1989 SC needs to run mid 12s

Found my last time slip. This was with a little higher launch rpm. I reckon it was moving pretty good:

60 ft 1.861
330 ft 5.43
1/8th 8.358
mph 84.46 mph
1000 ft 10.89
1/4 13.05
mph 104.19
 
We took her to the 22nd annual Buick versus Ford race at Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble, OK on November 4th. This is a team event where every car qualifies and then gets paired up with a qualifier from the rival team that holds the same spot in the ladder of qualifying times for a single elimination run on a pro tree. Fastest races fastest, second fastest races second fastest, etc. We had 68 cars on each team this year. This race has been going on since the mid 1990s and started out as Mustang versus Buick Grand National event and in years past we have had over 100 cars on each side. In recent years the rules have changed to allow Chevrolet LS powered vehicles to race with the Buicks along with other obvious GM turbo products. Essentially this has become a Ford versus The World event. Because of the unique format, it is a great event that we look forward to every year and as you can imagine with a race that has been going on this long, the trash talk and rivalries are pretty intense even though there is little on the line beyond bragging rights and the chance to blow ~~~~ up.

We got the car off the trailer and had no oil pressure. I have suspected the sending unit for some time now. We decided oil pressure or not we were going to "Send It". Luckily after a spin around the pits I got pressure on the gauge. We are going to replace the pump and get a real gauge over the winter. Beyond this issue she performed flawlessly.

With the format of the race, it pays to sandbag a bit. Also, weather was bad with ambient temps in the mid 80s and a DA of 3,500 feet (In November no less!). My best qualifying pass was:

60 ft 1.948
330 ft 5.624
1/8th 8.646
mph 81.84 mph
1000 ft 11.245
1/4 13.509
mph 95.37

I got paired up with a very clean GMC Syclone that had 39,000 original miles for the final. My opponent said the truck was basically stock.

I took him down with:
T-bird Syclone
RT .202 .289
60 ft 1.854 2.015
330 ft 5.435 5.612
1/8th 8.415 8.628
mph 82.75 81.48
1000 ft 10.982 11.224
1/4 13.175 13.447
mph 102.48 100.84

Another great victory for the junkyard bird. I just bought a TIG welder so I think we are going to convert to an Isuzu NPR intercooler over the winter along with adding the gauges. Next event is the Roadkill Zip Tie Drags in Tucson, AZ sometime in January.
 
With the format of the race, it pays to sandbag a bit....
My best qualifying pass was:

1/4 13.509
mph 95.37

I got paired up with a very clean GMC Syclone ...
I took him down with:
...
1/4 13.175
mph 102.48

I don't think sandbagging is supposed to be so obvious! :eek:

Sounds like a cool race! :cool:
 
I got paired up with a very clean GMC Syclone that had 39,000 original miles for the final. My opponent said the truck was basically stock.

I took him down with:
T-bird Syclone
RT .202 .289
60 ft 1.854 2.015
330 ft 5.435 5.612
1/8th 8.415 8.628
mph 82.75 81.48
1000 ft 10.982 11.224
1/4 13.175 13.447
mph 102.48 100.84

I've had a few stoplight races against Syclones in my '85 Mustang GT back in the mid 90s & they'd smoke me from 2nd gear on. They were really quick bone stock & those are impressive numbers for a 27 year old truck, assuming it really was "basically stock."
 
cool thread and project!
huge weight drop off the stock car.

couple thoughts:
1) you could probably drop another 20+ lbs by using regular thin-wall aluminum tubing+couplers for the intercooler vs the super-thick-and-heavy stock cast pipes. someone mentioned "quiet power", those pipes are like schedule 40 wall :eek:
.........doesn't look stock but neither does a car without a hood... :)
2) definitely throw a smaller pulley on there, for $80 or whatever they cost hard to beat.
3) is there any easy/inexpensive way to advance the stock camshaft? maybe a different year timing set like on the pre/post smog engines of the 70s?
4) if you have a usable/ready to run stock blower, whether 89-93 oval port or 94-95 rectangle port, i need one for a decent price, i can help you offset some of these other upgrades to stay on budget.
 
cool thread and project!
huge weight drop off the stock car.

couple thoughts:
1) you could probably drop another 20+ lbs by using regular thin-wall aluminum tubing+couplers for the intercooler vs the super-thick-and-heavy stock cast pipes. someone mentioned "quiet power", those pipes are like schedule 40 wall :eek:
.........doesn't look stock but neither does a car without a hood... :)
2) definitely throw a smaller pulley on there, for $80 or whatever they cost hard to beat.
3) is there any easy/inexpensive way to advance the stock camshaft? maybe a different year timing set like on the pre/post smog engines of the 70s?
4) if you have a usable/ready to run stock blower, whether 89-93 oval port or 94-95 rectangle port, i need one for a decent price, i can help you offset some of these other upgrades to stay on budget.

Part of what is driving the intercooler change is the reduction in weight. We'll also be ditching the stock radiator and the mounting frame for it that the stock intercooler attaches to. There is a lot of weight in all of those parts.

The car already has a pulley and a ported blower on it so we are good there.

I have two blowers on hand besides what is on the car. I have a 89-93 oval port that works fine but looks rough, the factory paint or powder coating is coming off. This blower was on the car until recently and functions well. I also have a very nice 94-95 blower that looks great, I don't think I really want to sell it but if someone offered great money for it I would part with it.
 
Just for the sake of an update, we have put this car on ice for the time being. Our junkyard race series has apparently been cancelled. I am not sure of the status of the Roadkill zip tie drags for 2018. No events have been announced and I believe that is a bad sign. The Roadkill guys are doing a new series for MotorTrend on demand that is based around the concept of the $3,000 limit in the Zip Tie drags. That event is an invitational and they announced classes of cars they are considering for it. Unfortunately my bird does not fit into any of the current classes. Freiburger did mention that they plan on additional invitational events though so we may fit into that event in the future. For now we are in a holding pattern.

In the meantime I am putting together my Mustang to (hopefully) run in one of the X275 or drag radial classes that are all the rage at the moment. I picked up the F2 blower below this weekend.

F2 A.jpgF2 B.jpgF2 C.jpg
 
That's a big Pro-Charger. What size motor does the mustang have ?

David

PS: I enjoyed meeting you and seeing your car at the Zip Tie drags back in September 2017 at Gateway.
 

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That's a big Pro-Charger. What size motor does the mustang have ?

David

PS: I enjoyed meeting you and seeing your car at the Zip Tie drags back in September 2017 at Gateway.

David, the Mustang is a Fox body with a 408 cube windsor with Ford Motorsport block and forged crank and rods. Heads are Twisted Wedge R heads and I'll be running a powerglide. I am planning on blowing 25 psi into it with the Procharger paired with an in car mounted water to air intercooler. Engine management is a Holley Dominator box. It should be a good time for sure.

It was great to meet you at Gateway last year too. I actually drove right by there again on my way to get this Procharger, the guy who had it was in Peoria, IL and I had to go get it. We were going to ship it of course but the idea got really expensive, as I also bought his motorplate, custom headers and a custom 4" exhaust. Quite a long drive from Dallas but it was worth it.
 
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Here is the exhaust. 2 1/8" headers into a 4" collector which then goes into a 4" oval X pipe with two different kinds of mufflers that can be changed out thanks to V band clamps. Needless to say, we are trying to get a lot of air in and out of this thing!


Mufflers.jpgHeaders.jpgX Pipe 1.jpgX Pipe 2.jpg
 
On October 20th we loaded up the old Bird for the 23rd annual Buick versus Ford Shootout at Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble, OK.

Over the previous few months we did a few things to try to put a little more spring in her step. Chief among these was redrilling the rear hubs to the 5X4.5" bolt pattern of the numerous 15" mustang wheels we have laying around the shop. The change to 15" wheels brought with it the flexibility to use the tires we have for our other cars. We decided on a 26X8" Mickey Thompson ET Drag.

We also ditched our jackshaft pulley which was slightly larger than stock, for a true 5% overdrive pulley. This put us at a total of 15% overdrive.

With no other significant changes she went a best of:
60 ft 1.643
330 ft 5.14
1/8th 8.06
mph 84.73 mph
1000 ft 10.57
1/4 12.74
mph 103.68

Best launch came at 3,500 rpm on 12 psi tire pressure. Obviously the tires made a world of difference but I figured we would pick up a few mph with the blower spinning faster. I also can't help but notice that the quarter mile time is also about .2 off of where it should be for a 8.06 eighth mile ET. IE, we should be in the mid 12s. She wanted a little more fuel to be at the same AF ratio as before (I shoot for 10.5 AF on a gas scale wide band with pump E85) but that did not translate to more mph.

With a total of 15% overdrive should I be looking into a 85mm throttle body and bigger mass air perhaps? Currently we have the MP inlet, 75mm TB and a stock MA meter with the bridge removed.

Redrilling hubs.jpgProstar Bird.jpg
 
Thanks for the followup - luv'in the MTs.

...step by step ;)

Remind me, what axle ratio?

Ken
 
I think you're pretty close, just need about 10 hp if you want a few more tenths, all things considered. Guessing the temp on the 20th was about 70°...any idea what the ACTs were during those runs?

A bigger TB is tempting, but it might bring a cascade of other changes to make it work. You could always ditch the horn pad and slap on 5 coats of airplane wax ;)
 
I think you're pretty close, just need about 10 hp if you want a few more tenths, all things considered. Guessing the temp on the 20th was about 70°...any idea what the ACTs were during those runs?

A bigger TB is tempting, but it might bring a cascade of other changes to make it work. You could always ditch the horn pad and slap on 5 coats of airplane wax ;)

It was about 65 degrees ambient, hot in the sun but almost cold in the shade. Typical October weather in Oklahoma. I don't have any way of knowing ACTs but it runs super cool with the E85. To the point that I am worried more about the oil being too cold in the staging lanes than I am about the coolant temp. I can make a pass and the top of the radiator is only warm to the touch.

I am wondering if the TB is the way to go or if possibly it might be time to rework the intercooler system. It is completely stock and doesn't even have a raised top. There is definitely a high rpm bottleneck in there somewhere and we will find it. Alternatively, it could be something like valve springs but if that were the case I can't see how the blower pulley wouldn't at lease do something for our mph.
 
Wasn't asking about coolant temp, sorry - I assume, tho the engine is at least riding on the stat and it is still stock spec.

Just curious about charge air temps in/out of the IC. I use a gauge with dual needles and sensors on the IC in/out.

Do you just want improved flow thru the IC, or better cooling? One of Ken's dual-core ICs would be interesting to try.

And sure both better flow and better cooling, but when you improve flow, you loose backpressure, which leads to less boost on the gauge, which leads to more pulley, which leads to higher ACTS, which leads to more IC, which reduces backpressure, etc. etc. Back on the cascade/slippery slope train. The best way to stay off that train is to avoid doing anything that aggressively dumps heat into the charge air in the bargain. I'd want to do all I could to not add more heat, while removing as much as possible from what's already there, first. If that results in more flow, fine, but in your example, I'd resist higher flow as a primary goal.

A raised top will -modify- flow, but just keep in mind it isn't so much an adder as a means to shift the power band higher. I like mine, but as I said, it moved the power higher in the rpm range, taking a bit away from the bottom, but nothing 7% over didn't cure, keeping in mind my goals are different from yours.

Are you still bound by a rules budget?
 
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