Your opinion on what I was told at MW @ Darlington

[RUNINAGT]

Well for the most part my GT is close to stock. Only having UD Pulleys and a full exhaust system with no cats. The mileage now reads 82000 miles. I have wider tires on the rear 275/40R17's. That's pretty much it. Oh yea timing bumped to 14 degrees.
This car is driven daily to and from work and every where else in between. So I am not so quick to start changing things.

Sorry, getting to the point here. Darlington is the 1st time I have run the car in the 1/4, I was staying consistant with a 14.8 crossing around 92mph. Sure I think I was the slowest car out there this past weekend. A guy comes up to me in the staging lanes mainly to compliment me on how clean the car looked. Then proceeded to know what has been done to it. He was shocked that the car was almost unmolested and gave me some options to do that were pretty simple stuff.

The obvious was to install some 3.73 gears.
~ next he said was to change my T-stat to a 130 to make it run cooler.
~ also to change the fuel regulator to one that is adjustable and set it to about 35?

I know the gears will help a bit, but will the others to make any difference to what I have? He said by doing just those items and putting some slicks on it, that it would be very capable of getting in the 13's? You thoughts?

Here is what one on my slips read:

R/T ~ .034
60 ~ 2.299
330 ~ 6.322
1/8 ~ 9.630
mph~ 74.19
1000~ .000
1/4 ~ 14.889
mph ~ 93.02


Now on a different slip I had a slight better time of 14.870.

Is this what ya guys would expect for a GT modded lightly like mine? The car is a 5 speed.

Thanks

 

[CDQICKGT]

Good times for a stocker. Those 60's come down with some SFC,LCA, and practice. On a daily drive I wouldn't run anything cooler than 180*'t stat, as your car will never reach normal op temps. Gears would be a huge +....Adjustable regulator is good to but keep it at 40+ with vac line off. 35# could cause a lean spike if it dips lower under load.

 

[Cobra912]

I wouldn't touch anything other than some DR's and gears

 

[1987LXragtop]

I wouldn't touch anything other than some DR's and gears

x2

Maybe an ice bag between runs

 

[srtthis]

id weld the torque boxes and add some subframes... also

 

[RUNINAGT]

electric fans? I want to do some things just nothing major. Someone stated practice, what could of been better? I think one thing I may switch is actually shifting at a lower RPM, I was shifting close to 5500 and to me it kinda felt like I was not gaining much more speed from 5000 on up? So on the last run I shifted into 3rd around 5200 and it almost turned the exact time, I think next time I will make all shift points about 5-5200 RPM's.
A buddy was running his with us it's a 92 with upper and lower intakes, gears, short shifter, TBI, Fuel Pump Reg Electric fans and he ran a 14.3 doing about 98mph. He was about winding out 4th gear when I would just get into 4th gear crossing the line.

 

[fiveohwblow]

I would honestly suggest something a bit less than 3.73 if you drive a ton. I know the gear head in EVERYONE here will disagree with me, but ask yourself if you've only ran it once, is the trade off of worse fuel economy enough for the once every five years you run it at the track

 

[CDQICKGT]

I stated practice because if you don't run it very often it's hard to tell what your car like. Speaking from experience... No two cars launch alike, every car likes something different. It will take(for most avg drivers) more than a couple of passes to find your cars sweet spot. My 04 loved to be side stepped @ 6400, my 00 like 5300 with a little clutch. My 89....who knows?

 

[Mustang5L5]

What that guy told you to do.....don't do it. Listen to the guys here.

 

[RUNINAGT]

What that guy told you to do.....don't do it. Listen to the guys here.

That's why I posted this topic, have been a member here since I bought my Stang and trust your opinions. I think if I'm gonna do anything to it I better just save the $$$$ and put some gears in the ass end.

 

[fiveohwblow]

That's why I posted this topic, have been a member here since I bought my Stang and trust your opinions. I think if I'm gonna do anything to it I better just save the $$$$ and put some gears in the ass end.

Do you have the stock 2.73's in it now?

 

[RUNINAGT]

Do you have the stock 2.73's in it now?

Whatever stock was I have them 2.73's is what I believe are in there. My friend with 3.73 was going into 5th gear crossing the line I was just going into 4th.

So you guys with the 3.73's are you just getting to 5th or just riding the 4th gear out?

 

[LarsD]

Get sub frame connectors for sure, they aren't very expensive, and it'll turn it into a completely different car (at least it did for my 91). Then I'd do the gears, and some LCA's. I prefer Maximum Motorsports gear myself.

 

[Riceslayer302.0]

i think 5250 is peak power for a stocker? dont quote me its been so long

 

[Cobra912]

Your sig says DD. 3.73's work nice with the 5 speed.

Start modifying and it may take away from your driveability. Depends on what you want to do to the car. Look at what modifications your buddy had to do just to gain 5/10's of a second over your bone stocker!

If you want to get some better times, keep racing, seat time will only help with consistentcy, reaction time, launching and shifting. But be prepared..........with racing can come broken parts, even on a stocker. Just watched a guy last weekend at the track grenade an axle on street tires.

 

[RUNINAGT]

Should I consider the 3.55 instead of the 3.73's with is being a DD?

 

[Cobra912]

If gas mileage is very important to you, and do a lot of highway driving, then 3.55's would be the better choice.

 

[25thmustang]

Personally I think 3.55s might be a better choice.

180 degree Tstat should be good.

AFPR doesn't hurt either.

More practice and your times will drop. These modifications will help with the track times some, but you might want to get out there a few more times prior to changing anything.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Should I consider the 3.55 instead of the 3.73's with is being a DD?

I would.

My car is a weekend cruiser and I have 3.73s. I don't drag race and yet I feel it's too mich gear sometimes for cruising around. Sometimes I wish I had 3.55s. Debating spending the cash and changing.

 

[Cobra912]

running out of first gear in city driving can be quite annoying especially with a heavy duty clutch