John Franco (owner of the...
John Franco (owner of the stick-shift car) compares the two driveshafts. On the left is the two-piece OEM shaft, and the one of the right is the chromoly JPC Racing one-piece. We saved 26 pounds--OEM: 45, JPC: 19.
JPC Chromoly Driveshaft
It was time to try the lightweight parts and chart their effect. First on the list was a chromoly driveshaft from JPC Racing. A one-piece shaft weighing a scant 19 pounds offered a 26-pound savings over the OEM two-piece driveshaft (weight: 45 pounds). Installation took 23 minutes according to our stopwatch, and both the cars improved in the e.t. department with the unit installed. The best with the automatic was 12.82 at 105.6, while the stick-shift car responded with a best of 12.95 at 105.6 (backup runs were 13.02 at 105.9 and 13.07 at 105.5).
Expect to pick up anywhere from 0.10 to 0.20 of a second with the addition of this lightweight component. JPC was still testing the automatic version of its driveshaft, so we used a prototype shaft in this test. The driveshaft we installed in the stick car is available now and ready to ship, according to Burcham. Apparently, Ford uses two different style driveshafts for the different transmission types. Both stock shafts weighed the same but have different part numbers.
BMR Fabrication Front Antiroll Bar Eliminator/Tubular Lower Radiator Support
Next up was the front antiroll bar eliminator/tubular radiator support from BMR Fabrication. We didn't think it would help weight transfer; as you can see in some of the accompanying photos, as the front struts seemed to be at full extension at the launch before the BMR kit. The antiroll bar usually limits the travel of the front end, but that was not apparent in our test Mustangs. The bar eliminator/tubular lower radiator support kit removed unnecessary weight off the nose of the car. In side-by-side comparison, the factory front bar tipped the scales at 32 pounds, while the BMR kit was a scant 8. We removed 24 pounds off the front in roughly 37 minutes. All swaps were made in the staging lanes (during a private track rental) and can easily be done in your driveway.
Which would you rather have...
Which would you rather have in your Mustang? BMR: 8 pounds, OEM: 32 pounds--'nuff said!
The stick-shift car tipped the scales at 3,544 pounds, while the automatic ride pushed 3,515 pounds. You math whizzes out there might have come up with a slightly different number using the weight savings from the parts--the JPC driveshaft and BMR kit saves a combined 50 pounds. The track scales showed 6 pounds lighter with the stick-shift Stang and 5 pounds lighter with the automatic car, if you deduct the weight savings from the parts versus our baseline weights. The extra weight savings comes in the form of fuel consumption. Remember, 1 gallon of gasoline weighs 6.2 pounds.
We made three runs with the red rocket, and as on previous runs, the first was a bit of an anomaly. Burcham wheeled the Stang to a 12.75 at 107.1-mph performance; the back-up runs produced a 13.01 at 105.8 mph and a 12.98 at 105.9 mph. We picked up over two tenths on one run, and on the following hot-lapped runs it ran similar times. But there was more mph when compared to passes with the OEM antiroll bar and lower radiator support in place. The weight savings is what dropped the times--like we said before, the front struts were fully extended on previous runs, and the car seemed to transfer fine. The 60-foot time on the 12.75 pass was a 1.73, while the following two runs netted identical 1.79s.
The automatic car was up next, with the BMR front antiroll bar/tubular lower radiator mount in place. A 12.98 run got things started, and it was backed up with a 13.02 and 13.10. The speed dropped off on each run due to heat soak in the engine--104.5, 103.8, and 102.9 were the numbers--however all three runs produced identical 60-foot times at 1.85 seconds. At this point, the automatic car was having slight vibration problems with the prototype driveshaft, so we decided to park it rather than chance breakage. We reinstalled the stock driveshaft and readied the car for the next wave of modifications.
 |  The C&L kit utilizes the factory...  The C&L kit utilizes the factory electronics in a C&L housing. We used the race kit, which uses an injection molded plastic inlet tube. |  Justin Burcham uploads the...  Justin Burcham uploads the C&L-specific tune from the DiabloSport Predator handheld tuner. |