Honey Badger's Completely Off-the-Rails Race Car Build and Track Adventure Thread
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honeybadger
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And just like the skid car, you get reminded "the point of this exercise is not to see how far you can rotate and still bring it back." :lol::lol:Kinda like being in the skid car again
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honeybadger
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Thanks, brother. I am really excited about this upcoming year. Have some great stuff planned. Now if I can just recover financially and the sun will come back :frusty:
Definitely, man. Are you going to FFF/Knots in Apr? I'll be down with Bay Area/Sac crew then. We do a big get together and go hoon in the mountains
Dirt Fish is definitely Disney Land for car enthusiasts. Really great mix of fun and learning. While FPRS is a blast, they do have to add a lot more safety and structure to the program because of the higher speeds. Dirt Fish gives you more freedom to hoon a bit in between skill progression and instruction.
How'd you like the 3 day course? Been thinking about signing up for one next year.
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honeybadger
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Upgrades begin
Have been able to make some progress on the winter upgrades. Things are looking up! (mostly)
First step was diassembling the brakes to remove the calipers for cleaning and painting. For the front, this is pretty easy. I recommend starting by disconnecting the brake line so you can fully remove the caliper once removed from the knuckle. This is pretty easy - just unscrew the 1/2in bolt from the back of caliper. Once out, the rubber brake line will pop free. To keep it from leaking, I pushed a High Temp Plug into the hole (these are used for powder coating).
Then it's similar to a pad change. Remove the caliper bolts (if OEM) or the nuts on your Caliperfexion studs, then slide the caliper off the studs, being careful of not dropping the pads. Once the caliper is out of the way, we can remove the rotor and start on hub. The hub is held on with (4) bolts in the back. Easy access by turning the wheel all the way each direction.
For the rear calipers, you want to start by FIRST removing the axel nut. You'll want the e-brake to help you remove the axle nut since it's on so tight. After that, I removed the pads from the calipers and disconnected the brake line just like the fronts. Then it's on to the parking brake that's on both sides. I've found the easiest way to remove is to loosen the adjust bracket under the car near the drive shaft. Once you have ample slack, then head back to the brake caliper. Pull up on the spring about 1/2 in, then push towards the car from the middle of the spring and wiggle. This will help you wiggle it off the lever (pulling the spring up and pushing from the middle is key to getting it off easily). Once disconnected bend the cable out of the way up on top of the half-shaft boot. Then remove the two bolts on the back of the caliper.
Once the caliper is free, we can remove the rotor and start on the hub. This hub is a bit more work. I had to take the bolts out from the knuckle-to-upper control arm, knuckle-to-vertical link, and toe adjust out so that the knuckle could be pulled away from the car and aimed down. This will give you the working room needed to access the bolts. Once the bolts are removed, beware the rear brake drum can come off (risk of dropping). To support the knuckle/half-shaft, I put the bolts back in the toe adjuster, vertical link, and UCA.
To remove the studs from the hubs, I picked up a 6 ton hydraulic press from Harbor Freight for a whopping $71. Easy work. Unfortunately I couldn't install the new studs as I ordered the wrong ones. n00b mistake.
As you can see, the calipers were in need of a rebuild. Got things a bit cooked at Sonoma and Thunderhill (added Ti shims for next year).
In my wheel post, I mentioned scrapes on the calipers from my 6GRs. Here's an example. Boo.
To prep for painting, I cleaned the crap out of the calipers with brake cleaner, metal brushes and a wire brush attachment for the dremel. Once complete, I rigged up a high-tech painting station :lol:
I chose to try G2's custom-color C2 Caliper Paint. I supplied them with Ford's Ruby Red paint code (RR). It's pretty close. Bit darker/shallower than Ruby Red, but should be beautiful nonetheless.
Now I know what many of you are thinking - "Badger, why the hell are you hand painting giant 6 piston calipers off of a $60K car?" I know, I know. But a couple of reasons - I'm stubborn and wanted to do DIY (learning new things is more rewarding), this is a track car and not a show car (they're going to get trashed anyways), I wanted Ruby Red calipers (can't buy high temp RR paint in a spray can), and I'm debating on switching to the AP Racing system next year anyways. Plus, I couldn't find a definitive answer as to whether G2 holds up to track use - so I decided to test and report back. We shall see.
After coat #1
I'm pretty sure Ruby Red makes everything look better. The paint went on all well. I'd rate 7 out of 10. The finish seems extremely durable (it's an epoxy), but it is thin and my drying time didn't match what G2 described. I think with a few tweaks to my process, this would be a 9 out of 10 for $110 worth of product and some elbow grease. So excited to get these back on the car.
Also, got a start on the tow hooks tonight. Everything looks better in Ruby, right?
Have been able to make some progress on the winter upgrades. Things are looking up! (mostly)
First step was diassembling the brakes to remove the calipers for cleaning and painting. For the front, this is pretty easy. I recommend starting by disconnecting the brake line so you can fully remove the caliper once removed from the knuckle. This is pretty easy - just unscrew the 1/2in bolt from the back of caliper. Once out, the rubber brake line will pop free. To keep it from leaking, I pushed a High Temp Plug into the hole (these are used for powder coating).
Then it's similar to a pad change. Remove the caliper bolts (if OEM) or the nuts on your Caliperfexion studs, then slide the caliper off the studs, being careful of not dropping the pads. Once the caliper is out of the way, we can remove the rotor and start on hub. The hub is held on with (4) bolts in the back. Easy access by turning the wheel all the way each direction.
For the rear calipers, you want to start by FIRST removing the axel nut. You'll want the e-brake to help you remove the axle nut since it's on so tight. After that, I removed the pads from the calipers and disconnected the brake line just like the fronts. Then it's on to the parking brake that's on both sides. I've found the easiest way to remove is to loosen the adjust bracket under the car near the drive shaft. Once you have ample slack, then head back to the brake caliper. Pull up on the spring about 1/2 in, then push towards the car from the middle of the spring and wiggle. This will help you wiggle it off the lever (pulling the spring up and pushing from the middle is key to getting it off easily). Once disconnected bend the cable out of the way up on top of the half-shaft boot. Then remove the two bolts on the back of the caliper.
Once the caliper is free, we can remove the rotor and start on the hub. This hub is a bit more work. I had to take the bolts out from the knuckle-to-upper control arm, knuckle-to-vertical link, and toe adjust out so that the knuckle could be pulled away from the car and aimed down. This will give you the working room needed to access the bolts. Once the bolts are removed, beware the rear brake drum can come off (risk of dropping). To support the knuckle/half-shaft, I put the bolts back in the toe adjuster, vertical link, and UCA.
To remove the studs from the hubs, I picked up a 6 ton hydraulic press from Harbor Freight for a whopping $71. Easy work. Unfortunately I couldn't install the new studs as I ordered the wrong ones. n00b mistake.
As you can see, the calipers were in need of a rebuild. Got things a bit cooked at Sonoma and Thunderhill (added Ti shims for next year).
In my wheel post, I mentioned scrapes on the calipers from my 6GRs. Here's an example. Boo.
To prep for painting, I cleaned the crap out of the calipers with brake cleaner, metal brushes and a wire brush attachment for the dremel. Once complete, I rigged up a high-tech painting station :lol:
I chose to try G2's custom-color C2 Caliper Paint. I supplied them with Ford's Ruby Red paint code (RR). It's pretty close. Bit darker/shallower than Ruby Red, but should be beautiful nonetheless.
Now I know what many of you are thinking - "Badger, why the hell are you hand painting giant 6 piston calipers off of a $60K car?" I know, I know. But a couple of reasons - I'm stubborn and wanted to do DIY (learning new things is more rewarding), this is a track car and not a show car (they're going to get trashed anyways), I wanted Ruby Red calipers (can't buy high temp RR paint in a spray can), and I'm debating on switching to the AP Racing system next year anyways. Plus, I couldn't find a definitive answer as to whether G2 holds up to track use - so I decided to test and report back. We shall see.
After coat #1
I'm pretty sure Ruby Red makes everything look better. The paint went on all well. I'd rate 7 out of 10. The finish seems extremely durable (it's an epoxy), but it is thin and my drying time didn't match what G2 described. I think with a few tweaks to my process, this would be a 9 out of 10 for $110 worth of product and some elbow grease. So excited to get these back on the car.
Also, got a start on the tow hooks tonight. Everything looks better in Ruby, right?
straightliner1
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I must have missed that note..
sublime1996525
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Love the calipers!
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honeybadger
Just don't care
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Ha. I CLEARLY remember someone getting told a few times to quit drifting. And it definitely wasn’t my dad...I must have missed that note..
fuhrius
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except it's a little less crowded in the rally car ;-)Kinda like being in the skid car again
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honeybadger
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SV502s
Still need to complete part 2 of my 2018 Track Season prep, but wanted to share these first. I'm still waiting on my new numbers, windshield banner, and my new brake caliper logos. Other than that, I am mostly done. Loving the results!
Check out those new wheels! Can you say Holy Brake Rotors? Love the profile of these Signature SV502s. Really great that we were able to bring these to the Mustang community first!
Part 1 of a professional photoshoot coming up on Friday. I have a feeling the rollers are going to be killer! More epic-ness to come
Still need to complete part 2 of my 2018 Track Season prep, but wanted to share these first. I'm still waiting on my new numbers, windshield banner, and my new brake caliper logos. Other than that, I am mostly done. Loving the results!
Check out those new wheels! Can you say Holy Brake Rotors? Love the profile of these Signature SV502s. Really great that we were able to bring these to the Mustang community first!
Part 1 of a professional photoshoot coming up on Friday. I have a feeling the rollers are going to be killer! More epic-ness to come
TDC
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Nice job on the caliper match. The lettering for brembo will be black I'm guessing?
raiderjatt02
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I gotta say bro, you really pulled off those stripes. Looks great! And the more I look at the blacked out badges, the more I like them. Matches your car perfectly. :clap2::clap2::clap2:
