Raced a Cougar....

[k1ckb0x3r]

Welp, I just got done racing my brother-in-laws 99 Cougar (V6). We've had this little rivalry going on for awhile now about whose vehicle is faster. He says that his Cougar has 220hp, and that there's no way I could beat him because my Explorer weighs so much more and I don't have a high enough weight to hp ratio compared to his car. So we both decided to put an end to the guessing and find out the truth. So out the door we go, he hops in his car and I hop in my Explorer. He hasn't made any modifcations to his car. It's a 99 Cougar with the V6, that's really all I know about it. I have the following:

98 Explorer Sport 4.0L SOHC
KKM intake.
Borla cat back exhaust
Explorer Express sway bar.

So we head to a back road and line up. The only problem we had then was figuring out what would signal the start of the race. So he counts down to 5 to 0. I put my left foot on the brake and the right on the gas so I would be ready to stomp it as soon as he hit 1. Then I'm trying to decide if I should leave my overdrive on or off. I decided to leave it on at the last second. He hits 1 and we both stomp it, pedals to the floor. My tires actually chirped which surprised me. Needless to say, I smoked him. Dead Link Removed By the way, does anyone know what these things redline at? I looked at the tach and it was buried at 6. Also, do you guys recomend OD on or off?

 

[Alec]

I have a 4speed auto tranny, I think you have a 5speed, but most things should be the same. Anyway, mine usually shifts between 4200 and 4700. When gunning it, it's gone past 5500. 6 is basically the redline. To people with manuals: when do y'all shift? About OD: this is the last gear (4th on mine, 5th on yours), which engages usually between 50 and 70. Leave it off if gunning it over 50, the car should turn it back on around 87mph. If it does not engage at that speed, turn it back on by 95. Hope this helps!

------------------
Alec Rosenbaum
University of TX @ Austin

1996 Explorer Sport
4.0L V-6 2WD
K&N Filtercharger
Magnaflow Cat-back
Aux lights/horns
Custom Stereo

 

[Cameron]

k1ckb0x3r,

1st, the 1999 Cougar V6 has 170 HP not 220 (if it had 220 HP, he would have kicked your but). 2nd, I have a 97 Sport with the OHV with a 5 speed, my wife has the 99 Cougar V6 with the 5 speed and she always wins when we race. I know the SOHC has more power then the OHV but I didn’t realize enough to beat the Cougar. The Cougar weighs at least a thousand pounds less then your Sport (assuming you have a 4X2). And Car and Driver has the following stats:

0-60
Cougar 7.7
Sport 8.0

Quarter Mile
Cougar 16.0
Sport 16.2

Top Speed
Cougar 137
Sport 106

Pretty damn close if you ask me.

No offence to your brother in law but if you smoked him, he doesn't know how to race a car. It is possible for the Explorer with the right gear setup to beat a stock Cougar but it shouldn't be by much.

Congratulations on the victory none the less. It's not an easy win and don't be quick to let him forget it!




------------------
Rock'n 97 Sport 4X4

 

[PunkChild]

I have the 4.0 OHV in my sport with the 5-speed manual. The max RPM is about 5,600-5,800. If I'm racing someone I'll usually shift around 5,000 if you go any higher your just wasting time. I don't know what my 0-60 is but I know I can alway beat V-6 Mustangs and camaros, and those ****ty little imports. Also one cool thing about the manual is that I can do a pretty big burn-out. I can't wait until I put on my headers and exhaust.
Oh yeah tell your brother that if he really had 220 HP he would own the first and only production SVT Cougar (the show/concept car SVT Cougar had the SVT Contour engine).

------------------
Jim Ferrarini
Skaman0182@yahoo.com
96 Sport 5-speed
JBA headers
Borla cat-back exhaust
modified airbox
K&N filter
+4 plugs
8.5mm wires
other small mods.
Coming soon:
K&N filter kit

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

The SOHC engine is going to redline higher than the OHV. The computer will not let you go over the redline(unless you have a chip). With my Manual trans it just depends on if I am racing or driveing were I shift Do I need the torque or the HP. If I need torque I shift about 2600rpm if need Hp I shift at 4500rpm. The torque bottoms out at 2600rpm and HP bottoms out at 4500rpm.

overdrive is not going to matter till you are in the 60-70mph speeds. If the races goes over that speed you should not have it on when it shifts into overdrive the acceration will drop too...




------------------
Kris Guilbeaux
1992 Navajo Lx 5-speed
attempting 4x4 convertion
--
http://home.viptx.net/~krisg/explorer1.html
my site has moved!!!!

 

[k1ckb0x3r]

Yeah, I found out he was wrong after I went to Mercury's webpage and found that the biggest engine they have available only has 170hp. I said the same thing to him, "Did Mercury make a Cougar specially for you with 220hp?". Heheh, he didn't like that too much. Dead Link Removed I have made a few modifcations, so maybe that was enough to make the winning difference. I have been doggin' him about the passed couple days and telling everyone, they make little comments to him. It drives him nuts. Dead Link Removed The only reason I rub it in so bad is cause he used to have a Z28 and I know there is no way I could even come close to beating it. He's got a baby on the way so he got rid of it.


1st, the 1999 Cougar V6 has 170 HP not 220 (if it had 220 HP, he would have kicked your but). 2nd, I have a 97 Sport with the OHV with a 5 speed, my wife has the 99 Cougar V6 with the 5 speed and she always wins when we race. I know the SOHC has more power then the OHV but I didn’t realize enough to beat the Cougar. The Cougar weighs at least a thousand pounds less then your Sport (assuming you have a 4X2). And Car and Driver has the following stats:

0-60
Cougar 7.7
Sport 8.0

Quarter Mile
Cougar 16.0
Sport 16.2

Top Speed
Cougar 137
Sport 106

Pretty damn close if you ask me.

No offence to your brother in law but if you smoked him, he doesn't know how to race a car. It is possible for the Explorer with the right gear setup to beat a stock Cougar but it shouldn't be by much.

Congratulations on the victory none the less. It's not an easy win and don't be quick to let him forget it!

[/B][/QUOTE]

 

[ex91]

hey what would a 98 ranger with the 4.0 ohv and the m 5-speed do in the 1/4 mile?? its 4x2 and ex cab I just got one and i wand to now if it could beat my friends 2000 f-150(7700 gvwr) with the 5.4 ,4x4,ex cab and a auto tranny. he says we will win but my truck is a lor lighter than his but his engine has more power?? what do you think.

 

[The Godfather]

I'd think the ranger would win. I did some racing last night and beat some 97+ F-150, don't know engine size but he was pretty much toast through the whole race. Seeing how the ranger is lighter, you should have no problem. Also beat a neon RT..aren't these suppose to be somewhat fast? It wasn't by much but I had a good 5ft on him the whole race. Maybe the guy just couldn't drive. He didn't like it when I asked him how it felt getting beat by a 4000lb truck....

------------------
93 XLT 4 door
Big, green, and slow

 

[mtxplorer]

just a little reply to cameron...
i was watching one of those senseless police chase tv shows on fox and it had a 91-94 body style explorer doing in excess of 115.... i would assume a 98 could go even faster than that

 

[Cameron]

mtxplorer

I watch those "Worlds stupidest drivers" shows too. Its funny to watch someone think they can out run the cops. I think they have a tendency to over exaggerate the speeds though. Anyway, the Explorer and every other stock vehicle that I'm aware of, have some sort of speed limited. The Explorer's is set to 106 MPH. I have a 97 Sport and my speedometer caps out at about 105 MPH. Although they are capable of going faster if the limited is disabled. Or, you can get a new computer with the limited removed or set higher. But stock, 106 MPH is all she'll do.

ex91, you'll probably beet the F-150. Those engines are made more for torque then speed. Although the 5.4 L Triton V8 is very powerful, the differential gear rations available are to low. 3.57 is the highest (I think) you can get in the 4X4 with the 5.4 from Ford. You'll probably beat him 0-60 but he can pull a house off its foundation.


------------------
Rock'n 97 Sport 4X4

 

[James]

Yes, explorers do go 106, but does the old ones have this limiter? Anyway, the explorers stop at about 106, but with a one inch bigger tire you explorer will shut off at about 110. Because at 70mph I am actually going 73mph so I figure at the least that the speedometer is off by 4mph at 105mph, maybe even 5mph.

------------------
95 explorer sport 4x4 3.07 gears 4.0 OHC
30X9.50 Dueler A/T

 

[ex91]

ok the f-150 is a 4x4 and it has 3.73ls in the rear end but it is not a normalf-150 it the 2000 f-150 7700gvwr,auto,all the off-road godies and it is dam quick.

what rear ends would my ranger have???
its a 4.0l 5 speed-m ex cab xlt and the gvwr is like 4900 or so???

 

[TimestandStil77]

cougars for lunch

I have a 97 sport SOHC and even stock i raped the cougars , i think those numbers might be off because i beat it by about 3-4 cars, which is alot.

 

[id92]

the newer sports do 106? damn..i'm not sure how fast my 92 can go..but i've taken the needle down to where it was pointing at the overdrive thingy, my mom has a 99eb and the engine shuts off at 100mph and about the race..i believe that the ex can smoke a cougar.

 

[espnfreak]

how would i custom fabricate a cold air box for my 96 xlt?

 

[NaplesBill]

Well,

I just purchased a 2001 Explorer Sport! I traded in a 1999 Contour Sport. Both cars are manual trans! I had a KKM intake and Borla exhaust on the Contour. The Contour had the 170hp V6(2.5l Duratec) that is in the Cougar. I never got the chance to dyno it after the mods. The Contour weighs just slightly less than the Cougar. I can tell you that my Contour was much faster than the Sport is. I think the Sport has very good power but the Contour never seemed to run out of steam and ran all the up to 7g plus without hesitation. The Contour also has a much smoother revving engine. At highway speeds the Contour was a speed demon! It never seemed to run out of speed(until the computer shut it down).

With that said, the Sport has much more torque. I was a member of the Contour Enthusiasts Group web site, and the number one complaint about the Duratec was the lack of torque. I think you could modify both vehicles the same and the Contour would still win. The weight factor and the aerodynamics are against the Explorer. The fact that someone beat a Cougar is an indication that the driver does not know how best to take advantage of the high revving Duratec. I know that in my Contour(and most others I remember from the CEG) I would normally drop the clutch with the RPMS at around 2500. This seemed to produce the best launch and definately helped make up for the lack of torque!

This is all just my opinion of course!

 

[leenjen]

surprised the tires chirped??

why were you surprised the tires chirped?
i have not done any performance mods to mine and i can get the tires to smoke. i dont do it often,i cant afford new tires all the time, and it stinks like hell. that smell will stay in the car for a day or two.

it takes a few seconds of spinning before the second wheel kicks in, is this normal or is something wrong?

 

[racinjason68]

Wheel buning... If you have a "open rearend" i.e. plain rearend. then tire smoking shouldnt be that much of a prob especially when power jacking one. If you have one with the L/S limited slip rear then tire smoke'n is harder to pull off, especially with a auto. I have the L/S and when racing if it chirps she is feeling good. then again mine has a 134K mile motor in it.... Look at your axle code on your door sticker and compair to your owners manual to find out gears and if it is conventional "plain" or L/S or as ford says trac lock. If you have your window sticker from when new it tells the axle ratio too. Mine says Performance axle $252 additional cost.

 

[mikeresin]

the explorer goes faster then 106. ive gotten mine to 115. i have a 95 sport with no mods other than exhuast. and no my spedometer is not off. but jesus 115 is scary when ya have shot out shocks like mine.

 

[Black Magic]

I have a 2001 Sport with the SOHC and 210hp (204bhp + 6hp w/ K&N filter). I raced a 98 v6 mustang the other night and it didn't even come close. I would say the trucks are geared lower and have more ass than cars. Top speed they will win but not off the line.