Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Harris
According to Nitro Joes latest stats, there are no '03 Mustangs in stock. You can't run it as an '04 as there are no specs for 2004 Fords. For '03 Mach 1's, the NHRA has decided, without any previous experience or examples, mind you, that the factory 300 HP 4.6L engine should be rated at 320 HP. Nevermind that there probably isn't a single example of a Ford Mod motor in NHRA class racing anywhere in the country, someone in the NHRA just knows that the factory 300 HP is wrong and that the motor should start out with a 20 HP hit right off the bat.
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I won't pretend to know how the minds of the NHRA officials work but I have an idea on how the 320 hp rating for the 300 hp came about. If you look at the 2001 year Classification guide for the Mustang, the Cobra has a 320 hp engine and NHRA had it factored at 320 as well. This engine is similar to the one in the Mach1 so that's where they decided that it should be rated the same as the 01 Cobra.
The one that I can't figure out is the 05 Mustang. It's factory rated at 300 hp and NHRA factored to 320 hp...It's a 3 valve SOHC head, a lot different than the 4 valve DOHC of the Cobra or Mach1. Without any stockers ever running and no similar engines, how can they just give it hp?