WELCOME TO DAN'S MUSTANG HOMEPAGE!

For those who haven't been here before, this site was dedicated to my Hot Wheels collection. But I sold them off to further a Mustang project. I planned on restoring a 1970 Mach 1, but that was far too expensive for someone my age (17), so I opted to build an '86 Mustang. Here's 2 pics of it about the 2nd day I owned it, so no work was done yet. Note the retarted pinstriping down the drivers side (long since gone!).

I bought an '86 LX Hatchback that had a 4-cylinder. If you look in the 2nd pic, you can see a little defect in the paint. That's where the police fingerprinted it because the previous owner had his stereo stolen out of the car. They didn't do such a "nice" job and it tore the paint off. Previous owner was too lazy to fix it. I stripped it down and primered it last week so that's somewhat fixed. Anyways, we took the 4-cylinder and AOD trans out and I've got a slightly beefed up carbureted 302 with a PA Street/Strip C4 trans to go in its place. Right now it has a 7.5" with 2.73 gears. I bought an 8.8 that I had 4.10 gears put into and I've got a chrome cover to put on it once the rear is in the car. Here's a pic of the 8.8 before any painting.

And here's the rear after painting.

Here's the cruddy 4-banger coming out of it.

I bought the car for $500. Pretty much the only reason I got it was for the body. I have a Saleen spoiler (whale tail) to put on, and I am going to get a 4" cowl induction fiberglass hood. About a week after I had the car, I gutted it pretty much completely in the interior, less the dash and rear seats. I put a pair of 87-93 style LX tail lights on the car because I like them better. I installed a Grant "retro" style wheel, and also put on a Mustang horn button. It looks far better than the old wheel ever did. I fought and complained with the dashboard one afternoon, but I did manage to install a 140mph speedo in place of the 85mph one. The car is riding on a set of 14x9 American Racing rims, wrapped in beefy Michelins. Next spring I want to get 17x9 chrome Cobra R's for the front and 17x10.5 for the rear. I think I'm going to put Nitto's on the front and Nitto drag radials on the rear. A 10.5 doesn't fit directly in the fox body but I'll find a way. I also painted the engine compartment in a nice coat of satin black once the old engine was out. I have a set of leather Recaro racing seats (power everything. yeah they weigh a ton but they are damn comfortable and they hold you in amazingly) that will be going in also. I've got a new dashpad in, and also a B&M Megashifter and 2 RJS 5-point racing harnesses waiting to go in, and I have to order new carpet, and eventually a 6 or 8 point rollcage (mostly to meet the 11.99 or faster rule).

Now the part you all want to hear about! The engine! Well hate to dissapoint you but it aint no supercharged 347 stroker motor. But hey I'm 17 and I've got a job that doesn't pay $20 buck an hour. It's a stock 302 block that I had acid-dipped and honed. Anywho, I'll list what's in it. I've got a stock 302 crank and connecting rods with ARP bolts. On top of the rods sit 9.5:1 compression TRW forged aluminum pistons with valve reliefs. It has Clevite rod bearings, main bearings, and cam bearings. It's got a pretty basic oiling system, stock pan and pickup tube with stock pump. I tried a Melling pump, but it wouldn't fit under the stock pan. Anyways, I've got the cruddy 5.0 HO heads sitting on this engine. But to make up for it, I've got a FRPP B303 hydraulic roller cam (224/224 with .480, works well with the heads). Stock roller lifters roll on the lobes. It has Comp Cams roller pushrods moving along a set of 1.6 ratio FRPP Roller Rocker Arms. I had to build this engine from a bare block and I didn't have a donor engine to rely on, so I had to cough up some dough for simple parts. Just things like a water pump and a front cover. I also purchased a FRPP 50 oz. harmonic balancer, held on my an ARP bolt. Ignition; well I've got a MSD Pro Billet distributor that I had to have a steel gear put onto to work with the cam. Also I have a high rise, dual-plane Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold. I also have a Holley 110gph engine-mounted fuel pump. Also I got a really nice set of Ford Racing tall aluminum valve covers to clear the roller rockers. I have put on an octuplet of MSD Super Conductor 8.5mm ignition wires. Also I put on a Holley Street Avenger 670cfm carb. I also put on some sweet looking Aeroquip fittings and I've got some Aeroquip line making them function. There's also a full line of March underdrive pulleys on this thing too. Also I've got March alternator and power steering brackets holding on a new power steering pump and a new chrome alternator. Anything I miss so far? Well, I believe that's it for what I've got on it right now. How about a picture?


We (my dad and I, he does a lot of the work, I'd be nowhere without him!) painted it "old ford blue" because I think it looks really nice. The engine is all done and ready to run. My dad made up a stand and some electronics to run the engine out of the car so I can make my neighbors deaf when we get the chance to fire it up. I got a set of Hooker Super Comps 1 5/8" with 3" collectors ceramic coated by Jet-Hot that will go in the car when ready. I'll drive around open headers for a while. :) But I will be buying a Bassani X-Pipe (no cats of course, emissions my @$$) and a Flowmaster American Thunder system (mufflers and stainless 2 1/2" pipes). Yes, it's not 100% free-flowing, but man nothing makes up for that growl you get when you put the pedal to the floor. Here's a pic of the headers:

Recently we re-did my whole front suspension. I stripped, primed and painted the k-member and control arms, installed Steeda sport lowering springs (2 others are waiting to go in the rear as well), Powerstop Cross-Drilled rotors with 911 pads, new OEM Calipers with high-temp red paint, new caliper hoses, new bushings for the control arms, new bushings for the sway bar, painted the sway bar, sandblasted and painted the sway bar mounts, put a new rack and pinion in with new power steering hoses, installed polyurethane bushing sway bar end links, Monroe Sensa-Trac struts and new tie rod ends. I think that does it. Oh there's also no fenderwells in the front right now because I took them out and stripped them of tens of thousands of miles of road grime. Just gotta pop them back in. Here's some pics:

Here's the old front; most definantly a difference:

I have a Performance Automatic C4 with a TCI 10" Street Fighter torque converter (3000-3500 stall) waiting to go in, along with a barrage of other parts such as Perma-Cool Electric Fan, Optima Red-Top battery with relocation kit, FMS Aluminum Driveshaft with Comp. Engineering loop, PA 157-tooth flywheel, new double hump crossmember, HPM Upper and Lower Rear Control Arms, Monroe Sensa-Trac shocks, Energy Suspension polyurethane bushing trans and motor mounts, all new rear brakes shoes and wheel cylinders, Visteon 3-core radiator and a FMS trans cooler, Goodyear Blue Hi-Miler hose, MSD 6AL with a Blaster 2 coil, FMS strut tower brace and some other goodies I probably forgot. Right now I'm in the process of removing the 7.5 rear and old control arms. I've got the bolts holding the arms to the rear undone and the springs and shocks out. Just gotta get outside and finish up.

Thanks for reading my page (if you're still reading, you must love Mustangs!) and check back soon, because I will undoubtely find something else to place on here! Here's some before and after pics just for fun. Long live the Mustang!

Before
After

Before
After

Before
After

My Few Custom Hot Wheels, Check 'Em Out!

Thanks for visiting my Mustang site! I'll try and keep it updated frequently, and feel free to send me an if you have any comments. Chevy fans need not respond!