As a public service announcement to those not-so-veteran in the mustang crowd out there, I have, in cooperation with others who are ?in the know? developed this list of dumbfuckled mustang internet mythology. This is the type of crap that is perpetuated on boards of overflowing wisdom, like the Corral, by people who don?t have the first clue what the hell they are talking about. This point of this post is to attempt to:
- Allow people to realize the false logic contained these myths, and
- Know to steer clear of said people who spread them, by knowing they are dumbasses
Each morsel of mythology will be followed by a short explanation why it is not true, unless it is just so incredibly stupid that it was posted merely for posterity and as a tribute to the level of dumbfuckedness that is so pervasive on internet tech forums.
So, without further reckless banter, here goes:
The Myths:
Longtubes will lose low-end power/torque on a stock mustang.
Mike Hudson - I went with the ever too big 1-5/8" LT’s on an otherwise factory original 5.0 and gained hp and tq all across the board. A min. gain of 5hp/tq was seen at 2000(where the pull started) and paeks of 15.2hp and 14.7tq were recorded. Peaks were up a mere 100rpm for hp and 200 rpm for TQ. Dynos are neat and all, so, at the track, with the extra hp and rpm I gained a soild 3/10ths and 2mph.
Forged pistons are bad in daily drivers because they expand.
Mike Hudson - Not that my experience is anything special, but for a vehicle that only see’s short (6 mile) trips and drag strip action, my stock forged pistons have yet to exhibit oil consumption issues, piston slap issues, or damage from 4th gear pulls while detonating. Paul ? When running N/A combinations, hypereutectic pistons aren?t bad because they are lighter and you can run tighter piston-to-wall clearances.
A 70mm TB will make you lose low-end torque on a stock motor.
It doesn?t matter. The size of the throat on the intake will limit the amount of CFM of flow that the TB is capable of, and the resulting power gain/loss will be so small as to be negligible, like within +/- 1 hp. All the TB does is flow air.
Drag Radials don’t work on “high powered” cars.
Dwayne ?Big Daddy? Gutridge has gone 8s on DR?s. A Toyota Supra (currently the DR world champ) has gone even faster with over 1000rwhp. Mike Byrd (86Cobra) cuts 1.60 sixty foots with a simple suspension setup and drag radials in his 86 convertible stang.
You cannot run slicks with stock axles.
SVT Doug is going low low low 1.6’s on stock axles in a SN95.
Buffhomer is going 1.5’s in a lightened Fox GT.
My sorry butt has gone a million low 1.7’s in a full weight Fox. (Mike Hudson)
I have seen a car go 10.20 @ 132 on an 11.50 ET Drag in a fox car with stock four lug axles.
They won?t last forever in high horsepower/torque applications in heavy cars, but they?ll do just fine for a good long while.
3.55’s are the best gear for stockers.
Mike Hudson - Never lost to a 3.55 gear’d stocker. Not even one with more mods and/or less weight.
Paul ? It is generally accepted that for fox 5.0 cars, 3.73s are the way to go for a good street/strip manual transmission, 4.10s for an auto. The modular cars like more gear, so maybe 4.10s for a stick (or higher) and all the way up to 4.56s or 4.88s otherwise, depending on how aggressive you want the car. Jason Ball (99Cobra) ran 12.50s in Texas in a stock motored 99 Cobra with 4.56 gears and a five speed.
4.10’s make first gear useless.
Bad drivers make first gear useless.
E7 exhaust ports suck.
Mike Hudson - See above comments on long tube headers. If the port were bad, would I have gained? If it were so bad, would stockers respond so well to N2O? On top of that, the stock port flows 80% of the stock intake… what more do you want?
Paul ? it?s a stock cylinder head, it?s not going to flow like an aftermarket aluminum head, however, they do just fine the way they are.
You need mass air to do heads cam intake.
Mike Hudson - Something about 114* lobe separation, and some critical timeing of durations… beyond me really, buy Bob Cosby and Ed H. have gone into the 11’s with worked over stock heads, intakes, and fancy cams with SD. Many other run H/C/I with SD in daily drivers. Members of 5.0 Tech forums also know otherwise.
ET Streets are the same as ET Drags… but with grooves.
Compound and sidewall differ. Buffhomer went from mid/low 1.6’s to mid high 1.5’s with nothing other than a switch to Et Drags from ET Streets. Gould dropped over a 1/10th in 60’ by going from Et Streets to Hoosier slicks… many others will say the same. Also, the actual measured tread width on the same advertised width between ET Street and ET Drag according to measurements by members of AZ Mustangs.
Add timing till it pings, then back it off, that makes best power.
Mike Hudson - Well, not with the Mouse. She’d handle 17*, but like 15* best.
Paul - Not necessarily true, more timing does not always mean more power. Especially in racegas situations where the fuel doesn?t burn as rapidly and too much timing can cause incomplete burn.
AOD?s are eternally slow.
NMRA has lifted the weight break for AOD’s. Enough said.
Only way to be consistent is to run an auto.
Paul - The only way to be consistent while being a shitty driver is to run an auto. I know four people personally who can drive to unbelievable consistency (within half to one tenth all night) in a manual tranny ? ranging from low thirteen to low ten second cars.
You can’t go fast on hypereutectic pistons.
Yes you can, and many have. It is all in the tune. Hyper pistons have a weight advantage over forged in NA conditions. Yes, they are a little more prone to breakage (with regard to resistance to detonation) than forged, but they are not inferior pistons. People need to learn to tune detonation out.
Using head studs on stock heads are bad or a waste of time.
Using studs will provide more accurate and consistent torque loads. When securing your heads the bolt head is twisting while it’s being torqued. Then the bolt is reacting to two different forces simultaneously.
“World Class” or T5z means bullet proof T5.
There is no such animal as a ?bullet proof? T5 ? they are anemic transmissions when compared to those who use larger, stronger gearsets, input/output shafts, and so on. Yes, people have gone fast with them, but they will not have the reliability of a larger/stronger tranny. The G-Force T5 is the strongest one available, and with straight-cut gears and a complete rebuild has a torque rating of 500. The X2C Motorsports TKO V 1.0 has been tested into the eights at over 1000 rwhp without breakage on turbo/blown cars. My poor little Tremec 3550 has withstood 615 lb. ft. at the wheels without complaint. In contrast, I have snapped three T5s in my cars with far less power/torque, and I don’t even drag race.
750 cfm carbs make stock 302s into monsters.
My ~500 hp 8000 rpm solid roller 331 road race engine uses a 650.
Cutting and/or heating springs doesn’t affect spring rate, it just lowers your ride.
People who think this should be shot.
Hard core drag racers all have built automatics.
No they don?t.
Running a wet kit will cause a huge explosion due to fuel puddling.
Thousands, if not tens of thousands of people have run wet kits with overwhelming success in everything from 13 second street cars to 6 second Pro Mod cars. Wet kits provide their own fuel, and do not take the risk of running the stock injectors of their flow limit, or pushing them past the maximum recommended duty cycle of ~80%. I would like to know the number of serious racers who prefer dry kits over wet kits. I?m sure the ratio is astoundingly slanted.
Your distributor can be “off a tooth” and make your motor run bad.
It doesn?t make a damn bit of difference how you stick the distributor in there. This is a classis myth.
Larger injectors will make your motor run rich.
Not if the motor requires larger injectors, and the system is tuned for them. My motor has 36 lb injectors and my A/F ratio is 12.8 to 1 and flat as a board.
The “B” cam kicks ass.
There are about a million better cams out there. Welcome to ten years ago.
“Large” cams are not streetable.
Each person?s definition of ?streetability? is different. Larger duration cams will typically have a lopier idle and such, however, simply saying a big cam isn?t streetable is stupid.
Without EGR your engine will be destroyed by detonation.
My EGR on my car consists of a shiny blue 3/8 NPT pipe plug. I have no detonation.
Power is how torque is derived.
I hear this one a lot. People are really retarded. Torque is a measurement of force. Power is a measurement of how quickly you can make torque. That is a little oversimplified, but I will leave it there for going beyond it is beyond the scope of this discussion. In reality, there are hundreds of measurements/formulas for power.
Gears will kill your top speed.
No they won?t. Very often, cars that can?t pull in fifth gear with stock gears can when the rearend gear ratio is steeper. Yes, if power and aerodynamic drag weren’t factors, taller gears would limit your top speed capability. But who wants to go 200 mph anyway?
Pro ported stock heads are the best.
There are vastly superior heads out there for not much more money.
Hood liners help snuff out underhood fires.
This is another classic. If your engine catches on fire, and you don?t do anything about it ? hoodliner or not, your car is going to burn down.
Once you have good LCAs and UCAs, quad shocks are no longer needed.
In general, adding different LCAs and UCAs often increases the bind in the rear suspension, rather than decreasing it, with the exception of the design of a few manufacturers. Quad shocks are in place to dampen the negative effects of bind in Ford?s four link, and should remain in place until at least a panhard bar is place with good LCAs.
Drilled/Slotted brake rotors are good for road racing because they allow the gas to escape from the pad surface, allowing the car to stop more effectively.
Virtually no road racers I know (with the exception of the Porsche guys) use drilled/slotted rotors because they are more prone to failure from cracking. Modern pads do not require gas vents because they do not perform the same as older pads did ?back in the day?.
So, that is the end for now. I?ll add more as I see fit or when I come across any. If you guys come across something that makes you chuckle, feel free to PM me with:
A short description of the myth, and
Why it?s horseshit
And I?ll be happy to add it.
Cheers.
