Mustang Project Gets Ready for the Track with Realignment
PowerNation’s ‘Project Sydewinder’ Mustang visits Indiana for a full front-end alignment from a track-day specialist.
It takes a bit of work to get your Mustang ready for the track. Obviously, you’ll want plenty of horsepower and torque to get around the competition. Maybe some additional cooling to prevent your ride from overheating. And you gotta make sure you have the right wheels, tires, and brakes to corner and slow when necessary.
Speaking of cornering, your Mustang’s suspension also needs to be up to the challenge of fending off other track-day bros rolling on their Hoosier tires. The team of YouTube channel PowerNation recently rolled up to Raymond’s Auto & Truck Repair in Plainfield, Indiana to have their project’s suspension prepped for the track.
“We heard from a friend who lives in the area that, if you’re dealing with race suspension, this is the place to come to get alignment work done for the track,” said host Marc Christ. “So, we figured we’d bring them ‘Project Sydewinder to get it dialed in.”
Founded by Bruce Raymond, the bread and butter of his operation is general car and truck repairs. Whether it’s a Mustang in need of a tune, or the big rig carrying parts for your pony, Raymond’s shop is there to get them all on the road again.
“A smaller portion of our business, which is the fun part, is our road racing performance suspension,” said Raymond. “Heavy on the brakes, some light engine work, a lot of GM, LS-based stuff.”
Aside from the GM work, Raymond is a road racer himself, campaigning a Pontiac Trans AM SCCA GT1 car for a good while. Along the way, he’s met other racers in need of the edge, and found himself presenting his work to places like the Optima Ultimate Street Car Series and SEMA. Thus, he’s more than capable of bringing out the best in PowerNation‘s Mustang.
“We’re gonna get it on there, get the machine on it,” said Raymond. “We’re gonna get some baseline measurements. Then, we’re gonna start working with it. We’re gonna find the worse side first. We’re gonna get it down as close as we can, then work the other one, too.”
With the help of target-board sensors and HD cameras, Raymond and his crew are able to get the readings needed to adjust the camber, caster, and toe of the Mustang to where they need to be. The goal is to bring the camber to -1.5 degrees, four to five degrees on the caster, and a 32nd of a degree out for the toe in. The A arms will also be lengthened to nail down the settings.
“Originally, our goal was to get as much positive caster as we could — in this case, about 2.5 degrees,” said Raymond. “And our goal was -1.5 degrees on the camber. We’re at -1.3. It’s about as far as we can go with the system we got on the car.”
After setting up everything as much as they could, Raymond and his crew will use the coil-over shocks to cross-weight the car for excellent balance, whether for autocrossing or tracking. With Christ in the driver’s seat to help with the set-up, the car’s suspension is ready for the track.
A smokey burnout later, the Mustang is all set for the high-speed twists and turns to come.
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