Road racing Mustangs?

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jul 27, 2012
Messages
165
Reaction score
91
Location
U.S.
My Car
1971 Mustang Coupe. Lived, died, then lived again.
I've been looking through the internet for some nice road racing 71-73s, but I haven't seen much, if any, material on them. Apparently nobody likes to take the Clydesdales out to the twisties. I mean, yeah, they're big and heavy as far as vintage Mustangs go, but given their wide track and superior suspension, I see plenty of potential. And c'mon, they're not THAT heavy! Ever since I bought my '71 coupe, with it's fairly light 302, I've imagined it more of a track car than drag racer. But there's nothing out there on the great expanse of the Googleverse that covers the subject. Anybody here tried their hand at road racing? Or currently have a 71-73 with a track setup? Or am I alone on this? ::shrug::

 
There have been some who have gotten pretty serious.

The Dark Horse Racing folks had a strong car. I thought it was recently sold.

A lot of the technology used to build the earlier cars can be applied to the 71-3's.

4 wheel discs, watts link full-floating differential assy, upgraded front suspension, etc -

basically whatever you can afford. You can definitley make the cars very tight and enjoyable on a road course. Most of the Ford Performance clubs have events 'meets' at different road courses that allow cars, once inpsected for safety, to drive in a 'spirited' manner and have fun. I describe the road course driving like a drag strip then controlling speed into a corner or set of turns then another dragstrip and repeat. It can be very fun but demanding on you, your car AND your pocketbook!

Check with a local Shelby club or maybe check the internet for an event near you. (Sounds like a commercial!) They are fun attend and spectate. You can visit with some of the owner/drivers. You might even find a few of the 71-3 stang owners out there having fun!

Ray

 
I have run (actually wallered through) a couple of autocrosses this summer and will be preforming some suspension mods this winter. The plan is to start with sway bars, shocks, roller perches and rod end strut rods. I'm looking at a quicker steering box as well. My goal is to improve street manners and handling to make for a better road car.

I wish the dark horse site would show more of the modifications done to the car.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
God I wish we had a cameras like we do now back in 81. That was all we did back then. 20 miles from point A to point B. First man shows up wins! Ahem.... Driving skill had A LOT to do with it and you really needed to know what the car could and couldn't do. My dad thought it a good idea to teach us all how to drive on ice at the high school parking lot. Later in life that was my test track. Paid off rather nicely back then.

scan0009.jpg

 
here's what i done with mine

subframe connectors

1-1/8"front sway bar

boxed lower arms

reinforced upper arms (like the opentracker ones)

roller perches

I placed the perches 1" more outward on the controlarm, this way you don't need the 620spring which is a bit to harsh, i used a 550 springs, this way the suspension can do what it needs to be doing, handle the road/bumps, when a spring is to hard, it won't handle, but just bounce over bumps..

and the best thing is to mount a good set of strutrods, mine are from StreetorTrack. the stock ones limit the suspension to much..

at the rear i took the leafsprings out and mounted a 4-link with coilovers, ordered the links,had a buddy of mine make me some brackets (lasercut) and did the rest myself. it now handles really well, i still have to mount a swaybar, but i am limited with the space available, but i have some swaybars to choose from..., these cars can be made to handle really well

 
I've done my share of road course driving and have the usual mods to make my Mach1 handle better.

As nice as my Mach One was in stock form, over the years I added many performance upgrades that added to my original purchase price of $1,650. Koni shocks, an aluminum intake with four barrel carb, Motorsport timing chain, dual exhaust, larger front and rear anti-sway bars and a smaller diameter steering wheel improved the speed and handling of the low compression regular gas machine. These upgrades allowed me to drive in autocrosses, high-speed open track events and drag races without fear of being embarrassed by more technologically proficient Fords. For many years the bright yellow Mach1 served as my daily driver and I turned the speedometer over in a few years.

I am not afraid to drive it a long distance, as it made the ten hour drive to Michigan for the Ford 100th anniversary without incident. That was just another road trip like the ones to Watkins Glen NY, Lime Rock CT, Atlanta GA, Charlotte NC, Danville VA, and Nashville TN to attend Shelby and Mustang national events for some high speed driving on the speedways and road courses.

In 2008 the original 2 bolt main engine was pretty tired from years of abusive driving so I replaced it with a Cobra Jet 4 bolt main Cleveland from a Pantera. The new engine performed well at the Carlisle Ford Nationals autocross and at the local dragstrips. It ran a 9.5 in the 1/8 mile a 14.9 in the 1/4 mile.

 
Back
Top