The tight spot on a Mustang is where the headers pass by the steering shaft. There is just enough room for the new pipe.

The standard 4-into-1 collectors I used were also provided by Nebraska Chassis and I installed them and welded on some mounting tabs with the headers in the car. Then I removed the standard collectors and installed the trick stainless steel "merge" collectors from Nebraska Chassis. I lined up the mounting tabs with the previously installed header tabs and drilled a second set of holes. Now I would be able to run one set of collectors and hopefully with ease install the other set at the track.

Ahh, the works of art known as merge collectors. These stainless steel beauties are made by Wes Collins of Nebraska Chassis and have been dynoed to produce an additional 10 hp and more torque on various different engines. Also, they generally will bring the torque curve down about 1000 rpms below what is normal for the particular engine.

Another new addition to Muscrate is a set of MOROSO's DS 5 frontrunners. I went with the tallest size that would fit for the most rollout advantage and that ended up being the 28.5 tall tire. I had been out to the track previously with these tires and noted a substantial increase in "holding power" at the start line over my previous tires and this allowed me to stall up higher against the converter. Considering I am still using last year’s tight ATI converter from the EFI combo, I could use all the extra stall rpm I can get. Another benefit is the lightweight design of the DS 2's shaved 2 pounds each from the front of the car, it all adds up.

Here is the MOROSO DS-2 front tire I used on Muscrate. It is a lightweight design and the tire compound and tread design really give good grip on the starting line for a "footbreaker". Size is 28.5 x 4.5.

So, off to the races for the fourth time this year! I was really excited to see what the newheaders and especially the merge collectors would do to the performance of Muscrate. The United Sportsman Association was having its year-end Stock/Super Stock shootout at the always fast Tri-State Raceway in Earlville, IA.

In years past we Midwesterners have had some of the best air conditions we see all year at this race in mid-September but, darn the luck, this year it was simply beautiful low ‘70s Indian summer-type stuff. Not bad, around 1500 ft. on my stuff, but not the mineshaft conditions I was hoping for. Leave it to a class racer to complain about nice weather!