Which do you think would win?

'92 mercury cougar 5.0 / auto(1,D,OD) / rear gear unknown
or
'87 IROC-Z 5.0 (carbed) / auto(1,2,D,OD) / rear gear 3.27

 

Any mods to either? At first i'd probably give it to the cougar but it's hard to say... I believe the LG4 had 9.5:1 compression with a peanut cam in 85-87 but I can't recall at this time.

 

the 85-86 LG4 had 9.5 CR while the 87 had a 9.3 CR. i think the new centerbolt heads in 87 had something to do with this change.

ona nother note, if the iroc is in tune, ill be a good race........

 

No mods to either. The IROC is basicly tuned up. It has a rebuilt Q-jet, year old plugs, new dist. cap, been changing oil about every 3000 miles, new knock sensor(still pings a lot in open loop but I really have to push it for it to ping in closed loop...any ideas?), home made open element air cleaner(taller filter so the lid doesn't meet the base of the stock air cleaner), been thinking about new spark plug wires because I have no idea how old the ones on it are(other than the fact that they are at least 4 years old because the car sat for 4 years before I got it), other than that I haven't really done anything to it.

 

I'd say the Cougar, The carb'd 5.0's are one of the slowest Camaro's, They BARELY beat the 3.1 and 2.8 MPFI

 

The Cougar will be pretty slow. They had the non-HO 5.0 and with the AOD (BAD tranny) it should be a 16 second car at least. I think it will be a good race but I bet the Camaro wins it!

 

the Z hands down. those Cougars were heavy as hell, and my 84 LG4 Z28 went 16.0 bone stock. im sure the much better 87' model would beat that.

on a side note, about the pinging: i know this is basic stuff, but did you check the timing? what kind of gas are you using? try going up one grade and see if that helps. maybe someone installed a performance chip that has to be used with a 160* stat... that could be causing it. just a few things to try

 

I've checked the timing and if I've heard right 0* is stock and thats where it is. I had tried to go up a grade of gas but that didn't seem to help. How would I tell if someone put in a performance chip? If I took the computer out and opened it how could I tell?

 

actually 6* is normally stock for chevy smallblocks. 0* is below normal, and that makes it all the more unusual that its pinging with that low of an advance. did you check it with the spark advance connector disabled?

ive never actually opened an ECM, but i believe that if you were to access the chip, it would have some kind of logo on it if it were aftermarket.

my 85' had a severe knock problem (causing the check engine light to go off) and i traced the problem to a cut knock sensor wire. hook your car up to a scan tool and see how much spark advance you are getting. with the ECM adding advance, you should see about 18-21 degrees at idle, 40-45 at part throttle, and 35-37 degrees at WOT

 

yup, 0* is corect for stock LG4's.....you might want to advance that a lil

 

my underhood emissions sticker says base timing is 6* BTDC

 

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't there a Cougar that was called an XR-7 that had a supercharged motor? I still say the Cougar wins, I have seen a 86 IROC with a carb'd 305 lose to a minivan

 

yes there was a XR-7....but it wasnt super charged

i had a 85 t-bird with the 5.0/AOD combo, both were recently rebuilt and had dual exhaust, and i was in the mid to high 15's.

I would say it would depend on who's car was in tune, and who is the better driver.

 

1991 Mercury Cougar XR7 17.1 sec

Nothin special, and i know its a year earlier buts that closest i can find.

 

A '92 cougar has the 5.0 HO in it. 91-93 cougars and t0birds had the 94-95 style mustang HP in it making either 205 or 215HP.

There were a ton of motors in the XR-7. 84-88 was a 2.3L Turbo. The 89-90 XR7 cougar was a 3.8L supercharged V6. The 91-92 Xr7 was a 5.0L HO. From 93-97, EVERY Cougar was a XR7. 93's were 5.0 HO's and 3.8L N/A V6;s and 94-97 were 4.6L SOHC's and 3.8L V6's

But the MN12 chassis is HEAVY. It's 3600-3800 pound car. A stock '92 cougar would prob run mid 16's at best.

I would think the camaro would win, but i don't know much on that 305 motor

 

mine says 0* BTDC

 

Ok how about this line up?

Same IROC-Z
vs.
'94 Pontiac TransPort 3.8 TPI v6 / auto tranny

 

Isnt that a minivan?

 

Yes its a minivan my friend drives and he made a wooden spoiler for it. It looks kinda cool and funny at the same time.

 

A wooden spoiler? WTF? Well I am sure now that his minivan is even heavier and he doesn't usually hit speeds over 100 mph that he is satisfied with the "upgrade"

~Matt

 

The v8 80s and 90s Cougars never were that fast for one reason or another. The AOD is tolerable in the older ones, total **** in the later ones. 16.3 is a normal run for a stock one. The earlier fox-bodies were about the same weight as an F-Body. Later on--I don't know.

Seriously, I don't know what happened to the transmissions. Complain all you want about the early AOD, that later one was straight from hell.

 

I had one tailgaiting me and swerving, and then he did two burnouts behind me, so I said, ok your gonna see what the t/a can do. I go from a stop, hes on my tail, im at 10 mph in 1st, floor it, and he was way behind by 70 mph. Wasnt even remotely close. It was an XR-7, and said V-8 on the side. He was surprised and followed me to work, where all I told him is it isnt a 305.