Ford Class Racers

[69Cobra]

Originally Posted by Bob Pagano

Forget SS unless you own a bank, Stocker's are enough of an expense to build. SS is over the top. Much cheaper to buy a car than build as you will soon find out.

^^^^^What he said^^^^^
In my humble opinion. If you aren't emotionally attached and haven't really invested anything in the ride you have you might be better off to find a later model Mustang and go SS/GT with one of the new pushrod paper motors. To me that would be the easiest and most affordable way of getting out there. But either way I would go with a stick if you want to have fun and enjoy the time going down the track. Now if your wife, girlfriend or daughter is going to be driving it then I would recommend the automatic. I'm in the process of building a 69 Fairlane Cobra 428 CJ 4 speed car to run stock with and these old cars are not the best avenue for a top notch competitive car against todays newer stuff. If this car didn't mean so much to me and my family I would definitely look into something else that the aftermarket supports and that would have a strut front end with a shorter wheelbase and more aerodynamic. Something to think about. But I do like the 70 and 71 Torino's. I race in a local Stick shift circuit with a friend of mine that runs a 70 1/2 Falcon which is the same thing as the Torino and he's got it working pretty good but these old cars are tricky and challenging at times.

Best of luck to you.

[astikhossw]

What i did just this year was sold my 1969 mustang cj car and bought a ford stocker,and once i found out all of the things that were needed to to get this car to run like it does i am glad that i bought a car rather than trying to build one, the car's that run way under the index or really complicated and expensive.

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by 69Cobra

^^^^^What he said^^^^^
In my humble opinion. If you aren't emotionally attached and haven't really invested anything in the ride you have you might be better off to find a later model Mustang and go SS/GT with one of the new pushrod paper motors. To me that would be the easiest and most affordable way of getting out there. But either way I would go with a stick if you want to have fun and enjoy the time going down the track. Now if your wife, girlfriend or daughter is going to be driving it then I would recommend the automatic. I'm in the process of building a 69 Fairlane Cobra 428 CJ 4 speed car to run stock with and these old cars are not the best avenue for a top notch competitive car against todays newer stuff. If this car didn't mean so much to me and my family I would definitely look into something else that the aftermarket supports and that would have a strut front end with a shorter wheelbase and more aerodynamic. Something to think about. But I do like the 70 and 71 Torino's. I race in a local Stick shift circuit with a friend of mine that runs a 70 1/2 Falcon which is the same thing as the Torino and he's got it working pretty good but these old cars are tricky and challenging at times.

Best of luck to you.

thank you I am running a bracket 72 Pinto that runs 10.0s right now I do not just wanna run Stock I wanna do it in a fun exciting way and im not really all that concerned about being top dog or being competitive as I simply wanna have fun and running a new mustang isnt very fun or exciting for me but running a kool old school Ford Torino that you dont see everyday would be very much fun for me and half the fun for me is building the car and tinkering figuring out what works and what doesnt I already have a car that works and works very well as we bought the Pinto complete and I would build the Torino to tinker with and mess around with and run divisional and local events as I refuse to run .90 classes I hate delay boxes.

[69Cobra]

Originally Posted by Rose Racing

thank you I am running a bracket 72 Pinto that runs 10.0s right now I do not just wanna run Stock I wanna do it in a fun exciting way and im not really all that concerned about being top dog or being competitive as I simply wanna have fun and running a new mustang isnt very fun or exciting for me but running a kool old school Ford Torino that you dont see everyday would be very much fun for me and half the fun for me is building the car and tinkering figuring out what works and what doesnt I already have a car that works and works very well as we bought the Pinto complete and I would build the Torino to tinker with and mess around with and run divisional and local events as I refuse to run .90 classes I hate delay boxes.

I can respect that. Do you already have the car? Where are you located?

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by 69Cobra

I can respect that. Do you already have the car? Where are you located?

No not yet right now im focused on my Pinto but im looking for a Torino at a descent price at the moment and Sandusky Ohio

[Bill Harris]

As Ken said, the NHRA specs are a little messed up for the 70 and 71 Torino. However, there is an opportunity with the '71. Although they mistakenly omit the 429/375 with the solid cam and 780, they still have the 429/370 hydraulic/Quadrajet rated at 355, and that is probably a pretty decent combination. They dropped both the 370 and 375 to 355 back in 2002 and the Mustang has been bumped to 360 since then, but not the Torino. The cam is pretty much a wash with the phony hydraulic lifters used these days, and thanks to the multitude of GM racers, the Q-jet is only a slight disadvantage to the Holley at this point. You don't have to find the original very rare Q-jet used on these engines, just the dimensions have to be right. Finding the D0OE-D intake shouldn't be to hard either, the D0OE-R heads are tougher to find unmolested.
If you wanted to go the 429 route, send me a PM as I have most of what you need, and it is just collecting dust.

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by Bill Harris

As Ken said, the NHRA specs are a little messed up for the 70 and 71 Torino. However, there is an opportunity with the '71. Although they mistakenly omit the 429/375 with the solid cam and 780, they still have the 429/370 hydraulic/Quadrajet rated at 355, and that is probably a pretty decent combination. They dropped both the 370 and 375 to 355 back in 2002 and the Mustang has been bumped to 360 since then, but not the Torino. The cam is pretty much a wash with the phony hydraulic lifters used these days, and thanks to the multitude of GM racers, the Q-jet is only a slight disadvantage to the Holley at this point. You don't have to find the original very rare Q-jet used on these engines, just the dimensions have to be right. Finding the D0OE-D intake shouldn't be to hard either, the D0OE-R heads are tougher to find unmolested.
If you wanted to go the 429 route, send me a PM as I have most of what you need, and it is just collecting dust.

OK THANK YOU but it will have to wait for the future as I dont have the cash at the moment but you are deffinately a future reference!

[k.pascoe]

Originally Posted by Bill Harris

As Ken said, the NHRA specs are a little messed up for the 70 and 71 Torino. However, there is an opportunity with the '71. Although they mistakenly omit the 429/375 with the solid cam and 780, they still have the 429/370 hydraulic/Quadrajet rated at 355, and that is probably a pretty decent combination. They dropped both the 370 and 375 to 355 back in 2002 and the Mustang has been bumped to 360 since then, but not the Torino. The cam is pretty much a wash with the phony hydraulic lifters used these days, and thanks to the multitude of GM racers, the Q-jet is only a slight disadvantage to the Holley at this point. You don't have to find the original very rare Q-jet used on these engines, just the dimensions have to be right. Finding the D0OE-D intake shouldn't be to hard either, the D0OE-R heads are tougher to find unmolested.
If you wanted to go the 429 route, send me a PM as I have most of what you need, and it is just collecting dust.

I think the NHRA might have it right on this one. Ford did not install any 375 hp Drag Pack Torinos in 1971. I'm a Ford guy and I've only seen '71 Mustangs with the Drag Pack. The option was dropped in '71 for the Torinos.