M2 conversion

[Stirling 306]

a few progress pics

[rgu]

Very slick and totally clean!

Neat job with the dry sump. It’s the hardest thing to get right.
The Mission scoops are going to keep the 1600 cool with no problem. These are the ones to get for any converter.
My feeling is these guys (Phil and Walt), know what they are doing, their new Autowerks motor is strong so I can’t wait to see it in action at Grattan—it will be fast out of the trailer.

Nice Iris too!

[vee36/ford]

what chassis number is it

[Stirling 306]

1990 M2. The "skinny" one. Chassis had to be lengthened over 2" to accommodate the dry sump tank.

[Stirling 306]

The specific chassis is M2-14.

[csingletary01]

Great conversion, when I did my predator I lengthened chassis 2 inches also to install sump tank.

[Stirling 306]

It's coming along, now on to bodywork. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be able to make the Grattan race due to the bodywork modifications. Not enough time and, quite frankly, experience and know how to pull off the work in time. I'll keep trying though!

Thanks Robert! We wouldn't be where we are now without all your help.

[rgu]

Phil and Walt you are very close and I know you want the perfect fit and that's understandable. But you might want to consider temporary fixes. I see two problems with the Mysterians. First is pretty universal on all conversions that is making the cutouts for the steering tie rods. You want to make it so the nose will lift off and expose the rack and the steering tie rods. When I built the M5 (using an M2 frame because the M5 frame was a POS) I needed to get the car to its first outing. I simply put a wood dowel between the rack and the inside of the body, made a 3 inch hole saw cut in my marked location and bingo it all worked. Nothing was perfect but it worked. Five years later I'm hoping Steve Dunlop can fix it this summer.

The second issue with the Mysterian was that the body center section attached via dzus fasteners to stand off mounts on the frame ladders. I can see from your pics that the bellypan sticks out for this very reason. Using this concept was again too much work to meet the deadline again. What I did was attach the body with 10/32 button heads. The M5 body was designed to mount just like the M2 so what I did was make spacer blocks out of space age material (plywood) and glued these spacers to the inside is the M5 center section. They are still there today.

We made our shakedown race--the car was not good but not because of the body mounting.

[rgu]

It’s pretty exciting when a new car never having turned a wheel at the track shows up. It’s more interesting when the owners ask very thoughtful questions over coming the unique problems of formula FST.
Look in the enclosed pictures for some of these solutions.
Number one a FST engine make more heat than Vee motors thus the addition of the very clever Mission Side Scoops
Number two, you need to conveniently get to the rack and the pedals without the tedium of body center removal and resetting toe. Check out how the nose now extends into the upper body. They just used the same body pieces in a different manner.
Number three, You really need to actively duct air to the cooler. Hence the roll bar becomes the air duct.
What you don’t see is the chassis extension to allow for the dry sump tank which is almost mandatory these days. So I’m thinking this car is fast right out of the trailer. We’ll see tomorrow

[provamo]

i am digging those scoops!!

[Jim Nash]

Overall it looks very well done. Good luck this weekend. I wish I was there to see it in person.

Jim

[Doug FST 5]

Two podium finishes at the debut weekend. Well Done!

Doug FST 5

[Stirling 306]

First off I have to say a huge thank you to everyone: Robert G., Doug S., Bill B., Larry C., Butch, Sam F., Dave D., Doug S. And everyone in the FST clan for all of your hard work and limitless supply of advice and tips without all of it we wouldn't have even been close!

This switch to FST was such a great move and one that we should have made long ago! We haven't had that much fun at a race weekend in a long time.

Thank you again and can't wait to see everyone again at Nelson later this month!

[Amon]

Stirling,

It's my understanding that the MVR membership has voted to cancel the July Nelson's race in order to give the track management additional time to get it in proper racing
conditions. They have no plans to cancel the September race weekend at this point.

Mark

[rgu]

And Phil

Thanks for all of your efforts to get your car ready for Grattan. Except for the minor sway bar bushing problem all I saw you do was the usual race day maintenance. And I never saw you adjust your Carbotechs!