http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1640064&stc=1&d=1337178920 289 2 bbl, auto. Most of the car is there, some rust in floors and trunk. Hood is complete rust, missing lower corners around grille. It's getting caged and re powered, 600 lbs, give or take is a little too much over the nose on a car that is going to be road raced. I've got the following power available: T 2.3 from 87-88 T Bird Turbo Coupe, intercooled. I currently have run 2 of these successfully in an 88 Turbo Coupe and an 87 Mustang. I've got a boatload of T5's to go with them. SC 3.8 out of an 89 Super Coupe. w/ M5 R2 5 speed. Evidently, they have an appe***e for head gaskets. 4.9 I6 from f/e series ford truck. I could ghettocharge it, fuel injected. Would need to pick up a 2wd trans. 302 from a 68 Bronco, fresh rebuild. 5.0 from 91 GT. Would probably go w/ an auto. 5.0 out of exploder, auto would be the choice here too. Out of the 3 V8's, I'd probably drop in the 91 GT, carbed w/ solid State type distributor. The 300 I6 would stay injected w/ 5-8 lbs boost. Turbo out of TC, so not much boost available. T 2.3 would prertty much stay stock boost level. Pretty torquey mid range, (300 or so lb/ft), 200 HP. Lightest option at my disposal. If I could keep the revs low, the SC 3.8 would be pretty cool, you don't see many of them out there, and over 300 lb/ft torque. I'm going to do a front disc conversion, and I'm looking for budget conscious mods to improve handling. I haven't even had time to get the car off the trailer yet, so I don't know how much time this is going to take. I'm open to all suggestions, but have a very limited budget. basically, whatever I sell from the car (engine, trans, interior, trim)will fund all performance, non safety modifications. As I'm not starting on the car until after this race season, I'm doing alot of home work. I'm open to your suggestions, other than hearing about how I should restore it (unless there's an interesting trade available). Thanks
I'm picking this combo, for many reasons, not the least of which is the phraseology, "ghettocharge," which I'm still laughing about. That's the funniest car related thing I've read in months. And I am a fan of budget turbo setups.
He is worried about the weight over the nose. The 289 is a good stout motor and it is easy to set one back a bit for better balance. I may consider that if it were mine and the rules allowed. One thing to consider is the original intent of the Hawk. It was originally intended to compete with the European sports car market. While they will not compete with a modern sports car they do handle quite well stock out of the box. A heavier sway bar is a must if you plan on auto crossing one for sure. Stock Avanti disc brakes are a bolt on as well. I am not aware that they were an option on the '61 but the suspension is the same on them and the Avanti. If I was going to swap in an engine the in-line 6 would not be my choice, it will not help much with the weight over the nose. The engine from the super coupe can be cured by stud mounting and O ringing the heads. I have cured several that way, even without the O rings they hold up real well stud mounted if you are not going to up the boost. The '61 is a relatively heavy car like in the 3200 to 3500 pound range if memory serves. I would avoid the smaller engines if I was going to try and make it perform. They can be made to fly but once you make them compete with the larger engines you loose the reliability factor. beef the larger engine a little instead of turning the wick all the way up on the smaller engine.
Thanks for the advice. I was a little vague on the type of racing we're doing. It's an endurance race, 14-24 hours. the shorter races are 14 hours over 2 days, the 24's are straight through. The other thing is the cars must be prepared and raced for a total of 500.00, plus the cost of safety equipment (Cage, brakes, tires, seats and belts, etc.). Our team has been doing this for 3 years now, and we've been looking for a "legend" status car for a while. A hawk certainly fits that description. I'm trying not to advertise the nature of the car, as we're trying to be the first to bring the Hawk to a race. the greatest performance enhancement you can make for free is to 'add lightness". This makes the car better in every performance category (at least in roadracing). the Stude engine is over 600 lbs. If I reduce that to 450 or so (I6 is 439. T 2.3, even less)along with dropping 150-200 lbs directly over the nose, curb weight would go down from 3200 to 3050. The car will have a completely stripped interior, and even with the cage, be right at 3000 lbs, give or take. A t bird Turbo coupe was around 3400 stock, and a supercoupe was 3700 (W.A.G) or more. The Front/ rear bias would get much closer to 50/50 (53/47?) from 58/42. If the engine sits back a little (4 or 8 cyl), it would get closer yet. I've identified 2 brake retrofits that would bring the car into the 70/80's as far as stopping power, and make it fairly safe out on track. I realize this is going to be a pretty large undertaking, but if we can do this, we could build a great car that I could throw antique or cl***ic tags on, take to cruise nights, and let the kids sit in a real race car.
I like the way you think. My commander weighed @ 3000 in base trim (same engine as yours) I am shooting for 2800 lbs which was race weight for my last door slammer. My setback is @ 8% which will greatly change my bias. It won't make it as a road racer because of the suspension setup but it will drive well enough on the street and should cut a fat hawg on the strip. Someone will pitch a ***** about it no doubt, but I would like to watch yours come together.
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