Hello all, Finally got a little time to work on the Comet since the Army has been moving us all over the freakin' place. Finished building the turbo block with all the Tom Morano goodies (forged 4.2 stroker kit, main cap support girdle, etc) and I now have the block in place. I'm working on the wiring next, but I have to hold until I get another half to the wiring harness. It doesn't look like much progress, but most of the work is in the engine. I have my alum aerostar driveshaft at the shop getting shortened to work with the T5 and the clutch quadrant/cable kit is in the mail. I thought I'd show some fitment photos incase any of you guys have a dead 3.8 out of a mustang t-bird and have always pondered putting it in there. The good news is that theres TONS of space up front. I'm guessing i will have a good 12-14 inches between the water pump pulley and the core support once all accessories and bracketry is in place. That will give me more than enough room for the twin turbo piping and intercooler. I haven't decided on size yet, but I'm leaning toward a pair of chinese .57 or .60 turbos to get me started. I will eventually upgrade to garrets, but I can't afford them yet. Until then, these cheapos will get me by as far as piping and fitment. I'm not racing this girl (I'm still chipping away at the wife on that one), so she'll be more for cruise/show for the time being. Any suggestions on the drag race argument? I may get points for originality, but it will be a tough fight. I cigar-rolled my first maverick at Heartland Park in Topeka so I can't tell her there's no danger involved. Maybe I can play the whole Post Traumatic Stress card and tell her I need some form of healthy adrenaline rush to gear down to civilian life. I figure with the turbos in place, she'll wizz all over most of the local cars on drag night. I work with a guy who was bragging that after spending about 5-10k on his engine mods, he finally got his new Evo to break 12s. I can only smile and look forward to meeting his $40,000 evo on the track. (of course, thats if the wife will let me) Wish me luck guys...It would be a shame to put all this work into her and never let her run. Take it easy, brethren.
I had a complete blower set up from a Super Coupe at one time I had thought about using. I imagine the twin turbo would put out more HP though. Might be a lot easier with the stock blower set up though. Ever think about doing that? Nice looking work you are doing clint
my wife said no drag racing, so when we were out cruising the car shortly after i got on the road. i came to a stop, she was asking whats wrong, i just said hold on and floored it. she was screaming and yelling stop stop stop. so i slowed down then she said dont ever do that again with out telling me, now do it again. from then on she understood what the car was built for and we go drag racing she will ride along some times on the track. she loves it. anything i want that is safty equipment is a easy sale to her. its the power stuff that shes not so eager to let me get. so now my car is caged and geting a fire system soon. i have a fire jacket and i only run 8.5s in the 1/8th. but i am puting nitrous on and will be building a beter motor.
Hey Clint, Actually, I did a lot of research on the whole s/c vs turbo argument and decided to go turbo. Although superchargers are more "streetable" since they don't require spool-up time they actually drain a little horsepower since the s/c is driven by the pulley system. I went with turbo since I think it will actually be easier to arrange the piping under the hood rather than getting a s/c to fit on top of the engine somehow. As far as twin turbo, I couldn't tell you the gross numbers as far as how they compare. Technically, a twin setup won't add any more power than a single turbo setup since all it's doing is splitting the same load in half. So, the durability is improved since each turbo is only processing half of the engine, but my max boost will still be set at about 15psi. I've seen series turbo setups which are totally sick. Engine ran into a small turbo for quick spoolup then the small turbo dumped into a huge turbo for mass hp gains. Insane setup and probably deadly since he was totaling over 30 lbs of boost. That's out of my price range and level of bravery. This car is too light for a lightweight setup that approaches the 1000hp range. Of course, his car was a dyno queen and he never raced it.
mounts have to be fab'd. stock 302 upper mounts were welded to the engine plates (ugly), but the frame mounts were un-modified.
good advice on the mrs. Get it running, let those turbos throw her in the backseat and we'll see. Heck, mine doesn't like old-school cars but she loves the styling of the mav. That's why she let me get one. I was driving a 72 442 convertible (beautiful car) and she thought it was "ok", but she loves the mav. I intend to let her drive it as well since it's small and maneuverable. I hope once she gets behind the wheel she will understand the rush and let me race her.
I've never run on a 1/8 track...what's it like? Does it still have the adrenaline rush that a 1/4 has? I know a lot of tracks are going 1/8 for amateurs since it cuts down on wrecks. Heck, I might even let the mrs take her on a 1/8 run once (or if) I find out what times she posts.
Hey krelboyne, Man, the manifolds are butt f-ugly, but they don't leak and they do the job. A straight tube with 3 inlets, downpipe bunged for 02 sensor. Obviously they're inefficient, but they're the best I can do for now without taking a torch to my shock tunnels. That will come later and I will then use the stock 3.8 shortys, rotate the flanges and face them forward straight into the turbos. It will be real clean once done. If you're going n/a, even with the towers notched, clearing the steering box is a bigger challenge than the towers. I figure either way it would need some kind of fab if the manifolds are going back.
running 1/8 mile is still lots of fun. when i ran the 1/4 the last have of the track was time to sit back and enjoy the ride. the first half is when the work happens. i understand the concept of 1/8 mile have less crashes but when i used to goto a 1/4 mile track all the time (carlsbad raceway) i never saw a crash. i now goto barona and i cant count the number of crashes ive seen there. i suspect its be cause barona is a beter track and faster cars run there. at carls bad it was a very rare time to see a car that could dip into the 8s. where at barona there are alot of cars that run in 4s wich would be 7s in the 1/4. 1/8 mile racing is alot beter than no racing.
good point on the 1/8 race. I personally liked the 1/4, because it showed the difference in cars. Some cars got off the line quicker but ran out of steam and others ran some serious comebacks on the second half once they hit their powerband. But like you said, racing is racing. I love watching it all.
