Finding a super-clean, unmodified Fox-body is becoming increasingly difficult.
In February of 2009, John Jazdzyk of Spring Lake, Michigan, found this ’89 GT in near-stock form with only 57,000 miles on the clock and knew he had found his Pony.
When John took his red and silver GT home, the buildsheet read nearly the same way it did from the factory. And with almost all of the stock components in place, John had a great base for his new project.
"My car was virtually stock with 57,000 miles on it when I bought it," John explains. "Clean, original, stock Fox-bodies are getting hard to find, and when I started the build, it was very important to me not to cut the car up in case I wanted to return it to stock."
A slew of stock components still reside underhood, along with a select few performance upgrades. The most significant is the 2.2L Kenne Bell Twin-Screw supercharger. This unique forced-induction system features an air-to-air intercooler to keep the temperature of the intake air under control.
This intercooler system is not an option from Kenne Bell, but knowing that cooler incoming air would make more power, John designed and fabricated a custom air-to-air intercooler setup. He started by cutting off the discharge tube on the driver’s side of the supercharger. A reshaped 3-inch tube fit perfectly with the Kenne Bell discharge tube, and from there, John routed the custom piping to the intercooler.
"I decided to go with the Kenne Bell because I haven’t seen too many people running them. I wanted something different," John tells us. "The cool thing about the Kenne Bell setup is that I only had to drill two small holes in the K-member to make everything work. Everything else fit perfectly without a lot of cutting."
John’s Twin-Screw supercharger feeds 10 psi of boost through the air-to-air intercooler. The air charge is metered by a C&L 76mm MAF, and a 70mm BBK throttle body handles the task of introducing the incoming air to the stock 5.0L. Once the combustion process inside the E7 cylinder heads in complete, exhaust gasses escape through a set of MAC headers. Pressure in each tube is equalized in the H-style midpipe, and a set of Flowmaster mufflers give John’s Fox that classic Mustang growl.
Once the Kenne Bell was installed, the car was tuned at Baker Engineering in Nunica, Michigan, and laid down 359 rwhp with a tire-shredding 412 lb-ft or torque to get this Pony moving in a hurry.
"The car was amazing after the Kenne Bell setup went on," John adds. "The power comes on very fast, which makes it a blast to drive. Before I put a set of drag radials on the back, the first two gears were useless, and Third was sketchy at best!"
Behind the powerplant sits a stock clutch, which transfers power to a T5 five-speed gearbox. Gear selection is handled with the help of an MGW short-throw shifter. Power is transferred to the rearend via the stock driveshaft, and 3.55 gears turn the stock axles. John’s GT rolls on a set of Cobra R replica wheels wrapped in Kumho and Nitto rubber.
"The car starts and drives like it came off the lot in 1989," John says. "It handles and drives like a brand-new car. It took a while for the smile on my face to wear off after I drove the car with the Kenne Bell for the first time. The best part is the sound! It’s very addicting."
With a perfect blend of power and stock driveability, John’s low-mileage Fox packs some serious punch to go along with its classic good looks.