2002 Formula Firehawk
Lonny had been wanting to trade in his 2001 Mustang GT basically since the day he got it. He bought it after his 1996 Mustang Cobra was totaled in an accident. It was an American muscle car...with a V8. It did ok, he could deal with it for the time. May 24, 2003...we're out looking at used F-Body's. After talking with one of the local small used car dealers, they suggested we take the Mustang to CarMax, to see what they would give us for the car. Walked into the CarMax showroom to have the GT appraised, and we spot an f-body. At first I thought it was just a V6, or maybe a Formula. It then dawned on me that that wasn't no normal hood. That was a Formula Firehawk. Started looking at it, and noticed what a great price they had listed on it. They were selling it for $23,998 with blue book being $29,998. The better part was it was a 2002 with 696 miles on it. It was practically new. So after talking with the salesman, getting the GT appraised, taking the Firehawk for a test drive. Lonny was hooked on having that car. After spending too many hours there, the deal was worked out, and Lonny was a very giddy owner of a 2002 Formula Firehawk. (I'm listed as co-owner. :) )
Firehawks are a special edition of the Formula and Trans Am models. Pontiac ships them off to SLP to add the Firehawk package. The Formula Firehawks are even rarer than the Trans Am Firehawks. SLP numbers all of the Firehawks, ours is #555. (555 is out of all the Firehawks producted, not just Formula Firehawks). I've been able to find out that there were 1,501 Firehawks produced in 2002. This number includes Trans Am Firehawks. I've also been able to find out that 901 Formulas were produced in 2002. Again, I don't know how many got the Firehawk package. If I can ever find out how many Formula Firehawks were produced, I will update the page with that info.
Info about the car:
2002 Formula Firehawk
Purchased: May 24, 2003 from CarMax in Laurel, MD
Purchase Price: $23,998
(blue book listed as $29,998)
Miles when purchased: 696
Engine:
5.7 liter V8 LS1 block*
6 speed manual transmission, 3.42
gears
345HP, 350TQ (she has not been to the dyno, so I don't know actual
numbers, these are Pontiacs numbers, which are underrated)
T-tops
9"x17" Polished Aluminum Rims
Tires P275/40ZR17 Firestone Firehawk
Functional Hood with Cold Air Induction and Heat Extractors
3" Low Restriction Exhaust with SLP muffler
She has not been to the track yet either, but a good average is around 13.5 seconds in the 1/4. Some have been as fast as 13.1 stock, while others are 13.9.
Here are pictures of her after only owning her for a day:
MODS:
-cutout
-!CAGS
-Ported MAF Ends
-BMR STB in yellow
Links to F-Body related sites:
Eastern F-Body Association
LS1.com
LS1tech.com
F-Body Central
Billy Graham's
Camaro/Firebird Salvage
Afterthoughts Auto
SunCoast Creations
SLP Online Catalog
SLP Engineering
And
here's an interesting tidbit of information I found on another website, I don't
know if it is accurate or not but here it is:
In 2000, The Ram Air Firebird is rated the 5th fastest production vehicle for the Model Year 2000. The test incorporated 2000 Model Year production vehicles on 0 to 60 MPH runs and also the 1/4 mile. The vehicles that placed a quicker time were as follows....
(5th Best) Ram Air Firebird
(4th Best) Ferrari F355
(3rd Best) Corvette
(2nd Best) Lotus
(Fastest) Dodge Viper
The tests were performed by Scott Oldham. The sister car to the Ram Air, the SS Camaro, placed 9th. The competition from Ford placed 11th with the Mustang Cobra.
* In the February (or maybe it was March) 2003 issue of GM High Performance Pontiac (GMHPP), there was an article stating the following:
Apparently there have always been two version of the LS1: One built in Montupet, and one built in Nemak, Mexico. They use two different methods in creating the block, and apparently the Nemak block is a stronger, more performance oriented block. (The material properties were about 10% higher/stronger. Nemak uses a low-pressure precision fan process, more high performance oriented.). When the Z06 Corvette came out, GM decided to use the Nemak plant to build the LS6 block, since they built stronger blocks. So Nemak built LS6's, while Montupet built LS1's. Since there were so many LS6 blocks made, several made it into F-bodies. Numbers from GM are that about 10-15% of 2001 cars had LS6 blocks, and 25% of 2002 cars did. To confirm if your 2001-2002 F-body has an LS6 block, grab a mirror and a flashlight. Open the hood and head over to the driver's side to try and see the back of the left-hand deck, above the transmission flange. A cast-in #12561168 denotes the LS6 block. And if you aren't able to see the number, you may be able to tell by the block's luster-the Montupet plant cast a shinier block, the Nemak plant made the duller block. The Z06 block (LS6 block) is not only much stronger, it also has 87% better ventilation between bays, which equates to less pumping losses at high RPM's. I have not had the opportunity yet to determine which block is in my car.