S197 Mustang Build Thread Updates

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Fair

After the massive 3 part write-up covering the 3 day competition event with USCA at the Optima qualifier we have done a number of events and upgrades to our 2011 Mustang GT test mule. Yes, we have already ordered an “S550” chassis 2015 Mustang GT to use to develop with starting this Fall, but we’re still testing new products for the S197 chassis in 2014 and beyond. Some of these have been covered in two separate S197 Project Build Thread posts, linked below.

May 15th: http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?p=57879#post57879
May 21st: http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?p=57882#post57882

Those are just the links to the Vorshlag forum, but these posts are also published in our S197 build threads located on SCCAForums, Corner-Carvers, S197forums and DFW50s. The May 15th post covers the installaiton of a new set of dampers from MCS that we call the “RR2”, shown below. These were tested at a track event held by TrackGuys at TWS on March 29th.

the post on May 21st covers an autocross we ran the car at with Texas Region SCCA. We were using this to test the street tire set-up with the new dampers, sporting the same BFGoodrich Rivals we used in USCA, but it rained during our runs and was a aquacross. Last but not least, this 2nd post covers the installation and mounting kit development of a massive new 14×72″ AJ Hartman carbon fiber wing for the big red Mustang. We go into the reasoning behind this wing change, and our next posts will show if this wing made the car any faster…

Thanks for reading!

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Day 3 of USCA and Time Trial Magic

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Fair

If you have been keeping up with the first two installments of our coverage of the Ultimate Street Car Association / Optima Qualifier event held in March at TMS, you know that we went into day 3 not knowing where we were placed. We thought we were in 3rd or 4th overall, but nobody knew for sure.

The last day of this 3 day competition (documented starting here) was a road course time trial event called the BFGoodrich Hot Lap Challenge. The 40 competitors had 6 sessions fifteen minutes in length to learn the 1.1 mile infield road course and get their best lap time in the books. Vorshlag had some experience on this track and by session two we were in the lead. But was it enough? And if we won this event, how would that help our overall placing… could we win that invite to SEMA and the Optima Ultimate Street Car Shootout?

Read the build thread starting here to find out…

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Vorshlag Scion FR-S LSx Alpha Project

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Fair

We at Vorshlag love the “86 twins”, also known as the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ.

There is already an extensive build thread (here) documenting the various suspension, wheel, tire and brake upgrades we have tested on a 2013 Subaru BRZ chassis. We’ve seen that with the right mods this chassis is a capable track and autocross car. The one thing these cars lack is horsepower. But we’re working on a reliable, powerful and track worthy solution, which involved removing the stock drivetrain forever.

What did you expect, a nuclear reactor? Of COURSE we’re putting an LS-series aluminum V8 into one of these already! Thanks to our partners on this project, Texas Track Works, we have found the “Alpha” customer and have begun documenting an LSx swap into this 2013 Scion FR-S. Right now the forum build thread is posted on the Vorshlag Forums, Corner-Carvers, SCCAforums, and DFWMiatas, but we’re looking at an ft86-specific forum to add to that list shortly.

As we make progress on this FR-S V8 swap we will update each of these threads simultaneously – as well as this blog. And don’t worry if you’re awaiting updates on one of our other new swap kits – like our BMW E46 LSx Alpha’s CAN-BUS wiring harness or NB Miata V8 swap kit (see below) – those project are all being worked on actively, and those build threads will be updated soon as well. The new FR-S V8 swap work is also benefiting those other projects.

Stay tuned to the Vorshlag Blog for more V8 craziness!

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More BMW E36 LS1 Swap Parts

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Fair

Today we updated our “announcement” thread (here) showing some BMW LS1 Swap Development parts. We’ve had several turn-key swap customers give us their cars to create new parts and it has paid off.

With new offerings that include complete after-header exhaust systems, remote coolant reservoir and heater control valve kits, ABS brake hard line kits, cold air intake kits, and more, we are making this swap easier every day.

Posted in Build Thread Update, New Product | 2 Comments

Day 2 Coverage of the Optima/USCA Qualifier in Texas

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Fair

The 3 day Ultimate Street Car Association’s “Optima Street Car” qualifier event in March here at Texas Motor Speedway was pretty epic. Vorshlag was in attendance and we have split our normal event write-up into three sections. The post that went live today covers Saturday’s Autocross and Speed Stop competitions. There’s also a listing of some used parts listed in our clearance page that came from our Mustang, as well as a discussion about Pro Touring and how SCCA’s CAM class relates to that.

We entered our NASA TT3 prepped, fully street legal 2011 Mustang and did fairly well in the Autocross (2nd) and Speed Stop (3rd) competitions on the Saturday of this 3 day event. We also placed 4th in the Design and Engineering challenge, which was a judged event. You can read more about how we did on Day 2 starting at this forum post.

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Vorshlag Mustang Wins at Optima Ultimate Street Car Qualifier

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Fair

Vorshlag and 7 of our testers and customers went to a Optima Ultimate Street Car qualifier event at Texas Motor Speedway the weekend of March 21-23rd. We did very well in our familiar red 2011 Mustang, which we run in NASA Time Trial, SCCA autocross, and other events. We write about this new “USCA” series of qualifier events, which are a series of 3 day competitions for streetable cars on 200+ treadwear tires.

Entrants have to compete in five different events, which we explain in this series of posts to the S197 Mustang build thread. This is the first of 3 sets of posts about this event, so stay tuned for more updates and links to the next two parts. Thanks!

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Vorshlag Wins at MSR and Goodguys

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Fair

We had a good couple of events this month and racked up two wins at NASA in TT3 and another win at Goodguys as well as many other subjects in the lastest S197 Build Thread (5-parter) Post.

The new 345mm Hoosiers were a big improvement to the 3802 pound (with driver and ballast) TT3 prepped Mustang GT on the Motorsport Ranch 1.7 mile course and we lopped nearly a second and a half off of our previous best lap times there. The red car won the class both days and set a new TT3 track record of 1:17.310. We talk about brake temps, tire pressures, wheel spacers, and all of the other settings and changes we made for this weekend.

Terry writes a lengthy discussion of our trials and tribulations relating to the factory ABS/Traction Control unit on the 2011 Mustang, as well as a new solution we are testing (shown above). Lots of tech to dig into on this discussion.

The white stripes, decals and overall “livery” on our car for the past two years was scrapped in March and we ran a couple of events “in the nude”, letting the red paint and beautiful flares/bodywork by Heritage Collision shine through. This was done in preparation for Goodguys and USCA “street car” events, as well as a new set of BFG Rival tires in 315mm front and 335mm rear sizes. and believe it or not, our test mule Mustang really is a street car.

The car looked mean in all red and we took the car to the Goodguys All American Sunday autocross in March.

When it came down to the Goodguys event we put in some good laps and won about about 2 seconds. Video from this event at NASA @ MSR are in the mega-sized 5-part post, posted today, linked here.

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New Rear Flares and Bigger Tires on Vorshlag TT3 Mustang

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Fair

Lots of changes have just occurred on our NASA TT3 classed 2011 Mustang to allow us to fit these…

The exhaust was also tweaked and then the car was re-tuned at True Street Motorsports, and we found out that it is now making 442 whp. Not bad for a bone stock engine!

Read about all of the changes and upcoming events in our latest S197 Mustang Build Thread entry at this link.

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What Is Up With AST?

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Fair

We have been asked this hundreds of times in the past couple of months: What is going on with AST here in the USA? The supply issues, lengthy production delays, supply issues, the repairs, the supply issues, the redesign of the 4100 (now the 4150), and the supply issues? The honest answer is – we don’t know all of the details, and might never know. We have unearthed a few new tidbits of information from multiple sources, after we did some digging.

This announcement forum post (linked here) lays out what we know, and backs up to go over some of the recent history with AST, even the much delayed 4150 redesign, and briefly touches on the fact that there is an all new AST importer for the USA. This new distributor seems to be scrambling to set-up a new AST dealer network, set new prices, figure out what to import, and more.

Is the AST 4150 model stillborn? What happened to the 4250? Will we ever see AST dampers in the USA again? Well, it is unknown what will be imported by the new AST distributor, or what changes they and AST Holland have in store. We all have to wait and see what happens over the coming months. We do know a few things, which are talked about in our forum post above.

We also touch on the other brands of monotube dampers we have partnered with that have covered the market that AST was missing for the past two years, while they faced delivery and production delays. Stay tuned for more updates – as we learn more we will share.

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Mega-Mustang Post for January Race Coverage

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Fair

We had one crazy January and attended 3 track weekends in the last five weeks, while also setting our all time single month sales record after ten years of Vorshlag. The word “Busy” doesn’t even begin to cover it. This record five part forum post covers all of the races, tire tests, TV shoots and a little bit of the other projects we’ve been working on for the past month.

Our first event detailed in these posts was actually December 28th, which was a TV shoot (for an upcoming episode of the Car Guy Show) and tire test at Eagles Canyon Raceway. We had a large group of Vorshlag personnel and some Vorshlag testers along as well.

We built a new light and loud exhaust system for our TT3 Mustang using Magnaflow mufflers, and this seemed to cure some sensor problems we were having (broken catalyst was the likely culprit).

In early January Terry and Amy drove in the NASA Texas opening race weekend for 2014 at MSR Houston. They racked up two wins and the car’s 9th standing track record, but also incurred a spot of damage when Amy decided to jump a curb at high speed. That was fixed just in time for the last January race they entered, the Polar Grand Prix at MSR Cresson.

The SCCA held their first Club Trials event, where Terry and Amy once again drove the red Mustang again, to a first and third place overall and top PAX time.

We brought more of the Vorshlag crew to this SCCA event as well as a lot of friends, customers and testers. We had a lot of fun and hope the SCCA holds more Club Trials again in the future. Again, to read about all of these events and more, start at this post # 273 and read through to post # 277. Thanks!

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