One week before the final round of hungarian championship, me and my mate Jatis sitting on a couch wathcing Formula1. His current racecar has deposit, so if something happens, no Mustang GT for next year.
-I borrow your Sierra
Yupp, we can find anythin in my garage, but stock engine cannot race. Whatever, there is a 300bhp CA18DET (nissan sx 1.8 turbo) sitting in the corner...
We got work to do till tuesday, so only 3 days we got for building a racecar with a custom setup
day0:
get a spare sump to modify, SX is front lump, Sierras are back. Also cut the pipe and weld longer. 1 day filled with liquid, no leaks at all:
First i had a fear about the sump, because i measured a bit high in the engine bay, fooked the balance. but after all, we continued with the idea, lower the steering rack a bit. thats effect worst steering geometry, can live with that.
day1:
Sierra goes into the garage, cleared out the exhaust, engine, gearbox, shaft, cooler and almost anything oem stuff.
CA put together, we find out that the power steering pipes of the ford also fits the Nissan pump. Engine and gearbox goes in for measuring. First the gearbox mount we did, that the engine mounts. the CA looked much better and not that high in the bay, so we are back for good.
first day is over, Jatis goes home, i walked around in the garage planning the next day.
day2:
find out the front suspension (rear is already in the car, coilovers were on the shelf) i planned for the Datsun 350SX, the front DW coilover mounted in the scorpio-granada knuckles will good for here also. goes to the shop and did the machinery job.
Younger Fords have oil cluthc cilinder like the Nissan, but we cannot find the pedals right away, so modified the original. Time is against us, Jatis loosing lot of time with the exhaust and the turbo, bigger does not fit on original, small turbo not make sense on the tuned engine. finished only the next day.
day3:
Jatis started in the shop for the shafts connect, i mounted the oil radiator, the intercooler and the radiator, connect all the pipes and hoses, and start the wiring loom. as he arrived, i already put back the headlights and bumper, so the front looks done, the rest of the car is still in parts
Extra lock on sierras is easy, but time is not our friend. At the back we mounted the racing fuel cell and the hoses, we have fuel for start
Steering pump is wrong, so we took out from my girlfriends SX. Turbo placed, modified brakepipes and hoses are ready, liquids are filled, vacuum pipes placed, first start is saturday, 4:11am... ENGINE IS RUNNING!
For safety, we need a few displays, so aftermarket gauges fits in the dashboard like water, oil-pressure and turbo... works. after a lot of zipties, welding and mounting, 7am Jatis goes home for take a shower and pack up for the race, me welding the exhaust pipes using the (bigger) Nissan front, i think Volvo middle section and a granada cosworth tail with muffler. Sounds nice, so i took a shower also, then as a first test, we going to the HDO race event at saturday morning.
The car works fine on straight road, but front geometry is wrong and when its warm-hot, the engine misfires. After a few hours the suspension came out quite good, but after a nose heavy escort mk1 V6 cosworth Jatis hardly handles the high pressure big lag turbocharged sierra, that moves much sensible, ho hard movements on the steering wheel like the escort.
Nice backwards, but its not the entry, its the second corner
Jatis did not make the Top16, but the car has so much potential, i thinking about keepin and do the fine adjustments for better using as a daily drifter.
Jatis keeps his sponsors, so maybe in this winter, we can show you a Mustang GT building thread.
thanks for your time.