You and I both know a lot of people who buy mustangs weren't exactly torn on the decision with a different car.

 

I totally agree but things are changing. The performance car market is getting crowded and believe me it wouldn't take long for a couple faster more pratical cars to start cutting into Mustang sales. If you start to dilute the Mustang nameand people will start to dismiss it. I hate to say it but Chevy has all but destroyed the SS name inthe past few years. I think there doing a better job but they really screwed up there for a while.

I think the Mustang will be fine but to leave it alone for another 5 years would be insane.

 

I agree with that one...

 

I agree that letting the Mustang rest on its laurels right now would be mistake numero uno for Ford.....but I'm not sure that HP matters much in terms of mass sales. Look at Mustang sales.................biggest numbers were always in V6 sales. Now look at how many cars and trucks can outperform those same year model V6 stangs, even the current ones........it's quite a long list. Performance these days is measured more in MPG than in MPH, at least as far as the general public is concerned.

No, the Mustang has always sold mainly on its image and heritage......same as the Corvette. GM could fudge up the Vette for the next 8 years consecutively and still have little trouble selling them. I wouldn't want anyone with design say-so doing such a thing, either with the Corvette or the Mustang....but it would take alot to knock the wind out of their sales. But, that being said, Ford would lose alot of respect in alot of circles if they don't do something to improve the breed and stay at least somewhat competitive. And for the most part, I think they will do it. The results may not be much different from the last pony war, but I don't think the Ford beancounters would mind that much at all.

 

The only thing the 4v motor has over the 2V pushrod 302 is forged internals and a factory supercharger. The 302 can make great power with a good set of aftermarket heads/intake on it, that's where it lacks. Of course, we're talking about early 90's stuff here. The OHC motors are big and heavy, hard to work on, and very costly to mod. I haven't found one reason why they're better than any OHV motor. The OHV motors even get better gas mileage, with a bigger, cubic inch wise, motor.

I've still yet to see Ford create a manufactured head that will actually compete with stock LS1 heads....even the new Termy heads flow about as well as the LT1 heads....of course, then again, you're stuffing air into that motor. I know they can, but hey, they're saving money on R&D and transferring it to their VERY loyal customers. They leave it up to the loyal customer to buy the $2k set of aftermarket heads, instead of providing it for them.

They're not high compression motors....10:1, c'mon. H/C is 14:1. A 10:1 C/R is perfectly fine for a supercharged application, or nitrous, or turbo....The only problem is the internals, not the c/r. And you're comparing a forged blown motor with 4V per head and twice the cam shafts to an n/a 2v cast motor. Doesn't sound so unfair now.

 

This is how...Click link below:
http://www.iroc-z.com/articles/artic...cvsMustang.htm

When I was in high school and had my 1986 Mustang GT I never had problems with the IROC-Z's (5.7). Remember it all came down to driver even back then.A good driver that could launch the stangs back then would beat the Camaro. In fact my buddy had a 1992 Camaro Z-28 with the 350 in it and I would beat him every time. It was not until the introduction of the LT-1 that the camaro took the mustang by storm stock vs stock.If you read the whole artical they state that they feel the 86 Mustang was a serious threat to the Corvette back then.

 

Thats all good info and all. But the problem is they started putting the corvette 350 into the Iroc in 1987. http://youtube.com/watch?v=zXeiF4vurX4

 

So true.....In the 90's and into the early part of this century, A base Vette motor would have a production lifespan of no less thanfour to five years The LT1 in Vettes lasted four years (1992-1996)Then it's replacement, theLS1, had production lifespan in base Vettes for seven years (1997-2004).....All of the sudden, more and more competetion is hitting the market and the LS1's replacement, the LS2 needs to have the plug pulled on it after three years......Why? With, the new M3 getting a 87bhp power bump and the new Nissan Skyline ready to take flight next year, it seems the boys at GM are'nt content with a 400hp base Vette holding off the competetion (allthough I would still think the new M3 will still be slightly slower than the LS2 Vette...It is'nt much).......In a nutshell, you have to keep up with the Jones's......or hang it up.

So far GM is'nt sitting on their asses with this....I'm sure Ford won't either..

 

Wow..... yes you arecorrect the Iroc is superior to the 5 liter fox body mustang, tell that to all the people still driving and modding fox bodies... and also tell it to the ten people still driving an iroc

1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z28 7.0 15.2
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 6.6 14.9
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z L98 6.8 15.3
1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 7.0 15.5
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z 5.8 14.4
1990 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.5 15.0
1992 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 6.7 15.2

1987 Ford Mustang GT 6.4 14.4 (Automobile, April 87)
1988 Ford Mustang GT 6.4 15.0 (MT Jan '88)
1989 Ford Mustang GT 5.0l Manual 6.2 14.8 (MT Jan '89)
1990 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 6.4 14.9
1991 Ford Mustang GT 7.3 15.6
1992 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 6.2 14.8
1993 Ford Mustang Cobra 5.9 14.5

 

Is the LS3 that much Faster then the LS2?