Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

[fast Ed]

Well, it's been a while since I posted any updates on this project, mostly because not much had happened with it (other than a bit more parts collecting) until today. Fortunately the chiropractor visits seem to have straightened whatever inflammed muscles were pinching on my sciatic nerve.

My buddy of 30 years, and assistant in almost everything automotive I've done in that time, Stu K., came by today for a visit. I had ordered in some parts for his 64 Merc, and he hadn't seen the Mustang in person yet. So I coerced him to stop by and turn some wrenches for a few hours while he was here to pick up the Merc parts.

I wanted to get the rear axle, exhaust, fuel tank, and front seats out of the car today. Earlier in the week I had started to unbolt the axle to control arm attachment points, but couldn't get the suspension in a position to fully remove the hardware. Having an extra pair of hands (and some more jack stands) made it much easier to get it all taken apart.

Forgot to bring the camera down to the shop until we already had most of the stuff removed, but these shots will give some idea of the progress we made.

Rear axle assembly out on the floor, nice clean housing to work with. It will be getting early SN95 5-lug axles (the extra length will work nicely with the 8" Saleen wheels), as well as 3.27 gears, and a Torsen diff.



The car had some cheapie Flowmaster knockoffs hanging underneath, I'm not a fan of the sound of those mufflers really. I will be replacing them with Walker Dynomax Super Turbos instead. That's what I had on my old 87, and I always loved the sound of them behind a 5.0L Ford. As well they were the mufflers of choice for the Fox Saleens. One of the techs at the dealership just bought a Fox 5.0L that happens to be missing its tailpipes, so these will do nicely for him:



Once the exhaust and diff were out, it was short work to remove the fuel tank. Because the car is so clean underneath, the straps and hardware are in very nice shape, and a quick hit with the impact gun zoomed out the bolts. Tank looks good, I am going to send it out for cleaning, since the fuel has been sitting in it for several years, and I have a Walbro 190 pump to go in too.



A few shots underneath the car, Stu was astonished at how clean and solid the undercarriage is. Of course we are used to working on crusty shite that has experienced the road salt of Ontario winters, something which must have never happened to this car.







Front seats removed, I've made a deal with Tom, the cousin of the previous owner, who helped me get the car out his aunt's backyard, to trade the seats for a T-5 bellhousing and block separator plate.



We found the original ownership warranty card in amongst the crap and loose change on the floor, after removing the seats:



Stu had a good used T-5 manual trans taking up space in his storage shed, so he brought that along today, along with a grey console to put in place of the original porno red unit.





The drum brakes appeared to have pretty freshly installed shoes and drums, so Stu salvaged all that along with the minty e-brake cables for a Mustang project of his own (a bastard 67 notch with a Fox rear clip grafted in). Got to use the set of brake spring pliers that have been banging around in the bottom of my toolbox for 20-odd years. LOL



After we were done for the day, I realized that the back of the shop was a mess with all of the stuff I had for the Mustang, as well as just getting the engine back for my 67 Beetle ... you can see it on a stand to the left of the 302 shortblock:



Back in the late 80s, as far as I know the only caster plates on the market at that point were the original style Global West units. I remember them being something like $270 at the time, so for my old 87 we took some onion-head mounts and grafted them on to fabricated slotted plates. However these days GW doesn't have much demand for the old style plates any more, so they have them on clearout for $115 on their site ... I couldn't resist ordering a pair, which they were nice enough to send by postal service so that I wouldn't get boned on customs and brokerage fees, as would happen if they were sent by UPS. SHINY!!



So that's pretty much it, once the front crossmember and suspension is out of the car, that will be it for the disassembly phase ... it will be time to start bolting the cool stuff on!

It was great to make some progress today after the last several weeks of inactivity. A big thanks to my buddy Stu for turning wrenches today, he has always been a "git-er-done" guy.


cheers
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

Well, it's certainly not that painful, so no drastic measures yet.

I'll just have to take it easy for the next few weeks, see how it goes. Spent most of the past weekend either laying out flat, or standing up. When I sit for any length of time, the discomfort is worse when I get back up. I'm sure that lifting the pair of complete doors out of the work truck that I bought on the weekend didn't help either ($100 for a pair of mint LX power doors, so I won't have to worry about window winder interference once I get the cage in with multiple door bars).

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far, except for the last one. LOL


cheers
Ed N.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Dad had something that hung on a door with weights on end of the rope, pulleys then strap around chin and back on head. Said it saved him.

hanging oneself would end the pain, don't know about whether or not the dead can tell about it afterwards - however, that kind of pain does give one thoughts like that

[Russell]

Dad had something that hung on a door with weights on end of the rope, pulleys then strap around chin and back on head. Said it saved him.

[STINEY]

Ever try an inversion table thingy? You know the ones you strap your ankles into and then flip yourself upside down in?

I was staring down the barrel at back surgery, was being immobilized about every 3-4 months, and the chiropractor was no longer effective. My wife bought me an inversion thing, and I haven't had any trouble for 3 years now. Only cost her $130, WELL worth it in my case.

Hope you get straightened out soon, back pain bites!

[fast Ed]

Not much to report for an update, last few weeks have been busy with work and getting my SHO ready for the spring track days. Spent 3 days out at Mosport last week instructing for the local BMW club chapter, good bunch of people. Had an awesome wet seesion after lunch on Sunday, passed several of the other instructors including one piloting a 911 GT3, that was good for a chuckle. Unfortunately 3 days seems to be at least 1 day more than I can handle as I pass my 45th birthday, looks like I managed to pinch my sciatic nerve on the left side ... D'OH!!

Have collected a few more bits and pieces for the project, including a pair of the original style Global West caster plates, but no real progress on the car. Going to check in with a doctor this week to see what he recommends for treatment, besides anti-inflammatories and stretching.


cheers
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Yup, there are some good deals to be had, between the local Mustang guys in the Toronto area, who are a pretty good group, and stuff on the Corral and Corner-Carvers. Lots of pushrod stuff around for cheap, just have to snap it up when it comes available.


cheers
Ed N.

[mustang13]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Ed, it looks like you've had a score-aroma since the last I read here, sweet!

I've been thinking about a "dead pedal" for the Pace car but, may go the homemade root. I've had good luck with the Wilwood proportioning valve I'm using, and love having it right under my right hand. Now I just need some rear calipers with more ass.

The stock cam/1.7 rocker setup should make a nice power arc for what your going to do with the car, IMO. We had a couple cars in my group of friends that ran "just" 1.7 rockers, an EFI intake spacer, a small crank pulley and full drop headers, what a good package for balanced power.

[Tom Slick]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

I have a water pump the same color as that damper... it came off a ... not a ford. :P :P

Good call on the block. I'm going to see about soldering a cutter to a valve today maybe if I can stay away from the refridgerator and seeing if a dewalt will make my reliefs for me on the 86 pistons. 8)

I spent this morning looking for a square fox (fairmont like) that I want to give the old school parts to and see what kind of daily it turns up as. All the old pushrod sbf stuff and fox parts are getting dirt cheap, I want to stock up before they all go away. You guys are motivating me to get more serious about it. I found an '87 Turbo Tbird that I left a message on, maybe that would be what I want. Or maybe a Pinto. Dammit. Thanks guys. ;D

[1trickpony]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Old FMS stuff is cool. It seems like a lot of people are getting rid of the stuff they "collected" lately.

[fast Ed]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Russell, I think that one of the guys at the dealership wants to grab it for his brother's 5.0. If that doesn't happen, I would consider shipping it. Generally they seem to go for $100 - $125 I've seen, depending on age and condition. Once I get it removed I'll have a better idea. When they were still in the FRPP book, they were listed as being a good blower cam, but lots of guys used them NA as well. You would need some big heads and high-flow EFI or a good carb intake to take advantage of it though.


cheers
Ed N.

[Russell]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Good deal! How much for the F cam? Maybe I should collect the hole alphabet?

[fast Ed]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

Was busy this week with work stuff, and getting my crapper Taurus SHO ready to participate at the Solo I instructor school on Saturday, so no further progress on the car itself. But I did make a decision with regard to the engine to move things forward.

An acquaintance from the local Mustang club was selling a clean 87-92 style OEM forged piston shortblock that had an F303 cam swapped in for what I thought was a reasonable price, $400. The big F cam won't be of use to me, since peak HP is around 6,000, I won't have the heads, intake system, or gear ratio to support that. So the plan is to pull the F303 cam and resell it, recoup some of the money spent for the shortblock, and replace it with the stock cam from the engine that came with the car. Then I can bolt on the cleaned up E7TE heads and 1.72 FMS rockers with no P-V clearance issues, and keep the 86 engine as a complete, known good runner in case a backup is needed temporarily at some point to keep the car going.

Repainting the balancer will definitely be on the "to do" list, looks like a fairly new water pump on it as well:



Nice clean guts:



The seller even threw in an almost new stand from Princess Auto, which is sort of a Canadian version of Harbor Freight, and my 67 Beetle in the background:



Tomorrow hopefully I can get back at it, give the new stove a good looking over to prepare to bolt things together to make a complete runner. Still have to finish taking parts I want to keep off my first SHO and get that car hauled away, I don't want to have too many cars hanging around when my landlord returns from wintering in Florida a few weeks from now. :rolleyes:

Also got a few more "old school" acquisitions this week. First one was from a person on the Corral, a nice brand new in the box FMS adjustable brake prop. valve, the old cast body Kelsey-Hayes M-2328-A unit that was included with the older FMS disc brake kits. Actually got a used one from a guy on Corner-Carvers as well, and then a few days later the brand new one was offered, so I jumped on it too, $40 shipped. This will look much better to suit the theme of the car underhood than a newer billet block prop. valve would:





The other item I got, from a friend who is a service engineer at Ford of Canada (Oakville Ontario head office), was another old FMS piece new in the package, the M-61120-A dead pedal footrest kit. I could probably have found a stock one out of a later Fox, but this is cool to have, and was $20. He even had the invoice from 1996 when he bought it from a now defunct Toronto Ford dealer for $23. Told him that something else would have been a wiser investment. LOL



I'll post up some more as the engine starts going together.


cheers
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

I was looking for the .080 (i) to .100 (e) typical for a 6000 redline with stock rods, so I put the both a 40p and an e7 on my E6 lower end without a head gasket to get an idea since I'm wanting to use a ~.550 / 224* or so cam (whatever a XE274 comp is). Wham - even with the stock cam. I figured it should clear since the gasket is maybe .041-.045 ... this is a real zero deck block though, so I guess that would be close to .015 or so with an uncut deck (depending on stackup , I know, but most of them I've looked at are about around .015 or so in the hole stock.

Isky had a tool they would rent for modding the reliefs, but I'm bad about returning rental tools so I thought maybe I'd have a go at making a tool for it.

I've always had a bit of visual issue with how the closing event impacts this. I tend to worry more about the later closing event on the intake than the lift, but since I was goofing around with spares anyway, I went ahead with rolling it over. The head wasn't super tight so it would have lifted it before breaking anything. I watched the lifter plunger compress maybe .010 or so before it finished. It may just be my junk - the E7's have never been decked to my knowlege - it was completely stock when I pulled it down years ago. I can't speak to the 40p's.

Unless my math is screwed (and it's possilbe, I get ate up by dumbass every now and then) the intake would be at best .030 with a felpro gasket, maybe .045 or so with an uncut deck. It's just a bit tighter than I'm comfortable with.

Tom, thanks for the numbers, that helps. Mine will be seeing 5,600 or 5,700 tops, and that will only be on the long back straight at Mosport, where otherwise I would have to shift in to 5th for a short time. Everywhere else on track I would be shifting at around 5,200, since the engine wouldn't be pulling strong past that rpm anyway.


thanks,
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

Re: Starting a new project, 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car

They cheat like hell out here in Vintage racing. My hat is off to you for playing within the rules. Good show!

For me, a lot of not wanting to go with a cheater stroker engine is the cost ... I hope to have about $5K in to the car (before a cage), so spending $3K on an engine doesn't cut it. My old 87 that I used to race was the most fun and most reliable when it had a mild engine and suspension combo.

With the VARAC G70+ category that I would be running in, it's not as much of a big deal anyway ... they have time brackets for cars of similar lap times to race against each other, since there is such a wide collection of different car types, from Showroom Stock to IMSA GT cars ... the only proviso is that they have to be from 1973 - 1989, and prepared to a specific series rule book from the correct time period ... you can't pick some of the rules from one series, and then some more favourable rules from another, on the same car prep.

As far as the rest of the VARAC classes go for the earlier cars that are true historic or vintage racers, I can't speak to how much cheating is going on. But I do know that they strongly encourage the sportsmanship aspect of it more than anything. They are having a test day at Mosport in a few weeks, I am going to take the day off work to attend as a spectator, and meet some of the people and check out the cars.


cheers
Ed N.