Poking the Bear Ford Performance Products

[Mike Jones]

don't know what to say....
Mike A114

[FED 387]

I think what he is trying to say is that the initial purchase price of a Liberty 5 speed with shifter is about $9200 PLUS all of the extra gear sets required to convert 1st-2nd-3rd-4th gear combinations for racing at Denver or at sea level plus all of the many small parts you also will need to service the transmission such as main shafts/shifter forks/sliders/whatever etc. ---SO the Total package is probably about $75,000-$100,000--- that does not include an extra transmission or 2 or 3 with a shifter --need another shifter without buying a transmission they run about $1100 each no extra parts included here either ---FED 387

[Randall Klein]

I must be missing something, getting from $9200 to 75-100K is quite a leap
Why not buy 7-8 extra trans & ratios complete, you get a lot of spare parts it seems, but what do I know, just a lowly SS racer

[FED 387]

Because they change ratios every run to optimize their performance ---lot of it depends where in the run they feel an improvement needs to be made--- they tweak these things to gain thousandths if not hundredths of a second--- makes a big difference between qualifying 1st or 12th - or for that fact even being in the show-- they probably have 10-15 ratios for each gear that they might use depending on what track there are racing at ---altitude(Denver) they might be down 300 horsepower so they put the biggest 1st gear in there they can get away with --sea level they put a different ratio in because the engine is making gobs of horsepower and they don't need that steep of a 1st gear

[Tom Dolan]

Can some one explain to me what this thread is about. Who the heck is this guy mike. I thought the cobra jet stuff was run by a guy named wolfe or kershaw. I remember the program started back in 2008. After a few years there were cobra jets everywhere. Now it looks like the copo's are everywhere. What the hell happened to the ford support? Were is the 2017 or 2018 cobra jet. I remember years back you could walk the pits and see cobra jet banners in every ford pit. I was in Charlotte this year and did not see one ford cobra jet banner. It looks like there were about 4 cobra jets racing the showdown. I would think with all the cobra jets that were made you would have seen more. Why can't they use the 5.4 with a 4.0 blower, didn't ford make them for a few years. Man this is crazy, lost of good cars and they can't race them.

Where have all the cobra jets gone ?

[rawhide]

Originally Posted by Tom Dolan

Can some one explain to me what this thread is about. Who the heck is this guy mike. I thought the cobra jet stuff was run by a guy named wolfe or kershaw. I remember the program started back in 2008. After a few years there were cobra jets everywhere. Now it looks like the copo's are everywhere. What the hell happened to the ford support? Were is the 2017 or 2018 cobra jet. I remember years back you could walk the pits and see cobra jet banners in every ford pit. I was in Charlotte this year and did not see one ford cobra jet banner. It looks like there were about 4 cobra jets racing the showdown. I would think with all the cobra jets that were made you would have seen more. Why can't they use the 5.4 with a 4.0 blower, didn't ford make them for a few years. Man this is crazy, lost of good cars and they can't race them.

Where have all the cobra jets gone ?

Brian Wolfe was promoted out of Ford Racing at the end of 2009. Jesse Kershaw was the drag racing manager but left last year I believe. Mike had been the circle track manager but left Ford and then came back to be drag racing manager when Jesse left. I would have found someone who races a Ford myself to manage drag racing. I wish that Jesse would return but there are probably politics that I do not know about that might prevent that.

Roland

[Tom P]

Ceramic bearings?

I've met Mike and Jesse. I think Jesse did a good job. Sorry to see him go.

[Tom Dolan]

Originally Posted by rawhide

Brian Wolfe was promoted out of Ford Racing at the end of 2009. Jesse Kershaw was the drag racing manager but left last year I believe. Mike had been the circle track manager but left Ford and then came back to be drag racing manager when Jesse left. I would have found someone who races a Ford myself to manage drag racing. I wish that Jesse would return but there are probably politics that I do not know about that might prevent that.

Roland

Thanks, that explains everything. Politics seem to get in the way of common sense. I'm wondering how they will get back the customers they have lost and pissed off. Ford has a terrible track record, look what they did to Glidden.

[Jesse Kershaw]

I know I'm getting off topic for the thread a bit but I want to share a few thoughts.

First - thank you for the kind words from many of you. Going to the track and working with racers was the best part of my job, it rejuvenated me. I'm grateful to anyone who appreciated my efforts.

Regarding the 5.0 v 5.2, I wanted to keep the CJ in the guide as a 5.0 for leverage in negotiations. The bore spacing on the Coyote based engines is such that a 5.0 with the NHRA max overbore is a 5.2, however starting with the 5.2 there isn't material left between the bores to go another .070 or .080" over. From my perspective the racers could have a 5.2l but petitioning NHRA for some other benefit sounded better when Ford "only" had a 5.0.

[Mike Jones]

Originally Posted by Randall Klein

I must be missing something, getting from $9200 to 75-100K is quite a leap
Why not buy 7-8 extra trans & ratios complete, you get a lot of spare parts it seems, but what do I know, just a lowly SS racer

Randall,
If you buy 9, the tenth one is free.
Mike A114