Quote:
Originally posted by MysteryTrain
Curt,
I saw an ad in a magazine that said the fastest 1/4 time for a street legal car with street tires was a Mustang (looked like an 89 LX). The same ad posted the record for an import on street tires, a Supra, and as I recall it was a tenth slower than the Mustang's.
MT
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99% of the cars that will actually produce 1/4-mile times in the 13s will flat outrun 99% of the "10-second" and "11 second" street cars out there: snot-nosed punks talk all manner of trash, but they almost never can back it up
It's a different thing, altogether, I know -- but I just had to mention it:
In 1989, I bought the third SHO sold in Mississippi. It got 28+ mpg at 142 mph (28.3+ between fillups on a 388-mile round trip, where I discovered the cruise would not set above 125 mph). Anyway, while on the first such trip I made, I was passed (!) while I was zipping along at a sedate 142 mph (that's 76 seconds to go 3 miles) -- by what looked like a black Mustang LX hatchback having a Saleen-type wing on the rear. Said Mustang had limo tint on the side and rear windows, and a decal across the top of the rear window that read "C A R T E C H" -- I figured "Cartech" was some sort of boom box company.
Several months later, I read an article about a 5.0 Mustang convertible -- Cartech was the company that had put twin hairdryers on the steed, turning it into a 177-mph breezer! The car that passed me was going at least 30 mph faster than I, so I have no doubt at all that the 177 mph claim was accurate. The only places I could beat those 'Stangs was in the "usable interior volume/occupant comfort" areas and at the gas pump: the SHO simply never got thirsty, no matter how hard I drove it.
My best 1/4-mile in the SHO was 14.86 @ 101.0 (wierd mph for that e.t, but I was always over 99.5 mph and ... after I learned how to drive a FWD car ... always under 14.92 seconds). The only mods I did to the SHO were:
Baseline) 15.36 @ 93.5 mph. 29.6-or-so average mpg with cruise set at 75-or-so mph, >10/<15 percent city (best on a tank was 36 mpg, achieved twice; "normal driving" routinely returned roughly 32 mpg. 142 mph sustainable top speed; never was able to get above this -- sort of like the "165 mph barrier" for early Cobras.
1a) K&N air filter for 5.0 Mustang (same apparent dimensions as SHO filter, but $30 cheaper and in-stock) -- no change in mpg or top speed; 15.16 @ 99.7 mph
1b) removed air intake silencer from driver's fender -- -- no change in mpg or top speed; 15.16 @ 99.7 mph. Purpose of this mod was primarily to enable me to hear the running engine, because I seldom relied on the tach to know whether my engine was running, or for adjusting my driving around town. After doing several unintentional burnouts through intersections, and attempting occasionally to restart my running engine, I knew I needed something I could hear. I loved the sound, as did my gearhead pals -- but girls didn't like it (car sounded "too macho"), and most guys just got a blank look on their faces when I explained it to them.
1c) used factory clip -- that had apparently never been installed -- to "repair" shifter cable assembly in console; problem was that car would FREQUENTLY lose 2nd, 4th, and Reverse gears -- and I think this is what gave the Mazda tranny an UNDESERVED bad rep. I went to the dealer probably 20 times with this problem before I finally fixed it myself; after I installed the clip, I NEVER again had that problem (or any trans-related problem) with the SHO.
2a) Slick 50 -- no change in e.t., mph or mpg, but engine ran WARMER after the treatment (I never learned why);
2b) got aerospace NDI lab to reinforce stock front engine mount (this took a while to get right) and used "grade 9" shoulder bolt, flat washers and locknut; eventually quit breaking bolts and "egging" the mount holes -- what Ford should have done from the beginning
Whereas the car formerly would practically "launch itself," the improved mount required skill from the driver. Seemed to add time to the e.t. and add mph to the trap speed, but iirc, I swapped tires before I could get a set of numbers I felt were reliable. The car was much, much more pleasant to drive around town after the engine-mount mod.
3) post-rotation bald (cord showing in all 4) P215/65 VR-15 Goodyear Eagles (m&b for $1400/4) replaced after 10k miles with P215/65 R-15 Kelly Chargers (m&b, new valves, road hazard, etc., etc. for $360/4) -- lowered e.t. by 0.3 seconds, but also lowered top speed from 142 mph to 135 mph.
These tires have GRIP! Not sure if additional mph observed in 1/4 mile was in part because of vastly improved starting line traction. Since these tires lowered my top speed, I would have expected them to also lower my 1/4 mile trap speed -- but instead, I picked up 1.3 mph in the 1/4 mile!
lowered fuel economy about 1.4-or-so mpg overall. put just over 34k miles on these tires, just as hard (if not harder) than the first 10k miles, and where the "hair" had been on the tread was still visible (little dots/rings) and there was still long "stubble" on the sidewalls [truly amazing tires].
Goodyears gave MUCH warning before losing lateral adhesion; Kellys gave almost none -- however, Kellys offered
very much greater lateral adhesion at the limit, and could readily be driven to that limit by an experienced driver.
-- above mods were last for which numeric empirical data was obtained --
4) replaced clutch with upgraded version at 13k miles -- what Ford should have used from the beginning; no observed improvements, except in reliability/longevity; dealer unsealed air conditioning system and didn't properly reseal/recharge system
5) took car to dealer because air conditioner made a buzzing sound and produced foul odor; dealer kept car for a day; when I returned to pick up my car, it had been driven something like 60-70 miles, and I was told "we tuned the engine." They hadn't looked at the air conditioning system. Prior to this "tune-up," the tach indicated 7200 rpm whenever I bumped the limiter; after the tune-up, the tach indicated 7700 rpm whenever I bumped the limiter. I have no idea what they actually did; however, the "seat of the pants" forward acceleration of the car was remarkably improved. Top speed was unchanged.
Later discovered and remedied cause of buzzing sound and foul odor: a mouse was trapped in the a/c blower fan; I removed it, cleaned the assembly, and used air freshener.
6) fabbed a ram air kit using dryer duct and fiberglass; scoop was like a 3-d NACA duct, suspended just below bumper in high pressure area; used stock airbox with silencer removed. midrange acceleration was so much improved by this mod that it defied belief: in any gear, above 2200 rpm, it felt like a 250-shot of nitrous in a Mustang, except the transition was simply smooth and seamless -- and it didn't go away, at least through 110 mph.
I honestly thought the car was in the low-low 14s or high-high 13s after this mod, but I didn't get to test it on the track: that night was moonless and foggy, and I had to go to the base to work my shift. En route, I crested a hill between 90 and 100, and ran over the carcass of a dog that had been killed earlier in the day by another driver. Although I didn't kill the dog, it certainly killed my scoop -- and after that (and the cleanup -- yucch), I just didn't have the passion to redo the scoop. I traded for a 210-hp '93 Crown Vic and promptly put a 150-shot on it -- but that's a story for another day.
I wish I had a dollar for the faces of each of the people utterly shocked when my 4-door, FWD family sedan blew the doors off every C3 Corvette I came across -- and I wish I had video of when my sis used it to outrun the local PD (who gave me heck after that)