Art's 2006 Mustang GT
This month we have Art's 2006 Mustang GT. This car is an animal at the track with a best ET of 11.717 @ 116.40 mph. Does the car have nitrous? No. A supercharger? No. Turbo? No. All motor baby. Oh, and did I forget to mention Art is also doing this on a completely stock short block and heads? Oh, my bad. So how does this car turn these kind of ETs on just the motor? Clearly there is more to this car then meets the eye. This ride is #4 on the N/A timeslip rankings, and he is the quickest N/A ride with 281 cid for the 05-09 mustang. Lets take a closer look and see what makes this car tick.....
Here are a few clues....FRPP throttle body, Kooks long tube headers, CMCV deletes, A/C delete, Steeda underdrive pulleys, C&L CAI, and a lightweight battery. But what you can't see is the difference.....
The engine has all of the typical bolt on mods you would expect. Kooks 1-5/8 headers with an off-road x-pipe and magnaflow mufflers, FRPP CMCV deletes, underdrive pulleys, C&L CAI, A/C delete, and a 93 email tune from Brenspeed. Art does have a few tricks up his sleeve, however. What about a stock intake manifold that is port matched along with a FRPP throttle body? Comp 127300s wouldn't cut it here, Art selected some Comp 127500s with springs and limiters to get the job done. A Powerhouse aluminum driveshaft connects to a TruTrac differential with 4.56 gears. Hoosier 26X11.50X15 slicks on Bogart racing wheels gets the power to the ground and is good for mid 1.5X 60 foot times.
1.5X 60 foot times are normal for Art's setup. This car leaves hard for an all motor combo.
To get the car to leave with mid 1.5X 60' times N/A, Art knows its not just about power, but also suspension and weight. Art has all of the suspension mods we typically think of with these cars. CHE LCAs, Steeda adjustable UCA, BMR sway bar delete, tubular K-member and A-arms. But how many of us run lightweight KVR rotors? How about the Odyssey lightweight battery? Cobra Jet springs are used for the front, Roush springs for the rear, with D-Spec adjustable shocks. Lightweight racing seats combined with a rear seat delete helps the car weigh in at only 3250lbs with driver. Hmmm.....now its making sense huh?
Hmmm....interior looks stock, has a/c, radio,......or does he?
Can you believe this is the same car that launches wheels up at the track? Art calls this the "sleeper mode". Yeah, I'll take "Camaro SS gets ass handed to him by stock GT for $500 please Alex"....
MOD LIST:
Stock shortblock and heads
127500 Comp cams and springs with limiters
Kooks 1 5/8 headers
Off road X pipe
Magnaflow mufflers
FRPP CMCV deletes
FRPP Throttle Body
C&L Racer cold air intake
Port matched stock intake manifold
Innovate wide band AFR gauge
Autometer digital tach w/shift/launch light function
Steeda Underdrive pullies
Stock clutch and flywheel
Powerhouse aluminum drive shaft
FRPP 4.56 gears
TruTrac differential
Hurst competition plus shifter
Odysey PC680 Battery
BMR: Radiator support/Swaybar delete, Tubular K-member and A-arms.
CHE Lower control arms
Steeda adjustable upper control arm
D-Spec adjustable shocks
Cobra Jet front springs
Roush rear springs
Bogart racing wheels
Hoosier 26x11.50-15 Quick time pro DOT
KVR light weight rotors
A/C delete
Lightweight racing seats
Rear seat delete
3250 lbs with driver
93 Octane E-mail tune by Brenspeed
Car ready for race day......
A Little About Art
In Art's own words:
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I grew up mostly in NJ, started messing with cars at around 12 at my grandfathers junkyard and equipment at my cousins farm. I started driving / operating pretty much everything around then too. My first cars were a 68 cougar 302 3 speed (learned to speed shift that car before I was old enough to drive...in my driveway LOL) and a 66 Galaxie 2dr 352 4v auto. Other than street brawling, I never took either car to the track. I grew up in a huge dirt racing area--Flemington Speedway NJ and Nazereth Speedway PA were within 45 minutes of where I lived. I spent more than one day working on a buddies stock car instead of being in school. I joined the Air Force in 1980 as a jet engine mechanic and worked on C-141's from 1980 to 1986 in Charelston SC. I took a stab at dirt racing at Summerville Speedway SC for a few races, but fell in love with drag racing in Darlington SC. A buddy and I put together a 396 '66 Chevelle that we grudge raced on Sundays at a broken down 1/8th mile track in Goose Creek S.C. I recieved orders to go to work on the F117 stealth fighter at a "secret" location in NV from 1986 to 1989. I lived in Las Vegas at the time...flew out to the site on Monday and returned on Friday every week...very cool job. I left the service in 1989 and came back to NJ and started working on farm and construction equipment full time. I joined the Air Force Reserves in 1992 as a C-130 flight engineer flying out of Willow grove PA. I spent plenty of time overseas during that time supporting the Bosnia missions and DEA stuff in South America as well as a few tours to Afghanastan and Iraq. I retired after 24 years total service in 2005.
I currently work as service manager for a construction equipment dealership. I have had a few fox body 5.0 Capris over the years and in 2003 I almost bought a terminator, but decided to hold out for the rumors of a new mustang coming out. While in the desert on my first tour, I saw a picture of the S197 in a magazine and never looked back. I waited for the hype and 5000+ dollar adjusted market value craziness to subside and ordered my 2006 Mustang in mid 2005. Within about a week of taking delivery it had 4.10 gears, JBA cat back exhaust and an intake and tune from Brenspeed. I took it to the track and started running low 13's right off the bat. Encouraged by the fact that this car would run 12's no problem I threw a one piece drive shaft in it with some drag radials and had a 12.8 before I knew it. I told everone I'd stop there because a 12 second street car is really something..lol, well it was back in 1980. Encouraged by the ease this car would pick up a few tenths with every mod and more seat time I set my sights on 11's. I installed a mod and ran the car till it ran the number I thought it should and just kept going... Well here we are now..I've raced in Florida, Michigan, Chicago, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and every track in NJ. I split most of my time at events at Atco, Englishtown, Island (NJ tracks) and Cecil county MD. I run a regular season 12.0 index at Island and have a win and a few runner ups, currently out of second by one point, runner upped at Englishtowns MM&FF's Fords at E-town gearjammer bracket race (stick only cars), and won the first Streetcar 1320 s197 shootout at Atco this year.
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Congratulations Art from all of us at S197forums for having the quickest 281 cid 05-09 mustang on the board! With stock heads to!
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