Come Sept 8th, I'll be 1 of 3 Marauders entering Hot Rod Drag Week 2019. This thread will outline my last minute prepping and modifications to prepare for the event.
This past weekend, I drove down to Virginia where I had a new rear end waiting to go in the car that a friend of mine had assembled. Only the housing and parking brake cables were re-used, everything else attached to it was removed / replaced. I figured it'd be faster to just stab a new housing in the car versus trying to rebuild everything in the car. I wish I had time to POR15 the whole housing but, I'll make that a winter project.
During the rear axle build project, I also had a TCE/Wilwood BBK I wanted to install. This required putting new brackets on behind the parking brake backing plates as well as having to use different C clips to take up end play slack and avoid pad knock back due to the axle shifting. The fitment was so tight with everything being brand new, we were just able to get factory C clips installed and the axles have very minimal end play. I have not noticed any knock back issues so far.
One issue we ran into was the brakes clearing the Weld S71 RT-S wheels I bought. These are 17x9 wheels with IIRC a 46mm offset and 2.265" backspacing, very similar to factory wheels. I didn't want to space the wheel out as I'm short on real estate with the stock wheel studs and slicks, as per NHRA rules. We decided to modify the caliper a bit and removed a little bit of casting.
Painted back up with VHT header paint, can't even tell anything was changed
Wheels fit great with no spacer now. I drove down the block and I saw on one side it just barely nicked the corner of one caliper, so I'll clean that up a little when I'm back down there before Drag Week.
I have 18x5's up front with M&H 28x4.5R18 runners. The front wheels were just touching the fender lips with the ride height at 26.75", I lifted the car up to 27.25" and it cleared with a little bit of room. I believe the car settled since I made the adjustment so I'll continue to check fitment and adjust as needed during this week (good thing I have adj coilovers up front).
I was doing mounting while my friend was doing balancing. These tires and the Hoosier slicks were not easy to balance due to being bias ply tires built like the 1950's. We saw plenty of tread runout on the M&H fronts. Whatever, it's a race tire, I know most people don't even balance these, we were able to get a static balance done.
I have to say I love the look, the S71's are one of my favorite wheels and I'm very happy to have a set that in theory should fit 3 of my cars. I think they look really badass on the car.
By this time, the rear end was ready to go in. Getting the old rear end out was very straight forward and the only annoyance was the parking brake cable which wasn't meant to come apart. We ended up cutting the connector apart and replacing it with a new one that can be pulled apart in the future.
Stock rear end out, all I had in this was 4.10 gears and a carbon clutch pack
New rear: 3.73 Ford Racing gears, Ford Racing "cobra/GT500" limited slip w/ carbon clutch packs, Ford 31 spline axles, Wilwood FNSL4 calipers and 13" rotors.
A big vacant hole
Prep table: I worked on getting the new control arms and watts link ready.
After a lot of time, we got the rear end in and the brakes hooked up. The brakes were a huge pain in the ass. The calipers were drilled/tapped so poorly for the banjo bolt that one of them stripped out with zero warning ( I hand tightened the bolt in to avoid cross threading). The holes were drilled off center and crooked. My friend ended up saving the day my drilling/tapping it for a larger banjo bolt he had kicking around.
I also had to go out and get thin hex head bolts for the 2 piece rotors because the supplied allen cap bolts would hit the backing plate. Even after the thinner bolts, they still hit going around turns so I had to bend them back with a prybar earlier today.
The caliper mounting bolts were too long and hitting the rotor bolts, so I had to space those out to clear as well. I ran into some shit with my TCE/Wilwood front kit but this back one takes the cake. I can see why virtually anyone who put this kit on their car paid a shop to deal with it and the shops usually said "wow, that was a major pain"
After sorting everything out and missing a day of work in the process, I drove the car back home 230+ miles from VA to PA, including going through Washington DC and Philadelphia (thanks Waze). Car didn't skip a beat and everything we slammed together seems to be working well.
I have to follow up with Adam / Revolution Automotive who tuned my car a few years back, because they locked out all of the customizable settings in my tune file, so I can't adjust for my tire size or new gear ratio. I also wanted to add a 170 T stat soon and tweak when the fans kick on.
I currently have a 13" 6 piston Wilwood kit up front on my daily beater black Marauder, I'm going to end up pulling that off and returning it to stock, transferring those brakes to the red car in the process.
One thing that has been on my mind and as far as I can tell I'm in the clear, NHRA rules state that vehicles with slicks must run open lug nuts, and the thread engagement on the hex part of the nut must be the same as the diameter of the stud itself. So in my case, I have a 1/2 - 20 stud, and I need 1/2" of thread engagement on the hex part. I ordered OEM open lug nuts for a Boss 302 and confirmed they will bolt my wheels on with proper measured thread engagement. The rear threads poke out a little bit past the lug nuts, the fronts sit flush (hoping this changes with the new BBK, think it has a thinner hat.) I am just concerned since I see so many people running 2" longer wheel studs, I don't want to get disqualified over a stupid technicality.
this is where I am pulling the rules from, which is actually from the hot rod magazine website under HR drag week. Section Wheels & Lug Nuts
Also, would anyone have suggestions on thinner race style lug nuts that are a 60 degree conical design? The Boss lug nuts are thick enough that I need to use a 13/16th spark plug socket to be able to get the wheels on/off. I'd like something a little thinner so I can fit a better socket on there, Weld only sells shank style lug nuts from what I can see.
After fitting the new front brakes and installing a driveshaft safety loop, I shouldn't have a ton to do past general tinkering (hopefully). Stay tuned for updates and provided I do make it into the event, I'll have a new thread with day by day updates.
This past weekend, I drove down to Virginia where I had a new rear end waiting to go in the car that a friend of mine had assembled. Only the housing and parking brake cables were re-used, everything else attached to it was removed / replaced. I figured it'd be faster to just stab a new housing in the car versus trying to rebuild everything in the car. I wish I had time to POR15 the whole housing but, I'll make that a winter project.
During the rear axle build project, I also had a TCE/Wilwood BBK I wanted to install. This required putting new brackets on behind the parking brake backing plates as well as having to use different C clips to take up end play slack and avoid pad knock back due to the axle shifting. The fitment was so tight with everything being brand new, we were just able to get factory C clips installed and the axles have very minimal end play. I have not noticed any knock back issues so far.
One issue we ran into was the brakes clearing the Weld S71 RT-S wheels I bought. These are 17x9 wheels with IIRC a 46mm offset and 2.265" backspacing, very similar to factory wheels. I didn't want to space the wheel out as I'm short on real estate with the stock wheel studs and slicks, as per NHRA rules. We decided to modify the caliper a bit and removed a little bit of casting.
Painted back up with VHT header paint, can't even tell anything was changed
Wheels fit great with no spacer now. I drove down the block and I saw on one side it just barely nicked the corner of one caliper, so I'll clean that up a little when I'm back down there before Drag Week.
I have 18x5's up front with M&H 28x4.5R18 runners. The front wheels were just touching the fender lips with the ride height at 26.75", I lifted the car up to 27.25" and it cleared with a little bit of room. I believe the car settled since I made the adjustment so I'll continue to check fitment and adjust as needed during this week (good thing I have adj coilovers up front).
I was doing mounting while my friend was doing balancing. These tires and the Hoosier slicks were not easy to balance due to being bias ply tires built like the 1950's. We saw plenty of tread runout on the M&H fronts. Whatever, it's a race tire, I know most people don't even balance these, we were able to get a static balance done.
I have to say I love the look, the S71's are one of my favorite wheels and I'm very happy to have a set that in theory should fit 3 of my cars. I think they look really badass on the car.
By this time, the rear end was ready to go in. Getting the old rear end out was very straight forward and the only annoyance was the parking brake cable which wasn't meant to come apart. We ended up cutting the connector apart and replacing it with a new one that can be pulled apart in the future.
Stock rear end out, all I had in this was 4.10 gears and a carbon clutch pack
New rear: 3.73 Ford Racing gears, Ford Racing "cobra/GT500" limited slip w/ carbon clutch packs, Ford 31 spline axles, Wilwood FNSL4 calipers and 13" rotors.
A big vacant hole
Prep table: I worked on getting the new control arms and watts link ready.
After a lot of time, we got the rear end in and the brakes hooked up. The brakes were a huge pain in the ass. The calipers were drilled/tapped so poorly for the banjo bolt that one of them stripped out with zero warning ( I hand tightened the bolt in to avoid cross threading). The holes were drilled off center and crooked. My friend ended up saving the day my drilling/tapping it for a larger banjo bolt he had kicking around.
I also had to go out and get thin hex head bolts for the 2 piece rotors because the supplied allen cap bolts would hit the backing plate. Even after the thinner bolts, they still hit going around turns so I had to bend them back with a prybar earlier today.
The caliper mounting bolts were too long and hitting the rotor bolts, so I had to space those out to clear as well. I ran into some shit with my TCE/Wilwood front kit but this back one takes the cake. I can see why virtually anyone who put this kit on their car paid a shop to deal with it and the shops usually said "wow, that was a major pain"
After sorting everything out and missing a day of work in the process, I drove the car back home 230+ miles from VA to PA, including going through Washington DC and Philadelphia (thanks Waze). Car didn't skip a beat and everything we slammed together seems to be working well.
I have to follow up with Adam / Revolution Automotive who tuned my car a few years back, because they locked out all of the customizable settings in my tune file, so I can't adjust for my tire size or new gear ratio. I also wanted to add a 170 T stat soon and tweak when the fans kick on.
I currently have a 13" 6 piston Wilwood kit up front on my daily beater black Marauder, I'm going to end up pulling that off and returning it to stock, transferring those brakes to the red car in the process.
One thing that has been on my mind and as far as I can tell I'm in the clear, NHRA rules state that vehicles with slicks must run open lug nuts, and the thread engagement on the hex part of the nut must be the same as the diameter of the stud itself. So in my case, I have a 1/2 - 20 stud, and I need 1/2" of thread engagement on the hex part. I ordered OEM open lug nuts for a Boss 302 and confirmed they will bolt my wheels on with proper measured thread engagement. The rear threads poke out a little bit past the lug nuts, the fronts sit flush (hoping this changes with the new BBK, think it has a thinner hat.) I am just concerned since I see so many people running 2" longer wheel studs, I don't want to get disqualified over a stupid technicality.
this is where I am pulling the rules from, which is actually from the hot rod magazine website under HR drag week. Section Wheels & Lug Nuts
Also, would anyone have suggestions on thinner race style lug nuts that are a 60 degree conical design? The Boss lug nuts are thick enough that I need to use a 13/16th spark plug socket to be able to get the wheels on/off. I'd like something a little thinner so I can fit a better socket on there, Weld only sells shank style lug nuts from what I can see.
After fitting the new front brakes and installing a driveshaft safety loop, I shouldn't have a ton to do past general tinkering (hopefully). Stay tuned for updates and provided I do make it into the event, I'll have a new thread with day by day updates.