Vorshlag Blog

The latest 5-part entry into the massive S550/S650 Development forum thread covers work we did on our 2015 Mustang Time Attack Car we call #Trigger in the first third of 2024. Yes we know, we’re behind, but these entries are massive undertakings with hundreds of images and videos, and tens of thousands of words. You can catch up with what we have written starting here.

We cover in detail the addition of a roll cage, carbon widebody fenders, and massive 18×13.5″ wheels and 345mm Hoosiers to the existing setup, which included 315mm A052 “200TW” tires on 18×12″ wheels. There was also a Haltech based adjustable traction control system that Billy at Rapscallion Motorsports added and helped dial in.

Ever wondered what it took to add massive tires? The flare addition is the easy part – the REAL work is underneath the flares! We show this step-by-step in exhaustive detail starting in the latest forum build thread entry.

In the first 4 months of 2024 with this car we fought with front end lift, added vents in numerous places, had faulty clutches, wore out some synchros, cheap coils, a bad starter, chased an ABS fault, tires rubbed, and we did a bunch of track tests and competitions. It wasn’t all bad, as there were some wins, and more wins followed later in 2024 – which we will cover next time. Again, you can read the latest entries here – thanks for reading!

We have been cooking up plans to tackle some major suspension changes to the Fox and SN95 generation Mustangs for some time. We started gathering parts for the 21st Century Fox project in 2016, then we got busy with many other things and we paused this work for a mere eight years…

In 2024 we got back to this project using this development mule, a 1988 Fox Mustang LX with a lowly 2.3L four cylinder. This is Terry’s 8th Mustang, and it is an ’88, so we call this car #TheOcho – He is not right in the head, with his irrational love of Fox Mustangs, especially the notch back versions!

This Fox is part of a Concept of a Plan we began a few years earlier, and we have been gathering cars from the 1980s and 1990s to tackle some 21st Century suspension and design updates. All four of the cars shown above have been utilized to create new Vorshlag products, and we’re just getting started on the Fox Mustang. We even list the other build threads for the E30, E36 and 3rd Gen inside the new SN95/Fox build thread. And yes, we’ve already done some product development work on a 1995 Mustang, from the SN95 generation.

This forum thread covers what we have planned and what we have completed so far on the Fox and SN95 Mustangs. We will continue to update the Fox/SN95 Forum Build Thread, our YouTube build diary entries, and post about the work on our socials as we progress. Thanks for reading!

At long last, after a Summer and Fall of maintenance and repairs, our little BMW E30 was ready for the track. This car is a 1991 BMW 318is that we used for development and autocross competition from 2007-09, then it went away and changed hands many times. But in 2024 we had the chance to buy it back, and we did!

After restoring the car enough to get it street worthy, we had one task left – replace the 13 year old tires that were cracked and aged out. We went a little overboard with these fat 225mm Bridgestone RE-71R tires, but wow – the GRIP! These 200 Treadwear tires have come a long way since 2007. And we had to do some things to “make them fit”…

We hadn’t driven this E30 on track since 2008 and it was JUST AS MUCH FUN tracking it in 2025 as it was then. Likely more fun, as the grip levels were much higher with modern rubber. The old AST dampers held together for this track test and of the two drivers that day, Amy Fair came out on top. In the latest Forum Build Thread entry we cover all of the upgrades, tweaks, test drives, and track videos.

In this latest update we discuss an engine upgrade – to something newer and more powerful, yet hopefully not too heavy or “overdone”. We only show the LS1 V8 above to show how small the J-series Honda SOHC V6 really is (we will absolutely not LS swap this car). A lot of measurements, testing, and research sadly led us away from this potent and lightweight V6, but we do have something more interesting and spicy in mind.

Link: https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/forum/vorshlag-motorsports-discussions/vorshlag-project-cars/59265-vorshlag-bmw-e30-development-thread-1991-bmw-318is?p=59282#post59282

Clink the link above to see what we’re up to. Thanks for reading!

When we dropped the Bilstein brand (due to a completely loss of faith in their stocking ability) in 2025, after carrying it for dozens of years, we already had a replacement German monotube brand in mind to fill that entry level coilover gap – H&R!

H&R carries a catalog FULL of very robust, inverted monotube strut coilovers and shocks. We began exploring this brand in early 2025 with the S197 Mustang offering, then after digitally rating the included springs and offering these assembled with Vorshlag top mounts (for our “StreetPro” replacement, above) – we immediately began to add our own twist on these with replacement springs that have a stiffer spring rate.

This “TrackPro” offering replaced the missing suspension option for this S197 chassis that we used to fill with a Bilstein B6 monotube that we modified heavily to turn it into a coilover. Over $1600 less than the least costly monotube coilover we carry for this S197 model, the H&R fill a niche for some of our customers.

After selling the first few sets of H&R for the S197 chassis, we dove into the next car model: the S550 Mustang. We have already made the StreetPro and TrackPro versions of these, and will keep expanding our coverage with H&R into other car makes and models.

And while these are just ride height adjustable, with no damping adjustment, for some folks that is a good thing. We also sell each setup with only one spring package, not a choice like with other brands we carry. No knobs to turn and no spring rates to choose = less chance of tuning yourself into a corner! Call us at Vorshlag if you have questions about these entries or other car models.

In this 3rd chapter to our huge Forum Build Thread and series of GRM magazine articles we cover some major prep work to the Pontini Racing 2014 BRZ. This time they have a roll cage built, and we dive deep into the choices for doing this critical and required safety step.

After the method of having the cage built was decided, the shop picked, and the deed completed the team jumped into prepping the floors and cage to be painted. We cover 3 methods to paint the cage and 2 methods to remove tar paper off the floors. Then the window net was installed, then the fire system mounted and plumbed.

The team also installed a motorsports style defroster, tow hooks at both ends (including a custom soft rear strap), Lexan rear window, multiple CNC cut and hand made aluminum panels for various controls and switches, and all manner of other details. Then the car was weighed and off to the track the team went for Track Test #3 – one week before their debut ChampCar Endurance race! Hundreds of pictures, tech tips, in-car videos, and more are covered in Part 3 of the Forum Build Thread. Thanks for reading!

This might be a blast from the past for you long time Vorshlag fans – we purchased this 1991 BMW 318is back in August of 2024 that we sold in early 2009. Purchased originally in 2007, this was one of the first four cars we built up when we started Vorshlag. We had a Forum Build Thread for this car that we started in 2007 but decided to kick off a new E30 Development Thread for this new chapter.

This one had been sitting for several years in the hot Texas sun, which baked off the paint and damaged some things like the dash. But we couldn’t just let this car rot away and the sellers were happy we could buy this back and restore it to its former glory.

While restoring this car we are also using it to develop some new products for the BMW E30 chassis, like these brake cooling deflectors (above), new seat brackets, and much more to come. We have even picked a Time Trial race class to build towards, with an eye towards competition later in 2025.

After replacing brake rotors, pads, hubs, and other fluids we got to work on the interior. Now this E30 has a new dash pad, Sparco tilt back seats, Sparco harnesses, a MOMO steering wheel and NRG quick release. The paint needs some serious attention but we will attack that, all in good time.

We have chronicled ALL of this work from August of 2024 to February of 202 in this new Forum Build Thread. The forum coverage stops right before we got these 225mm Bridgestone RE-71RS tires mounted, earlier this week. We have done several test drives and the car is loaded up to go to MSR Cresson for some baseline lap testing later today. Thanks for reading!

As of January of 2025, we have discontinued all of our Bilstein based website entries. This was not a choice we made lightly, as we have been a Bilstein dealer for over 15 years and have developed numerous unique products using their dampers. The availability of the Bilstein dampers has been extremely limited, and once they run out of stock we have to wait months (sometimes 6 months or more) before product is available again.

As a small company, we at Vorshlag can only afford to hold a limited amount of stock of Other People’s Parts (OPP), and we rely on being able to restock frequently direct from the manufacturer or a wholesale warehouse. The way Bilstein is functioning the last 8+ years we would have to buy a full years’ worth of stock for every part number we need from them – then hope that we can sell it, or that we don’t run out.

With so many Bilstein based kits we listed on our site, we constantly ran into long lead times for items that our customers ordered. With the “Amazon-ification” of online shopping habits, customers have nearly zero tolerance for waiting. Those delayed orders inevitably turned into cancellations and refunds, which costs us both time and money – and it hurts our reputation with those customers.

We were happy with the quality and function of the Bilstein monotube OEM replacement dampers and PSS coilover kits, but we simply rely on their inventory. To complicate things, Bilstein has an extremely low profit margin for their authorized dealers (due to a very big gap between their set MSRP and allowed MAP pricing). That is almost acceptable if we can order products as needed (and add something to them like our top mounts, to make some sort of profit), but that slim margin does not cover the holding costs to have a full years’ worth of stock sitting on our shelves.

We recognize this creates a hole in our suspension offerings for our lower cost of entry “StreetPro” kits (see above), the PSS ride height adjustable coilovers, and even the modified coilovers we made from their monotube B6 dampers we called the “TrackPro” (see below) – which we built when Bilstein didn’t make a PSS kit for a particular car model.

We have identified a potential replacement supplier of quality, monotube dampers with ride height adjustability and a huge model range. We will be testing this more attractive option soon, but we also need to verify inventory of this brand before we add them to our website. Stay tuned!

The 2nd installment in our very detailed Forum Build Thread for this 1995 M3 shows work we have done from July into December 2024 on this barn find E36 we call Project #Hellrotten – both from the “Hellrot” factory color as well as the fact that it needed a good bit of restoration to make it into the Vorshlag team of track cars. Hundreds of pictures and videos are linked within this latest post. Vorshlag co-owner Amy will pilot this car next season in SCCA Time Trial competition, so we had a lot of work to do this Fall to get her ride reliable and fast. We have already put this car through two track tests and have another lined up in just a matter of days, to get ready for the 2025 season.

In this linked installment we show the restoration and race prep we performed over a 5 month period. This included a complete cooling system upgrade, with Mishimoto radiator, electric fan, radiator hoses, reservoir, a new water pump, and more. We also chased vacuum leaks in various forms, replaced an injector, added Vorshlag engine and transmission mounts, and so many other little repairs to get this 2.99L S50 BMW engine running strong and reliably. Of course we added an oil pump shaft/sprocket upgrade as well as an oil pan baffle kit from Achilles Motorsports, to keep this inline 6 supplied with oil when pushing hard on track. A good bit of detail time was spent underhood making this M3 look better than the day when it was new.

The suspension upgrades made to this car were extensive and included Motion Control Suspension “RR2” remote reservoir double adjustables, with Vorshlag camber plates and shock mounts. SPL Parts rear arms and sphericals, the entire Powerflex catalog of poly bushings, Whiteline adjustable swaybars, and even some elusive Hotchkis rear end links. The venerable RTAB bushing was replaced with sealed spherical Moog parts, and a Vorshlag welded RTAB pocket reinforcement keeps all of that squared away. We completely rebuilt the entire rear subframe assembly and detailed everything we touched along the way.

The interior needed a major clean up, but it turned out nice with Sparco EVO QRT racing buckets, MOMO Montecarlo 350mm Alcantera steering wheel, and an NRG QR hub – with a working horn button. We cover the development of new Vorshlag E36 seat bracket base mounts, which evolved over several weeks in this car. This E36 also got a custom mount for the Garmin Catalyst lap timer, USB ports, a modified 4-point roll bar, Sparco 6-point harnesses, and a custom rear bulkhead panel to separate the passenger cabin from the trunk. You can read the huge 5-part forum entry starting here. Thanks for following along and encouraging us with this 30 year old race car build – we’ve had fun developing new parts for the E36 chassis, which is as popular now as it ever was!

The latest entry into our long form chronicle of our LS swapped 2015 Mustang Time Trial pig we call Trigger is up on the Vorshlag Forum. Inside this 3-part update we cover the major upgrades we made in late 2023 with this car. We wanted to catch up on all of the 2023 struggles, victories, and breakthroughs we had with this car before 2024 was in the rear view mirror. After reading this, maybe you can learn something from our trials, testing, and tribulations.

A big part of those late 2023 updates included improvements to the aero balance of this car. Our version 3 of our “C-pillar mount” swan neck wing uprights lowered the dual element Nine Lives Racing carbon wing and moved it forward, effectively reducing rear downforce. We also added a new splitter with a full 12″ forward extension, large ducted fender vents, and new end treatments on the splitter that acted as both an end plate and a wheel wicker.

This latest update also includes a few more race and test events, with video and results. And at the very end of 2023 we took the car to Rapscallion Motorsports and had them install a Haltech 2500 Elite EFI system replacing a troublesome Holley Dominator EFI system we fought with throughout 2023. That solved a lot of problems, added some new capabilities, and the initial dyno pull even uncovered a dead ignition coil – who knows how long that 110 hp was missing? We tell our customers all the time to have an annual “check up” dyno pull done, which if you do this at the same dyno every year can show mysteriously lost power – so those errors can be tracked down. Again, you can read the latest here – and we’ll get to work on writing up what we learned in 2024 now!

We love endurance racing and so do a lot of our customers. Our friends at Pontini Racing were building a new race car and I was able to chronicle both their decision process and the build up to their first ChampCar Race. I was also lucky enough to share some of this in an article for Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, which is in the December 2024 issue. I cannot link to the digital version that is on GRM+ because it is behind a paywall, but if you are a subscriber it is easy to find on their site. Pick up an issue, which is out on new stands now!

The second part to this multi-article series is now live on our little forum. That will be cleaned up and edited for GRM in a future article, we suspect. Thanks for reading!