AJ's American Iron 99 Mustang road race build. Surge tank install

[AJ Hartman]

so finally some updates. a change of jobs and buying a house ate up pretty much my whole winter. any questions about anything just ask.

Finished the cage





painted my wheels




aluminum bumper reinforcement. not really meant for impact but to make the bumper easier to take on and off, drop front end weight,and mount the front tow hook. the reinforcement and cover come off together. I can take the bumper off and on in about a minute without any tools at all.






made windows to pop in and out with 2 pins for storage or towing. windows must be out when racing.


front suspension. H&R race springs with Koni single adjustables, maximum motorsports caster camber plates and bumpsteer adjusters, and steeda X2 balljoints. A good eye will notice the abnormally long stack height on the bumpteer adjusters due to the longer X2's and increase in caster. After alot of trial and error is was able to get bumpsteer well within the rule of thumb of less than .020" per inch of suspension travel. you can also see the brake ducts routing.


rear suspension is even more simple. H&R's with the koni sa's and maximum's heavy duty race lower controll arms with spherical bearing at both ends. unfortunetely the higher spring rate and loss of a couple hundred pounds makes the rear ride height too high. that will be fixed later.


cobra brakes front and rear with DTC-60 pads.


had to make it fit the 50/50 rule so had to paint the primer and white bumper and wing with spray paint for now.


thats it for now. Im going to get my competition license the 28th of this month and first races are the 29th and 30th. if anyone hasn't ever been to NJMP (in millville nj) this is a good time cause as always, NASA events are free for spectators and you can check out all the cars in the pits and watch the action on the track.

[AJ Hartman]

apparently mustangs don't get love on this site.

[sean3]

If your car was slammed with stretched tires it would get plenty of love. Go fast cars are lame.

Looks like you've made some good progress since I've last seen it. It's all one color now! Good luck on the 28th man.

[AJ Hartman]

haha that was great. so true too.

[Ciotti]

Originally Posted by sean3

If your car was slammed with stretched tires it would get plenty of love. Go fast cars are lame.

Looks like you've made some good progress since I've last seen it. It's all one color now! Good luck on the 28th man.

So sad but so true


Lookin good brother, get that god dam thing out to one of our events for some shake down runs!

[motorvated]

This is a super cool build man! Post your results of your first race, im excited to see how you do.

[downsmustang]

Nice progress. I guess only other mustang guys subscribed to this thread. Pretty basic set up suspension wise it should serve you well. Motor/trans still stock? Not to many 2v's running around american iron.

[motorvated]

Im not a mustang guy...just like a good build with a purpose.

[AJ Hartman]

Originally Posted by downsmustang

Nice progress. I guess only other mustang guys subscribed to this thread. Pretty basic set up suspension wise it should serve you well. Motor/trans still stock? Not to many 2v's running around american iron.

pretty basic suspension setup so far. trans is stock. motor basically stock. just tb and cold air so I will be fairly underpowered for my class. not that many 2 valves running AI but that motor can easily produce the power i'm allowed to make.

[g0dzuki]

Car looks great!

Function over form and when you achieve full function for what you want, the car comes out looking great..

[AJ Hartman]

first weekend went good.
qualified 6 out of 7 in my class and finished 4th. started 35th overall and worked my way up to 21st overall. there was 58 cars on track saturday! i had a good run and the car ran good. my fast lap of the race was a 1:18.389. sundays race was alot more calm. only 48 cars on track but unfortunately there was only one other person in my class. i qualified behind the other guy in my class and he just pulled away the whole race. I learned a good deal about my car and have some plans to make it quicker. all in all it was a good weekend .

[downsmustang]

Car looks great out there on the track. The first day of shake down is always the hardest. Once you get it all dialed in I'm sure the car will feel much better.

[AJ Hartman]

Originally Posted by downsmustang

Car looks great out there on the track. The first day of shake down is always the hardest. Once you get it all dialed in I'm sure the car will feel much better.

the first time out was actully for the comp school to get my liscence and I had no idea what to expect. kinda nervous since a spin or anything could keep me from getting my license. the rear was really loose under turn in when trail braking. so I just tightened the rebound on the rear shocks to keep it more ballanced and that helped a ton. gonna do a bunch more work on it before next race and I'll have to do it all over again.

[PhillyLS1]

ZOMG your hartmen wheels are so dreamy!

[AJ Hartman]

haha. u love em. don't hate. when u guys doing a track day w me?

[taylor]

this is truely an awesome build ive read about american iron series in 5.0 mustang magazine a couple times seems like a good time

[HickRocket1258]

That build has turned out nicely. And very true about needing big tires that rub your fenders and is slammed with lotrs of camber.

Anyways love the mustang. Haven't thought about putting mine on twisties.

[AJ Hartman]

Originally Posted by HickRocket1258

That build has turned out nicely. And very true about needing big tires that rub your fenders and is slammed with lotrs of camber.

Anyways love the mustang. Haven't thought about putting mine on twisties.

well I def have lots of camber. About -3.6 degrees. you should think about doing a track day sometime. tons of fun.

[treborx3]

WoW! I am so glad to see you got my stang into the AI. I think the AI racing suits that car best, it looks like a natural out there on the track. I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming races with the 99.

[Nick Merrone]

I would have put a huge GT wing on it.. Rather then the cobra R.. lol I love the car other then the cobra r wing. I hate them..but i like the vented hood on this car. Its like my friends on his 240.