2007 Mustang GT - Fountain Of Rebellious Youth

With 836 RWHP, Tim Crotty Relives His Rebellious Younger Years With One Of The Most Powerful '07 GTs We've Ever Seen.

From the March, 2010 issue of Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords

By Pete Epple

Photography by Kevin DiOssi

Parents play a significant role in shaping the lives of their children. Teenage angst and rebellion against parental control is a normal stage in the emotional development of most young people, and for Tim Crotty, this rebellion led him down a road of fun and fast cars.

Growing up in the '60s, Tim loved hot rods with big power, and the car that started it all for him was a '66 427ci, 425hp Corvette convertible. The muscle-car movement was in its heyday, and American youth was in love with the hot-rod culture.

As for the rebellious part, well, it all started with a haircut.

"When I was a kid, I had long hair," Tim explains. "My mother hated it. So she made a deal with me. All I had to do was get a haircut, and I could get whatever car I wanted. I got my Corvette, and I was hooked!"

Over the years, Tim's love for fast cars has only gotten stronger. Having owned a variety of iron from Mustangs and Corvettes to Porsches, he always came back to the Mustang. Tim's newest machine is this '07 Mustang GT that's been fortified with a slew of Shelby hardware. It embodies the classic hot-rodder character and rebellious spirit that Tims's '66 Corvette possessed back in the day.

"A friend had just bought a twin-turbo Porsche for about $130,000," Tim said. "While we were talking about it, I started laughing and told him I'd build a little Mustang and whup him for half of what he spent." After that conversation, Tim's search for a Pony began. "I have a few friends in the car business," Tim explained, "I knew I wanted a white convertible with a black top. A good friend told me about Arizona Shelby Cobras in Wickenburg, Arizona, so I gave them a call. Richard Creel helped me find a car, and took care of the financing and the post-title Shelby performance package. Before I took delivery, Shelby did the suspension and engine work, including a Roush supercharger."

Tim instantly fell in love, but in typical hot-rodder fashion, eventually there wasn't enough power to satisfy his needs. Back in his home state of Florida, his heavy right foot led him to Blow-By Racing (BBR) in Boca Raton, where Chris Jones worked his magic on the Three-Valve. "When Tim brought the car to us it made 372 rwhp," Jones tells us. "We changed the supercharger pulley and it responded well." With a smaller pulley, Tim's mod mill laid down 427 rwhp on BBR's Dynojet. Though Tim got the fix for his power addiction, the itch would soon be worse than before.

"When I got the car back from BBR, it was a lot of fun, but it just didn't blow my skirt up," Tim jokingly stated. "I had become pretty friendly with guys at Blow-By, and I asked them what we could do to make my Stang something really special." With the bar set high, the BBR crew set out to design and build a motor that would blow his mind.

The BBR engine started with a Kellogg crankshaft sporting a 3.75-inch stroke and Manley rods to raise and lower the CP pistons that fill the 3.575-inch bores, bringing the total displacement to 301 cubes. The bottom end is held together with ARP fasteners, and a Moroso oil pan holds enough lubricant to feed the stock oil pump.

Next Jones bolted on a set of BBR's Stage 3 ported Three-Valve cylinder heads. Post-CNC machining, BBR's Stage 3 heads flow 292 cfm at 0.600-inch lift, a healthy improvement over the stock 224-cfm flow numbers from the factory. When all is said and done, the combination produces a boost-friendly 8.8:1 compression. BBR's Stage 2 camshafts manipulate the stock-size Manley valves, which allow the air/fuel mixture in and exhaust gasses out. Once combustion is complete, gasses exit via American Racing Headers 1 3/4-inch long-tube headers and X-style mid-pipe. Thanks to a 21/2-inch Magnaflow axle-back system, Tim's convertible has that powerful Mustang tone.