My 2001 Mustang GT

I bought my GT back in January of 2001 to use as a daily driver. I think it was stock for about a week! I've since set the car up to be a nice driver, but purpose-built for drag racing. The rear suspension has been replaced with Pro3i upper and lower control arms, with airbags placed inside each coil spring to tweak the suspension loading for nice straight launches at the track. The factory 3.27 gears were tossed in favor of an FRPP 4.10 gearset. A new Eaton limited-slip differential was installed along with 31 spline Superior axles to round out the combo, and keep things from breaking during 6,000rpm launches on drag slicks.

The factory clutch didn't last long and has been replaced with a strong Centerforce Dual Friction setup and a Fidanza aluminum flywheel. The motor is the stock longblock, with an FRPP 70mm throttle body, a Steeda timing adjuster, Steeda underdrive pulleys, and still breaths through the factory exhaust manifolds. The midpipe is a Mac 2-1/2" mandrel bent h-pipe with Magnaflow high-flow stainless steel catalytic converters tied to Dynomax 2-1/2" Race Bullet mufflers with turndowns.

Up front, the suspension is stock, with the exception of Lakewood 90/10 drag struts. At the track, I use two Mustang temporary spare tire rims with 165r15 radial tires to reduce weight. Out back, the car launches hard on Mickey Thompson 26x15x8.5 ET Drags mounted on Bart IMCA circle track 15x8 wheels with a 5" backspacing. These are a nice compromise for a cheap bastard like me that can't afford alloy lightweight drag rims.

Best time on the combo so far is a 12.79@105mph at Norwalk Raceway Park, run in favorable air.

Still Mostly Stock, Heatin' Up the Tires

Here's a snap of the car running at Thompson Drag Raceway. This run was on BFG Drag Radials without all the rear suspension work. It was still running about 13.2@101mph, even with the heavy front wheels.

Nice Burnout!

Heating up the slicks during a track rental day at Norwalk Raceway Park.

3...2...1...Lift Off!

I love the way the slicks wrinkle up. I typically launch the car at 5,500-6,000rpms, and usually grab about a 1.64 second 60-foot time. If I've set things up right and the track is sticky, I'll pull the front wheels 1-3" off the pavement during launches.

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