I work with two guys (actually one doesnt work there, his wife drives his car sometimes), that drive mustangs. One is a 25th anniversary hatchback 5.0, with heads, GT 40 int., headers, blah,blah,blah. The other I want to get a peice of. Its about a 2003, with a 4.6, full exhaust, intake, and a nitrous shot. I dont know how much really, he wont tell the wife how much or how to use it. Its a 5-speed, with 265/45/17s. Its a beautiful car, but she rags on me all the time and asks about a race. Dont get me wrong, we are good friends, shes just stoking the fire. Do you all think I can run with either ( I know its vaugue) with the LO3 engine in my car. I am working on getting a 350 engine block,should I just bite my toungue till its built. I think I already know the answer, but I wanted confirmation. Just wondering if I should build in a little tide-over H.P.

 

Well lets see ho bad you'll lose....

The Hatchback is a 5.0 car...He's got heads, intake, cam, full exhaust and probably gears, he would annihilate you pretty bad his car is somewhere in the 12's and you are high 15's/low 16's at best.....you lose badly here.

The '03. In stock trim a GT would destroy you. Full exhaust put it into the high 13's and it could possibly have gears solidifying the high 13's...with the nitrous, its anywhere from low 13's to 12's who knows...but you'll lose pretty bad here too.

Either way your car would get whored....now tell those too to get lined up THAT would be a race to see

 

I would not race. It will save you from all the ribbing they will give you whenever they see you. You will get murdered by either car. I would instead have a mpg war so your V8 at least has some advantage over theirs .

 

lol.

"You guys may totally destroy me in a race......BUT I GET WAAAY BETTER GAS MILEAGE!.

 

I know Id get raped either way, actually the hatchback has a charging problem right now, so I might have a fighting chance. I know the only real race i can win is with something that has alot fewer cylinders, and thats not a guarantee. I just want to get a little speed out of this thing, and hate being looked at like Im slow, even though I am. Im going to try to put exhaust on the car next spring. Full , 3" all the way, to a single in/out flowmaster. And itll get an open element K&N then too. If temptation overcomes me, I might even get the NOS kit for the TBI.

 

Your car still looks way better!

You'd get shot down bad by either car. Go get that 350 then come back and challenge them!

 

Don't waste time with the either the stock TBI unit or the 305 if you want to ever have a chance against either of the Stangs. The best I've ever seen anyone pull out of an N/A L03 with a full interior and streetable stall is mid-high 14s. Your chances on the bottle/open element/exhaust is marginal at best against the 4.6 GT. Your biggest problem is the non-posi. I tried an old set of 275/45/15s on my bolt-on RS and even with that much bigger tires it would spin all the way through 1st if I tried to launch on the street if I stalled it at all (on the stock stall), because of the one wheel wonder axle. I can't imagine what nitrous would be like.

If you want to put down the Mustangs without a problem, I would suggest:

Small block 400 ci
Dart or AFR heads
Comp xe-274
Weiend 177 supercharger
Major brand 750 cfm carb, edelbrock, holley, etc. Even a good modified q-jet would work.
MSD Ignition setup
TH-400
3500 stall
Ford 9inch rear axle, 3.73 posi's, SFC's
Something like 325/55/R15s, lol.

That's getting pretty excessive, but it would do the trick, lol.

In all seriousness, you need to drop the 305 to even begin to consider running with the Stangs. After that, you're going to have to replace your rear axle, and then most likely your tranny. Starting with a stock RS is somewhat of an uphill battle....

 

Thank you. I think so too. And its paid for. Plus I replaced the water pump last week, and it cost 20 bucks. Lets see them do that. I know the car needs work, but Itll have to be a slow build. Ive got priorities, and racing isnt one. Just figured Id ask. But Im still going with exhaust, and the fiiter. They can both be moved to the big engine.

 

Yep, just make sure to get exhaust big enough so that when you do throw a 350 in there, it won't choke it!

One thing I would suggest, when you get a couple bucks... Do yourself a favor and go pick up some LG4 casting (412?) heads from the junkyard. They're 305 heads. You can port/polish them, and cut the valves and they'll flow ~10 cfm better than stock L98 heads. You can throw those on your engine now and get some more power, and then transfer them to the 350 and get high compression and decent flow!

That was my plan before I sold my '85.

 

He won't need all of that to beat those stangs. Even a simple $3K LT1 swap would work over those fords .

 

just curious. whats a "full" exhaust?

 

usually it means headers-back.

 

Correct. Everything from the head back. Even the cat. and the header bolt in my case. Complete exhaust system.

 

This I know, which would be why I said:

 

sounds liek alot fo trouble to go through over a single race, maybe thats just me talking.... i don't know.

 

yeah. everyone should just keep their car stock. why go through any trouble?

 

I don't mean that at all. but you can't tell me that you'd drop 3 grand on a swap just for one race. sure it'd make me think about it and consider it more. but i wouldn't be like oh i wanna race him, but he'd beat me . so let me drop 3k really fast and then i'll go after him.

 

yeah i agree. you're insane if you do that for one race. Things for that much money you should do for yourself, not solely to try to impress other people.

 

And that's all i was trying to say. It's not a bad idea, I think it'd be totally awesome for him to swap it out. It'd make your car alot faster than it is now. but i wouldn't do it if the sole purpose is just cuz you wanna have a chance at that one race.

 

Theres no way I would drop 3 grand on one race. I have a family to feed. I was simply asking about mod suggestions, thinking maybe something would be usable in the future. I know I dont stand a chance against those cars, for now. But the way I see it, they paid alot more for their cars. And especially the newer one. For what he paid, I could complete my car, and embarass him, with money in the bank. I just want a car with a little oomph, to ward off the scrubs. The more suggestions, and recomendations I get now, the more I have to use when I start this thing.

 

Ya I hear ya, and I didn't mean it in a mean, jerky kinda way or anytinhg. i was just saying it seemed a little unrealistic idea for one race.

 

Depends on who is building the car. You better believe if I had a H/C/I car Id be well into the 12s on radials, and who knows on slicks... Know the enemy before you assume anything. If the guy knows his stuff his 5.0 could be very fast, if hes your average guy, its most likely quick, but nothing special. A car is only as good as its owner!