My dad thinks I'm crazy for racing/moding my Roush 429R

[kevbad]

I wasnt sure were to post this...

I have wanted to build and race a car for a long time now. Instead, I bought one already built: I got a great deal on my 429R and have owned it almost a year now. Don't get me wrong, THIS IS AN AWESOME CAR! But I'm afraid to drive it hard or do anything to it except maybe a pulley swap, should I be? I have taken it auto crossing twice and love it! I also want to do road course racing (dont care too much for boring, official 1/4 mile drag races- I can do that stop light to stop light, where it's more exhilarating )

I do agree with my dad that actual road course racing seems like a bad idea in a $46k+ car that i still owe $13k on... esp. since insurance doesn't cover racing activities, but is there really any danger of breaking my ride on the auto cross pad?

As for moding: It seems everyone on here has added fuel pumps, headers, cams, tuners, done blower swaps etc. Does this not decrease the value of these limited production cars? Or is the point that it doesn't even matter since we cant get blue book values on our prized rides anyway?? I have the itch to spend some $$$ but don't know what i want... I have looked at everything (and test driven some too) from late model fox bodies to the new 2013 5.0 these past few months to see which one i would buy to build as a dedicated track car (if $ were no concern of course) since I've been advised against doing that with my daily driver, and (currently) only vehicle. Assuming I keep the Roush, I have $12k that i could comfortably drop right now whenever I wanted to start my project car, though I am moving in a few months to CO so I want to wait till I get settled in a house with at least a 2 car garage. So lets says I'm 3-6 months out from pulling the trigger

What do u guys think?

[luckychance]

imo modding doesnt affect depreciation any different on these cars since these are technically classified as "gt's" and currently hold no special value. keep in mind though that you will lose the $$ you put into mods should you ever sell. most people here start of with a pulley and tune..it will wake up the car and imo is the way it should have come. this mod you can always easily turn it back to stock. since you are into road racing i would look into suspension mods as the lca, uca and pb are a weak point. otherwise maybe a beater car for the winter months in co, i would hate to think what driving around in salty roads would do to the roush.

[kevbad]

Well if i keep the Roush to mod it, I will definitely buy a 4x4 truck for my daily driver and the Roush will be the garage queen she always should have been, only seeing warm sunny days, though I plan to pay cash for the DD, so that would limit my available money for mods right away. You mentioned lca, uca and pb- Lower control arm, upper control arm, and __? Not sure what pb is...

I took the 429 to 3 different dealers to get a trade in quote recently, got $18k, $25K and $28k. Almost jumped on the last one for a red loaded '12 5.0 m/t, but was still going to lose $3500 on the car after only one year of ownership and moding/racing a brand new car is prob worse than a few yrs old car...

[mpm_1]

pb..... panhard bar.... scroll down to the bottom of the link for a bit of a tutorial.... typical mods here are replacing the factory one with something beefier and (in some optoins) adjustable (to help center the axle under the car)...... also show a watts link (another mod to keep in mind if you regularly road course the car)

http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm

[austin163]

Your not crazy, mod away! As for the 1/4 mile, definitely not boring!

[WVTrakPak]

Do what you enjoy and what makes you happy. For many it is the show, the drag or the road course and I think all are fine if that is what does it for you. Beware if you are worried about value as it is really a dice roll. I bought mine becasue it does what I love perfectly and am very happy with it.

[AutoXRacer]

You'll never get your money back on these cars.

Mod away, but be ready to replace the stock engine sooner or later if you push it close to the limit.
I wasn't and mine died.

I have been autocrossing for over 13 yrs and it does not do anything to your car; other than wear out tires and burn fuel. LOL

Autocross is the safest racing you can do...there is zero risk if the event is held within the SCCA rules.

Just enjoy your car, you can do road racing on track days, just don't push yourself or the car beyond your limits. Now if you go in a competative road racing club, then yeah, all bets are off since you'll be bumping and rubbing against other cars. lol

And a word of caution, modding is highly addictive!! I bought my ROUSH with the intention that it was already modded and that 400HP was more than enough. Well, that wasn't the case, you get used to it and then want more... sigh

[kevbad]

You'll never get your money back on these cars.

Mod away, but be ready to replace the stock engine sooner or later if you push it close to the limit.
I wasn't and mine died.

I have been autocrossing for over 13 yrs and it does not do anything to your car; other than wear out tires and burn fuel. LOL

Autocross is the safest racing you can do...there is zero risk if the event is held within the SCCA rules.

Just enjoy your car, you can do road racing on track days, just don't push yourself or the car beyond your limits. Now if you go in a competative road racing club, then yeah, all bets are off since you'll be bumping and rubbing against other cars. lol

And a word of caution, modding is highly addictive!! I bought my ROUSH with the intention that it was already modded and that 400HP was more than enough. Well, that wasn't the case, you get used to it and then want more... sigh

I bought mine with the same intention that it had 435hp and was already a purpose built racecar (sort of) but after only a couple auto crosses and 1 yr of owning it, I already want more too. Thanks for the encouragement, or should I say, bad influence? Ha ha! I'll probably start small with a pulley swap and then go from there.

[AutoXRacer]

I bought mine with the same intention that it had 435hp and was already a purpose built racecar (sort of) but after only a couple auto crosses and 1 yr of owning it, I already want more too. Thanks for the encouragement, or should I say, bad influence? Ha ha! I'll probably start small with a pulley swap and then go from there.

One thing I will warn you about is that if you increase the power, you will be slower around the autocross course!!! Trust me!!!
I was at the point where if I wanted a good time, I had to make sure the supercharger did not whine!! I literally only used a 1/4 of the throttle or else I was spinning tires.

Increasing power will not help you in autocross; it will make you slower!! Spend the money on suspension and wheel/tire mods.

At the end, I gave up being competitive and just showboated around the course entertaining everyone... It became a chore to try to drive it smooth and fast!!

[Braker41]

You'll never get your money back on these cars.

Mod away, but be ready to replace the stock engine sooner or later if you push it close to the limit.
I wasn't and mine died.

I have been autocrossing for over 13 yrs and it does not do anything to your car; other than wear out tires and burn fuel. LOL

Autocross is the safest racing you can do...there is zero risk if the event is held within the SCCA rules.

Just enjoy your car, you can do road racing on track days, just don't push yourself or the car beyond your limits. Now if you go in a competative road racing club, then yeah, all bets are off since you'll be bumping and rubbing against other cars. lol

And a word of caution, modding is highly addictive!! I bought my ROUSH with the intention that it was already modded and that 400HP was more than enough. Well, that wasn't the case, you get used to it and then want more... sigh

i've had my blackjack for a little over a month now and already want more...looking into JDM S4 kit for now

[808muscle]

Cars are meant to be driven and have fun. Its not an investment. Its a money pit. LOL When you race it, expect stuff to wear out. After at least 150+ passes at the quarter mile track my diff was toast. Just installed a truetrac and am ready to beat on it again.

Stop light street racing, pahleeze dont be an idiot. Take that sh*t to the track and race like man.

Enjoy your hotrod.

[Shrek427R]

If you want a dedicated track car, then buy a "used" dedicated track car. Road racing is an expensive sport. I started racing in the 80's and purchased a track car with a friend. We ran short tracks and road course tracks in So Cal. We recruited some friends to help at the track (pit crew) and also found a couple sponsors. I traded paint with many cars on track and always had to pound out dents, replace body panels and fenders along with the normal wear and tear items. After a couple seasons I sold my interest/equity in the car to my friend and did'nt get involved in road course action until my mid-life crisis when I bought my 427R. I enter about 8 HPDEs per year and really have fun. This is not racing, its high performance driving and I love it! I enter a couple auto cross events per year and enjoy them too but not as much as HPDEs. My insurance company will cover me for one track accident and then I'll need to shop for specific track insurance companies for my track days.
If I was younger and wanted to get into racing, a Spec Miata would be my dedicated track car and NASA events is where I would start.
My 427R is stock, except for the following suspension mods: Roush big front brake kit with cooling ducts, LCAs, strut tower brace, Eaton tru-trac differential, Fays 2 watts link and Cooper RS3 tires.
Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy!

[gtncpa]

Well said Shrek, Perfect!

[WVTrakPak]

I agree with Shrek. I will add that you need to go slow and learn your car. I would not modify anything other than the brakes because you already have a lot of power and more than enough to get most people in over thier heads! There are some guys on here from Arizone that run hpde events and I am sure they would help you get your feet wet. It is the most fun thing I have ever done with my cars is to run as hard as you can for 30 minutes on track with outher fast cars and good drivers. It also can bite and be very expensive so you need to approach it respectfully!

[TheRage]

Mod it! You lost value the day you bought it. Roush unfortunately has the worst depreciation out of any of them. The moment you drive a brand new one off the lot its depreciated to half. I love my Roush but its an unfortunate fact.

[Pentalab]

Since you still owe $13k on the car.... why don't you pay it off 1st. If you intend to track it eventually, then put the $$ into suspension mods, track pads on the brakes for track days, better tires, better brake fluid, brake lines, etc, etc. The brakes, suspension, tires, and handling is 90% of it on a road course. Without that, the extra HP will just slow you down ! No point in going faster...only to start your braking 100-300' earlier.

Jimbo

[grabber427]

Mod it, just be smart about it and do it one mod at a time and pick mods that make sense such as traction mods if you want to road race or power mods like a pulley swap if you head to the 1/4 mile. If your worried about breaking it then stick to mods that don't void the warranty until it has expired and drive the hell out of it until that point. The only way you'd ever get your money back on this car is if you keep it bone stock for 25 years and only drive it on Sunday afternoons when the sun is out, even then you'd have to be lucky enough to find some wealthy collector who has a desire to own your specific car. You have better odds of hitting the lottery I would think. So enjoy the car, that's why you bought it.

This forum is absolutely the best place to turn for advice on what a certain mod will do to your car and what type of results to expect. It's a great place to learn about your car and what it can do, what can go wrong and how to fix it. If you give these guys a budget you'll get 600 different ways to spend it but ultimately you are the one who has to live with the car and the choices you make so listen carefully, take your time, don't rush into a decision until you are comfortable and always keep your end result goal in mind.

In the end, MOD AWAY!

[gtncpa]

A careful mod plan is important. I knew what I wanted my car to do when I bought it. 5 years later it is the car I wanted it to be! I tired not to re-do any mods. I tried to do the right thing the first time. I was not 100% successful in doing that ... but I came close. This website really helped me with the education process.

I keep a working "blue print" of the mods for my car. It is dynamic living document. I am almost to the end. Last I looked I think there are almost 30 mods that have been done. From the smallest such as Braided Steel Brake Lines to a full dyno tune.

We are all here and more than willing to help you spend your money!

[AutoXRacer]

This summer was very busy for me, i was actually gone to CA for most of it training for work. While there I took my car to a few dealers to see about trading it in for a '12 GT. I'm glad I didn't though, no one wa going to give me what these cars are worth. Best offer i had was $25k from the blue oval, though Carmax offered me $28. Anyway, I decided to keep it and begin moddig as soon as i finished training and moved to CO. THEN I REALIZED THAT I WOULD NEED A WINTER VEHICLE... So all the $$ I had saved up went to purchase a 02' Lariat 4x4 Supercrew F 150 (in cash). Mods will yet again have to wait... Thanks for all the tips, looks like general consensus is suspension. Thats where I'll start.

Damn!!! I would have definitely sold it for $28K and put a down on a 2013 GT500!!!

[kevbad]

Damn!!! I would have definitely sold it for $28K and put a down on a 2013 GT500!!!

I accidentally deleted my post you replied to... lol! I really wanted to trade it in for a newer car: boss 302, gt 500 or new roush, but I didn't want to eat $3,500 on a car I had only owned for about a year at the time. If it was paid off or close to it, then I would have been all over it. But like I said, I needed the truck pretty soon, and that would have left me me no money and 2 car payments... Some day