Your shiny engine compartment is the least of your worries. I'll bet the track officials wouldn't be happy to know your car is dumping coolant on the course. Get it fixed before someone goes off into the cheap seats due to your car spilling coolant on the track. This is a big no-no at dragstrips too-and those cars don't even turn. They're not supposed to at least.
Another overflow container connected to the car's factory container sounds like a viable idea. Run a hose from the factory container's vent hole to the second container. A new three-row radiator wouldn't be a bad idea either. Open-track cars are subject to hard driving for obviously much longer periods of time than cars running down the dragstrip.
Finally, snoop around the paddock area. Are there any other Fox or SN-95 Mustangs at the track at the same time you're there? Mustangs are popular cars to play with on the road racing/open-track side of the hobby. As is the case in most situations, enthusiasts involved in the same facet of the hobby are oftentimes the best resources. Chat with other owners, look under the hoods of their cars, and find out what they're doing to solve this potentially dangerous issue that could become a problem with any open-track car-not just a Mustang.
Aluminum 5.0? I have a '93 LX 5.0 convertible. I understand the '93 engines are a little different from their '87-'92 counterparts in that the '93's engine block and heads are cast aluminum as opposed to the forged-steel engines of the '87s-'92s. I read this difference causes problems for the '93s that have modified air-induction systems such as the one you installed in your April '03 issue. Can you tell me the risks of installing a Mach 1-style ram-air system on my '93?Eric BaldwinSan Jose, CA
You bring up a noteworthy difference in the '93 engines. To begin, all engine blocks and cylinder heads in production Fox-body 5.0s are made of cast-iron-no exotic aluminum with these components. What you're wondering about-and you're on the right track-is the difference in the pistons that came in the 5.0-liter small-blocks in those '87-'93 Fox cars. Through the '92 model year, all 5.0s had forged-aluminum pistons. In 1993, Ford switched to a cast-aluminum hypereutectic piston, which is somewhat more delicate than the forged piston.
That's not to say you can't make big power with the '93 short-block-just think of the fuse as being a little shorter with your car. You can build an approximate 400hp engine with either an '87-'92 block with forged pistons, or with a '93 that has hypereutectic pistons. You just need to be more careful with the tune-up, especially when running superchargers or nitrous setups. In other words, the forged piston will tolerate a little more fumbling around with the tune than the cast one.
Your '93 will handle a ram-air system with no trouble whatsoever. Furthermore, the engine (yes, and the pistons) in your car will easily handle you building the car into a 300-350hp thrill ride with aftermarket aluminum cylinder heads, a performance intake, a cam, headers, exhaust, supercharger, and so on. Some might even say your short-block will live with up to 400 ponies, depending on how brave you are.
Fox Feature Car Trivia Part IIII'm responding to George Peare's letter concerning the breakdown of the Fox 5.0 LX feature cars. George, who has a '93 Vibrant White feature car, wanted to know how many five-speeds and automatics were produced. There were 1,500 total produced. Of that number, 1,056 were automatics, and 444 were five-speeds. If you want to really get rare concerning the '93 Canary Yellow Feature Cars, a total number of 1,503 were produced. Out of that number, with the yellow/black combination, 667 were automatics, and 452 were five-speeds. With the yellow/white combination, it gets even more rare with 271 automatics and a mere 113 five-speed cars.