Maier's 66 Mustang Goes From Racecar to Family Car

[Maier Motorsports]

The Blue 66’ Mustang that has been an icon of Maier Racing was a wedding gift from Mike Maier to his wife, Brianne back in 2005. What started as a fairly stock mustang with a 289, 4 speed, 9 inch rear end, and Maier fiberglass exploded into something that they would have never expected. This car became the test bed for many of Mike’s suspension ideas. In its full race trim this car was fitted with a Roush Yates engine and transmission making about 825 horsepower and 550 ft-lbs of torque, full Maier Front Coilover kit, and finally the Maier 3 link Extreme Rear Suspension.

This car has been to tons of autocrosses and even a few trackdays and performed awesome! Now what we want to do is show that our suspension system is not only a great system to put on your autocross or track car but is also great for street driving. In the next few weeks we will show the progression of Ol’ Blue from a top autocross contender to the family car which will take Mike, Brianne, and their 2 young kids from Livermore, Ca to Portola, Ca which is in the mountains North West of Lake Tahoe. Surprisingly the car will only need a few small modifications which will be outlined in the next few weeks and finally we will document the trip up north and finish at the August Goodguys Carshow in Pleasanton.

Since the Roush Yates motor blew up a few months ago we have since had a stock 302 motor in the car. To get it ready for Mike’s trip we are going to do the following;

• Install the heater core (since we will really need it in August)
• Do some maintenance on our C&R Radiator
• Change out our rockers for smoother ride
• Change from the JRI shocks with the Maier Race valving to the Maier Street valving
• Install a Wilwood street brake pad compound
• Install Billy Boat Mufflers (Mike likes loud things but the kids need to sleep)
Without further a due we will start with Ol’ Blue in autocross form.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/p18670979664-1.jpg (http://5HPDecals.zenfolio.com/p439669730/e6f49a76e)
Photo Courtesy of Alvin Cheng

[Bryce]

awesome!

[GrabberGT]

I follow all the changes except the "rockers for a smoother ride". Is this the rear C/O rockers?

count this as my subscription. Thanks for sharing.

[Maier Motorsports]

I follow all the changes except the "rockers for a smoother ride". Is this the rear C/O rockers?

count this as my subscription. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Chris,

Yes that is the rocker for the coilover setup in the rear end. By changing the motion ratio of the rocker we are able to give the cars suspension a softer ride.

[Maier Motorsports]

Today Mike headed over to see his good buddy Jerry at ABC Mustangs in Hayward, Ca. Jerry is one of those stand up guys that will never treat you wrong. In 2012 when Mike’s flywheel broke right before the SCCA Solo Nationals Jerry took his flywheel off of his personal Cougar just so Mike was able to compete, that’s what kind of person Jerry is. Along with Jerry’s great personality he is also an encyclopedia of knowledge; being in the business since the 60s, Jerry knows everything and anything when it comes to early model Mustangs, Cougars, and Falcons. Not only does he have the information you need but his shop is also honey hole full of vintage parts. Give Jerry a call at (510)-886-8264 and he will either have the parts that you need or might know where you can find them
When Mike needed the heater core for the 66 he knew that Jerry was the man to go to. Mike headed over and saw Jerry this morning and got not only the core he needed but a good story to go along with it!

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One of Jerry’s shelves of vintage parts
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Original GT350 Rear End
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One of Jerry’s many beautiful cars; Ford GT40
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[Ron Sutton]

We're cool thread. I'm subscribed !

[Motorcitydak]

I got excited when you said that you will do this over the next few weeks until I saw the post date was today....i love to see weeks/months/years of updates all at once. I feel like I got to cheat and watch it all unfold in a few minutes. Waiting patiently.....

[rustomatic]

It's funny how that heater core doesn't seem like a big deal, until you try going for a ride in freezing temperatures... Damn those ugly hoses!

[QuarterD25]

in!

[Craig510]

Ok, so the big question: What is going to replace Ol' Blue for GoodGuys Autocross domination?

[Z06killinSBF]

Man! Totally awesome! I wish some of your parts would work on my build, we could almost have twins.

[Rod]

Mikey/Bree are we going to start road trippin the cars together instead of towing?

[struck by Lightning]

Mikey/Bree are we going to start road trippin the cars together instead of towing?

Hey Rod - I'm down for that and in a pinch......I've got a tow hitch. :twothumbs

[GrabberGT]

It's funny how that heater core doesn't seem like a big deal, until you try going for a ride in freezing temperatures... Damn those ugly hoses!

LOL! Im with you on the hoses.

[Maier Motorsports]

o no no no... Don't be miss lead after this trip Ol' Blue will be back to its Roush Yates trim sooner than latter. We just wanted to have a fun drive like old times in it before it goes back.

[ochohill]

Thread jack.

Mike, would you mind directing me to a thread about the coil over on the upper control arm suspension system you designed. If you recall, I called and spoke to you about a similar idea I had. I stopped progress on that project in part due to you designing a system like I wanted. I have not seen any discussion about it other than the little thread on the VMF. Personally, I feel that design is 1 of the better, if not best, for these cars. I don't understand why there isn't more talk about it. You should be selling a lot of those front kits.

Thank you,

David

[Maier Motorsports]

Thread jack.

Mike, would you mind directing me to a thread about the coil over on the upper control arm suspension system you designed. If you recall, I called and spoke to you about a similar idea I had. I stopped progress on that project in part due to you designing a system like I wanted. I have not seen any discussion about it other than the little thread on the VMF. Personally, I feel that design is 1 of the better, if not best, for these cars. I don't understand why there isn't more talk about it. You should be selling a lot of those front kits.

Thank you,

David

We actually don't have a thread on our front coil over kit yet. We just started to become active on a few different forums to display the product that we have and to better serve our customers. Everyone that we have sold our front coil over kit to has been very happy with the product; be it for street or track driving. Thank you for the compliment David!

[Motorcitydak]

So what kind of motion ratio are you going to be using in the new setup? My shocks are going to be slightly over driven on both the front and rear. I had to be more aggressive on the rockers for the front end VS the rear because on the control arms in the front end obviously. Both front and rear of my car will use a 6.9 inch travel shock to allow 6 inches of wheel travel so I am overdriven by 15%

[rustomatic]

Here's another product question for the Maier folk, but first, I've got your adjustable Panhard setup on my '63 Falcon, and it works great, minimal damage required. So there, I'm legitimized. Anyhoo, the question is about your three-piece 5/8" rear sway bar set up for the '65-66 Mustang: Will it clear disc brake calipers that are biased to the rear of the axle (SSBC in particular)?

Thanks for the time.

[chetly]

Mike and Maier Racing featured on Big Muscle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42GTMDhLG2Y

Regarding the rear sway bar on your Falcon, I would imagine they would need to know the measurement between the calipers to be able to answer that question correctly. They don't deal with SSBC, mainly Wilwood. If I remember correctly, the calipers on the coupe are mounted to the rear so I don't see there being a problem. Id call them @ (510) 581-7600 PST with that measurement and see what they have to say.

[SSLance]

Very cool watch, thanks for posting.

[GrabberGT]

Great video. Why dont I have a Mike Maier around here. Such a personable guy and honest business practices.

[Maier Motorsports]

So what kind of motion ratio are you going to be using in the new setup? My shocks are going to be slightly over driven on both the front and rear. I had to be more aggressive on the rockers for the front end VS the rear because on the control arms in the front end obviously. Both front and rear of my car will use a 6.9 inch travel shock to allow 6 inches of wheel travel so I am overdriven by 15%

In regards to the motion ratio it is hard to give a clear idea of what your motion ratio SHOULD be. Every suspension system is very different and even if we did give you the number I fear it would steer you in the wrong direction. To give you a bit of a direction of how we designed our system was by starting with a motion ratio of around 1:1 and experimenting with different ratios and rising/falling rates. We hope that gives you a bit more of a direction with your project.

[Maier Motorsports]

Here's another product question for the Maier folk, but first, I've got your adjustable Panhard setup on my '63 Falcon, and it works great, minimal damage required. So there, I'm legitimized. Anyhoo, the question is about your three-piece 5/8" rear sway bar set up for the '65-66 Mustang: Will it clear disc brake calipers that are biased to the rear of the axle (SSBC in particular)?

Thanks for the time.

Went and talked to boss man Mike and he said that you will most likely have issues with the rear sway bar interfering with the rear end.

[cactuss4]

oh locals. I'm in Livermore as well. Not a Ford guy, but a car guy. Any pointers to good local resources, paint/body, suspension ;), for my soon arriving 66 Chevelle would be appreciated..

Thanks
Tory

[Maier Motorsports]

Today we made some progress on Ol’ Blue. First up was to change the brake pads to a compound that was more suited for street driving. One of our favorite things about the Wilwood product is how easy it is to upgrade. With many other brake kits if you want to upgrade you’re required to buy an entirely new kit. With Wilwood many of their parts are cross compatible and you can upgrade by switching out just one part.

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Also on schedule was finishing the heater core assembly. With all the parts that we needed in hand, a small bit of fiberglass to repair the box, the heater is ready to go into Ol’ blue.

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After all the abuse that we put our Speedway housing through and a 500 mile trip ahead of us we thought it might be a good idea to do some basic maintenance. We called up Speedway Engineering and they were able to get new bearing and seals shipped to the shop.

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[Maier Motorsports]

Today we pulled apart Maier's Extreme Rear Suspension package to change the JRi shock valving and rocker ratio for a softer ride.

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With the shocks and rockers being mounted in the trunk area removal simple and requires only a few tools.

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Below is the image of the rocker that will be replaced with a replacement which has a different motion ratio. The different motion ratio will cause the car to be slightly underdamped, giving the cars ride a more "plush" feel which will allow the passengers to stay comfortable.

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An image of our JRi Shock before it is disassembled.

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Mike beginning the disassembly of the shock to change its internal valving.

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The shock body is now removed from the rest of the shock.

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Measureing and changing the shim stack to change the characteristics of the dampening. Once again the goal is to get a smoother riding car so the cars valving reflects a softer ride.

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The street rocker being placed in the trunk of the car.
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One of the main changes we did to the valving of ol' blue was to replace the shim on the bottom with the shim on the top. This will initially give the car a much better ride over potholes and other rough sections of the road.
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And finally the last step was to put the shock on the dyno and confirm that we received the results that we are looking for.

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[72BBSwinger]

Looks great, I like! That street rocker sure looks like it is 1:1 in the pic. Ive been around some desert trucks that use 2:1 but its hard to control heat with that ratio although it is sure nice to have 20" of travel out of a 10" shock.

[Bossed]

Love this car, can you give any details on the Roush/Yates motor? Cubic inches, what kinda power? Are you satisfied with it? Thanks

Bossed

[Ron Sutton]

It's fun to watch the change over. Way to go Maier Team.

[Maier Motorsports]

Love this car, can you give any details on the Roush/Yates motor? Cubic inches, what kinda power? Are you satisfied with it? Thanks

Bossed

The Roush-Yates system is a 358 cubic inch motor that is making about 825 hp and 550 ft-lbs of torque. Mike is a huge fan of the system and would highly recommend the motor.

[Bossed]

The Roush-Yates system is a 358 cubic inch motor that is making about 825 hp and 550 ft-lbs of torque. Mike is a huge fan of the system and would highly recommend the motor.

Man, I bet that's fun to put your foot on!

[mustang351]

I absolutely love this car. I had the opportunity to watch it run at RTTC back in March/April - There are very few cars I've seen that can change direction as quickly as this car.

Mike, does this car have your 1.5inch flared fenders/qtrs on it? I presume that makes the 18X9 wheel fitment possible?

Look forward to keeping up with the road trip!

[Maier Motorsports]

Well this weekend was a bit interesting. Mike Maier, who is usually pretty good about getting things figured out quickly, met his maker; electrical wiring...well that and spelling. The prior system of ol' blue consisted of the hot wire of the fan going directly to the battery and the ground wire running with a dash mounted switch that was sent to ground. To Mike's great surprise the wires decided to smoke a bit and the switch got a little warm. (well actually pretty hot) After deciding we had to change the system out we called our good buddies over at C&R Radiators who hooked us up with the wiring we needed to get it done right.

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Once the box arrived he thought he was going to have it pretty easy and just plug everything in and be ready to go. Not!! According to Mike the night went a bit like this. After staring at the parts for a while and trying to determine what this black box is and how to hook it up and plugging things into the wrong spot, it still didn't work. Mike took a bit of a breather and came back to it and after a while it finally worked. Who knew what he did, but he got it installed and working. Monday morning he is telling us guys in the shop about it and well we kinda laughed and said, "Dude can't you hook up a relay?" Well obviously Mike can design and fabricate super cool suspension systems but can't hook up a relay.

Ever had one of those moments where a super difficult issue you have is very oblivious to everyone else?

[Maier Motorsports]

Well now that wiring is done the only thing that we got left to do is change out the mufflers so we would be deaf by the time we got to our destination. After pulling out the existing mufflers and grabbing our quieter Billy Boat Mufflers we had to do some light fab work to get them to fit and stay there. next few photos you can see the final installation.

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[Maier Motorsports]

Well today was the big day to head north 300 miles with ol' blue. Mike was in the shop late last night finishing up the mufflers and doing some final preparation on the car to make sure nothing went wrong. After packing the bags and loading the car Mike, Brianne, Micki, Lilly, & Andy (the dog) got into the car and headed off!

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The first stop that the crew had to make was for some fuel. Mike had never really noticed what kind of mileage Ol' Blue got and was very surprised that he got about 16.5 MPG with 3.5 gears and a 4 speed. Who knew he could travel in style using the same amount of gas as the expedition!

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The second stop that they made was for a bit of lunch at the coveted La Placita in Citrus Heights, Ca (Sacramento). Mike says, "Patrick burrito, here we come!"

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After a few more hours the family finally arrives in Portola and took a quick stop at the local frosty for some icecream. I hope the kids' hands were clean getting back into the car!

Everyone on the Maier team would like to thank our friends and supporters for following the transformation of the ol' blue. To complete the trip we will be at the Good Guys Car Show in Pleasanton, Ca this weekend (Aug 23-25) and will be offering 15% off any Maier Suspension product. The offer is only valid at the show so please come by and say hi!

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[Z06killinSBF]

Man, now I need to finish mine and take it out!

[69 Charger 440]

Awesome build! I've seen the mustang run at a bunch of the Pleasanton good guys shows and it is badass! Makes me want a mustang for the next project. Great work

[negozio]

Very nice car. I want to get the wide kit for the fox that u guys sale for my project

[Maier Motorsports]

JUST KIDDING!!!
Who really wants just a street car anyway?
While in Scottsdale, Az during the Goodguys Autocross Finals Mike Maier tried hard to make sure that the 302 did not come back in one piece. He needed a little more leverage for his wife, Brianne to allow him to get the Roush-Yates Nationwide motor back in Ol' Blue. Luckily for Mike, something in the motor was causing the water temp to sky rocket between runs. Maybe it was just a head gasket but... Wink wink nod nod we are sure it was catastrophic and there was no fixing it, so the big motor was of coarse the only realistic option. Right? Well at least that is what he told his wife.
While the motor is out you just gotta do some safety things like a Wilwood hanging pedal assembly. Every safe grocery getter has a cool.. I mean safe Wilwood pedal assembly. So we are in the process of changing a bit of the firewall so we can mount aluminum billet firewall plate. Beyond the safety aspect, this is gonna be awesome. Just saying!

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[gator68428]

Any updates on the Mustang? Saw he was doing very well last year at Optima USCA. What setup is running now? I like the white wheels. Is he planning to compete this year?