I've been talking about getting a 6 speed transmission for as long as I've owned the stang. But up until now its all been talk. On Monday I was glancing through one of my MM&FF magazines and I saw that ad from D & D Performance (www.ddperformance.com) for the T5 to T56 conversion for Fox body mustangs. They are pretty pricey, but I figured since I sold some of my old parts on eBay and made an extra $900 [:)], that I could use that cash to offset the cost. So I made the call and had one shipped out. Unfortunately I didnt have the extra funds to spring for the Viper-spec tranny (which adds an extra approx. 200 ft/lbs of torque capacity for a total of approx 600 ft/lbs and an additional $1000 to the price).

It arrived today at the freight depot all nicely crated. I could have paid the extra $50 for them to bring it to my house, but figured it was easier and cheaper to just get it myself.



As you can see above the 79-93 Mustang T56 kit includes Transmission, Bellhousing, Shifter, Crossmember kit, custom length driveshaft, and a longer Speedo Cable.

His name escapes me now, but the guy from D&D on the phone told me if I ever wanted to upgrade to stronger internals, like the ones in the Viper, that they could sell a kit with all the parts to do the swap. There are also a few other companies out there that sell upgraded internals. For example G-force (www.gforcetransmissions.com). The prices are hefty but for power and reliability you have to pay.

For more pics of the 6-speed check out the photos page by clicking here.

I have been searching for the best, most cost effective engine management solution for months. After examining all the options the only real solutions (that apply to my situation) were either, 1) a user programmable piggyback to the stock computer or 2) a stand alone engine management system. The first option is OK, but no matter how sophisticated the piggyback module may be, its still limited to the speed of the stock computer. Without geeking out and being completely technical let me explain why. The stock computer runs at a certain speed which is sufficient enough for a stock engine, but not so much for my situation. Think of the speed I'm refering to as how frequently the computer can react or update itself based on the feedback it receives from the sensors. Obviously the faster it can process feedback the more efficient the engine will be, which potentially results in an increase in performance. The stand alone unit actually replaces the stock computer and is faster, more configurable, and all around better for my setup in every way. Trent the founder of Turbomustangs.com along with many of the other users have had great success with AEM Electronics products, most noteably the AEM EMS (Engine Management System). After months of contemplating the idea last week I decided to just buy it.



I purchased the AEM EMS (which is above on the left) along with the dual channel UEGO controller (which is above on top of the EMS) from Mental Addiction Motorsports (www.mentaladdictionmotorsports.com) out in AZ. They sponsor Turbomustangs.com so I got a very good deal. I also bought an AEM Injector Driver box (above on the right) from Summit Racing (www.summitracing.com/) to drive the 83# Semens/Deka low impedance injectors I bought. More on the injectors later.

The UEGO controller is another stand alone unit which provides air/fuel ratio information to the EMS. The unit comes with two brand new Bosch sensors with bungs which allow them to be welded to the pipes. The air/fuel ratio is essential to running a tuned engine and basically indicates how rich or lean the engine is running in regards to fuel. This particular UEGO is a dual channel unit which allows me to monitor both exhaust downpipes simultaneously. The box is small enough that I was able to just mount it using the supplied velcro to the top of the EMS box (see below).



The mount I am using is simply the modified air bag mount which originally was affixed to the dashboard frame, underneath the dashboard surface, above the internal radio boxes. The Injector driver box will be simply mounted underneath the dashboard against the firewall.

The new 6 core intercooler came today. Holy crap is this thing huge. Mike from Cartech wasnt joking when he said there will be no room under that front bumper. The finished core measures 6" deep by (going by memory here) 27" long by 13" tall. For reference I took a pic of the turbo in front of the intercooler so you can get an idea how big it is:



For more pics of the new intercooler check out the photos page by clicking here.

A few other misc. parts came today; nuts and bolts, some braided line with fittings, and the Holley 75mm throttle body. Now that the TB is here I assembled the two halves of the upper Trick Flow Box-R intake. I wasnt very happy with how the two pieces line up (or should I say don't line up). The surface where the two meet is exposed one 2 sides and painfully obvious against the black powdercoat. More importantly the TB doesnt sit perfectly flush with the mating surface on the intake. The gasket helps a little bit with this but its not how I want it. I'll probably end up throwing some RTV in the gap. We'll see if this holds up...

No thats not the money flying at a high rate of speed out of my wallet (although it kind of sounds like that) its the pair of brand new Precision TE-44 turbos! All I can say is :D!!!



Specs are as follows:
Precision Turbo Part number: TE-44
Compressor wheel diameter: 44mm
Compressor wheel inducer: 2.290"
Compressor wheel exducer: 2.950"
Compressor wheel trim: 60
Compressor inlet/outlet size: 3"/2"
CHRA (Center Housing Rotating Assembly): 360 degree thrust bearing
Turbine housing: T4
Turbine wheel style: T31
Turbine inducer: 2.559"
Turbine exducer: 2.228"
Turbine trim: 76

For more pics of the new turbos check out the photos page by clicking here.

Today my new AFR 185's came in the mail (AFR part# 1389). These are the heads with the upgraded exhaust ports for nitrous/boost applications. They were a little pricey because I decided to get the valve spring and valve upgrade (for higher rpm's and higher temps). The upgraded port option basically bores out more material on the exhaust ports along with smoothing them out for increased airflow, which is what boost and nitrous applications like to have (on the exhaust side). In the picture below (right) you can see towards the top of the exhaust port the part that looks polished. This is where the material was removed.



These 100% CNC ported heads come standard with 2.02" intake valves and 1.60" exhaust valves and flow 277 CFM intake and 191 CFM exhaust at max lift. My Ford F303 cam only requires .512" lift which should flow pretty close to the heads max at .600". For more information on these heads visit http://www.airflowresearch.com.

For more pics of the new heads check out the photos page by clicking here.

Well, yesterday I left work a little early to go pick up my assembled short block. They've had the engine for quite some time, but in truth it doesnt feel like its been gone for so long, mostly because I was on the phone with Brian, say once every two weeks. I also told them I wanted them to take thier time and get it done right, that way they weren't rushed along. Part of taking thier time is to inspect all the components that came in the kit before assembly (which I'm glad they did because I didn't catch the piston problem). The piston problem either happened during manufacturing (unlikely) or in shipping direct from Probe. Brian said that sometimes the piston skirts are damaged in shipping which isn't all that uncommon. What happens is the piston skirts get squeezed inward (usually the ones in the corner of the box) and force the piston to be out of round. Below is a pic of the bad piston they found and although it was bad enough to not be installed its difficult to see the distortion without measuring:



Another thing that slowed them down was me trying to decide on which brand of internal parts to use as they came to a particular part of the engine. This of course included time to ship, etc. I eventually decided on ARP main studs with provisions for girdle and windage tray, the Ford F303 cam, brass freeze plugs, Ford Racing dampner, Speed-Pro file-fit piston rings, Ford double roller timing chain, and a bunch of other stuff I cant remember. There was also the time taken for block machining as described in one of my previous posts.

So after all was said and done I brought it home and put it in the living room :). Below is a pic right after it came home and I threw it on the engine stand.



I've got a bunch more planning to do before I figure out what to do next, most of which will be to figure out what kind of heads to get.

For more pics of the engine assembly check out the photos page by clicking here.

After waiting many many long months (actually only 4) the paint is done and the chassis was delivered. Check out the pics below of this beautiful paint job. Hats off to Steve and Tom (and Toms assistant)!



For more pics of the finished painted product check out the photos page by clicking here.

UPDATE:
Here is a high resolution pic I took a few months after it came back (which is why its so dirty). You will also see my temporary transport vehicle, the infamous '96 Ranger, in the background: (Warning this is a 2MB file and will take a while to download!!!)

Click here to view.

Here is one with my new '04 Cobra in the background (my lucky fiance's daily driver) and also dirty (also a large file!):

Click here to view.

The website went offline due to Hurricane Jeanne (more like forced offline due to no power for 2 days!). This weekend while watching Hurricane Jeanne fly past my back porch windows, I decided to start tearing down the old block. I figured even if the power went out (which it did on and off) I could let the air compressor stay pressurized and work with candlelight (which I did on and off).

This was my first time ever disassembling a block down to removing the crankshaft. I learned two very important things: 1. Label EVERYTHING! 2. Dont even attempt it on an old engine unless you have an air compressor and an impact gun or else risk wasting your time and getting a sore elbow; 3. Make sure you have more than enough room to put everything after you take it apart! When I first started the project I thought I would be able to disassemble everything and remember what bolt goes where. <buzzer sounds> Wrong. As I was getting in to it (I guess I was just excited) I realized I wasn't following any of the 3 points above and started to forget where bolts went as I was looking for a place to put things down. Didn't take very long either.

Today I finally finished the disassembly and had some key points to bring up. I think I realized now why my oil always smelled like gasoline. While unbolting the last of 3 of the cyclinder rod bolts the entire piston and rod assembly for each one slid out of the top of the block!! This would obviously mean I had no ring seal on those 3 cylinders. I also noticed when taking off the heads how badly all the valve seals were leaking. Interestingly enough I never had smoke in my exhaust except for maybe a slight puff in the morning when I would start it up. Another interesting note was all the carbon build up on the cylinders. (See below)



For more pics of the engine teardown check out the photos page by clicking here.

After taking it all apart I was seriously surprised that the engine was running as good as it was (I mean up until the day it wouldnt start, which started this whole thing in the first place). I was also very impressed that the engine had lasted so long espcially given its state. It really is impressive that a person can abuse the crap out of these stock engine for so many miles.

UPDATE: When I went to start reassembling the motor about a year later I noticed on some of the bolts where I left oil or grease that it had started (and in some cases succeeded) in eating through the plastic baggys. I recommend using sturdy freezer bags and not the regular sandwich bags if you plan on setting aside your project for some time like me (or even if you dont plan on it). I wish I knew this before because I could have avoided a very sticky, oily mess.

Cervini's Stalker front bumper has arrived! It looks great and has that new part smell :) Tom Dooley who directed the body and prep work said it didnt look like fun. According to him there is alot of mold release agent on all the surfaces which will take a few hours to remove. FYI - For those that dont know what "mold release agent" is -- its the stuff that keeps the finished part from sticking to the sides of the mold when its pressed into shape at the factory.



UPDATE: Tom said it took between 2 and 3 hours just to prep this part for primer.

I decided early on, way before the engine crapped out on me, that I would go for broke and try to do the best I could afford when it came to making a fast semi-carshow worthy car. I say semi-carshow worthy because I knew it would be difficult to try and fit a race turbo kit in a daily-driver car without scratching the crap out of it. The goal of the final product is to have a fast car that I wouldnt mind driving to work on a daily basis and to the dragstrip or road course on the weekends; with an occasional car show here and there. Therefore keeping the whole thing spotless at all times is not too big of a concern (although it would be nice, yet difficult without a garage).

With this is mind I purchased an engine lift and stand and pulled the motor and transmission from the car. Basically everything I could pull off the car to keep it a bare rolling chassis was removed: driveline, interior, dash, A/C, wiring, EVERYTHING. I left a few larger items like window glass and body panels for the body guys.

Which brings me to my next point. My brother knew a guy, Steve, who worked at a local Ford body shop as a painter. He said he could hook me up with a good paint job at a good price. So we agreed and he told me to drop it off at his friend Tom Dooley's place. Tom is a jack of all trades from auto body to animatronics. I dropped it off at Tom's place yesterday and he immediately went to work removing all the larger items I skipped. You can see what it looked like in the photos below right after he sandblasted portions of the body. He also started welding in the holes in the enginebay (sorry for the crappy resolution, they were taken with my camera phone):



For more pics of the Mustang all stripped down to nothing check out the photos page by clicking here.

In addition to getting the body painted I made a few other special requests and parts changes:

Replace the sunroof with a standard Mustang roof

Paint match the roll cage to the AFS Cobra wheels (Argent Silver)

Replace sagging stock front bumper with Cervini's Stalker front bumper

Replace dented stock hood with Cervini's 1.5 inch cowl hood

Replace melted rear bumper with generic rear bumper (removes the "Mustang" indention at bottom)

Replace heavy rear hatch with Cervini lightweight hatch

Fill and smooth in all unused holes in engine bay and paint to match the body

Dont replace any of the original badging (i.e, 5.0 emblem, Ford oval emblem, etc..)
Steve tried to sell me on the idea of smoothing out the door handles but I'm not entirely convinced it would look good. For now there is plenty to keep them busy, and it may take a while to finish but it should be completely worth it in the end.

During this entire process of trying to customize and "rejuvinate" my Mustang I've kept a third eye open for local machine shops that could do the machine work on my block. There are quite a few places in my area, but since Im picky I was only really interested in places which work exclusively (or at least mostly) on Ford engines and performed the work in-house. My thinking is, if I took my business to a place like that, the shop being extremely familiar with my small black Ford, might know of some small performance advantages that other less experienced shops might not know, plus they could easily recognize a problem and how to handle it efficiently. But also having the work performed in-house would place all responsibility for the quality of thier work on them and them alone. Not to mention if you go with a shop that outsources machine work you've just added a few more hands to the pot which potentially raises the overall cost of the work and the potential for problems.

So with the above criteria in hand I went to the first shop closest to my house, Lamotta Performance. They have performed a bunch of work on Mustangs over the years, even being featured in a few magazines tuning cars as they have a dyno. Anyway, I went in and got a quote to do the block work (details on what needs to be done is below) for about $750. Unfortunately, I found out they outsource any machine work to a local machine shop, and since all my work would be machine work I decided to go somewhere else.

A friend of mine had some work done at Powered By Ford in downtown Orlando (www.poweredbyford.com) a few months ago, and I'd heard they had a reputation for quality work, at a high price. I also heard if you didnt know what you were doing when you walked in you could walk out with more than you intended. Sounded to me like they have good shop techs and really good salesman. So I drove down and spoke with Brian about a quote. It came out to about $650 for: boring the block 0.030 over with torque plates, dynamically balance the rotating assembly, checking the block for irregularities and mill if needed, chase threads, install freeze plugs, file fit the piston rings, and assemble the pistons, rods, and crankshaft. On top of that he said they could degree in the cam and install the timing chain for free since its so easy and fast. Plus it would be no problem for me to give them a list of specs to maintain while assembling the engine.

Now I know what your thinking - I said I was going to "...do everything myself without paying a shop to do it for me...". However, when I stated that I knew there would be a few things I knew I would physically and monetarily not be able to do on my own. The first thing - I cannot do things like bore an engine block properly since I dont have the extra $20-40K sitting around to buy the machines I would need. Secondly - I dont have a climate controlled shop to do a clean assembly. Heck, I dont even have a freakin garage, so that ones a no brainer. Lastly (as if the first two werent enough) I dont have the tools or the money to buy them. Plus it doesnt make much sense for me to buy a tool I'm only going to use once or twice. So, perhaps I should revise my initial statement to something like "...do everything myself without borrowing money to invest in the capital required to facilitate machine work on my engine block, unless thats cheaper than having to pay a shop to do it for me..." :)

So long story short, on Monday I dropped off the engine block, rotating assembly (including flywheel) to get the above machining performed. In case your interested, below is the list of clearances and notes the engine assembly followed. I highly recommend using them as they came from a very credible source (Bennett Racing Engines, www.bennettracing.com) as they apply to their Turbo 331 engine assembly:

Piston Deck Height: 0.010 (below deck)

Main and Rod-Bearing Clearance: 0.0027-0.0030

Rod Side Clearance: 0.020-0.025

Crankshaft Thrust: 0.005-0.0055

Piston-to-Bore: 0.0055

Piston-Ring Endgap: 0.025-0.028, top and second

Piston-to-Head (Minimum): 0.040, steel rods; 0.060, aluminum rods

Piston-to-Valve (Minimum): 0.100

Spark Plugs: NGK V-Power (R5671A), 0.030 gap

Rod-Bolt Torque (ARP 3/8 bolts): 55 lb-ft

Head-Bolt Torque (ARP 1/2 bolts): 115 lb-ft, top row; 105 lb-ft, bottom row

I recently ordered a new hood and hatch from Cervini's out of NJ (www.cervinis.com). The stock hood from the factory is pretty heavy plus it had its fair share of dents from when Barry installed the GT-40 intake and spacer. I decided I wanted a little more clearance and went with Cervini's 1.5 inch cowl hood (the stock hood is 0.5 inch) which is made of fiberglass and weighs much less than the stock piece. I also ordered one of Cervini's fiberglass hatch lids to replace the rusted out stock original. The old piece had, in my opinion, a bad design in that the rubber boot which give clearance to remove the GT wing from the hatch comes loose easily allowing water to get inside. Plus the original was so heavy how could you not want to get rid of it. Here is a pic of both parts after I unpacked them:



Not shown is a generic rear bumper I purchased on ebay for $110 shipped! The OEM Ford parts costs approx. $230. The reason for the price difference is the Ford part has the word "Mustang" embossed into the plastic while the generic one I bought does not. I actually prefer the blank setup because I think it gives the car a cleaner line from the back. Had they also sold the side skirts I would have also purchased a set of these without the "Mustang" again because I prefer the cleaner lines.

Along with these major body parts I have also been stockpiling a large number of support pieces, i.e., weatherstripping, light bulbs, new fasteners to replace the corroded ones, etc. Here is a pic showing just a few things:



You'll note the Steeda quatermolding (the triangular shaped parts) against the wall. I actually decided not to use them because they actually cover the molding and protrude too far from the body to look good. You'll also see the new LX tail light lenses to replace the ugly GT style.

This morning at approximately 9:45 while trying to start the car after letting it sit for a few weeks (it was giving me problems the week before) to drive to work I heard an odd poofing noise from the front. It sounded much like a muffled backfire except instead of coming from the exhaust it seemed to come from the engine bay. I wasnt quite sure what it was but continued on only to realize my repeated attempts to start it were in vain. I popped the hood and immediately noticed blue smoke coming from the breather. This happens when I havent run the car for a while so I thought no big deal. I checked the plugs, ignition wires, cap/rotor, I was getting fuel, nothing leaking (at least more than usual). I couldnt figure out the problem, plus I was now 2 hours late for work.

So, with my stroker motor components sitting inside as "backup" and my Irish temper getting the better of me, I made the depressing decision to annouce the death of my engine. There were no crazy explosions, no broken parts flying out of the engine bay, just a funny poof noise, and me using explicitive wording, angry that my engine was on its last legs. I knew this would happen, I just wasnt ready for it to happen now. So after all the drag races, legal and illegal, high speed "tests", countless starts and stops, and general abuse of the motor both by myself and Barry, the odometer read 191,084 miles. Not bad for a factory engine that had the crap beat out of it.

While I was at the Spring Break Shootout two weeks ago there was a rep from the Orlando Speed and Truck world who had a great deal on Corbeau racing seats. They were running a special that was good for up to two weeks after the show and I couldnt pass it up. I bought one and Andrea bought the other as a gift (thanks babe). Here is pic of the model I bought (model TRS) with optional 5 point harness hole in the seat:



They are way better than the stock seats and VERY comfortable. Plus they are about 10 pounds lighter per seat which is always nice. The only down side is that they would be very uncomfortable for someone with a waistline wider than 38 inches. I guess that means I need to watch my weight! For Christmas a few months before Andrea bought me the 3 inch wide 5-point harnesses which also look great:



Im excited to get them in the car ASAP.

I will add all the 5-lug wheel conversion and Baer disc brake upgrades here at a later date.

For now to view the end result of the 5-lug conversion, the new brakes, and the new AFS wheels click here.

Now that I had the block it was time to start looking for that stroker kit. I wont bore you with the search details, but I knew I wanted all forged internals, I wanted a big stroker, i.e. 347, and I wanted it to be relatively inexpensive. I ended up finding a really good 347 stroker kit on JD's Performance website (www.jdsperformance.com) for $1400 to my door. It consists of:

Ford Performance Solutions forged 4340 H Beam rods with ARP fasteners

Ford Performance Solutions forged 4140 nitrated crankshaft

Probe SRS lightwieght 4340 forged dish pistons (4.030")

Clevite bearings

Moly rings

Below is a picture right after they arrived:





I was very impressed that I was able to get it for such a good price. The guy on the phone at JD's said the special was limited to a quantity of 10 for promotion reasons. I was happy to get the nitrated crank, which for those who dont know is a chemical treatment/process that adds a protective layer on the molecular level equivalent to a hardening which also help reduce the coefficient of friction. The only downside is the rings ended up being some garbage chinese stuff which wouldnt have worked in a turbo application anyway (couldnt take the heat)

I dropped by Lamotta Performance a few weeks ago and spoke with Jake Lamotta about some details involving me getting on the dyno. I believe he quoted me $60 for 3 pulls, no more than 30 minutes long, and I would have to scheudle it a week or two in advance.

While I was there I mentioned my big plans and that I still needed to get a block. It just so happened that one of his customers was selling a brand new Ford Racing 5.0L/302 HD "Sportsman" Block, part# M-6010-B50.



He purchased it for $950 from Powered by Ford and didnt need it anymore, and was willing to take a $150 hit! So I called him up and offered him $800 and he accepted. A few days ago I picked it up, and now it sits on my back porch waiting for some friends (you know, pistons, rods, etc...). So begins my unexpected journey into modding the engine.

This is what I started with. I purchased it from the first owner who wanted to move from Mustang to motorcycle. I had worked with him for 3 years prior and occasionaly took a ride or two (drooling the whole way). When I purchased it here were the mods currently installed:

Engine Mods:

GT-40 Upper and lower intake w/ 1' phenolic spacer

BBK headers

H-pipe (no cats)

3 Core aluminum radiator

Edelbrock high flow water pump (no smog pump)

Ford Motorsport 3:55 Rear gears

Fuel pressure regulator and 155 lph High flow fuel pump

K&N Air Filter

Underdrive pulleys

Exterior/Interior Mods:

Saleen stacked wing

Eibach performance springs

Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings (all)

6-point roll cage

5-point harnesses

Hurst shifter

Sub-frame connectors

Autometer Pro-Comp guages

Low profile BF Goodrich tires

After owning the car for a few years I later added:

BBK 65mm throttle body and EGR spacer

C&L 76mm Mass Air and intake tube

PA Performance 3G alternator

To elaborate further on my initial comments on purchasing the Mustang - I want to place all blame on Rick Abt and Barry Payton for getting me into this. Like I said before, Barry used to own the car and drive it to work everyday, consequently making me lust for one. On Fridays Rick used to drive us all to Hooters for lunch in his '87 GT (Didnt know it was possible to get from Lee Road to the Downtown Orlando Parking garage during lunch hour traffic on I-4 in under 5 minutes; thanks for the messy drawers!) One summer I also helped Rick pull the engine and transmission out of his GT to which we later transplanted it back into his newly re-painted pearl white beauty. So when I was able to finally purchase one for myself needless to say the seed had been planted. Without those two guys I would have never made it to where I am today with my car; and I would definetly have more money, less scars, and a better relationship with my fiance but lets not get into that! :)