The Albuquerque Stripper - Who says a Mustang can't land a kickflip?

[PaddyPrix]

Got bored and pulled the 17lb AC head and piping out last night. I think the engine bay is about as light as I can go without violating the class rules and doing structural changes.

Don't know if I can remove that plastic thing that is the whole battery compartment, not sure how much savings is there by removing that and using some Golf cart battery.

On the interior, pretty much just the dash, instrument cluster, and AC/Evaporator core.
Might as well leave those alone and count down to the next weekend.

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[Flyhalf]

Nice.
what is the AC radiator weight?

I don't think i will make to Nasa next week..wife let's say...opposed LOL.
installing my side vents now...

 

[PaddyPrix]

Nice.
what is the AC radiator weight?

I don't think i will make to Nasa next week..wife let's say...opposed LOL.
installing my side vents now...

Dry/Drained, my bathroom scale says 6.6 lbs, and that's with the plastic/rubber things on the sides and bottom of it to create that tunnel and spacing from the coolant radiator. Shame you can't make it down next weekend, but assuming Buttonwillow is on the edge of our considerations I'm sure we'll cross paths eventually. Mine's different, I haven't tracked in 4 months and I'm driving her crazy with all the noise and mess I'm making. If I don't hit the track soon, one of is may likely die, especially if we're using Harbor Freight jackstands.

 

[PaddyPrix]

I've been trying to do my best to spare you guys the details, but I've been smiling ear to ear like a fucking fool for like the past couple of days now.
Saturday was the first time I had ever really driven it above like, 50mph, or driven it on e85, or had aero, or put these Nittos to operating temperature, or, or, or ... and things went so well. The exhaust sounds amazing, but I had been somewhat hinting at that for a while now. The aero, suspension, and tires make this thing handle like a dream, and when I can remember to fully turn off the traction control (like, hold it in for 15 seconds) it's so easy to plant, rotate, and smoothly apply some gas to launch out of the turns. Saturday ended somewhat prematurely as we tried to go out for the 3rd run, where the car would power, but wouldn't start. Thought it was the alternator at first, and spent the lunch break driving from Buttonwillow to Shafter hitting up all the places for an alternator that I know the aftermarket stores don't really have yet. Was pretty bummed out, but my good neighbor being much more mechanically sound than I thought it'd be a good idea to start playing with the fuses. Note to self (and others) make sure you have your manual so you can much easier find out the numbering/mapping of them, because internet is fickle at some of these tracks in the middle of nowhere, and a cheap multimeter is nice to have too. We started playing with things, and started hearing noises a little more sensitively, and he looked under and saw the starter solenoid just ... hanging out.

Hard to see from that pic, but one of the two studs snapped clean off, and there's a crack running through the plastic, and I'd guess the power is bleeding or jumping where it'd normally be shielded. We unscrewed that, ziptied the ends so they'd never touch, and gave push starting a try which worked pretty darn good since we were at the far side of the parking lot with enough space to get a nice clean run off of it. I was thinking about calling it quits before, but now that we've got a way to get it running again, Sunday was back on, my first go at CW25, which is their fastest configuration.

Sunday was an absolute blast, and after shaking 5 months of track dust off, I was just having a blast, even if it was highly trafficked with like 40 other cars out there. Since this was only the 2nd day I've really been behind the wheel on it, I figured it'd be best if I didn't make any real changes other than properly adjusting tire pressures so I can better learn what this car is currently doing, before I start making tweaks one way or another, except for the G-Loc R12's that were leftovers from the 2019 which I pretty much chewed through, so I put on the R16's. The third session out (my second), I exited Grapevine with some serious speed and went so fast that I tore the rear bumper off.



Yes, I'm also shifting with the screw, because I'm too cheap to purchase a shift knob. I would be willing to review/test one for somebody. Anyhow, the rear bumper is one of the few pieces from the previous owner and truth be told, it had a few snaps missing and broken as it was probably towed by the bumper, or certainly broken by the team recovering the car. Broke the rear tabs clean off, might as well get another one that isn't busted, or fix this one, who knows. But despite losing those two parts, the outing was a major success, and just too much fun. Besides, that's just excess weight holding me back.

There was a lot of traffic out there, and I wasn't honestly going anything harder than 6-7/10ths because I'm trying to get a feel for everything, but there is so much more speed left in it. It did a halfway decent job of hanging with a GT3 and Viper ACR for the few times that we got to stay together, and rusty I made a few mistakes, like I had an off because I thought the R16's had more heat in them then they really did, and another one I felt like going super hot into Riverside, pushing my luck, nibbling too much. That said, Buttonwillow is a really safe course with plenty of safe runoff, and the thing you generally end up damaging is your ego, because you kick up a giant dust cloud that lets every spectator know that you are a fool. I'm okay with that, I can only get better from here. Had the pleasure of setting up next to Oli Thordarson of ST2 fame, he is among the nicest and most knowledgeable people on the planet, and to top it all off, got some love back from APR on da 'gram.

So, yeah summing it all up, 11/10, the Albuquerque Stripper is alive and well.

 

[bnightstar]

So, yeah summing it all up, 11/10, the Albuquerque Stripper is alive and well.

Nice job on your first outing with the car. I'm happy that you are enjoying it and it look bad ass at this point I even think no need to paint it in one color that way it's much more sexy. The MCS looks very good and the car really goes where you are pointing it. Good job on driving that baby.

 

[PaddyPrix]

I didn't mean to take time off or away from this, but dealing with a company I used to hold in high regard kinda threw a wrench into my plans of late. Not sure if it was them or the shipper, but paying for expedited shipping and having it take 2 weeks is not generally the same thing, so yeah, no more dealing with Cock Auto for me.

In strange, and somewhat related news to that, I found out that somebody somewhere made a typo, as my car is supposed to use a Motorcraft SA-1087 starter, but that's a two bolt plate with a 10 tooth wheel, and I need a Motorcraft SA-1067 to mount to 3 holes and with 13 teeth. I don't know exactly when they changed that, but apparently, neither does Ford, so in the unlikely event that you need to replace your starter, you might as well take a look for yourself and not blindly trust their own part selectors and/or the pictures.
More info here: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/2018-gt-starter-motor-confusion-sa-1067-vs-sa-1087.143392

Went to the border the other day and got a replacement rear bumper, and really starting to wish I had a bigger garage, these things are eating up so much space.

Also trying my hand at wrapping it in vinyl to at least get it to one color, instead of the 4 it is now. The other reason somewhat inspired by the rear bumper, which was thankfully Oxford White, is that should I have to replace parts becauseracecar, this'll keep my options open and lack of care to a manageable level. I'll simply replace the part and give it a quick wrap, maybe sand off some of the scratches or blemishes beforehand. Screw painting and multiple passes, letting it cure for days and whatnot, meh.

Learning a lot though, apparently, I thought I was too smart for it, and it took about 15 minutes before it kicked my ass. As one would assume, not all wraps are created equal, and the one I went with is on the more difficult side as it is much heavier and thicker than the more expensive brands, and it's considered to be the stickiest/tackiest one, which makes it somewhat very unforgiving when you're trying to figure out what to do. The 18+ also have one of the more complicated hoods, compared to Miata and Porsche guys, and with most film going no wider than 5 feet, we've got to stretch it 3-4 inches to make the top corners where it meets the fenders too.

Quick tips I learned the hard way, using your nice Wagner heat gun is not the right tool for the job, at least my fancy model with the auto cool-down timer. Should you turn it on for a quick blast to stretch something, it'll do that mandatory like 2 minute cool timer, which if you change your mind or want to go back to heat means you either have to wait, or disconnect the plug to reconnect it, just for potentially another 5 second blast. Could probably get away with a cheap heat gun for the quick blasts.

The vinyl is also incredibly forgiving, if you mess up, a quick blast will have it revert to its previous form, which is just nutty the first couple of times, and then really nice when you're working with it quicker, so you don't have to go for perfection first time around, which is what I did when the first thing I tried was the hood, took almost two nights and still sucked.

Got an event coming up in another few weekends, so should return back to Buttonwillow, but it looks like it'll be packed as every track rat is grabbing whatever openings there are, so it'll be hard to stretch the feet and find out what it's better capable of if there's some Honda or Spec Miata in the way. Not picking on those guys, but where the Stripper stands with its MCS, it'll outhandle just about anything in the turns. Need some more time to actually play with dialing the compression and rebound, but hard to do with so much traffic and establishing a before baseline. Looking ahead in about 5 weeks to Auto Club Speedway, which is a much faster track to let the speed and power this thing has shine, curious to see what it will do as well.

Here's hoping you all had a Happy 4th of July, I celebrated by letting a few horsepower go free -

 

[Flyhalf]

Yeah. I hear you just ordered a backyard Shed to put all my interior/exterior extra stuff.
This should free some space
Question.
I need to wrap my second trunk which is white instead of KONA BLUE.
do you know if someone produce a wrap in kona blue. In other word FORD COLOURS?

 

[PaddyPrix]

Yeah. I hear you just ordered a backyard Shed to put all my interior/exterior extra stuff.
This should free some space
Question.
I need to wrap my second trunk which is white instead of KONA BLUE.
do you know if someone produce a wrap in kona blue. In other word FORD COLOURS?

That's a really good question, and no, I'm not aware of any. There are a few main brands, and most of them offer some color swatches, which is nice, but what we see on our different screens at various brightnesses compared to the output is difficult, especially in your case where you want exact. More or less the same issue that body shops have as well, where paints fade over time, and even if it is the exact paint, it'll look brand new, while the rest of the car has aged and faded. I'm a pretty basic guy, but got 100ft x 5ft for just under $500, and figure that's about enough to wrap my car around twice, so perhaps go with something that's not too terribly expensive and somewhat close? Unless it's something crazy like the Mystic Cobras, it'll generally be about $1-2/sq ft in bulk, and while I've seen people complain about how they ordered something twice and they don't match, considering how professional some of these brands are, and how dialed in their production is, I'd guess they were buying Amazon/eBay knockoff films.

For you
3M - Indigo? https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...1&preselect=8696029+8711017+3294857497&rt=rud
Avery - Dark Blue Gloss? - https://graphics.averydennison.com/...rochures/color-guide/na-swf-color-card-en.pdf
KPMF - Dark Blue Gloss? https://www.kpmfvehiclewrap.com/products/product-details?pId=3014
VViViD - Navy Blue Metallic? Way too flat and in some pics close to purple - https://vvividshop.com/collections/automotive/2-color_blue

 

[PaddyPrix]

Sold the 2019 GT today, took me all of about 4 hours to get sellers' remorse, but in the end, I guess it is for the good. I'm working remotely full-time now, but even if I wasn't, I have an EV to daily. If I need to go further, I've got a smog-legal California car. If I want to kick somebody's ass, I've got the Stripper. As much as I loved the 19, it was pretty much for going to car meets and shows, which when you figure the car payments and insurance, it just isn't worth paying $100-200 to do.

In other news, I do a terrible job of keeping secrets. Here's hoping I can keep these on lockdown. One of them I'll eventually post on here when it's ready to do so.

Wait, one of them?

Yeah, one of them.

Even if I did post about it, well... it would be in bad taste posting on Mustang forums.

Yeah, enjoy the cliffhanger. DUN DUNNNNN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

 

[PaddyPrix]

Also ended up selling my beloved 1998 Cobra. One of the tougher calls I had made, and when it came down to it, kinda wish I hadn't. I'll likely end up hunting him down and buying it back someday, that Terminator swap was just a bunch of fun waiting to happen to somebody.

Had that car for 16 years, they would have buried me in it, had I not sold it.

Spent 11 hours going up and back to grab...

Some non-Mustang that I guess I can't talk about on this forum.

 

[o-man]

Do tell!

 

[PaddyPrix]

Do tell!

I'll keep it short n' sweet. I've been looking at maximizing smiles per mile and getting some seat time as cheaply as could be, and Lucky Dog is about as good as you can ask for, 8-14 hour endurance races in 15+ year old cars without that crazy "$500" budget that Lemons has. Been talking to a few buddies and looking for something that was safe, perhaps a previous race car so that we don't have to pay for the cage and safety equipment, and something that'd do okay on consumables. If you race your Mustang, you know how much a set of 305's go for, and how quickly they go. I'm too handsome to fit into a Miata, and so I was looking at e30 and e46's, which is pretty much what you run if it's not a Miata or 944. A buddy and I were scouring all of the SoCal craigslists and looking for salvage cars that we could get into cheaply, and then we came across this thing. It was formerly run in the Nevada Silver State Classic Challenge, the World's Fastest Road Race, and as the rules are currently written, perfectly legal. The cage and fire systems reflect something that was meant to survive an accident at speeds above 180mph, so double check there, and the 3rd gen Camaros were rather aerodynamic, light, and because of it, can get by just fine with 15" tires. This engine is certainly not stock, and so having easily double or triple the power of a Miata would mean that we could potentially just coast our way to a victory driving 6-8/10ths, passing them in the straights, and coasting with them in the turns, while they're all going 9-10/10ths and much more likely to break things. Things only look worse for them if we're on a power course like Laguna Seca or Willow Springs. If we don't win, honestly, that's fine too, taking the weekend off and sharing 12-14 hour races with my buds is the closest I'll get to the real deal.

 

[Ewheels]

Your posts are always so hilarious to read through!

 

[PaddyPrix]

Your posts are always so hilarious to read through!

As my Plastic Surgeon always said, "If you gotta go, go with a smile!"

 

[Sivi70980]

Agree with others, great project and a great read!

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