Fellow Real Street Racer Bruce...
Fellow Real Street Racer Bruce Hemminger (left) is the new car salesmanager at Van Drunen Ford. Early in November, Bruce worked on a dealertrade where he would procure a low-option, red '05 V-6 Mustang for ourproject. Here, we are taking delivery of the car one week before the PRIShow on December 3, 2004.
Have you ever wanted to do something but just couldn't justify it? Well, I had listened to Jim Schenk from Car Shop in Moline, Illinois,talk about how cool it was on the Hot Rod Power Tour. With a fullschedule of NMRA races, it wasn't really possible. I talked to SteveTurner and asked, "What would you think if I took my Real Street car onthe Hot Rod Power Tour?" Steve said, "Cool, and you can write about yourexploits in 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords." Hmm, this ought to be fun. Itwas looking like I needed a plan.
So, a month before the SEMA show in Las Vegas, I notice a post on theFFW message board about Ford Racing's Body-In-White program. I mustadmit that I didn't look at the new Mustang when Ford had some atColumbus and then Martin, Michigan. The pictures I had seen in themagazines really didn't do the car justice. It wasn't until Dr. JamieMeyer made the lap down the track at Martin, that I really took notice. As I stood at the fence watching Jamie's blistering 14.70, I was takenwith the retro styling of the '05 Mustang. Hmm, those new Mustangs arehot. Well, at least the looks were. After filling out the application,I thought I would not hear anything. Well, about three weeks later, Igot an e-mail notification that we had been approved for a Ford RacingBIW.
As required, we sent the $3,500 to secure our car. Once at the SEMAshow, a problem arose. I knew that we could never take the '05 MustangBIW on the Power Tour as it is a non-VIN car. They are sold for thepurpose of racing and are never to be licensed or titled. Once thesponsors learned that I had an '05 Mustang in planning for the NMRASeries for 2005, they were not going to settle for my old '88 coupe onthe Power Tour.
A little history lesson. The '88 LX coupe that I have raced in the NMRAis getting long in the tooth. 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Editor SteveTurner has asked several times when I was going to build a new car. Iwas quite attached to my little red '88 coupe. It has a history. Itparticipated in every NMRA Race from 2000 to 2004. It was the third carin the Factory Stock 11-second club. For 2003, I made the switch to the5.0 Mustang & Super Fords magazine Real Street class. It was July ofthat year the red coupe became the first car in the nines. Still Mr.Turner persisted in prodding me to consider a new ride.(One of Editor Turner's finer skills!-on-line ed.)More on thatlater.
With all the talk of the new...
With all the talk of the new Mustang, one thing was clear--it was heavy.We wanted to see just how heavy. Stories of GTs tipping the scales atmore than 3,600 pounds with a driver were common. Without a driver, ourV-6 Weighed 3,315 pounds. The front was 1,800 and the rear was 1,515. Ifwe added my weight, even the V-6 is heavy. We are going to have our workcut out for us to get this car down to a Real Street-legal 3,150 pounds['cause you know Robin's not going on a diet--Ed].
To solve the VIN problem, I elected to buy a low-option V-6 Mustang tobuild our '05 Mustang Real Street car. While it seems costly, it alsosolved many other problems. First, it gave us the ability to drive thecar on the Hot Rod Power Tour. Second, it seems that some parts neededto complete the car would have availability problems since Ford isbuilding the new Mustangs as fast as they can.
We turned to fellow Real Street racer Bruce Hemminger to locate asuitable Red V-6 Mustang to use as a donor car. We took delivery of thecar from Bruce in December two days before the PRI Show. We thencommenced with dismantling the car. I must say that it's an uneasyfeeling taking apart a brand-new $20,000 car. My wife could notunderstand why it was necessary to destroy such a nice car.
Prior to removing the drivetrain, I worked out a deal with Mustang PartsSpecialties in Winder, Georgia, a nationally recognized outlet for usedMustang parts, to purchase the pieces that we removed from the car. Itsaved us the time required to list and ship the parts individually. Theengine and transmission came out as a unit. It was a change from workingon a car with rusty, old bolts. With barely 500 miles on this car'sodometer, even its exhaust was easily removed. After the interior wasremoved, it was off to Racecraft in LaSalle, Illinois, for the rollcage,K-member, and Strange/Motive 9-inch rear axle assembly.
OK, we really didn't tear...
OK, we really didn't tear into the car immediately. We needed to do alittle promotion prior to dismantling the it. Well, actually it was waytoo much fun to drive. Here we are at Car Shop in Moline, Illinois (ourengine guys), to get a few shots of the "before" picture. In this shot,you can see the high ride height that Ford builds into these cars.
This intimate disassembly emphasized that several things are radicallydifferent in the new Mustang. One is the location of the fuel tank underthe rear seat area. Another is the three-link rear suspension comparedto the previous four-link design. But it's the total package that reallystands out. My hat is off to the engineers who designed the new Mustang. Taking the car apart was a breeze. It seems they used common sense andconsidered future modifications in their efforts. The framerails arespread wider apart, the rear overhang is longer while the front is less. The weight bias is the best we have ever seen in a Mustang, somethingwe hoped would be an advantage in our class.
The changes throughout the chassis seemed to have prioritized rigiditywhile saving weight where possible. The hood is aluminum and weighsabout 25 pounds--some aftermarket hoods aren't that light. The K-memberis a welded-stamped-steel design and is lighter than the previousstamped-steel units. Our efforts to take weight out of the car werediminished by Ford's focus on saving weight. Before you say the cars areheavy, remember they put the weight where it would do the most good--inthe structure.
Next month, we will talk about the unique parts that Racecraft developed to put the '05 Mustang on the racetrack.