Since BMR Fabrication is suspension company, not much has been done to the exterior of the car. A Roush rear spoiler and Bogart big'n'littles are the only addition. Of course, being a suspension company, BMR added springs to complement its suspension components, leading to a lowered stance.
Horse Sense: We first came face-to-face with BMR Fabrication's products at the '04 PRI show, held in Indianapolis. The show was relocated to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and it's contracted to remain there until at least 2010.
We like to think we have our finger on the pulse of the Mustang scene-that every tidbit of Mustang news doesn't see the light of day without going through us first. Every piece of Mustang information is sent to us so we can read it, give it our stamp of approval, and present it to the Mustang nation.
Sure, that sounds fine, but every once in a while we get caught with our doors open. Case in point: At the '04 PRI show in Indianapolis we walked through the RCA Dome perfecting our patented trade show stare when it hit us-what is BMR Fabrication (www.bmrfabrication.com), and why haven't we heard of it before?
Though the new-for-'05 Mustang was just beginning to hit the streets at the time, several manufacturers had already started rolling out new products for the car. The funny thing was, the companies debuting Mustang parts weren't your everyday Mustang parts manufacturers; they were manufacturers adding Mustang components to their existing line of available parts. Without a new F-body to play with, many manufacturers saw the light and added the Mustang to their existing product lines.
For suspension component pioneers BMR Fabrication, the S197 Mustang's chassis design made it a natural progression into another phase of production. With its third-link/Panhard-bar rear suspension system, BMR jumped to action by getting its hand on a new '05 Mustang and going to work. When the PRI show came around, the company had a full line of upper and lower control arms, subframe connectors, Panhard rods, sway bars, driveshaft loops, and a tubular radiator support. With these components hanging in BMR's booth, we stopped in our tracks. What surprised us-and embarrassed us at the same time-was BMR's location, which is only a few minutes north of our Tampa offices in Thonotosassa, Florida. When we saw BMR's 813 area code, we wondered how it had crossed under our radar when it was right under our nose, but we digress.
The '05 GT you see here is just one of the S197 Mustangs BMR has used to supplant itself into the mainstream Mustang market. The first S197 Mustang BMR had was stripped bare to turn it into a drag-radial-wearing, pushrod-power-having, turbocharger-huffing monster. This was the car BMR used for its first round of S197 chassis components. The second was Mike "The Ice Man" Zamboni's street/strip Mustang GT, which now runs in the high 9s. With Mike's car, BMR designed the lower-control-arm relocation brackets. It also provided a means of press photography and installation instructions.
With the new power on board, the suspension mods hit fast-forward with a Moser 9-inch rearend upgrade; a Detroit Locker True-Trac differential; a carbon-fiber, one-piece driveshaft; and Bogart big 'n' littles with Mickey Thompson drag radials out back. BMR and Moser worked together on the 9-inch conversion, and Moser provided two rearend housings with differing third-link mounting provisions and axle lengths. BMR made sure all the brackets were in the right spot before having the rearend powdercoated for final assembly. The driveshaft was one of the company's existing designs, but with a different yoke to mate with the 9-inch rearend. Though it was a study in trial and error, the Moser rear, with newly developed BMR components, lived in harmony under the S197's hind quarters.
With this yellow '05 GT, BMR wanted to take its development to the next level to complete its catalog. BMR's Brett Rocky actually bought the car for his wife to have something cool to cruise around in. At least that was Brett's initial idea, but that lasted about a year. Once Brett and the BMR crew put the wrenches to the car, that idea quickly ran aground.
While Brett was deciding on his first round of suspension upgrades, he sped up the performance quotient by adding a pair of Stainless Works long-tube headers and X-shape crossover, as well as a Meziere water pump. With those additions, the car picked up 17 hp before any tuning. Modular Madness then tuned the car, resulting in an overall gain of 26 hp.