white79bu

I am thinking about trying to be competitive in F-Stock with my Mustang. I have been reading rules and trying to figure out a good set up. My car is my daily driver that isn't paid for yet so I don't want to do anything that will effect it on the road.

I know that Koni yellows and a strano front sway bar and a good tune are on the list of mods. The car has a trailer hitch on it for carrying my time trial bike and I have a small utility trailer that I can use to haul my track wheels and tires. I know weight is a very important issue but I am not ready to spend $1200 for a set of wheels that are only used in a parking lot. Not to say I won't buy a set in the future. I was thinking about trying to find a set of used 18" wheels off of a gt(currently has 19"). What do you guys think. Also what would be a good tire? I thought about a set of a6's but wasn't sure they where allowed in f-stock.

I was autocrossing my 79 malibu but they put me in CP and I can't be compete with the CP cars in my street car. Atleast not with my budget.

BlackBetty

Tunes are actually not allowed in SCCA stock classes. I think finding some take off 18" wheels would work fine for now if you don't want to spend a ton. Hoosier A6's are pretty much the go-to tire. DOT approved "slicks" are legal in stock classes.

Are you in Cincinnati by chance? If so, are you the owner of the Malibu that goes by "The Beast"? The Cincinnati region runs a street tire class where people who normally run in the stock or street prepared classes can run on street type tires against others on similar tires. That way you can run F Stock but not get destroyed by everyone who's on R-compounds.

Norm Peterson

A6's and any other DOT tires are allowed in F-Stock (or ESP). It's the ST classes where R-comps aren't class-legal.

18" GT take-offs should be adequate at most levels short of perhaps Nationals/National Tours. I am assuming that 18's were available for your year car.



A little off-topic, but it seems that once you've gotten a '79 Malibu to run through the cones at all decently you'll find yourself at least in ESP, meaning CP by the time you've done enough to the motor to make the rest worth doing in the first place. In the OE configuration, there simply isn't enough power, suspension, or wheel. But it's kind of satisfying to pick off the odd car that should have had you for lunch, or to run in the same second as something on race rubber.

What sorts of things had you done to the Malibu?


Norm

white79bu

Hey Norm,
I have seen you on a few other forums.

My Malibu has a ton done to it. 406 small black with aluminum heads and a six speed tranny. It has C5 front brakes with z28 rear discs. I installed a 1LE sway bar with a factory f41 rear bar and a few gnx braces in the rear seat. With bilstein shocks. I also installed the battery in the trunk and a narrowed 12 bolt rear end. It needs to be updated.

68DARKHORSE

Have any pics?

white79bu

Yep. These are from a few years ago. It's pretty much the same now. But with Corbeau seats and sheetmetal valve covers.

I have thought about adding some fiberglass bumpers and hood to lighten it up but haven't decided 100% on sticking with the mustang or going back to the malibu to autocross. It really needs a GOOD rear sway bar and a more modern bar up front would be better. It's a blast to drive but I have mix race fuel in the pump gas to drive it and that gets old fast.

68DARKHORSE

That's awesome. Personally, I would get the fiberglass parts you mentioned and drag race it. Auto-x the Stang. Eitherway that Bu is a cool sleeper.

Norm Peterson

I hear you on the matter of having to make that sort of decision. I finally got the Mustang out on an autocross at the RTTS event at NJMP earlier this year (as an SCCA worker rather than as a direct event entry, though the results over at Pro-touring.com show us SCCA guys' results as well). I'd kind of forgotten what RWD autocrossing was like after several years in the 626/V6 (that ultimately landed in EP on ST tires).

The Mustang was so much better in sharp transitions than the Malibu ever was that it was like learning all over again even though I do drive the corners pretty hard anyway. Too bad SC&C never brought the 3-link they had under development for the G-body to market. I can assure you that it did exist in prototype form - some years back I saw the pieces in the metal up at Marcus' skunkworks with my own eyes.

Your other option would be to use the 'bu for the various "Run To The XXX" events put on by Bill Howell and Muscle Rides, where you get timed road course action as well as autocross. More than a few cars get trailered to the general vicinity, so you wouldn't be having to make up several hundred miles worth of race/pump gas mix. And if you never swap the OE triangulated/converging 4-link out of it for something better, it'll like the road course relatively better.

Thanks for posting the pictures, it just took me until now to bring them up at home (work blocks photo hosting sites).


Norm

white79bu

Took the pludge and bought a Detroit Speed & Enginering rear compition rear sway bar for the Malibu. It is suposed to work really well. I should have it buy next weekend for my autox. I am hoping it will plant the car better.

white79bu

Norm,
I wanted to give you an update about the malibu. I bought the DSE compition rear bar for the car at GoodGuys in Columbus. It's a very nice piece but it seems to be working to well.

It is an adjustable bar so I started out on the weaker setting just to see what it was like. It worked MUCH better than the f41 bar so for my next event I stepped it up to the stiffer setting. The car seemed very flat when cornering but my 12 bolt Moroso Brute Strength posi didn't want to stay locked up and would spin one wheel at times in a hard corner. I talked with Dave Possi over on the PT board and he said that the car could have too much bar and that could mess with the rear end. It still lays down two marks when spinning the tires in a straight line. Have you ever has an issue like this with your car? When I had the bar in the weaker setting I noticed it was doing this with the rear end but not as bad as the stiffer setting. My dad thinks tha maybe the rearend may need some additive. the car has probably only been driven 800 miles in the past 4 years.

My scca region also put me in SMS and not in CP so I have been beating up on a few imports but the older beemers have been dusting me. If I can get the rearend figured out I know I can get a few more seconds out of the car and start putting the fear of god in the beemers.

Any ideas on bracing or shock set up you can tell me. the car has every factory brace I could find including the GNX rear seat brace and the shocks are Bilesteins but they don't seem to be stiff enough because I can put the car on it's nose when braking hard.