Pictures of my 84 Mustang project car

[BRGT350]

As some of you know, I have been working on building my Mustang into an autocross/open track car. After one year of many late nights, very early mornings in a cold shop, the car is finally done. Well, it is not fully done, because no car is ever done. My brother and I did the build on the car over the winter using a combination of my garage and an open flat stall and lift at my dad’s shop. Feel free to post any questions concerning the build or anything else concerning the car.


Before being rebuilt









Construction began in May 2006

[BRGT350]

[BRGT350]

[BRGT350]

We got the car ready for the track by the middle of May 2007, one year after we started.

The car is at GingerMan for the first time.














First Autocross

[Moving Target]

Hehe, engine specs?!

[solozx10r]

Very nice!

[Coupe de Surf]

CLEAN! I like it. I see you also roll the mustang/focus stable like me.

[kevinspann]

Nice clean car. And a nice GRM sticker....you trying to get in the magazine?

[fatchick1o9]

Why did you choose the single bar g-load/k-member brace instead of the 2 bar?

[Toys]

Great job Bryan...! Can't wait to get both our cars on the track at once.

There is a nice event at Grattan on Friday Oct 12th if you're interested.

[BRGT350]

Here is a list of all the components installed on the car during the winter.
Engine:
Power (estimated): 350 hp @ 6250 rpm Torque (estimated): 375 lb-ft @ 2100 rpm
5.0L 302 CID Cast Iron Block
Trick-Flow Twisted Wedge A356-T61 Aluminum heads (61cc Combustion Chamber)
Forged Aluminum 1.6:1 Ratio Stud-Mount Roller Rockers
Forged High Strength Steel HD Connecting Rods
9.6:1 Compression Hypereutectic Pistons
Trick-Flow Chromium-Molybdenum (Chromoly) Pushrods
Speed-Pro Camshaft
Weiand Stealth Dual Plane Intake
BBK 1 5/8” Primary “Shorty” Headers
2.5” Off-Road H-Pipe with fabricated heat shields
DynoMax 2.5” Super Turbo Mufflers
Holley 600CFM 4150 Carburetor
MSD Pro Billet Distributor, Blaster 3 Coil, and 6AL Ignition Module
ARP Hardware
Ford Racing HD Timing Chain
Ford Racing Harmonic Balancer
Cobra Water Pump Pulley
3-Core HD Radiator with CSR Upper Hose Filler and Racetech fabricated shrouding
Canton 7 Quart Road Racing Oil Pan
Canton Windage Tray
K&N 14” Air Filter
Ford Racing Aluminum Valve Covers
March Alternator Bracket with Chromium-Molybdenum (Chromoly) tie-rod
NGK Spark Plugs with Saleen Champion 8mm Spark Plug Wires
Fel-Pro Copper Loc-Wire HD Head Gaskets
Ford Racing High Volume Oil Pump with Canton Pick-up
Ford Racing HD Fuel Pump
Fram Racing Fuel Filter
Ford 130 amp 3G Alternator with PA Performance Installation Kit
Balanced & Blueprinted

Drivetrain:
Borg-Warner T5 5-speed transmission with Carbon Fiber blocker rings
Ford Racing King Cobra Clutch
Hurst SVO Short Throw Shifter
3.73:1 Ford Racing Rear Gears
Modified Ford Traction-Lok with Heavy Duty “S” Spring

Suspension, Wheels & Tires:
2003 Mustang Mach 1 Front Control Arms with Urethane Bushings
Bilstein HD Front Struts
H&R Race Spec Progressive Springs (800lb-in front/260lb-in rear)
Prothane Urethane Motor Mounts
Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber Plates
Maximum Motorsports Urethane Steering Rack Bushings
Racetech Aluminum Steering Rack Sleeves
Maximum Motorsports 4-point K-Member Brace
Racetech Frame Rail Reinforcements
Racetech Rocker Reinforcements
Maximum Motorsports 6-point Roll Bar with SCCA Diagonal Bar
Strut Tower Brace
Maximum Motorsports Full Length Sub-Frame Connectors
Torque Box Reinforcing Plates
Maximum Motorsports HD Rear Lower Control Arms
Ford Racing HD Upper Control Arms
Seam Welded Upper and Lower Torque Boxes
Bilstein HD Rear Shocks
ARP 3” HD High Strength Steel Wheel Studs
16” x 8” American Racing 2-piece aluminum wheels
P225/50ZR16 Kuhmo Ecsta MX Tires

Brakes:
Wilwood Brake Proportioning Valve
Brake Cooling Ducts
Ford Racing M-2300-C Rear Disc Brake Conversion (270mm disc diameter)
Maximum Motorsports SS Brake Hoses
Maximum Motorsports SS Caliper Sleeves
Porterfield R4 Race Compound Brake Pads (open track)
Hawk HP+ Brake Pads (autocross)
ATE Super Blue Racing Brake Fluid

Safety and Interior:
RaceTech FIA Approved Carbon/Kevlar Race Seat (driver)
G-Force 5-point Cam-Lock Harness (driver)
G-Force 6-point Harness (passenger)
Sparco Lap 5 Steering Wheel
Saleen Aluminum Pedals
Mach 1 Shift Knob
Autometer Gauges and Shift Light
Optima Red-Top Battery with Taylor Battery Box
Racetech Designed Electronics
Removal of all sound deadening material, stereo and HVAC components
Hobbs Hour Meter
Battery Kill Switch

Exterior:
Ford Motorsports Front Air Dam
Mach 1 Chin Spoiler
E-Code Composite Headlights with H4 conversion


The k-member brace is a 4-point.

My white ZX3 Focus has been since replaced by a SVT EAP Focus.

Mike, By mid October, the car should be starting to come apart for the brake conversion, so track events are out for me. Next year, I will have some brakes that will actually work!

Thank you everyone for your nice comments!
-Bryan

[markfhp]

just curious, but with 8 gazillion mods, why did you stay with 4-lugs? (if it's some rules thing and i'm a moron, be gentle)

also, isn't it incredible how many holes are in the engine compartment?

[BRGT350]

yes, the engine compartment is like swiss cheese!

The reason to stay with 4 lug was a cost issue, but 5 lugs and Cobra brakes are on their way. We just ran out of money last year, and thought the current brake set-up would get us by. One SVTOA event would prove that they just won't last more than a few laps.

[CAM D]

Nice Job!!!! Keep it up

[warlockpain]

finally some pics ! lol i like the mach 1 chin spoiler! you'll have to give me more info on the motorsports front air dam and the headlights though!

[J.Bo]

What type of Racetech fabricated shrouding was done to the radiator? A complete box in front or just on top?

[92MNstanger]

Did you aim the brake ducting at the rotor face instead of the hat?

[Stanger58]

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[Stanger58]

AWESOME job!! Very nice workmanship...and kudos for doing an OLD Fox body!

Hope to see that car on track and in person some time...

[BRGT350]

warlockpain; The motorsport air dam is the "GT" style air dam that was available from Ford Motorsports in the mid 80's. I had to cut the lower half of the stock L bumper cover off and add the motorsports one below the body moulding. It is fairly close to the GT air dam, except it is one peice on the bottom and might be a little bit lower. As for the headlights, I was tired of not having a decent set of lights in the car. About 12 years ago, I started to look for ways to improve the sealed beam and found in Europe they use a square headlight that takes a H4 bulb. I found an importer, and installed 4 E-code headlights with high quality H4 bulbs. My brother designed an upgraded wire harness to handle the better headlights, which was impressive for a 13 year old kid to put together.

j. Bo; The shrouding for the fan seals the sides, top, and bottom of the radiator to the bumper cover. The fan shroud on the backside is also sealed with foam and tape. If you look at the lower radiator opening, you can see the aluminum shrouding extending outside of the bumper cover. At idle with the stock mechanical fan, you can drop a peice of paper in front of the car from 2 feet away, and it will get sucked to the radiator. For street use, I have to tape off the upper and lower intake openings in order to get the engine to run over 160'F. We are switching to a t-stat controlled electric fan for next year.

92mnstanger; The ducting in the pictures was still under construction, and the finished product had the ducting connected to a plate to seal the back of the rotor. I also installed 2 5" blower fans inline to help cool the rotors, but none of it kept the rotors cool enough at the track. The ducting was also mounted to 4" x 6" scoops sealed to the front bumper, and I added gurney flaps to the leading edge of the front wheel openings on the fenders to help suck air away from the brakes. I will upload some of my pics from the SVTOA event that show the brake cooling mods.

[vicbaby]

Very cool. I love the old 4-eyes.

[5.0>you]

wow, amazing project. im basically in the middle of my own, but on a much lower budget. any tips to getting all the tar paper off the floor? i have been trying for quite some time now and its a slow slow process. any chemicals that might help? i tried heat, only worked when it was blazing hot, and a scraper/screwdriver= busted knuckles.

[warlockpain]

any chance you could hook me up with some of those lights and more info on the wiring harness mods for them? wassup with the light blue on them?

[5.0>you]

pretty sure the light blue is painters tape, glass headlights have to be taped at the track so if they get broken, glass will not drop on the track.

[warlockpain]

makes sense. we don't have an autocross track nearby,so i'm a dummy when it comes to track stuff! lol

[BRGT350]

the blue stuff on the lights is blue painters tape. I usually don't have it on the lights for autocrossing, but it was still on there from a track session.

Ok, as for the lights, since I am getting quite a few questions about them. They are a glass housing with a removable H4 bulb. I installed these in 1995, so my memory on exactly where they came from is fuzzy, and they were also my Christmas present that year. The housings are E-code and not DOT approved, so the beam pattern is different than our US cars. The low beams also have the "city lights" in them, which are small bulbs used when the parking lights are on. Most current european cars have them here, and my SVT Focus with HID's have them as well since I have the European housing from the factory. The lights did require a different wire harness due to the increased wattage from the H4 bulbs. Susquehanna motorsports sells the Hella H4 conversion kit along with a generic wire harness. http://www.rallylights.com/hella/165mm_lo.asp is a good place to purchase the lights from. I use a Hella high intensity bulb in the low beams. Polarg (spelling might be off) sells H4 bulbs that look exactly like HID's, and will work with the Hella housings. I had a set in my ZX3, but never got around to install a set in the Mustang. Mostly because the car never goes out at night, since they don't autocross at night!

Let me know if there are more questions.

[BRGT350]

I have some pics of the lights on, but imagestation isn't working today. I will try later on today to post some pictures showing what the lights look like.

[BRGT350]

Originally Posted by 5.0>you

wow, amazing project. im basically in the middle of my own, but on a much lower budget. any tips to getting all the tar paper off the floor? i have been trying for quite some time now and its a slow slow process. any chemicals that might help? i tried heat, only worked when it was blazing hot, and a scraper/screwdriver= busted knuckles.

Dry Ice (lots of it!), rubber hammer, chisel, long flat head screwdriver, wire wheel on a die grinder, more dry ice, time, and rinse and repeat until all of the tar is gone. Most of the trunk stuff came up in chunks approx 10" x 10", but the stuff under the rear seats and front seats came out in 1/2" x 1/2" peices. That took forever to do, even with 2 people working on it. Be careful with the chisel and screwdriver, as it is easy to poke thru the floor. In all, I think I ditched around 90 lbs of sound tar, padding under the carpet, and all the padding stuff behind the trim panels. I tore all the padding off the backside of the carpet, and removed the real thick padding on the firewall. For fire/heat protection, the entire H-pipe is covered in heat sheilding.

[frankstang]

Excellent job.The car really stands out from the crowd.

[BRGT350]

as soon as imagestation is working again for me, I will post some pictures from this past weekend's autocross. There were only 4 RWD V8's at the event, and I lucky enough to sporting tires smaller than most VW's. Skinny street tires along with a 40'F air temp turned the autocross into a D1 GP drift event.

Thanks again everyone for their nice comments about my car.

[BRGT350]

Imagestation was working during lunch, so here are the pictures from this past weekend's autocross. I picked up two DNF's from getting lost on the very confusing short course, so my brother picked up the win for our class. I am running number 7, and my brother is running 22 on the car.






Cold skinny tires make for some good oversteering around the sweepers.




opps, this run was a DNF as I am off course.


More traction issues








My brother thought it would be fun to start taking out cones while driving sideways. I found a couple of cone marks along the driver’s door after the event.




The ending of the course was reworked half way thru the heat because there was not enough room to slow the cars down between the timing lights and the DNF cones at the end.

[huesmann]

Are those flames coming from your fuel tank in the 2nd pic??? Or is that some cones you(r brother) killed?

[Moving Target]

It just looks like the car is passing some cones to the right of the car. It had me wondering for a sec until I looked closer.

Nice work on the car buildup. I get a slight idea how much ($$$ and effort) has gone into it.

[BlackStripes2000GT]

Very nice!!

I've been trying to get RaceTech seats for a long time, but i cant find them locally... i am not gonna buy a set that i didnt try before!! How do you like them?

[BRGT350]

No, those are not flames, just a row of cones on the opposite side of the car. You scared me at first!

As for the Racetech seat, I love it! I have had some Corbeau Forza's in my focus, and they were not nearly as nice as the Racetech seat. I picked mine up from the local AMLS team who had them left over from another car. The team disbanded and was selling off all their parts, and the team (2 cars, trailer, spares) if you can afford it. My passenger seat is still the Recaro from a '79 Pace Car, and that will be removed for a lighter seat in the future.