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| A Testament to
Ford’s Ponycars By AdPix.Biz Forty years ago the Ford Motor Company decided to get wild. They put a very capable, large horsepower motor, in a small car. This has been done before, but it was still a bit unique – other high-horsepower hot rods of the day were generally quite large. In case anyone did not quite get the message, Ford named it the Mustang. “Mustang” is defined as “The half-wild horse of the plains... It is small, hardy, and easily sustained.” Other definitions include “belonging to the grazers, strayed, wild…” (Webster’s). A British dictionary says Mustang is “an American wild horse.” The American Heritage Dictionary adds (going back to the Spanish root of the word): “stray animal” and “mixed” or “assorted animal.” Its roots leads to “half-breed” and “wild brew” – yet hearty and flexible. Since that introduction at the 1964-65 World's Fair in Queens, New York, Ford has sold over 8 million of the little mix-breeds, precisely because they are mixed – mixed with wild, half-breed genes to produce tremendous potential, like this little biddy – a 750 horsepower race car, that is still “small, hardy, and easily sustained.” The original Mustang was designed to be simple and inexpensive. It was based on the proven Ford Falcon (it basically was a Falcon by many criteria), with Ferrari styling cues (Ford was still smarting from Enzo’s snub) and was priced about the same as a VW Beetle. Financial Father Lee Iacocca teamed with Carroll Shelby to make it into a Corvette-beater. Within three years, over one million had been sold. The Mustang had the American sports car segment successfully corralled. Then GM introduced the Firebird and Camaro, Dodge their Challenger and Plymouth their Barracuda – even AMC entered the Javelin. Ford pumped more and more horsepower into their Mustang, but made it larger and more expensive, and at the expense of handling. By 1973, the Mustang was about to be graciously put to pasture. Fortunately Ford went back to their original breeding formula and turned Mustang around, coming out with smaller, simpler cars just in time for the fuel crunch. Mustangs became the economy sport option (built similar to the Pinto by then), selling nearly as many then as they had originally. Performance suffered – their V8 was rated at 139 hp. But it was still an outstanding platform for hot-rodding and racing, and sold well enough that Ford was able to slowly add more sophisticated suspension and drive train components, and then raise the horsepower through the ‘80’s. But by the end of that decade, it was nearly killed again, this time by a business decision to make it more like a homogenized front-drive Mazda. 30,000 fan letters poured in, and the new car became instead a Probe – the Mustang was saved. |
The introduction of
the 4th
generation, in 1994, was another successful re-birth,
building on
themes of performance and a stable platform. Ford has
learned its
lesson with their 5th generation, due in 2005,
represented by the 400
hp 3-valve per cylinder supercharged 4.6 liter Mustang
GT. The 4th generation car featured here is a great example of what makes Mustangs so popular, and why “Mustang” is an appropriate moniker. It provided a simple, reliable foundation onto which was grafted or bred sufficient wild stock so that it now easily sports 750 horsepower and serves as a sold racing foundation. The motor’s displacement was increased by being bored out, and its double overhead cams were custom ground for racing. The new, larger, displacement is packed tight with a Procharger 1,300 hp F1 intercooled supercharger – basically the biggest one they could get for this car, and already set up for the next jump – this next time to 1,100 horsepower. The Procharger uses CNC machining and 7075 T-6 aircraft-quality aluminum impellers and produces less heat than others. The air-to-air intercooler replaced the Ford factory’s standard pull, which had to suck warm air in, and it lowers the temperature while maintaining high volume. More air needs more fuel, so Steeda fuel rails were added – these can tunnel fuel fast enough to support over 1,000 hp. Also helping are three fuel pumps utilizing braided lines. More air and more fuel require a larger radiator, so the largest one that would fit was installed, natch. Some would stop here. But that would be like merely exercising your pony’s cannons. This car also has a knife-edged crankshaft (a lighter crankshaft spins more easily, and the knife-edges have less resistance as they pass through the oil), and ported and polished heads, intake and exhaust ports (less resistance to the air – remember an engine is really an air pump), and in the process it was of course blueprinted (by which they removed any manufacturing excess, again clearing the way for much higher volumes of air) and balanced (weighing each reciprocating component, especially valves and rods, to keep them all within grams of each other). The balanced H-beam rods and pistons are forged, lighter, stronger, and ready for the extra horsepower. They’re also nitrous-safe. The extra fuel is pumped in by three pumps, inflated by cooled air blown into the increased chambers, and exhausted through custom full-length tube headers with dual 4” exhausts and with turned-down race mufflers (race fans recognize this as an accommodation to pit crews to allow faster changes). The stock Ford computer was not designed for this kind of overwhelming increase, so LAExtreme (LAExtremecustoms.com) finished the package by custom programming the ignition – it now has a drag racing “program”, a high-speed highway “program”, an “every day program”, and a valet program called “Honest Officer – It’s Just a Pretty Paintjob!” |
Nor
was
the transmission and clutch ready for 750 hp, so a Tremec
TKO
5-speed was added, and the rear end is now solid, with an
Auburn locker
(that keeps both rear wheels together for ultimate
traction), topped
off by a short shifter. A racing Kevlar clutch is used
(soon to be a
dual-friction type), with an aluminum lightened flywheel
and aluminum
drive-shaft as well – to help gas mileage. Not really. The bodywork is from Saleen, with a custom TDC hood and functional rear brake ducts, all covered in $8,000 of PPG steel blue chameleon paint, applied in a multi-step-process starting with a silver base coat. It can look purple, blue, copper, raspberry… The under girding was next – fortunately Steeda makes a Stage 3 competition kit with the right anti-sway bar, drop links, and bushings already matched, as well as the more complex stuff such as frame connection strut braces and sub-frame connectors (necessary since Ford used an independent solid frame rear end). Brembo performance rotors and competition pads behind 18 x 9 and 11 inch HRE lightweight wheels stop all of this new power. Steeda also supplied the racing cage; Sparco supplied Evo 2 racing seats, 4-point belts and the steering wheel, with a line lock button (that lets the driver lock only the front brakes so that he can warm up the rear tires). While inside, note the radio, windshield wipers, rear seats, and much of the carpeting was removed, along with basically anything not necessary to go faster. The battery was relocated to the trunk and Auto Meter Ultra-Lite gauges monitor the monster. If this sounds like they are building a race car here, you are right. It even has a sponsor – Luxor Management, and has everything but numbers on the door and a fuel cell (which may be next!). And that is the point with Ford’s Mustang – a fun little mixed-breed wild pony that can be so easily sustained. |