i'm well versed in drag racing...

this is my 67 vw sedan daily driver i built a few years ago. all steel (no fibreglass fenders or hoods), naturally aspirated motor built on a stock vw engine case, full interior - door panels, carpet kit and a stereo in the dash - it never had a back seat though, it wasn't there when i bought it and nobody really fits in the back of a bug. anyway, on 6" slicks i was running 11.90 sec @ 110mph 1/4 mile. i embarassed a few high dollar cars. first rule to racing is never line up against a VW... if you win = "big deal, it was just a bug"... if you lose = "YOU GOT YOUR A$$ KICKED BY A VOLKSWAGEN!!!". 'nuff said.



2165cc w/ 308* cam & about .670" lift at the valve. heads flowed 240cfm. 1.75" headers with 3" exhaust



Irwindale track (california) 7.49 sec @ 89mph in 3rd gear



enough about me... let's talk about the 'stang.

if it were mine...
4" douglas style light weight rims up front with 165/15 tires (don't worry, it will still stop fine)
10" douglas rims out back with 30x10 slicks
get another set of 8" rear wheels to run street tires... 225/70 or so would be good
electric line lock up front so you don't get your rear brakes hot in the water box

MSD 6AL w/ a 3 step limiter - one overall limiter, one connected to the line lock so you don't over rev in the water box & one for a staging control.
you can preload the drivetrain with the parking brake when you stage, but i much prefer to rip that out and put a small hydraulic brake handle there (like a dunebuggy cutting brake)

move the exhaust up a bit for more ground clearance & dump the exhaust in front of the rear axle. the pipes out the back look cool but limit power with the standard muffler bends (that kink the pipes a bit and choke it down). long exhaust pipes are good for torque but this is good in that department. if you want to keep the pipes out the back i would go to a mandrel bent set up to eliminate restriction.

underdrive pulley for the motor & accesories... "free" horsepower. if it has a standard fan w/ fan clutch on the waterpump drive, i would go to an electric "puller" fan... more free horsepower.

build a REAL cold air intake... a gauze air filter is ok for less restriction but once that motor warms up the air you are pulling from inside the engine bay is less dense than the air flowing under the front air dam.

lower it about 2" all the way around.

i wouldn't worry about the brakes honestly. i ran my car with drums all the way around & only ran into the net at the top of the track once... and it was all my fault. we were screwing around at the track when an event got cancelled so we decided to show off and do wheelies (that thing would wheelie so hard it would be on one rear wheel and the muffler). we had loosened up the shocks so much that when i hit the brakes it was "dribbling" the front wheels and wouldn't stop... lol. not a hard hit, just a bit of a slide.

80/20 shocks up front (20% dampening extending, 80% dampening contracting). it will allow the front end to lift quickly when you launch for maximum weight transfer to the rear wheel, but will dampen it as it goes down to avoid a real bouncy and unpredictable ride. once you come out of the groove you're gonna hit the wall.

50/50 shocks in the rear with adjustable bumpstops to limit travel of the rear end when launching. the more it travels will affect your launch as the suspension will absorb the power & it will also keep it more stable on the track.

body work-

ditch the luggage rack on the trunk... don't worry about a wing on a car that's just dipping into 13's, they look cool but usually harm the aerodynamics more than they help. i didn't need a wing on my car until i got deep in the 12's... it would get real squirelly at the top of the track when i was coming off the throttle.

stock standard tail lights instead of the GT style "louvered" type. clear corners look OK on hondas but kinda silly on the older stylecars like the 'stang... jmho.

interior -

this is a true door slammer, but what nobody knows will give you the advantage

pull EVERYTHING out then strip as much as you can. remove all the tar paper and spray crap from the floor & inner body panels. anything that is double walled around the body can be lightened with a holesaw and still remain structurally sound.

when the interior goes back together buy the CHEAPEST items available. "cheap" is not a word that we use at my shop except in cases like this. the cheap interior door panels & carpet kit items are usually much thinner than OEM. thinner = lighter & lighter = faster.

every 100lbs you lose will net you about .10 (one tenth) of a second.

spare tire? don't need it
trunk carpet kit? don't need it... use a thin coat of bed liner or xolatone.

replace all glass with MR10 lexan except for the windshield. it looks just like glass and saves a lot of weight. your windows will still roll up and down, no problem. ditch the electric window motors and get standard roll up window crank mechanisms.