After trading notes with some...
After trading notes with some small-tire racers at the track, we realized that Project Fox could benefit from some slightly tweaked cam specs. We called up COMP Cams, told them what we wanted, and boy did they deliver. Simply widening up the LSA from 109 to 114 degrees dramatically improved the car’s launch consistency.
So without further delay, thanks to the School of Automotive Machinists for building one bulletproof lump. We’ve zinged the 532 big-block well past 7,000 rpm run after run, and it keeps on ticking. The same goes for Project Fox’s TH400 transmission. Interestingly, Phoenix Transmissions says that they don’t build race automatics, but they could have fooled us. We’ve been pounding on this thing since day one, whether it’s by slamming the gears or popping the transbrake, and it just laughs in the face of abuse. We can’t count how many people at the track have marveled at how hard it shifts. The driveshaft and rearend the Phoenix TH400 is attached to are equally impressive. Project Fox’s Strange-fortified Ford 8.8-inch rearend has never flinched despite the countless burnouts and launches under its belt.
Of course, running our target e.t. would never be possible without some premium suspension hardware. The Competition Engineering rear suspension just flat out got the job done. Likewise, our chassis man Bill Buck says, the Anthony Jones Engineering K-member and front suspension are among the nicest he’s ever seen for a Fox application. And last, but certainly not least, we have to give a huge shout-out to Bill Buck Race Cars. We were so pleased with Buck’s work that what started out as a rollcage job quickly turned into a complete drag car build. Sure, we dropped in when we could to lend a hand, but the crew at BBRC handled the bulk of the Project Fox build, from the chassis fabrication to the rearend build to the wiring. If you’re in the neighborhood and need a good shop, you can’t go wrong with BBRC.
Billet Specialties RT wheels...
Billet Specialties RT wheels not only look sweet, they’re also SFI approved and dirt cheap to boot. The front 15x3.5 wheels are just $210 a pop, while the 15x10 rears will set you back $260 a piece. They boast two-piece construction, and will accommodate ⅝-inch wheel studs.
What’s Next
That puts the wraps on our ’93 Mustang, as we’re now officially retiring it from the PHR project garage. Even so, that doesn’t mean we’re done messing with it, not by a long shot. As it turns out, a 9-second street car lives in a bizarre no-man’s land. A car like this is faster than 90 percent of the street cars that show up on test-and-tune, which sounds like a good thing at first, until you realize that it’s just fast enough to run with some all-out race cars. The bad news is that in the walk of all-out race cars, Project Fox is slower than 90 percent of them, and at the end of the day, the timing lights don’t care what kind of fuel you’re burning, or whether or not your car has power windows and a stereo. We have no intentions of transforming Project Fox into a gutted, race-gas-burning, unstreetable package. Instead, we want to keep the street car vibe, throw on a pair of turbos, and shoot for 7s on pump gas. Wanna watch? Let us know!
After a long reprieve and...
After a long reprieve and an instant center adjustment, Project Fox ripped off its first 9-second pass. At this point, however, we’d made dozens of passes in the car and were numb to the power. Who knew that a 9-second car could feel so slow?
There’s a lot to like about...
There’s a lot to like about the Mickey Thompson 275/60-15 ET Street radials. On a good track, they hook like crazy, and are very stable thanks to their stiff sidewalls. However, they’re far less forgiving than a traditional bias-ply slick in less-than-ideal track conditions. On your typical test-and-tune night, when track prep is minimal at best, it can be quite a chore to try to get them to work. For consistency, you can’t beat a real slick.
When roaming town looking...
When roaming town looking for street vermin, Project Fox looks like any other poser Mustang. It’s a car you can certainly make some money with, if you’re into that kind of thing. One of the only downsides of the big-block is the big ugly hood it requires for carb clearance. In case you were wondering, 786 hp in a 2,950-pound car is ridiculously entertaining on the street.
Magazine guys aren’t the smartest...
Magazine guys aren’t the smartest people out there, so if we can build a 9-second car on the cheap, so can you. In the meantime, do you have a power adder we can borrow?