Nothing like the smell of C16.....

[Injuneer]

Finally rolled the Formula out of the garage yesterday. All shiney and ready to roll. It hadn't been started in 6 months.... put the ECU back in, put in a set of plugs for street driving, filled it up with some spare C16, twisted the key and it fired up on the second turn!!!!

Let it warm up, and then took a short drive through the local streets..... d@mn!!! I forgot how much fun it is to drive it. Came back to the house, and left two huge strips of rubber up the driveway..... its amazing how little traction you get out of a set of ET Drags when they aren't warmed up

Over the past year:

-added visible dual nitrous purge (photos to follow )
-replaced my poly Spohn LCA's with updated rod end version
-deleted EGR totally, using SJM cover plates
-deleted EEC totally, including the canister in the rear fender
-removed last traces of the audio system, the speakers in the front doors
-deleted visors, made custom cover plates
-upgraded "radio delete" plate so it can be used to mount switches (future project)


Then I spent a couple weeks cleaning it up:

-full body polish... several coats of Z5 and soon a couple of Z2's
-full engine polish, including Mothers Incredible Billet polish on the fuel rails, throttle body, etc.
-touched up a few paint scratches in the engine compartment
-vacuum and wipe down on interior
-polished all sills - doors, hatch, edges of hood and inside fenders, t-top holes, etc.
-polished Pro-Stars to near chrome finish with the Mother's polish
-Mothers Back To Black on all the plastic parts, including the cowl plastic and wiper wings
-Zaino tire coating
-Zaino on all the glass
-Zaino on the rear taillights
-remove front license plate bracket, and found a couple of "plugs" to fill the holes in the nose. Painted the plugs to match the bumper. Temporary, but it actually looks close to unnoticable. Much better than the stupid front plate bracket.
-touched up exhaust system with high temp silver paint from Eastwood (very good stuff).
-polished all aftermarket suspension components
-added silver inserts to front bumper "bird", courtesy of Brent Franker. (very nice decals from Brent.)

After I got all done crusing around, and letting the Mustang owners across the street know the Formula was alive and well, there was the pungent odor of C16 all over the place. The garage still smells from it this morning...... and it smells GREAT!

OK.... hadda let out the enthusiasm.... been a year since I felt this way.

[95z28]

Now where are the pix, you should know better than that

[Rob B (shoebox)]

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

COOooooLLL!

Nice to know I'm the only one capable of "wasting" great huge amounts of my free time. Sometimes I have to drive it somewhere else to detail it cause so many of my neighbors think I'm crazy and I'm getting self conscious about it.

[soCalTA]

good for you Fred ..... while I haven't done nearly the things you have done my old girl still brings many smiles to my face. Glad to see you can now go out ... grab some smiles and smoke some Stangs ...

[fastTa]

I envy the guys that work full time for the pros and get to wake up in the morning, grab a cup-o-joe, and then go to work and get to smell race gas, or even better nitro, first thing in the morning.

I even like the smell of a car running n20!

What did you decide to jet at for the first few laps?

[imwlw83]

Getting ready to do so cleaning and wrenching myself. I have a stupid question, why dont some of you guys drive your cars all year. I do, ami missing the big picture.

[95TransAm]

Getting ready to do so cleaning and wrenching myself. I have a stupid question, why dont some of you guys drive your cars all year. I do, ami missing the big picture.

Cause some of us live with snow and ice from November 'til about late march or April I drove my car this past winter.....suddenly driving it isn't as much fun....unless no one is around and you just slide and do donuts everywhere

Fred, glad to hear you get her out and she fired right up. You really have to appreciate that amazing automobile....especially after not driving it for a half a year. I'd love to see some pics if you get the chance.

And I also agree, the sweet smell of race gas is by far one of the greatest smells ever

[N20LT4Bird]

-full body polish... several coats of Z5 and soon a couple of Z2's
-full engine polish, including Mothers Incredible Billet polish on the fuel rails, throttle body, etc.
-touched up a few paint scratches in the engine compartment
-vacuum and wipe down on interior
-polished all sills - doors, hatch, edges of hood and inside fenders, t-top holes, etc.
-polished Pro-Stars to near chrome finish with the Mother's polish
-Mothers Back To Black on all the plastic parts, including the cowl plastic and wiper wings
-Zaino tire coating
-Zaino on all the glass
-Zaino on the rear taillights
-remove front license plate bracket, and found a couple of "plugs" to fill the holes in the nose. Painted the plugs to match the bumper. Temporary, but it actually looks close to unnoticable. Much better than the stupid front plate bracket.
-touched up exhaust system with high temp silver paint from Eastwood (very good stuff).
-polished all aftermarket suspension components
-added silver inserts to front bumper "bird", courtesy of Brent Franker. (very nice decals from Brent.)

.

So now that all the cosmetics are done, when are you gonna make that car go fast?.........

Now in seriousness, how did you mount your new purge? I did mine out the hood scoops up front and it gets some comments at the track.....

[TraceZ]

Getting ready to do so cleaning and wrenching myself. I have a stupid question, why dont some of you guys drive your cars all year. I do, ami missing the big picture.

Driving a car through a salty winter is pretty much the end of the car. Once it is exposed to the salt and wet it is only a matter of time before it corrodes. The rims will pit and pock, the steel will rust and bleed orangeon the paint, the nuts and bolts under the car will weld themselves solid with corrosion.

If you care to preserve a car, you must protect it from the elements and keep it indoors when the weather is bad... salt, sun, rain, etc.. It will dry out the rubber seals, rust the car, fade the paint.

The first time you drive a new car in the salt you are sealing its doom. It is only a matter of time before the salt destroys it. My Z is from Texas, always garaged and never seen salt. There is not even a hint of corrosion on any of the bolts under the car.

[N20LT4Bird]

Driving a car through a salty winter is pretty much the end of the car. Once it is exposed to the salt and wet it is only a matter of time before it corrodes. The rims will pit and pock, the steel will rust and bleed orangeon the paint, the nuts and bolts under the car will weld themselves solid with corrosion.

If you care to preserve a car, you must protect it from the elements and keep it indoors when the weather is bad... salt, sun, rain, etc.. It will dry out the rubber seals, rust the car, fade the paint.

The first time you drive a new car in the salt you are sealing its doom. It is only a matter of time before the salt destroys it. My Z is from Texas, always garaged and never seen salt. There is not even a hint of corrosion on any of the bolts under the car.

Yup. pretty much says it......the salt and sand they put on the roads is the worst thing for a car. I wont drive ANYTHING of value in the winter here. I see cars all the time that have only been through one or two winters that are just trashed. The salt and moisture just eats anything metal.......

Theres a guy with a C5 vette here that must live very close to me because I see him all the time driving his car through snow storms......hello!.....you own a vette. If you can afford one, then you can afford a winter car. The car looks horrible....all salt stained scratched up. The best thing about it is the trailer hitch that he uses to cart around snowmobiles!!!!

[Joe 1320]

the pungent odor of C16 all over the place. The garage still smells from it this morning...... and it smells GREAT!

.

Mmmmm...... high octane. :drool:

[Injuneer]

PHOTOS:

Never one to miss a photo op, I should be able to take a few at the Cops 'n Rodders car show this Sunday.

NITROUS JETTING:

150hp jets in both stages, wired to work as a single stage. 300-shot off the line. Clean underwear in the trunk

WHY DON'T YOU DRIVE IT YEAR ROUND:

NJ is the "anti-automobile" state. They have emissions checks that rival CA (and they have adopted CA standards starting in 2008), they have huge fines for anyone caught issuing or using a phony sticker, and we have "mobile emissions teams" that set up on the side of the road, pull cars over and subject them to full visual and rolling emissions, by EXPERTS. And, the roads here are totally crowded. NJ has a higher population density than India. Think about it.

NITROUS PURGE:

OK.... I sort of cheated on this one. I have my solenoids right behind the drivers side headlight. I didn't want to run it back to the cowl, or to figure a way to use flex lines and purge through the ram air nostrils. I took advantage of the fact that my SLP hood seems to be about 1/8" shorter than is should be, and I located the twin purge lines (3/16" copper) in the gap between the back edge of the bumper cover and the leading edge of the hood. Ran a single line from the main nitrous line to a "tee" mounted on a custom bracket that attaches where the airbag decel sensor used to be mounted, and then a pair of copper lines under the front bumper support and up through the back edge, down in the gap. The lines disharge upwards in a slight "V", with the lines on the centerlines the ram air nostrils. The first time I tried it, it was a really humid day, and there was a visible plume about 6' above the bumper. Yesterday, with the warm, dry air, it wasn't real visible.

[ryan34]

maybe i'm missing something but what's in indiana?

[Z Ya Later]

maybe i'm missing something but what's in indiana?

Not Indiana, India. As in the country lol

Fred, I want photos!! lol That nitrous purge sounds like it'd be awesome/freaky to see. I think I may need a clean pair of shorts on standby for that lol