Ford Torino Talladega

[MechEng]

This is what happens when it's a slow friday at work,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Torino_Talladega

I had never heard of these cars, interesting to see that such a "plain" looking car had proven such a match for the crazy Aero cars of the era.

 

[MotoArts]

I passed up buying one when I lived in Charlotte in the late 80's.

At the time my daily driver was a 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2, the only one (at the time) autographed by Richard Petty.

Seller wanted $6k for the Talladega. It was a typically nice southern car, and I had nothing left in the bank.

:s

Do a search for Dan Gurney Spoiler and/or Cale Yarborough Spoiler for the Mercury version of the 'Dega.

All 3 are on my "To Die For" list.

 

[Don65Stang]

That was a good read.

 

[caspianwendell]

I passed up buying one when I lived in Charlotte in the late 80's.

At the time my daily driver was a 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2, the only one (at the time) autographed by Richard Petty.

Seller wanted $6k for the Talladega. It was a typically nice southern car, and I had nothing left in the bank.

:s

Do a search for Dan Gurney Spoiler and/or Cale Yarborough Spoiler for the Mercury version of the 'Dega.

All 3 are on my "To Die For" list.

I would like to have a second chance on some that I passed up in my younger days

 

[wwhite72]

The Spoiler/Spoiler II cars ARE aero cars. You can see Ford put the 6" extension on the front with the smoother grill after wind tunnel tests.

 

[Finmach]

Now guys, you’re entering to a very intresting area – Aero wars. Talladega, Spoiler II (both blue / red coloured version) were made only to beat the Mayflower division cars on Nascar superovals. Take a close look at the Spoiler II or Talladega. Talladegas nose was extended app. 6” and it was heavily pointed down. Spoiler II came few months later and it had similar pointed down nose but with deeper angle and the fenders were modified narrower from the front to achieve a better aerodynamics. At superovals the front of the car was lowered and the rear was raised so that the rear window was almost horizontal. Why this should interest all of us??? Go to your carage, parking lot or where ever your ’71-’73 Mustang is. Take a look:

1) The nose, it’s heavily pointed down as the Aero Nascar Fords.

2) Front fenders are narrowed from the front as the Aero Nascar Fords.

3) Fastback bodies has almost horizontal rear glass.

Aero Wars lesson was learnt and we ’71-’73 guys got all the goodies (plus the 429 Boss accommodate capable of enginebay out of the factory) - can't complain?? So the body of ’71-’73 Fastback are pretty aerodynamic and they were widely used in many drag racing applications like the funny cars and they served good as a aerodynamic bodies. John Force himself raced an '71-'73 Fastback back the day as I recall.

There's plenty of talk from the Aerowars at here:

http://www.aerowarriors.com/

 

[wwhite72]

I spent a few minutes on the Kasse face book pages, didnt see any Boss9 installed in a 7173 mustang.

 

[Finmach]

I spent a few minutes on the Kasse face book pages, didnt see any Boss9 installed in a 7173 mustang.

Well, you should try harder. This took 2 minutes from me to find, but here you go '72 Mach 1 with bonestock shocktowers:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.620441737973259.157104.179546872062750&type=1

I am not sure do you need to be logged in to Facebook to view the pictures.

quote from Jon Kaase Racing Engines page "1972 Q-Code Mustang being restored by Cobra Automotive in Wallingford, CT. The Boss-9 has been fitted with a Blue Thunder dual quad intake, and Tri-Y headers. As you can see from the pictures the engine fits the stock engine bay with no modifications."

The most interesting picture IMO. In this particular Mustang the engine was set up 1" forward to be able to use the tri-y headers. If you are willing to fabricate the headers then there are no drawbacks in using stock location. Notice the exhaust ports, they are much more downwards than 429 TJ/CJ/SCJ, which makes the headers fabbing much easyer.

wwhite72, did you noticed this thread? Only Caspianwendell commented, theres a 32v Modular sitting between the stock shock towers.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-1972-mach-1-w-32-valve-cobra

 

[wwhite72]

Yeah, maybe since i dont have a facebook log on i could not see this clear example of how a Boss9 engine is a drop in for a 7173 mustang. So, after you pop on the exhaust manifold the steering shaft, power brake booster with MC and power steering just drop in too? And do you need to drop out the engine to change spark plugs? Yeah its probably just the way the picture looks from here, since the 7173 mustang and the Talladega have the exact same size engine compartment. Ha.

 

[Finmach]

Yeah, maybe since i dont have a facebook log on i could not see this clear example of how a Boss9 engine is a drop in for a 7173 mustang. So, after you pop on the exhaust manifold the steering shaft, power brake booster with MC and power steering just drop in too? And do you need to drop out the engine to change spark plugs?

Now thats funny!!! You’re only missing cut the radiator support from your list and paint the body with primer to be able to drop Boss 429 in – that I would call a mock-up of all time!!!!  Seriously taken I believe that the ‘72 Mach 1 is being restored and in my neck of the woods the vehicles are disassembled during the restoration. So what would be better moment to mock-up the engine while the engine compartment is empty? As you can see, it’ll fit but naturally there’s no 2 ft empty space between the engine and shocktower.

Anyway my point is proven, a 429 Boss can and will fit to the stock engine compartment of ‘71-’73 Mustang as you can see from the pictures.

That’s all I wanted to tell in the first place. Wwhite72 you can keep insisting what ever you want, but I must warn you, you start to sound like chebby guys – they allways knows better why GM is superior against Ford. IMO you should be happy to have such a wide engine compartment.

There will be cons and pros with the B9 engine for sure, like the brakebooster & Master cylinder as you stated, but when there’s a will there’s a way. In original 429 Boss Mustangs Ford solution was that the brakebooster was angled away from the valvecover towards the driver side fender. There is a angled spacer, you can get new from Mustangs unlimited for example. Or you can get the RRS brake setup – ITS SWEET PIECE OF ART!! With RRS your brakebooster will be moved under the dash with the pedal assembly and the best part of all, you can get smooth firewall with no booster, no mastercylinder. It makes the engine compartment really clean. But if your mechanical skills aren’t limited to filling up the lawnmower then you should stay with the engine that your car has.

For the sparkplugs, you might want to check out Chrysler Hemi or Bpss 429 engine at local car show. It’s got the spark plugs sitting in the middle of the valvecover & head – due to hemispherical chamber and due to valve placement. Check the picture where the valvecover is off from the head – you can clearly see the placement of the valves and you can even see the hole for the spark plug. B9 Sparkplug can be changed easyer than in the 429 CJ at ’71-’73 Mustang.

Yeah its probably just the way the picture looks from here, since the 7173 mustang and the Talladega have the exact same size engine compartment. Ha.

Please specify the engine compartment.

 

[wwhite72]

You always cut off the core support to do a restoration of a car? If thats true then i guess i can see why you continue to call that boss9 project a "drop in".

 

[Finmach]

You always cut off the core support to do a restoration of a car? If thats true then i guess i can see why you continue to call that boss9 project a "drop in".

It was done locally without plasmacutter, but phew, I'll give up.
Back to the topic. Did you guys know that the 1969 Nascar prepared Torino Talladega with leveled body needed 527 hp to achieve 190 mph and 643 hp to achieve 203 mph. With 4" superoval rake the same Talladega needed 508 hp to achieve 190 mph and 620 hp to achieve 203 mph. Talladega had a better aerodynamics than the new 1970 Torino Fastback, thats the main reason the ol' '69 Talladegas were used on superovals in 1970 and the new 1970 Fastacks on shorttracks. Talladega was 20 hp back from the 1969 Dodge Daytona, since Daytona achieved 203 mph with 600 hp. Intresting information that was taken from the Ford Engineering Dept. August 4, 1969 report. Ford bought a brand new 1969 Dodge Daytona and had is shipped to Dearborn to a tunnel tests. Talladegas & Spoiler II's were slick as it can get, Ford 427 Tunnelports and on March 1969 Boss 429's made a good job back the day. I'll catch up on the Super King Cobra topic once I got the time.

 

[boss49472]

Pictures of the restored car are on this website now. The restoration took about 4 years. The engine has a Blue Thunder dual quad intake so a lot of engineering went into figuring out the front drive including the A/C compressor. The objective of the build was to make the car look as much like it would have come from the factory or from Tasca Ford. The only thing we could not accomplish was having the brake booster fit, instead the car has manual 4 wheel Wilwood disks with a competition master cylinder. The engine made north of 675hp on the dyno with.