GrabberGT Ev. 5

Went autocrossing this weekend at the Lonestar Goodguys in Fort Worth. Had a great time and greatly improved the car over the last experience. I'll get some video up when I can.

I took my wife out for a run on the autocross on Sunday. She was really impressed. I think I have approval for new brakes, tires and wheels.

Heres the only photo I took.

 

More autocross action at Goodguys last weekend. I improved my time by 3 seconds from last year. I would like to attribute that to a combination of suspension tuning, more power from the EFI setup, and tire pressure changes.

At first the car was way to loose in the rear. I asked around and most of the guys were running around 30 psi of tire pressure on the front. I was at 45. So I started dropping the pressure. I think I found the sweet spot at 30 front and 35 rear. I ran out of time to drop it more to see if it got better. That and nerves. I was beginning to lose focus after almost driving straight into the fence. Somewhere out there is a photo of me going thru the finish line, full drift, sideways. I hope it show up. I''d love to see that. I took the wife for a ride. She loved it. I think it gained me approval for new tires/wheels and brakes. Theres another Autocross this weekend I'll hit to get more practice. This stuff is addicting.

I found the problem with the fuel tank. The fuel level sending unit mounts front the top of the tank and had a leak around the base at the seal. After making several runs at the autocross, I opened the trunk to display my handiwork only to find that fuel had sloshed out from that spot and had puddled up around the outer flanges. I decided to try and tighten the screws to see if that was the problem and found that one of the screws were stripped out. The tank vendor was at the show so I drove the car over to their booth to show them and see if they had a replacement screw. Unfortunately they did not. They are sending me a new seal kit and screws to correct the problem. For the rest of the weekend, after every run, I opened the trunk to let the vapors out and sop up the fuel with a paper towel. I'll fix it and clean up the mess this weekend before the next event.

 

Auto cross looks like great fun. I'v always wanted to try it and maybe I will if I ever get my car finished. Your car looks great. Some people must be surprised to see a maverick running auto cross. I think its Awesome!

Shaun Mavmod

 

It's the things that you can't see that are awesome on Chris's Maverick. A lot of time, sweat and $$$ in that car.

Great job. Have fun this weekend at the track.

Rick

 

Finished the trunk off.

 

Very Nice!! This is one of those modifications that could be come very popular.

 

No one seemed interested when i done it lol

 

I'm always interested in what you are doing.

 

X2

More people pay attention to your build than you might realize.

 

I've still been fighting clutch issues in the car. The problem is that I have to put half an inch or so of preload on it in order to get it to shift And then after a period of time it begins to slip pretty severely. So while my Dad was in town this weekend, I took the opportunity to pull the trans out and check things out. I had really hoped that the problem was a worn clutch fork pivot ball/stud but unfortunately I cannot see any noticeable wear when compared to a new one. The only issue I could find was that the throw out bearing was not properly seated under the retainer prongs. It must have slipped out while I was installing the trans. I cannot imagine though that it would be the root of my problem. The clutch is a Centerforce Dual Friction setup. Things have got to be pretty bad for this thing to slip. I've got the clutch with me today to have inspected before reinstalling. Anyone have any ideas? With my suspension, its easily a 2 day job to pull the tranny and reinstall it so I'd prefer not to have to do this again anytime soon.

 

sounds like your not getting enough travel out of your set up. im not going to go back through your thread to see what your set up is.
i would suggest to do one or two of things that will get you more travel.
smaller slave cylinder
have the slave push on the inner hole in the clutch fork
bigger master cylinder
locate the push rod for the mast cylinder further from the pivot of the pedal

i found on my set up that after a day of drag racing i would have to tighten the preload on my clutch fork. i was just using a stock replacement clutch so it didnt surprise me.

 

I went over to the transmission shop today with my clutch system in hand to have them inspect it and solicit advice for my problem. I was told that its not unusual to need a longer clutch fork pivot ball/stud when using a Centerforce Stage 2 clutch. (Something to do with the finger length and design) Also, the T/O bearing position was likely contributing to my problem. Having the bearing over one retaining prong and under the other had it misaligned.The solution is to get a longer pivot stud and be extra careful not to knock the T/O bearing out of place when installing the trans. So this weekend I'll add a washer to the new pivot stud I have which should be enough to make a huge difference.

 

Oh and it turns out that the guys at the trans shop is also a Maverick AND Comet owner. He's a member of this board but hasnt been on in a while. I'll be inviting him to our Mini-Meet in May.

 

Is your DF clutch one of the ones with the weights on the fingers like mine is?
I have to run with about 1/2" to 3/4" of preload on it.

Just by the off chance are you using an adjustable pivot ball with your clutch setup? I read through several mustang forums when I picked my DF centerforce clutch up and allot of guys that had the adjustable pivots set them to stock dimensions and they were always too short. Of course a few of the guys that had the stock pivots would put a washer or two under the pivot so they didnt have too use as much preload either.

 

Yes it has the weights on it. Im some how glad that someone else can validate this problem.

No I do not have an adjustable pivot ball. Ill just add a couple washers to space it out a little. Adjustable is nice but whats the point if you have to take everything apart amyway to make the adjustment. It just another part to become out of adjustment and cause issues.

Thanks again for validating the problem.