84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Is anybody running one these? and do they run under the index?

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Yes they run them ....the 85 with the Holley carb is a GOOD stick only combo.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

^^^ I agree with Greg....the '85 5spd combo looks good.
The 83-84 manual cars don't have very attractive head flow plus they came with flat tappet hydraulics.
Thje 83-85 carbs I think are all the same.
The intakes I believe are very similar.
The 83's had a E3 intake.
The 84-85's had the E4 intake.
I own one of each and cannot tell the difference.

The '85 has a hydraulic roller and the E5 heads. :)

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Rory,,,someone is calling for you.
Danny Durham

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

My 84 GT350 is an original CFI with an AOD car. I ran it that way for a few years, but not with a built stocker engine. My best time was 13.42 with only the driver's seat in it. That engine is in my dad's street 5 speed 83 GT now.

This combo is listed at 195hp now. would run M/N/O SA in NHRA 12.85/13.00/13.15 index at 2900/2995/3095#

N would probably be best fit for NHRA.

IHRA G/FIA at 2900#, 13.05 index.
H/FIA at 3095#, 13.45 index. a little heavy

this is achievable, but I don't think the CFI will run a whole lot faster than those indexes. I think there is someone in the midwest that may be running this combo now.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Bill Dyer has 2 of these. He has a 1985 hatchback and a notchback and a 1985 Notchback. He might be interested in selling one. He bought his son's Notchback from him. It is in M stick at Indy. He typically runs the Hatchback in N stick, but he has run the car in SS/N or O.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

I`ve been running my 85 Mustang LX hatchback in M&N/S for about 8 years now. As mentioned, it is a stick only combination, there were 5.0 automatic Mustangs available in 84 & 85, but they only came with the CFI throttle body setup, all the 4 barrel cars were sticks. The 85 was the only year that used the hyd. roller cam and a 4 barrel, the 84 does use the same intake manifold, and I believe the carb has the same dimensions. I think the 83&4 hyd flat tappet cam has similar lift to the 85, but I`m not positive. The 82-84 engines use the same crappy D8 heads as a 78 Fairmont 302 2 barrel, the 85`s E5 is identical, except they have notchs on the intake side to allow enough room to Re &Re the taller hyd. roller lifters. As bad as the heads are, the intake is the real bottleneck. The ports are tiny, much smaler than the heads, and quite flat. Last year, just for fun, I removed the stock intake manifold, and swapped on an Edelbrock Air Gap Performer I had laying around. With everything else the same, the car picked up 6 tenths.
I believe the fastest 85 5.0 has to be Gary Summers Mustang converts. He has one he runs in Stock, and another in S/S, Both his cars have held multiple records at the same time. My LX hatch is a natural L car, but my big gut won`t allow the car to get light enough for L. The 85 is a decent combination, but I think the 87-95 5.0 FI is better, especially the 94-95. Also, if one was so inclined, the 86-95 5.0 is available with an automatic or a stick. The 86 is an oddball, with 1 year only "high swirl" heads, and a smaller throttle body, but the 87-95 is virtually identical to each other.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Eric Cabral ran pretty good with his too. He has since sold it though.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Gary Summers runs well also.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Can't run the 85 with an automatic?

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Auto in an 85 yes.....carb no FI yes

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Well....I'll just keep my old Fairlane then....

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

unless I am mistaken, the 85 with the cfi/auto doesn not have the roller cam either.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

You are correct Chris....rated at 175hp I think.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

X3 on the 85 CFI flat tappet.

That CFI throttle body is tiny. Not sure what it is rated at cfm wise, but I would venture to say it's no more than 350 cfm.

I looked at the 83-85 CFI combo for years with my 83 Thunderbird 302, but deemed it a waste to try due to the super small t.b....plus it's h.p. is factored too high.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Dyer has told me he's done the intake test too with the same results, but it is what it is. Havent talked to him in a while so I dont know how the SS car is doing

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Pat,
It depends if you want to run IHRA or NHRA. IHRA in April 2007 listed this on their website

4/30/2007
All vehicles classified as stick or auto only, accepted to use automatic when listed as stick only, and accepted to use stick when listed as automatic only.

This is listed in the IHRA STK/SS horsepower adjustment section of the website. I run the 85 carb combo as an automatic. In the 1/4 mile with good weather conditions my combo will go one second under the index. My car is a natural N car, I added weight to take the car to O/SA. As everyone has mentioned, the intake manifold is the biggest issue with the combo. I've used the stock " 85 Holley carb", and a Holley 1850. I didn't see much difference in performance. However, my car is most happy when run a little rich. I also recommend using a low gear set in a C-4. Hopefully this helps you in some way.

Mike

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Thanks for the info Mike.
I didn't know that.
I had thought about the 85 Mustang carbed combo 2 years ago, but since I am a bracket racer, I didn't like the idea of trying to make a manual trans car consistent.
Now I might reconsider and convert my 91 Coupe to look like a 85.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Almack
I wanted to build a carb auto combo 3 years ago. I wrote and called Bruce and my D7 tech guy using that IHRA ruling as my basis. It took them about 4 months to tell me "Ford never built it, you can't race it". Its all good, I think the 94-95 is a better combo now that I have played with one.

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

In IHRA you CAN run an auto in a1985 GT with a carb! I had a 91 rag top I was going to make into a SS/GT car IHRA yes NHRA no though the guide showed a Merc for years as having it....the Nick Morris won NHRA Div.3 Championship with that combo then oh hell no not legal!?

Re: 84/85 Mustang Stocker
 

Greg:
Are you referring to Stock in your first sentence or to SS ? (or both ?)

I remember looking at the Morris' SS/GT '98 Mustang last year and he had the 1968 Mercury 302 combo (with AFR heads). It runs the same carb specs as the 85 Mustang carb. I kept thinking that if someone wanted to build a SS/GT car with a SBF, that '68 Mercury setup is the way to go. (AFR aluminum heads are allowed.)