Making a Crowd Chaser age appropriate and Track Ready, S197 Mustang content.

Blackened and installed.  This whole area will get blackened also as it is visible through the grill.

Now a mirror image of this for the drivers side.

Front view.  I thought this would help with my mid grill sag but it didn't.

Almost finished from the bottom.  I can't find my hose clamps and it needs better zip ties.

First short drive with the new diff, it is different.   Right away I noticed a lack of backlash that all of my 8.8 and 7.5 rear ends had.  Comparing them to my M3 and 525 that were smooth and silent I figured it was just a Ford vs BMW thing.   Transitions from accel to coast are silent now and idling around in 1st with the rumpidy rump cam doesn't get all jerky.

It appears to break traction on the inside tire easier on a tight corner while accelerating but what happens next is amazing.  Instead of pushing the front or sliding the rear it just smoothly adds traction, much more composed.   I can't wait to see what it does on the track.  If all goes well it will be next Monday at Gingerman.

In reply to akylekoz :

Brake ducts look nice, well done!

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks,

It's not the way most people run them but they should work as long as I don't switch to wider wheels.

My track day on the 19th is not going to happen, But I'm going on the 16th instead.   Time to tryout the bigger brakes with ducts and the new geared thing in the rear.

It appeared that this thing is pulling strong right up to the rev limiter.  Timing gets pulled about 100 rpm before the limiter.

For fun I plugged in the tuner to see where it was set.  6375 D 6400N.  Mine is a manual so I'm not sure how this works.   Anyway I set them to 6775 and 6800.  According to Brenspeed this cam, intake, long tube combo hits its peak at 6500.  I still have stock valve springs so I don't plan to shift any higher than 6500 but this should at least let me get near peak power before timing gets pulled.

The PO of this car wanted a very safe rev limit, it's mine now so I'm gonna let her spin.

I did make it out to Gingerman to try the new bits.  Thinking back to that day concerning brake upgrade and cooling ducts all I can say is I I never gave the brakes a thought the whole day.  They just did their job that's a win.

Now the other change, going from a TracLoc clutch style diff to a Torsen was very noticeable.  As in three full seconds faster lap times.  I just kept getting on the gas earlier out of every corner.  It's still a pig of a car compared to the Lemons car but now is equally as fun to drive.  For the first time this car feels so happy to just hold a line with just a bit of slip.  No more balancing between push and over rotate, it just grips as I unwind the wheel.  I even tried to screw around in turn 4 where I would previously lose traction if pushing too hard.  Now no matter what I did the rear would just growl and claw a bit as the Torsen did it's job while putting all of my measly hp to the ground.

Bottom line is that diff totally changed the personality of the car and I love it.

Lap record is now a 1:51, with real tires instead of 340TW old crusty tires I may get into the 1:50 club.

Pretty cool stuff.  I really like what you've done with this car.

 Nice!

Thank you, Thank you!

It is way too fun to drive on track right now.

What is this nonsense?  My header gasket that's what!

That got swapped out for a MLS version.  Not a bad job after removing the motor mount, mount bracket and steering shaft.

It had a few leaks.