12s Or Bust - Bolt Ons Help Your S197 Go Deep 12s

The automatic Stang featured Metco lower control arms while the stick-shift car relied on the factory, stamped arms.

Burcham almost got the 18-inch wheels off the ground thanks to the lighter BMR tubular lower radiator support and Mickey Thompson ET Streets. Not bad for stock control arms, stock gears, stock shocks, and stock struts.

There was some thrashing going on in the staging lanes of Englishtown. Unfortunately, time ran out and we had to cut short our testing. But we did complete everything we wanted with the stick-shift Stang. The automatic car wasn't tested on the track with the Bogart wheels.

Burcham ran a best of 12.82 at 105.6 mph with the automatic car before it was parked. The chromoly driveshaft (automatic version) was still in its developmental stages and had a bit of a vibration. Rather than risk breaking something, it was yanked out. The problem has since been resolved.

Swapping in the BMR front antiroll bar eliminator/tubular lower radiator support was easy. Removing the front antiroll bar didn't affect handling much in normal driving conditions. It was noticeable (but not harsh) around long, sweeping curves.

Mickey Thompson ET Streets (26x11.50) were used throughout testing to ensure consistent results.

The rear Bogart-M/T wheel/tire combo checks in at 38 pounds each. The 18-inch wheels and tires are a robust 55 pounds, while the OEM 17-inch wheel with M/T tires was 46 pounds. We saved 8 pounds per side in the back of the test vehicles (17-inch wheels were used in testing).

The Bogart-M/T wheel/tire package for the front offers a huge weight savings. They hit the scale to the tune of 22 pounds while the factory 18-inch combina-tion was a portly 55 pounds. Sixty-six pounds (33 per side) were taken off the nose of the car. No wonder we saw daylight under the front wheels upon launching the stick-shift car.

The automatic car was looking tough with the 15-inch wheels and skinny front tires. Too bad we didn't get to test it in this form on the dragstrip.

With the big and little Bogarts in place, the stick-shift Stang tipped the Englishtown scales at 3,460 pounds. Burcham carded a best of 12.51 at 108 mph in this trim.