Ford and nhra pro stock (1 Viewer)

[Bobby Bennett]

Drag Racing Internet Magazine - Competition Plus.com - FORD EASING INTO NHRA PRO STOCK?

 

["Chuck"]

hmmm very interested to see how that plays out and how much effort ford puts into getting competitive with Mopar and GM.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

Doesn't sound like any effort to me. More like, "hey if you want to run our stuff, we'll do what we can......."

They're not serious about Pro Stock, at least right now.

Sean D

 

[Wes]

What they (Ford) need to be allowed to do is create a block and head combination from a clean sheet of paper...just like GM and Mopar have done with their Pro Stock engines. The 385-Series foundation is a great motor...but it is light years behind the DRCE III and Neo-Hemi. I would like to see them do a semi-hemi design that could be used in more than just NHRA Pro Stock...it should be able to cross over into IHRA Pro Stock and be sportsman-user-friendly as well...how cool would it be to see the mold for the fast bracket/index dragster be broken with a 585 cubic inch big-headed Ford running....or out-running...all those mail-order-motors?

As far as bodies are concerned, they would need to spend a great deal of time in the wind tunnel perfecting the Mustang body for NHRA competition. It's a great body for IHRA cars with Earth-neding torque numbers. But it needs to be a bit slicker for the little, baby 500 inch crowd.

Now the big issue for all of this is demand for the products. How many aspiting Pro Stock teams out there would undertake such a venture without big corporate dollars behind the project. Not many. Instead of a quarterly check, perhaps Ford could invest in teams with the hard parts, bodies, wind tunnel time, technology, some road vehicles, and PR. Would be less shocking to Ford's bottom line and could spur a team into action.

 

[BlueStangGT]

Has anybody checked with Satan to see if Hell's frozen over?

 

[d'kid]

Has anybody checked with Satan to see if Hell's frozen over?

Is that why I got the Purchase Order faxed over Yesterday for 30 thousand Skates from "Soul Shakers, Inc."

Hey, they gave me a valid AmEx card

d'kid

 

[Wes]

It would indeed be sub-freezing and ice hockey weather in Hell if I could get my bride behind the wheel of such a race car...she's just now warming up to me running a semi-bodied car!

 

[Super Mod]

Unless NHRA changes the rules of the game, Ford has a lot of ground to make up. If they redefine the class,then maybe they've got a chance.

 

[Toby]

Wes is on the money, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost is a lack of parts. There just aren't any blocks left. The current E-460 head isn't too bad, give a set to CFE and see what he can do to them.

The Mustang is pretty slick, I've been told that the aero numbers equal that of the cobalt. But wind tunnel time never hurt any body. The fact that Cunningham's ride won't mile an hour doesn't have anything to do with aero.

There are a lot of teams out there that would run a Ford Pro Stock. If there was a competitive combination available I think you would see a lot of the teams running Ford cars in the other HRA come over.

 

[Wes]

Tell you one thing I would LOVE to see in Pro Stock...something that would make it relevant and cool...is for NHRA to mandate the use of the new breed of Pony Cars instead of the FWD family cars. Mopar racers use the Challenger, GM racers use the Camaro (and puhleeease let Pontiac have that platform for a Trans-Am), and Ford racers, of course, use the Mustang. I'd take that concept a step further and "stockify" the body rules, too.

One thing that would greatly benefit the Ford motors in NHRA Pro Stock would be the use of the aftermarket aluminum blocks. More than the increased strength is the fact that an iron Ford block is substantially heavier than its GM and Mopar counterparts. We have an array of blocks at the shop and the FRPP A-600/A-460 blocks are mammoth as compared to a top-of-the-line GM block. Hang that extra weight over the front axle of a Pro Stock car and you'd better be making an extra 30 horsepower or more just to be even with the rest of the field.

We had a pair of Pro Stock Ford motors for a long time. They were what all us Ford guys call "*******" motors. The heads were essentially carbon copies of an 18 degree Pontiac/Olds DRCE 1 heads with a Ford bolt pattern. The heads were awesome on the flow bench but the poor casting quality made them terrible to work with. To make the blocks work the decks were taken way, way down to 9.300" from 10.322". The top bellhousing bolt holes were useless after that. To make the cranks lighter we had to change the main journals to 289/302 dimensions. We could only get 4.600" bore out of those blocks so we couldn't get the stroke down to where it needed to be. Despite the handicaps the engines made an amazing amount of power and showed great potential.

We tried and tried to convince some high-profile head manufacturers to help us create a better mold and subsequent castings, but none seemed too interested. The block needed to be completely redesigned to accommodate the short deck, smaller mains, and other tricks. At one time there was a plan to use a Windsor-style bellhousing pattern but that project died with Ford's departure from drag racing.

There are some pretty sharp Ford engine guys out there that if given the leeway could put some Mustangs solidly in the hunt in NHRA Pro Stock. But it would take some rules allowances and a strong committment from FoMoCo to make it work. I would say if NHRA would allow the use of an aluminum block and if Ford would provide many, many sets of E-460 heads and blocks, a Peterbilt, a couple Flex-es (for crew transportation), assistance with building two complete rollers, and all the tech support they can offer that by the end of 2009 we could have all three auto makers represented in Pro Stock on each ladder.

 

[Gary H]

IIRC, pro stock emgines need factory part numbers. Eliminator makes blocks that will go to a 4.7" bore. That and a set of BT THOR heads would put them in the hunt. BUT they arent legal because they dont have ford numbers. I know Jon Kaase had some bad dealing with ford and the SCJ heads.

It would be cool if the C&C motorsports boss 429 stuff was legal too...