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Speed Dreams

Thanks to Sheriff Buford T. Justice:


I got a copy of Desktop Drag Strip at the parts store today. All God’s children have to do something with their spare time, so humor me.

I have a lot of dyno data from my car and a few other V8-SHOs and Desktop Dyno for virtual Blowers until Vadim blesses us with real one. Still I know this is best possible case and ET’s never to be seen in the real world. 

The point of the process is to discover what simple modifications our cars may best respond to.

I looked at 4 levels of HP.

 

Source of HP info

Peak Gross HP

STOCK

DynoJet

216 hp @ 6000

Muffs and mouse catcher, - called MUFFS

DynoJet

249 hp @ 6000

UDP, muffs, bypass pipe, SHO Shop intake – called CLINTON because of the dyno shop located in Clinton IL.

DynoJet

260 hp @ 6000

And BLOWN which requires a 10 psi blower

Desktop Dyno

416 hp @ 7000

I adjusted DynoJet wheel HP by 20% to get HP at the flywheel. (100 HP wheel /.80 ~ 120 brake HP. I used HP readings each 500 rpm interval from 2000 to 7000 rpm and used best guess for the extremes based on the Dyno Jet graphs.

Base assumptions for all runs were:

CID

207

Tran

AX4N

1st

2.77

2nd

1.54

3rd

1

4th

0.69

Final gear

3.77

Frontal Area

23.2

Test Weight

3750

Drive wheels

Front

% Front Wt

66%

Wheel Base

108.5

Aero Drag

0.30

Converter Stall

2500

Converter Multiplier

2.3

Converter Slippage

5%

Tread width

8.8

Tire Diameter

25.7

Tire Growth

0

Traction Factor

1.2

So what did I get?

ET

mph

0-60

0-100

OE

15.89

89

7.96

16.13

Muffs

15.3

91

7.26

15.54

Clinton

14.73

95

6.50

14.97

Blown

14.18

102

6.40

13.53

I believe a stock V8 SHO can do 15.9. Road & Track tested a 15.7. Will a V8-SHO do 15.3 or 14.73 with simple mods? Let’s just agree this is for research only and I’ll admit I don’t have a 14.7 car.

The "blown" SHO was traction impaired and launched poorly

Just to learn something lets take a SHO making "Clinton" HP and make a few simple changes:

ET

MPH

0-60

0-100

Change

modification

14.73

95

6.50

14.97

00.00

base case

14.72

95

6.48

14.96

-0.01

AVS Sports, 25.2" - trac=1.4

14.70

95

6.44

14.94

-0.03

above & 3.99 gears

14.61

95

6.31

14.83

-0.12

26" cheater tires growth =5% traction= 1.60

14.62

95

6.32

14.84

-0.11

26" mild race, 10% growth trac =2.70

14.01

95

5.57

14.22

-0.72

3500 rpm converter

13.34

104

5.12

1223

-1.39

Blown with AVS tires

14.05

99

5.81

14.28

-0.68

5 spd

14.63

96

6.4

14.87

-0.10

lose 100 lbs

When I used shorter extra sticky tires on 17" rims I gained only .01 sec. 

When I changed tires and the final drive ratio to 3.99 gears I gained .03 sec, not worth the trouble. It takes 500 series final gears to help offset the super tall first gear.

Using stock gears and DOT cheater slicks gained .12 sec.

Using nasty real slicks only gained .11 still unimpressive for what rims and tires cost.

Looking at the graph I think 1st gear is too tall and the engine just bogs off the line, so why not try a high stall converter- Bingo! that was worth 7/10 - This car was never made for drag racing.

Since cost is no object, let’s just fit a 5 speed with a clutch from Don Mallinson’s 89 while he sleeps. It is as fast as the high stall converter. Bingo, #2! That would solve the launch problem - Even Don could live with a 14 second Gen 3, Choose either the high stall or 5 speed version? It will be difficult to give Don back his MTX. 

Sticky street tires on that blown V8 might drop the ET from low 14’s to low mid 13’s. Hello Vadim? Are you hearing me? Please Please Please; all we want for Christmas is boost and a Quaffe LSD! I guess in theory a blown 5 speed would be a killer.

And just like Don always said losing a 100 # is worth .1 second.

For entertainment purposes only, data files available upon request.

 

As a side note recent inquires came up with this From Vadim at the SHO Shop...

- Some hp might be made with 3rd Gen cams but the numbers are $850 parts and 20 hours labor to change cams. - major drawback is any gain at peak is at the expense of HP at low end.

- He thinks he can bore the 3.4L to 3.8L and it will hold together. Without head work or other tricks this would add 40 hp & 40 ft-lb He is doing this now with the Contour. An 3/10 over bore- not 3.8L !

- Quaiff says they can make LSD for the 3 Gen, Vadim would need 25 deposits, cost would be less than $1400 parts plus the installation. Vadim does not think he can get 25 folks and in the past the first folks who make deposits don't like to wait 6-9 months while everyone else earns the money.

- Level 10 ATX guts are available for the 3rd Gen but cost $4000 per set., plus your ATX, plus labor.

- Vadim has mental plans for a blower but has quit development. He thinks he could get one or two owners with a need for a SC but needs 5 to make it a break even.

- If he had five committed folks the plans are for a low pressure (6 lbs. boost) setup that mostly works above 4000 rpm. Hp would be ~ 270 at the wheels and ET's mid to low 14's.

- I asked Vadim about the PCM closing off the air above 6500 rpm and he told me he thinks the only controls are an opening of the side above the second valve at about 3300 rpm and a rev limiter above 7000 rpm. He has never seen the butterfly valve close at 6500 and does not think it does.

I called Crane Cams today, they are doing nothing on the new Ford engines. Not the V6 SHO, not the Contour, not the V8 SHO.

They don't have the technical ability to make the new cams, and after working with for on most of these engines have concluded the OE cams are so good nothing is left to be gained. The OE Ford Cams are that good on all the new DOHC Ford motors.


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