mustanghammer

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for checking in.

When I started the car last fall, oil pressure at idle was lower than normal. Not dangerously low, just not where it should be. So I inspected a few items - front stationary gear bearing, oil pump and the front cover gasket. The front stationary gear bearing was perfect but front cover bolts were loose, the oil pump housing had some wear and the drive chain had more than normal slack. So I replaced the oil pump, drive chain and rear pressure regulator because I was there. Also more carefully torqued the front cover bolts. Engine and trans are back in the car and will start reattaching parts.

Other stuff - working on the air dam structure and reattaching the splitter I ripped off at Indy. I have bigger rear wing to play with and wing mounts were lightened. Modified an S4 water pump housing and have that installed.

As for tires, will likely use Spec Miata take offs or will try to get some good used Hoosier radial slicks. MiDiv TT rules function like a NASA rule set so i can use any tire I want depending on dyno number and weight. I could run 200 or 100TW tires at a reduced weight but it is hard to beat Purple Crack if that is an option,

Goals for the year is a TT event close to me in Iowa and vintage festival in October. Also to keep autoxing my Mustang to stay sharp.

Conekiller13

Wow, sounds like you caught a potential catastrophic failure just in time. On the water pump housing, is that the aluminum vs cast iron version? That's what we have. What did you modify on it? Just the thermostat by pass?
We recently added a splitter using aluminum sandwiched plastic. It's a bit heavier than I'd prefer but pretty stout. It survived our recent outing to Sonoma a couple weeks ago (bucket list event). Unfortunately our engine lost an apex seal on the rear rotor after eight laps of practice on Friday morning. We spent a few hours searching for a replacement and found one on FB marketplace in Stockton...about 60 miles away. Street ported GSL-se 6 port built by Atkins Rotary with about 500 miles on it. Price was fair so we went after it. Friday afternoon traffic in the bay area meant 60 miles was a five hour endeavor. I pulled the old motor while half the team went to get the new one. They got back about 9pm. Fired up the new engine about 1:30am.and was promptly told to shut it down by track security...lol. Good thing was it lit right up but we didn't get to run it long enough to discover the massive oil leak from the oil pan that wasn't tight. We found that Saturday morning as we fired it up for the race start. So, we started the race late. It ran well the rest of the day and Sunday but it's certainly down 15 to 20hp from our old Pineapple Racing built motor. We're really going to miss Rob. We're still fighting engine coolant temperature though. Running at 6500 to 7000rpm the temp would get a bit over 210 degrees. Shifting below 6500 brought temps down below 210 but above 200. We currently have an aluminum GSL-SE radiator we got from Carl's car and similar ducting to your car. I think we need a four row radiator but the team wants to try a bigger CFM fan first.

The TT event sounds like a good goal. I'm interested to see how it does and what your competition is. The slicks are certainly more fun. Good to hear your autocrossing...its always excellent practice. My wife and I are getting ready for the Solo National Tour at Packwood in two weeks with our NC Miata in XB.

mustanghammer

iTrader: (3)

Yeah its the aluminum water pump housing. I had the extra hole plugged/tapped then I installed a 1/2" pipe plug in the bypass hole just like I did on the iron one. I use a 3/4" restrictor instead of a thermostat. I did have an issue with the water temp fitting - the housing cracked. So I cleaned it up and used J-B weld to seal the crack. Fingers crossed. It is allot lighter than the iron piece so worth the time I think.

Dude, you work hard to have fun!!! Really cool that you got a replacement engine and got it running. Bonus points for the 1AM start up. Some people just don;t appreciate the sound of a proper engine!

I did not know about Rob passing away. Super cool guy to talk to. Spent allot of time talking to me about 12A options - including a 6 port setup - back in 2011 when the STU rules were getting sorted out. That is a big loss to the community.

For radiators everybody over here is running 26-28" wide 2 row dual pass radiators. I am not sure a fan does much at race speeds so I would vote for more surface area. That said, 210F would not worry me if oil temps are near that. That is what I was seeing while shifting at 8-9K in a sprint race.

Not sure who or what I will be racing against in the TT. I'll have to check event results. I just want to drive around and get some seat time.

I am running in CAMC and generally have 12-18 competitors at local events. The Extreme Street classes are also super popular in KC. It is sort of fun to just throw magnets in the trunk and drive to an event. By the way, If they have a CAM Challenge near you, it is worth doing. Last year at Lincoln I watched Al Unser Jr run one of the Speedway Camaros. He was wild behind the wheel and turned some great times.