I know this should be in the racing forum, but this was just too awesome for me to stick down there.
Well, just like Zonda, since I had my HO conversion done, I've been patiently waiting for an unsuspecting import to pick a fight with my innocent looking Tbird. Well, tonight, the first real fight came. It resulted in not one, not two, but THREE wins for my car. Here is the story:
I had just gotten off of work. I was heading home when I pulled up behind a white Civic hatch (later 90s style). It had the fart can, rims, and all the goodies you'd expect on an import. I decided I'd hang behind him for a bit; I was cruisin in Drive. Well once traffic finally cleared, we got to a stop light and we were side by side, right at the front. Perfect race conditions. I rolled out of the hole easy, afraid my car would bog down (those who have seen my thread about it will know what im talkin about). She didnt bog, so once I knew she was good to go, I gave it all she had. Thanks to low end power, I was able to get him to my passenger side rear quarter. At that point, I heard the distinct sound of a turbo and I was thinking "...." Luckily, the HO stayed strong and didn't let me down. His car couldn't gain an inch...but I couldn't pull an inch either. I won by a fender and a door.
So then I let off at about 65mph and we came to another stop light. This was an exact recreation of the first race. Two wins for me.
But the best race was definitely the 3rd one. We were both making a left turn at a light, so I pulled in behind him. It turned green and he shot around the corner and I followed in hot pursuit, even barking the rear tires just a tad as I launched her out of the corner. Just as before, our cars we perfectly equal. I couldnt gain on him at all and he couldnt pull away either. But this time, we didn't let off at 65. So as a result, 3rd gear kicked in and I literally shot around his car like I had just used a stage of nitrous. I thought he might of let off, but his car was still goin full song. By the time I was doing 85-90 (this is THE fastest I have ever driven the Tbird btw), there was several feet of space between our cars. I started getting on the brakes and he did the same.
I was going to give him a thumbs up for a good race, but he never looked over. All in all, I was impressed that his car was so equal to mine from about 20 to 65-70mph. And I was a bit worried in the first race when I looked over and saw is car staying dead even with mine and the turbo started spooling. But the HO didn't let me down, and I FINALLY got to show an import who's boss. Oh, and the best part? He goes to my college. :shakeass:
Sweet.Chalk up another proud T-Bird moment.
Hell yea buddy, good job. I can't wait till i get the lincoln on the street, its just an old person car right. HA thats what people will think!
yeah!!!!!! be sure to rub it in his face when you run into him :evilgrin:
i remember when i did my 0-60 test when it went into 3rd i too felt it really start pulling. its just amazing how much top end it now has. now i just gotta save up for a 2400ish stall converter so i can JUMP off the line too.
and to be honest, i had my mom take my car around the block so i could stand in my driveway and hear it. WOW. a LOT louder than when im in the car, these things must have a lot of sound-deadener, huh? just knowing that thats what everyone's hearing makes me happy enough right now. but i wont pass up a battle, long as there isnt a lot of traffic and preferably its not a road right in the middle of town. i do NOT want to risk a ticket/accident/etc...
Yeah, despite the fact that the race happened within most likely the shiznittiest 36 hours of my life, even that couldnt deny the awesomeness of the race. And even with the stock exhaust, my car is quite audible. I wonder what he thought when he saw my "bone stock" car jump ahead the first time...even better when I blew his doors off in 3rd :evilgrin:
Haha, that's awesome! good work! lol, I can't wait to get mine out there with it's new engine.
first off we do not condone street raceing....that said...Nice Kill!
I think its safe to say thats one of the best kills I've seen around here in awhile.
Sweet...time to stamp one of these on the side of your car (or maybe three -- :D ):
(I can't as the one and only kill I ever made was of a stock Chevy Beretta...bleh, kids these days...)
Wow guys...you wont believe this...I had ANOTHER Civic hatch take a shot at me tonight, except this one was the older body style. But even better, it had green neons, 2 guys in the car with their hats on backwards and music blasting like they were the coolest. There I was quietly (well, in comparison to them) listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers. I glanced over and they both looked at me with a pen 15y smirk. I looked back away and just kinda smirked knowing what they had comin to them. Even though my car did do that weird bog thing, it was a left turn so it didnt matter.
Well while I was getting my car out of bog range, the Civic dudes were busy chirpin the tires. I could care less, I just wanted to see how fast it was. So I waited up for em and when he got on it, he had a bit of momentum on me. I got on the gas and the Tbird roared to life and had him by a fender before I even hit 65; then I had to slow down for a traffic car. I sure hope that wiped the pen 15y smirks of their faces. I mean jeez, I didnt even get to hit the nitrous, aka 3rd gear.
Who's next? :evilgrin:
Thanks for the compliments btw :)
sweet kill man!! haha just reading those stories puts a big smile on my face!! :D
Yeah, I was extremely pumped up last night. I pumped my fists and I was like "HELL YEAH!!!" and grinning ear to ear of course. It's such a rush to have this unsuspecting, bone stock lookin car and whoop something with more money put into exterior mods than my whole car total.
I'm talkin to imports hehe. I stay away from real cars ;) . No need to show them who's boss, or make a fool of myself.
Reading that I thought you had a bad night pimping the ws.
Well...that's just a side of my life I'll keep off the forums ;)
I posted about these 2 kills on my local car forum, http://www.carolinarides.com, and they seemed compelled by the way I mentioned that the car reacted to 3rd gear. A lot of guys there have fox Stangs and say they dont have that with their AODs. Would anyone here like to shed some light on this?
You're complainin'???(mine doesn't do it either)... Dunno what's up, but I'd be fixin' that bog...
Who's complainin? Not me! I'm thrilled. Just waiting for these dark clouds to pass by so I can get back to cleanin the Tbird.
I think I need a new MAP Sensor to fix that bog; thats the one thing we didnt replace and/or clean during the conversion because dad had gone to the store and said the part number for a 5.0 Stang MAP was the same as mine. But I think that may be the problem.
i think the bog and 3rd gear power up might be related, maybe the motor isn't running at its full potential till its wound up? A random guess
The car runs really strong in first and second, but what happens is she'll be sitting at a stop light sometimes and the idle will go lower than normal and the idle will get a bit rough. Then when I hit the gas, she just doesn't want to move. Once she gets moving, it's smooth sailing. She doesnt feel low on power or anything.
if you put in N it revs fine though? how about throttle with the brake on at a stop?
I'll have to try that and get back to ya. She doesnt bog ALL the time, so I'll have to wait till the idle starts getting a bit rough, then I'll test it.
btw, Thunderjet, I'd let my dad's Chevelle take care of ya if you really wanted a race :evilgrin:
I doubt it, a bad MAP usually causes a rich idle and/or cruse condition... At 26mpg it ain't rich... Sounds like a TPS problem or maybe base idle misadjustment...
Has it been scanned for codes???
Nope, havent scanned it. But could this be related to how the car also idles unusually high in park? She idles around 1k when I put it in park.
Also, what do we need to do to check the base idle adjustment? How do we change it?
Possibly... But you're ' in the wind if you don't KNOW what faults may be in the EEC system... Some things won't make any difference, but a few adjustments and sensors are somewhat critical...
You need to read up on all the info about adjusting the TPS to .999999 volt so it will run better(I consider it mostly BS),and then I'll tell you how to do it...
You have a volt meter???? And do you know how to use it???
AND where you at in NC???? I'll be at Northeast Dragway near Hertford and Elizabeth City tomorrow...
I think Elizabeth City is on the coast...I'm a few hours away. But nobody in my family has much experience with "modern" electronics in cars, so this is a new avenue for all of us. All help is appreciated.
But luckily, my dad is experienced in HVAC, so there's plenty of electronics knowledge there.
Ok, would this work on my 5.0 or is it strictly for the 2.3T?
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2-3l-tech/77472-idle-issues-2-3-turbo.html
The 2nd post.
Its all the same, youll just want to adjust your base idle to a differnet RPM than most 2.3L. My 2.3 idles at 1,000, your 5.0 shouldnt idle more than 850 if i remember correctly.
Basically with the IAB disconnected you need to set the idle to 700-800 engine HOT... At that point verify the TPS voltage (.85-.9v is fine), adjust if necessary(needs to be a little LESS than 1v, or high idle will result)... Reconnect the IAB and you're finished...
May be a good idea to disconnect the battery to erase the EEC's memory...
Thanks a bunch for the info; hopefully I can get to that tomorrow since I'm off work. And yes, the car seems to like 750-850rpms for idling (when it idles like that). And the IAB is by the distributor, correct?
IAB is the thing by your throttle body with a electrical connector.
I just thought of something with your "*NOS* in 3rd". Did you change the stock fuel pump out when you did the swap? If not the stock pump could be playing catch up to feed the engine. Mine did something like that when I took it out the first time after the swap. I put in a 155 l/ph pump and it stopped. I left the stock pump in just to make sure the engine worked then I swapped it out:hick:
Nah it's still the stock fuel pump. Trust me, if she's low on power in 1st and 2nd, then the stock HO must be a MONSTER. The car still pulls really hard. I think dad said he felt her lay down around 5400rpm, which I will never push my car to anyway; she pulls strong to 5 grand, which is fine for me! But yes, I'll be upgrading that soon anyway.
Well with a 3.73 gear and the stock tires mine will spin the tires with anything over 1/4 throttle from a stop. This, while it sounds cool, can be annoying at times :hick: . With the better cam/heads I have the engine wants to rev well past the 4,800 rpm shift point of the stock AOD. Me thinks I need a shift kit, better exhaust (2.5" pipe) and a better intake. Oh and probably a 2,400 rpm stall converter. Have you bumped the timing from the stock 10* BTDC? I had mine at 10* but when I hit 400 miles I bumped it up to 12* and it really liked that. When I hit 500 miles I'm changing the oil and bumping the timing to 14* and if it doesn't ping 18*. It has to run 93 octane because of the 10:1 compression so I might as well get some extra power by bumping the timing:D
Triing to kill that motor already? 18* is WAY overkill, most 5.0L dont like more then 14* MAYBE 16* tops, I bet you wil only experience hard starting and major pinging at 18*
No, I'm not bumping the timing. There's NO WAY I'm putting premium in it....it's my DD!! Many people forget this fact when giving me ideas hahaha. I'm more than happy with the power I have.
And btw...the HO is a PAIN when it's raining. I was sitting on a hill at a stop light and when I went to move, she just spun the tires. Ugh Im glad there wasnt a cop there.
Oh I wasn't going to go past 14* really. I know a buddy with a 5.0 Stang and it really liked 18*, but every motor is different. I might try it once but it's waaaay overkill. It seams to like 12* fine but in a week or two I might bump it to 14* at the most. I don't want to worry about pinging if I end up having to use 91 octane in an emergency.
You *might* be able to bump it to 12* on 87 octane. Some people have been able to do it some haven't. Every motor responds different.
Well for now, especially with the kind of gas mileage I've been getting, I'm leaving it as she is. After the exhaust, a new fuel pump and fixing that bog problem are first on my list.
im actually at 15*. 87 octane no pinging. i havent gone any more advanced cause i dont want problems but for some reason its fine at 15! starts just fine too!
Interesting. Any difference in gas mileage?
my first "drive of the lincoln was in the rain, after 2 years of not running, and no tune up, still raped the tires out the driveway!
dunno yet im keeping track of it. according to my digi-dash economy meter im at like 15.5 mpg. which doesnt make much sense to me. thats less than it used to be, which was always between 16 and 17. normal suburban area, a lot of 30 and 40 mph roads, certainly not stop-and-go. its been bothering me for awhile. but i tanked her up a few days ago, im gonna measure it over the next couple weeks, then knock the timing down and see what difference there is. according to the meter though it seems theres no difference, at least positive anyway :hick:
Yeah thats why I'd rather not touch the timing right now when my Tbird is knockin down 22-24mpg consistantly and has plenty of power for me. Be sure to keep us updated.
well one thing worth mentioning is it said like 15.8 three days ago, now the last three days Ive had final exams. Last day of classes was last weds so mom and I moved all my home then, and I drove up for the finals. Each day, 30 min there, 30 min back, 90% highway at 55-65 mph. Its now at 18.9.
The one thing that makes the meter a little inaccurate is if you're in accessory mode, switch cranked forward just before you turn it to fire 'er up, and the dash is all lit up, the meter takes readings of 0.0!!! So you watch your avg MPG reading go down and she's not burnin any! :hick:
So for that reason I want to do the calculations with my trip-odo. etc. to verify it. But we'll see, I've watched you post about your amazing gas mileage and I sit here wondering why mine's so poor. Makes me wonder if everything went right. That 0-60 time I got sways me the other way though, I guess I really need to find a dyno and get the real #s to be sure. Whatev doesnt really matter that much I guess Ive driven the thing for just about 2 years and I've put 6000 miles on it. :D So $5/gal gas? Bring it on I say.
Mines getting about 15 mpg in mixed driving. I have a 3.73 gear so at 70 mph on the highway I'm turning close to 3,000 rpms:hick:
My car got 300 miles a week since I started college back in August so I'll stick with my <1500rpm highway cruising. Hopefully once I secure a job close to home, it wont be that bad.
Btw, there's a car show near me this Sat so I plan on takin the Tbird up. I wish I could have the exhaust done before hand, but oh well.
I get 11 around town and 20 on the highway. Mine has an overfueling problem. Tomorrow its coming out of the garage and Im turning down the fuel pressure.
Not possible unless you are not using O/D(then it should be more)... You running 22" tall tires??? That would do it...:hick: My RPM's at 75mph with 3.73s is approx 2500...