Increased power and braking equals 9s at 139 mph, making our AMSOIL GT the quickest and fastest MM&FF project car ever.
1 Looking for more holding...
1 Looking for more holding power on the starting line, we turned to Summit Racing for two of its Line-lock kits. The kit includes the line-lock solenoid, momentary switch, activation light, and mounting hardware. Summit also sent us an installation kit which included extra brake tubing and various fittings.
Our AMSOIL Mustang has become near and dear to the MM&FF staff. After all, we started with a stock '11 GT with less than 3 miles on the odometer and turned it into a streetable track monster with nearly 800 crank horsepower. The initial build took place in seven weeks, where we thrashed to ready the GT for the 2010 SEMA show.
After a little more than a year of bolting on parts and testing, we've gone from 13s, to 12s, to 11s, 10s and now 9s. We're not claiming that a 9-second timeslip categorizes it as a monster, but tipping the scales at nearly 3,800 pounds with a driver, and laying down well over 650 rwhp through a stock 6R80 automatic is quite respectable in our opinion.
2 Our line-lock project started...
2 Our line-lock project started with the wiring. We ran our wiring through the fender into the driver's compartment on the driver's side. The wire was run under the dash, through the center console, and the switch rests in the cup holder with plenty of line to reach the shifter during the burnout.
In our continued search for power, we've upgraded the top half of the engine with massaged heads and a quartet of Comp Cams bumpsticks. When the tuning was complete, we drove off the dyno making 683 rwhp and 557 lb-ft or torque. This is up from the 595 rwhp it had before the work. Not ones to rest with dyno numbers, we were anxious to see how the increase in power would effect our quarter-mile times and trap speed.
Since we love the challenge of building and driving high-powered cars, we rolled into Bradenton Motorsports Park (Bradenton, Florida) on a regular Thursday test-and-tune night to see how quick we could make the AMSOIL GT run. The air was cool, there was mild humidity, and we faced a 15 mph headwind.
3 The activation switch hides...
3 The activation switch hides in the cup holder, and with the door closed, no one will no the car has a line-lock!
Following our normal procedure, we warmed the car up to get the transmission and rearend up to operating temperature, we set the tire pressure, and rolled up to the line. We now had 88 extra ponies then when we ran 10.48 at 130 mph. That's quite a jump in power, and we hoped to drop serious e.t.
The GT hooked hard, then at the top of First gear it stumbled bad, then shifted and took off. It did the same thing in Second gear and then ran clean to the end of the track. The result was a 10.50 at 137.29. We feared that the engine ran into the rev limiter before it had a chance to shift. This is common when dealing with new programming. A second run resulted in the same problem, and a 10.52 e.t. at 136.19.
4 When we chose the location...
4 When we chose the location of our line-lock solenoids, we wanted them away from any obstruction. We also wanted some room to work and solid mounting surface. We found this space in each front wheel well. Looking at the layout of the stock brake lines, this location would also allow us to mount the solenoid and plumb the lines without a lot of extra work.
After collecting our thoughts, we noticed that our GT was also low on fuel, having slightly less than a quarter of a tank. Could our problem be that fuel was running away from the pickup? We hoped our problem was that simple.
Now, with a half tank of 100 octane, we inched into the staged beam with big hopes. And when the tree dropped, the GT rocketed from the line with no hiccups (1.506 60-foot time). It revved clean and shifted on command and our reward was a 9.996 at 137.67 mph. Needless to say, we were thrilled with the run, as this bested the 10.22/133 from our former MM&FF project truck The Fridge. Our Amsoil GT was now the quickest and fastest MM&FF project ever. A backup of 10.00/137.67 was a nice cap to the evening.