FalkenXC's P51 Mustang build

[FalkenXC]

There is a reason that you should start your build thread when you start building you car. As of the writing of this post, so much has been done to this machine. I can't recall every detail nor can I find all of my photo documentation of everything I did. The ultimate goal of this collection is to organize my own content but also to provide an outline on the challenges I have put myself through to achieve this.

As a quick preface, the car was bought in 2013. I was a sophomore in high school at the time. Beyond mocking up some different wheels, which ultimately were never installed, the car remained totally stock. Once I got my license, I was able to convince my dad @tarafied1 to let me drive the car to school. This is where it all began!

Following this came a series of modifications. Off the top of my head;

Body
Terminator front bumper cover
Terminator rocker panels (side skirt things)
Terminator rear bumper cover
Terminator ducktail spoiler
Terminator heat extractor hood
Bullit/Mach 1 sail panels
99 Cobra tail lights
Stinger modified springs
Ford Racing FR500 wheels 17x9.5 F 17x10.5 R
Tire stickers
Mach 1 gauge cluster
Steering column mounted oil pressure gauge pod
Fancy short throw with no brand name, it does the job
Shorty antenna, but my radio doesn't work anyway (not that I could hear it if it did work)
SVT engine builders plaque that I bought from a forum member on another forum
SVT license plate frame
SVT window cling
I really like SVT memorabilia. I also have several books that stay in the car!
Exhaust
Pacesetter long tube headers mounted with Mahle gaskets because my brother broke my Remflex
Fabricated H-pipe
Flowmaster American Thunder cat-back made for an IRS exhaust, mounted under my SRA with Pypes M80 weld in mufflers, flowmasters cut off and sold
(yeah, IRS exhaust on an SRA. What are you gonna do, shoot me?)
Engine
2005 Aviator aluminum block w/ SOHC Mustang Oil Pan
Forged SVT crankshaft w/ forged SVT rods and pistons
Mach 1 cams
Mach 1 intake manifold and airtube
Mach 1 throttle cable (this was way too expensive)
Ford Racing high volume oil pump
Lokar flexible dipstick tube
All Motorcraft accessories (get that parts-store crap outahere!)
Fabricated aluminum coolant tank, probably chinese (ask me how I know!)
Modified 1998 Cobra coolant crossover
Custom thermostat housing routing (don't do what I did, more on that later)
Modified power steering reservoir bracket
Custom alternator brackets
Completely modified engine harness (SOHC Harness to DOHC Harness)
EGR Delete with awesome plate that has a Cobra etched on it from eBay
Rear O2 sensor delete
Miscellaneous
Aluminum clutch quadrant attached to an adjustable clutch cable
Exedy stage 2 racing clutch
Spectre chrome plated diff cover with replicated Ford markings
A steering wheel cover that my dad bought when we got the car
SOHC T45 style flywheel
Fluid choices
Royal purple trans and diff fluids
Liqui-moly synthetic engine oil
---break in being done on conventional penzoil, no need to be concerned)
Some extra trans fluid my dad had laying around for power steering fluid
Conventional green coolant

I will be updating this list as the mods come in, and there are pictures to come in the following.

I also want to include some keywords so that this thread can be found. The reason being is that what I did to this car is not too extremely common, and I want to share my knowledge with as many people as possible. Besides, who wants to post build threads on svtperformance anyway???

DOHC swap into mustang, 32v swap, Aviator swap into mustang, SOHC to DOCH swap, 16v swap to 32v, DOHC mustang swap, dual overhead cam swap, DOHC swap, Aviator swap, Lincoln Mark VIII swap, Lincoln DOHC swap, 4v swap, 4v in Mustang GT, expensive and unnecessary swap, ridiculous overly complicated engine swap, overpriced Ford parts swap thread, you get the idea.

This car has been a long time coming for a college student up to this point. I do not encourage anyone to repeat the process; it has been a nightmare and I could not have done it without the help from not only my father @tarafied1 and my brother, but also from the help of my close friends and coworkers. This has been expensive, frustrating, and inefficient. I could have 600hp for the money I spent if I had gone a different route but that ultimately was not the point. More on that later.

Pics inbound!

 

[tarafied1]

Just to add a little history, I originally got a 93 LX vert with a 2.3L four cylinder for Lucas but my older son needed a car and borrowed it for quite a while. It the A4LD 4 speed auto which eventually self destructed. This all happened before Lucas got his licence. My wife was driving an Expedition. We traded the Expedition for the 99GT. I bought the 72 Cheyenne for the boys to drive after the little LX died. We sold it rather than fix it. So anyway, as Lucas said, one day he asked if I would teach him to drive a stick shift and that was that. Tara ended up with the truck until CJ (my youngest) started driving. So she was ultimately left with no car. So that led to the 07. But anyway, I thought I would add that!

 

[FalkenXC]

Starting a thread like this is difficult. There is so much to cover and so many pictures to look at; I guess a good place to begin would be with stock car pics!

This picture was pretty obviously taken on the Power Tour. This was actually right after I started driving the car, but before any mods. It also predates that ugly dent in my driver door. Notice how vanilla it is! Almost kind of boring. Oh! It does has aftermarket headlight housings here, clear corners and all. BORING!

I am not sure when this was taken but I believe it to be a power tour picture. Good comparison of the SN95 platform cars, both original and New Edge!

Here are the wheels that were mocked up onto the car before it fell into my hands. Looks like some Cobra R replica parts, might have looked a little better if it was lowered. Sorry dad! These wheels ultimately never made it onto the car for any reasonable amount of time.

The first Christmas we celebrated after the car was mine to modify held quite a surprise. My mom told me that there was a signed NASCAR wheel and tire under the tree, a Mark Martin thing, for dad. I knew dad was a huge mark martin fan, so who was I to argue about that? Well, I was blown away when that wrapped up wheel was rolled my way by my parents. Why did I get a stock car wheel? Well, it wasn't a stock car wheel! I unwrapped a Ford Racing FR500 wheel in black, already wrapped in rubber. Totally an awesome Christmas gift!

There I am, a red beanie and an orange striped sweater. Oh, High school. What have you done?

It wasn't long after I got the wheels that I wanted to do more. Next on the list was a bolt on hood scoop and a Mach 1 chin spoiler, easy mods for a novice wrencher!

This marked a relatively steady part of the cars life. I drove it like this for a very long time, almost a year in fact. It was an unfortunate event that caused the next change...

I got backed into. The car was sitting at work in a parking spot, minding its own business. It was a Sunday afternoon. Some kid, fresh with his license and a nice lifted Silverado, decided he wanted to show my car some TLC. Backed right up into it.

I was pretty upset! Called my parents and they decided to handle matters privately with the kids parents, I guess they knew each other.

To me, the car was scarred. The hood was destroyed, the front bumper which I did not capture in photos was creased. It was like a wart on the face of my painting. And it was so close to my first Power Tour run, too. What am I gonna do?

Get it replaced of course. That kid paid to get a new one ordered and painted. I didn't get the bumper covered though, unfortunately. I guess the damage was not as significant to a third party as it was to me.

A local body shop took care of all the paperwork and I helped get it installed. It was so close to power tour time that I made a decision to not paint the hood quite yet. Yes, that is a terminator heat extractor hood! Score!

Yeah, that was ugly! But it was beautiful again. At least, to me it was. I owned that white hood, and I made it work!

So it was time to prep the car for the tour. I enlisted my girlfriend to vacuum the car out. It should be noted that this is the only time I have ever vacuumed the car. I think its overdue now.

One final step, right before showtime, was a blacked out decklid. I actually plastidipped this part! I also bought some vinyl letters for the bumper. This took a few hours and it turned out really well!

And I guess that means the tour was next for the car. It went smoothly, no damage done!

That is me on the far right! I know it is because come on, who else is cool with a white hood?

After the tour I did get it painted. Thank goodness. Turned out fantastically well.

And yet again, the car remained the same for a little bit. My memory is kind of foggy about what comes next but looking at the pictures, I believe it was the bumper that I changed. About time.

As you can see, I did not immediately have my fog lights installed and there is definitely not a chin spoiler here. That is a repop Cobra front bumper like every other 2v had. No, I don't claim to be original. I liked it.

Next came the chin spoiler which I don't have any pictures of without spoiling the time line of mods.

The mods begin to ramp up from here, though! Lots of parts in succession, probably due to my tax money coming back?

The headache is yet to come.

 

[tarafied1]

the picture next to the white 95 Mustang was indeed on the Power Tour. We went thru Illinois and we stopped to see Daniel. That was his car. And that's where those Cobra wheels ended up, on his car. That Power Tour was the one that the 67 Mustang C6 trans broke on the way to Charlotte. We had the tow truck pick up the 99 and bring it to us and take the 67 home and we continued on. Then the next year you drove it on the Power Tour.

 

[3175375]

Have you considered AMSOIL vice Royal Purple?
I have been using it all of my vehicles since 1995 n it has been great

 

[FalkenXC]

Have you considered AMSOIL vice Royal Purple?
I have been using it all of my vehicles since 1995 n it has been great

Yeah, I see a lot of Cobra guys running Amsoil. I don't have anything against it short of not being available in any stores nearby. I know it's a great oil, I'll think more seriously about it but it's tough to get over the availability deal.

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[3175375]

Yeah, I see a lot of Cobra guys running Amsoil. I don't have anything against it short of not being available in any stores nearby. I know it's a great oil, I'll think more seriously about it but it's tough to get over the availability deal.

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I order all of my supplies online in advance. AMSOIL oil filters are very well made. They also carry Hastings filters. I cut open am AMSOIL, Hastings and Fram. Both AMSOIL and Hastings had thicker sidewalks and more pleats.
AMSOIL has a preferred Customer program. AMSOIL sends me a magazine every other month with articles and new product introductions

 

[FalkenXC]

I order all of my supplies online in advance. AMSOIL oil filters are very well made. They also carry Hastings filters. I cut open am AMSOIL, Hastings and Fram. Both AMSOIL and Hastings had thicker sidewalks and more pleats.
AMSOIL has a preferred Customer program. AMSOIL sends me a magazine every other month with articles and new product introductions

Frams are terrible, no doubt about that! Haha I've been using a Motorcraft filter since I owned the car originally but am always looking to upgrade!

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[3175375]

Good luck on your build!

 

[FalkenXC]

Good luck on your build!

Thanks man!

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[JRANGER]

Awesome!!!! Keep up the good work on the cars, definitely enjoy all yalls builds! Trying to keep up with you guys as well as build the 65 you brought to me is a task amongst itself Now just to wait on the 69 build to start lol

 

[3175375]

Awesome!!!! Keep up the good work on the cars, definitely enjoy all yalls builds! Trying to keep up with you guys as well as build the 65 you brought to me is a task amongst itself Now just to wait on the 69 build to start lol

I have my 65 since 1982. I spent a bunch of time repairing the right rear wheelhouse with aluminum, pop rivets and JB Weld it came out nice
Go make us all proud!

 

[tarafied1]

Awesome!!!! Keep up the good work on the cars, definitely enjoy all yalls builds! Trying to keep up with you guys as well as build the 65 you brought to me is a task amongst itself Now just to wait on the 69 build to start lol

you are doing great on the fastback conversion. I almost hate to see it, makes me sad i got rid of it!

 

[JRANGER]

you are doing great on the fastback conversion. I almost hate to see it, makes me sad i got rid of it!

I know the feeling, i looked up the guy i sold the 67 to on FB and he has it posted up with a new paint job

 

[Larry G]

Yeah, I see a lot of Cobra guys running Amsoil. I don't have anything against it short of not being available in any stores nearby. I know it's a great oil, I'll think more seriously about it but it's tough to get over the availability deal.

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Lucas, I’m a Amsoil dealer (have been for many, many years) if you need a way to get some I can get it for you. It would be delivered to your house at my cost. Let me know if interested.
Larry G


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[tarafied1]

I told him you were a dealer!


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[FalkenXC]

Lucas, I’m a Amsoil dealer (have been for many, many years) if you need a way to get some I can get it for you. It would be delivered to your house at my cost. Let me know if interested.
Larry G


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No way, what are the odds? Haha that is awesome, we will be in touch through @tarafied1 about getting some in. Thanks a bunch!

Little update: before I spun a rod bearing on my 2v, I had purchased brand new OEM Mach 1 shaker parts from a friend who has supplied various rare mustang parts already. Brand new from Ford Shaker, mounting brackets, air tubes, all of it minus one part.

That part came in the mail last week, and now I've got it all on. It looks great but my hood is failing to latch.

If anyone has experience with body work on the SN95 platform, here is the issue: the primary latch that I handle to release the hood is catching and depressing on the spring. The secondary latch that is released via cable is not, and it is what holds the hood down while not in use. The Mach hood is the only one of the three hoods I own that do that. Any ideas would be great, will be posting relevant pictures ASAP.

Car has been running great so far. Almost 2000 miles through already, it's flying by. I can't believe there are cars with less miles than that with original engines, this thing just wants to be driven!

That's about where we stand: the car is currently parked in some back lot around campus with no hood on it looking radical and questionably legal. At least I have that parking pass in the window!

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[Grabber70Mach]

Did you try lowering the two rubber hood stops on the core support? If you loosen the hood hinge there is some slight adjustment there also.

 

[FalkenXC]

Did you try lowering the two rubber hood stops on the core support? If you loosen the hood hinge there is some slight adjustment there also.

Yes, the bump stops in the core support are lowered fully, the latch has been dropped and raised to see if that was the issue, and I've adjusted the shaker as low as it will go in case that was hitting the hood. I have not adjusted the hood on the hinges though, but it should be easy to do.

I read on another forum that placing a washer below the latch to raise it in some way can help too. I will try that as well

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[Grabber70Mach]

So is the shaker contacting the hood? Have you removed the shaker and tried closing the hood? If it closes are the balls that the shaker snaps onto completely lowered?