Coyote Competition Coupe

[tcoon]

I am running DBA rotors which have paint indicators on them, although I must admit I did not pull the wheels to check it out. I am using Wilwood 600 fluid, and don't think it was boiling. This seems to be primarily a pad problem, so I will be switching to the Hawk DTC-60's as suggested by John George...who's to argue with the national champion? By the way brake balance and stopping power were excellent with the small rear brakes, at one point I missed a braking point going into the corkscrew and locked up all four wheels, going off track in a straight and controlled fashion. No apparent need for bigger rear brakes. If you can lock all four Hoosier slicks at will, you have max braking capacity of the package!

[johngeorge]

WOW thank you so much for the incar video!! that was super cool, its like playing Forza, but real As for the brake rotor wear with the hawk pads, I haven't noticed anything different to the Carbotech pads.

Have you tried to bleed the system again? Maybe you have a tiny leak somewhere.. mushy brakes are either air in the system, or rubber lines from caliper to frame flexing.
The pedal shouldnt ever go to the floor (I do a confidence tap with my left foot while still on the straightaway before a heavy braking area just to make sure I have brakes - have that happen to me once, not a happy feeling at all, turned out to be a problem with my master cylinder).

[johngeorge]

On second thought, another option to hawk pads is Pagid Yellow. Its the same pad we used on Ed's #85, a true Enduro pad with great feel, and it will last you forever. We didnt have to change pads at all in the 25hr. They should have them for your front calipers, but not sure about the rears...

http://www.braketechnology.com/catal...pagid-rsl.html

[turbonut48]

Man, Rupert sure is a smooth driver. I enjoyed watching the video.


The Nut

[tcoon]

I think I do have a tiny leak at right front caliper, the plan is to chase that down and bleed again. Ordered the hawk pads this morning. Hopefully that will solve the problem...

[Owlknight360]

Very cool. I thoroughly enjoyed watching you pass other cars! Kind of relavent, kind of not, but also cool to see the real Laguna Seca. I've raced it on Gran Turismo 5, so I could actually picture the track as you went having never been there.

[jkrueger]

Awesome videos Tom! I'd love to drive on that track some day.

JC

[kabacj]

Boy are you guys lucky to have a track like that in your back yard! Thanks for posting the video. Driving there is on the bucket list for sure.

John

[tcoon]

Lucky indeed! I have been trying to get on this track for 5 years. Usually they have extreme sound restrictions, but were lifted for this event! And to drive it in a new Daytona, and on track with Karen in her awesome coupe...priceless! This is one for the memory book for sure.

[narkosys]

wow! nice runs!

the more I listen to that beautiful rumble your car makes the more I am toying with going with a coyote instead of the 427 I am envisioning! Hopefully this one will fit

P

[tcoon]

It does indeed sound great and revs like there's no tomorrow! Not like any big block you can name...

[tcoon]

Racin' is rubbin'...well, not supposed to be that way in time trial, but s*** happens! Last weekend at Laguna Seca my new Daytona was unceremoniously baptized in the rear by an overzealous TTU driver. While I was not pleased with the incident, I was quite pleased with the performance of the back part of our previously-untried safety cage. I am happy to say the rear internal bumper did its job and protected me, the car, and the fuel cell! Thank you Rick Anderson and Hank Lopez!

As you can see from the photos, the damage was fairly superficial and limited to the area above and lateral to the bumper. This was quite a hard hit, as I was going about 60 MPH and the approaching driver substantially more...and he forgot about the purpose of the middle pedal! My car looks bad but his looks way worse. These cars are tough as nails!

On to the repairs...first all hardware, stickers, internal aluminum panels were removed to allow assessment of the damage. The rear panel had substantial cracks and misalignment, and the left rear corner was pretty crushed and the panel sprung apart.

The cracks were chased down with a cutoff wheel and damaged glass removed. The crushed area of the lower panel was completely cut out. the inside and outside of the panels were ground to bare fiberglas about 2" back from the cracks.

Next the panels were re aligned and held in place with either tape or manual pressure, and the inside of the panels were reinforced with multiple layers of fiberglas mat followed by cloth. The result is a solid panel once again moving as one solid piece, and hopefully resistant to further cracking.

Following this the cracks were filled from the outside with "Bondo-hair" body filler reinforced with fiberglas fibers, to fill the crack and provide further structural support. This has made a very solid feeling construct.

Finally everything was sanded smooth, and the routine bodywork process of filling, sanding, and more filling was applied. The lower corner previously crushed has been built back with an underlayment of fiberglass mat followed by sculpting with filler and glaze. Overall it has come along nicely and will be ready for paint in a few days. Then its back to the track at Fontana AAA Speedway for the high bank thrill ride of a lifetime!

[rj35pj]

Sorry for your bad luck. Excellent photos and descriptions. That is a lot of fine repair work.

[frankeeski]

Seeing you come back in the pit after the on track incident nearly brought tears to our eyes Tom. Glad you have the repairs underway and under control. We look forward to seeing you at Cal. Speedway in a couple of weeks.

[68GT500MAN]

I can't wait to see this car on the track.
Doug

[CHOTIS BILL]

Tom,

Nice repair work. That is why race car gain weight over time just like some drivers. I have found when repairing flat panels you can take a piece of scratch free aluminum, wax it, and rivet it close to damage on the finished side. When you remove the aluminum piece there is very little work left to finish the outside. This also holds the parts in alignment while the resin kicks.

When is the Fontana race? It is hard for me to get away but I would really like to see you run.

Bill Lomenick

[QSL]

we plan to hit Fontana with frank. We are really excited.

Glad we are doing that bumper mod too. Cool to see how well it worked!

[tcoon]

Thanks all! I also thought of using a piece of aluminum as a template but we didn't need it, all lined up quite well. Fontana race is the first weekend of August. I signed up today so now I HAVE to gitter done!

[tcoon]

It's really great to see the Coupey crowd involved! I'm lovin ' your posts and love the new dash! Keep up the good work!

[MRSQSL]

Oh Tom! I would absolutely cry. I'm going to request that Scoopy and Coupey skip the baptism. You are brave to get right back out there. Thank goodness you weren't seriously injured but how frustrating to have it happen and so soon after you finished the car. I'm so sorry! Looks like the repairs will make it good as new. I don't suppose you have pictures of the other car. Would be curious to see what kind of damage it suffered.

[tcoon]

I don't have pics but the hood and front fascia were pretty messed up. I'll see if I can get photos and maybe the video...

[vnmsss]

Tom....I love what you're doing with your Coupe, and have to admit it was tremendously awesome to have both Coupes on track at Laguna Seca! You've done an amazing job with your build, and I know the FFR community appreciates all of the documentation and information you've shared in this build thread.

I will have the #28 Coupe at Fontana as well, and look forward to spending the weekend running on track and hanging out in the pits with you and our FFR friends. We ran my Coupe in Portland last weekend, and it was a great track for the car. We developed clutch issues later in the day on Saturday, and I'll be heading out to the garage to work on it this evening. Really proud of everything you've done with your build!!! You truly rock, my friend!! Karen (Big thanks to Frank and Julie Maslowski for the Laguna Seca track support...You two are awesome!)

[xlr8or]

When is the Fontana event?

[68GT500MAN]

First weekend of August.

[tcoon]

Hey Karen...really glad to hear your car is rockin on! What kind of clutch issue? I have to say so far I am THRILLED with the hydraulic clutch from Forte...and your install would be even easier with the old school 5.0 setup...your bell housing works a little simpler than mine for the slave cylinder. I have had intermittent clutch cable issues with my challenge car previously and this seems to be a good fix.

[tcoon]

Btw...that may be the first time two Daytonas have been racing on track together since 1965! How cool is THAT!

And Peter Brock loved the POM photo!

[vnmsss]

Not really sure why, but the clutch diaphram seems to have collapsed.....Will finish pulling it today...Considering switching to hydraulic as well, as the whole cable set-up has been nothing short of a PITA on this car.....Looking forward to seeing you in Fontana! K

[tcoon]

Mike Forte sent me the hydraulic setup in just a few days and was very available for technical help. He has the master/slave diameters etc already dialed in. For your old school 5.0 type block he has a slick pull style slave that minimizes any external hardware. Took me about 2 evenings to do the install and the clutch feel is excellent, with greatly reduced effort on my center force racing clutch.

[bansheekev]

What size master/slave is Mike recommending now? Just curious what you did...

Kevin

Mike Forte sent me the hydraulic setup in just a few days and was very available for technical help. He has the master/slave diameters etc already dialed in. For your old school 5.0 type block he has a slick pull style slave that minimizes any external hardware. Took me about 2 evenings to do the install and the clutch feel is excellent, with greatly reduced effort on my center force racing clutch.

[tcoon]

I'm not really sure...just called him up and he sent it out the next day. It is a Wilwood master which fits the pedal box perfectly and I believe a proprietary slave. There are photos in an earlier post. mike has the details re cylinder size.

[CHOTIS BILL]

I have got the push type setup from Mike and the master cylinder is 7/8” dia. but don’t know what size the slave cylinder is.

Bill Lomenick

[tcoon]

At my last post we had completed the fiberglas repairs and were preparing for paint. With the next scheduled race weekend fast approaching, the paint booth was fired up once again and beauty brought back to the beast.

First the areas were smoothed and filled with rage and metal glaze until all traces of the damaged areas were eliminated. The areas were then spot primed with high build primer. All areas planned for new paint or clear were hit with the DA sander and 500 grit paper. It was decided to paint the rear fascia and entire rear quarter, thus minimizing the required blend area.

The rear panel was painted with a new batch of the VW tornado red, and the quarter color blend was done with the tiny amount of remaining red from the original mix, to optimize the color match. The striping was once again laid out, and several coats of Toyota super white later the striping was complete! Finally several coats of clear were applied, and blending solvent sprayed over the rear roofline area in the blend zone.

After a few days of hardening the blend area was sanded and feathered, but the remaining quarter panel will wait a full month before color sanding. Stickers and internal aluminum panels were refitted, and the tail lights and tow hook reconnected.

Tonight the car is loaded in the trailer and later this week its off to Fontana!

[CHOTIS BILL]

Looks ready for the fight.

Thanks for the update,

Bill Lomenick

[Garry Bopp]

Tom,

Looks good as new! Have a great weekend at Fontana.

Garry

[QSL]

Awesome tom!! We will see you this weekend. Julie and I are going to head that way sat afternoon.

[tcoon]

Thanks all, looking forward to a great SoCal weekend!

[vnmsss]

Awesome work, Tom! The #28 Coupe is loaded in the trailer and ready for competition in Fontana as well....Looking forward to a great weekend!

Karen

[frankeeski]

Looks great Tom, looking forward to this weekend.

[tcoon]

This weekend past brought my first outing to Cal speedway in Fontana, CA in two years. It is a "roval" track, combining the NASCAR high banks of turn 1 and 2 with a fast and twisty infield road course. This is perhaps the ideal venue for a GT car like the Daytona coupe, so I was anxious to give it a try!

Saturday dawned slightly overcast warm and humid with a light breeze, and the first warmup session went well. I had a lot of difficulty figuring out the braking zone coming off the 140 MPH runs on the oval, and blew through turn 3 several times, heating up my new brake pads and flat spotting the new Hoosier slicks over the course of several sessions. The brake pedal once again became spongy after about 5 laps, so I am now thinking this is a fluid boil problem rather than pad compounding. I believe I have located the problem, as my front brake line runs just under the J-pipe of the coyote, which sits very close to the frame. I believe this line is getting overheated and boiling the fluid, causing loss of brake function. I will reposition the line prior to my next event.

Later that day as the temp climbed and speeds increased I began having overheating problems, the first time with this package. I believe this to be due to the restrictive belly pans I placed under the engine and transmission for improved aerodynamics. The aero worked great, as the car was rock solid on the oval...but after 5 laps or so at a consistent 6000 rpm the engine began to overheat. I then had the upper radiator hose come off at speed blasting through turn 13 with a passenger, and she got the thrill of a lifetime as the car became a fountain of steam! Racing is full of surprises!

I was trying out a new video/GPS system from traqmate, and by Sunday morning managed to get a presentable combination with decent synchronization for your viewing pleasure. Not my best lap times of the weekend, and a I once again blew turn 3 requiring me to wait for passing traffic to get back on track. But at least I then got practice passing cars and working traffic.


http://youtu.be/d95LnOB2Yx0


Frank and Julie Maslowski, QSL and MRSQSL along with a whole contingent of Cobra owners came to the track on Saturday and helped make the weekend overall a great outing. Thanks all for your kind support!

Once again it was a great race weekend, and allowed continued sorting of this new competition Coyote engine package, which is proving to be the most fun ever!

[Garry Bopp]

Tom,

Thanks for the write-up. Great pics and great video. Thanks for posting! Hope I get to see you driving Coyote Red some day.

Garry