Still working steadily here on prepping the Crown Vic for racing at Bonneville in September. It spent the last 2 weeks at MO’s Speed Shop in Dallas, GA getting engine work and a “Marty Tune”. Martin Ochs is well known as the go-to guy for tuning the 4.6L Ford engine especially in the Ford Panther Platform. It was well worth the two trips down there and I’m excited about the good HP increase we achieved and the tuning for my specific goals. The engine got new hotter cams, new valve springs, new timing chain set, new Stainless Works headers with tuned exhaust. Also changed out the intake elbow to a better one. Re-balanced the drive shaft and new U-joints. It’s now tuned to run its best on E-85 pump gas. With no changes to the stock heads and engine internals we were able to add 80 HP at the rear wheels (Naturally aspirated). And the power curve is where the big difference lies. The old stock Ford tuning reached max power at about 4900 RPM and then stopped climbing and just leveled out or decreased slightly. Most likely they were pulling out timing and fuel. Now it ramps up quicker, pulls hard to 5500 RPM and brings most of the new power in at higher speed which is where I need it.
On the chassis dyno we hit 140 mph within about 1400 feet of distance so, even with traction losses on the salt factored in, that should give me a good chance to hit my 135 mph goal within the one mile allowed. But we’ll see in the real world come September.
Since bringing the car back home I’ve been trying to Do a few other improvements. The oil vapor system is now routed from both valve covers into a separate catch can so we’re not trying to burn oily vapors. I did remove the engine compartment side of the A/C system so various holes to the vehicle interior have to be covered. And the biggest addition is some permanent aero improvements on the front end by covering some of the front bumper openings with something other than tape and, I fabricated a one piece front under body pan from an aluminum sheet. The car only had a small plastic piece under there originally and I got a chance to watch it from behind one day as someone else drove the car. As soon as you hit about 45 mph that plastic piece fluttered like crazy under the car. It showed first hand how much turbulence there was under there. So now its a smooth cover from the front edge of the bumper cover back to the engine cradle and stops just in front of the oil pan. It should help direct air flow rearward under the car instead of swirling around under the engine/radiator area. I understand the potential engine cooling ramifications but think I can cool it off easy enough after each run If it gets hot.
Its been lots of fun building this into a race car and looking forward to some faster runs this year and then seeing where the next improvements will be needed.
I still have plans for a rear deck spoiler/wicker bill design if time allows. I’m off to Bonneville next week to spectate during Speed Week, visit family and then back to Michigan for final prep and loading up the car to head back to Utah and race.
At MO’s Speed Shop and on their chassis dyno.
Fabricating the front belly pan was a fun project and got to use my bead roller for the first time on something useful. It really stiffens up that sheet aluminum. Attachments worked out perfectly to use existing factory bolts under the car to attach it other than three I had to drill into the engine cradle.
www.brightonairport.org
That’s why I take it to a local race car fabricator for this type of stuff. He has the tubing bender, is an excellent welder and knows how to properly locate the tubing to the frame so I don’t have any worries going through tech inspection. It’s done right.
