Hi all, our local track is 1/2 mile paved, and the dominant cars in the "bomber" class are FWD.  This is just a basic question:  Can the rwd mustangs be made to be competitive in a 4cyl junkyard/stock division?  

Yes!!!!!! Our area tracks runs a 4-cylinder class and mustangs dominate that class.  

Yes, Mustangs can easily compete, they've got the best Bomber class engine out there, the venerable Lima 2.3L four-cylinder that's been a mainstay of four cylinder racing since the 70s.

Plus, because they're rear wheel drive and have a ton of available suspension parts, you set them up to handle better than just about anything, except maybe a four-cylinder powered 3rd Gen Camaro. The early 3rd Gens came with the old Iron Duke pontiac four-cylinder, a juggernaught of a small engine.  

Do you guys have any advice?  I have a friend who races one of these, he's lower budget but has had the same car in this class for probabaly 10 years.  He wants to get out of the class and I was thinking about asking to buy his car.  I don't know anything about them.  I know he was successful with the car until the neons, sunfires, and civic's came along.

It's a 1/2 mile asphalt track.

Everyone tells him to ditch the car and get front wheel drive, and that the 100horse mustang just won't get it done.  

The fox body mustang lends itself to several modifications that will turn heads anywhere you go. My son and I are building two of them right now. Both will have fully ajustable struts, weight jacks in all four corners, adjustable sway bar, with the full complement of rol bars and such. I plan on mounting the Speedway 1 Cobra body on one and using a cut down Five Star Dodge body on the other. We twist the engines at about 8600rpm without any problems and the engines usually go about half season before youshuld look at a rebuild. Tire wear (we use Hoosier F60 scuffs in our class) is good with two sets lasting the season. We keep close watch on our tire temps and adjust for the track based on the day we are racing. We run Holley 500's with #72 jets, a #5 power valve, and recently changed out the squirters to allow for a little bit more coming out of the corner. We run on a medium bank, 3/8 mile, "D" shaped track and consistently turn low to mid 18's. Our super street class (like a limited late model) turn 17's so we aren't that far off. We have a couple of FWD cars, but they are running just a tick off. Depending on what your class will allow (ours is one pound per cc), we run a 2.5 stroker that is very competitive and with the right compbination of set up, motor, and drivers skill, the Mustangs and Pinto's are very competitive against the FWD.....