Very cool! Looking forward to seeing this in October!
Very cool! Looking forward to seeing this in October!
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
This is turning out nice.
Did the mazda not go to the duratec 2.5 in 98 like the ranger did? I remember the 98 ranger having the 2.5 and also the first year of the a arm suspension. Just curious because 2.3 keeps getting mentioned.
Also, I had no idea the fusion 2.5 could be used in rwd platforms. I thought there was something different between the fwd and rwd 2.5s. Just wondering because I have a fusion 2.5 engine swapped into the anglia and would love to make it rwd down the road.
Does the 2.5 Duratec have the balance shafts?
In reply to bigfranks84 :
Ranger didnt get duratec till it was split between 2.5 Lima and 2.3 Duratec starting in 2001, all 2.3 duratec after. The b2300 was only duratec starting in 2001.
The transverse and longitudinal differences are mostly in the manifolds/acc, except minor updates you can mix and match a bit. Ex: head is different on the newer 2.5, but I reused almost all ranger stuff, w/ just a simple spacer plate between intake manifold and head. You can bolt up either transverse or longitudinal trans to either. The rwd trans are Branger or miata.
Ross, yes, the 2.5 did have the shafts. I deleted them by just tapping the oil feed and loctite-ing it. Think I captured an o-ring in there, too, as the passage stepped wider and I could fit one there under the flanged bolt head.
Decided to finish the seat mounts this afternoon- I'm glad it's done, those are the worst factory seat rails in the world. First I cut the feet off and bolted them back in:
Then took the cut down slider assembly, lined up, and tacked:
Lots of welding and repositioning because nothing about the stuff Ford put under the seats is square or level:
And dismantling factory seats for bits:
After an embarrassing amount of time, Betsy has cool bucket seats, and the sliders and adjusters work and everything- plus, I found 20 cents in one of the cushions so negative budget hit!
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
If I pick up a pair of wheels near here for dyntorace who lives in Gainsville, will you have enough carry space to bring them to the Challenge? They might have tires, I don't know yet. For his BMW i3, so thy are narrow. By the way, one of the characters in your user name does not exist on my keyboard....Keeps the rif-raff out I guess. Try to PM me on this to keep this thread clear.
Very cool! I love some modded Ranger action. Nice work fellas!
I'm so stoked about these seats. They remind me of the cloth seats I had in my 92 dodge stealth. Those were the best fitting seats for my arse I ever owned. Great work, Chris!
We decided the megasquirt and any other more involved mods like cam swaps aren't the most effective use of time between now and the challenge. Dialing in and sorting is priority #1. I know Chris has a local autox and a drag night on the schedule. VERY curious what that's going to illuminate.
W/out the MS, we still have ~$400 worth of budget to play with. I'm willing to throw that much at a nitrous setup, so that may still happen. Im doing research into ways to possibly retard the ignition timing. I feel like this gen of fords should be easy to crack into, but not finding it yet. How are others doing this for the challenge? I know there's nitrous being used on newer vehicles.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
That should be no problem, and I sent you a PM- let me know if it didn't make it through.
In reply to bluej :
Colder plugs.
Patrick said:In reply to bluej :
Colder plugs.
That's it? I knew colder plugs and higher octane would be requirements. At what level does that become not enough? Assume wet shots at 25%, 37.5%, and 50% of N/A power.
Thanks!
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
No PM in my inbox yet. Try me directly racerwag at the gmail thing.
I just started reading this when I saw B2300 beside Chris's name on the Challenge list. Very cool build. Looking forward to seeing it in Gainesville.
At this front ride height, the bumpstops are part of the suspension travel. The stock ones are too harsh, so first I tried drilling holes:
That didn't work very well, so I cut the entire top off them to use the remainder as a base:
A base for what, you ask? How about some free big squishy foam ones off the back of a Hyundai Veloster- the junkyard didn't charge me for them and they seem nearly new. First I trimmed the bottom of them:
Then drilled holes through them and ziptied them to the remaining stock rubber:
Result: much less jarring over bumps and the front suspension seems stiffer going around corners.
Gastropods are supposed to be real cars so I selected a nice twisty route and took Betsy to get groceries and exchange a propane cylinder. No issues, drives great:
When I got back I also installed the cool wood shift knob Josh left in the cupholder:
Bump stop tuning is super scientific and stuff. Well done.
All proper race cars use the bumpstops as the real suspension. Like Nascars. 
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
so I selected a nice twisty route and took Betsy to get groceries and exchange a propane cylinder. Is there a not twisty fun road between your place and 611? OK some of 563 is straightish if you go slow enough, but we really have the sports car roads around us
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Good point, it's hard to go wrong out here!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to TurnerX19 :
Good point, it's hard to go wrong out here!
rub it in. I have to go like 15 miles just to find a road that's either twisty or bumpy to test things.......
The stock exhaust looked heavy and restrictive so I cut it off and welded together some stuff I had sitting in my scrap pile- "stuff" being a 90 degree bend, a chambered muffler that made our 318ti too loud, and a louvered glasspack that made the rally car too quiet. This takes the "cat back" section from 270+ degrees of tiny tubing and a muffler the size of a fridge down to 90 degrees and two mufflers that you can see light through:
Puts the 3" exit of the glasspack in a nice spot:
It's all on there with just a sleeve over the stock front section of the exhaust, so if we decide we need room in the budget I can slap an open 90 on there in the parking lot. I almost regret using two mufflers, since it actually sounds pretty mellow, but I figured turning it into a raspy E36 M3box wasn't in the Gastropod spirit.
Want to hear it? Too bad, come to the challenge
Man, that thing is really coming together! The stance is great, the seats are great, and I'm curious to hear what the exhaust sounds like. I'm glad to hear fixing a ground made it run so much better, those simple fixes can be so rewarding. What's next on the list? I want to see some nitrous!
I suspect you'll appreciate the quieter exhaust while driving 12 hours haha....
So, questions:
-Has anyone taken a set of these tires (Hankook Ventus V12 EVO2) to the drag strip? Or, alternatively, a low power, open diff, pickup truck? Any advice on starting pressures? I'm guessing around 20psi for a decent launch without worrying about the bead slipping?
-I'm going to put it on some scales; any guesses for weight as it currently sits with a full tank of gas?
I have those tires on the 911. I suspect that nothing I know about them is relevant to the truck and drag launches.
Just in case you didn't already know, you should probably keep an eye on those bump stops. They're designed around living on a damper shaft so not having that constraint anymore I'd guess they have the potential to wear out or deform pretty quickly. Especially if they're doing a substantial amount of the suspension work.
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