monitor temp.
Notch and reweld the outer shock tower supports. This is needed due to some tire rub. Falcons dont like being lowered or have anything wider that a 215 tire in the front.
Install a breather catch can: ordered waiting for delivery.
Dial in the steering and remove as much bumpsteer as possible. I order high misalignment rod ends. The mustang with a similar set up is down to .015" toe change over 6" of droop.

A few parts showed up...

Dont worry the grade 8 bolts are for mock up only. I will be replacing those with alloy steel shoulder bolts later.

The high misalignment rodends are for the outer tierods so that I can eliminate bumpsteer.

I also marked the outer shock tower supports for clearance.

I dialed out almost all of the bumpsteer today. I have zero toe change in droop and .090 toe in during compression. This may help during cornering and ackermann. I run .060 toe out right now at ride height which reduces my ackermann. So during a hard turn the outside would compress and toe in slightly, increasing my ackermann. I will try this setting out on March 2nd at the SCCA event. If I dont like it I will remove one shim and move the outer tie rod up, this will reduce the toe in during bump. I made the spacers tonight and will pick up alloy steel shoulder bolt on monday and bolt eveything together and snap some pictures. I spaced the rodend down so that the center is about 2inches below the bottom of the spindle.

You do a better job with pictures than me so looking forward to those.

Sounds like progress. I know you have some more plans to deal with body roll spill the beans.:D

I am going from 300 lb spring to 400 lb spring in the front. (remember I have a 86% motion ratio instead of 50% like camaros.) This is easier for me right now than adding a bigger sway bar. But a splined sway bar is in my plans for this year. I currently run a solid 1.125. I will end up with a 1.25 hollow bar with aluminum arms.

updates to the TDL:

The trans cooler needs a fan: DONE
Remove local trans temp gauge and move to the dash: DONE
Install 400 lbs/in springs: SPRINGS RECEIVED
Install gauge into the engine oil pan to monitor temp: DONE
Notch and reweld the outer shock tower supports. NOTCHING COMPLETE
Install a breather catch can: 50% COMPLETE
Dial in the steering and remove as much bumpsteer as possible. I ordered high misalignment rod ends. The mustang with a similar set up is down to .015" toe change over 6" of droop. 90% COMPLETE

Hey Bryce, can you explain a little further for us non engineering inclinded individuals? I'm curious about the toe out setting. Do you have to run the .060 toe out at ride height to keep from getting excessive toe in under compression when cornering?

Matt,

I know you get this, so when rob or greg ask you to post a question just tell them to do it themselves... LOL.

I run toe out ar ride height in order to get faster reacting turn in. Since the inside tire is all ready pointed in the direction of the turn. Since I have no toe change under suspension droop the inside toe angle during the turn will not change. Since the outside tire during a turn has less angle than the inside tire (definition of ackerman) the static toe out reduces ackerman. During a turn the outside suspension is under compression, my current bumpsteer setup will induce a little toe in under compression; that should increase ackerman. In theory that would cancel the reduced ackerman due to the static toe out I like to run.

Did that make sense?

Doesnt that make it a little twitchy on the hwy?

Instead of explaining it over and over,you could just SHOW us at Adams! :confused59:

nope, not even with 8:1 steering.

haha! thanks Tom. I will show you at the Q. I will be out saturday and maybe sunday. good luck at RTTC and Adams.

Now, now, Tom. That would require Bryce to actually DRIVE his car. And we all know that only happens twice a year. He's already blown half his quota at the practice earlier this year.

Good point, but look who's talking... Haven't seen you in a while :mock:

Sorry...Been swamped...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps477a0aa2.jpg

I love you too Dan. HAHA. Well I signed up for March 2nd practice, I guess Im done for the year if I make it out there.

Dan is too busy living the dream and building cars for a living. I wish my car time didnt come at 9pm to 12am, after a 12 our work day and putting my daughter to sleep. I bet I woud be more productive if I walked past my car all day long.

Great picture.

:confused59: Looks like what I call "Good Swamped". Will you be making it to either RTTC or Adams in any of those sweet Mopars?

I'll be heading out for San Diego tomorrow morning with the Challenger for RTTC. After that we have Scottsdale, Mopars at the Strip and Del Mar. After that we have to start packing up to head to PA in June! Fun Fun! The 71 Charger is 99.999% done (2 defective hold off valves for the front brakes in a row) and should be making some rounds as well. The owner is really excited to finally enjoy and drive his car after 2 years of being garage art. The LeMans is being set up for straight line work and should be a regular at FireBird in th ecoming months.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/DTM-R...05030966187707

Dan will you be in SD this weekend. Stop by my place.

I hear ya Bryce work and the two kids and one wife really eat into car time. They do add some good times too though, enjoy them while they're young!

My daughter will be my driver one day! She is much lighter than me.

Upgrading the tie rods again. The attached picture shows the evolution of tie rods on the falcon. The latest setup is 1.8 pounds lighter per side.

Finalized the steering today.

I drilled out the center link with a 12.5mm cobalt drill bit. That opened up the tapered hole to .492". A 1/2" shoulder bolt measures .496". So I honed the hole with a drum sander to .495 and tapped teh shoulder bolts in. That produced a really nice tight fit.
http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

I painted the center link with my usual hammertone gold. It matches gold irridate and is the toughest spray paint I have seen out of a can.

Here is the stack up of washer on the new inner tierod. I can now adjust my ackerman. I still need to develope a good way to measure it. SO I matched stock.

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg
I used the regular chromoly rod ends on the inner pivot, 5/8-18 thread and 1/2" hole in the ball.

Here is a picture of the outer tie rod spacers. I added washers to adjust bumpsteer if needed in the future.
http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg
The larger OD stainless washers are being used as a safety washer incase I ever have a rod end failure.
The outer tie rod uses a high misalignment chromoly rod end with 60 degrees of articulation. It has 5/8-18 thread with a 1/2 hole in the ball.

And finally a installed view at full droop:

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

Time for a test drive!

Very nice.I love the self built stuff you come up with.:thumbsup:

I guess I am not racing today. The alternator died last night. I guess that is better than at the autocross.

I know you are really good at the math with this kind of stuff, but isn't that a lot of torque that can be applied to the steering arm at the spindle? Seems like a lot of stuff without support.

Dan,

I will post up some math a little later.

Well, I made it out sunday for another successful autocross.

3 guys from the PT world made it out there. Jay Bittle from JBA brought out two mustangs. It was a good turn out on sunday. My upgrades were better. The trans stayed cool and being able to monitor the engine oil temp was nice. The stiffer springs helped on the longer sweepers by reducing body roll. I think a bigger sway bar is next. The falken tires were not good cold. That is my only complaint.

Saturday had some crazy dips and a few cars did not survive. I am glad I didnt make it out on saturday.

I will post some videos tonight. I got 7 runs.

Time for pictures:

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

because RaceCar! yep, thats my SCCA number.

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

All empty and clean... time for a change.

http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

and my new office:
http://media.motortopia.com/files/ca...Thumbnail1.jpg

Nice set up on those replacements for the tie rod ends, and a well stocked office..