Hellcat out, Mustang in

Agreed.

if the car never leaves the street, I don't agree, but...Mine is right at about 750hp (put down 650rwhp) and I'm also looking for more. I'd like to get as close to 800rwhp as possible, which is pushing around 950hp. When you run 1mile, 1/2 mile, and 1/4 mile...there really isn't too much power. The only wall is your bank account or how much you're willing to throw at it.


For a track car, sure. Maybe I don't read enough of OP's posts but this sounds like a daily driver with the added benefit of racing/taking to the track (I mean he eventually wants a four door vehicle due to this).

It just seems to me that the mindset present within the initial post (spending a ton of money, things breaking, rinse repeat and then being fed up with the process enough that they got an entirely different car) doesn't necessarily agree with the attitude you have to have for a track vehicle.

Maybe am not presenting this the best way, but hopefully it makes sense what I am saying. IMO my suggestion would be to have a fast, fun, and reliable DD and then the balls to the wall track car on top of that (with the mindset that you may break stuff and it might be expensive).

That's just my opinion though.
 
I don't want a "balls to the wall" track car because it's not needed these days. These days you can have your cake and eat it too.

You start with a quick car to begin with and add basic bolt ons. Nothing more. The mods on the Hellcat were just that, bolt ons. It was literally just a pulley swap and injector upgrade. There was absolutely no reason for the motor to go other than tuner carelessness (which is always a risk), considering the number of Hellcats out there with far more mods pushing 1000+hp without issue.

Now, I will get another Charger Hellcat. Not anytime soon though, because I want that new widebody model with 797 hp (if it's the redeye motor). If it's the 850hp variant with the 426 motor, then even better because that would satisify my 4 door daily driving and weekend racing needs all in one without me having to do anything additional.

The Mustang I'll keep NA for now because these things are running 10's with just E85, intake, and headers. I wouldn't call that "balls to the walls". If I have an itch to go 9's, then I would purchase a supercharger kit, which is still technically a complete bolt on kit that will retain the powertrain warranty (albeit through the supercharger company like Roush).

I don't want the typical project car where you turn wrenches on it every weekend and open the motor, go above and beyond the basics, etc.. and then drive something you really don't want to drive for a daily driver during the week.
 
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Both of you make great points. It's nice to have one car that can do it all. On the other hand, it's accepting quite a lot of risk to do that to a car you rely on for regular transportation.

That was one thing that kept bugging me about tracking the BRZ and the whole reason I picked up a cheap XTerra.
 
I think some people are still stuck in the past. It's 2019, and you can have a perfectly civilized car that can easily be daily driven. The power is just a number any more, and has no affect on drivability. I do agree that it's silly to have a car with crazy power as a daily and then never actually use it. That's just a darn shame and kind of pointless.

The video above is pretty entertaining and dramatic, but highly exaggerated. Sure, they're fast when you get into it...but they're perfectly civilized otherwise and nothing to be afraid of just cruising around. Like most things, people are just afraid of things they don't understand or have no experience with. Big power is almost the norm now, and you can daily drive them with no issues or fanfare.
 
I think some people are still stuck in the past. It's 2019, and you can have a perfectly civilized car that can easily be daily driven. The power is just a number any more, and has no affect on drivability. I do agree that it's silly to have a car with crazy power as a daily and then never actually use it. That's just a darn shame and kind of pointless.

The video above is pretty entertaining and dramatic, but highly exaggerated. Sure, they're fast when you get into it...but they're perfectly civilized otherwise and nothing to be afraid of just cruising around. Like most things, people are just afraid of things they don't understand or have no experience with. Big power is almost the norm now, and you can daily drive them with no issues or fanfare.

Exactly, and the way the power is delivered is alot more smoother these days.

When I first got the Hellcat, it didn't "feel" that much faster than the Challenger SRT I had before it, which was 485p. It seems strange but in the beginning it was hard for me to believe it was 200+hp more, but numbers don't lie. I was trapping 126 bone stock in the Hellcat compared to 114 in the Challenger, so the power was there, it just didn't have that noticeable "feeling" that older modified cars had because they were so unrefined.
 
When I first got the Hellcat, it didn't "feel" that much faster than the Challenger SRT I had before it, which was 485p. It seems strange but in the beginning it was hard for me to believe it was 200+hp more, but numbers don't lie. I was trapping 126 bone stock in the Hellcat compared to 114 in the Challenger, so the power was there, it just didn't have that noticeable "feeling" that older modified cars had because they were so unrefined.

Going from 400hp and adding 250hp with the supercharger was a huge difference for me. I won't forget picking it up for the first time and following a buddy immediately after leaving the shop. I was rolling about 15-20mph and hit it like I normally would and lit up the tires for a second until I let off in shock.

You do get use to it fast though, and doesn't feel "fast" any more. I have a mental block with my right foot, and rarely ever break traction now (I hate spinning tires :lol: ). Only when I go to the 1/2 mile events am I reminded of how fast the thing can be. Lining up with 500hp cars and they are a spec in the rearview by the time the 1/2 mile mark is up.

The car is loud (by choice), but still rides smooth enough and drives just fine. Anyone who drives it is surprised how docile it is just tooling around. These are good times to be a car guy. :up:
 
Cars that run 10s or better any more do it with a lot less drama than it used to take. For a lot of reasons, they don't feel as fast as they are.

Sorry to hear about the issues with the hellcat. Going for the more well known tuners is probably money well spent once you've already dumped a buttload into the car.

As someone pointed out it is hard to get 600+ to hook on the street from anything but a roll in a small tire car. My experience was similar once I got the vmp kit installed, blew the tires off in 2nd gear from a roll, and I knew at that moment this was finally some significant power. And that was on a drag radial lol.

Congrats on the car, what do you mean by it being a 3 year car for you? Already planning on selling? lol

PS: The gen1 coyote w/vmp tvs I have now ran a 10.8 vs. a stock hellcat 11.2. Can't remember the traps, but the coyote out trapped it too.
PSS: The MT ET Street R is a good tire and have a set on welds. Will hold around 600 from a 2nd gear roll on warm clean pavement. Sometimes still spins on a hard downshift though haha
 
As someone pointed out it is hard to get 600+ to hook on the street from anything but a roll in a small tire car. My experience was similar once I got the vmp kit installed, blew the tires off in 2nd gear from a roll, and I knew at that moment this was finally some significant power. And that was on a drag radial lol.

PS: The gen1 coyote w/vmp tvs I have now ran a 10.8 vs. a stock hellcat 11.2. Can't remember the traps, but the coyote out trapped it too.
PSS: The MT ET Street R is a good tire and have a set on welds. Will hold around 600 from a 2nd gear roll on warm clean pavement. Sometimes still spins on a hard downshift though haha

I don't have much problem putting down 650rwhp on the street with road racing R-Comps. I just need to give it a brief moment for the suspension to load up and it grabs no problem. It will always spin if I just instantly mash my foot to the floor. Here's a good example of one of my better launches. Cold tires (I dont do burnouts and had to wait for the other guy to do his), and an unprepped bumpy airport runway. It spins slightly in 1st, then hooked.

If you just want to instantly mash your foot the floor, then you're right. I like to let the suspension work and give the tires a chance, plus it's easier on the drivetrain if it does hook. ;)

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Those new Mustangs are beasts. There are bunch of them really putting up a challenge now at the events as more people catch on.
 
If it can stick slamming foot to the floor will move out of the hole faster but yah it is a challenge to swing that outside of a race track. Sometimes, gonna have to feather it. :D

Just got back from a bit of a cruise trying to find a spot to do a little data logging in the area I'm living at now. Found a couple candidate stretches 20 minutes from my house outside of town away from people and (hopefully) cops. Moved to 1000' higher altitude and am on shell 91 now.

E85 is great for people that can get it. A lot of us, are stuck on pump.
 
Cars that run 10s or better any more do it with a lot less drama than it used to take. For a lot of reasons, they don't feel as fast as they are.

Sorry to hear about the issues with the hellcat. Going for the more well known tuners is probably money well spent once you've already dumped a buttload into the car.

As someone pointed out it is hard to get 600+ to hook on the street from anything but a roll in a small tire car. My experience was similar once I got the vmp kit installed, blew the tires off in 2nd gear from a roll, and I knew at that moment this was finally some significant power. And that was on a drag radial lol.

Congrats on the car, what do you mean by it being a 3 year car for you? Already planning on selling? lol

PS: The gen1 coyote w/vmp tvs I have now ran a 10.8 vs. a stock hellcat 11.2. Can't remember the traps, but the coyote out trapped it too.
PSS: The MT ET Street R is a good tire and have a set on welds. Will hold around 600 from a 2nd gear roll on warm clean pavement. Sometimes still spins on a hard downshift though haha

You got a VMP kit installed on yours? Nice! VMP hasn't come out yet with a kit for the 18+, but they're working on it. My mind keeps changing on what boosted application to go with. For now I'm gonna keep it stock and enjoy it for what it is. Towards the summer I'll do an E85 tune on it with maybe an intake. That being said, Black Friday is going to be the primary motivator on which supercharger package to go with. :lol:


Also by 3 year car I mean I really don't plan on keeping this for more than 3 years. For me, as soon as that widebody Charger Hellcat with 800 (or more) horsepower is out , I'll get that. Not interested in the regular widebody coming out this summer, waiting until they put the redeye motor in it is as well (or the rumored 426 motor which is already released as a crate package but not in a production car as of yet).
 
So, 471whp with just E85 tune and headers. That's from 460 stock to the crank.

That's about it for N/A.

Leaning towards a Paxton over the summer.

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dynojets read high

e85 doesn't have enough availability to make flex fuel worth it for me. I wish it was because 400whp is easily achievable even on my wrx without going full stage2. at least east coast gets good fuel. I see people with more mods than me on the west coast putting up lesser numbers because they get that garbage 91 out there
 
It's actually pretty common to hit 500whp on the 2018+ Mustangs with just some bolt ons, dynojet or not, the main thing is using an SAE corrected dyno.


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Mine was reading low because it was really warm and humid yesterday. Also using catted headers which makes slightly less power than catless headers. I can't stand the smell of catless exhausts.

Times are what really matters though. I'd be happy with a low 11 second run at 123/124. Will find out soon enough.
 
I’ve been doing a lot of research between cat and catless and the difference seems extremely minimal from a hi-flow race cat and catless. I’ve been considering a catless downpipe .. I’ve tossed and turned between the two for the past month.

How good is the stock fuel system on those 5.0’s? When are you looking at upgrading injectors and/or fuel pump?
 
dynojets read high

e85 doesn't have enough availability to make flex fuel worth it for me. I wish it was because 400whp is easily achievable even on my wrx without going full stage2. at least east coast gets good fuel. I see people with more mods than me on the west coast putting up lesser numbers because they get that garbage 91 out there

Just don't go to ShaidarHaran's "tuner" :bleh:
 
Ugh fuel. On the west coast it's bad. I thought the fuel in MT wasn't good. The 91 here is worse. I had to start using boostane to hold the timing in the tune up. Pretty lame, but ACN91 is definitely not as good and the dumb part is I'm paying more for it in Reno NV.

Seen some LM mustangs are now going 10s naturally aspirated. Pretty impressive in my book even if it's been done before.

Paxtons are a good choice especially paired with a stall converter. Easy to setup meth injection too.

As for catless setups, they can be a pain if you need to pass emissions. I'm running one on this car. The smell has never bothered me but I know some people hate that. The main reason I went catless is due to horror stories on the net about cats coming apart, clogging, and blowing engines on boosted cars. It's rare but I wanted to eliminate as many points of failure as I could.
 
I’ve been doing a lot of research between cat and catless and the difference seems extremely minimal from a hi-flow race cat and catless. I’ve been considering a catless downpipe .. I’ve tossed and turned between the two for the past month.

How good is the stock fuel system on those 5.0’s? When are you looking at upgrading injectors and/or fuel pump?

Stock fuel is actually pretty good. The 18's and higher have both direct inject and port injectors. That's good for E85 naturally aspirated without touching the fuel system at all. It is also good for low boost setups on pump gas. The stage 1 kits for Procharger/Vortech/Paxton don't call for injector upgrades for example.

However, high output boosted applications (like Whipple or Procharger Stage 2) or any boosted with E85 will require injector upgrades. E85 especially will need a BAP or fuel pump upgrade as well.

I plan on running a Paxton supercharger kit with E85 later this year. For that I'll be using a Fore fuel system with ID 1050x injectors.

E85 is so good powerwise, it's like running on race fuel all the time. Plus it runs cooler than pump, better for your engine. There's lots of E85 stations around here with quality E85 fuel (that tests actual 80% ethanol and higher), I don't think I want to go back to pump gas for any tune, even boosted.
 
Ugh fuel. On the west coast it's bad. I thought the fuel in MT wasn't good. The 91 here is worse. I had to start using boostane to hold the timing in the tune up. Pretty lame, but ACN91 is definitely not as good and the dumb part is I'm paying more for it in Reno NV.

Seen some LM mustangs are now going 10s naturally aspirated. Pretty impressive in my book even if it's been done before.

Paxtons are a good choice especially paired with a stall converter. Easy to setup meth injection too.

As for catless setups, they can be a pain if you need to pass emissions. I'm running one on this car. The smell has never bothered me but I know some people hate that. The main reason I went catless is due to horror stories on the net about cats coming apart, clogging, and blowing engines on boosted cars. It's rare but I wanted to eliminate as many points of failure as I could.

Well, consider that the Roush package (and Whipple stage 1) are designed for stock cars, down to the cats. Backed by warranty. They make anywhere from 620 to 690 to the wheels. Haven't heard of cats breaking up and clogging the engine with those setups. The centrifugals are less stressful on the engine since they don't make boost all at once.
 
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