Nice times! You must have put that Bird on a serious diet to get it down to 3288. That's awesome! Just curious, how quickly does the intake cool back down after getting out of the boost? Always wondered about that because I heard the centrifugal blowers don't heat soak like the twin screws.
I'd be interested. Looks like a nice piece on that 4 eyed stang. That would solve the issue of air escaping over the top of the core. Just have to deal with the sides after that.
Those are some impressive numbers! With the belt slip issue solved that thing must be a beast! Wish i could afford a Vortech, i'd be puttin the wood to those pesky 1le camaros, bmw e92s and boss 302s, lol...
That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about the design holding up well parked next to the stang. Ole Jack Telnack revolutionized automotive design in the early 80's with the t-bird. Lol about the exhaust...
Thanks, I was surprised at the amount of interest in the Bird. A lot of people were coming by to check it out. Quite a few people either had one way back, knew someone that did or their dad had one, lol... The car brought back a lot of nostalgia for the 80s. It really got attention when I fired it up. It sounds like a NASCAR stocker with the stupid loud exhaust I have right now.
Got the old Bird out on the road course at MSR Cresson last Tues. They were running the 1.7 mile ccw direction. It was a total blast to get to finally drive this thing all out! The car handled amazing with the MM coilover suspension combined with the incredible tires I had on the car. I ran the novice class so I made sure to get in line when they called first call to grid. I was number 2 behind a 2017 Camaro SS 1le. I wish I could say I could stay with it but he was gone. That was the only car in the novice class I couldn't catch or hang with. The Porsche Cayman that was gridded behind me spun behind me on a fast left hander so i never got to really see what it could do. By the 4th lap I was starting to lap the back markers. It was great lapping a 3 series BMW, s197 5.0 and Subaru BRZ (of course in intermediate this probably wouldn't have happened, lol).
So that's the good, now the not so good. I was told the track will reveal anything wrong or any shortcomings your car may have and boy was that true. While the engine, suspension and brakes performed flawlessly, the cooling system, not so much. By the 5th lap I was pushing 225 on the coolant and 270 in the oil so I had to back off and run some cool down laps. I think the combo of running a radiator that had had stop leak circulate through it years ago combined with running a stock clutch fan wasn't cutting it on the track. I probably need to box the sides and top of the inlet between the grill and the radiator. Anyway no harm done yet…
In the second session, same deal except I was chasing this open wheel ariel atom looking thing (edit: turns out it was an Ariel Atom!) and actually staying on him. By the time he pointed me by the coolant hit 235 and the oil was at 290. I felt my front tires starting to lose grip in the corners and backed out of it to let the engine cool. That's about the time I was black flagged so I pitted in and found out I was puking coolant which explained the loss of front grip. Tires don’t work too good when you wet em down. That was the end of my day. I had to let the car cool for a couple hours so I could drive it home. Funny thing, made it home with the car running great so I thought I may have dodged a bullet. The next day though it was running rough. Long story short, blew a head gasket overheating the engine. Probably warped a head in process and will have to have them cut again.
Bottom line… was it worth It? He’ll yeah!!!! Blown head gasket and all! Wanted to go back in Sep but I have a kids wedding to pay for. But next March it’s on. I should have a camera set up by then to get some in car video.
Here's one pic, I'll try and get more up later. This is a good one that shows how flat the car corners as this is a hard left hand turn. What impressed me is how with what little negative camber I've got, about 1.2 degrees, it seems to be good. The tires didn’t look like they were killing the shoulders at all…
Wheels are 17×9 cobra r with 255/40zr17 all around. Im using the fox mustang length control arms. The sn95 would require 8" wide wheels and i wanted to run 9" wheels. The only drawback to the shorter arms is that i cant get as much negative camber. Its maxed out at 1.2 degrees so it was a compromise. I chose wider rubber over more neg camber. I have the exhaust dumped ahead of the axle. According to mm tail pipes should clear the panhard bar and ive seen pictures but never tried it myself. The dumps just make maintenance easier for me.
Thanks Aerocoupe, i always wondered how the NASA CMC and AI guys running factory 5.0 blocks kept thier junk together. I always figured they must have spares on hand. I know they mercilessly beat on thier cars in those races. Its encouraging to know that they can make a factory block last. Guess I'm just being overly paranoid, lol...
Maximum Motorsport tubular k member with coilovers and 13" cobra brakes in the front. MM rear lower control arms, panhard bar and coilovers with rear disk brakes. Running raybestos st47 pads on the front and st45 on the rear for the track along with Motul rbf660 dot 4 fluid. I shouldn't have fluid or pad fade issues. The brakes are pretty incredible with these race pads. They can be run on the street but they dust like crazy and arent cheap so I'll swap the street stuff back on after the track day.
Thanks guys! Ive been in a final 3 month thrash trying to get this thing ready. I think ive worked on the car almost every day fixing everything from the flywheel ring gear and starter bendix to replacing blown head gaskets and worn hubs... and it seems like just about everthing inbetween! Alot of the maintenance was planned but alot was "oh !" unplanned. I'm glad i have a supportive wife that gets it (she likes street outlaws and fast and loud, lol...). Stuff breaks on an old hotrod and then you fix it!
I think this is the first day i have not had to raise the hood or put the car on jackstands, thank goodness! I actaully finished up with 5 days to spare! There's nothing like working under a deadline to make you get stuff done. Now no more beating on it now till i get to the track!
Almost forgot, here's the mild fordstrokers 347. Peak power is around 5400 and i shift at 5600. Tmoss ported the Cobra intake. Ive got a fast ez-efi 1.0 fueling it with 36# injectors (too much, 30's would be fine), an msd 6al2 programmable controlling the ignition timing, tfs tw heads and a custom billet core comp cam ground on xe lobes. Basically an xe274hr12 with a little less lift. I intentionally built it to stay under 6000 rpm so i dont scatter parts all over the road course. Its got to handle 20 min sessions and the factory 5.0 block is the weak link (i need a dart block)! Based on fuel flow i should be making around 330 hp at the wheels. There is alot more power in this engine waiting to be unlocked but for now I'm pretty pleased with it.
