ORIGINAL: rmays06

Great thread guys, and its a shame that there had to be such ignorant questions asked to get these answers....like the saying goes you can lear alot from a dumby.
To the OP do a lil research please first and when answered don't throw numbers out of you a$$ without knowledge please, you make us all look like idiots.
Thanks to Cobra, Fazm and Clay.

ORIGINAL: cobra232


i used to love those old capri's. the body was awsome. did you ever use Cosworth heads or am i confused as to what block they were on. was it the english essex or the cologne??

the american Essex was a damn good engine except for head gaskets. ( typical ford small engine) it was a modified copy of Buicks 231 with Cleveland inspired heads. i only wish ford would have turbo'd the 3.8 back in the 80's and used it in the SVO instead of the 2.3 Lima. if they would have done that the grand national would have likely not have such a cult following today. also too bad the american essex would be too wide to use in today's cars in OCH design or ford would have made a real powerhouse. a SOHC 4.2L or a DOHC 4.2L american Essex would have made better power than the SOHC 4.6 V8 due to the fact that the bore stroke ratio is much better with the essex. it would have breathed alot better with it's larger bore and shorter stroke.

oh well ford really missed the mark on that one. the 3.8 Essex family is still a great design being light and eager to be modded. the Cologne is a good one too but like we both said certain things need to be addressed to make it powerfull and reliable.

the 97+ 3.8 just slap a turbo on it and tune it and you have 380rwhp at least with 99+ engines and it's reliable. 97/98 engine while making less power make mad torque on stock setups. port the heads and make a good intake for them like i am doing ( slow process) and it will really make power. the fastest ford production V6 right now is a singleport american essex at 9.85. it's no wonder ford used the american essex as their NASCAR V6 SVO block design instead of using the Windsor block.

the 4.5L SVO is a beast and like the stage 2 Buick on center block is fully capable of 1100+hp. if only production 3.8 heads could flow like the SVO heads it would really make some mad power (as if 700hp wasen't enough)

oh i forgot to mention. if you build the 7.5 rear right it will reward you with some great service at very high power levels.

Detroit truetrac or their locker
Alloy USA or Moser 28 spline axles
TA girdle part# TA 1805
TA bearing cap stud kit part# TA 1816/TA1816B
for 05+ guys the panhard relocation kit
aluminum drivechaft and better quality that stock U-joints

you will have a rear for 500 rwhp. and far stronger than a ford t-lok'd 8.8 either 28 or 31 splined. the 8.8 will hold more power only with an aftermarket diff and it's ability to use 31 spline axles. but it's heavier and it's unsprung weight.

building the 7.5 is a wise thing to do for those looking to stay at 500rwhp or less. forget the ford T-lok for the 7.5. i have ruined 2 of them so far with alot less power and i have seen alot of them destroyed too with less than what i have especially on 5 spd cars

ORIGINAL: Legion5

Ha ha don't steal the idea of me comming into this ignorant. I already pointed out that in my first line or so in the first post. Also I didn't pull the numbers for the non PP v6 out of anywhere like that. On the 2007 test that was brought up, that was a convertible automatic, with it's bigger weight and higher drag. Ok I'm sure you're cool for enjoying your time here.

But I am totally appreciating the thick posts that are being brought up, espetially by cobra 232 and 05gtdriver.

It feels like my decision to pick a v6 over a GT was a bit of a weird one. I got a good deal and the difference between even my v6 now and a GT was and still is *8k*. I decided to get a Mustang after seeing articles writen up on the GT of it making 11.87 seconds with a few mods and drag radials. This was a test run that made me very interested in the car because you could get so much speed for so little $. I remembered the article when looking for a second car and I was looking for something faster than the BMW Z4 I had (255hp and 220 torque plus whatever is added with full exhaust and intake). The GT ended up being too expensive how I wanted it optioned, so I decided to get a used v6 (I like to do things in steps anyway and needed a back seat and the v6 was moddable, plus in a few months I could seel it back with little or no depreciation so it's not like I was stuck with a car that would always be slow, I could mod it or upgrade). In retrospect I should have gotten a beater SUV and a BMW M3 lol. I guess that's not meant to be. At another point allong the line I decided to mod my v6 instead of switch to a GT. This was a secondary option, but came mainly out of the fact that I was disatisfied with the look of the GT and wanted a Shelby, so with the 10k I was going to put into the car to get a DD 11.9 second ride, a few apperance mods could easily be sneaked in and so I was mad good.

Being a person that also likes to get things done, I got all the apperance mods done (mostley) and I'm now going for the preformance mods. I also raised my cap for the $ to put into the car and I'm looking at 10k just for speed mods. In this situation I could never be UNHAPPY because I'll always have a v6 that is faster than a GT but as you can tell I'm trying to shoot for a little more than that, after all I do have a lot to spend for the cheep price the v6 was at.

Now I'm not saying with the money I have to spend and what I'm working with (a v6).. that I will get something that is anything but a tad faster than a GT with a tune, but maybe, just maybe I can squeeze into that rocketship catagory. It's something that would make me happy.

So, now that I'm here, it's time for the money issue that everyone has been talking about... what's the fastest any of you could make a street drivable v6, at the track if you had 10k of your own money on mods to spend and it was your own car that you had to drive every day that you were teaking?

ORIGINAL: 05gtdriver

Of the 12 Capris I owned,8 were the 2.8L Cologne, 2 were 2.6L Cologne(the difference between the 2.6L and 2.8L was that the 2.6L had siamesed exhaust ports, while the North American spec 2.8L had three exhaust ports, but since it was based on the siamesed design, the ports were basically split, so two ports were very close and the third was a little far away, so it didn't really flow all that much better than the original 2 port design[:@]). The Cosworth was based on the 2.0L "Pinto" 4 cylinder and used on the Ford Sierra RS(Merkur XR4Ti body style here stateside), terrific motor! Too bad it never made here[&o]. I owned two4 cylinder Capris(both 2.0L 4 cylinder models) and they were very good, reliable motors, but didn't have that "sexy" V-6 grumble, so my love for them wasn't as great as for the V-6(even though their potential was greater, much greater, in fact).
Yeah, what is it with Ford and head gasket failure? The Cologne family, the Essex family(which there are two separate families, the 60 degree British version and the 90 degree U.S. version, which you speak of) and the Windsor small block V-8s all have eitherinsufficient number of head bolts or too small of a head boltto fasten the head down properly(except the 351W which has the larger head bolts).
Speaking of 10Gs to spend on a 4.0L build up. Proper upper engine build up(o-ringed heads, better valve springs, ARP head fasteners and possibly lower compression forged pistons with ARP fasteners on the rods and mains) and as much turbo as you can afford after getting the long block sorted, I think a good 500+rwhp is easy to achieve. Of course tuning, fuel delivery and proper exhausting all need to be addressed too, could all be done for under 10Gs if one is motivated to get one's hands dirty and do some of the(simpler) work.

ORIGINAL: fazm
my best to date is 12.03 @ 118.5 with a messed up launch @ 12psi
on 9psi i ran a 12.2 @ 113 launching from idle. with more practice im sure i can get the 9psi into the high 11s.
see the video in my signature for the 12.2 run @ 9psi

ORIGINAL: 2stangers

Did some ppl lose the translation of the original question?? 4.0 v6 and all I see in replies is about a Capri which is I do believe not being made anymore...