Engine Just bought my first 85 fox

Hey guys thank you to anyone who helps.
But to start I have an 85 fox with a 5.0. Well what I’m being told. The guy is collecting all the paperwork for me. But he said it’s a 302 bored 30 over. It has aluminum heads with an Edelbrock intake with a 750 Holley carb and a cam. Cam size not sure. Sorry. It has long tube headers also. It also has a built c4 with a 3200 stall. It was converted to a drag car with a cage and seat with slicks. The guy says it runs 12.9 all motor. I managed to run 13.6 consistent. So my help is needed with what should I be running and from what I’ve seen from a 306 my next question is y isn’t it faster
 

Attachments

  • CDF9CAEF-38CB-4EBB-B45C-3AEA946AA2F6.jpeg
    CDF9CAEF-38CB-4EBB-B45C-3AEA946AA2F6.jpeg
    360.5 KB · Views: 127
  • Sponsors (?)


Why don't we have some pics of the car?
how long ago was this run?
i am not a drag car expert, there are a few members here that have very fast streetcars and some even have dedicated drag cars.
besides I have stayed at a couple Holiday Inn Express hotels
No doubt you car is capable of 12 second time slips but there are a lot of variables involved and the faster you go the more critical things become.
The 12.99 time slip should be your first goal, does not matter how fast it was or should be, it's how fast can YOU make it go.
 
He did have a time slip of a 12.99 with pictures of the car pulling the front end up with a few trophies of him winning bracket racing.
Well, assuming he didn't take anything off the car before he sold it to you, and that the carburetor is still in tune, the problem is probably something that's changed, possibly even you (I don't mean that as an insult, I mean that either you're launching differently, shifting differently, not running the same tire pressures, etc.)

I bought my Mustang II bracket car with a glovebox full of 12.9x timeslips and for the longest time I couldn't even break into the 13s, I was knocking on the door, but I was running 14s with a car that should've run high 12s. Then I changed my tire pressures and knocked a couple tenths off, then I figured out the air pressure in the air shocks the previous owner installed, then I started launching softer and having less wheelspin, and then I started shifting later, holding it all the way to 6000 before I shifted (I wouldn't recommend it for most 302 blocks, but this one's been girdled and seems to like it just fine).

As long as there's some rear suspension work and/or sticky tires, I don't doubt your car could run in the high 12s/low 13s, it's not that different engine-wise than mine, and it looks like a lot of weight under the hood was shed.

I haven't made it back to the track since I deleted the power steering, added subframe connectors, went EFI, and replaced the rear air shocks with traction bars, who knows what the hell I'll run now...
 
Why don't we have some pics of the car?
how long ago was this run?
i am not a drag car expert, there are a few members here that have very fast streetcars and some even have dedicated drag cars.
besides I have stayed at a couple Holiday Inn Express hotels
No doubt you car is capable of 12 second time slips but there are a lot of variables involved and the faster you go the more critical things become.
The 12.99 time slip should be your first goal, does not matter how fast it was or should be, it's how fast can YOU make it go.
I agree 100% with you. But I know I can make a car go 12s I have a 6speed challenger r/t that runs 12.98 consistently
 
Well, assuming he didn't take anything off the car before he sold it to you, and that the carburetor is still in tune, the problem is probably something that's changed, possibly even you (I don't mean that as an insult, I mean that either you're launching differently, shifting differently, not running the same tire pressures, etc.)

I bought my Mustang II bracket car with a glovebox full of 12.9x timeslips and for the longest time I couldn't even break into the 13s, I was knocking on the door, but I was running 14s with a car that should've run high 12s. Then I changed my tire pressures and knocked a couple tenths off, then I figured out the air pressure in the air shocks the previous owner installed, then I started launching softer and having less wheelspin, and then I started shifting later, holding it all the way to 6000 before I shifted (I wouldn't recommend it for most 302 blocks, but this one's been girdled and seems to like it just fine).

As long as there's some rear suspension work and/or sticky tires, I don't doubt your car could run in the high 12s/low 13s, it's not that different engine-wise than mine, and it looks like a lot of weight under the hood was shed.

I haven't made it back to the track since I deleted the power steering, added subframe connectors, went EFI, and replaced the rear air shocks with traction bars, who knows what the hell I'll run now...
That I agree with too. I drop my tire pressure in my other car and I started running 12.9 consistently. I’m just concerned with it being a c4 transmission that it should run a little better with an automatic transmission. And it doesn’t have a trans brake so I can only launch at about 3000 rpm or the brakes start to slip a little and I bump threw that lights
 
Ok, get out that silly little smart phone and get a friend to take a couple videos at the strip when you get there and take some pics of the ride, we don't care if it has a lawn chair for a drivers seat, we like pics, oh and we don't judge.
Well, actually we do but it's all in fun.
 
I wish you luck, I hope the guy who sold it to you comes through with the paper work and build receipts but if it were me. Which im a glass half empty kind of guy. I'd have to assume if he can't give me details on a build he did then the build isn't real. No 306, no cam, cheap knock off heads etc. I hope that's not the case but it happens a ton with these cars especially when someone selling a car they built doesn't know anything about what cam, heads, pistons etc are in it. Keep us posted on what he provides you.
 
So new update guys. Still not where I want but I’m getting there. I went down to the track this weekend and knocked .3 off my quarter time. I ran 13.3 @ 100.34 mph with a 1.9 60 foot. I tweaked the timing some more and still only running on 93 pump gas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user