This is My Editorial Page
Often I can get something that you need, that isn't listed here on the web page. So don't let this stop you from asking for a part. However, there are some parts that I do not sell, and never will. More important than the fact that I don't, is WHY.
I'd like to expand on our creedo of,
"We don't sell parts that don't work",
to include,
"We don't sell parts, that you don't need to spend your money on."
Idle Air Control (IAC) motors.
$119 at the dealer. Why don't I sell em? Cuz you can clean it, and I've NEVER
seen a bad one. EVER.
Expensive boost controllers.
$$$ for a Greddy or HKS. Why don't I sell em? Cuz Ford drilled the passage in the
T nipple correctly. Just loop the BCS hose over, for 17-18 psi on all but the early cars,
83-84s. On those just use a cheap restrictor, like my "Butt Splice" Tip.
Extrude honed parts.
Why don't I sell em? Two reasons, 1, I'm not in California where most of this
work is done. 2. The parts that benefit from porting on our motors benefit from radical
reshaping of the part, not just smoothing and evening out the flow. Extrude Honing will
not do this. It would be of benefit to EH our ported parts, but who's gonna spend
that much money? Answer: Nobody. And my ported parts will have a bigger bang for the buck
than an EH part that wasn't ported first.
Superchips
Why don't I sell em? Two reasons,
1, I proved that it wasn't worth much, in terms of power, on the dyno.
2, they changed their distribution and pricing, which squeezed out the guy I was buying
them from, and priced them out of my customers' reach. This also pissed off almost every
Superchips dealer in the world. Ask any of em. They'll tell you the same thing.
Chrome and Gee Whiz parts
Ford built us a hellava car. I like the factory parts and they often work
the best. I've tried the other stuff, and went back to stock.
Turbo Timers
You're gonna spend How Much? on a What? Puleeez...
NO.
Raise it if you can. I ran a Ranger motor with 9.4:1 compression and 18 psi of boost. That'll make a believer out of anyone. Jack Roush said that the *one* thing Ford Turbo engines needed, was more compression.
Aside from free mods, which should be done, like raising the boost, here it comes. Change the cam to a Turbo Tek Toys Hot Street 2 camshaft.
That's not salesmanship, it's a fact. Why?
Depends.
You can spend a lot of money on a good head.
Once your head flows more, your turbo will have work harder, and spin faster, to provide the same amount of boost. Is your stock turbo up to it? I doubt it. Better add a big turbo to your big valve budget. I know it sounds cheap, at first, but there's a lot you need to do to go along with big valves. Take a look at our dyno sheets of cars with a Hot Street cam, and STOCK heads. Then look at our competitor's dyno sheets, if they have any.
It should become clear to you then, what you should do next. Or rather, first.
Then FIX it.
Installing go fast parts on a broken car is stupid.
Think about this: Even if you just THROW repair parts at your car to fix it, more than likely, it WILL fix it, and then those parts will be good for years to come.
Don't be cheap with maintenance parts. We save you lots of money on performance parts, so you CAN keep and maintain your car the way that it should be.
If you're gonna rebuild the tranny you have now, and reinstall it, that's fine.
If you want to change from an auto to a stick, or from a stick to an auto, then, No I don't recommend it.
Here's why:
You will need a donor car, with the correct tranny, to get little tiny, dumbass, stupid, completely unavailable, anywhere parts. That means the donor car should sit right next to your car while you're doing the swap. Which means you have to buy and deal with another car.
Just buy the car you *want* in the first place.
Turbo cars ROCK with automatic transmissions. There's nothing like the feeling of banging the 1-2 shift, with full boost, while fiddling with the stereo. It really pisses off the guy you are racing.
All the hype about automatic transmissions not being able to stand the power, is BS. If you're hopping up a car, be prepared to build up the transmission, too. Once freshly rebuilt, the transmission will last.
Don't be an idiot and powerbrake an automatic. You shorten the life of the transmission by thousands of miles every time you do this. If you want to smoke the tires, buy a cam. :)
7 or less.
My XR made 280 at the wheels with these changes from stock:
a K&N cone filter
an intercooler
a Superchip
a Mass Air kit
a 3" exhaust
a ported exhaust manifold
a cam, my HS3
That's good!
Matt's car did MORE with;
a K&N cone filter
a stock IC (but it was stock, so not a mod)
a 3" exhaust
a ported exhaust manifold
a cam, my HS2
But that's even better, 4 mods.
Funny how more boost doesn't count as a mod ;)
BTW, my XR used 18 psi to do it, and Matt's car used 14 psi to do it. Since each pound of boost ought to be worth 8 hp, then if I raised my boost to, say, 22, then I shoulda made 32 more hp. That would theoretically be 247 hp at the wheels. Now, the IHI couldn't do that. But a stock XR turbo could. and one will be doing just that, very shortly :)
All this using stock 2.3 heads.
'nuff said