Project Shell Game (Also moved over from Merkursport)

[GPz11]

Tony W and I went to the local Mustang club's car show and the ol' car did OK.

[Ray]

That's quite the journey. How long was the project (since it was all posted here last night?). I do not get to the Merkursport website too often.

[GPz11]

The first post of that thread started on "Posted 18 March 2012 - 07:08 PM" and the last post was "
Posted 29 September 2013 - 05:24 PM" so it's been about 1.5 years on this.

It's been quite helpful living only about an hour or so from Blugg and Merkur Midwest. He's been very helpful in getting bits.

[John Brennan]

The first post of that thread started on "Posted 18 March 2012 - 07:08 PM" and the last post was "
Posted 29 September 2013 - 05:24 PM" so it's been about 1.5 years on this.

It's been quite helpful living only about an hour or so from Blugg and Merkur Midwest. He's been very helpful in getting bits.

Congratulations! You are indeed fortunate to live close to Mr. Herson and his wonderful facility...

Hey Jeff-- temps right now are in the 80's, lows 60's... coming into the nice weather (movetoarizona). Was just telling your buddy here how fortunate he is to have you so close (movetoarizona). Sure wish I had somebody here like that (movetoarizona)...

[GPz11]

Jeff's been quite helpful (StayinIllinois) with the build (StayinIllinois).

[In XS 7]

(stayinIllinois)That's funny (stayinIllinois):haha
Nice work and beautiful car, congratulations.

[GPz11]

OK, well, I was out working on the AC bits and sadly figured out my original plan isn't going to work after spending over $100 in parts. I bought some different manifolds from a John Deere tractor since they use the same Nippondesno compressor. However, the JD manifolds are pointing the wrong way as it turns out. I put the suction manifold on the discharge side and vice verse so the hose connections are the wrong size. Also that big pressure relief valve is in the way of the mounting bracket,



Soooo, onto plan C or D or whatever it is. Mr. Blugg set me up with a Scorpio manifold and some hoses to experiment with before but I didn't think they were going to work out. So since the JD bits weren't going to work, I took another look at the Scorpio bits. Well, after mixing up the Scorp manifold with some XR hoses, I think I have a working combo.



The car goes off to get custom AC lines made up so I need to get the compressor mounted up so I can get a belt for it. We're dropping off the car this coming Saturday for the lines so all this has to be set up before than.

[GPz11]

Ok, here's plan E or F, a XR4Ti manifold and Scorpio hoses seem like it's going to be the go forward set up. I gotta stop by the parts store to get a belt & freon for it.

It also appears that the seals on my turbo seem to be leaking oil a touch. I'll worry about that over winter.

[GPz11]

I picked up the car over the weekend after having the custom AC lines made up and he also flushed the whole system. He had to do some tweaking to get the adapter on the manifold to charge up the system since it's so close to the header..

He ran the line up the front of the car and then across to the driver's side. This way it's totally away from the heat of the turbo.

[GPz11]

So the other day, I was pulling up the driveway with the garage door open and I saw a puddle under the back of the car. Seems that the gas tank has started leaking, great.





This tank had been coated by GasTankRenu so I've dropped the tank so they can fix it.

I disconnected the fuel line after the filter and ran a hose into a gas can to drain the tank. I then jumped the fuel pump and it only had about a quarter tank so it didn't take too long.

[GPz11]

The tank has been repaired and is back in the car.

Also had a new driveshaft built for it through work. Still uses the adapter though. Just slightly longer than the FMS shaft also is a 3" vs a 3.5" so a little more clearance.



Got a new PTE 5031E turbo and A-237 cam so we're in the middle of getting them installed right now. I would have had the cam installed but I messed up the cam seal taking the cam in and out. Local Autozone had one but none of the other gaskets I'm going to need.



I've got some new injectors coming from Stinger so once Spring hits we'll be ready to get the Megasquirt installed.

[GPz11]

A comparison of the old turbo and the new one.

[GPz11]

It's a runner. Need to get a big hose clamp for the coupler from the VAM to the turbo and then run it over to get the down pipe modified to fit the new turbo. I have a temp down pipe on it now so we don't have the exhaust going straight into the firewall / wire harness.



With the A237 cam, I'm still getting about 16 in of vacuum at idle. I also have it advanced 4 degree's to lower the powerband.

[GPz11]

Well, I see it's been a little while since I've updated this, I've gotten the downpipe hooked up at the local muffler shop and found the gas tank leaking again. So it went back to GasTankRenu to get fixed under warranty. They actually just called me to come get it.

I've since removed the A237 cam since it's just too radical for me. I had taken the car to a autocross and the cam just had zero low end to pull out of the corners. I've put in the old ranger roller and it works just perfect for what I want.

Also I put in a set of 140 / 250 progressive springs in the front and have replaced those with a set of 275 lbs springs and new strut bumpers. Huge difference in driving and going over sharp edged bumps. No more banging / crashing noise on railroad tracks either.

Just today, we added 1 lb of freon and it's blowing out of the vents at 40F. That'll keep the wife and I happy on trips.

So I've done 2 autocrosses this season already with the local Miata club. The first visit to the parking lot, I was pretty unhappy with my results. My buddy driving my old XR did better than me. That was with the A237 cam and I just couldn't get any power coming out of the corners. With the ranger roller, it would pull pretty good and we also cranked up the tire pressure so I wasn't plowing the front end nearly as much. I think I should have added a bit more pressure. I'm running 205/50/16 tires and in the rear, I was running 40psi and 45psi in the front. I think I should have bumped the front to 47.

Since I'll be doing more autocrossing, I've picked up a Viair compressor that works very quickly in added air. The only issue is that you have to connect it directly to the battery and not the cigarette lighter. I plan on getting some better seats to keep me planted and possibly some 17" rims and sticky tires for next year. My times did improve from my first autox to this last one. At least in the second one, I beat a Miata but did get spanked by 3 guys who rented a Corolla for the weekend. Granted, they had a wee bit more experience than I did.

[whitelx]

Is that a Mustang 5.0L AC compressor? It fit the XR bracket? I'm looking to add AC back to my XR. I don't have the original compressor, but I think I have my 5.0 compressor in a box somewhere.