Hello guys, I am new, but I am in need of some help. My friend has a 2007 Ford Mustang v6 and wants to race my 1997 camaro v6. I wanna know what I can do to make my car a bit faster to win the race. He always talks crap about my car, and I wanna show him what a camaro is all about. I have around $100 in cash. If you can tell me what I can do to make it faster it would be appreciated. If you refer to a part, can you post a link to it on a parts website or something?

Thanks in Advance,
Zech

 

Hey Zech. I certainly hope you aren't racing on the street as I do not condone street racing and drag race every month in the summer with my Camaro at the track! Please don't expect anyone to help you to win a street race.

With $100 how far do you really think you are going to get? It takes time and money to give better performance to any car. A CAI will run you about $100 with shipping and give you a bit more performance. 2 to 5hp depending on the brand and how it is installed.

Your friend has an advantage because his car is 10 years newer than yours. How many miles on your car? Is it manual or auto? How old are the plugs & wires? Have you changed your PCV? Do you do regular maintenance on the car? This plays a big role in performance.

 

If your car is well maintained and not to high of miles and his car is stock it should be a drivers race. The cars match up pretty close. You are down 10 ponies but he weights 100 lbs more.

Cheap HP for stock 3.8. Ebay intake and shed a few lbs. Pull out the spare and jack and anything else you can. Gut the cat and get some nice racing stickers.

 

Thanks Gorn, and it's on a closed quater mile track, both cars are auto, and I forget the mileage but it's around 100k+

 

I LOL'd at this one...

But overall, I agree. $100 isn't going to get you much. Best to use that $100 to make sure all your maintenance is up to date - oil, fluids, etc.

Best (cheap) thing to do is to strip your car of anything that doesn't need to be there on track day - up to and including things like the rear seats, spare, jack, any crap left in the car, etc.

 

Well This is going to be a pretty close race new to new but you have 100K on your meter how many does he have? Stripping any weight will help. $100 is not alot, today a $100 is the $20 of 15 years ago.

If you are street racing forget any advise. I watched a very pretty young girl die as the result of a street racing accident. She and her boyfriend both had F bodies, One a camaro the other a Firebird. They had the My car is faster argument for a few months until they decided to race for it. Well part of the road they were racing on had a very large hill that leveled out for a cross road and went back down hill again. If you hit this area going about 80+ you would get air born. (trust me I did it a few times). Well they were neck and neck and hit in mid air. Her car pitched over a little and landed wrong. Her car rolled once first point of impact was the pass front fender, then the car rolled and hit driver's roof (T-top 3rd gen) it finished the roll and ended up on it's wheels, in the ditch headlights up.

By the time I got there the boyfriend had turned around and made it back to the site and he was freaking out. I sent him and my friend up to the nearest house to call 911, I stayed to try and help her. I could not move her she had a gash on her head, and was pinned between the seat and steering wheel. She was unconsious and having a hard time breathing. I stayed with her and talked to her, after a few minutes she opened her eyes, smiled at me and then you could see her life leave her body. Her eyes kinda glossed over, and she stopped breathing... you could just tell. I didn't know her, I still cried. Her boyfriend was charged and convicted of Vehicular Homicide due to his parcipitation in the race. I know this is not the only time things like this have happened.

Massey

 

Like traumadog said get rid of any extra weight.
Here's the best piece of advice I can give. If your car has AC, spend $45.00 and get an AC bypass pulley and remove the AC compressor. It's not hard to do and you will get more HP out of your engne. Get a bottle of 100 octane booster for around $12.00. Replace the PCV valve ($5.00) and buy a can of Seafoam Deep Creep ($12.00). Take the intake off and spray it inside the throttle body with the car on. About 1/3 the can. Turn off the car for 10mins. Turn it back on and spray another 1/3 can with the engine running. Let the car run for another 10mins or until the white smoke has cleared from the tailpipe. That will get rid of alot of carbon buildup in the engine. With the remaining money, buy a new air filter and some beer for a job well done! Also, before the race try to have 1/2 tank of gas or less in the tank. Good luck!

Massey, that was an experience that will stick with you forever. I saw a similar thing when I lived in Montreal. 2 people were racing and creamed 2 pedestrians. They were doing 75mph when they hit the pedestrians. Street racing is so risky and can end up kiling someone or yourself.

 

If he is going to put all his eggs in one basket, would it be advisable to take his serpentine belt off for one pass? I read a review that C&D or Motorworks did back when they were reviewing the 3800 sixer brand new and it shaved 3-5 tenths off their time when the engine was cool.

Also, I agree with the others, if you plan to street race, then save your money for the hospital bills.

 

No water running thru the engine would cause hot spot in the head. He would most likely blow a head gasket. Most 1/4 mile runs take a few minutes by the time you line up the car and get them stops. I would not idle a car that long without a water pump running no less WOT.

 

In that situation where every bit makes a difference, you would want to run an electric water pump.
Make sure your battery always has a healthy charge, since with the belt off the alternator isn't spinning either.