[gavin]

INTAKE:

15.10.C.1. Carburetors, fuel injection, and intake manifolds are unrestricted, subject to 15.10.D. Alternate throttle linkage and connections to facilitate installation of allowed induction systems are permitted, but may serve no other purpose. If an induction system item is allowed to be removed and its original mounting bracket can be removed by simply unbolting it, the bracket may be re-moved as well.

Basically any intake manifold is allowed. And with the ability to use an aftermarket ECU, I plan to create a new system for the car.






It’s a “kit” for a dual plenum sheet metal intake manifold. Along with a very short section of the stock runners and a 4.6l mustang throttle body the plan is to get a bit better flow but really reduce the weight if the very complex stock throttle body and intake design.

The dual plenum intake is a bit much for the setup I have, but it was what was being offered (the VW/Audi folks like this setup a lot) so I wasn’t too fussy about it.

EXHAUST:

Currently the car has the stock (186,000mile) exhaust system.

15.10.I Exhaust manifolds and muffler systems are free, except that they must be quiet and terminate behind the driver. Exhaust heat shields may be removed. Rear- and mid-engine cars without exhaust headers/manifold systems may use any exhaust system that meets the requirements of 3.5. This permits the removal of “heater boxes” in order to install headers on such cars.

As you can see I have a few toys that I can use (probably wont use that collector though) to fabricate a new turbo header system. It will be a semi-tubular log setup not unlike the stock manifold. Why go through all this trouble for just another log manifold? Weight, plain and simple. Oh I may get a bit better flow if I profile things right, but mainly this is a weight saving exercise.

As another nod to weight, I could make a nice equal length tubular manifold like a “ramhorn” design but, (a) I don’t really plan to be making that much horsepower (@200hp or so) so a full tubular manifold wont be of much use at those modest levels VS. a log manifold and (b) a tubular manifold means more material to get things nice and neat. More material is more weight.

Post turbo will be a simple, efficient and quiet exhaust system.

I will see about purchasing an O2 housing from Jake, from that a 3” downpipe will be fashioned, a small length of flex tubing going to a burns stainless muffler and then a simple turndown terminating behind the drivers seat.

Burns Stainless

Probably this item.

Why not a straight through exhaust? Noise. We live in a time and age (for motorsports) where noise is a very big concern. Once upon a time noise wasn’t a concern, but as development has spread, the encroachment of homes to what once was far away spaces, noise had become a big deal. For autocross, an event that rents space, the issue is huge. When/if noise complaints from homeowners happen the loss of a site is pretty imminent. Coast to coast, regions have lost sites because of noise complaints. Some regions never even knew they had run afoul with noise until told by the site owner that they were done forever.

SFR has a standing policy of 95db @100ft. It’s a known OSHA standard so its something that lawyers can understand and for competitors, its really easy to meet (95db @100ft) is pretty loud actually). We are doing our best to be good neighbors and so will I. Even though turbocharged cars are naturally quiet(er) since the turbo provides muffling, I will be using a lightweight burns muffler to reduce the noise even more. It also will allow me to meet the noise restriction at San Diegos Qualcomm Stadium which is a very tight 93db @ 50ft.


STRUTS:

Ive already alluded to this in a previous post.







The Penskes have returned from the welders and have been modified to fit the MX6)new ears and extensions to make the rears longer). I then sent them to the metal platers to get a zinc coating on them for rust protection(and added BliNg!!).





Painting and powedercoating wouldn’t work in this application because of the threaded body. Ill have to do some research on where to place the external canisters. Not sure how I can legally mount them inside the body and out of harms way. Ive seen other cars with this done, but….more research is needed.


After that things will be about 95% done. The rest will be tuning and fine tuning getting those last few %s out of the parts that I have. Nibbling away at weight (new lighter seat?, fasteners are free?). There are some folks who have gone so far as to using aluminum screws in non-critical areas of the car , or have cut down the lengths of bolts/used hollow bolts(I found out that one of my local competitors removed all washers from his car…pretty slick).

Well, that’s all I have for the time being. Its taken a bit to get here and a lot of perspiration, inspiration, money and motivation were expended to see things this far. Hope people were entertained a little by what I am doing and I hope the “whats” and “whys” have been answered adequately, if not Ill be happy to fill in the blanks.

The process never ends, but at least the car runs

To the future. Cheers.

Gavin

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