$5000 budget Mustang by Ron S

8 minute(s) of a 178 minute read

Hood is rubbing the hell out of that giant air cleaner. Pulled the hood off tonight, and cut slots in it. Will reshape to fit over the air cleaner, then fiberglass it all back together. Like I've always said, make the body fit the car, not the car fit the body.

The oil tank just won't stop leaking, I guess I'll tig the bung closed , and weld in a second one. What a pain.

5-25-2010

Sadly, this cell phone pic is the only dyno pic I got. Did I mention it made 573 RWHP. LOL

5-30-2010

FINALLY!, got all the oil leak stopped. The oil tank which I got off Ebay,had a hairline crack in it which I could not find, only leaked when it got hot. Was hoping to have the new grill and front bumper made before Motorstate, but it looks like thats not going to happen. This is turning into the one step forward and two steps back project. Ron

6-1-2010

Now that the mechanics seem to be working, I can look at cleaning up some of the appearance stuff. I started fiberglassing the hood back together tonight, hoping to add a little length to the back, and of course some height to the middle. Hope to have it in color by the weekend. Debating on whether to start cutting on the front nose/bumper after the hood, or wait till after Motorstate.

6-5-2010

Made some aluminum panels to keep the road crud off the shiney new engine. Next thing you know this thing will have cup holders. Ron

6-8-2010

Pulled the car in tonight to start the gear swap. My old Dodge Power Wagon had mismatched rears in it,4:10's in the front and 3:54's in the rear, so I pulled the rear gears out to stick in the Mustang. I'll put the 4:10's back in the old Dodge after Motorstate (everything is a project!)

Found the bearing and retainer ring on the Moser axles had moved about 1/16",I guess from the side loads, I think I'll replace them and tack the ring to the axle with the tig.

6-12-2010

Got to cruise the car a bit with the 3:54 gears, really feels alot different. As expected, not near as snappy out of the hole, but way nicer on the big end. Should be better for AutoX and the road courses, don't know if it will help or hurt at the drags.

Really need to start smearing some mud on the hood,haven't touched it since I started fiberglassing it back together. Once again, I'll be still bolting parts on as it goes on the trailer for Motorstate

6-22-2010

You will have to ask Bill for the totals. Out of 80 cars, I made it to the sweet 16 shoot out on the road course, and finished 8th. On the AutoX, I thought I heard I was 6th, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty happy because of my lack of seat time in the car, and the fact that there were some crazy fast stuff there.I did beat Jackass in the AutoX which made me happy,VERY VERY competitive feild.  

My inexperience really held me back. Finch and I were racing at one point, and I quickly found out that driving experience trumps horsepower. I had more Hp then he did, but he carried so much more speed out of the turns that he would just sling shot past me coming out of the turn, I would chase him down on the straights, but he just got further and further away.(Finch can drive). I really don't know what I'm doing, but man was it fun. Ron

Buddy P sent me this,trying to figure how to post his video

7-14-2010

Car is once again sidelined for some braking issues, so I desided to finish the lower grill screen, and build one for the upper. Turned out pretty nice, but I'm not sure if I like it. Still have to paint the hood,and hook up the fuel pressure gauge before next weekend. Ron

I really hate this fiberglass nose,bumper. Fitment is terrible, and it just doesn't look right. I'm thinking of constructing a new one, alittle boxier with an integral splitter. I've got something pictured in my head that I think would improve the front of the car , I'm just way too busy right now to start on it.

Once I get this car outside and gander at it for a while I'll probably paint the grill black. It kind of hard to tell how I will like it until I get it outside. Ron

7-26-2010

What about clear (or colored) plexi screwed over it covering the opening with some hella big driving lights behind it?

Kinda like this but in the center. (it goes with your Vette engine for crying out loud!!)

Got back from VIR about midnight last night, that was a long HOT weekend. Good seeing Mike Holleman, Mark Steilow, and Jake Parrott, and watching there cars scream around that huge track. It was also great seeing Payton, and meeting his two sons Dillon and Hunter and letting them shift my car running back between the room and the paddock(huge facility)

Did 3- 30 minutes sessions Saturday and 3 on Sunday. The Mustang performed flawlessly, man is that a fast track. According to the rpm-speed calculator I was doing somewhere between 145-150 mph along the back straight. The thing was pretty stable at speed, got alittle floaty, but I'm real happy with the car. Can't wait till to get back out there. I bought some pics from one of those photography services, I'll post some as soon as I get the disc. Ron

8-1-2010

Got a chance to scale this car again today. Was wondering how bad the car had gotten with the new dry sump, and all that aluminum work I did in the front. I did replace all the mild steel bars with chromoly,and ditched the front flip hood, which saved 52 lbs. Car weighed in at 3201 lbs. - 3388 lbs. with me in it.

Amazing 50/50 distribution, with me in it.Thinking about moving the battery off the right rear, more to the center of the car, and it would be perfect.
LF-864 lbs. RF-790 lbs.
LR-864 lbs. RR-870 lbs.

8-2-2010

Pics came in today

8-3-2010

Yeah Robert, Mike was joking that the only thing that would make it better would be if his car was in front. I might get this pic blown up.

8-9-2010

Always hated the nose on this car, thought I would try something different. Cobbled this together with cardboard and blue painters tape, figured I would try the most simple first. It would have a splitter attached to the bottom of it. What do you think? seems a little boring to me. I'll try another style tomorrow, need to find one I like, because I will still have to make a mold,then the part out of fiberglass.