Hackster's Autocross Track Day Truck (Garage Build)

[hackster]

To say the last 6 months of building this truck has burned me out was an understatement!!!! I feel like I have been sleep deprived for the past 6 months (I actually have been)

The last week and a half I have not done a damn thing, lots of work, getting some things caught up around the house and stuff but barely went into the garage at all. Even all weekend, not much.

I am not done with this build though, even though its on the road and made it to the first event I have a lot more work to do.

I did manage to get it to shred a new power steering belt in like 10 miles. So I tore the pump and bracket off cause I feel like I have an alignment issue. When I got the bracket off I saw I had a problem. The dowel pins that are supposed to locate the bracket to the block were in the bracket, not holding the bracket to block in the right location.



I put the dowells in the block first, then in the bracket and made sure that it is going to stay in the right spot. Have probably 25 miles on it and no signs of a problem.

Also knew that I was going to need to do something with the brakes as they got a bit hot on the track at Thunder Hill. So a little tip from a fellow forum goer and I was lead to some killer brackets that allow you to run 14" GT500 rotors and C5 corvette calipers and pads on the crown vic frontend. Not only will this be a big upgrade in stopping power, I should have a lot less brake fade but also a chance to run a huge variety of brake pads, the stock crown vic setup, not so much.

Dont worry, Ill make sure that the calipers dont say corvette on them.



Brackets should be here in the next few days, I need to order some pads and get them installed so I can mock them up.

Also, needed to get the new bigger and better offset steering wheel painted up and installed.

I also got the horn button to work. This is a factory ford horn button, mated up to a Grant Mustang steering wheel. There was some cut and chop with the horn buttons and I needed a horn itself so I got that installed and all wired up, the horn even works to boot!!!





Also got this and the cover yesterday so got a little bit of mockup done. It sucks...but man it holds you in the seat right where you should be, pain in the ass to get in and out of but Ill take that if I can focus on steering.



Next track day is on the 20th of March, should have a little more time to get things done before then. Might even come up with some kind of roll bar/harness bar.

So in mounting the seats and thinking about a harness bar, I am wondering what exactly I should do to mount the harnesses? I am struggling with the height of the harness bar as it needs to allow the harness to be less than a 20 degree angle to the bar from my shoulder, but that would actually put the bar above the top of the seat with the low back buckets and the cab being right behind me. I think I am just going to build something and see where it lands and hopefully nobody hassles me too much about it. Any input on this from someone that is more experienced with these than me?

Thanks again for all the nice words and encouragement, keeps me motivated.

Sean

[my79f]

Originally Posted by hackster

To say the last 6 months of building this truck has burned me out was an understatement!!!! I feel like I have been sleep deprived for the past 6 months (I actually have been)

The last week and a half I have not done a damn thing, lots of work, getting some things caught up around the house and stuff but barely went into the garage at all. Even all weekend, not much.

I am not done with this build though, even though its on the road and made it to the first event I have a lot more work to do.

I did manage to get it to shred a new power steering belt in like 10 miles. So I tore the pump and bracket off cause I feel like I have an alignment issue. When I got the bracket off I saw I had a problem. The dowel pins that are supposed to locate the bracket to the block were in the bracket, not holding the bracket to block in the right location.



I put the dowells in the block first, then in the bracket and made sure that it is going to stay in the right spot. Have probably 25 miles on it and no signs of a problem.

Also knew that I was going to need to do something with the brakes as they got a bit hot on the track at Thunder Hill. So a little tip from a fellow forum goer and I was lead to some killer brackets that allow you to run 14" GT500 rotors and C5 corvette calipers and pads on the crown vic frontend. Not only will this be a big upgrade in stopping power, I should have a lot less brake fade but also a chance to run a huge variety of brake pads, the stock crown vic setup, not so much.

Dont worry, Ill make sure that the calipers dont say corvette on them.



Brackets should be here in the next few days, I need to order some pads and get them installed so I can mock them up.

Also, needed to get the new bigger and better offset steering wheel painted up and installed.

I also got the horn button to work. This is a factory ford horn button, mated up to a Grant Mustang steering wheel. There was some cut and chop with the horn buttons and I needed a horn itself so I got that installed and all wired up, the horn even works to boot!!!





Also got this and the cover yesterday so got a little bit of mockup done. It sucks...but man it holds you in the seat right where you should be, pain in the ass to get in and out of but Ill take that if I can focus on steering.



Next track day is on the 20th of March, should have a little more time to get things done before then. Might even come up with some kind of roll bar/harness bar.

So in mounting the seats and thinking about a harness bar, I am wondering what exactly I should do to mount the harnesses? I am struggling with the height of the harness bar as it needs to allow the harness to be less than a 20 degree angle to the bar from my shoulder, but that would actually put the bar above the top of the seat with the low back buckets and the cab being right behind me. I think I am just going to build something and see where it lands and hopefully nobody hassles me too much about it. Any input on this from someone that is more experienced with these than me?

Thanks again for all the nice words and encouragement, keeps me motivated.

Sean

Obviously its for safety, but not the kind of safety a massive regulation roll cage offers. If its just to keep you planted in the seat (more or less) does it need to be exactly to what a crazy cage requires? What are the main points of having a harness with a 20 degree shoulder angle? Mostly this is me adding to your thoughts with mine.

[DBasher]

Should've built a crew cab.

The back of the cab is double walled correct? You may not be able to get to 20 but I think as long as it looks correct you won't have a problem in tech.

[blue04.5]

One option may be to install the harness bar where it needs to be but fabricate it in a way it can be removed when not needed.

http://www.tmrcustoms.com/store/inde...dc5cd3d722a651

[onelapduster]

Looking forward to seeing how the brakes preform for my own project.
As for the harness bar, that is a tough one.

[hackster]

Not too sure what to do about the harness stuff...still thinking about it.

Probably going to have to roll with the 3 point until after next weekend.

Messed around the garage today for a little bit after a really rough night last night.

What I started with this morning.



So you can see the brackets here in the photos, they are really nice quality and the hardware came with them. They adapt the crown vic frontend to the C5 corvette PBR aluminum calipers and run the 14" GT500 rotors.





The Rotors needed to be opened up at the center of the hub to fit over the crown vic.



You can get the idea from the photos of the size difference from the photos. Stockers are 12" and the upgrades are 14"



I had to make some provisions to the calipers for the smaller wheels..you can see I made some changes with the grinder to these. I have about 2mm clearance now to the caliper from the wheel...its tight but it should be just fine.



I love the fact that it is OEM looking but biggg..







I likey.

[Sieg]

Nice brake solution!

Now duct some air to them and you're good to go.

[onelapduster]

Before and after says it all! Damn nice. Im surprised you had to modify the caliper, but i guess that is due to the high offset wheels.

[gofastwclass]

Excellent work. I admire your determination.

[hackster]

Originally Posted by Sieg

Nice brake solution!

Now duct some air to them and you're good to go.

I thought so too and kept with the OEM Theme of the truck. Thanks Sieg and appreciate you sharing some killer photos with me.

I am working on the brake ducts this week, hope to have them done before next weekend.

Originally Posted by onelapduster

Before and after says it all! Damn nice. Im surprised you had to modify the caliper, but i guess that is due to the high offset wheels.

Actually the fins are on the back side of the caliper where the mods had to be. Its likely because of the aftermarket 18" wheels have a thicker hoop than the OEM ones. I have seen a couple people be able to run this setup with 18" FORD wheels. It is also a 14" rotor, its pretty good size.

Originally Posted by gofastwclass

Excellent work. I admire your determination.

Thank you, I have lots of that whole determination thing going for me.....some people call it stuborn, I like determination better.

Sean