"TWN TRBL"
Shaun's 1990 Mustang Cobra Clone
Click above for the "Twin Trouble" picture gallery!
Hmmmm, it doesn't look like a fast Mustang, especially with those 17" rims. And that, friends, is what we refer to as A SLEEPER! In fact, it doesn't even sound like a fast Mustang. Thanks to the EEC-IV, Incon Muffler Bearings, and Dynomaxes, the car hums like a stock 5.0. But why take my word for it? Bring your Viper, C5, Porsche, Ferrari, or whatever to Chicagoland and find out the hard way!
"Oh yeah, well, Mustangs are belly button cars - everybody has one." Well, that may be, but how many Cobras do you see painted Mercedes Glazurit black, striped and buffed to a mirror shine by an Italian guy named Vince? The stock steel hood is stored safely in the rafters, and may find its way onto the car again - this one was employed to give red hot air another "out." It will get painted.
The first time we took this car out with the Incon kit, it obliterated the tires in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears. It was then that I truly realized how nice a "serious" car can be. No Dzus fastners, a real interior, a small cam, small gears plus an overdrive, extremely quiet exhaust, runs on 93 all day long, and easy starting in any weather.
To date, the car's best run remains 11.95 @ 120 mph. Would you like to build one for yourself? Check out these pages:
Incon Install #1
Coming soon:
Current Motor (#2)
Driveline
Chassis/Interior
9.13.06
Sally video: kicking dick, then explodifying.
Mustang 1 (7.1M and shakey! sorry)
Mustang 2 (9.0M)
Well, first off, it exploded. Sort of. Sally returned to GLD to finally bat off her long awaited 10 and met disaster. Yep, blown headgasket. Except this time, nobody felt bad about it, and she made it home under her own power.
Since the last update, we almost burned the car to the ground after a few aborted runs at Byron in Summer 2004. No amount of tweaking could get the TwEECer to respond to the new meter and injectors, which ultimately resulted in a decreasing injector pulsewidth as RPMs increased. Every run or test street blast resulted in normal fueling (11.5:1) to about 3500 RPM, and then leaning to 14:1 or higher by 6000. Nobody had any answers as to what was causing this, so Shaun broke down and bought a F.A.S.T. and a plug n' play harness. So long, injector resistor box. :( Also, a built AOD - with a fresh PI converter - was swapped in place of the Tremec (which was an entire debacle unto itself), along with taller front coil-over springs and Strange 10-way adjustable shocks for better launching.
After all the new goodies, Sally made 460 RWHP on LS1speed's dyno (ls1speed.com) with the usual 10 lbs of boost, 11.5:1 and 21o of timing. At the track, with the tune untouched, Shaun went 11.99 @ 120 with a 1.9 60'. 1000' into a hot lap (this time with 23o of timing), the car began sounding like a fucked up Harley / lawnmower. Despite backing out, the car went 11.96 @ 110. Oil pressure and coolant temps were fine, and we noticed a loose header bolt on inspection, and the block is o-ringed, so we ruled out headgasket failure. Once on the rack, the devastation was immediately apparent - the bottom part of the gasket on #8 (?? I have no idea what hole that is, what with the crazy Ford cylinder numbering scheme) was squeezed out between the block and head, and the spark plug wire was getting a little charred from the blowby. This was impossible to see with the Incon manifolds in the way, so we didn't feel that bad. The tune was perfectly safe this time around...who knows when the gaskets really got hurt? Anyway, this motor has been together for 2 years and has seen plenty of unsafe, boosted blasts, so one might tell us to count our blessings.
There's a new stroker A-4 shortblock sitting on the stand, waiting for new pistons and clean-up machine work / balancing. Will it, along with two too-big turbos and custom pipes, make it into the car for next summer? Stay tuned! We just need to find someone that can weld and fab stuff. Any ideas?
Ok, time to get serious, well, more serious. 42# injectors are for kids, so are Pro-M bullet meters. I finally bit the bullet and bucked up for a real fuel system. The details are as follows:
These mods were deemed necessary since the 42#ers were running at 100% duty cycle and the old meter was pegging at 1800 kg/hour….with only 8psi of boost! Before all of you corn pipes start with the old "my car got in the 9s with 42#ers, yours should too" trick, your car probably weighs 2800lbs. (Anthony's note: For reference, Shaun's car weighs over 3600lbs...on a good day.) For all the non-believers, let's do a little math:
My air fuel ratio: 11.7: and climbing dangerously to 14:1. Obviously, since I was pegging the meter at 1800kg/hr (66.14 lb/min or 3968.32 lb/hr), I was flowing at least that much air. Back to the math:
Re-arranging the previous equation
(339.17 lb/min) / (8 injectors) = 42.40 lb/hour
So…. In order to maintain 11.7:1 AFR, I need 42.4 lb/hr injectors. Gay. Since I don't like running 90psi of fuel pressure and only 8psi of boost, bigger injectors are actually necessary.
Ok, enough about that. Sally should be back together haunting the streets of the Chicago subs by early spring, then its time to tune our way into the 10's. Listen for undersized turbos, an oversized fuel system, and open down pipes. That should be the last of the upgrades for a while, its time to focus on finding a house and building the top secret induction system on Anthony's Fury. But then again, maybe its time for a dart block, and glide, and a pair of t-76gts's……
Sally visits her old nemesis: GLD. After Bruce almost tossed Sally off the rent-a-dolly TWICE, Shaun just decided to drive it. We (Shaun and I in the Mustang, Duder in his Maxima, and Shaun's dad and Uncle Wayne in the 'Camino) wheeled up on Sunday morning, which was also Black Sunday at GLD. Shaun put a couple gallons of 110 in the tank and asked:
Shaun: "What do you think it'll run?"
Me: "Over 115."
Sure enough, Shaun bogged big out of the hole and went 12.8........at 119 M.P.H. On the next run, we pulled the race readys off (which deserve their own domain name and website, since our fab work on these is so damn cool!) and Shaun hit the track again. With no backpressure, the integral wastegates in the GT35BBs said "No shirt, no shoes, no service!" and boost shot up right to about 13 psi. Before Shaun saw the boost gauge, he noticed A/F ratios leaning. At 13.0:1, Shaun glanced at the boost gauge, came out of the throttle immediately, and coasted to a 13.8 @ 88 mph. Why was it leaning out at higher boost levels? Shaun's injectors and MAF meter were maxing out at 8 psi - at 13, the MAF had no idea what to tell the computer besides 1800 kg/hr. Side note: with the old heads and cam, the meter wasn't pegging at 10 psi, and now it does with 8.....the TFS twisted wedges (280/240 cfm @ 0.600") and F cam are really teaming up in a big way to let more air in.
Sally walks a modded Viper GTS on the street.
As the story goes, Shaun and I were tooling around NOT minding our own businesses (in fact, you could say we were hunting). We pulled up next to a C5 with a guy and his gay boyfriend driving around....they wouldn't even look at us. Shaun chuckles and points to a low, bulbous red thing with a big wing that's three cars up ahead. What the hell? We get right behind this guy, and sure enough, it's a Viper GTS.
Shaun: "Think he'll want to race?"
Me: "Hell yeah he will - look at that wing!"
We followed him onto Main Street (NOTE: This is a desolate part of Glen Ellyn, especially at 12:30 A.M. If you must engage in an acceleration competition, please do so with the utmost care and responsibility. Consider your surroundings - you don't want to go to jail for killing a little kid on his bike, much less watch his head splatter against your windshield like a watermelon. You're the one that has to live with that.) and pulled up next to him. We gave eachother the thumbs up, and it was on. As the V10 and the TT302 wound up, both cars were pretty much even at the start (30 mph), but Sally gradually pulled a fender on the guy. The guy fell slightly as he shifted, but came back up - too bad Sally kept pulling like a 13 year old kid that just figured out how to masturbate. At 80 mph (less than 5 seconds after we started, according to the datalog), Shaun came out of it, prompting the other guy to slow as well.
The guy's first comment was
Guy: "You're lucky my bottles weren't on! You wanna race for
some money?"
Shaun: "No man, we're still tuning it."
Guy: "What did you do to this thing!??!"
Shaun: "It's stock with a 50 shot on top.
Guy: "Pull over at the White Hen, I've gotta see what you've done."
We pull in and start talking. Shaun shows off Sally's two suprises, and the guy says:
Guy: "Wow, I couldn't even hear this thing, no BOV noises or anything!"
Yeah, could it have had anything to do with the fact that this guy had practically no mufflers? Remember kids, the Dynomax mufflers really help on the street! So after the guy refuses to tell us what he's done with his car, he gets in his $80,000 retail car (before mods) and drives away. The guy seemed kind of sad; I mean, I really felt like giving him a hug. As he idles away, the Viper is loudly ca-cacking, indicating at LEAST a huge cam - in addition to the 2 nitrous bottles behind his seat.
Giddy as the guy on "Will and Grace," we went back to Shaun's house and called everyone we knew. Later on...
Me: "I guess I know what a parent must feel like to have his kid hit a home run or graduate college."
Shaun: "Yeah, in the same night!"
Anyway, it really happened, and we have a datalog to prove it! Shaun will add his side of the story / corrections, along with the datalog and some track times / stories.
Well, first off, It exploded. The last thing i heard was "Bzweeeeeeeeeeee.....boom...click". The Click was the sound of me shifting into 4th gear after the bottom end grenaded. I guess I didn't hit the rev limiter like I initially thought. Either way, it ran a pants-pooping 13.8 @ 109mph, that was coasting the last 1/3 of the track and spinning all through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear until the motor let go. A $200 tow home later i found all the main bearings out, half of the rod bearings, 2 blown Hg's, and maby some mystery cracks in the stock block. I guess Anthony was right, Incons on a 110k mile stock block wasn't one of my best ideas. After years of research and scientific analysis, the trouble was traced back to a limp mode problem and an incorrectly adjusted TPS sensor, courtesy of the Interceptor II. Time for round 2.
Before we get into the new negative investment under the stock steel hood, the No Excuses crew would like to clarify something: the definition of a race car. A real Race Car has A/C, P/S, a radio, back seat, and a roll cage, and its called a Street Car. Now that we have cleared that up, on with the show...
The new combo!!
Engine:
Rebuilt stock bottom end, studed, girdled, and O-ringed deck (no more blown HG's)
TFS Twisted Wedge heads stage 2 ported by Keith Crafts mom. 280/240 @.600
TFS Street Heat intake w/a stage 0.89 ported lower by my mom's son.
FMS F-303 cam-top secret specs known only by anyone with a Summit/FMS catalog
FMS 1.6 rockers
Melling SV oil pump
Canton 7qt pan (its pan-tastic!)
Incon 800hp twin turbo block splitting kit (thanks Cal's wife??)
Computer/Fuel system:
EEC IV A3m
TwEECer R/T (tuned exclusively by the No Excuseses crew that was responsible for explodifying the first engine)
Wb-O2 (Built by nonother but me and and lobster himself)
Toshiba Laptop from Corey who got it for free from that woman who apparently liked porn with guys that were flexible
Walbro gss340 high pressure intank
Walsis gss392 high pressure inline
FMS 42#...errr 19# squirters
Drive Train:
Tremec 3550 trans (gonna have a pro-shifted box for the track and dates with women)
Steeda Tri-ax shifter
Spec stage 3 clutch
Ram aluminum flywheel (actually, Anthony thinks it's really a tungsten alloy with a core of pure selenium)
FMS aluminum drive shaft
Lakewood leg-removal-proof bellhousing
Chassis/suspension:
Maximum motorsport 6pt cage
Shaunthony's full length 304 stainless steel subframe connectors
4 banger front springs (car has more rake than a cub scout earning a merit badge)
rear FMS C(rap) springs
BFG 275-40-17 DR's in the back
BFG comp T&A 245-45-17 rubberbands hanging a foot off the ground up front
D/S loop to prevent automatic entry into the GLD semi-annual poll-vault event
Well, i think thats about it. Its detuned for break in, only 6psi of boost. Were shooting of 500/500 at the wheels with 10psi on pump gas As for track times, were shooting for mid to high 10's @ 125+mph on the 17" DR's. If we ever get the balls to crank the boost up to 18psi or so, we're gonna fill the tank with c116 and head for the 9's. Watch for flying parts and the brown noise.
Yes "Keith," this will definately hang with 7s and quests.
Stay tuned for the next encounter with Adam's 12 second GN. Think he has a chance? Send your comments! We would love to get your input! I am not lying! GN's are magic!
