Unofficial Projects
Project Name: Mean Mr. Mustang
Car: '87 Mustang LX
Timeline: 1987 to July 1992
Goal: Get a street-legal, fully equipped, fuel-injected, stock-compression Mustang into the 11s.
Result: Low 12s
Grade: B
Best Performance: 12.27/110 mph
Biggest mistake: Over-revving the engine.
Best move: Making it a project car.
Mean Mr. Mustang was never officially coined a "project car," but it had all the makings of one, and was one of the first forays into modifying a 5-liter in a magazine. Former MM&FF Editor Steve Collison (RIP) brought the car from the now-defunct Super Stock & Drag Illustrated magazine (where it was a project car) to MM&FF, but abandoned it shortly thereafter. He took the car with him when he quit MM&FF in the Spring of 1993.
Project Name: Cheap Speed
Car: '91 Mustang LX
Timeline: January 2003-October 2003
Former Associate Editor John Hedenburg picked up this clean hatchback after parting with the Bracket Brawler. Looking to avoid the tiresome maintenance that his former car provided, Hedenburg used tried-and-true bolt-on modifications to get the LX into the low 12s, all the while driving it to and from the track.
Project Name: Mr. Whipple The Wundercar
Car: '89 Mustang LX
Timeline: July 1994-December 1994
Goal: Hook up the wife's stock 5-liter with speed parts.
Result: Streetable low 12s
Grade: B
Best Performance: 12.55/110 mph
Biggest mistake: Never getting the car to run its potential in the quarter-mile.
Best move: Kenne Bell supercharger.
This AOD-equipped coupe received several modifications, including trans work and, most notably, one of the first Kenne Bell superchargers. It belonged to John Hunkins' wife, so modifications were kept to a minimum to maintain reliability and driveability.
Project Name: The Tiny Avenger
Car: '79 Mustang Coupe
Timeline: September 1996-December 1997
The Tiny Avenger was one of our first forays into the turbocharged 2.3-liter realm. We swapped an SVO motor into a light-weight Fox notchback and performed a few tweaks to the powerplant to boost power. Tiny Avenger was later survived by the short-lived, one-story Shiny Avenger, an '85 1/2 SVO. Try as we might, we just couldn't dig up a photo of the little coupe.
Project Name: ZX3-GT
Prior to the Red Hot Chili Pepper, Richard Holdener hopped up his '01 two-door Focus and achieved Mustang GT performance from the 2-liter mill thanks to a Jackson Racing supercharger. It eventually went 13.76 at 102 mph, but Holdener later installed a built Sean Hyland short-block and, with 29 pounds of boost, pumped out 514 hp.
Project Name: Procharged Pony
Car: '90 Mustang GT
Timeline: April 2003-Present
Goal: Testbed for various performance parts.
Result: 580 hp street car that still knocks down 19 mpg.
Grade: B
Best Performance: 11.43/124 mph
Biggest mistake: Though the D.S.S. Level 20 stock block won't bat an eyelash at our current power level, an aftermarket block would have allowed us to tinker with boost and other performance-adding parts. Question is, do we need more power in a street car?
Best move: A toss-up between the ATI ProCharger and the Ford Racing four-wheel Cobra R disc brake conversion. Both made hugely noticeable improvements.
Let it be known that this car actually belongs to your author's wife, who has let him modify a perfectly good 5-liter Stang into a high-performance, high-maintenance project car. Yes, your author has pretty much assumed ownership, but the wife still drives it on occasion, at least when it's not laid up for some stupid reason. The '90 GT will burn rubber through the first four gears and pass emissions in New Jersey. Now that we have a sturdy 8.8 beneath it, we need to see how fast the supercharged 331 D.S.S. stroker will go, so stay tuned for more on this ride.