Yep, it's a done deal.
What he failed to mention is living closer to the drag strip, and having grown up around drag/circle track, I started toying with the idea of a drag car. He initially brought up a '79 Cutlass platform, which I detest (very un-cute) and then reminded me about this car. I am very much *not* a Mustang girl, but I'm more a Mustang girl than a Cutlass girl, so I begrudgingly agreed. He denies it, but I know he only brought up the Cutlass because he knew I would prefer a Mustang in comparison. Grump. At least I get to race again!
I have a good friend across the state from you who's been drag racing Fox Bodies for decades. Let me know if you have questions, need guidance(or possibly parts) and I can get you in contact with him.
Thanks Pete!
The car hasn't even landed in my garage yet and I'm already facing a dilemma; it was originally a 5-speed car and still has the pedals, quadrant and firewall cable adjuster but it was raced as an automatic.
It would be easier and cheaper to make it an auto bracket racer again but I'm really craving a manual!
I'll easily have it in the 8's under the $2,018 budget.
I vote the OP off the island on a technicality - for asking if he should do this? Geez man, the post should have been "Look what I just got and here are my ideas of what to put in it, any other ideas?"
kb58 said:I vote the OP off the island on a technicality - for asking if he should do this? Geez man, the post should have been "Look what I just got and here are my ideas of what to put in it, any other ideas?"
I dunno, it has roll cage where the back seat used to be, that would have been sucktastic to sleep in...
In reply to RozCougarMorbidcamp :
I nap in a Miata driver's seat every Friday school pick-up line . How bad can a Fox body be?
Auto is the only way to go.
They never miss shifts.
2 words. TRANS BRAKE
1 more word PowerGlide
You only need to shift once in an 8th mile
A proper 4 link setup and a 9" would be bullet proof and dead nuts reliable and predictable.
A 460 might not be as fast as a boosted 3.0L and definitely not as light, but much more reliable and repeatable. (Think bracket racing)
Boost is scary when you can spin the tires in high gear!
In reply to The_Jed :
If you go Automatic, can I buy the clutch cable adjuster firewall piece?
In reply to AngryCorvair :
Absolutely.
I should clarify a bit; in the original post I mentioned it was an 11 second bracket car and more recently I mentioned hitting 8 seconds. The previous owner ran it in the 1/4 mile and I will be running in the 1/8 mile.
Correction (multiple sources, so the car's tales got a but muddled): from the Mustang's previous owner, he raced it on the same 1/8 track we'll be taking it to and it ran 7.2 at it's peak.
There was a middle-man involved in finding the car and he's the one that mentioned 1/4 mile...Jed was drooling while the owner and I were talking about track and times and missed the owner's recount.
Parts are falling from the sky!
One of the guys at work has an '04 5.3 LS long block that he pulled out of a truck because of a rod knock he said he would give me and the guy I'm buying the Mustang from has had a few FoxBodies that were 5-speeds when he bought them and he prefers to run C4's so he swapped them and should have a few T-5's and ancillary bits laying around that I plan to snap up for peanuts.
Well, I have the title but there were no 5-speeds left over. He did have a built C4 with a reverse manual valve body and a transbrake but it would put a serious dent in my budget, assuming I decide to stick to the $2,018/$2,019 rules. I seriously doubt the car will ever see the Challenge, I'd just be sticking to the budget rules for funzies.
He did throw in a few more odds and ends with the deal. I'll give the total rundown of everything that came with it and how much it has cost thus far when I get it home and cleaned up.
Now to see if transbrakes are Challenge legal...
The owner mentioned he had some fiberglass doors he'd sell to me for a reasonable price.
Seeking Hive advice on cam selection:
The first engine that will power the car is a '79 302 that was found in a friend's shed.
O.E. specs are 8.3: compression, D80E (turds) heads, a miniscule flat tappet cam, 140 horsepower and 240 lb/ft of torque.
Assuming it turns over freely after several days of being inundated with penetrating oil and pre-oiling with fresh Rotella, I'll be sticking with the stock shortblock and most likely the stock heads for now.
The friend who has the 302 in his shed also has an aluminum intake and a small carb. The car comes with an off-road h-pipe and some stock shorties, along with lots of other goodies that were tossed into the car in a most haphazard fashion, there might be a torque converter in there, shifter, shocks, etc., who knows.
The dumb part: even if it does exactly zero to add power to the car, we want that muscle car "rumpity-rump" idle. The car will be used mostly for bracket racing at the local 1/8 mile strip so speed isn't even very important, but it needs that classic muscle car sound! If it makes 200 horsepower we'll be pleasantly surprised and have plenty of fun for now, while I try to decide between rebuilding the 5.3 or snagging a roller 351 from a junkyard.
The front-runner so far is the Comp Cams 268H since it would work with the stock heads and low compression, performer equivalent intake, small carb., stock shorties and free-flowing exhaust and yield a decent-ish choppy/lopey idle.
TL/DR:
I have a carburetted, 8.3:1 compression, flat tappet, 28 oz. imbalance, '79 302 that will have the usual intake, headers, cam upgrades but I'm a little iffy on the right cam, mostly just looking for that good ol' "muscle car" sound. I'll be running the cam slightly retarded (whatever amount brings it to true "straight-up" status, 4 degrees or 5 degrees, etc.), I'm looking for a LSA of 108-110 degrees, lift between .460"-.500" and duration @ .050" of around 210 degrees or so.
The stand by cam for SB Fords is called a 303
GTXVette said:The stand by cam for SB Fords is called a 303
Well, those are the Ford racing ones. E303 and b303 are common, but I think there are lots of others. Sometimes refferred to as b cam, e cam, f cam, etc.
Word also is the letter cams are old tech, and newer designs will let you better results.
OP and morbid, nice work!!
I had an e303 in my efi 302, and it had a lumpy as E36 M3 idle. Not sure it made any more top end than the stocker with stock heads and efi, but it sounded mean.
I think it was an 88 mustang, stock everything except for cam. Made like 207 at the wheels through a t5.
Robbie said:GTXVette said:The stand by cam for SB Fords is called a 303
Well, those are the Ford racing ones. E303 and b303 are common, but I think there are lots of others. Sometimes refferred to as b cam, e cam, f cam, etc.
Word also is the letter cams are old tech, and newer designs will let you better results.
OP and morbid, nice work!!
Yeah, they're good cams but they are rollers. I need even OLDer tech! :)
In reply to Robbie :
I had a TFS Stage1 in a speed density equipped Mustang. It sounded mean but the computer didn't like it one bit!
207 whp isn't bad for an otherwise stock 5.0!
I can make my husband's post even more TL;DR-- What cam will annoy the 1am Chevy truck 30 minute idle, then never going anywhere and the other neighbor who has a Jeep with broken exhaust right under the driver's seat. That way, I can fire up the mustang for some payback.
I swear if those kids get on the lawn one more time...!
That comp cam looks like a pretty good choice. its slightly smaller then what i ran in my capri but should accomplish what you want without making the car slower then stock (yes i did that once with way too big of a cam)
I had a 79 LTD, first year of the panther, that got a 260 cam, ported E7TE heads, performer intake, shorty Hedman headers, and a couple of different carbs.
I have no idea what power it made, but it was a pretty good engine for the car. Weighed 3700 lbs. Had a c4 with a wide ratio gear set. I did a lot of highway driving at the time, so I kept the stock 7.5 rear end with the 2.26:1 gears.
Very similar to the engine you're thinking of, should run really well in something 1000 lbs lighter.
I would see if you can locate a set of GT40P heads, stock on the 5 liter explorers. The exhaust ports only fit headers or manifolds that are made for those heads. That shouldn't be a problem, since you're talking about running stock headers anyhow.
I think (and I'm sure someone on here actually knows) that the exploders had at tubular steel manifold anyway.
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