in may i am racing my friend's mustang. it is an 89 Gt 5.0, with some work done, it dynoed at 227hp and 285 tq rear wheel, he also has 3.73. this should put him at like 14seconds even.

my 1980 is an L48 manual, i have a TorkerII intake, an eddlebrock 600cfm carb, all my emisions stuff is gone, and my cat was gutted. what do i need to do to beat him, i have about $1000 for parts, NOS is not really an option. i am thinking complete exhaust, headers and maybe some used side pipes, gutted. would that do it any suggestions. we have money on the race.

 

Where do you race ? New England Dragway ? Or is there someplace closer to you ?

That TorkerII manifold doesn't sound like a good match to a stock L48 bottom end. I'd go with a Performer.

Open sidepipes would certainly help.

A higher rear end gear, if you can find a used diff. I have an extra, but they are both 3.08s.

Make sure that your distributor advance is working properly, per Lars'
procedure. This will get you much for nothing, except time spent and a few
cheap parts.

Less weight. Take out ANYTHING not required. Spare tire and carrier, passenger
seat, luggage rack, antenna.

You'll need sticky rear tires and maybe a set of aluminum rims (used).

:seeya

 

Ummm...I hope it's not too much money! :nonod:

How's your engine compression (i.e., is your bottom end in good shape?)

With a thousand bucks, I'd look around for a decent set of gently used GM Vortec heads (and compatible intake), and as you mentioned, headers and dual exhaust. Also, recurve your distributor.

 

It's always fun to spend someone cash. :D The exhaust would really help but if you want to beat him, you'll need more than that.

So what I suggest is to do it step by step. First does the bottom end is strong to keep up with some mods? If so, the most hp you can get from an engine is from a good set of head and a cam. Start from there and you can upgrade the exhaust later.

You already have an intake so the vortec head may not seem like the best choice. But at 450$ a complete pair or if you find some used one, a performer rpm vortec intake is around 175$. These head require new spring at 50$, center bolt valve cover ??$ and self-aligning rocker arm ??$.

But they would be great. They have a small 64cc chamber that would bump the compression to around 9.2:1 with a thin head gasket and they flow well. Combine this with a Comp cam XE-268 and you would kick some mustang.

That's around 1000$.

Stephan

 

A little stouter cam kit including springs (that will still work with the stock heads), headers and a complete 2.5 inch exhaust for the engine should be under your limit. Then strip that dude down to nothing! You might want to draw the line at the heater, but radio, RH seat, carpet, spare & carrier, only 1/3 tank of fuel, A/C stuff, etc... It all depends on whats at stake, right? I mean for 50 bucks, spend nothing. For a grand and pride, go crazy!

Hans

 

For a 1000 dollar budget and your going to need to knock off about 1.5 seconds off your stock time to give you any safety margin (the torker isn't going to help you at all here). a full dual kit from the aftermarket would get you a decent bang for the buck lets say 350 there. Leaving 650, I'd deffinitly go witha performer non egr intake maybe even the EPS since your running an edlebrock. then a mild cam and a fresh tune and you may dip into the 14's somewhere especialy if you throw everything out you don't need. I doubt you'll beat him with that work. For a 1000 and I wanted to win in your situation it would be the full duals and a nitrous kit.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

 

I agree with Wrencher that a decent cam and valve springs to keep the valves from floating is the cheapest way of adding HP. It's still a project though as you will end up having to pull the hood, radiator and probably the heads if you don't have a means of changing the springs with them on the engine. Does anyone know of any tool manufacturer that makes something to allow you to keep a valve from dropping and change the springs out while the heads are still on the engine? Years back while I was rebuilding a 454 I made my own contraption out of a gutted spark plug. What I am getting to is that it is not a cheap solution if you have to pull the heads.

 

Other than NO2, a cam swap will give you the biggest hp boost for the money if combined with a free flowing true duals exhaust. An under car exhaust is as good or better than a side exhaust system for making power and generally costs a lot less. Except for the cam, the pieces you already have are capable of supporting some decent power but the stock L48 cam is really mild. While more power could be made by replacing some other parts, especially the heads, they probably won't fit in your budget. If you can do the cam swap and header install yourself, you shop wisely for parts, and you don't let the muffler shop rape you on labor, you should be able to do cam, lifters, springs, headers, mufflers, and pipes on your budget.

bgrice, they make both lever type and pedestal type valve spring compressors that can allow valve spring changes in the car. The lever type is a lot cheaper but won't work in some in-car applications because accessories get in the way of it's use. For holding the valves up while changing springs, they make a fitting to adapt an air hose to the spark plug hole. If you don't have a compressor, you can feed rope (closeline rope works good) through the plug hole to pack the cylinder to accomplish the same thing.

 

what would be the best cam to buy for my engine. i dont mind if my power band his high, it would probbaly work better with a torker to have a high power band. right?

 

With the L48 I'd tune for torque, not RPMs.
Try the Comp 286 cam. I don't recall you posting your trans, but if automatic and stock stall speed this may be too much, try the 262. But if 4-speed and stock L48 go with the 268XE, and matching lifters and springs. Stay away from much more cam with stock L48 heads. I have the 268H cam with mildly worked heads and I think the heads are really holding me back.
Since you have til May, try the Vortec heads, new intake to match (Performer, NOT RPM), with Comp 262XE with auto trans or 268XE with 4-speed, and some kind of free-flowing exhaust. I may have blown your budget, but not by much.
And make sure your ignition system is up to snuff...crappy ignition will kill any combination.
Jeff

 

what rear gears do you have? if you have a manual i would guess they are 3.08s or less.

i would say do a cam and exaust. and if possible, buy some heads off an L-82 and machine them a little for higher compression. this may put you a little over $1000 though...

 

you want power on the cheap? i added nearly 50hp for >$500. sound good? try this: get a new cam, 260-280 range (i like the 268 and 274) this will require new lifters as well-$130ish through summit. find a set of 305HO heads. yes, that's three-ohhh-five! make sure they are the H.O. units with the 1.85 intake (the trick here is that in most production castings the valve isn't necessarily the limiting factor but the port, these 305 heads will flow as much as any non-vortec production 1.94 SBC head). put fresh springs and seals in them if they're not rebuilt. find a performer or similar dual plane manifold. install real headers but sidepipes aren't really that big an advantage. get a good ignition, i like jacobs but most people swear by MSD.
the real limiting factor of the L-48 is your compression, from a budget perspective. that is where the 305 heads come in. the 58cc chambers give you around a full point increase in compression. i would agree with everyone else about the vortec heads if you were anywhere near 9.0:1 but i'm guessing your probably alot closer to 8.2 or 8.5:1. next sell or trade the torker intake, it is really the wrong manifold for an engine that never sees 6500rpm (don't even tell me you've had that engine up there). i believe cali L82, 77 has a performer for sale for $50-60. on the exhaust, a 2.5 inch dual exhaust will support 300-350 hp easy. no reason for the side pipes other than they are just way cool. only problem is way cool doesn't help you win races. if your running an auto, a converter is probably also advisable but you need to get with some slush box guys about that.
you can generally pick up a set of 305 heads pretty cheap since there is a stigma about the 305 but there are a few of us who appreciate some of them!

 

From what i have done i'm running 14.2 in the quarter mile. I got a new cam (262xe) new intake (dual plane) got some head work done and also added headers and true dual exhaust. As for your l-48, the main thing holding you back is the heads and cam, well.. and exhaust system, just like any other post 75 vette.

 

Well I have a friend with an 88 lx auto, and he's running 13.8's the only thing he has is headers, off road middle pipe and a catback, he also removed the sway bar. Those things a very light and can really get good times. Now if your friend is a good driver you must be at 14.0 when you run him or you may be surprised.
As far as mods, you have a lot of info here already. Good Luck :cheers:

 

Give me the grand and I'll smoke him for ya!

 

I had a 88 winter beater. With around 250,000 km on the odometer otherwise stock with just 4.11 gears it runs 14.5's. Those mustangs are quick, get decent gas mileage and fun to drive.
You will have your work cut out.

 

Best bet (IMO) would be gears and sticky tires. Those 5.0's can be really
quick (and cheap). You said no N20, so you had better hook and go.
A big problem with Mustangs (at least when I raced mine) was lack of
traction. If you can blast him within the first 60' you may stand a chance.

 

I say go for the vortec heads (Iron) around 450. Then get an intake to match ($$ ?) and also a cam.

Heads cam intake exhaust. :cheers:

 

scorciae, I/M is jacked up right now. to read reply, go to your profile and view I/M history.

 

i just got that thanks, i got this from a website http://www.geocities.com/koolkars_2000/partlist.html

should i just get the regular used ones