Tele-Caster

You know why a 190 hp V6 New Edge with a five speed runs the quater in the mid 15's while the mightly 200 hp Fox 5.0's are really high 14-low 15's cars?

It's not the 10 horsepower difference as much as the split-port 3.8 being down 65 ft/lbs of torque that is.

If you've ever driven a late 80's 190 hp Camaro, the difference between that and a 190 hp New Edge V6 in what you feel when you drive them is torque. If there is one thing about the 3.8 that I don't like, that comparitive lack of torque is it.

When you're down on torque, adding rotational mass is only going to amplify the problem. It's a case of do you want to look fast or beas fast as possible with the 220 ft/lb of torque you've got?

I'd rather be as fast as possible than look fast, and I'm keeping the stock alloy 15" tires on mine because they're significantly lighter than any larger wheels out there on the aftermarket and its even hard to find 15" alloys that are as light as the stock ones. I run the biggest tires they'll take, which are 235 /60 -15's. They fill up the wheelwells okay, are certainly beefer than the stock tires were, but still keep the roational mass down.

If you don't care about that issue of rotational mass, and I suspect you don't, run whaterver aftermarket wheel and tire combo on your Stang that you want. You aren't going to hurt anything -except maybe 0-60 time.

TfcCDR

Not quite accurate. It is possible to surrender the title and re-title as a "Specially Constructed Vehicle" (as it is called in Nevada -- your state may call it "Custom" or something like that).

BabyGT

Nope, that's federal fraud, it specifically states that just swapping an engine does not qualify, and titling it as such is illegal. For this pass at least the rear, trans, and engine need to be from separate cars, and the rear, trans and engine from one car into another does not count either. They all need to be from different, ie different models not just vin. We've been over that a while back, prolly near 3-4 years now.

jthorn9

As stated by BabyGT, this is technically in violation in the law, this can only be applied to "non-street vehicles" ie, race/track only applications. If you get caught on the highways, mainly due to a traffic citation, or accident, you can pay hefty fees/fines if they choose to uphold them. Granted, most cops may not do that, but have it happen in a one horse town, or a cop with a bad day, and they can stick it to you.

TfcCDR

Hmmm. Can you cite the pertinent Federal law? This is the first I've heard of it, and would point out that cars are titled under state laws, not Federal law. States can even destroy existing VIN plate and issue a new VIN.

That doesn't mean you're not right, but a walk through Hot August Nights (a huge car show in a nearby town) will show you a hundred or more custom-built vehicles which were factory cars that only had engine swaps at titling, before all of the customizing started. A lot of these custom cars started as one guy's project then passed through several hands -- with title -- before someone actually went beyond the initial condition of the car.

For that matter, I have firsthand knowledge of a military jeep that was sold as surplus into California about 10 years ago, and the CA DMV issued a new ID number with little (if any) work actually having been done to it (when I saw it at HAN it looked factory fresh).

TfcCDR

Uh . . . .no.

There are about a million specially-constructed vehicles on the streets of America, from Bradley GTs to Lotus-7-types to dune buggies to motorcycle/car hybrids to . . .well, the list goes on and on.

The only administrative difference between a specially-constructed vehicle title and the one on your Mustang is that your Ford has a VIN and the Seven has an assigned ID number. If it meets the required equipment lists and passes pertinent safety and emissions tests, any state which denied title and registration would get sued (and lose bigtime), even if you built it out of parts you got by sending in Frosted Flakes box tops.

That said, there IS a catch in that a vehicle originally titled as ORV can't be retitled as a street vehicle (motorcycles being the only exception).

PNYXPRESS

http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production...ngswitch_0.pdf

By putting in an older engine you risk it not being a certified configuration per the EPA thus making it illegal.


The examples you give are specially built in low numbers and also have special wavers making them exempt.

BabyGT

Beat me to it, all the examples given are made from scratch or cobbled together from multiple vehicles, a simple engine swap does not qualify under that code, and I have listed and linked to everything before as well, but don't feel like digging through all my previous posts to find it this late at night.

TfcCDR

There's a hole in there big enough to shove a politician's ego through.

" . . .if there is reasonable basis for knowing that emissions are not adversely affected."

That covers the "can't put an OBD-I engine into an OBD-II car" issue. If the car meets smog standards for the year of car manufacture, you're good.

PNYXPRESS

An "engine" isn't OBD1 or 2. It's the computer that determines OBD generation.

The only loophole I see is that the 94-98 sn95/5.0 configuration is approved and one may try to argue the 99-04 is also a sn95 chassis.

However you run the risk of the judge ruling that emissions changed in 96 due to obd2 specs therefore the 96-04 configuration with a 5.0 is not approved.