Advice needed thanks ( Got beat by a Colbalt ss)

my90steed · Sep 29, 2008

I have a 1990 vert foxbody with low miles and looking to break into 12-13 sec times. Wanting advice on which way to go to acheive these times. My mods are as follows.

( Got beat by a Colbalt ss and refuse to let it happen again)

T-5, 3.73 rear gear, underdrive pulleys, catback exhaust, silencer box delete and K & N filter in the factory box. Ihave upgraded the plugs and wires and have advanced the timing a tad bit.

Just purchased a set of subframe connectors to weld on before adding extra power.

Anyway I would appreciate any advice / tips on how to acheive my goal without ragging out my 23,000 mile car....

Thanks Dave

86turbo · Sep 29, 2008

it depends on how much cash your budget allows and/or how much skill you have...
you want to go to the extent of swapping heads?? If not then bolt ons will be your bread and butter. Get a tb,aftermarket maf, exhaust and pulleys if you choose to

cenok is family · Sep 29, 2008

h/c/i will for sure do it. if you're not willing/able to do a full h/c/i, at least throwing on a cobra/explorer intake with a bigger tb and maf will wake it up some. those heads and intake are a major bottleneck...you're not going to be able to get too far without replacing them.

or you can just spray it.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Sep 29, 2008

1) go to Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

2) find a mid '97+ Explorer 302. You have options here....depending on your mechanical ability and access to tools, you may be better off swapping the entire engine, or you may be better off just pulling off the heads and swapping them onto your engine. For that matter, if you're staying EFI, take the intake while you're at it unless you have something better.

3) buy the Trick Flow spring upgrade package...do a search here and you should find it. Basically, the stock springs on those heads suck major arse.

4) get a really nice cam that matches the rest. Typically a lot of guys use the Trick Flow Stage 1 cam, but there's a lot of cams that'll work great with those heads.

Don't worry so much about spending money on getting the heads rebuilt and all that crap....if you have the money, go for it, but if not you're not going to explode or anything. Just look the heads over and make sure they look decent, swap the springs and go racing. The Explorer that you got the heads off of surely wasn't raced or beat as hard as the typical Mustang, and it's unlikely that it's in the junkyard because the heads were wore out. Look at the mileage on the Explorer you're getting them off of...unless it's 250K miles or something, just don't waste the cash unless you have it to spare.

There are guys local running DEEP in the 12s, and a couple guys dipping into the 11s in cars that have dedicated drag suspensions and are built for all out 1/4 mile racing. Get some upper and lower control arms for the rear so you can hook decent off the line, get a good exhaust on it and all the typical go fast for cheap mods and you'll hand that Cobalt its ass.

2000xp8 · Sep 29, 2008

Here's my thoughts on a car with that low of mileage.
A. Vortech SC trim
A vortech is a tasteful mod that just looks at home on a foxbody.
or
B. Gt40x heads, A FMS cam, Cobra or Gt40 intake, FMS 65mm TB, FMS 24's, PMAS meter.
Normally i would say to go with higher end parts, but with that low of mileage, If it were my car, i'd keep it all Ford.
Done right, it should get you about 285rwhp with either the vortech or the H/C/I this way

This should get you low 13's, high 12's.

In a vert, i would bother with other cheap mods, ya gt40 irons and p's can work with an explorer intake, but i know i wouldn't want to open the hood on my 20,000 mile vert and see that stuff.
Also, the 50lbs you lose from the gt40x's won't hurt.

justagt · Sep 29, 2008

mods

If it were me with a car that low mileage, I'd finish off the simple bolt ons and keep the stock look under the hood.

Tmoss ported intake: stock look and flows almost exactly as well as the Cobra, bigger mass air meter, 65mm TB.

If you want to dig in a little deeper, heads and a cam will make a huge difference too.

Keep this in mind though, that Cobalt may have beat you, but he can't outrun ugly.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Sep 29, 2008

Wow, i missed the part about the mileage...in that case i'd have to agree, throw an entry level blower on it and call it a day.

cronin49 · Sep 29, 2008

my90steed said:
I have a 1990 vert foxbody with low miles and looking to break into 12-13 sec times. Wanting advice on which way to go to acheive these times. My mods are as follows.

( Got beat by a Colbalt ss and refuse to let it happen again)

T-5, 3.73 rear gear, underdrive pulleys, catback exhaust, silencer box delete and K & N filter in the factory box. Ihave upgraded the plugs and wires and have advanced the timing a tad bit.

Just purchased a set of subframe connectors to weld on before adding extra power.

Anyway I would appreciate any advice / tips on how to acheive my goal without ragging out my 23,000 mile car....

Thanks Dave

I'd go forced induction to beat a Cobalt SS with that slow assed 1990 vert you have.
A S/C Cobalt can run 13.9's all day, while you'll be lucky t get low 15's with what you have.
Sorry to be so brutally honest, but then again this is just my opinion.

93 LX · Sep 29, 2008

gears! get rid of the 2.73s and get 3.55s or 3.73s. My stock 93 LX 5.speed with headers kills those SS cobalts and lets just say my hot rod, 82 Capri with its old carbed 302 and 3.73 gears just walks away from them after i get hooked up.

Headers, and all the performance tune stuff. i.e. TPS adjustment, timing, air filter and tune up will help too.

cenok is family · Sep 30, 2008

93 LX said:
gears! get rid of the 2.73s and get 3.55s or 3.73s. My stock 93 LX 5.speed with headers kills those SS cobalts and lets just say my hot rod, 82 Capri with its old carbed 302 and 3.73 gears just walks away from them after i get hooked up.

Headers, and all the performance tune stuff. i.e. TPS adjustment, timing, air filter and tune up will help too.

you didn't read his post did you?

his car is an original 23k car and he already has 3.73's and a k&n, new plugs and wires and his timing is already bumped.

Boostedpimp · Sep 30, 2008

How did you get beaten by the SS from a dig or from a roll? I'd say invest in a short throw shifter like a pro5.0 or triax and some sticky tires and lighten up the car a little before you go out to play. You shouldn't need heads, intake and cam or a power adder to take out a cobolt ss

2000xp8 · Sep 30, 2008

Boostedpimp said:
How did you get beaten by the SS from a dig or from a roll? I'd say invest in a short throw shifter like a pro5.0 or triax and some sticky tires and lighten up the car a little before you go out to play. You shouldn't need heads, intake and cam or a power adder to take out a cobolt ss

Cobalt SS's stock run low 14's with the SC model, now they have a turbo, making it even easier for them to go faster. couple minor mods and they run mid 13's, and even quicker.

This guy has a original 23k mile car, lightning it up, should be out of the question.
It's also a vert, and a full weight vert with pretty much no real mods is a high 14 car.
Some guys with bolt ons can only manage mid 14's, so i don't know how you think a heavier car, with a worse chassis is going to outrun a cobalt SS.

So, in reality, he needs heads or a power adder, because he needs to knock about a second off his quarter time.

885.0conv · Sep 30, 2008

I would agree on the forced induction with low boost maybe some 24# injectors . I know some people with 93 cobra's with only 18K mileage and the supercharger looks like it should be there. Also if you decide to go back to stock it is real simple to take out.

bentley429 · Sep 30, 2008

Hmm good thing I saw the miles...get a drag radial kit with a 91 mm turbo victor sr's on a dart iron eagle 331 through a glide and a 9" rear nice weldon pump feeding it all.

cenok is family · Sep 30, 2008

bentley429 said:
Hmm good thing I saw the miles...get a drag radial kit with a 91 mm turbo victor sr's on a dart iron eagle 331 through a glide and a 9" rear nice weldon pump feeding it all.

that's honestly something i would do. i don't care about miles, if it was my car, it's going to end up that way eventually anyway.

bentley429 · Sep 30, 2008

Exactly, who cares unless your trying to sell it.

2000xp8 · Sep 30, 2008

bentley429 said:
Exactly, who cares unless your trying to sell it.

I used to think that way, but now i'm starting to feel like it would be nice to own an unmolested car.
My car is too far gone to ever be that again.

There's also plenty of high mileage cars out there to modify, so i don't see the point in messing with a car that has low mileage.

Some people respect different things in cars, you may want power more power and then some more. Some guys like to open the hood and nothing but factory, nice and clean.

93 LX · Oct 1, 2008

2000xp8 said:
Cobalt SS's stock run low 14's with the SC model, now they have a turbo, making it even easier for them to go faster. couple minor mods and they run mid 13's, and even quicker.

Mind you this would be with a good driver in the Chevy. Alos I think mid 13's is kinda low for the Cobalt SC since this would press GMs golden rule. Thou shall not be quicker then the Corvette. Lets not forget the GNX issue where the GNX was killed because it beat the Vette of the day.

Verts are heavy but I think with a few more bolt on mods the V8 can beat the 4 banger even with boost. It still doesn't look like he has headers and lets all remember how Fords like to breathe.

satanas · Oct 1, 2008

Change driver?

2000xp8 · Oct 1, 2008

93 LX said:
Mind you this would be with a good driver in the Chevy. Alos I think mid 13's is kinda low for the Cobalt SC since this would press GMs golden rule. Thou shall not be quicker then the Corvette. Lets not forget the GNX issue where the GNX was killed because it beat the Vette of the day.

Verts are heavy but I think with a few more bolt on mods the V8 can beat the 4 banger even with boost. It still doesn't look like he has headers and lets all remember how Fords like to breathe.

Not sure you realize how easy it is to up the boost on a cobalt. It's now like an srt neon.

As far as headers go, they are not going to put his setup over the top. I've been around these cars for a long time, and i'd say the average full weight bolt on vert isn't going to go much faster than 14.50 without heads or an SC.

Advice needed thanks ( Got beat by a Colbalt ss)

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