Thread: So, I have this idea....

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of using a Track-T to build an autocross and track car. I want somethign different and this could be it.


For the drivetrain, I'd probably use a Ford 2.3 Duratec motor and the 5 speed transmission from a ranger. If I found a wrecked 2.3 Focus, I cold use the engine harness and computer from that and the cosworth stage 2 or stage 3 package to give it 200-250 HP.
I'd probably put 15x7" or 16x7" wheels on all 4 corners with some R compound tires. There seem to be a lot of race tires available in 205/50-15 and 225/50-16.

I have to look into this more to see what kind of suspension setup it has, but it sounds like it could be a fun car. Has anyone here tried anything like this before?

Sounds like a great project to me.

As a fwiw, about 20 years ago or so one of the magazines ran a skid pad test and compared a Porsche with sticky tires, a Jag suspended 32 highboy roadster with regular tires and a traditional 32 highboy roadster with transverse Ford leaf springs.

I don't know if the traditional car had sway bars or not, probably not.

The Porsche was under, but close to the 1G mark, the Jag suspended roadster was pretty close to the Porsche and the thinking was that if the roadster had equally sticky tires it would have done as well as the Porsche.

The traditional highboy did better than you'd think.
Seems it reached close to the 75-80% mark of what the Porsche did.

I run a 462" Buick powered Deuce highboy roadster.
It has a transverse spring up front, panhard bar and shocks selected for the car's weight along with parallel four bars.

Aldan coilovers in the back, a long as possible panhard bar, a Deuce Factory sway bar and a parallel four bar setup out side the frame rails.
A fairly typical roadster for today.

Tires are BF Goodrich.
It does well on twisty mountain roads and I don't have much trouble keeping up with street driven sports cars on the curves.
They have trouble keeping up with me on the straightaways.

Tunability is much easier with transverse leafs than it is with coilovers.
You get more suspension travel as well and that's the main reason my 31 on 32 rails project is running transverse springs both ends.
Appropriate shocks are installed and a Deuce Factory sway bar is in the back.

Roy Fjastad - the owner of the Deuce Factory - reports that roadsters handle well with a rear sway bar only.
I know that some handling experts/enthusisiasts are gonna chime in here to argue with that, but the guy knows what he's talking about.
There are heavier duty rear sway bars available for street rods and one of those may be a better selection for your car.

Changes I would make to set up a 27 roadster - as pictured above - for Autocross would be to run transverse springs, all the abovementioned stuff and add a sway bar to the front.
Tire selection would be up to you, but one good thing about running a street rod style suspension is that resale would be very good.

When you build the car, set the rear end up so you can swap to coilovers in the back by simply bolting them in if required.
Use the coilover mounting system for a shock mount and set up the rear of the chassis for the transverse spring.
(I have photos of this setup in my 31 if you wish to see them.)

Generally speaking, most hot rodders like a simple appearing car and I think they would be put off by modern A arm, coil sprung suspension with all the modern tuning gizmo's.

A solid axle suspension works well on rough dirt tracks for the circle-burners and I see no reason it wouldn't work well for Autocross and the like.

Best part is, you can hit the hot rod circuit with the car and fit right in.

Might make the sporty car guys wonder though....