1972 Mach 1 Race Restoration for Tarmac Rally
#1
Hi all,

Firstly my apologies for putting some of this info into the "what have you done to your Mustang today" forum. I should have started this thread and just kept on going. So some of this will be old info for you. However, as you will all know, resto and mods evolve over time, and there have been plenty of changes to his build since the first plan was formed.

To bring you all up to speed, we are building this '72 Q code (I know, a Q Code in '72 apparently didn't exist - but we definitely have one ** actually, can someone confirm that it a CJ, HO or BOSS?? **) from scratch except for a few good bits left over from our '73 that we crashed. So it's a ground up build, but not a bare metal resto or anything. It's a 'practical' resto and build - not to everyone's liking, but it's our car and we love what we are doing. Wink

The previous car and the racing that we did successfully is on our YouTube channel and Facebook page. Feel free to contact us and subscribe/friend to follow the up to date progress there too. www.youtube.com/websimple and www.facebook.com/junior.mustang if you are interested.

Firstly, two of our crew. These guys have been instrumental in building both cars. We would not have been racing without them. Warren (on the right) works at the first garage (Donald Gorringes) that helped race prep the car and engine. Pete (on the left) came on board after the first year and he is an extraordinary engineer, fabricator and good bloke.

   

Secondly, the car we crashed and the donor car.

   

   

   

   

   

And in case anyone is wondering, yes we are extremely disappointed that we crashed the car for reasons that was mostly due to tyre selection (long story and I don't want to bore anyone). And yes, we are only reluctantly stripping a beautiful untouched '72 CJ to rebuild a race car. If we had the money we would restore this car to original and buy another shell. But we don't have the money!

So first we started completely stripping the car and uncovered a lot of rust - no surprises there. Luckily the rust is mostly in areas we need to cut and shut anyway for the roll cage and other modifications we planned.

   

   

   

Then we started cutting! We moved the engine rearwards 2" for better weight distribution. A new firewall was strictly necessary, but it was full of rust and the roll cage was much easier to install with better access!

   

And we are making the car into a hatch and the gas tank will be where the rear seats were, so we kept cutting!

   

And the roll cage started. The roll cage will link the front and rear suspension making the chassis incredibly stiff. It means that we will have an absolutely square shell. Our friend Pete (and builder/engineer) is incredibly precise following extraordinary processes to perfect the finish.

   

   

   

   

   

   

Then we continued cutting to install the 4 link rear with coilovers instead of leaf springs. So custom adjustable mounts were designed and manufactured, then welded onto the car and diff. Custom control arms were designed and manufactured - all adjustable and rose jointed of course!

   

   

   

   

The (before actually completing anything) we moved onto the front end. I have been finding this 'piecemeal' approach difficult, but it is actually the most efficient way to move forward. If we completed each job the finished product would take months longer. So this way, 90% of the work will be done before the car even looks like being finished - then the last 10% will bring everything together quickly.

So, the front end ... we cut the old crossmember out because it was heavy and weaker than we needed. We replaced it with high tensile steel with stronger (and more precise) castor mounts with adjustable anti-dive mounts.

   

   

   

   

And in the rear! We had to remove quite a bit of rusty floor, so we just cut it all out. The majority of the boot floor will be a carbon fiber panel. There is no weight to support because the fuel tank (gas tank) is going where the rear seats used to be, so carbon fiber it is.
The steel cross member you can see is the Watts link support panel, which also give additional strength to the rear subframe.

   

   

   

And this I think is called the tail light garnish (??) and this is the kind of message I receive! Too heavy at ~3.5lbs each.

   

And now for the (hopefully) most amazing part - the rear coilovers!

We are using the NEW (new at the time of purchase) 4 way adjustable coilovers from VariShock. They have the remote reservoir as you can see. These are the longest travel they make at 7" travel. They look like the ducks guts on paper, so hopefully they will be awesome for us.
Our 'recipe' for suspension in a Tarmac Rally is soft springs, quality dampers, heavy sway bar.

   

   

   

   

And that's it so far. We have changed our mind with the fuel tank. I had one partly built, but that is now scrap. We are going to form-fit a custom carbon fiber/kevlar tank into the rear seat area sitting over the transmission hump with twin fuel pumps to handle the 2 'sumps'.

More photos soon!


Attached Files Image(s)
   
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#2
The beauty of your work is in the straight forward simplicity of tying the cage into the original structure as you have you should end up with a terrific race car. Her's hoping things go better then with the first one. Keep the Shiny side up and the Greasy side down! Just a thought. Gears JTS 71 Mach1
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#3
Hey Pete - the progress is looking good!

I have followed Winn-Winn racing since I came upon the youtube video of their building of the first Mach 1. Last year I was also able to travel to Australia for a visit and was able to take time to visit with Pete (and Pete) and Ian and see both Mach 1's first hand!

Here's proof!

Pete is a great guy (which can also be said for the other Pete and for Pete's dad Ian as well). Now it is my hope that I will be able to visit them all again and even time my visit to watch the Targa Rally.

Thanks Pete - I am looking forward to the updates.


Attached Files Image(s)
               
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#4
(04-13-2014, 01:26 PM)Steven Harris Wrote: Hey Pete - the progress is looking good!

I have followed Winn-Winn racing since I came upon the youtube video of their building of the first Mach 1. Last year I was also able to travel to Australia for a visit and was able to take time to visit with Pete (and Pete) and Ian and see both Mach 1's first hand!

Here's proof!

Pete is a great guy (which can also be said for the other Pete and for Pete's dad Ian as well). Now it is my hope that I will be able to visit them all again and even time my visit to watch the Targa Rally.

Thanks Pete - I am looking forward to the updates.

Thank you Mr Harris! For all of you, Steven found our vids and invited us to join the Mach 1 Club and we have found it to be excellent - informative, helpful, encouraging and friendly - not judgmental and argumentative like so many others. And his (and his families) visit to Tassie not so long ago was awesome - he too is a great guy with a warm and friendly family. For Dad and I it is really nice to have the members of this site and Steven/family in particular supporting us in the background. Although I do not input enough into this site, I am thinking of it a lot, and the thoughts and support really mean something to us (Dad and I).
So thanks everyone involved in this site, and keep up the input because many of us watch it all! Please watch our YouTube vids because it really does help us. Subscribing to the channel really would help too, and even 'friending' the Facebook page. They all help us with sponsorship, and we do not bombard with rubbish - it is Mustang stuff only!
(04-13-2014, 11:20 AM)JTS71 Mach1 Wrote: The beauty of your work is in the straight forward simplicity of tying the cage into the original structure as you have you should end up with a terrific race car. Her's hoping things go better then with the first one. Keep the Shiny side up and the Greasy side down! Just a thought. Gears JTS 71 Mach1

Many thanks! I think "Shiny Side Up"will be our new motto. The roll cage will be tied into the chassis at every point possible. We call it complex simplicity! So much of automotive engineering boils down to common sense ... the most complex calculations will result in a measurement that places an item in exactly the place it makes sense to be (if that makes sense). The classics for me are pinion angles for steering, castor rod mounting points, and convergence angle of the rear control arms. These 3 points in particular were WAY out in the last iteration of the race car and it handled like the proverbial pig. But we inherited those from previous builders. And this build? Well, this build is beautiful. I just can't wait to drive it.
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#5
Watching the build with interest and look forward to seeing it in action Clap_

What part of Tassie are you guys located in?
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#6
(04-13-2014, 06:11 PM)Oztrailer Wrote: Watching the build with interest and look forward to seeing it in action Clap_

What part of Tassie are you guys located in?

Dad is in Launceston, the car is New Norfolk (near Hobart) and I am based in Carlton Beach (South of Hobart). So we are spread out!
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#7


Many thanks! I think "Shiny Side Up"will be our new motto. The roll cage will be tied into the chassis at every point possible. We call it complex simplicity! So much of automotive engineering boils down to common sense ... the most complex calculations will result in a measurement that places an item in exactly the place it makes sense to be (if that makes sense). The classics for me are pinion angles for steering, castor rod mounting points, and convergence angle of the rear control arms. These 3 points in particular were WAY out in the last iteration of the race car and it handled like the proverbial pig. But we inherited those from previous builders. And this build? Well, this build is beautiful. I just can't wait to drive it.
[/quote]

Amen to the complex simplicity and common sense approach to building your race car. Makes perfect sense, the few critical measurements and calculatuions you mentioned. Should have intersecting lines with regard to the center of gravity and the roll center. as the closer you can get these lines to intersect or match the more steady and neutral a race car you will have. Good luck guys it sounds like you have a knack for understanding whats going on Biggrin "down under" Sorry couldn't resist. Seriously look forward to seeing the progress and end result. JTS 71 Mach1
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#8
I'm more of a "stock" person, but find your build interesting. Keep the updates coming.
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#9
Smile 
I have added more photos and progress using the 'edit post' function. So if you want to see more, scroll back up a little bit! Rolleyes
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#10
Great progress pictures.

The dual sump gas tank will be a very interesting development and I imagine quite a handling improvement for the car.

Yep - ducks guts!
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