It happens to all of us: You are walking down the street or cruising the pits at the local track, and there is always a car that jumps out and grabs your attention. A lot of the times it is not a high-end piece but more of a car that encompasses what you would like to build. The Calypso Green '92 Mustang LX featured on these pages has garnered its fair share of those looks, especially from Russ Wetzler of Automotive Effect (516-779-3251). A customer of this shop was the car's original owner, and Russ had his eye on it for some time. A new job had forced the owner to put the pony up for sale, and Russ was first on the list of potential buyers.
"The car was originally supposed to run EFI-Renegade, but we just wanted to have fun with it," said Russ. When the Mustang rolled into Automotive Effect its list of modifications were fairly simple, but the e.t.s were impressive. At the time the car changed hands it had run 9.86 at 136.1 mph. It may not have been a record-breaking performance, for a Renegade race car, but it was impressive considering the equipment used. The stock electronics were still intact and were aided with an add-on processor and the old-school Ford Motorsport Extender, with only air-fuel adjustment and rev-limiter bypass knobs. It is a crude way of adding fuel and getting past the factory rev limiter when compared to the custom computer chips and computer systems available today, but it's still effective.
Automotive Effect specializes in Mustang performance so the staff at the shop yanked the engine and began modifying the vehicle. With an empty engine compartment they rewired and cleaned everything. The engine took a trip to Merkel Racing Engines to be freshened. The stock block was bored, prepped, and received a DSS main support system for added strength. Merkel attached a set of Eagle rods and JE pistons to the stock crankshaft. To ensure the engine was well lubricated, a Canton windage tray and oil pan was bolted to the bottom of the engine.
While the short-block was getting fortified to hold the supercharged horsepower, the upper half of the engine remained largely unchanged. The low-lash, solid roller camshaft was retained along with the Dart II cylinder heads prepped by Kuntz and Company. The intake manifold is a custom piece that uses a Weiand tunnel ram base and sheetmetal upper. Exhausting the spent gases are Kooks headers and X-pipe with 3-inch Hooker mufflers.
A Vortech S-trim blower was part of the package when Russ purchased the machine, but he wanted more power so the head unit was boxed up and shipped out to Vortech where its bearings were upgraded, a new impeller was installed, and a new tag with the title "T-trim" was riveted to the housing. Russ then selected a cog belt system that spins the blower hard enough to produce 18 psi of boost. Since the engine was being fed massive amounts of air, they then had to pay attention to the computer and fuel systems in order to feed the near-700 horsepower. To address the computer system deficiencies, an ACCEL Digital Fuel Injection (DFI) was installed. A Weldon fuel pump feeds the engine while the DFI system has total control over the duty cycle of the 72-pound injectors. Job Spetter of Turbo People in Hastings, New York, is responsible for tuning the batch fire DFI system.
To handle the high torque of the supercharged engine, a Freddy Brown Powerglide along with a 9-inch Continental torque converter were chosen for their durability and performance. The power is sent to the rearend housing by way of a Driveshaft Shop steel driveshaft. The rearend was filled with 4.10 gears, Moser axles, and a Mark Williams spool.
"One of the nicest parts about the car is the 10-point rollcage that Nicky and Chris at Montana Brothers Race Cars installed," commented Russ. Of course, it carries an NHRA certification so the LX can legally take trips down the quarter-mile that are 9.99 seconds or quicker. The front suspension remains mostly stock except for the addition of Eibach springs and Lakewood 90/10 struts. Out back, Wolfe Racecraft upper and lower control arms were installed along with Competition Engineering adjustable rear shocks and Eibach springs. The car rolls on a set of Weld Draglite wheels that have been wrapped with Mickey Thompson slicks in the back and a set of radial tires for the front. The car had run a best e.t. of 9.86 before Russ and Automotive Effect upgraded many of the components. The goal with the LX was to have Spetter finish tuning the DFI system to run mid-9s, but those plans have changed. The car was recently put up for sale so Russ can focus on another project: a modular-powered '91 Mustang LX coupe. You see, he has many different toys and only a limited amount of time to tinker with them. Owning Automotive Effect and having a family at home takes up most of Russ's day. He plans on spending his free time with the '91 LX and running at Ford-only races. The same theories he used with the '92 LX will be applied to his new Mod Motor racer: Build it fast, build it clean, and have fun--after all that's what this hobby is all about.