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Need some advice for svt racecar

S

svtdirtracer

New CEG'er
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
14
Location
Erie, PA
So, 2000 SVTC #1062 is moving on to a more fulfilling life as a racecar. She will be my 2010 dirt car. I'm hoping to get some input from you guys on performance and reliability of the 2.5 in the higher RPM's. Some things I plan to do to the car:

1. DMD
2. hack exhaust off at the y pipe (maybe MSDS?)
3. Raise rev limiter (anyway to do this without an XCAL or similar?)
4. best way to keep oil flowing?
5. Likely do a fuel cell, recommendations on pump? Will likely run 104 race gas

I'm new to the Duratec and have done alot of reading but would like your first hand experience input.

The rules:
Engine- must be available for model and year of car (sorry, no 3L swaps)
Suspension- must remain stock but can be reinforced (car will be caged, 6pt with rear drops that go into trunk.
Exhaust, must exit past driver

Pics of what I'm starting with:
3kb3o53p2ZZZZZZZZZ95q0f9dd00035d71cca.jpg


More pics
http://s730.photobucket.com/albums/ww308/fsstnotch/SVT dirt racer/

Let me know what you guys think, how would YOU do it?
 
-Put a ported 3L in it with your stock intakes and don't tell anyone you changed the motor.

-accusump oil accumulator (Euro Tour has one for sale)

:shrug:
 
Yep, that little bit of damage and shes totalled. Guy in a van ran a red light. Insurance estimated $4,000 to repair to replace the whole front clip and the drivers door. Most of which had nothing but paint flaws and very minor dings.

Accusump sounds good! The 3L will be an idea if/when the 2.5 bites the dust.
 
+1 for the Accusump.

I can see no need for 104 unless you alter the tuning. 93 pump should be more than sufficient.

Strut tower braces, maybe subframe connectors.

Fuel pump from Focus SVT. (if your fuel system is returnless)
 
I love secretly breaking rules....

but at any rate, given you want to follow the rules, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned:

PnP heads

High compression pistons

98 3.0 UIM

Weapon R headers

Torsen T-2

K-sport coil overs with custom springs (for clearence)

Reflash for new parts

if you plan to run 104, you could run some seriousely high compression. theres a guy here doing a dirt-tour. isn't it goumba? IDK, me and him dont get along too well, so...

[edit] forgot poly RR's, gotta get some of those fo-sho. talk to pole if you dont know how to do your own, his work is super clean.
 
by stock I thought he meant stock configuration, I dont know of any racing spec that asks for roll cages and fuel cells that doesn't allow coil overs.

in fact, I cant thing of any dirt class spec that doesn't allow adjustable suspension....

and one way or the other, weapon r's can be obtained.... or get msds, who gives a monkeys balls....
 
Obviously I'm a bit late to the party here, but I'll offer a few educated thoughts

1. DMD - Definately a good idea.
2. hack exhaust off at the y pipe (maybe MSDS?) - Run MSDS headers, and then run individual 2" or 2.25" pipes out to a passenger side exit. I would run a NASCAR style "boom tube" to flatten out the exhaust as you run it out the pass side to keep it low profile and not snag on anything, or get too beat up, and it also should help with scavenging a bit, plus it should sound pretty cool, lol. Don't just run dumps under the car. You'll be in the car long enough, and with a helmet on, if you get a stream of exhaust coming in, the lack of oxygen won't help you to go any faster . . .
3. Raise rev limiter (anyway to do this without an XCAL or similar?) - no real good way, but don't forget, the Xcal stuff isn't a chip on the processor, it actually reprograms the processor through the OBD2 port, so there is no way of telling that it has been done. Plus an xcal can reprogram your timing to make use of higher octane fuel, and shut off the downstream O2 sensors, and the EGR . . .
4. best way to keep oil flowing? - Definately run an accusump.
5. Likely do a fuel cell, recommendations on pump? Will likely run 104 race gas - This is a tough call. A cell means moving a lot of mass behind the rear axle in this case. Not terrible because of the weight distribution, but the increased polar moment of inertia will make the car rotate slower around tight corners, especially when sliding. Plus, since fuel weight changes over the course of a race, it will make a noticable difference in handling from the start to the end of the race. For a pump, if you can fit it still, a stock pump should be fine for any power level you should be able to get to, and if you need to upgrade, the Focus SVT pump will be plenty, and the stock PCM can control either one properly.


The rules:
Engine- must be available for model and year of car (sorry, no 3L swaps)
Suspension- must remain stock but can be reinforced (car will be caged, 6pt with rear drops that go into trunk.
Exhaust, must exit past driver
Click to expand...

First, what sanctioning body and class will you be running in? The wording of the rules has a ton to do with what you can do specifically. Then there is the whole part of how far into the gray areas are you willing to go? lol.

For the cage, don't skimp. Research both the rules, and what other teams in your class, and what other rally racers have done all the way upt o WRC. Don't be ashamed to copy, but copy from the best. EVERYTHING should be triangulated in the cage as best you can. If you are adding extra bars for stiffening, don't forget that they may not have to be the same size or thickness as the primary cage members (this can save lots of weight, while still giving excellent stiffness) But be smart about what bars you add; make sure you do your engineering homework or you'll end up with a cage that is way heavier than it needs to be for the stiffness.

Feel free to PM me any questions you don't want to ask publicly too, lol.
 
Last edited:
Ok, as far as gray area goes... I have absolutely no problem operating in the gray area to the point that as long as it doesn't specifically say no... i got no problems with it! haha

Suspension can be very gray... all the rules really are! but in this class, it is not uncommon to have guys leaning on you heavily to turn when they've come into teh turn too hot. So, expensive coilovers are probably best left off..

I've been chatting with Tom at Nautilus quite a bit about the whole situation and we came to the conclusion that it would be best to run the car at least 1 weekend to be able to make better adjustments with the tune. This way I will have a better idea on what rpm's i will be turning. if the car is hitting the rev at the end of the straights, this way we can tune it more towards a specific rpm range.

Since i am in Afghanistan, I won't have much time for any rebuilds or anything so I'm gonna try to run this car for a season, then rebuild the motor during the offseason. I'll be getting back from here either the week before the official season starts, or the actual weekend it starts. So time is not in my favor! I will be building the cage when i'm home in dec for vacation. This is the cage I am building, but I will be adding rear downbars.
LimitedSportsmanKit.jpg
 
One of the problems you will have suspension-wise, is that all of the offerings available for the Contour are tuned for driving on the street, or at least Tarmac. You will have a very hard time finding a good strut with as much softness in rebound you will need. I would start looking at how much suspension travel you will really need as well, and consider mods to allow more travel that the stock setup. One thing in particular, is that if you have a 2-bolt front control arm setup, either convert them to mono-ball, or switch to a subframe with 4-bolt bushings. The 2-bolt will not allow the suspension droop that you will most certainly want for managing a dirt track.

The cage looks decent, certainly functional, but it is of a style that is very heavy for the amount of torsional stiffness you get from it. There are better cage designs to copy.
 
Rara, what do you mean by a better design? The kind of dirt racing I am talking about can often times end in a roll or a serious impact. Safety is always the first and foremost rule. Our rules require 3 drivers doorbars and 2 passenger. the cage i go with will likely be similar to the one posted above but with rear downbars that go to the back of the trunk.
 
svtdirtracer said:
Rara, what do you mean by a better design? The kind of dirt racing I am talking about can often times end in a roll or a serious impact. Safety is always the first and foremost rule. Our rules require 3 drivers doorbars and 2 passenger. the cage i go with will likely be similar to the one posted above but with rear downbars that go to the back of the trunk.
Click to expand...

Well, there are a lot of things to consider when putting together a cage.
Primary of course is occupant safety, then come things like rules compliance, weight, stiffness it can contribute to the body structure, etc.

That particular picture is tough to gage very well relative to a 4-dr sedan type cage, because it is from a pickup. It does some things very well, and some things "good enough".

While I don't really want to get into a full cage critique, I'll at least mention a few points.
That cage includes a driver A-pillar vertical support - this is very good. Make sure you have one of those. And don't forget the short gusset from the A-pillar tube to the halo tube.
That cage also has a one-piece main hoop, and a one-piece halo hoop. Also very good.
What that cage doesn't do very well is triangulate. Probably due to limited space in a pickup cab, but in your car you will have lots of space to do it properly. In the pic you see the "petty bar" from the pass. A-pillar down to the mid-bar in the middle of the rear plane of the cage. While this is better than nothing, it doesn't do much at all in the overall picture for torsional stiffness, or for roof crush, or for frontal impact. Any energy transmitted through that bar goes directly in the mid-span of a bar completely unsupported in that direction. The weight it takes to put that bar in could be much better used in other ways. For example, you could run that bar from the main hoop and halo junction directly behind the driver's head (provided you have adequate clearance and a proper race seat with a head surround) down to the passenger footwell box. Roughly the same length of tube (little longer) but significantly better for body torsional stiffness, and for load transmission in any type of crash or rollover.

No way to tell by the pics, but when you do your cage, make sure you gut the doors so that you can run the cage door bars ALL the way out to the backside of the outer door skins. It seems a small thing, but if you slide off course into a tree / guardrail whatever, it could save you from serious injury just by having the extra crush space.
For the rear down tubes, do you mean all the way to the rear of the car? or do you mean back to the rear shock mounts? There is little benefit from running your primary cage structure any further back than the rear suspension points. And the cost to repair after even a seemingly minor incident can be very high. My suggestion, is run to the rear inner fenders at the shock mounts, run a solid brace across between the two mounts. Then if you wish to run some supporting structure for the rear bumper area, create a bolt in structure, or even a secondary weld-in structure. Its much easier to replace the secondary type stuff after an incident, than to have to repair your primary cage. Plus, there is little in the trunk area of a contour that needs protecting and replacement sheetmetal is cheap.
I used to sit and think about the best way to cage a contour, but never really put down to design one fully. Drop me a line privately if you want some help, it might be a fun exercise.
 
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