Who Wants to Bet?

[pdub]

I'm not a gambling man, I sure used to be. That is, making a bet for money. I used to bet on whether or not the sun would rise in the morning and I always lost.

But let's don't bet money. Let's just "bid." Let's "bid" instead of bet.

Red's a stock 4.6L with a cold air intake and Magnaflow exhaust (now). With the stock factory setup Red went 139 mph in 4th gear on the rev limiter at the Ohio Mile. Straight out of the box. He's a little bit peppier than that now, with the bolt-ons and the 93 octane tune.

Red has a 5th Gear, overdrive, I never got to it on the Mile.I ran out of track. Let's bid, how fast can Red go at Daytona? I have no idea. I'll bid....nope, I'm not gonna bid at all. We have until December to think about it. But I wonder.....I'm not at all looking forward to doing that, if I seem excited.....I'm dreading the opportunity to turn Red Loose on the high banks....never mind, shut up peewee.

[JamesMayberryIII]

RED will go faster than the balls of the driver...
Have you tested the tire psi cold and the rise when warm/hot?? I would before you get on that track..

I'd also.. add some better fuel to the tank to up the octane a tad to 95-96 as you'll be high rpm for a few miles per lap if they let you hang it out..

you said 100k on this cars plugs? hows the u joints... triple check them.

[Barry Donovan]

my first thought was tread as well. I'd guess 150.. not sure where ford limits them.
I remember 150 being a number on my monte carlo SS. International laws of some kind.

A guru must know when the car squats into potential rubs.
Sidewall values, not just speed are in play on the corners. G force.

I hope you get a video, like that landspeed run that recorded sound down the middle... you had it near where your rear mirror would be.

if to doubt the guesses, even my truck at a 5000 pound brick climbs to 121 in fourth, at just 5 liters and 20 years old. Never got to end of fifth...no time to try.
Needs a real closed track.(my event was road rage - I don't need to repeat it).
For 1996, there is no limiter, but death.

[JamesMayberryIII]

my first thought was tread as well. I'd guess 150.. not sure where ford limits them.
I remember 150 being a number on my monte carlo SS. International laws of some kind.

Whatever the speed rating of the oem tires was will be the limit, that ford cuts the fun..

[pdub]

Whatever the speed rating of the oem tires was will be the limit, that ford cuts the fun..

The tune I put on Red includes Speed Limiter "Off." I originally got the tuner to turn the traction control off to run on road courses. Red's one of a few weird ones, there's no TCS button on the dash. I think they actually ran out of TCS buttons on the assembly line that day, and the TCS was by default "On."

Hmmmm 93 octane? Let's try that. That made a feel-able difference beyond the stock setup (what I ran down the Mile). The CAI made another improvement, then the Magnaflow exhaust made the CAI a little happier after that. Those stock exhaust pipes were beyond ugly, I didn't know until I cut them off of the car. The bend where they went over the rear axle, they were flat on one side and half-oval on the other side, they looked like somebody had bent the pipes over their knee.

It's amazing what a tuner can do to the newer cars. When I put a race tune on Unit's fusion to run the Mile, it was hilarious the difference it made. But for sure you don't want to drive it like that all the time, it'll tear itself up probably. Especially the "Shift Hard" setup. BAM! Four times before you can toodle up to 35 mph in town, BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

[JamesMayberryIII]

Was the speed limiter, ign kill or fuel off?
Wait till you ride on the high banking.. if you can ride/drive over to the turn on the apron and then turn as you were heading for the outside wall..(slowly of course ) and you'll be looking at the sky.. it's kinda neat.. walking up it from the apron is really how you get to tell just how much banking it has.. N.H.M.S. has very little banking per the specs.. but when you walk out to the outside wall and look into the infield you get a sense of how much of a height difference it makes..
Now if we only could get them to repave the highways this way...

[pdub]

Was the speed limiter, ign kill or fuel off?

I suspect ignition kill, if it works like the rev limiter. Could be either, though. I dunno. I've hit the rev limiter, the engine just quits, abruptly. And goes right back to running happy when you slow down a little bit.