Drew Wallace's '94 GT Gets The Job Done Without The Aid Of Performance Enhancers.
writer: Frank H. Cicerale
photographer: Zane Terry
Anyone who tunes into ESPN's Sports Center and pays attention to the baseball reports knows the controversy surrounding Major League Baseball today. With home-run kings such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and others rumored to have been taking performance enhancers to jack the ball out of the park, MLB is screening its players for steroids like never before.
While performance enhancers aren't allowed in stick-and-ball sports, one arena in which it's allowed-in certain classes-is automobile racing. Be it drag racing, road racing, or rally competition, you can, in many cases, throw on a turbo, blower, or even nitrous oxide.
Using a power adder can give you more horsepower and torque than some of the best big-blocks of the past, and you can do so with a stock-type small-block engine such as a 302 or 4.6 modular engine. Today, those running naturally aspirated are perhaps a step behind in overall power, but there is a certain simplicity to running naturally aspirated and also satisfaction when you combine the right parts to make big power. Case in point is Drew Wallace.
Drew picked up his '94 Mustang GT in 2001 with the goal of running in the 10-second zone. While getting into the 10s is easy nowadays with a power adder, Drew wanted to do it a different way-au naturel. "I've always loved racing," Drew says. "After I got my driver's license, it seemed like Mustangs were the only way to go."
A dyed-in-the-wool Ford guy, there was no question as to what car Drew would get when he was able to tear up the streets around his Cameron Park, California, home. "My first car was a '66 coupe that I attempted to restore until I was 18," he says. "I needed something more reliable, so I bought the '94 GT." The bone-stock SN-95 had only 78,000 miles on the odometer. While the mileage was low, Drew felt the power was a bit low as well. That was when he decided to bulk up the Mustang's muscles the old-fashioned way.
Drew enlisted the help of Advanced Engine Development to drop a powerhouse bullet between the fenders. The stock 302ci pushrod engine was yanked out and torn down. The cylinders were then bored 0.030-inch over, and an Eagle stroker crank was dropped in the main web of the block. Take the increased stroke, combine it with the oversized bores, and you get a newfound displacement of 347 inches. Swinging on the crank journals are Eagle SIR connecting rods, while slip-sliding away in the cylinders are custom CP pistons. A billet-steel lower-end support keeps the main caps from walking, while a Milodon oil pan and stock oil pump ensure that the stroker small-block Ford is lubricated with motor oil.
A custom Hi-Tech roller camshaft was stuck in, followed by the short-block being topped with a pair of Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum cylinder heads. The slick Vics are dressed with 2.02-inch intake and 1.60-inch exhaust valves. Keeping the valves out of float are Comp Cams 917 springs, while opening and closing them are a set of Comp 1.73-ratio rockers. With Edelbrock getting the call to supply the heads, it was only natural that Vic got the nod in the intake department as well. The manifold of choice was the Victor 5.0. Before the intake was placed between the heads, the upper portion was thoroughly ported while the lower was smoothed and port-matched. Completing the induction portion of the power-plant is an Accufab 80mm throttle body. Matching fuel to the air count is a Pro-M fuel meter com-plemented with a 255-lph in-tank pump and a Kirban regulator supplying 40 psi of fuel pressure to the 42-pound injectors. Lighting the fire is a Crane HI-6 ignition box linked to Taylor plug wires and NGK plugs.