Project SC300 Road Racer: Part 30 – Sometimes You Finish Where You Should’ve Started

When we left Project SC300, we had gotten the suspension all back together, but that annoying caged nut had thrown us for a loop. Properly getting to it involves getting the subframe out. With the subframe out, it would be an opportune time to replace all the bushings, both for the subframe as well as the differential.

The prospect of dropping the SC300 subframe on my garage floor and with only hand tools was not exciting. In fact, it was such a non-exciting idea that I decided I wanted to pay someone else to make it their problem.

You might wonder, then, why my car is surrounded by Ford Mustangs.

 

view of car on lift from underneath with guy in black t-shirt and black baseball hat holding a tool getting ready to work
This is Bart Tobener of Tobener Motorsports. He knows a thing or two about racing.

If you don’t follow the domestic drag racing scene, you probably don’t know Bart. But my wife, Ainsley, who has Project G20, knows Bart because of her work with NMCA and NMRA, which are both big-time domestic drag racing groups.

Bart has been wrenching and racing for a really long time. He’s seen a lot of success in drag racing both as a driver and as a mechanic. He has a fair bit of success racing on two wheels as well. His shop happens to not be terribly far away. Somehow I convinced him to work on Project SC300. I gave him a relatively easy job to start, though.

Damnit even decided to cooperate for a change.

 

section of exhaust laying on shop floor in front of some fuel jugs
The first step in getting the subframe out is removing the back of the exhaust since it goes under the control arms.

 

gut using a small impact wrench to remove a brake caliper
The brakes are attached to the hubs, but the brakes are also connected to the chassis via the brake lines.

This means you have a few options. The complicated and obvious choice is to disconnect the brake line and remove the subframe with the brakes attached.

2 comments

  1. At this point, I’m more interested in hearing about you getting your money’s worth out of this thing than more upgrades. That’s not to say the work recently posted isn’t first class, but if it can’t run the times it’s for naught. I’m genuinely curious how fast this thing is as is.

    1. You and me both — curious how it’ll do. I got some lap times at Grid Life Road Atlanta last season and they were alright. Off the pace for NASA ST2 times but respectable considering I still didn’t even have a baseline for the car. Heck, I’m still figuring out starting tire pressure.

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