Performance of 02 Bird | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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Performance of 02 Bird

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gene246514
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Gene246514

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OK, I told you some time back I would tell you how fast my Bird was. As I said, I have never owned a car that I did not know how fast it was. March 12, 2002, wind NE, calm to 5mph, eastbound run, two miles in length with running start, speedometer 154mph, radar gun 146mph; westbound run, speedometer 155mph, radar gun 147mph.
That's it, gang, not really ready for the Indy 500 or NASCAR but that's a lot of guts for a street car.

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Depending on the radar gun technology the error ratio can be high, specially if the rardar gun is calibrated for 60 mph... The error rate will get larger as you get away from the 60mph speed...

This is why many states and provinces allow for a +10mph (grace) so you cannot dispute a 20mph over the limit ticket.

I beleive laser speed guns have less of an issue with that discrepancy.
 
Also the speedometer are suspect, the April issue of Car and Driver has an article about speedometers. It shows Ford average is 72.12 for 70 mile radar. So if you double the speedometer would be off by 4.4 miles/hour at 140, or half of the difference shown on the above run.

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Bill's Red and White #4359
 
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Gene thanks you may have saved me from a ticket. I would have tried it sooner or later. Like you said not quite fast enough to race in NASCAR but is fast enough to be a pace car for them.

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02 T-Bird 9293
69 Vette
73 MGB
97 F-150 4x4
2-Seadoo Jet Skies
a dog a cat and a couple hundred fish in my pond
 
originally posted by mikedmeyer

I went to Vegas a couple weeks ago in my bird. Nice trip. I made very good time, but unfortunately got a ticket for 100 in a 70. I opened her up at one point trying to find the top speed, and it wouldn't let me go over about 127 mph or so (electronic governor, the engine obviously could have taken her faster). FYI.
Click to expand...

Big difference between 154 mph and 127 mph.
 
Remember something, too-in a pace vehicle, they are not expected to be able to get up to the speeds of the cars they are pacing. I had the chance-and took it-to drive a Pace Vehicle at Indianapolis. When we pulled into the pit lane to allow the flying start, we were cruising at 125mph-something the Birds can definitely do! And at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the Thunderbird paced the group at 100mph.

By 05 we should be seeing a supercharger sitting in the engine compartment-I'm willing to bet we'll see 300 horses or better-
smile.gif
-out of the 3.9L.

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Tony,

I don't remember who it was but someone who recently visited Wixom reported that the supercharger was going to be an option on the '03 but only added a whopping 15hp. They said they got this info from Dave Davis.
 
Jodrod, Don't tell me you went to Vegas and traveled through Amarillo on I-40 and didn't e-mail so we could meet you coming through town, or did you take the Southern route I-10?

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V
 
Sorry Jodrod, missed read that. Didn't catch the quote part. Must not have been fully awake this morning. lol

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V
 
So do I have to try it, too? There sure IS a big dif between 154 and 127 MPH. Howcum?

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The improvements coming down the line for 03 are basically timing and induction improvements done by the fine engineers and blue-collar workers at the plant that builds the motors-Lima, OH?-HP increase to 285 from 252, torque will bump up to 290ft-lbs. The prototype unit with the SC will run 315-and changes are in the works to bump that to 335, along with suspension, steering and brake mods to handle the power.

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