That is very true Mike but addressing those flaws are still cheaper and easier than the alternative
Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.
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I wonder about how many of the guys currently beating their cars at the drag strip have stock 28 spline axles?
Mine are 28 spline, but are the hardened upgraded moser axle...I have the t loc rebuild kit that Summit wouldn't take back...all I need is the water meth kit, a change in tune, and a set of either drag radials, or slicks mounted on a set of black uglies...
I gotta admit, the lure of a "drag strip dyno" instead of having to pay somebody to tell me how much power it makes is pretty appealing.
That is,...until I break something....
- Mar 2, 2015
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MS will run ABS...and traction control with a few mods.
I thought about ABS and traction control on my car. I have all the spots for wheel speed sensors. Can't be that complicated......for someone else.
Then you'd be able to have the trans shift in to overdrive based on wheel speed except for when you hit the monster button.
I thought about ABS and traction control on my car. I have all the spots for wheel speed sensors. Can't be that complicated......for someone else.
Then you'd be able to have the trans shift in to overdrive based on wheel speed except for when you hit the monster button.
That would mean I need to learn how to tune that stuff.....
So that I can show you guys how to tune that stuff.....
Can't be that hard... I think
So that I can show you guys how to tune that stuff.....
Can't be that hard... I think
7.20's???
The Monster will go back in his hole if he only runs a 7.20...
sevem ohhs....the monster gotta run at least sevem ohhs.... ( that's how they say it here...it helps if you have your front teeth missing)
Else wise he's thinking he'll just stay in hibernation mode.
You must remember I am doing this with a 275 nitto street tire a stock clutch and a t5..... with 400ftlbs at the tire at 2500rpm. Spin friggin city. If I hook up the trans blows it's guts, if the clutch slips I hit the rev limiter early. Granny shifting fun.
That sir is a good question.
* Here's where those of you that don't know, are in for an OMG moment...
The listed dry curb weight for a 1978 ford fairmont Futura w/o a driver, and with the 3.3l i-6 is 2748 lbs.
So,...add me,....that makes it go up to 2928.
Then add some extra weight for the bigger six, the 4r70, AC, turbo, and related junk, ( let's add 300 lbs)...
I'm gonna guess that I'm about 3250,.....more or less.
I don't know where but I believe I have seen someone (may be 4eyed pride) mention retrofitting SN95 ABS to a Fox. I would guess if you use SN95 axles and spindles, you have the wheel sensors right there, then just wiring and plumbing since I believe they used a stand alone ecm to monitor wheel speed and run the abs pump.
Forget about all that ABS, Traction control crap. This is supposed to be a mans car, not some Foo Foo Fluff Fluff BS. Start worrying about adding all of that women's convenience crap and the next thing you know it is an overweight bloated land yacht that cant do anything but go in a straight line. Kind of like a 4,200 lb Dodge. 
Besides, you can always borrow a Bimmer for a few hrs if you feel like it. keep the Monster a Monster! 
Besides, you can always borrow a Bimmer for a few hrs if you feel like it. keep the Monster a Monster!
Under what conditions do you think that car "The Monster" is going to need ABS? It will not get driven on snow or ice, I highly doubt it will get driven in the rain, unless caught out in it unexpectedly, and even then will be cautiously driven back to the garage. Probably a good bet that ABS would be a waste of time and $ to install on that car when you consider who owns it and how it will be used.
From what ive read n this thread so far, driving it cautiously probably isn’t going to happen. Maybe you’ve never had a sphincter- tightening experience when traffic stops suddenly, but I sure have. Maybe you’re just a better driver than I am. My 85 gives me some real adrenaline rushes when I have to stop quickly. Maybe it’s a waste of money in your eyes, but to me it would be money well-spent if it kept my car out of an accident even once
Jim
Jim
I guess I have more faith in Mikes driving abilities and decision making than you do. He dose not come across as the type to put himself into a situation that would necessitate ABS in that car. Obviously anything can happen, but I will place my money on Mike. As far as your driving abilities, well, from what you have said, it is a good thing ABS was invented. 
I don't know why it's take me so long to come around to this stupid question.......Are octane boosters worth it? and do they work?
It hit me like a slap upside the head this morning,..."Why haven't I at least tried one or two of them?"
I used to use them in one of my previous drag cars, but quit because they colored the plugs funny making it more difficult to read them.....Now I'm back to googling reviews on the crap.
Looks like NOS's brand is one of the better versions...
It'll be worth at least pouring a bottle of that stuff in the tank to see if the high gear rattling will stop..(Probably why cylinders 3,4,5 suck so bad)...Well see I guess.
I have to renew my license today, no telling how long that'll last.
Maybe they'll just let me supply them w/ this pic..
It hit me like a slap upside the head this morning,..."Why haven't I at least tried one or two of them?"
I used to use them in one of my previous drag cars, but quit because they colored the plugs funny making it more difficult to read them.....Now I'm back to googling reviews on the crap.
Looks like NOS's brand is one of the better versions...
It'll be worth at least pouring a bottle of that stuff in the tank to see if the high gear rattling will stop..(Probably why cylinders 3,4,5 suck so bad)...Well see I guess.
I have to renew my license today, no telling how long that'll last.
Maybe they'll just let me supply them w/ this pic..
When you decided to undertake a fact finding mission like I did this morning, you secretly are hoping that you are gonna find some Eureka answer that will make everything that you always thought before obsolete.
I set out this morning to see if there was a simpler and cheaper alternative to having to always keep an eye on a 1 gallon reservoir of windshield washer fungoo that I have to be carrying around with me just so that I can stand on the gas pedal occasionally. It made sense to me that if I could find a way to increase the octane over my current tank full of 93 pump gas, maybe I could just "pour in" that solution with every fill up.
First things first....... (since there are so many guys here NOT familiar with a leak down test, and it's related test results...)
Here is what I learned locally:
As long as I have low tension rings,......rings that i was a little "generous" with my ring end gap because I had a target goal of 16-18 p.s.i. originally,....... ( Now I can't even get past 8 w/o rattling the engine). As long as that's the dealio.....I'm gonna have some blowby. As long as other factors point to "normal" in this engine,..a little huffing is just gonna be the way it is...
Examine, if you will Exhibit A.
These plugs are 2 steps colder than stock...This is the way they came out of the engine. Excepting #1, No oil,..no crusty fungoo,.....MOF barely any color at all....but then again,..they only have about 100 miles on them..The only thing going on w/ ol #1 is he's sooty,...it should be expected on a cold plug...
When I talked to the Autolite rep, it was his guess that I'm probably still one heat range too hot,...and I'll look into that just as soon as I can start ramping up the timing again....And all of this blah-blah should go to that point.
So,.......(where was I?)....Oh yeah...standing on my soap box reassuring myself and any of you other three reading that my engine isn't dead..
Anyway...
I called VP...They make race fuel. About a dozen different blends of gasoline w/ octanes going over as high as 120.
I wanted to know if I should just buy 5 gallons of something and mix it in w/ my premium to solve this problem..
Dude tells me sure I could, and recommended their 109 unleaded....I asked him what ratio I could hope to pour in in order to get my octane up to an acceptable number to squelch the detonation.. That purely depends on how much octane you're gonna need to do that, but in 16 gallons,..Id start at about 25%........
So,....3 gallons of 109 to 13 gallons of Premium.
How much is this stuff? I ask.... and dude tells me 85.00 for 5 gallons...
What???? That's 17 dollars a FREAKIN GALLON!!!!!
Uhh no...... said the Monkey Fightin' Finger...
.There'll be no 17 dollar a gallon gas mixed into anything I'm doing anytime soon.
So, that puts me back on the phone,....This time to Aeromotive. I wanted to check whether or not that 500.00 fuel system I just bought was E 85 compatible...
Again,........
So,...I decide that inevitably water meth is gonna be my salvation....but I still had to try one,.....more,...thing.
Yeah,...it's in there....Says it is blended w/ NITRO-METHANE!!
Vroom, vroom, vroom,...!!
I'll beat the gassers and the rail jobs......I'll bet Little Ronnie and the Daytonas would've sang a song about me...
If they weren't dead.
In other news..... ( see,...I'm waiting on the epoxy to dry,..so I'm wasting time here)..
I had a leak. (Duurrrrr, that's an understatement)
It was my brilliant decision to add coolant bypass lines to the top of the exhaust ports so that any air pockets that might form there would circulate back into my cooling system..All that managed to do was make it a pain in the ass to change the plugs.
So I removed the snag-u-lated mess.
That left me with those little brass compression fittings screwed into the water jackets on top of each one of the exhaust ports...Correction,...screwed, and glued into the water jackets....JB welded the piss outta em.....they aint never coming out.
So,...JB calls for more JB....I kneaded me up some two part JB steel stick, filled each one of those compression fittings, and screwed a cap on top of everyone of them..I've been waiting for that to dry before I pour the antifreeze back in..
Now it looks like this:
Lastly,..I installed my "Wrinkly Melvin Mercury" God head center caps....
Some day, when I give more than a rats red bunion hole that he's all wrinkly,..I may repaint him....for now, I'm gonna leave him.
And now I'm pouring in antifreeze and starting the car to see if it's gonna leak.
I'll be back..
I set out this morning to see if there was a simpler and cheaper alternative to having to always keep an eye on a 1 gallon reservoir of windshield washer fungoo that I have to be carrying around with me just so that I can stand on the gas pedal occasionally. It made sense to me that if I could find a way to increase the octane over my current tank full of 93 pump gas, maybe I could just "pour in" that solution with every fill up.
First things first....... (since there are so many guys here NOT familiar with a leak down test, and it's related test results...)
Here is what I learned locally:
As long as I have low tension rings,......rings that i was a little "generous" with my ring end gap because I had a target goal of 16-18 p.s.i. originally,....... ( Now I can't even get past 8 w/o rattling the engine). As long as that's the dealio.....I'm gonna have some blowby. As long as other factors point to "normal" in this engine,..a little huffing is just gonna be the way it is...
Examine, if you will Exhibit A.
These plugs are 2 steps colder than stock...This is the way they came out of the engine. Excepting #1, No oil,..no crusty fungoo,.....MOF barely any color at all....but then again,..they only have about 100 miles on them..The only thing going on w/ ol #1 is he's sooty,...it should be expected on a cold plug...
When I talked to the Autolite rep, it was his guess that I'm probably still one heat range too hot,...and I'll look into that just as soon as I can start ramping up the timing again....And all of this blah-blah should go to that point.
So,.......(where was I?)....Oh yeah...standing on my soap box reassuring myself and any of you other three reading that my engine isn't dead..
Anyway...
I called VP...They make race fuel. About a dozen different blends of gasoline w/ octanes going over as high as 120.
I wanted to know if I should just buy 5 gallons of something and mix it in w/ my premium to solve this problem..
Dude tells me sure I could, and recommended their 109 unleaded....I asked him what ratio I could hope to pour in in order to get my octane up to an acceptable number to squelch the detonation.. That purely depends on how much octane you're gonna need to do that, but in 16 gallons,..Id start at about 25%........
So,....3 gallons of 109 to 13 gallons of Premium.
How much is this stuff? I ask.... and dude tells me 85.00 for 5 gallons...
What???? That's 17 dollars a FREAKIN GALLON!!!!!
Uhh no...... said the Monkey Fightin' Finger...
.There'll be no 17 dollar a gallon gas mixed into anything I'm doing anytime soon.So, that puts me back on the phone,....This time to Aeromotive. I wanted to check whether or not that 500.00 fuel system I just bought was E 85 compatible...
Again,........
So,...I decide that inevitably water meth is gonna be my salvation....but I still had to try one,.....more,...thing.
Yeah,...it's in there....Says it is blended w/ NITRO-METHANE!!
Vroom, vroom, vroom,...!!
I'll beat the gassers and the rail jobs......I'll bet Little Ronnie and the Daytonas would've sang a song about me...
If they weren't dead.
In other news..... ( see,...I'm waiting on the epoxy to dry,..so I'm wasting time here)..
I had a leak. (Duurrrrr, that's an understatement)
It was my brilliant decision to add coolant bypass lines to the top of the exhaust ports so that any air pockets that might form there would circulate back into my cooling system..All that managed to do was make it a pain in the ass to change the plugs.
So I removed the snag-u-lated mess.
That left me with those little brass compression fittings screwed into the water jackets on top of each one of the exhaust ports...Correction,...screwed, and glued into the water jackets....JB welded the piss outta em.....they aint never coming out.
So,...JB calls for more JB....I kneaded me up some two part JB steel stick, filled each one of those compression fittings, and screwed a cap on top of everyone of them..I've been waiting for that to dry before I pour the antifreeze back in..
Now it looks like this:
Lastly,..I installed my "Wrinkly Melvin Mercury" God head center caps....
Some day, when I give more than a rats red bunion hole that he's all wrinkly,..I may repaint him....for now, I'm gonna leave him.
And now I'm pouring in antifreeze and starting the car to see if it's gonna leak.
I'll be back..
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