just for the heck of it......

[Bronk]

that brings us back to the mustang. nearly 30mpg with over 400hp is pretty dam respectable ya know. or the v6 at 308 getting over 30mpg.

 just think....all of us middle aged, or old hot rodders.....whoda thunk, 30 years ago, that we'd be able to get more than 20mpg making decent power, much less topping 30mpg.

 and if it weren't for the epa and their bs, ford would be bringing the better focus over here......which is more powerful than the st, and i think still tops 40mpg. friggin SCARY.....in a fun way.
 i had that customer i've mentioned before with the 650hp 87 gt convertible. he just sold it. he mentioned about putting an order in for an 012 focus st.

My old 82 GT that I build would get fantastic gas mileage if I kept my toe out of it.  I could get around all week with out a fill up. However if you screwed around and pushed it you could burn a tank in an evening.

The car had over 300hp but I took every ounce of fat out of the car. I was young and did silly stuff like cutting out the bracing under the hood, doors and quarters. You could dent any body panel with a moderate push.  Hell I took all the sound deadening material out as well.  You closed the doors and it sounded like a bell.

My point is if these fat pony cars of today were not mandated to carry all the extra BS they'd be getting even better mpg.

[CAP1]

The Focus RS is the one I would get, if they'd bring it here.    300+ HP, Top Speed of 162 mph and a 0-60 in 5.9.    All of that from a Focus.   

 from everything i've read, it doesn't look like they're bringing that one. kinda sucks.

[CAP1]

My old 82 GT that I build would get fantastic gas mileage if I kept my toe out of it.  I could get around all week with out a fill up. However if you screwed around and pushed it you could burn a tank in an evening.

The car had over 300hp but I took every ounce of fat out of the car. I was young and did silly stuff like cutting out the bracing under the hood, doors and quarters. You could dent any body panel with a moderate push.  Hell I took all the sound deadening material out as well.  You closed the doors and it sounded like a bell.

My point is if these fat pony cars of today were not mandated to carry all the extra BS they'd be getting even better mpg.

 i had an 83 gl with a 5 liter, 5 speed with the trx suspension. i can start off by saying that the trx suspension was the most uncapable suspension ford ever put on a stang. to say it sucked is insulting things that suck.

 that being said.......i didn't know much about electronics back then. i took the duraspark dist. out, put in a dual point dist from my 289 hipo. total dwell was 35 degrees, total timing was 38 degrees, and it was all in by 2k rpm. took the motorcraft holly off, put a real holly on...i think it was a 650 double pumper, and played around with the squirters and jets......then went from stock manifolds to long tube headers.
 stock that car went 15.2's. it only managed mileages in the low teens, with my driving. with the above mods, it went 13.8's, and mileage came up to nearly 20, with no other changes. i tossed one of those mr gasket air intakes on there(remember the chrome ones that looked like the ones on funny cars of that era?)....that brought me to 13.5's. pretty good i felt for a schmuck not knowing much at the time.

[Bronk]

i had an 83 gl with a 5 liter, 5 speed with the trx suspension. i can start off by saying that the trx suspension was the most uncapable suspension ford ever put on a stang. to say it sucked is insulting things that suck.

 that being said.......i didn't know much about electronics back then. i took the duraspark dist. out, put in a dual point dist from my 289 hipo. total dwell was 35 degrees, total timing was 38 degrees, and it was all in by 2k rpm. took the motorcraft holly off, put a real holly on...i think it was a 650 double pumper, and played around with the squirters and jets......then went from stock manifolds to long tube headers.
 stock that car went 15.2's. it only managed mileages in the low teens, with my driving. with the above mods, it went 13.8's, and mileage came up to nearly 20, with no other changes. i tossed one of those mr gasket air intakes on there(remember the chrome ones that looked like the ones on funny cars of that era?)....that brought me to 13.5's. pretty good i felt for a schmuck not knowing much at the time.

 
I had a lot of help and guidance from the older motor heads I worked with... do this don't do that. Believe me I wanted to do a ton of stupid crap that would have cost me a bunch and done little for performance. Best advise was the cutting weight, it is pretty much free hp.... i went overboard.

I had free hand in the bone yard I was working in... we had it all there, torches , welders, frame machine and many other assorted goodies. Yea getting it to hook was a chore. My boss had the bright idea of making tube rear upper and lower control arms with heim joints. With a lot of help and adjustments we got it to hook up quite a bit better. Then I was blowing up spider gears like clockwork... the fix... well i was about out of $ so a welder took care of my spider gear prob. You can guess what was welded. Needless to say broken spider gears and rear diff clutch packs were no longer a problem.  You ever disconnect the front sway bar?

[CAP1]

 
I had a lot of help and guidance from the older motor heads I worked with... do this don't do that. Believe me I wanted to do a ton of stupid crap that would have cost me a bunch and done little for performance. Best advise was the cutting weight, it is pretty much free hp.... i went overboard.

I had free hand in the bone yard I was working in... we had it all there, torches , welders, frame machine and many other assorted goodies. Yea getting it to hook was a chore. My boss had the bright idea of making tube rear upper and lower control arms with heim joints. With a lot of help and adjustments we got it to hook up quite a bit better. Then I was blowing up spider gears like clockwork... the fix... well i was about out of $ so a welder took care of my spider gear prob. You can guess what was welded. Needless to say broken spider gears and rear diff clutch packs were no longer a problem.  You ever disconnect the front sway bar?

 shop i used to work at, we had a customer with an 88 gt. he set it in his mind, that he was gonna get that car in the 10's on the original engine. he went overboard lightening it up.......including removing the heater box, scraping off the undercoating, etc. he had the car weighed, it was a tick over 2600#.
 he took it to the track, clicked off a pair of 11.20's. they escorted him off the track, due to lack of rollcage. when he had the cage put in, he was right back up to 3100#.
 he ran 3 stage nitrous. clicked off a 10.77. he also broke the block on that pass. he didn't seem to care though, seeing as he got into the 10's.


 funny how much things have changed......the new coyote 5 liters go into the 10's with minimal work now.

[Bronk]

Those GTs were fat.. the LXs were the way to go after 86.

[CAP1]

Those GTs were fat.. the LXs were the way to go after 86.

 yea i know. my 89 was a 12 second car, driven daily. i think the exact combo in an lx would've been in the 11/s.