We Autocross the 67 Mustang and break it! Ep. 6

The AutoXandTrack Mustang moves under it's own power for the first time since refreshing the engine. We take it to an Autocross. Annnnd we break a lot of welds...
Check out the full specs on the Mustang here: www.autoxandtrack.com/road-race-67-mustang/
#autocross #mustang

[@AutoXandTrack]

Be sure to subscribe to see more muscle car and racing content! kzbin.info

[@brianmeyer2699]

Both cars are so cool. Fixing other peoples mistakes is always a pain, but the only way to strength is through pain. Keep up the good work and great videos!

[@DemonWorks]

My favorite part was when you got passed by a guy on a bike 8:40 . Excellent video, Chad !

[@dougtotten1767]

Great video, allows a non race driver to see what’s really involved as far as fighting the wheel and how much steering is required. Mustang is beautiful. Good luck! Keep us posted!

[@AutoXandTrack]

Thanks and will do

[@kellymorford4241]

Love the Mustang!!! And the Comaro is pretty cool to. Cheers!

[@emmanuelmartinez8902]

Found your website on Google, I live in the inland empire, I'm trying to find info on autocross for the first time. Great channel, helps a lot thank you!

[@AutoXandTrack]

Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions!

[@crazyhumpy]

Love that you got a Mustang on this channel! Hopefully, that's an easy fix!

[@charleslee4528]

We need a back story video of where you found the Mustang! Even being well used it’s bitchin! THAT’S A WRAP!

[@AutoXandTrack]

I'll add that to the list of future video ideas!

[@Mikeyhunts]

Yes,,,, we want that!

[@vipergtsrgt1]

The LMC clutch really is incredible in how civil it is on the street while holding up to so much abuse on track.

[@AutoXandTrack]

Since I have a Centerforce in the Camaro and Mustang now and the LMC and flywheel combo being 25% lighter than the Camaro I was pleasantly surprised and at how well mannered it is.

[@josephsites9118]

awesome builds man...time to tig it up and get back at it...

[@cwmotorsports4497]

Just subscribed. I am addicted to auto cross and get to meet a lot of amazing people. I have a 67 Camaro and glad I found your channel.

[@AutoXandTrack]

Awesome! Thanks for subscribing. I'll go check out your channel and see what you got going on with your Camaro.

[@Mikeyhunts]

Hey it’s Mikeyhunts from VMF! Love the cars, love the videos, and I need me that swag!!! Get that mustang cage fixed man! You can do it! The new toy is always more fun to work on. You know the camera is good, work on the mustang! Looking forward to more content. Not many good early gen mustang KZbin channels. Yours is my favorite so far.!

[@blkwrxwag]

Crazy stuff with the cage!

[@harryoffen9592]

Awesome looking Mustang

[@christopherward8856]

Great video!

[@tracymacdonald4598]

I've got a 67 mustang coupe and a 67 Camaro convertible. I recently purchased an 86 SVO to autocross and run on our local road course.

[@stureah]

Working on my own mustang.. Keep it going and good luck with the cage/3-link situation..

[@AutoXandTrack]

Thanks!

[@stureah]

@@AutoXandTrack how much horsepower does the 408 have?

[@AutoXandTrack]

@@stureah seller claimed 385 rwhp and 435 rwtq. I'm hoping with the refresh that it will be closer to 400 rwhp.

[@brockmakin275]

Good video as usual mate! Car is coming along nicely. Question about the cage. Do they get inspected for wheel to wheel racing. I know drag race buddies of mine (I know different sanctioning body) but have rules like, single pass weld and I believe are even n.d.t'd . Some of the sections I see there look like it might be worth starting again. And like u say redesign some of it. Looking forward to seeing more of it

[@AutoXandTrack]

Brock Makin yes wheel to wheel requires inspection of all welds and wall thickness in several spots. The car was certified and came with a logbook from NASA so I figured the cage was good. One of many mistakes with this car. I don’t know how to fix part of the cage without scrapping the whole thing though. Maybe it’s okay to reweld on mild steel? I need to talk to a cage expert about it.

[@WildDudeDan]

Love the fact that you drove a full on race car to work!! You were worried about the law dogs pulling you over for the loud exhaust, how about the lack of headlights! Keep it up & let 'er rip!

[@scottshields8334]

Great video thank you and a beautiful car , some of the welds I could see look like they didn't penetrate into the metal at all, personally I wouldn't be able to trust any of the welds on that cage or anywhere else in the car but I do hope it's not as bad as I think it is.

[@rickbrown9523]

Is the cage mild steel or chrome molly? The latter requires special welding procedures or it will crack at the welds.

[@AutoXandTrack]

Cage is mild steel.

[@RevelryRacing]

I am very curious to know more about the rear axle you run and what is appropriate for a 600-700hp mustang that will see road course duty.

[@kmvguy]

How did the mustang do overall compared to other AX cars? Do you have the result for that day?

[@AutoXandTrack]

kmvguy83 it was a test and tune day so I don’t have official times. I believe it was second of the 5 or 6 CAM-T style classic muscle cars. And my fastest lap was the one where the cage broke so I eased off the last 20% of the course. Might of. Even able to drop another .5 to a full second o. That run if t hadn’t of broken. I’d say it was 1-2 seconds slower than my 68 Camaro. Primarily due to the locker and the problems that caused on some corner entries and slalom.

[@hangtimeracing7958]

The Mustang sounds amazing. Sorry it let you down at the event. I'm sure she'll be back soon.

[@tclark248]

Like the car, I owned a 68 and it was a fun car. Had a Cleveland 351 in it. On your current motor I still think that cam is to tall for Autox. You mentioned previously that it was meant for 3800 to 7200? I think one with a little lower operating range would be better. Say 2500 to 6500, a lot better lowered end. I’d call your cam preference tech and give them your usage info. I think the intake is good for your needs. Good luck with the electrical gremlins, old cars are notorious for them. I’m building a 91 mustang coupe now. Later I’ll set it up for Autox. Have a great day.

[@AutoXandTrack]

Thanks for the comment. I'll do some autocross with this car but the main intent is road course racing. Even for that I think a smaller cam might have been better. But the engine being a 408w tames the cam down quite a bit compared to if it was still a 351w.

[@paultavres9830]

From a glance the tubing is splitting next to the welds id guess it needs some gussets hopefully youve fixed it by now

[@randallrussell3842]

Cool video.

[@stevecoe7282]

Chad, my first car was a 67 Mustang!! Please keep up the work. Oh, Autopower Ind. in San Diego can help you with the cage and The Flying Gumball approves of this video, not Meatball or Strawberry, Gumball!

[@AutoXandTrack]

Steve Coe thanks Steve!

[@Kyle-pl6rl]

Cool video. What class would you race this type of car in for a road course event?

[@AutoXandTrack]

Plan is to run it with VARA in GTO class and NASA's American Iron class.

[@Gator68428]

When I welded my chromoly cage I did a test piece first and stressed it in a 10k lb press. Ripped sidewall out of the tube. Properly welded, the weld is stronger than the tube.

[@AutoXandTrack]

Yeah, these welds are definitely less than ideal :|

[@jeffg4008]

Love it. Does it have a power steering box conversion or still a factory ram?

[@AutoXandTrack]

Jeff G thanks! It has been converted to power rack and pinion steering.

[@Edbert2004]

Looks like a seasoned project you bought, is the R&P a TCP unit?

[@AutoXandTrack]

@@Edbert2004 It's not a TCP. R&P really looks like a homemade conversion to me.

[@maximusvonce1381]

I run Borgeson power steering on my 68 with manual drag link and pitman arm.

[@Edbert2004]

You mentioned the locker doesn't like tight stuff, do you mean there's a violent action that causes slip, do you know what kind is in there? Mine clicks like crazy in mild turns but feels smooth when doing so. I'm wondering how it will behave when driven harder than I've been able to do so far.

[@AutoXandTrack]

In slow driving when making tight turns in parking lots or U turns on the street the car would shudder pretty badly and if you tried to maintain throttle it would sometimes oversteer badly. Surprisingly, I actually didn't notice either of those issues on the autocross track. What I did notice is oversteer on fast corner entries and slaloms. The locker wouldn't unlock early enough which would make the rear pretty loose. I could see where on the road course it might be okay but I still prefer the behavior of a TruTrack

[@ProudPapa55]

While it would be easy to say "forget the Mustang and focus on that amazing Camaro" I don't want to see the red machine get busted up going wheel to wheel.... so keep on getting that Mustang sorted ;)

[@AutoXandTrack]

Ha ha, sounds good!

[@tylerhess3383]

love the mustang! Might be worth looking into a different rear suspension setup all together?

[@AutoXandTrack]

That option is being considered! I mainly wanted to run this setup at a few road courses and benchmark it so that if I did make changes I could compare the before and after.

[@plantfeeder6677]

@@AutoXandTrack you know who Mike Maiers is right? His inboard coilover rear suspension is where I'd head.

[@AutoXandTrack]

@@plantfeeder6677 Mike Maier is a friend of mine. But so are some folks at TCI Engineering. If you watch some of my newer Mustang videos you will see that I went with a TCI front IFS and torque arm.

[@patireland9408]

Don't want a give away, but I'm looking forward to more of your videos. No, not the Camaro ... the Mustang is the deal. Hope you get it back together. This post is a year after your release date, so now to look for more. :)

[@Lilmac3022]

Seems to be the 3rd link is putting alot of force on that cross piece. Not sure from bottoming out or just the repetitive beating that bar takes. Maybe add some "V" bracing from the around that point back to the wheel wells or something to help strengthen it. This is making me really want to get back to work on my fox

[@AutoXandTrack]

V bracing for sure. I was thinking about the bottoming out comment some more since a few people have mentioned it. The direction of the breakage is from acceleration which is pulling the shock and cage towards the back of the car. The shock ultimately limits the travel so it is definitely possible it bottoms out. But that is also inherent to the design.

[@Lilmac3022]

AutoXandTrack right hmm that’s weird. Is the 3rd link not the right size for the travel of the car or something along those lines? Otherwise time to break out the welder! Lol

[@AutoXandTrack]

@@Lilmac3022 I'm going to try and consult with some folks that know this stuff as I certainly don't. One thing that occurred to me is that this design results in the 3rd link taking 100% of the pinion load. A normal 3 link or torque arm shares that duty with the 2 links. If you have 2 links on the bottom going to the frame and a 3rd link on top going to the frame. Under accelerating the top link is pulling while the bottom links are pushing. Sharing the load 50/50? On my setup the axles spins freely in the leaf spring brackets so the 3rd link takes 100% of the load.

[@BasinMotorsports]

You definitely have work ahead of you for that Mustang. Once you fix everything, she'll be right. Do you feel like the steering wheel is too small for the autocross?

[@AutoXandTrack]

Nope. It’s my preferred size. 13.5” I changed it from a bigger wheel. Big steering wheels were the rage back in the day in autocross and certain folks still champion it. Personally, big wheels feel too slow to me and give less leg room for tall people. Once you build up a lot of muscle memory for one type it can be hard to change. Yeah this Mustang is a piece of work.

[@ConemantheBarbarian]

Is the three link bottoming out? It looks like from here like it’s running out of travel. I’m jealous that you have two pony cars lol

[@AutoXandTrack]

ConemantheBarbarian I’m pretty sure it isn’t. Can’t test it until I get it fixed. But I’ll take a look at the shock shafts when I get home and see if there is a dust mark or not.

[@ConemantheBarbarian]

AutoXandTrack or maybe the third link shock is binding? It is putting major strain on those tubes.

[@AutoXandTrack]

@@ConemantheBarbarian It might be. There is a lot of strain taking place. One thing I've thought about since is that a normal 3 link or torque arm the 3rd link shares loading with the link bars. Because this uses a birdcage style bracket on the leaf springs the 3rd link is taking 100% of the pinion loading.

[@ConemantheBarbarian]

AutoXandTrack years ago a friend had a short track late model with a upper link similar to yours. He got tagged one night entering a turn and spun into the infield. He landed on top of a tractor tire that was protecting the light standard. The crash bent his upper link slightly. He didn’t notice it right away till after the next Saturday night race. The car didn’t handle worth a damn and was bending the bracket on top of the diff. A new link made everything good again

[@2nd66tube2]

this is kinda my question as well if the cage is supporting the 3 link and has broke before maybe you have a motion ratio/geometry issue causing undo stress on the cage ??

[@andrewfox96]

Might just replace the whole cage anyway at this point. Gotta make it legal for other series’s.

[@AutoXandTrack]

I'm going to get a cage expert to look at it. It was certified by NASA midwest which I put a lot of weight on when buying the car since I bought based on pictures. After getting it in person the welds really stood out and not in a good way.

[@andrewfox96]

Like Sarah palsy victim doing brain surgery with a pipe wrench bad?

[@eduardollamas588]

Nice tshirts, i mean mustang

[@maximusvonce1381]

What engine and specs and power in mustang.

[@ThePerpetualStudent]

Looks like Socal.

[@AutoXandTrack]

yep!

[@maximusvonce1381]

How much car make on dyno. What transmission and rear end. Whats compression and cam specs. Is this fuel injected. I have a fuel injected 438windsor pump gas 68 mustang th400, cal tracs suspension, eaton trutrac rearend, afr 220 heads, fully built motor, Ford svo block 4 bolt mains all 5 caps, 4k stall converter street strip car made 530wheel and weighs 3k lbs. What size afr heads. Is this car on race gas or 93. Who built motor. Those wibdsors all leak oil around pan rails...lol. Vintage muscle rules.

[@pinkpantherr93]

I want a sticker is what I want

[@AutoXandTrack]

I can make that happen!

[@maximusvonce1381]

Yea my 68 mustang fuel injected 438windsor pump gas th400 4k stall street car made 530wheel 450 torque.

[@Dane.GonzRacing]

Comment

[@ddunerider]

Pick Me!!!!!!

[@AutoXandTrack]

Hi Don

[@daverickert5093]

Looks fixable good luck