Stone Soup Doc's New Project

[HueyPilotVN]

I know that this is not a Jeep Commander project. It is in the off topic section and you might find it interesting and possibly give Doc and myself some feedback and new ideas.

Doc is going to put on his "Foose" hat and "Overhaul" my Mustang GT Convertable bracket race car. It still has the original white paint and sailcloth black top. I am happy with the mechanicals basically, but it need a new updated look.

Here are some pictures of the Mustang











Some of the initial thoughts are to paint it a bright metallic blue with white stripes and reverse lettering. To color match the mirrors with black edging and to color match the inside sections of the Prime wheels leaving the mag colored outer rims. The top will be replaced with the same soft black material. I imagine that Doc will post some pictures as he gets more creative than me.

Give us your ideas and suggestions, he is just starting and we can change the plan if we get good ideas.

Film at eleven.

[HueyPilotVN]

The drivetrain consist of a SVT Motorsports factory Ford racing crate motor with GT40 heads and a B-303 cam. It has MAC shorty headers, an offroad "H" pipe, no cats and flowmaster mufflers with the early mustang rear exit pipes. The transmission is a 5 speed with a racing clutch and the rear gears have been changed from the factory 2:73 ratio to 3:73 posi

With a fresh clutch it runs in the high 13's. I try not to get below 14 seconds on a NHRA track because they require a roll bar if a convertable runs the quarter is less than 14 seconds.

It is a fun car to bracket race with and once it is "Overhauled" we will have a race night for anyone near Phoenix to take turns for low E.T.

[LWM]

As one who has driven this ride before I can tell you it is a blast and I look forward to hitting the track with it in the near future.

[Sal-XK]

You didn't mention anything about your brake system. Everyone seems to be able to make lots of HP these days, races are one on the brakes IMO.

[HueyPilotVN]

Thanks for the comments and give us some more input.

Doc and I talked about maybe installing Wildwood disc's all around. I mostly will only use this car on the dragstrip. It has disc's on the front and drums on the rear. I actually like the current setup because I can hold the car for burnouts with the foot brake because the disc's hold and the drums allow the engine to overcome the rear brakes for burnouts. Stopping at the end of the quarter mile is not to hard because of the slowdown area after the quarter mile. I agree that if I were doing road course racing or even street use it would be better to have bigger disc's all around. I could install a line lock for the front brakes but I am used to the way it is now.

[Sal-XK]

I agree if it's staying on the strip then what you have is good and not worth up grading. As far as looks are concerned I would loose that luggage rack on the trunk and maybe put a low profile wing on. I would also loose those louver rear tail lights very late 80's or early 90's look. Some LED tail lights maybe clear lenses or something. Same goes with the front the bra and front head lights. I would also just put the roll bar in while you're doing all that work. I would also attack the car and drop everything I could saving weight. I think done properly a rear seat delete can look real cool on mustangs I was planning mine when I sold my mustang. Don't underestimate how much upgraded tail and head lights can change the look of a car. Thats all I got for now good luck bro

[HueyPilotVN]

Thanks Sal. I agree about removing the luggage rack. Here are some head and tail lights that might look good

http://www.americanmuscle.com/black-...okit-8793.html

Hood

http://www.americanmuscle.com/kaenen-cowlhood-8793.html

Spoiler

http://www.americanmuscle.com/cervin...wing-7993.html

White insert letters

http://www.americanmuscle.com/8793-s...r-inserts.html

White stripes

http://www.americanmuscle.com/lemans...white-8in.html

Rear seat delete kit

http://www.americanmuscle.com/conver...lete-gray.html

[Doc in AZ]

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.

[Sal-XK]

all the parts in the link look cool except for the rear delete I don't like it. My plan was to make one out of fiberglass and have it contour to the front seats and join the center counsel almost like a how they are in a vette. Adds weight but like the wing its the cool factor. If you're staying above 13 second car then you can afford to add the cool factor. I also don't see any disturbance from a wing bothering a 13 car to much at all once you break that 10 second mark you have to start worrying a little bit about that stuff. All my drag experience is on a bike by the way I never ran my mustang down the track I just drove it the track to watch then run my bike. I agree with doc I would dump everything out of it and save some weight but try to add some cool factor to the ride.

[LWM]

I have to agree with the boys, if this is purely going to be a toy from here on out I would get rid of everything not needed and cut the weight down as much as possible. skip the spoiler it is cool looking but will not help you go any faster.