Hackster's F100 #2 CV Swap 6 speed manual and Coyote

[theletup]

All of my measuring, remeasuring and OCd of placement of the links, suspension points and front end paid off as they were pretty suprised to see how close I had everything. Chassis is square and suspension is all within 1/16th of an inch of where it should be, wheelbase was about perfect side to side as well. We started with 5.66 degrees of caster, .10 degree of toe and 1.56 and 1.55 degree of negative camber. I was shocked.

Sean

This is good advice. On mine I re-clocked the lower control arm bushings on the bracket so they would side parallel to the ground (same effect). I just thought it was easier doing it this way rather than building 45* mounts for the pad.

[ahawks9er]

Awesome update! Is this mysterious chassis/alignment shop off TV HWY in Aloha? Boones Ferry in Lake O? Airport Way? Lol wherever it was, glad you had a revolutionary experience.

[PDXFactory]

Right on Sean! Glad to see things worked out (even if it didn't work out so well for the checkbook)!

If anyone in the PDX area is looking for an alignment shop, A-N-T Tire is a great place to go! They support a lot of the local races at PIR, and are a performance oriented shop. Pricing on tires there is fairly good as well (they are a Tire Rack approved installer), but there are no free rotations or anything like you might see at one of the chain stores. Not sure where you went Sean, but I definitely recommend A-N-T!

[redlinemotorsportts]

Man that thing looks sooooo good. I skimmed the thread a little, but in short, what rims are they, and are you going to paint it?

I love popping on here and seeing what hacks been up to, because you know its always somethin'

[hackster]

Awesome update! Is this mysterious chassis/alignment shop off TV HWY in Aloha? Boones Ferry in Lake O? Airport Way? Lol wherever it was, glad you had a revolutionary experience.

A-N-T tire was the shop. Those guys were awesome and I will go back once I make some more adjustments, those guys know their stuff.

Right on Sean! Glad to see things worked out (even if it didn't work out so well for the checkbook)!

If anyone in the PDX area is looking for an alignment shop, A-N-T Tire is a great place to go! They support a lot of the local races at PIR, and are a performance oriented shop. Pricing on tires there is fairly good as well (they are a Tire Rack approved installer), but there are no free rotations or anything like you might see at one of the chain stores. Not sure where you went Sean, but I definitely recommend A-N-T!

Nailed it. Going to talk with them in the next couple of weeks about some bigger tires. Saw some tires out there that just flat ass worked this weekend.

Man that thing looks sooooo good. I skimmed the thread a little, but in short, what rims are they, and are you going to paint it?

I love popping on here and seeing what hacks been up to, because you know its always somethin'

Thanks man, I forged wheels that I ordered off of ebay. No plans on painting the old turd either.

What an insane weekend, not even sure I can put it all into this post but I will give it a shot.

Rolled in with my friends from Seattle and their bad ass car. Got some fuel in the old girl and got through Tech and threw some stickers on it. Very cool place to spend some time.



So day 1 was autocross day and I was pretty nervous. I had done a few auto cross races but not enough to be good at it. I quickly found out a few flaws in my plan.....seat.....seatbelt. I ran through the auto cross course 11 times I think in the course of three hours. There were some incredibly quick cars there and crazy talented drivers.

Towards the end of my morning session I realized I had to do something about staying in the seat as I was having to hang onto the outside of the truck in order to stay in the seat, but it just was not working.



I did make some incremental adjustments to the truck that morning though, adjusted the settings on the coilovers a couple of times to get it to flatten out a little bit more as well as dropped the air pressure in the tires to increase rearend grip. They both helped a ton and the truck was working really well.

It just so happens that my friend Dan had bought a set of ProCar buckets for his mustang project. I thought they might be close so I unbolted my seat and looked how close it would be. Two new holes in my brackets later and I had a seat that would hold me in.

The good eyes will also notice a steering wheels swap... this one has less dish, is an inch bigger and has nubbs on the back for traction. These two changes transformed the truck....I am learning a lot.





Funny thing is that these seats put me in a way better driving position, lower and farther back. I ran the rest of the weekend with this setup.

So we got through lunch with the seat swap and off to the Speed Stop challenge. This is a little faster and really tests the take off, turn and brakes. This was awesome and I really enjoyed this, the truck did really well. It was awesome being lined up with all of these beautiful super high dollar cars in the staging lanes and holding my own =)





Dan shot some great photos and sent them to me (Thanks Dan for the help all weekend, you and your boys made the weekend for me)

Truck flat hooks from a dig.







Those that were asking how the brakes work pay attention here. FANTASTIC!!! It took me a few tries in the stop box to get it dialed in but the big girl comes to a stop and fast.



Great weight transfer and the truck did really well. Finished I think 13th out of 24 in my class. I have never done this before, I was really happy with how the truck performed so far.

Did the evening cruise with no issues and actually really enjoyed it. I met a ton of new friends and people and once the truck was out on the courses I got a few more people coming by to talk to me about it. Pretty sure people loved it

I went over it all early sunday morning and could not find an issue so far, all bolts were tight. Made some additional adjustments to the coilovers before hitting my track session.

I was really nervous to be honest.

I had three really great track sessions but slow, I am not comfortable on the track yet but the truck was awesome. First session was loose in the backend and I ran really low on fuel so I pulled off. Filled up the tank and the back end got a lot more planted. I need stiffer rear springs, I know that.

Keep in mind this is a pickup, built in my garage in just a few months and it was hanging with some pretty cool cars out on track.

I lost a power steering belt on the last session, ran the 15 minute session with no power steering and other than being a handful on the arms the truck still drove fine so I stayed out there the entire session.

Power was awesome, the motor did not miss a beat, has a ton of power and not to sound cocky but it sounds friggin incredible when I am on it.

Exhaust turned an awesome color at the end of the weekend after getting some hard beating for hours and hours.



Tires are nicely scrubbed in and have worn pretty well. =)

So here is where the weekend took a turn.

These guys came over and started to talk to me, then they got a few more people to come over and look at the truck, then they wanted more information and asked if we could go take some better video and sit down and talk about the truck.





It was super cool and they dug the truck.

So these guys shot a bunch of video of the truck. I got it all loaded up and ready to hit the road as I had not placed anywhere in the top spots.

Hanging out at the end watching them announce the class winners and they got ready to read out the overall but started with the "Spirit of the Event award" Presented by K&N. I had talked to Mike from K&N for a fair bit of time over the weekend.

I was in utter amazement when he called up number 68....that was my number. This was just not happening right now....Not it was real.

I hustled up on stage and shook Mike's hand and Jimmy Day from OPTIMA's hand and they asked me if I can make it to SEMA. Of course I can make it to SEMA.

They took a little video of the truck and me and we all got on our way.



I could not be much happier with how the truck performed over the weekend, I have a lot to learn and some small changes to make like Brake Ducts, proper Seat, harnesses, some better front brakes (for brake fade on the track not more stopping power.)

Thanks all for the encouragement over the past few months, it was all totally worth it.

Sean

[redlinemotorsportts]

That is beyond cool man. Baller status

[Monkey-1]

SEMA?!?! Wow, great weekend man. Payoff for lots of long hours. Congrats!!

[EDVSU]

Even tho' it's still not "done". This still kinda feels like the cherry on top of the pie. Awesome stuff again Hackster. That was an awesome update. Congrats man, you deserve it!

Have fun at SEMA !!

[ahawks9er]

That's AMAZING! Have fun - SEMA is quite a blast.

[jimmy828]

That is a cool story. You had to smiling every mile and every turn and to add to,it you got on TV. Truck looks good.

[IN2FORD]

AWESOME SEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been going to the Optima challenge events for a few years now and that is the main point of my build. To get back to autocrossing and having fun at these events. Waaay more fun than a car show. Wow you had a great weekend that is soooo cool!!! So glad you dug in and finished it up!!

Barry

[hfdco4]

Man that truck looks great leaving the line and even better on the binders. Glad you had a good time and the truck performed well. The award is just that added bonus that makes you want to go do more. Thanks for taking the time to show us your build and the fuits of your labor.

Congrats you more than earned and deserve it!!!!!!!!!

[IN2FORD]

I was just looking at your points and I think you got "gipped" on design. What you did under the bed deserves quite a bit. Can't wait to see you on MAVTV!!

Barry

[IN2FORD]

you made on lateral-g!!
http://lateral-g.net/optima-ultimate-st ... underhill/

barry

[BossGB385]

congrats man that's awesome!