Horse Sense:
On a road course, the Mustang's stock, rubber-bushed, parallel-lower-arm, four-link rear suspension design is its biggest handicap, varying from grinding understeer to snap oversteer at the most inconvenient moments.
When we left off last month,...
When we left off last month, some of us already had visions of late apexes, trail-braking, and trophy girls dancing in our heads. Up to now, we've had to roll our unibody around on casters, but by the end of this installment, our Mach 1 Racer project will sport a track-happy suspension-some wheels, even-and a complete powertrain.
Welcome back to our multi-issue buildup of a Mach 1 Racer, the affordable track brainchild of CDC Racing and Mustang Racing Technologies (MRT). In case you missed it (and a subscription would help avoid these little lapses), the idea here is to allow those with a bad case of competition fever to get a brand-new racer-armed with a factory-fresh Mach 1 drivetrain-ready for the road course or quarter-mile for well under twenty-five large, complete right down to the last nut and bolt.
In our initial installment last month ("Cost-Effective Competition" Sept. '03, p. 99), we began with a stoutly caged body-in-white, added the all-important three main chassis electrical harnesses, and then began bolting in hardware from the firewall out, much as the factory does at the Dearborn plant. Classic Design's Craig Colden fabricated some sheet-aluminum block-off plates for the firewall openings normally occupied by heating and air-conditioning paraphernalia. He also mounted a wiper motor and actuator arms, the firewall support bearing for the steering shaft, the brake booster/master cylinder, and associated Hydro-Boost lines around the engine bay. Inside, the clutch, brake, and gas pedals were hung, the dash assembly (modified to clear the cage bars) was set into place, and the interior portion of the steering column-with integral ignition and accessory switches-was secured to the dash.
The Mach 1 Racer's fuel system...
The Mach 1 Racer's fuel system begins with nothing less than an '03 Cobra tank assembly-complete and preplumbed with associated lines and sufficient fuel capacity from its twin 190-lph pumps to easily supply the needs of the current snake's 390hp supercharged engine. So it should be merely loafing when feeding our naturally aspirated Mach 1 cammer-even on the staggeringly long, uphill front straight at Road America. In the foreground are the filler neck (on the right) and its overflow bucket and drain.
With the exception of the cage, absolutely everything installed up to this point has consisted of Ford factory parts, as will the majority of the rest of the car, some coming from the Mach 1 parts bin, some from the Cobra's, and even a couple from the V-6 model. CDC Racing bundles these brand-new FoMoCo parts into affordable packages that are amazingly all-inclusive, so you can spend your time building rather than scrounging for miscellaneous parts. We will divert from these conscientiously engineered and highly reliable factory components only where necessary to suit the specific needs of a track car. That's where MRT comes in, with its diverse line of race-specific aftermarket hardware.
This month we'll go underneath to plumb the fuel and brake systems, craft up a road-course-oriented suspension, and bolt the complete Mach 1 drivetrain in place, moving us a giant step toward track readiness. We can almost hear the tortured screaming of tire rubber and the car's owner already.
 Up top, the filler neck bolts...  Up top, the filler neck bolts to the overflow bucket assembly, which itself gets clamped between the body and the fuel-door bracket. Back out the door's two Torx screws (on the right) and work the bucket in between. |  Inside, the filler neck and...  Inside, the filler neck and drainpipe pass through holes in the trunk floor, with the neck bolting in place and the drain secured in position by a rubber grommet. |  In preparation for lifting...  In preparation for lifting the tank up into position, CDC's Craig Colden inserts nutclips (arrow) into the unibody where the tank's straps will fasten. The right side strap has these nutclips front and rear, while the left strap instead uses a hinge pin on the back end. Craig also mounts the fuel filter in front of the spare-tire well. |
 Lifting the tank in place...  Lifting the tank in place is a two-man job, not due to weight, but because the filler neck must be worked into its receptacle as the tank is elevated into position. To ease insertion, slather the neck with silicone lube (do not use Vaseline or any other petroleum-based lubricant). The tank's electrical harness is connected at this time. |  Approximately five rivets...  Approximately five rivets and two bolts secure the fuel/brake line assembly to the passenger side of the driveshaft tunnel. Note that this is a non-ABS V-6 assembly having only a single brake line (black) feeding aft. Since we're not going to use ABS, we don't need the second rear brake line that would be factory fitted to V-8 Mustangs. In case you're wondering about the wisdom of using a V-6 fuel line to feed a DOHC V-8, we're told this line is common to all Mustangs, from six-bangers to blown Cobras. |  Up front, the line assembly...  Up front, the line assembly terminates in the passenger-side wheelwell. The small silver line is for fuel supply, while the larger pipe returns vapors to be filtered back at the tank. Riveted clamps secure the brake line and the fuel/vapor duo. |