Towed the Mustang to the track, raced the Excursion
 

Well, I had been planning to go to the annual Buick vs Ford Shootout event in Noble, Oklahoma to race the wife's '92 Mustang GT. I have been trying to get my '92 LX finished for the event, but it just wasn't happening. So, just to be able to have fun participating, I towed the "slow" Mustang down there from Wichita, KS. I wasn't expecting it to be fast (that's a relative term), but I was expecting 13 second quarters at least. The '92 GT has heads/cam/intake/gears/drag radials/and lightweight Bogart D10 wheels. I just had the 3.73 gears put in the week of the event, so I didn't get to test them ahead of time. So anyway, I used my 2005 Excursion Eddie Bauer 6.0 4wd to tow the car and trailer down there.

We showed up for the test n tune the Friday night before the event (on Saturday 12 Oct 2013). We unloaded the car and got into the staging lanes. I made a pass, which felt great, only to get the "bitter beer face" when I looked at the timeslip at the end. It ran a whopping 15.5 second pass! I snuck the car back to my pit before anyone noticed, and quickly dug a hole and buried the car without giving it any recognition. My family was with me for support. We started brain-storming. My dad started talking about doing some "tuning" on the car, like adjusting timing/fuel pressure, but I wasn't interested. It seems to need a TON more timing.

It crept into my head that I should try out the Gearhead SRL tune, AFE air filter, and 4" MBRP turbo-back that was in the Excursion. With my brother's support, and my parents reluctant support, I gave it the "go".
We unhooked the trailer from the Excursion, and removed all of the loose junk in the back, like the tools. I bought another timecard and then went through a tech inspection. I am pretty sure that everyone thought we were joking.

With my family watching on, I pulled around the burnout box and staged in 4Hi. I gave it a little throttle to build some boost, but without knowing how it would respond, I tried to take it easy on it. Afterall, it was my method of getting my car and trailer nearly 200 miles back home.

The tree was setup for Sportsman .500 at this time, so I watched the bulbs come down. When the third amber bulb hit, I released the brake and thrust my foot through the floorboard. The Excursion lunged forward like a bull coming out of the shoot and pulled all of the way down the track. The First Gen Lightning that was in the opposing lane disappeared behind me in the black smoke. After I made it back up the return road, I grabbed my timeslip and said, "That's what I'm talking about!". I had improved in every area of the track over the '92 GT. The timeslip for the Excursion's maiden voyage was:

R/T .141
60ft 2.08
1/8 9.2
MPH 74.9
1/4 14.41
MPH 94.6

Not too shabby for a nearly 8,000lb Excursion with driver!

I know that it wasn't mind blowing, but it smoked the heck out of the '92 5.0 AOD that I had just driven. It was "tons" more fun! We loaded the car and trailer back onto the "race truck" and headed back to the hotel so that we could rest up for the next day.

When Saturday rolled around, I was ready to hit the track again. We found a good pitstop and devised a game plan. I wanted to just disconnect the trailer and leave the Mustang on it. I had hopes to not get embarrassed in the 5.0 again. Against my Dad's advice, I decided to buy two tech cards again and try to qualify both the Excursion and the Mustang for the event. I got both cards filled out and then ran both vehicles through tech inspection again.

I started out by running the Mustang through a round of time trials to see if I could better its time. I was happy that with a little bit more stall speed, I was able to drop the time a little to a miraculous 15.06 quarter mile at an amazing 90 mph. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? It was basically a Sunday drive with a cup of coffee in one hand. In fact, I waved to my family that was watching from the other side of the wall on the top end. It was about as boring as could be.

I was ready to get back in to the Excursion. I ran it through tech real quick and headed to the staging lanes. I knew that the brakes would probably hold a little more boost on the line, so I planned to get it to launch as hard as possible. I once again drove around the water box, put the drive into 4Hi and bumped the first bulb (pre-stage). I pushed the footbrake in reasonably hard and steadily took the throttle to the floor. The boost started building quick and I bumped into the Stage bulb. I was ready to go! What I wasn't ready for, is the insanity that I unleashed when I released the brake to launch! All four wheels of the Excursion belted out a short bark and threw my helmet and noggin into the plush EB leather seats! It literally surprised me so much that I thought for a split second that I should let off the throttle, haha! Obviously I didn't, but it really surprised me that much. I have launched with the front tires off of the ground and have been 1.40's in the 60ft times, but in an 8,000lb beast, I had no idea I could have this much fun! After that, just like the previous pass, the Excursion proudly pulled all of the way down the quarter mile. To my exstatic surprise, I picked up my ticket at the end and saw this:

R/T .226
60ft 1.90
1/8 8.96
MPH 75.14
1/4 14.15
MPH 94.49

Not too shabby, eh? This was my qualifying time. I had just one more pass to go, which would be in the final round (this race is based on a points system, not an individual win.) Ford vehicles are matched with Buick (all GMs basically) for the finals. The cars are matched with similar times and raced. The car that wins that match, wins a point for their team. It is tallied at the end, and the team with the most points wins bragging rights for the year. It is more fun than serious, and it a blast to attend. This was my third event that I have attended.

So, anyway, later in the day, we started the team eliminations. My dad ended up driving the Mustang so that it wasn't a total waste of space. I went first with the Excursion. Team Ford had more cars there than Buick did, so the excess Fords (slower) were pitted against each other in matches. Each race still garnered a point for Team Ford, so it was all good. I normally like to race against GMs though :).

My matchup was against a Stg II Roush Mustang. I did my usual ritual and drove around the water box as to not drag water onto the track with my factory radial tires. I again switched my driveline to 4Hi and did my full throttle staging method. The tree had been switched to a .400 Pro tree. It basically lights the 3 amber lights simultaneously and then .400 seconds pass before the green light. Your reaction time is obviously measured from the time the green light activates til the time you break the beams with your front tire. Well, I am decent on the tree normally, but in this case... I was superb! I pretty much anticipated the light and nailed a .049 reaction! The announcer was stunned as I jumped out a bus length in front of the Mustang. He reeled me in about 150ft down the track, but I was no match for him anyway. He ran a 13.06 in the quarter, and I went 1.93 60ft, 14.19 1/4 and MPH 94.8. I backed up my previous run and was very, very happy!

We had a good laugh at how much more fun the Excursion was to drive and watch. I had a bus load of fun and we packed up, loaded the trailer and watched the rest of the racing. Team Ford won in the end and we headed back to the hotel to clean up and have a good night of family time at the local Cracker Barrel. Nothing broke and noone got hurt, actually our sides were splitting from all of the laughter. We had a great time. I look forward to next year and hope to have my "fast" Mustang out there and maybe break the Excursion out to have some laughs, too.

PS, my Dad would want me to mention that he beat my time in the Mustang when he drove it in the finals. He ran a 15.002 to my 15.06 that I made during qualifying. Here's to you, Dad! :-jammin

Friday Night, Excursion (ran 14.4):


Friday Night, Excursion (same as above, different angle, ran 14.4):


Saturday Qualifying, Excursion (ran 14.15):


Saturday Qualifying, Mustang (ran 15.06):


Saturday Final, Excursion (ran 14.19)

I would be curious what your truck weighs in at. Those are some great times!

I did the same thing last year. I towed my Mustang to Top End Dragways, unloaded the car and raced the pickup and the car all day. I know mine scales at 8,200lbs. I ran a 14.43@91.65mph with a full tank of fuel, toolbox full of stuff and the gooseneck hitch. I want to say I had one of the SRL flavored tunes in there. I did cut the 1.83 60' on a set of Dueler Revos.

http://mistercmk.com/pics/albums/use...923_133915.jpg

Thanks for posting, I think there could be a little bit better 60ft, but I'm not sure I could get as good as yours.

I haven't weighed my Ex yet, I need to find a close-by scale. I plan to pull all of the seats and spare tire out and go for 13's. I think it'll do it.

It's amazing to me how much little work it takes for these things to get moving relatively quick!

that is awesome! i want to drag race my truck too it looks like a blast.
dumb announcer calling it an expedition though lol

Yes, I wasn't too excited about it being called an Expedition, ha! My license plate says, "XCURSME"

Very cool!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...ies/3gears.gif

Stewart

Amazing what some boost, exhaust and a tuner will do! And to make you cringe, think what that trans, transfer case and diffs are dealing with!!!!

I`de like to know what my X will do with the mods I have? now I`m curious! hmm?

On a side note, I had an all stock 86GT 5 speed with nothing more than a K&N conical filter, underdrive pulleys and a cat back Dynomax exhaust. running MT sportsman pro`s. it ran a consistent 14.005. I couldn`t get it any lower! the car did have 3.27 gears that the first owner said he ordered the car with, but knowing Mustangs the 3.27 wasn`t available till around 91or 92 and only with the auto. I think he had them dealer installed when new.

either way good job with the X!

Thank you!

Yes, the '92 has more potential for sure. It should be running 13's, honestly. It is having an issue somewhere. I bought it from someone locally that didn't know a lot about it. I previously had an S-trim on it, but after removing the supercharger, they left the 30 lb injectors on it. I think it needs 24lb injectors, but 30's are a little too much. I don't have an air/fuel gauge on it to check, though. The timing is set a little conservative (about 12 adv), so I think there is some power left on the table still. Anyway, I didn't feel like jacking with the car at the track, so I saved it for another day. The Excursion was definitely a lot more fun!

Yes, I cannot imagine the loads and stress that the driveline is going through! I would love to build a purpose-built setup for racing. I was thinking that i would love to whip out the TIG and build a custom chassis for it just to race, ha ha! I am interested in seeing what my current power in a light chassis would do. I already have too many irons in the fire. I would love to see this thing in the 13's and then just stick to doing 4wd launches against cars on the streets.

I'll shoot some updates if I can make it out to the local track in Wichita before it closes for the cold weather.

NHRDA.

The 2013 season just ended, but look into joining up and racing next year. :-jammin

NHRDA - National Hot Rod Diesel Association - NHRDA

Stewart

That would be fun, but I wish they had an event closer to Kansas!

Yeah, it's still growing.

It's not easy to secure a dragstrip for events.

Stewart

Well, for one, I'm sure those beasts tear up the surface and make it hard to maintain. Wichita has a decent track, thankfully. It is right smack dab in the middle of the US, too. Maybe I should bring them in! Haha! KansasDragway.com

That's pretty cool! The 6.0 haters won't like this thread! :-X06

I've often wanted to time mine, but never had a place to do so. I took in some scrap metal last spring, and when I crossed the scale coming out with just myself, my 5 year old, and 1/4 tank of fuel...the slip said 8040 lbs. Continues to amaze me the way it will get up and move.

Very cool! As an avid drag racer myself I have often wondered what my X could do. :) Do you leave it in 4H for the entire pass or switch it back to 2WD while going down the track?

I am primarily a drag racer myself, and have made many 9 and 10 second passes in Mustangs, but a 14 second pass seemed just a fun for some reason, haha!

I launched in 4hi and kept it there the entire pass. I thought about switching to 2wd down track, but didn't know if it would damage the xfer case and/or be of any difference.