Okay so I just picked up my 10ae not too long ago and was just hanging out at my cousin's house (extreme mustang freak) and we got to talking about potential and realistic expectations of the car. My cousin's friend has a real super nice '93 mustang cobra with various suspension upgrades as well as the basic mustang mods to which hes setting the standard. To make a long story short, he said that he would be real, real surprised if i was ever able to make my TII run alongside, or even close to this modded cobra. This car would run probably mid 13's, and would do real well in a road course setting. I'm giving myself this level of performance to at least meet, with hopes of someday maybe even eclipsing. This is my second TII, so i know the potential, however in my last one i wasn't even able to scratch the surface of possible mods. My questions is: with a budget that doesn't have thousands of spare dollars, do you think its possible to achieve the goal i've set for myself? I'm willing and able to spend some pretty decent change, but something like a giant turbo and fmic are out of the question, at least for the time being. I just want to get a decent grasp upon what level of performance i can shoot for even if i'm not able to topple this challenge. Thanks guys.

 

performance on a budget= 2 words, nitrous oxide. it can be volatile to the engine, but if done correctly you could probably smoke the rustang and not blow the engine.

 

plus you have a weight advantage, it's not gonna take as much power to put a t2 in the 13s as it would a mustang.

 

Thats what i was figuring on being in my favor as well, however, those fox bodies aren't exactly tanks. I guess i hadn't really taken nitrous into consideration. I'm thinking though i want consistant power, i don't want to leave him a crutch on which to fall afterwords... Thanks for the advice though, i'm listening.

 

it also relies on driving skills as well, he can have the faster car but if you can drive better it could go either way. but assuming you both can drag race well, i would say it wouldn't take thousands of dollars to beat him. i've seen 10th ae with a single outlet 3" exhaust mild port, FCD and TID mod running about 10 psi of boost make it into the 13s. you should start there, intake and exhaust and see what you get, assuiming that your t2 is in top notch running condition. also remove all emissions with air pump and block off the EGR valve, and that will free up some extra power, and it's relatively cheap, free if you make your own block off plates for the ACV, EGR, and BAC. make sure you get a fuel cut denfenser if you're gonna run the stock ECU. if you're real hardcore remove the a/c and switch to a manual steering rack to ditch the power steering. just stuff off the top of my head, and won't cost alot, except for the full 3" exhaust which you can now get from corksport.com. they have full 3" turbo back for like $600-$700, can't remember exact but check it out.

 

Full exhaust= 500 (exhaust shop)
intake= 100
fuel pump= 100
gauges= 150
SAFC= 300
Dyno Tune= 200ish
Sticy rear tires= 250
MBC= 50
Total= 1650

That will get you to mid 13's at 12psi of boost.

 

Forgot the FCD for 50

 

Whatever you do, always remember to have your car tuned right on dyno. It's worth the price if you don't wanna cost the engine by running too lean. Plus it will give you some significant gains with bumped up boost.

You can pick up good parts for cheap price if you visit parts for sale section frequently.

 

Actually, they were pretty damn heavy. I don't know the numbers off the top of my head, but I'd say its at least 500-600 pounds heavier than your T-II. The crappy 4-cyl mustangs of that body style were similar if not slightly lighter than a T-II, but the engine, tranny, and corresponding upgrades added something like 700 pounds to its curb weight. Also, matching his car's handling shouldn't be too hard.

 

Word, $500 in suspension mods should eat up the mustang on a track.

****, stock the 7 may have the advantage.

 

I used to own an '87 Mustang 5.0, and it would take massive amounts of money to get it to equal the handeling of a stock 7. Due to the big cast-iron V-8, most of its weight is up front, plus it has a live rear axle.

 

It may or may not, but the TII I've been driving handles better than any car I've ever driven before. My freind has a 89 Firebird Formula ("upgraded" WS6 suspension from the factory) that we used to do canyon runs in, and the TII is MUCH faster at them while feeling much more controlled. Just thought I'd throw that in

 

yeah the t2 will handle much better. mustangs handle like ****. takes a REAL driver to control them.

 

Thanks for the input guys, very much. Thats what i like so much about this site, you can ask a question as pretty much a noob and not just get laughed at. g'job guys.

 

Being a rx7 FREAK, and a CHEVROLET FAN as a domestic MFG. I would jump all over a '93 COBRA if the right price came along. I love the FOX body and the sleek look. My neighbor has a RED one that he is restoring and making it a collectors. its very impressive. But back to the topic you could achieve your goal with sticking with him for a minimal amount of $.

 

Okay, so i called a shop back in my home town thats kinda struggling for just an estimate on how much it'd be to get some exhaust made for me done there. They have 3'' pipe in stock and said that they could do it for just a couple hundred, maybe a little more. So i'm looking at somewhere in the $200-300 range for full exhaust. Do you think that 3'' is kinda an overkill if i was to run the setup mentioned above?

 

Oh, i agree Dan, this cobra is unreal. It has like 30k and is just immaculate. Its black and is as perfect as it was the day it rolled off the showroom floor. The mods were well planned out too. Nothing to change the car, just improve upon what came stock. The ideal fox body IMO.

 

3" is fine....don't forget the Fuel Cut Defender.....you might be hitting up to 9.5 psi or more with free-flowing exhaust...nice intake should help a bit too......