Ford and Mopar Aluminum R/E Cases??

[Jeff Lee]

Originally Posted by Ken Miele

Jeff, you say maybe not, then you say its possible, and then you say significant. I do think you have any real knowledge if it does or does not help performance, I do.

My car weighs 3200 pounds and runs 9.80's, that is very light for my class AA, most are 3400 plus. If anyone is going to have an issue with spinning the tires it will be me. I have tested and there is no advantage what so ever. Oh yes, the difference in weight was 11 pounds for me. I would like to see data on how much performance is gained by moving 11 pounds in cars that weigh 3400 plus.

When I asked NHRA if it was a performance advantage, they told me it was not. So if NHRA does not think it is a performance advantage, this argument is mute.

Bob, maybe you should be the one not hitting enter.

My statement indicates I do not believe there is an ET improvement in replacing the part, I do believe there can be an ET improvement in moving the reduced weight fore or aft in the car. And yes, I think that could be significant. "Significant" being of course a relative term. To me, and others like SS Engine Guy, .02 +/- would be considered significant. Some can't find or care about finding lost .200's in their car so as I said, it is a relative term. I can tell you running 10.50's in D/S 6+ years ago wasn't easy and wasn't by poo-poo'ing a hundredth here and there.

And I have to believe this is not a "Ken Miele's Mustang" rule proposal. It would apply to all that have a commercially available aluminum drop out center section. It could even open up the door to custom made aluminum 12 bolt and Dana 60 center sections if applied.
So while Ken Miele's Mustang may not garner .001 ET in moving weight around, the guy with the front-heavy low torque lower class car might experience a greater gain in ET. Or, as I stated previously, ET reduction could be realized on adding the lost weight to the front end. Just like SS Engine Guy, I've always made use of four corner scales.

As I also stated, I thought this issue was put to rest with the much publicized error of Evan Smith in his interpretation of the rule book. I guess if everybody swept that under the carpet then the argument would hold more weight.

And NHRA may have their eye on a bigger issue. If every OEM outsourced part was allowed in Stock, that would open the floodgates on any / all OEM referenced (Mopar Performance / Ford Racing Parts catalogs) parts inclusion in Stock. That's back to the old "be careful what you wish for" issue.