After Years Of Pursuing Exotic Speed, Officer Michael Tracy Collared A Love For Mustangs While On Patrol
If you drive a hot Mustang, you've probably been there. You're happily rowing through the gears, enjoying the sound of that X-pipe, and dreaming about the next bolt-ons you're about to install. Then it happens. A police car pulls in behind you. Whether you were speeding or not, you begin to go down the checklist of what to do if you're pulled over. You know-quickly kill the engine so the officer doesn't hear the loud exhaust, roll down both windows in case your tint is too dark, and begin looking for that license and registration while deciding how to best plead your case.
Fortunately for Bryant Morris of Full Throttle Performance outside of San Diego, California, police officer Michael Tracy had recently purchased a 5.0 Mustang and was only looking to make his personal ride a little faster. Michael had finally left behind the likes of Porches and Corvettes for an around-town car in the form of a '91 Mustang GT convertible. For the first six months he enjoyed driving the car, but then the need for more speed took hold. It was about this time he ran across Bryant and some Mustang club friends while on patrol.
After Michael learned Bryant was running a performance shop, the two developed a rapport. Before you could say "put your hands up," Michael's Mustang received the usual array of bolt-on performance goodies for the suspension, exhaust, and engine. These bits put Michael's speed lust on house arrest for at least a year, but soon he was busting out in search of new performance levels. His methods included a Vortech S-Trim supercharger and a pair of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads.
All told, this combination yielded 462 hp at the rear wheels, and Michael began cleaning up the engine compartment in a way befitting such a powerful combination. You might think this is the end of this particular police report, but far from it.
By now, Michael was a full-fledged Mustang power addict, so the last person he needed to run into was Dave Schultz, who drove a certain red convertible that had graced many a magazine page. One look at Dave's ultraclean ride and Michael knew he needed more-and cleaner. That meant a 377 stroker built by Greg Grosset at Total Performance. Based on a Ford Racing Performance Parts four-bolt N351 block, this rev-happy stroker received a truckload of goodies, including a custom blower-spec Crane Cam created by Engine Systems Inc., ESI-ported Trick Flow Street Heat heads, and a ported Edelbrock Performer RPM intake.
After the engine compartment was filled and painted, the wiring harnesses hidden behind the sheetmetal, and the induction enhanced with an Auto Specialties cog-driven Vortech T-Trim, the new engine was dropped in. With judicious chip tuning at Swanson Performance, this combination rocked the rollers with 612 hp and 613 lb-ft of torque-enough to require a second Paxton fuel pump to feed this vanilla thriller.
So what's the moral of the story? You may want to think about adding Mustang performance tips to your checklist before being pulled over. There might just be another officer who wants his Mustang to look as good as yours.