Early in the summer of 1986 I was riding my bike through a Fullerton California neighborhood with a friend of mine, not far from his house when a rough looking, but reasonably straight '67 Mustang with a small for sale sign in the front window caught my eye.  I rode up to the house and we walked up to the front door to take a look.  An older man came to the door and I told him that I was interested in the car.  I asked him if it ran and if I could take a closer look.  He started in with: "Run? This car flat hauls ass" and continued to explain how how much of a creampuff this car was.  The way he was describing it, would lead some to believe that this car was the best thing since sliced bread.  So out to the car we went.  The car ran... well, I would say just reasonable.  It had a tired old 289 that had supposedly been 'rebuilt' a mere 20,000 miles ago.  Sitting on top of that 289 was a leaky old Holley 4bbl carb.  The car did have headers on it, you could see daylight through them!  Anyway, I looked the car over and the paint was horrendous, but the body was very straight.  The interior was very nice, albeit very dirty. The tires were completely shot on the car. Well, it was time to pop the big Q: "How much do you want?"  His eyes rolled skyward he paused and then responded "Seventeenfifty."  I gasped, not because it was a bad price, but because it was essentially out of my budget.  I knew that what I really wanted was a Mustang, but I was a high school kid (La Mirada High School) and only had meager-paying art time job.  We rode off on our bikes, I thinking of one thing and one thing only, that Mustang! I knew that The Bank Of Dad would not sign off on this one so I had to come up with a plan.  Luckily, our next door neighbor owned a small general contracting business, so I began my 'apprenticeship' working in construction.  I asked him if he could use some help this summer and he told me that he was working on a project that would last a couple months and that he could use the extra help.  Deal, I agreed to work for him.  The days were long, and we would arrive at the job site before dawn and left after dusk.  We were tearing out a hardwood floor in a gymnasium to convert it into a bank.  The work was dusty and hard and after a couple months I rode with a friend of mine over to Fullerton with $1,500 in my back pocket.  I went up to the door and asked the man if I could look at the car again.  He came out, only this time with someone that appeared to be his son, hmmm...  We looked at the car again, fired it up and tested it out.  Now it was time for the big moment, shakily I uttered "will you take fifteen hundred?" He rocks back on his heels and says "Son, this car's a classic".  I figured I was all through and that I should start pedaling now.  Then finally those words "OK."  Crap! I have just spent the most money I have ever held in my life! My mind began racing and I began to question whether I really could afford to own a car.  At some point I had to tell Dad, and I was not looking forward to that.  I can hear the lectures already....  "You are going to have to pay for your own gas, insurance, maintenance, insurance, tires, insurance, registration,  insurance...."  I decided that this matter would best be handled in person so homeward I pedaled.  "Dad, I bought a car." "What? You know that you are going to have to pay for gas, insurance, maintenance, insurance, tires, insurance, registration,  insurance...."  "Dad, I'll find a way, no problem."  So off we went to go pick up the car, this was a very good sign. Dad decided that it would be best if he drove it home, but since I only had my learner's permit at the time, I got to drive his truck home with Mom. Whoo hoo!  Even though I didn't get the 'first drive' I was pretty excited to have a car of my own. In fact I was a little too excited.  While pulling into our driveway, I crashed in to the left rear corner of my Mom's car, caving in the bed of my Dad's two year old F150 almost two feet! D'OH!  Needless to say, I didn't gain any points that day.  The car sat for the next eight months until I: #1 - Turned 18 years old (that was Dad's policy) and #2 - Saved enough money for insurance!  I can still see the odometer reading '83125' burned into my mind, for what seemed like an eternity.  During this time, I polished, waxed (don't really know why) cleaned, detailed and drove it back and forth in the driveway, never of course taking it out on to the street.  Well, that's what they thought!  Yes, after a while, I would sneak the car out for an occasional cruise around the block.  Over the many years that I have owned the car it has been fun drive and fun to improve upon.  The car has gone through many changes and I am glad that I have kept the car as long as I have enjoy it and to make it the way that I want it! 

 Here are the most recent projects I have been working on with the car.

Here is a view of my clutch cable setup from the engine compartment side. You can see the custom made bracket and strengthening strut that attaches to the shock tower brace with a heim joint.  I had to add this because the firewall was too weak to handle the forces the cable exerted.
This is a view of the inside of the car.  You can see the shifter, and the new clutch pedal from the transmission swap.  I plan to add a Hurst chrome stick to make the shifter easier to reach.  It is a little bit of a reach right now.
Here is a straight on view of the new instrument cluster with all of the new gauges mounted.  If you look real closely, you can see my voltage/AFR meter display where the brake warning light would normally be.
Here are the completed seats.  The biggest challenge was for the vendor to send me the right set, then it was defective!  After I gathered all the right stuff, it went together nicely with the help of a friend who had done this before.  It is not very difficult work, just tiring!  We used a quartz halogen work lamp to heat up the pieces to make them easier to stretch.

ENGINE: BOSS 302 based on 1968 302 Mexican Heavy Duty block.

INDUCTION: Carburated, Holley list no. 4013 four bbl. 750 CFM mechanical secondary, manual choke. K&N 2" element. B+A Ford performance "Track Boss" single plane intake manifold, match ported to heads. Edelbrock 1715 HP mechanical fuel pump, Holley adjustable fuel pressure regulator, Earl's -6 AN inline fuel filter. AN fittings used throughout.

VALVETRAIN: Competition Cams part #31-334-4, 282 degrees duration, .528 in. lift, TRW solid tappets, Smith Brothers 3/8" hardened push rods, Iskendarian aluminum roller rockers with poly locks. Timing chain is an FPP true roller stainless steel multi index.

HEADS: 351 Cleveland 2V open chamber heads, Combustion chambers cc'd for equal volume, Stainless valves on stellite seats. 3/8" ARP screw in studs with Manley guide plates, double valve springs with dampener and Teflon valve stem seals. Exhaust ports ported and chambers contoured. Heads have been decked to increase compression ratio.

CRANK: 302 Crank, journals ground .010" on mains and .010" on rods, journals micro polished and oil holes radiused. Crank and Michigan 77 bearings are moly coated.

RODS: 1966 289 HI perf., shot peened, rod beams polished, spot faced, bushed, SPS rod bolts installed.

PISTONS: TRW L2324F-30 forged pistons with full floating pins and spiral locks. Moly ring set custom file-fit to each cylinder.

BLOCK: bored and honed .030 in. over stock, ARP head and main cap stud kit installed, a TRW HP blueprinted oil pump by FPP with a chrome-moly pump drive shaft. A windage tray is installed, the internal edges are relieved and the interior of the block is painted for better oil control.

IGNITION: Mallory Comp 9000 Unilite distributor, MSD 6AL rev. limiting capacitive discharge ignition box, MSD Blaster 3 coil, Moroso 8mm ignition wires, Autolite 24 spark plugs gapped to .040".

COOLING: Four core radiator. HD flexfan. Hayden 12" electric pusher fan with electronic thermostatic control.

OIL SYSTEM: Fram FL1-HP filter.

EXHAUST: G+L ceramic coated Schoenfeld headers into 2.5" tubing, FlowMaster 3 chamber mufflers, tubing run out to the rear valence.

INSTRUMENTATION: AutoMeter mechanical oil pressure gauge and mechanical water temperature gauge, AutoMeter Monster-Tach ShiftLight. Gauges are back-mounted behind the instrument bezel.  A custom 10 segment LED display capable of displaying either voltage or air/fuel ratio, selectable by a hidden switch is mounted where the brake warning light used to be.

TRANSMISSION: Borg Warner T5 "Z" Code five speed manual transmission. FMS steel billet flywheel, FMS 10.5" heavy duty clutch and pressure plate, roller pilot bearing. B&M 'Ripper' T5 shifter. BBK late-model aluminum clutch cable quadrant. Stock '85 Ford Mustang clutch cable. Windsor-Fox transmission cross member.

THIRD MEMBER: Ford 9" rear end with 3.89:1 Traction-Lock gar set.

SUSPENSION:
Upper control arms have been relocated down 1".  A 1.125" anti-sway bar with urethane bushings was also installed. The rear
axle is equipped with Lakewood traction bars.  The rear is also lowered 1" with lowering blocks and adjustable rear drag
shocks. The car's battery has been relocated to the trunk and installed in a Moroso battery box. Up front are KYB shocks, a
one piece export brace and a chrome, curved monte carlo bar.

TIRES AND WHEELS: Clearcoated Shelby 10 spoke wheels, BFG Comp TA 225-60-15's and BFG Comp TA 235-60-15's in the
back.

PERFORMANCE:
286.7RWHP@6100 / 267RWTQ@5100

COMMENTS:
This was the first car that I ever purchased back in August, 1986.  Since then, I have been working to get the car just the
way I want it.  Some of the best features are the T-5 five speed and the home made cable clutch conversion.  This makes the
the car very driveable in traffic with the light pedal effort and the overdrive is great on the highway.

 

Technical Specs

Displacement	306ci
Bore	4.030
Stroke	3.000
Chamber Volume	77cc
Compression Ratio	9.10:1 Calculated
Camshaft Gross Lift	0.528 Inches
Camshaft Duration	282 degrees @ .015" tappet lift

 

All parts magnafluxed and inspected before assembly.

Cylinder head, and con-rod machine work done by Taylor Automotive in Whittier Ca.

Crank and block work done by Mc Gee + Franklin in Santa Fe Springs Ca.

Engine fitted, assembled and installed by Steve Kent, La Mirada Ca.

Last updated: 6/29/99 5:49PM