Drag Racing Cheerleader Car

[Mysticalsnake]

Well, I'm fairly new here but definitely been around the Mustang block a few times now. This is the first Mustang I ever bought. 2004 40th Anniversary Edition Mustang GT Convertible with the 4R70W:
bone stock:

and at 64,500 miles she finally got her first mods:
Eibach sportline springs with no top or bottom isos in the front or rear, Mach 1 grill delete, and Mach 1 chin spoiler



and today: 02/16/10
I got a couple of shipments in


adjustable LCA's


adjustable UCA's


K-member with mountable spring perches for stock a-arms


I haven't been able to get it out to the track yet, however in the next couple of weekends i will get a general baseline with the sportlines. I really wanted to go completely stock but i have this habitual habit of having to install parts whenever i get them and i had already had the sportlines a weekend and then we got all the snow and it put off my racing plans for last weekend so i went ahead and installed them.

just driving out on the street here's my take on the springs:
Much stiffer than stock and can be a bit bouncy when in bridges. handling is DRASTICALLY improved over stock. However, for my purpose with this car, they are really a 50/50 over stock other than lowering center of gravity and cosmetic enhancements.

launching with the RPM's up close to 2K RPM (stalling as high as possible without spinning the rear tires at all) i am spinning much, much more than with stock springs. Now, the GOOD with the sportlines: whenever the car does make its shift, the front end does not drop near as far as it used to with the stock springs, and every shift feels a bit firmer to the ground with less of the power delivery being soaked up by the softer stock springs.

This car is 100% completely stock power-wise other than the OE replacement drop-in K&N filter, and the snorkel to the fender being removed. Before 1 single power modification goes on the car, tests will be done at Dallas Raceway if possible. If not i will have to run the 1/8th at Kennedale but will provide all of my best time slips from each visit to the track.

Rounds of modifications:
1. Eibach sportline springs
2. Eibach sportline springs in front + MMR coilovers in rear with Competition Engineering adjustable shock
3. Everything above + adjustable upper & lower control arms
4. Everything above + QA1 tubular K-member with stock A-arms and struts
5. Everything above + QA1 tubular A-arms + front coilovers
6. Everything above + 31-spline FRPP LSD + 31 spline axles + 4.10 gears (will have an Xcal flash tuner with nothing done other than speedo adjustment for the gears)
7. Everything above + at the same track visit as Round 6, I will adjust shift points and firmness with separate time slips being shown for any gains/losses in E.T. or MPH
8. Everything above + shift kit + stall
9. Slicks and skinnies (i will probably just use M/T ET Street Radials at first as i will have no other way to and from the track other than with the GT, if i can find someone going with me to carry wheels and tires i will run full-out slicks and skinnies for sure)
10. Possibly same track visit as slicks and skinnies, i will install the canned tune for "stock" vehicles and see what, if any, gains or losses it will give me
11. This is when i will start adding power. As with the suspension I will do it mod by mod except for when i do longtubes as i will be going from stock manifolds and stock h-pipe to longtubes with off-road h-pipe). Now, due to trying to do this as cheaply as possible, I won't be getting a re-tune after every modification power-wise as the expense is just WAY too much to do this. Now, if i can strike up a deal with a tuner that will help me out in my journey then this MIGHT be a viable possibility as doing a re-tune for say $50-$75 wouldn't be too bad but would still rather not end up spending twice as much with tuning when we all know roughly what gains will be made with what mods.

A lot of this has to do with Nay-sayers in my area. They all said a solid-axle mustang can't handle with imports. I proved them wrong with this car when it was BONE STOCK. Most people around here don't believe that this car could be made respectable with nothings but plain bolt-ons, and I plan to prove them wrong once again.

Feel free to leave any thought and opinions if they're negative just move along. I want people in here who will be helpful, informative, and/or just plain ENJOY this build. Not a lot of people go about things this way and power power power is what most people want, "but with power comes great responsibility" in this case...the responsibility is the stick the power to the ground and this is why suspension is coming first. It can't go fast if it doesn't hook, plain and simple.

2 things that I can tell you guys/gals right now I will need help with is locating a shift kit and stall. The only stall i have found is 3000RPM and i would like to go to around 3600RPM so as to take advantage of the suspension and really allow the suspension to work and do it's job and launch this thing HARD. Any input on these two things will be GREATLY appreciated.

[Sonic Blue 85]

So how much do you plan on driving this car? The reason for asking is those upper and lower control arms are not good choices for a car that is driven on a regular basis on the street, they will wear out quickly. They are great for track only cars, that will only see a few hundred miles a year of track use. Also since you seem to be trying to build this car for drag racing, why are you using sportline springs? You would be better off with a set of drag springs, on a street car prefferably not coilovers.

[Mysticalsnake]

the sportlines are mostly for cosmetic looks, and this car will be driven on the street but not very much honestly. Most of my daily driving duties are in a Galant VR-4 as that has no problems with any type of weather that is thrown at it including this slush-box of crap we just had. Whenever the suspension is all said and done it will have coilovers all the way around for the height adjustability, a lot of guys have great luck with coilovers for drag racing with adjustable shocks/struts and the correct height and spring rate for springs with the coilovers. This car will mostly make it to some car shows once i really get the outside of her worked over really well with some fresh paint and a few other things i'd like to do but will be a weekend warrior at the track mostly with the occasional trip out on the town.

[VMT]

PM sent

[Sonic Blue 85]

Now for the big questions, what is with the title "Drag Racing Cheerleader Car", why did you pick the slowest, heaviest, weekest chassis Mustang possible? Why not start off with a manual transmission car, also a coupe body so the chassis will be much more rigid and lighter, then the suspension mods will work better. If you were going to do a project like this, a Mach I would have been a much better choice, even a GT coupe with a manual transmission.

[Mysticalsnake]

Its the first car i had whenever I was 18 and still in high school. So i really can't get rid of it's it's a sentimental thing with me. And no worries mate i've got an 04 Cobra sitting in the shop a whole list of goodies going on: 2.4L kenne bell, comp cams/springs/titanium retainers, Stainless Works longtubes and full exhaust, Fore triple fuel hat with dual Ford GT pumps, Fore fuel rails, 60# injectors, tubular front suspension plus coilovers, Maximum Motorsport FLSFC's, and the only thing left to buy for the car is the rear suspension set up i'd like to go with.

and that's the thing, the slowest, least rigid, heaviest chassis possible, has done a lot of things it shouldn't have been able to do against other cars already. an ex-friend of mine ran consistant 14.1x's at 99 mph in his 03 GT 5-spd (had several bolt ons but our local track never had any real prep so average 60' for any of us was about 2.2x. we were having to run slick to break into the 1.8x area, and you can forget about a 1.6x 60'.

and this stock 40th GT against his full bolt-on car, from dig to 110 mph, i would get pulled 1 car. not the 5 or 6 i supposedly should be beaten by.

[Burnout]

What about some sub-frame connectors? Call me when you want to go to the track! I'll go with you.

[Mysticalsnake]

Subframe connectors....the one thing did right! lol Ford actually used subframe connector on the cars when they rolled off the assembly line. thought will probably be the last thing i really change out for the suspension parts and will change to the Maximum Motorsports full length connectors instead of the standard length that for used.

I had thought about going saturday during their test and tune but there's a 40% chance for rain also, so i'm worried about getting there and then it starting to rain and wasting my time and money trying to :-/

[RaceRat]

Subframe connectors....the one thing did right! lol Ford actually used subframe connector on the cars when they rolled off the assembly line. thought

No Ford didn't do them right. Factory connectors are junk and they are bolted on. Get some good MM ones and call it a day. They should be the FIRST mod on a vert.

[Mysticalsnake]

i already have a set of MM FLSFC but they're for the Cobra. It's something that'll have to wait until next month probably.

[DINO]

agreed, subframes on a vert! stat!

the stock ford bolt-in are junk, just dead weight.

[Jeramey]

The vert stock subframes? You mean those things that I twisted in my 01 vert a few years back :P

Ya they twisted at the track, ran an 11.7 was only pushing about 450rwhp at the time cracked a 1.8 60' on MT drag radials. Put the car up on the rack for some other work a couple days later and released the subframes were twisted. On went some Strictly Performance subframes and never had a problem after that!