Two-Valve Shootout Coverage with Videos

MM&FF's first shoot-out of the year was undoubtedly a suc-cess. Never before have we witnessed so many clutch drops with so little breakage. Engines singing at 6,000 rpm and then--bam--they're heading down the track.

Our first shootout was spurred by a forum thread on www.modulardepot.com, where the naturally aspirated Two-Valve lot was having quite the discussion about their cars, and one of our former shootout winners alerted us to this intense debate. So there we were in the editorial meeting deciding what shootout to do first. It only made sense to accommodate these hard-core gearheads, and the results were pleasing.

Shootout Rules

1. No power adders of any sort.

2. Overdrive automatic or manual transmissions only.

3. No gutted race cars. Lightening OK, but up to our discretion. Rear seat removal OK. Racing seats OK. Two required.

4. Cars/drivers must possess all required safety equipment per NHRA rules for elapsed times.

5. Slicks, skinnies, drag radials OK.

6. All cars must be muffled and not be louder than 94 decibels. No open headers or bullet-style mufflers.

As customary, we had a few people drop out of the competition prior to track day. Amy Friedel of Texas had to opt out when her 12.0-capable colt was involved in an accident that caused damage to the car's chassis but thankfully not to Amy.

Dave White of Monroe Township, New Jersey, was upping the ante of his 12.29-second ride with a new intake, but he was greeted with some horrible sounds upon startup. Mass quantities of coolant in the oil pan didn't stop him from coming to the track and helping out, though.

Alex Posegate found himself battling flood-level waters at his homestead after being drenched with a few days' worth of rain. The shootout would go on, however, as we had a few people step up and fill the spots to leave us with a full field.

In addition to posting on the Modular Depot site, we also dropped a few hooks in ModularFords.com and SVTSnake.com. Why the Four-Valve site you ask? Well, the folks there know quite a few people, so we always drop them a line whenever we have a shootout. The scheduled timeframe did not allow us to make a mention in the magazine, but you'll want to check out this month's Horse's Mouth, as well as future editions, as we will be posting upcoming shootouts.

As far as the rules for this event were concerned, we caught some flak by not inviting some of the fastest known Two-Valves in the country, but we really wanted to limit the shootout to street cars. MM&FF covers more than 15 racing events each year, so there are already plenty of drag cars in these pages.

Many of our participants made some lightening modifications, but we are confident that our rules and subsequent choice of vehicles represents what can easily be accomplished by the average gearhead. Now that we have all the pleasantries out of the way, let's get down to business.

1st PLACE

Burnt out on racing his low-11-second LX 5.0, Mike Bowen eventually purchased this '01 GT with the intent of keeping it a weekend-road-trip and occasional commuter car. "After the very first pass down the dragstrip in it, it was back to business," Mike says.

Four years later and with just a tad over 18,000 miles on the odometer, this Mustang is pounding out 293 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. This was accomplished with a virtually stock Ford Explorer engine and a set of aftermarket camshafts. The Explorer aluminum block shaved off some 90 pounds from the front end, and Mike has made other efforts to jazzercize his colt to a svelte 3,066 pounds with driver.