As we get closer and closer to the 2015 Mustang getting into customer hands, we are also starting to see more previews of the various aftermarket Mustangs that will be built. We’ve earlier shown you versions from Saleen, Steeda and Galpin Auto Sports, and now we can show you the newest one from Roush. The company today released a photo with the outline of what is presumably a 2015 Roush Mustang on their Facebook page, although with the exception of the 5-spoke wheels it’s impossible to tell some of the design changes.
Roush didn’t offer up much information either. They simply said to “keep a close eye on our page during the coming weeks as we start to pull back the curtains and reveal what Roush Performance has planned for the 2015 Ford Mustang.”
From the looks of the image we suspect the photo is real and not just a rendering like other previews. This wouldn’t be a huge surprise, as Roush has close ties with Ford and often collaborates on engineering. In the past Roush has had early access to create parts for the Mustang and often is first to market with their aftermarket version. We fully expect to see a Roush Mustang in the next couple months, so stay tuned!
While we don’t know anything about the 2015 Roush Mustang, we do have the shadowy image above that teases the next generation aftermarket tuned Mustang and thanks to my very questionable photo editing skills – we have an even better look at the fine …
Are you a fan of Top Gear? I am! Have been since it’s been on cable. Of course we don’t travel in the same circles, Rut has his Fox Sports gig(covering motorsports) beside all the Top Gear filming and promo events and I’m a wannabe writer, covering the automotive world. So it’s highly unlikely we’d cross paths and sit down for a car discussion. Unless????
That is what’s so great about the age we live in. On my twitter account (@restortation) I’m a follower (among many) of Top Gear and guys (Tanner, Rut (@rutledgewood) and Adam). Just luck let me catch a Tweet by Rutledge that mentioned that he had a Facebook event today where fans could chat with him.
So I closed my office door (yeah I was at work) and joined the crowd on Facebook. I actually got a few questions answered. Here they are:
Write a reply…
Tim Sweet: Who finds the cars you use in the show? Private individuals?
Rutledge Wood: I have found almost all the ones I’ve used…but I’m not in LA to go test drive them. We have some amazing producers that bust their butts for us. Huge support team…but we find most of them online. Craigslist, Auto trader, and even a few on ebay
Tim Sweet: Thanks…great!!!!
Tim Sweet: So who is the STIG…I won’t tell anyone….? Rutledge Wood: honeslty…I have no idea. They wont talk to me. Never seen them.
Rutledge Wood: I want them to give me a hug
Tim Sweet: Everyone wants to hug the STIG
Tim Sweet: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. I got to get back to this ‘work’ thing I do every day…my C6 needs a super charger!!!! Take care!!!!
The 5.0-liter V8 is probably what fans are most excited to hear about — it’s good for 435 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. That’s a tidy 15 hp and 10 lb-ft increase over the outgoing model, and it’s within spitting distance of the 444-hp Boss 302. Not bad.
The two other motors aren’t too shabby, either. The 3.7-liter V6 gets 300 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque, and the turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four EcoBoost puts down a very respectable 310 hp and 320 lb-ft. For some perspective, the V8-powered 2005 Ford Mustang GT put down just 300 hp, so we’ve clearly come a long way — and there’s no telling just what other, even hotter versions of this new Mustang are in the works.
The Avanti II was what was left of Studebaker car company (called Studebaker-Packard by that time) in the 1960’s . By that time all the car production for Studebaker-Packard was being done in Canada and South Bend factories were closed down. Nathanial Altman and Leo Newman (two South Bend Studebaker dealership owners) purchased the rights and the dies/tooling for the Avanti, after failing to get the financial backing to reopen the plant in South Bend and continued production.
The Avanti II
Of course Studebaker wasn’t making its own engine and the two dealers that pulled together enough funds to purchase the Avanti rights and dies/tools were in no position to start full blown engine production. So what’s next? Make a deal with a company to purchase engines.
The Altman/Newman team Avanti turned to GM for the power plant. So for 1965 – 1968 they opted for none other than the Corvette 327 cubic inch iron!!! Purchasing the previous year engines for placing in their new models – Now that explains why I often see the Avanti and the local drag strip during Test and Tunes!!! The 327 was an overhead valved, iron block that came with the stock bore and stroke of 4.00″ x 3.25″ and a compression ratio of 10.5:1.
Corvette Power Plant
Combined with hydraulic lifters, 5 main bearings and topped with a Carter (model 3846247) (for 1965) 4bbl carb produced 300 bhp at 5000 rpms. All that in a light fiberglass body!!!!!
The difference between 1965 thur 1970 327’s were the carburetors that were available. For 1966 it was a Holley 4bbl (model 3884505) , the remainder of production the hard working 327 was topped with various models of Rochester 4bbl carbs. ( 1967 it was Rochester 4bbl (model 3096631); 1968 a Rochester 4bbl (model 7028207); 1969 Rochester (model 7929203)
In 1969 Avanti II was blessed with an additional engine option. It was the Corvette’s 350 CID. This was an iron block overhead valve engine. 4.00″ x 3.48″ bore and stroke with hydraulic lifters and five main bearings. With a compression ratio of 10.5:1 and breathing through a Rochester 4bb carb the lightweight was but 300 bhp. (Same as the 327 – but there a lot you can do now with a 350 – again this may be the reason we still see them at the drag strips.
By 1971 the 350 was the only engine in the Avanti II and it’s configuration remained unchanged except the compression ratio was dropped to 10.25:1 and the horse power suffered to the tune of -30 hp, dropping to 270.
In 1973 the engine was changed to the generic GM 400 CID, but before you get too excited, it had 4.13″ bore and 3.75″ stroke but it was strangulated by a compression ratio of 8.5:1 and even the 4bbl Rochester could not help much as it produced only 245 bhp.
For 1974 and 1975 fompression was dropped and the Avanti II struggled to produce only 180 horses. But you could still get the 4 speed manual Hurst shifter….so there’s that.
The first time I saw an Avanti II in person was at my local drag strip, during a charity race that I had entered by 1970 Mustang in (300 HP). The Avanti was a 1970 and mostly stock as far as I could tell and it looked great and sounded even better at the tree.
The Avanti continued on through various owners and still using the Studebaker chassis until 1987 and the GM’s 305 was used for a time. The Avanti continued on through 2006…but that is for another post.
If bongo solos and Studebakers are your thing, you are guaranteed to enjoy this week’s vintage Car and Track road test of the 1969 Avanti II. Even If bongo solos and Studebakers aren’t your thing, chances are you will still …
Well we just can stop talking about C7. Just our recently are some very impressive specs for the 2015 Corvette Z06.
SAE says it will have an impressive 650 horse power (@ 6,400 RPMs) and even more impressive 650 LB-FT of torque (@ 3,600 RPMs). These numbers exceed the original speculations of 625.
The power is being delivered by a super charged LT4 and transferred to the pavement via a 7 speed manual or new for 2015 an 8 speed automatic!!!
Super Charged, Direct Injection LT4 Engine
’15 Z06 Corvette
Are you impressed?
Thanks for reading.
Tim
#1: GM Parts 19171528 Valve Spring Retainer for LT1/LT4 Engine – 16 Piece: GM Parts 19171528 Valve Spring Reta… http://t.co/ZqnR3WgD5j
This new portion of the Kentucky production facility is already busy building the LS7 V8 that powers the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, but as production of the 2015 Corvette Z06 ramps up, these new hires will help to build the powerful LT4 engine for the most …
“The new LT4 engine builds on the design strengths of our previous supercharged engine and leverages the technologies introduced on the Corvette Stingray – direct injection, cylinder deactivation and continuously variable valve timing – to take …
The all-new supercharged LT4 engine from General Motors is almost the same size as the compact LT1 engine recently introduced in the 2014 Corvette Stingray. Getting big block performance out of small-block sized engines sounds almost like magic, but it …
Mercedes – AMG gets a boost of power. Engineers have upped the power for the 4.0 Liter engine via a twin turbo, 4 valve per cylinder and direct injection. Drivers can expect 503 HPs and 479 lb-ft of torque. Gone is the 6.2 liter.
The New AMG-GT will have the new direct inject engine.
End of production for this beautiful AMG SLS car as well.
2015 C63 – Gonna have to be fast – surely isn’t special looking.
Well I believe Mary Barra is cleaning house…which is good and bad.
DETROIT — General Motors is telling dealers to halt delivery of all 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze sedans because of a potential airbag problem, hampering sales of the company’s top-selling car amid an end-of-the-month sales push.
Some of the cars may have a “suspect” driver’s side airbag inflator module, according to a stop-delivery order sent to Chevy dealers nationwide on Tuesday and obtained by Automotive News.
Read the rest at the link above, but I had to share this part directly:
The Southeast dealer noted that many customers who have dropped off their Chevy Cobalts to have ignition switches replaced are driving Cruzes now subject to the stop delivery.
Cobalts are among the 2.6 million vehicles being recalled for a defective switch that can slip out of the “run” position and cut power to the power brakes, steering and airbags, a defect that GM has linked to 54 crashes and 13 deaths.
“What am I supposed to do?” the dealer said. “Tell them to bring the loaner back now?”
(DETROIT) — General Motors is recalling another 3 million cars because of a defect that causes a similar problem to one that led to an earlier massive recall of small cars, and is linked to 13 deaths.
As General Motors continues to pile on recalls, the scope has become staggering — and the work and customer interaction will all fall to the automaker’s franchised dealers. They’re the ones who will perform the actual repairs on what is already 17.73 …
I’ve said it a few times and I’ll say it again and mostly likely not for the last time. MOPAR got it RIGHT with the Challenger!!!!! Fiat ownership or not….it will continue to be an iconic car.
Now take that car that you did so right and boost it’s horse power….maybe up to 600 or more…and…well let’s not mince words…it’s a MONSTER!!! Chase the link below and check out the video, you’ll see what I mean!!!! Can you say…first every factory super-charger!!!
Dodge has officially unveiled the most powerful vehicle to ever wear the Challenger name – the SRT Hellcat– complete with over 600 horsepower courtesy of a supercharged, 6.2-liter Hemi V8. It will be offered alongside the 485-hp Challenger SRT
The new, force-induced V8 isn’t just the most powerful ever fitted to the Challenger, it’s the most powerful eight-cylinder Chrysler Group has ever built. Power figures aren’t finalized, so expect to see “over 600 hp” bandied about quite a lot. That fury will be channeled through either a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic. Yes, over 600 ponies through an eight-speed auto. So far, the only vehicle we know of that delivers more output through that many gears is the as-yet untested Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Sadly, we don’t have performance metrics just yet, although if this thing can’t crack four seconds to 60 miles per hour, we’ll be pretty surprised.
If you are over 40, you might remember back when talking to your car was only done to coax it to start or make it to the next service station or when it failed to do either one. Gadgets were limited to a radio with AM/FM and a cigarette liter.
Now days you can give your car voice commands and it can give you a host of information, like my Drivers Information Center (DIC) which runs my C7 Corvette. We can even control the environment on different sides of the car from temperature on down to how much air blows out of your vented seats.
But that wasn’t always the case. If you are way over 30 you might recall the only way to adjust the temperature was to open your vent window.
Recently I was at a car show and if you’re a regular reader you might recall that I love dash boards, especially those that are painted and chromed, I saw a curious feature on a Rambler dashboard(I don’t recall the year). It was labeled “Weather Eye”.
So a little research was in order.
As you may know Nash was an auto maker and through a series of mergers or purchases changed it name to Nash Kalvinater, eventually became American Motors Corporation (AMC). Well they were the first to develop a car heater. Back in 1938 engineers got the idea to run fresh air over the hot engine water and pass it into the cabin. The air came in through the vent in the cowl and passed the air through a heater core filled with hot coolant. Later on they figured out how to keep the warm are in and the cold are out, by adding a fan to keep constant pressure in the cabin.
A year later Nash engineers added a thermostat for the first climate control, dubbed the “The Weather Eye”. Here are some pics:
This was the dash that caught my eye.
Here is an image from the web that shows a better image of the “Weather Eye”
Here is an image show the “Weather Eye’s” controls
A while back I ‘had’ installed a Spec Stage 3 clutch with steel/iron fly-wheel. I did a lot of research before hand and decided that this would be a great combination for my auto cross/daily driver. So far I’ve been happy with the switch. It’s not as ‘street’ smooth as the stock but it helps get the torque to rubber!! But you have to do your research. If you noticed in the first line above I used the phrase ‘had installed’. It is a monster job to disassemble the tunnel and you don’t want to have to do it again after find out that you can’t leave a red like without loosing rubber, nor pay the $$$ for someone else to do it.
I grabbed the article below to share, it has some great tips.
Selecting the Right Clutch for Your C5/C6 Corvette
If you’re a late-model Corvette owner and you’ve ever been in the market for a new clutch, then you’ve discovered that there is such an array of options to choose from, you could find yourself being a little bit lost and confused. To make things even more difficult, thanks to the transaxle layout of the C5 and C6, swapping a clutch is a far more involved process than on a car with a more conventional driveline. A clutch swap isn’t the kind of job you want to do twice on these Corvettes, so getting it right the first time (and having the room to grow for more horsepower and torque down the line) is critical. Read on:
1997-2004 Chevrolet Corvette Clutch Kit Ac Delco Chevrolet Clutch Kit 381408. ac delco clutch press and driven plate kit 11-11/16 in. x 26t x 1-1/8 in. diaphragm; includes flywheel and cover; a high quality direct fit oe …
Thanks for reading
