Blank Canvas, 95 Gt vert (lots of questions)

[X95]

Well, it's not officialy mine yet, but it wont be to much longer, but I'm driving a 1995 Arrest me red Gt vert, 5 speed, all stock (for now), and well...really slow.

Here's a quick picture-

Anyway, I really wanted an fbody, and spent a lot of time researching and planning out how to do what I wanted in one, but well...**** happens and plans change. I started looking into mustangs, but I figure I may as well bite the bullet and just ask the questions I have. My first goal is to get the car trapping 100mph consistantly, I find that theres so many factors in e/t's that trap speed is what I have the most control over. I was thinking-

-Shifter, clutch cable, firewall adjuster (probobly upr)
-Full length sfc's (MM's or UPR's, not sure yet)
-CAI (upr)
-Shorties, X-pipe, bullets (bbk's and upr)
-4.10's, maybe a new trak lock (ford racing) (car has 138k of perfectly maintained miles, its been my moms since it had 4 miles on it) I am unsure when the strength of the 28 spline setup runs out? I was told by a friend that rear ends dont break like the fbodys do, rendering them undriveable, it just more or less makes it a useless open-diff, assuming you dont absolutly destroy the rear end, but I doubt the power needed to trap 100 is going to do that, does 260whp sound about right?

Anyway, it has a brand new oem clutch, at what point does that not longer fit the bill? What about the t-5? My mom never gets on it, but old is old, does this thing have life left in it or is it on its way out? What about the shortblock? When does the distributer give out? When are the fuel pump/injectors not big enough?

Sorry for all the questions, TIA

 

[CManT1914]

All it takes to trap 100mph consistently (even in a vert) is gears, exhaust, and an intake manifold. I was running 14.1's at 99mph with 3.73's, o/r h-pipe, and a cobra intake manifold. That was with a crappy 2.1 60' as well.

The 28 spline axles are fine unless you are running drag radials. Even then, they will hold up for quite some time.

The distributors are hit and miss when they go out.

The fuel pump and injectors are good until you hit about 300fwhp (NOT rear wheel). Then you'll need 24's. If you're pushing 300 at the wheels (like most h/c/i combos are) then you might look into 30's and a 190lph pump.

I'm still running the stock clutch in mine, it holds just fine.

The T5 will eventually go out after you start pushing more power through it. The first thing to go is 2nd gear. It will start grinding, so if it's not doing that yet, then I'd say you should be good for a while. Just don't powershift.

To be honest, everything you mentioned with the exception of gears and the mid pipe won't do much if anything for your 1/4 mile time. Those SFC's are gonna help out more in the twisties. Cold air kits are useless really.

260rwhp is MORE than enough to run 100mph traps. That's good for 104 or so. Think about it, stock Mach 1's and 05 GT's are around that, and they run mid 13's at 103-105 or so. 235rwhp is really all that's needed in most cases to run the times you want.

Good luck with getting the stang where you want it! Sounds like it's had an easy life, and it probably has MANY more good miles in it.
-Chris

 

[X95]

Yea, after I posted it I realized 260whp is probobly more than enough.

So if cai's are useless what do you guys do? leeve them stock/gut them out/chop them off? I know the shifter and sfc's arnt going to make it trap any higher, but I hate the stock shifter (im good enough to not grind gears and not stall out 7 times before it moves, but im still learning, and ive put it into 5th out of 2nd more times then I can count), and everyone I have talked to have said that sfc's are a great mod that you can feel, especialy in a vert.

Anyway, thanks for the help, oh how come every time the page loads I get the "this page contains no data" popup?

 

[xr8d302]

H/C/I swap, a good shifter and a free flowing exhaust, you'll be happy. Also lowering springs....

 

[CManT1914]

I shouldn't say CAI's are useless, it's just they're at the bottom of the worthwhile mods list. They're mainly for looks. Removing the air silencer and dropping in a K&N will gain you just as much as most CAI's.

The shifter is a good idea, I agree. A steed tri-axe was one of my first mods too. It really helps out the consistency more than anything.

SFC's are a GREAT idea, especially on a vert. They just won't help straight line performance. But they are THE best handling mod you can do, along with springs. Just make sure to get full length, welded, with seat brackets.

I don't know about that message, I've never gotten it.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention it earlier, but headers on a stock headed car won't do much if any good. You really need better flowing heads to warrant them. I hear that most cases, you lose too much low end torque on a stock motor with aftermarket headers. Just stick with a new mid-pipe, and maybe a catback.

 

[fiveo'cobra]

The Biggest restrictions on a stock vert are:

Intake manifold

stock gearing (get a stall, 4:10's, and shiftkit in there asap. For reference my friends AODE 95 GTS coupe picked up 0.5 seconds in the 1/4 going from stock 2:73's to only 3:55's!!)

stock midpipe with its FOUR cats

Obviously the stock E7's, but there are people on here running low 13's all motor on them. Don't worry about these yet if you are on a budget.

A vert's weight. There are all kinds of things you can do to counter this. Remove the dogbone in the rear along with the 25 pound weight on the right side of the front bumper. They are both USELESS. They're supposed to reduce vibration in the car by absorbing it but they do nothing. You can also take out your rear seat if you never use it as i did. You can take out your smog and AC pumps along with relocating your battery to the trunk. That will save around 120-130 or so pounds off your front end and will get you another few tenths to a half second on the 1/4 by helping weight transfer to the rear.

 

[X95]

Are there any write ups on this stuff? Like removing the air silencer in the intake, what/where/how to take stuff out like the dogbone and useless weight in the engine bay, anything else that would be good for me to know.

Thanks for the help

 

[fiveo'cobra]

The dogbone is a weight attached to the bottom of your rearend carrier housing. You can actually see it if you duck down under the back of the car. All it requires is a ratchet set to get the two bolts that hold it on. Thing was like 12 pounds if i remember correctly. I don't know exactly where the 25 pound weight in the front bumper is but i know its on the right side in front of the wheel i believe. Alot of guys on here with verts have taken it off. Hopefully they'll butt in and help you out. As far as the other stuff:

The rear seat is easily removed. The part you sit on is actually held on by two clips accessible from right under the front of the seat. You have to press them in towards the rear of the car to release the seat and lift it up. The back supports are held on by two bolts each(one on each side.) That will save you a total of around 30 pounds.

Also the trunk has alot of weight. I stripped mine out to the bare metal. Take your jack, spare tire, tire iron, etc out. Also take out all the cloth and sound deadening material lining the trunk. You don't really need it. Its just there for looks. All that total is about another 30-35 pounds.

The smog and AC delete kits are sold online like from summitracing.com. They are brackets with pulleys attached to them. Just throw them on where the original parts were and run the belt the same way as stock. Battery relocation kits are also sold through summit. They are like $40 and are the cheap kind. They'll do the job, but remember they wont pass tech at most track events.

 

[GreenStangGT]

Battery relocation kits are also sold through summit. They are like $40 and are the cheap kind. They'll do the job, but remember they wont pass tech at most track events.

What's wrong with them that they won't?

I love this thread so far because it's answering a lot of question that I have as well. Though I've done a few more mods already, but always love to hear commentary about combinations and goals from other people with my year/model.

 

[nmcgrawj]

What's wrong with them that they won't?

I love this thread so far because it's answering a lot of question that I have as well. Though I've done a few more mods already, but always love to hear commentary about combinations and goals from other people with my year/model.

The boxes have to be sealed and vented to atmosphere i believe unless u have a firewall between the trunk and cabin.

 

[X95]

How do you guys feel about the typhoon intake setup? It's hard to beat the $280 price tag, but I also dont want to waste $280, are the edelbrocks and trickflows that much better that they warrant being twice the price?

 

[loudpedal99]

How do you guys feel about the typhoon intake setup? It's hard to beat the $280 price tag, but I also dont want to waste $280, are the edelbrocks and trickflows that much better that they warrant being twice the price?

Depends on if you want to spend a few hours port matching them. They are good flowing intakes, but have a rep of being slightly 'off' quality-wise (what do you expect with a cheap knockoff). Nothing a little time with a die grinder and a carbide bit wont fix.