Slow Stang
 

I have had my car for 4 years now. I love to drive it and I will either be burried in it or give it to my son if i have one. The cars looks good and has never given me any problems. I dont want a drag car just yet...my goal has always been to have a mean street machine. Thus I have worked and spend money on looks, sound, and performance. I have the mods listed in my sig and I just added an electric fan. The car hasnt really sped up at all since i bought it completly stock. Of course i take out my speakers and spare when i go to the track. My best time ever was a 14.7 @ 93 mph....but i consitley run 14.9-15.0. I think there is something wrong with the car but it just has never gotten any worse to be diagnosed. I have done almost ever small bolt on money can buy(of course thats impossible for the 5.0) and i want to start with some bigger stuff like heads or a blower. But i dont want to waste any more money. What can i do?? I have heard valve springs could be worn....my buddy had a bent cam dowel pin that made his stang slow....running lean or rich...I dont know

WOW that seems pretty slow... your MPH isnt what it should be. that MPH was what i had with a stock '89 last year, but with out your bolt ons. you should be running at least 98 MPH i would think. i dont have everything you have and im running 98 MPH. what is your 60' time? maybe change your gears to 373's or 410's? are you hooking up?

Altitude may be playing a key role in your times. I have a personal best of 14.2, and I am dead at sea level. My mods are in my sig. I would think with your mods, you should be getting some better times, especially with the suspension work. What are your 60' times and 1/8th mile times? That may help to see where the problem lies.

that was the next question i was going to ask...was the altitude? but yeah you should be quicker?

I Live near Chicago and have raced at Great Lakes Dragaway in Wisconsin and at Route 66 in Joliet so alltitude should not be a problem...sea level i am sure. My 60 ft. times for my 14.7 run was 2.141 i dont have to many other time slips laying around but they are all between 2.1 and 2.2. I know those probably arent great but what is good for street tires??

i think i ran a best of 2.1 60 ' time but that was with my 14.1 time @98. i really wonder why you dont have a better MPH than 94. have you had a tune up lately or changed your plugs and wires?

it hasnt been that long...but i dont drive the car all that much. Maybe its been 10k since the last time i changed the plugs. The wires are newer, I put in a new fuel filter not to long ago, and i cleaned the K&N too. I dont think a tune up will solve the problem...but it cant hurt to put some plugs cap and rotor.

driving style. dont know how often you hit the track or excelerate aggresivily from a stop light but it has alot to do with it. Last year I blew a launch and decided to just stay into it and blew second third (I just keept it to the floor the whole run) hooked in third 14second run so plus 4seconds from a bad launch and cranky driver

the only major worry from your sig is detination.

you have a ADS superchip and running initial timing at 13 deg the chip adds timing so your computer is probably pulling timing or detinating on the top end which would hurt mph . I would reset timing to 10 deg(make sure the spout is out) and start a log book on tire pressure shift points ect.

also when and how do you shift .My Dad still has a .1 on me when he drives the drag only car with the jericho at almost 80 I hoped reflexes would be gone

I am going to guess that your timing is retarded as hell. Get a timing light out and check it.

We checked my buddies the other day on a car he bought and the timing was set at "0" degrees initial.

We bumped it up to 16 and wow what a difference.

Sorry....I thought of that too and decided that the chip was crap so the chip isnt even installed right now. Timing still at 13. I have been shifting at about 5000-5200 on an autometer tach with shift light.

Your stock lower intake is what is hurting you the most - it pulls the 190cfm average flow upper down to average flow in the mid-140cfm range. The stock E7 heads flow in the mid-160cfm range, so do something with that restrictive lower stock intake (paste link in sig) or get an Explorer intake from a 95-early 97 Explorer (internal emissions like your stocker) for 15-20HP.

driving
 

I'd try shifting a little higher than that. More like 5500-5700 and see if anything changes. You should be able to get better than a 2.1 60ft. time with more practice. Try slipping the clutch out some instead of just letting it fly. Or buy some drag radials...and since you don't drive your car often, it's not like you are going to wear them out quick or anything. My BFG drag radials lasted me over 5,000 miles and hook up great on the street and pretty good at the track. I think my best 60ft. time on the drag radials was a 1.8...on z-rated street tires was a 2.0.
If you are still not getting the times you should after doing some changes...your injectors may be clogged. How many miles are on your motor?

80,000 miles on the motor. The stock intake might not be great...but i have seen plenty of people with it atleast break the 14.0 mark or come even close.

I was looking at my latest time slip. The ET was even slower...but it was after a long drive to the track, the car was hot and so was the weather. Then i got rained out so i only got to do one run. But I ran alongside a 96 mustang and somehow i beat him..He ran a 15.7 at 97mph.....I ran at 15.3 at 91mph. Give me a clue as to how i beat him by 4 tenths and was 6 miles per hour slower. Whats up with my ride?

I think your shift points are good (5100-5200). Don't worry about the lower intake or buying anything else right now. Just work on getting your mph to where it should be. With just pulleys and gears, I was trapping 98 mph. With your mods, you should be trapping AT LEAST 98 and running low 14's/high 13's.

Have you pulled your plugs and checked them? How do they look? What is your fuel pressure at?

As far as beating the 96 Stang goes...I'll bet he blew up his 60' time which hurt his e.t. Do you still have that time slip handy? Could you give us the #'s from your run? 60', 330', 1/8, etc. etc.