Pony1's 1983 GT
This picture taken by Georgia Jacob in 1989...We were running 12.30's @ 110.00mph She was actually taking James( her then fiancé ) picture in the far lane when I got a little anxious and tree'd him REDLIGHT~!!! Yanking the wheel!!!
I bought my car NEW in September of 1983. It was the last BLK on BLK 5Speed GT in New Orleans.
TOTAL PRICE - $10,600.00
From 1984 to 1989 the car went through a performance growing stage. Back then we made everything performance oriented. With its bone stock 302 w/heddman headers it ran a 14.86 @92 mph. From the 1st pass down the track I was hooked~!!! Over the next 6yrs the car got progressively faster running 12.30's until the spring of 1989 when we stuck Project "CLEVOR" in it. A 351W with 4V BOSS 351 heads, B&A TRACK BOSS intake, Aussie rods and TRW 12.5 to 1 slugs. By then the car had a 8pt Alston roll bar, DNE 4+1 5 Speed transmission, Currie9" rearend along with a "N"case Center section w/ Daytona pinion support and a Mark Williams 35spline AXLE and SPOOL kit.
Off the trailer "CLEVOR" ran a 11.98 @ 119mph through the mufflers, uncorked she belted out a 11.57 @ 123. Traction was its main culprit. With 60ft times in 1.7 range. Next time out it spun a rod bearing and kicked a rod. Engine was rebuilt and reinstalled only to be sold in December 89'. We stopped racing in 1990, sold the engine and started a family, BUT I kept the car........... :) Over the years I've gone through about 4 Army canvas type covers for the car, One wife, and numerous girlfriends.
After buying my house in 1998 I started thinking about getting the ole horse running again. The years have been a little rough on her but I'd say she really pulled through intact and ready to return to its glory days as one of New Orleans fastest street legal race cars. Finally in 01' I decided It was time to get my act together and start on something.
I intended to build the engine and drive this car again, possibly going back with the A/C. With only 38K on the odometer it was practically a new car~!!!! Two goal's were set for this engine 1st-run 130+MPH N/A through mufflers on C12. 2nd,run pump gas while cruising the streets, that's it! Easy.......YEAAA RIGHT!!!! I knew I just wanted to drive my car. The racer in me said, "if your going to buy good stuff you might as well go fast!". Project mission "PONYONE" is born. James Jacob owns and runs THE FASTEST FORD SPEED SHOP in the New Orleans area. His shop "POWER & PERFORMANCE" has some extremely fast cars in his stable. Located in Marrero, LA. When James offered to assemble my engine at his shop I gladly accepted~!! THANKS JAMES................
In order to do 130+mph @ 3150lbs. I enlisted in my trusty computer engine analyzer and was given a required amount of 600 to 625 FWHP . 500 to 525 RWHP. WHAT!!!!! 600HP and drivable was not a easy task to digest. At this level of power, engine components have to be better than OEM parts if they are to have any longevity. Here's what Dyno2000 & Drag2000 came up with after I plugged in the numbers. I became very suspicious when I found the combo came together so easily. I spoke to the engine builder and he assured me that if the correct numbers are used the programs can be within 3% to 5 % accuracy. With that said, it means I could generate anywhere from a low of 572 HP to a high of 632 HP. That is totally awesome!!!!!! Now I don't expect to run 9's on the motor alone, but I will with the 225+ shot of NOS.
Project "PONYONE"
ENGINE- FORD 408W
N/A est.-600HP @ flywheel & 550ft/lbs. torque
NOS Stage1 Double-Cross Plate est.-800HP @ flywheel & ???ft/lbs. torque
1974 351W, EAGLE 408CID 4340 Stroker kit, Eagle H-beam rods, JE TW 10.5 to 1 forged pistons, TrickFlow Twisted Wedge "R"series heads, CompCams Titanium 10degree retainers, CAT Main Stud girdle and Silicon Dampers, Melling high volume oil pump, ARP oil pump shaft, FPP Oil restrictor kit, Lunati Solid Roller cam and lifters, ARP fasteners through out, Moroso 7qt oil pan, Edelbrock's Super Victor Intake, Crane Gold Roller Rockers, TrickFlow Rocker Arm Stud Girdle's, TrickFlow Valve Covers, FPP Multi-Index Timing Chain, Comp Cam 8.880 pushrods, Bigs StageV 950 CFM carburetor, MAC under drive pulleys, MSD 6D Ignition w/Blaster3 coil. Kooks 2" Headers w/equal length tubes & 3.5" spike collectors. 3.5" to 3" Dr.Gas X-pipe, MAC performance 3" Pro Dumps.
Along with the engine buildup I made a few changes to the car also. They include a set of HP Megabite Jr. Lower C/A's, D&D Motorsport double adjustable Upper C/A's. A QA1 K-member w/tubular control arms and D&D Coil-overs along with MM C&C plates was added up front. I also bought a Cervini 4" cowl fiberglass hood. FITS PERFECT~!!! I also bought a new bumper cover from 50RESTO. After a total of $15,000.00+ and still as of yet unpainted, I can say I could and do have "ONE HELL OF A V8~!!!!!!!!!" Today I have a real 10sec N/A Legal Street Car.
Engine Naturally Aspirated Engine with NOS STAGE 1 Double Cross Plate System
Doing a burnout for 1st ever 10sec pass - 12/03/02 ----Video
On October 27th, 2002 we fired up the 408. Without tuning anything yet, except for removing the air cleaner on 12/01/02 the car's run a best of 10.86 @ 126.40,,,,,, all motor. So far~!!! :) I'm pretty sure that with the upcoming gear changes and tuning we'll make and pass that 130+MPH goal I initially set.
Liberty Transmissions has the internals to the DNE transmission now. This transmission came apart in 10 minutes. I can't believe it was that easy. Liberty is making "PRO-SHIFTING" mods to the transmission so missed gears can be a thing of the pass. Hopefully they'll deliver on that promise.
DNE 4+1 5speed w/ Long Vertigate
To think that we're at 126MPH and just beginning is a great sign of the engine's performance. Ford's Aftermarket sure has kicked into high gear since I stopped racing years ago. I'm going dyno tuning in Jan 03' so we can know where the motor likes timing and jetting. Then we'll try the NOS system. Anything close to 500~RWHP N/A and I'll be more than satisfied. Next we'll be going testing and tuning at No Problem Raceway and see how the NOS will run and how the 4.11's are going to help it.
Just arrived from HPC Coatings, my Dr.Gas 3.5" X 3.0" Xpipe and KOOKS headers.
Today we started final assembly on the Nitrous system. I've already run both lines(N2O,FUEL) so all we're waiting on now is the power relays and Nitrous switches. For about a month I've looked and asked around, "What carb switch will work for me? Having a BIGS carb I even asked Jessie and he said that one particular switch I looked at (Competition Engineering) wouldn't work either. Jessie offered to sell me a switch he used. A friend said he had the switch to do the job. James showed me another C/E switch and it too wouldn't fit. James also gave me a small micro switch kit NOS sells. Well after looking at the BIGS carb with switch in hand I noticed if could just space the switch out some I could mount it to the BIGS signature plate. I used a couple tie straps to hold the carb wide open while I positioned the switch. Marked the two holes, drilled them and woolaa~!
It came out great~!!!!!!!!!!! And works fabulous while sitting here. Once I got everything positioned I used blue Loctite to make sure the signature plate stays in position.
After closer inspection I noticed the plastic name plate cracked. So I ended up making a bracket at work the following day at work.
1/13/03 - I spoke to Paul at Liberty Gears. Everything checked out ok so we're good to go. I should have the transmission back in by the end of next week. We're getting ready to paint the car now with hopes of attending the FORD/CHEVY/MOPAR Cajun Nationals at No Problem Raceway in March.
3/04/03 - Well the transmission is finally back and in the car. Man does this baby hit gears hard now~!!!!! I can't wait till we blast down the track! For now though its off to the painters where is sure to be smiled upon by Brian Combel of Bobby Combel's Body & Paint of Marrero,LA. After talking to Brian about using a one stage paint system Brian convinced me to go with a basecoat/clearcoat paint system. I've decided to go back with a TOTALLY STOCK paint job. Complete with the GT "BLACKOUT " feature this car came with. Again, I called upon 50RESTO to provide me with almost all the OEM parts I surely needed such as new dew wipes, door/hatch gaskets and new 5.0 emblems. Phoenix Graphix's supplied the stripe and decal kit. Shortly I hope to post pictures of one "NEW ORLEANS FASTEST STREET LEGAL RACE CAR's".
3/16/03 - Today I got to check out the car. It's almost ready for the final assembly and we should be running in the next couple of weeks. Here's a couple of picture's of it.
Next week we'll be putting it all back together and have the stripe kit installed. When done the car should almost like it did when I bought new back in 1983. Minus the 4" hood scoop :)
After we're finished putting it back to together we'll be going dyno testing to finally see what kind of numbers she can pull down. I'm hoping for something in the 500 HP N/A and 700 HP range on the squeeze............... We shall see.
The Finished Project~!
5/1/03We finally made to Gerhardt's Performance Center and loaded the car up on to their Mustang Dyno. After 4 pulls and still NO TUNING we managed to hit 463.7 RWHP. Not too bad for a pump gas motor. We're planning on returning in a few weeks and tune the car out on till we get as close to 500RWHP as we can. With running only 35' degrees timing in it as of now I'm confident we still got a few untapped ponies waiting to be unleashed.
11/03/03 - Well its been a very frustrating last 6 months. In that time we've run the car on the dyno with good 1st experience results. We've also had the last 5 trips to the race track ruined by some type of fuel issue causing the engine to die out after 3rd gear. I finally tracked the problem to a upgraded fuel system with a "NEW" Blue holley pump. Turns out, the new pump was the problem. I reinstalled a 14yr old blue holley the new replaced and the car has since taken off like a rocket running an all time best 60ft time of 1.460 launching at a soft 5200rpm's. On 10/07/03 we attended a FORD vs. CHEVY shootout and blasted a spinning 10.78 ET @ 127.78mph.
11/05/03 - Got the new Long Vertigate Pistol Grip THIS IS ONE BAD ASS SHIFTER
Thanks to Brian at LONG SHIFTERS for the upgrade and shifter tune-up~!!! It looks like a BRAND NEW shifter again. I'll post on pics of it installed once we snap a few pics.
We're going T&Ting at NPR this coming Friday which just so happens to be THUNDER RACING'S yearly event at NPR. I hope to have some killer video of smoking a bunch of LS1's and other GM powered cars. We're also going to run the car first time with open exhaust. I'm hoping to hit 130 mph while trying this. Though I always intended to run the car with closed exhaust I'm really itching to get a little more MPH of the engine. I'll be sure to post pics and clips of this next time out for sure.
11/17/03 - Mission Accomplished~!!!! 2 year to the day. I built the car / engine combo to go 130MPH w/ pump gas. At NPR last Friday night I went a 10.53 @ 129mph through the mufflers. Plans were scraped to run the car with open headers. Instead I ran a new Sunoco 100 octane Unleaded fuel and we ran the highest MPH to date. Still No Tuning done whatsoever. The new shifter looks and works perfectly. Looking at the time slip shows the E.T. suffers from poor launching characteristics but the car is totally cool to drive down the track. I'm not sure how car it carried the front end but the wheels were in the air for a few feet because the steering wheel got extremely light at the initial launch. The car is fast, period. I'll post some MPG's and pics just as soon as I can get this video capture card to work.
10.53 TIME SLIP
Special Thanks to John McArdle and the guys in the S.&W.B.'s welding shop for all there help, without there help the car certainly wouldn't be running or looking as good as it does, thanks Randy & Beasly...
Many Thanks John for towing me and my car all over southern La and Miss. Your a real friend bro~!!!! Future plans are to install a fully adjustable front and rear suspension and a rear anti-roll bar for optimal weight transfer and launching characteristics. THANK GOD and Thanks to Mom for suggesting to get to the car running again. Thanks to Gregory my son for helping me work on what seemed to be a hopeless case. Thanks to all those who have helped me along the way to finally get back to something I truely enjoy. My plans are to still do a little street driving in the Spring of 2004 and enjoy the my first love.
11/12/03- We got the car up to Thunder Racing and got some tuning finally done. Here's what we did
BASELINE RUN-449rwhp 418rwtq /12.5 A/F ratio / 35' total timing
2ND RUN-459rwhp 427rwtq /12.4 A/F ratio / 38' total timing
We then bumped the timing to 38' total and picked up 10HP.
Next I found out the dyno operator made the prior 2 pulls in 4th gear. My car's
trans is 1:1 in 5th gear.
3RD RUN-468rwhp 442rwtq / 12.3 A/F ratio / 38' total timing
Made pull in 5TH gear, we picked up another 9HP.
4TH & 5TH RUN - Attempted hitting the NOS this time but it smoked the tires and shut the dyno computer down, it did it twice. the 2nd time the operator got the car going then hit the arm switch and again it blew the tires up in smoke. I wasn't able to attain a wideband or HP reading because it looks like the dyno's computer error's the pull of the attempted runs.
An important thing I've finally found out is that the engine peaks at a mere 6250RPM's. 6200freaking RPM's ..... I thought for sure the camshaft would go higher. It's making exceptional HP for the RPM's ,,, but I thought we'd rev higher. We're now hoping that we picked up and honest 10HP. Hope the extra HP will get us over that magical 130MPH. At this HP reading we're a mere 5HP+ from the MUSTANG DYNO
