wanna beat an evo

[jayjack]

ok my friend has on o6 evo and im pretty sure its got around 300hp and i have a 96 grand marquis. i have a turbo that give puts me up from 200 to 245hp and i wanna do what ever i can to beat him. what should i do, is it even possible for me to beat an evo?

[UncleBob]

quite possible, how much money you got?

There's street CV's making 1000 hp....but you're talking some major money

gonna need quite a bit of HP to overcome the power to weight ratio difference. CV's are heavy

[curtis73]

You'll need to have probably more than double his hp to beat him, and find someway to compensate for the fact that you'll have limited traction and he has AWD.

Big bucks.

[KiwiBacon]

Start by unbolting everything that's not necessary.

If you can get your weight low enough, you might get there without spending too much coin. From memory 14 second 1/4 is roughly Evo territory.

[jayjack]

i have a good ammount of money so thats not too much of an issue. i think i wannt get a bigger turbocharger, maby bore out the engine or something. what would be a good place to start or would i be better off just selling my car and buying a better car to start with?

[curtis73]

I'm a big fan of taking a car that you like and making into what you want. I always do that, but you have to be realistic in your goals. For instance if you want a good road race or autocross car, don't start with a 1941 Dodge You would start with something lighter that has an independent front suspension.

Your big car can be made to handle and accelerate with lots of wallet, but I might take two things into consideration: 1) will your car be worth what you've put into it when you're done? There isn't a big market for hot rod late model luxury boats. and 2) can you get there easier with another car that you like?

I worked for years getting a Ford Maverick ready for road race duty. The plan was to swap in a complete wrx sti drivetrain including the AWD. The maverick was light, the sti parts were a pretty easy fit, but in the end I would have a fast Maverick. Who would want it if I ever sold it? I ended up returning it to stock and making my money back, but I was out all that labor. I ended up looking for an sti instead and I was better off with a stock subaru than a modified Maverick.

The problem you'll run into with ford's big cars is engine choice. The 4.6L is a fine motor, but its very small. Its a 281 cubic inch motor. The 5.4L will swap in without too much trouble, and you could get one from a lightning thats already supercharged.

Also consider GM's B-body. The 92-97 Impala, Caprice, roadmaster, fleetwood cars are pretty heavy like your marquis (somewhere north of 4000 lbs) but the aftermarket support is incredible. They start out with a nice 5.7L LT1 derived from the vette motor. Cam, heads, exhaust, and a 383 stroker kit will put you solidly knocking on 450 hp easy, and that's without a supercharger or turbo. There's a guy here putting almost 600hp to the ground from his supercharged 383 in a 96 Impala SS, and come smog time he swaps pulleys, only makes 480hp, and passes smog with flying colors. The B-bodys also have excellent aftermarket suspension support, many of us have swapped in a t56 six speed manual, and they're pretty fun for their size. Many guys also take advantage of the larger wheel wells in the B-body and run a 315 rear tire. I think the Marquis (if its like the crown vic) will only take about a 275. To get that power to the ground you'll almost need to tub the marquis and run wider tires.

If you're shooting to beat an evo in an American car, stay RWD and full-frame. The trannys are easy to beef up, the heft of the chassis will take the power needed to do it, and the RWD will be key in being able to accelerate with any shred of traction.

[UncleBob]

if you want to study up on both kits availible, and what can be done in with the imagination, check out this site:

http://www.turbomustangs.com/smf/

Lots of DIY'ers, lots of racers, and lots of 4.6 and 5.4L turbo stuff. Great resource in general. Many very impressive setups as I said, making upto and north of 1000hp. Not necessarily race only....several 800+ pump gas setups

I have to agree with curtis....for big boat cars, a GM B-body would be the better choice. Not only do they come stock with a more malluable, heavily supported, larger motor, but in all honesty, it takes a lot less talent/money to get a modern GM motor to make sick hp. Their chasis is more conducive to put the power to the ground (less money/modifications)....and you can pick them up used for little money.

But there are lots and lots of options out there. If you are building a car from the start, and aren't particular about what you start with, hell, what DO you want?

[jayjack]

ok i have one quicj question, you said "and the RWD will be key in being able to accelerate with any shred of traction". im kinda confused by this i mean i don't even know if its possible to make the marquis AWD but is it was possible, wouldn't it have better traction with AWD than RWD. other than that this has been unbelievebally helpfull and i have a much better off now than before i started this. that a ton.

[curtis73]

In a light car like an EVO, the AWD helps some because most of the weight is on the front of the car. When you accelerate, the weight that IS transferred gets used by the back wheels.

In a RWD car where the weight is more evenly distributed (and with the amount of power you'll be making) probably 90% of the weight will be pulled off the front wheels during acceleration. You've probably seen drag cars lift them off the ground entirely.

Keep in mind that every time you transfer power in a bearing, U-joint, or any direction change, you're wasting power. The AWD wastes about twice the power as a 2-wheel drive, so why waste all that extra power on wheels that will be almost off the ground anyway.

My main point was to say that RWD is far better than FWD for acceleration especially at the power levels you'll need.