Maytag's '03 S thread

[maytag]

I decided that, rather than start a new thread, I'd pick up where I left off here.

so, since the last post, below;

This has become a mostly-track-use car. DE's only, as I've promised myself no racing. (I spent waay too much money racing Superbikes for 20 years..... I won't do that again)

Around June of '18 I had a catastrophic clutch-failure at the racetrack. Holes in the bellhousing, etc.
In true-racer-form, I looked at repairs as a time to upgrade, so in went the AASCO LightWeight FlyWheel and new SACHS clutch. While I was int here I did a RMS and replaced a PERFECTLY-GOOD IMS.

I followed-up with a Underdrive Pulley so the Power Steering would get a break at the track.

Back out and had fun. Near the end of the year (October?) I took a spin and perhaps didn't get both feet in before it rolled backwards. I popped a plug outta the heads and the resulting inability to create vacuum meant the AOS was ingesting liquid oil straight into the motor. I shut down, but nt before the exhaust was saturated enough that it caught on fire. fun story. haha. Anyway.... back to the garage. I dug into the motor enough to discover I had what I think was a recent motor. it showed ZERO signs of being a 147k mile engine. And thankfully it wasn't broken.

Over the next winter, (2018-2019) I went through the car again, doing water-pump and thermostat, coolant, etc. I cleaned-out the debris between the radiators. I changed-out the oil in the trans and added the 2nd-gear detent fix. I also installed the 987 airbox and 78mm TB. To this I added the SOUL Muffler ByPass valves. Then I installed some FVD adjustable LCA's in the front and took it to have a proper track alignment done (with lots of camber).

The 2019 season was a fun one.... I had a lot of fun passing other "faster" cars. People say nobody wins practice, but I did. haha.
Middle of the year (July / August?) I was railing hard, when I noticed a little "rattle" at maintenance throttle, or right at pickup. I couldn't get it to duplicate it in the pits, so I went back out. It was ever so faint; enough that it was possible I was imagining it. But I had had enough fun for the day, so I picked-up and started the 30-minute drive home. 10 minutes into that drive it was over. The motor was done. Rod-bearing failure. I'm very certain it happened at what we call the "BlackRock Hairpin" at UMC. It's at the end of a VERY fast set of left-hand kinks (where I pull the most lateral g's of anywhere on the track) and then a short straight-away, then a hard-braking zone to a 1st gear left-hander. So the oil is all pushed-away from the pickup, then I'm zinging the down-shifts, way up in the RPM range, then pulling HARD through and out of the turn. Yeah.... poor guy... (the motor, I mean).

So I bought a crashed car with 80k miles and took the motor out of it. Parted the rest.
Over that winter (2019 - 2020) I installed the motor and did the following upgrades:

Replacement Transmission
Ohlins R&T "Track Package" Coilovers
Tarret GT3 sway bar & end links in front
Tarret sway bar and SPL PRO end links in rear
Adjustable thrust arms in front
Adjustable toe-links in rear
Remote-fob-controlled switches to manually turn on the engine-bay purge fan and the radiator hi-speed fans. (the same fob now controls the SOUL Bypass valves, as well)
Headers and Mid-Pipes

Cosmetically;
Replaced the door micro-switches so the windows would drop correctly when the doors opened.
Fixed the Foam on the doors in the A/C - Heater.
Wrapped the exterior with vinyl.
Added Joe Toth spoiler
Added SideSkirts
Added GT3 Front lip
Enlarged the center-hole of the bumper to increase air-flow.
18" wheels with Fred's center caps.

and Dozens of other little things.

[maytag]

So the Mod list looks like this:

Used Replacement 3.2L motor with:
UnderDrive Pulley
AASCO LightWeight FlyWheel
987 Airbox and 78mm TB & Plenum
LN deep sump & windage plate.
X51 Baffles.
Headers with no-cats.
MidPipes with Hi-Flow cats.
SOUL Exhaust ByPass valves (controlled by remote-fob)
Beluga-(ish) muffler. Yes, it now drones.

Suspension mods:
FVD adjsutable LCA's in front
Adjustable Thrust arms, front
Adjustable Toe-Links, rear
Ohlins R&T "Track Package" Coilovers
4-corner-balance
Track alignment

Cooling:
Remote-fob controlled engine-bay purge-fan and radiator High-Speed fans
Enlarged center-radiator opening

[Dubaday]

wow, just wow...

Is that a paint job or a wrap? And did you decide on the color based on the center cap color ?

I dig the gold details on the emblem and pinstripe, looks like it matches the wheels perfectly. well done sir!