A series of events and improvements to my 66 test car made me step back, take another hit from the go fast crack pipe and decide to take the car to the next level.
Gutted the interior. This is what I started with:
The roll bar was an ok place to hook the shoulder belts to but far from a full cage. The door bars will run into the door cavity so I hacked out the inner sheet metal of the doors. I removed a total of 113lbs of glass, window mechanism's, sheet metal, sound deadner and brackets:
I mini-tubed the rear wheel arches. I should be able to fit a 9.5" wide wheel and a 275 tire. I have plans to flare the car and have 2 sets of Hoosier's to use up so I may not modify my existing wheels now to be wider. I'll likely wait until the flares are on and do it once. Here is a link to a step by step process - http://www.streetortrack.com/Relocat...ches-p-15.html
For the cage I knew I wanted to hire 'the man'. I've bent and welded tubing but something this critical is better left up to a pro. I searched all over for a few months and finally found Chris Childs practically on my doorstep. Chris owns Angry Sheep Motorsports and builds lots of club racer cars as well as cars for GM and Chrysler. We had a few consultations and I dropped the car off last week. Its coming along nicely:
Pro driver at the wheel:
- Year after year the car (and me) has become more and more capable in the corners. Corner speeds are a lot higher than they used to be with less suspension and less tire.
- The brakes are now at a truly impressive level. Glowing red rotors and stopping distances 50' shorter at some tracks. This puts me closer to the kitty litter/walls before putting on the binders.
- The wiring has become a cobbled together mess. It finally resulted in a fire while on track in October filing the car with nasty black smoke.
- Although the 289 made 300rwhp it just wasn't enough.
- Install a full cage. With the addition of our 70 Fastback family cruiser there will be no need for the 66 to perform dual duty as the street portion of our Street or Track test car. I can go full bonkers with the 66 and build the track car I've always wanted it to be.
- Install a new motor. I collected parts for years to build my own motor but decided on a crate from Ford Racing. Unless a better deal comes along before I'm ready to order it I'm going with the Ford Racing 363. $8000 for 500hp with a 2 year warranty is a great deal.
- Re-wire the entire car. It was extremely satisfying to cut out all that crispy old wiring!
- Ditch the stock gauges and install a full selection of accurate gauges so I can monitor things and hopefully protect that new motor.
Gutted the interior. This is what I started with:
The roll bar was an ok place to hook the shoulder belts to but far from a full cage. The door bars will run into the door cavity so I hacked out the inner sheet metal of the doors. I removed a total of 113lbs of glass, window mechanism's, sheet metal, sound deadner and brackets:
I mini-tubed the rear wheel arches. I should be able to fit a 9.5" wide wheel and a 275 tire. I have plans to flare the car and have 2 sets of Hoosier's to use up so I may not modify my existing wheels now to be wider. I'll likely wait until the flares are on and do it once. Here is a link to a step by step process - http://www.streetortrack.com/Relocat...ches-p-15.html
For the cage I knew I wanted to hire 'the man'. I've bent and welded tubing but something this critical is better left up to a pro. I searched all over for a few months and finally found Chris Childs practically on my doorstep. Chris owns Angry Sheep Motorsports and builds lots of club racer cars as well as cars for GM and Chrysler. We had a few consultations and I dropped the car off last week. Its coming along nicely:
Pro driver at the wheel: