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Obsolescence to Obsession – Tales of the Rented Mule (FPRS GT350 Track Attack #14)

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Muligan

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The Mule is back on the lift and undergoing a bit of mid-season upgrades / maintenance. In addition to an oil and filter change and some new front pads, it's getting a few other tweaks that I'll highlight in the coming days.

In the mean time, here's a teaser pic - with thanks to @Tonymustang302.......

Canards.jpg
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Working on TSB #19-2135 for the tone ring / output flange nut this evening. Removed the rear diffuser and the exhaust, then pulled the driveshaft. Good news is that the huge nut in question checked out at 105 ft. lbs. of torque. The bad news is that it had the symptoms described on the TSB - hesitation / surge and inoperative cruise control. Hmmmmm..... maybe a bit of clutch slippage? That can't be ruled out, as the poor Mule saw many left feet, some more skilled than others. I need to take a closer look at the OASIS report to see when the clutch was last changed, but given the treatment it received, the only sure way to know will be to put eyeballs on it at some point.

Just a few observations on the TSB work for those who may give it a go.
  • Make sure you have a way of supporting the driveshaft before removing it - I have spindle jacks that I use under the lift and those made it really easy to do this as a one-man job.
  • Before you begin, add alignment marks to both ends of the driveshaft and the transmission and pinion flanges.
  • The driveshaft hardware is single use - part numbers and quantities are listed on the TSB and the bolts cost around 16 bucks at various online Ford parts outlets.
  • The threadlock on the OEM hardware is a bit messy and can foul the mating surfaces, so be sure to clean everything really well before reassembly
  • To torque the tone ring / flange nut to 105 ft. lbs., you can hold the transmission in place by threading two of the old 12pt bolts into the flange and then locking them using a large pry bar. This avoids undue pressure on the gears - and definitely don't use an impact. Also, it helps to use a large torque wrench that offers lots of leverage.
EDIT - Just thought I'd add this in case it can help others. Something else I checked while the driveshaft is out.... the pinion flange and the output flange on the transmission are at the same angle. I've read quite a bit on the various reasons for the two-piece OEM driveshaft, including NVH, addressing a mis-alignment between transmission and differential, accident safety, etc. I've been looking at one piece driveshafts, but was concerned that there may be a misalignment of the drivetrain, but it appears that is not the case.

Lots of other little things going on with the Mule in the coming week, so stay tuned.

Tone Ring and Exhaust Wrap.jpg


Transmission output flange - I cleaned it, witness marked with paint, and added torque check at spec.

Transmission Output Flange.JPG


Pinion flange cleaned - there was a bunch of blue threadlock residue on this.

Pinion Flange.JPG


Both ends / mating surfaces of the driveshaft cleaned. Also, I inspected U-joints, the center bearing and all rubber.

DS Input Flange.JPG


DS Output Flange.JPG
 
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Good time to swap those gears ;)
 

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Well..... it ain't to the @honeybadger level just yet. But, I have hit the "what are you thinking" point with Mrs. Muligan.
 

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honeybadger

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Well..... it ain't to the @honeybadger level just yet. But, I have hit the "what are you thinking" point with Mrs. Muligan.

ahhh ya. That's when this journey really gets going ha
 

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Well done, good luck.
 
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Slowly chipping away at the Mule's to-do list. One of the things I did over the weekend will hopefully help keep differential temps down. Although the temps I've seen haven't been all that bad, I figured that while the exhaust was off the car for the tone ring TSB work, I'd add a bit of heat insulation.

I used a Cool-It product called "Generation II Copper," which is a 2" wide copper-infused fiberglass header wrap. I started wrapping just before the midpoint hanger brackets and did an even overlap all the way to the heat shields where the pipes converge. I then doubled back to the start point with about a 1/4 overlap. Each pipe took about 23' of wrap! I secured it with stainless zip ties - two at the start/finish and one at the front where the wrap doubles back on itself.

In the past, I was seeing diff temps in the mid-220's, so it'll be interesting to see if that was derived from internal friction or if the ambient heat from the pipes contributed to it at all. I'll update on this one after the next outing in a few weeks.

Here are some pics of the products and the pipes......

Exhaust Wrap 1.jpg


Exhaust Wrap 2.jpg


Exhaust Wrap 5.jpg


Exhaust Wrap 4.jpg
 
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Back with another episode of the Mule's mid-season makeover.

Those carbon fiber things in post 181 are a set of KohR / Multimatic GT4 canards. After experiencing a fairly light front end at Road America earlier this season, I wanted to so something to give the front a bit more plant at higher speeds, but nothing so over-the-top that it would require further aero enhancements like deeper splitter, large rear wing, etc. After talking with @Epiphany and reaching out to @Tonymustang302 in response to a year old listing he had, I scored this little bit of unobtainium for the Mule's nose.

Fairly straight forward installation, as they are shaped perfectly for the GT350 fascia and have four pre-drilled holes.

I positioned the canards and drilled four 1/8" pilot holes.....

20220804_114600.jpg


After doing the first hole at the bottom (front), I added a Cleco (on lift at bottom of pic) to hold the canard in place and then drilled the top (rear-most) and added another Cleco. The middle two holes were then super easy to get in the right location.......

20220804_114512.jpg


After opening the holes up a bit, I inserted some split rivnuts that are made for soft materials. These have a wider face on the outside and the barrel is slit, allowing them to pull like a peel rivet with very little resistance. I used a rivnut gun to set these in place......

Puller.jpg


Then the canards were bolted in place using some 10-24 button head allen machine screws and finished it off with new (and slightly smaller) Mule decals.....

20220804_115847.jpg


20220804_115854.jpg


These aren't the be-all-end-all for taking away that high-speed lift feeling, but they should help somewhat until further mods are made.

Thanks for dropping by and keep watching for more Mule updates!
 

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Thumbs up!
 

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Did you stop making the Caliperfexion caliper studs? Thanks. Sorry to hijack the thread.
He doesn't make them, his wife does........
 
 




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