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MotoIQ - Project Budget 400whp S197 Mustang Track Car

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Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
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The American Racing Headers are full-length long tubes, while the Kooks are kinda mid-length. The ARH have nice merge collectors with spikes followed by an expansion cone and a length of straight tube for a slip joint. The Kooks have ball & socket connections right after the collector, which to my thinking would disrupt flow more.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
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Not sure which headers are less expensive, Kooks or American Racing, the general preference seems to be ARH, if solely based on performance.


True, Kooks and ARH setups hace become very expensive, but you do get a solid 30hp from them. I think headers more sense since all the pre-intake modes will work better with them installed.
One of our gen1 cars down here bought the cheapest Speedmaster headers he could find in Summit and added a decent collector. His HP results were on very close to set of kooks, but it was a little lower in torque.

I think he had 420rwhp and 360 torque with the modified cheapo headers and my old Boss manifold, 85mm TB and Airaid CAI. But then his engine has 80,000km on it and about 4 seasons on the track. (and its a automatic). The car was at 360rwhp and 350 torque with the stock gt setup.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
The American Racing Headers are full-length long tubes, while the Kooks are kinda mid-length. The ARH have nice merge collectors with spikes followed by an expansion cone and a length of straight tube for a slip joint. The Kooks have ball & socket connections right after the collector, which to my thinking would disrupt flow more.

We hacked the ends off our Kooks off and added a extended collector with a proper bolt on flange... Looking forward to seeing how it works out.
 
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Almost seems like moto IQ has very little experience with mustangs. If you are after power in a gen 1 dump the crappy heads and get a $300 set of Gen 2 F150 heads, toss in used headers and an 18 intake manifold. All of that should be under $1000 and minimum of 450 to the wheels even with stock GT cams. Add Boss cams for $450 direct from Ford and you are well on your way to 500 at the wheels.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
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4,227
Santiago, Chile
Almost seems like moto IQ has very little experience with mustangs. If you are after power in a gen 1 dump the crappy heads and get a $300 set of Gen 2 F150 heads, toss in used headers and an 18 intake manifold. All of that should be under $1000 and minimum of 450 to the wheels even with stock GT cams. Add Boss cams for $450 direct from Ford and you are well on your way to 500 at the wheels.

Hmm,,, really wish it was that easy. No way on this planet are you going to get near 50 rwhp just from some Boss cams.... maybe 5 or with luck 7rwhp? Some LM intake only cams will get you 30rwhp but that would push the budget out of wack.
 
With the gen2 heads. The updated heads flow more than the boss, add the boss cams with 1mm more lift and duration and the 18 intake, headers while you are there and over 450 to the wheels.
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
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Did somebody say cheap long tube headers? I got 2M Fabrication shipped for $575.

Cool article.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
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Santiago, Chile
With the gen2 heads. The updated heads flow more than the boss, add the boss cams with 1mm more lift and duration and the 18 intake, headers while you are there and over 450 to the wheels.
Double hmm,,, my oem Boss heads and Gen2 that was getting the same work done had the same flow numbers at 290cfm... After porting and valve job, the gen1 replacement heads and the gen2 heads were the same at 330cfm. Boss cams do next to nothing in the end, At least thats the info I got from Shawn at AED.

In any case I liked the article even though the dyno numbers seem a bit high. But thats dynos for you. the idea of the article is what you can do with 1000 bucks.. and on the coyote, thats a lot!!
 
Hey guys,

Part 3 is now live:

Project Budget 400WHP S197 Mustang Track Car: Part 3 – Dyno Testing Borla S-Type Cat-Back Exhaust and Tune


" Despite achieving our 400 WHP goal, we installed a Borla S-Type Cat-Back Exhaust to further increase power, reduce weight, and improve the sound of our Mustang. We also found a bit more power in the tune and conducted a few air intake tests."

30-XL.jpg

In the article:
-Borla Install
-Dyno Borla Exhaust vs Baseline
-Dyno K&N Air Intake with the lid ON vs OFF
-Dyno K&N vs JLT Cold Air Intake - the results will surprise you
-Dyno Overlays: Stock, Tuned Stock Intake Manifold, 2016 Mustang, 2018 Mustang, Boss 302


-Billy
 
Hey guys,

Part 3 is now live:

Project Budget 400WHP S197 Mustang Track Car: Part 4 – Installing the Roush 3rd Link


" Upgrading the 3rd link suspension arm in an S197 Mustangs is far more important than just to reduce wheel hop. Picking the right one will greatly affect the car’s handling and rear grip (and we all know Mustangs need rear grip). To improve the performance of our budget track car, we install the best 3rd Link on the market, from Roush Performance."

2%20Roush%203rd%20Link-X3.jpg

In the article:
-The importance of the 3rd Link
-Why most aftermarket 3rd Links actually hurt the car's performance and ride quality
-Installation


-Billy
 
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352
Billy, in your article the product links are to an 05-10 UCA, is there an 11-14 version? I can't seem to find anything online.

Great project, following it with interest. Many thanks.
 

Norm Peterson

Corner Barstool Sitter
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There is a 11-14; but i'd still choose (and did) the 05-10 UCA in my 2014 over pretty much any other 3rd link out there.
I'm under the impression that the later and slightly longer UCA made for side view geometry that was a bit more stable. Or were you actively chasing an anti-squat curve that was more progressive in bump after some point?


Norm
 

Norm Peterson

Corner Barstool Sitter
939
712
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
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a few miles east of Philly
Separate question - don't all the garden-variety polyurethane-bushed UCAs add some amount of roll stiffness, and wouldn't roll and any relative lateral movement be detrimental to poly bushings specifically due to their greater stiffness? I'm trying to look at those as being loosely related to the issue of shocking the tires and representing additional reasons why poly isn't a very good material choice for UCA bushings.


Norm
 
898
544
I'm under the impression that the later and slightly longer UCA made for side view geometry that was a bit more stable. Or were you actively chasing an anti-squat curve that was more progressive in bump after some point?


Norm
Billy, same basic question here concerning using the shorter 2010 upper control arm. Does the shorter length (8.5" vs 9.5") cause a geometry change that is beneficial to an S197 track car?
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Great article and thanks for confirming what I’ve been blabbing about for years regarding the 3rd link. Particularly poly and some of what @ajaquilante taught us about issues with the sphericals.

Part 4 – Installing the Roush 3rd Link

Aftermarket links are often marketed simply to reduce “wheel hop”, but it’s far more important that just that.
^ One small typo at the end of the 3rd paragraph on the first page.

One suggestion - to solve the bad weeping on the axle vent in your next installment of the series, if not already planned.

97C065E8-E3E3-4329-BE2C-E67360999B41.jpeg

Many here use a hose/breather setup. I went with the finned diff cover and put the vent there in my ‘11 GT, making it similar to my Boss axle vent. Plugged the axle tube. Takes an odd sized fitting.


Or were you actively chasing a n anti- squat curve that was more progressive in bump after some point?
FTFY ;)
 

ChrisM

Mostly harmless.
1,180
1,419
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
South Carolina
Great article and thanks for confirming what I’ve been blabbing about for years regarding the 3rd link. Particularly poly and some of what @ajaquilante

Would very much like to hear more about all of this because all of this seems like the opposite of what has pretty much been set down as gospel. I thought Phoenix ran the Multimatic arm when they could? Eager to learn more...
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Would very much like to hear more about all of this because all of this seems like the opposite of what has pretty much been set down as gospel. I thought Phoenix ran the Multimatic arm when they could? Eager to learn more...
Gospel by whom? I’ve been anti-poly in the 3rd link since SVTP was last in my browser cache.

Read the rest of this thread. This is the thread that my eyes were opened about sphericals vs. rubber in the 3rd link.
OEM 3rd link, oem bushing in the axle. Both PWC/CTSC. On the trailing arms, we used the poly bushing arms (M-5649-R1) in CTSC and the sphericals (m-5649-S) in PWC.

That was by choice, based on their testing. I’ve resolved (for myself anyway) why AJ and Billy would both recommend 3rd links with rubber bushings (along with some other guy in that thread ;) lol ) Just don’t ask me to get into the physics or whatever. No good would come of it. 😁
 

ChrisM

Mostly harmless.
1,180
1,419
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
South Carolina
Edit: Rereading the article, I see it's a rubber bushing. My bad, thought it was recommending poly. Still wondering about the shorter arm being better?
 
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