Project Nightmare Pt.3

Hey, welcome to Horsepower TV. Where this weekend? It's you, me

and the mustang.

It seems my partner Chuck found an excuse to take the weekend off. Uh Could it be because we're working on my project nightmare?

I don't know. Anyway, before we pump up the power and appearance of this GT I got a special treat for you. We're going to an event full of some of the proudest ponies ever to wear a mustang badge.

It's a national celebration of a legendary muscle car,

the place Nashville superspeedway, one of the hottest new circle tracks in the south.

Well, this weekend, instead of Winston Cup cars, the infield garage is filled with classic Cobras and Shelby.

You see for the last 28 years, members of the Shelby American Automobile Club have gathered to celebrate a rich heritage

of cars built by or at least influenced by one of the most famous names in high performance history.

It's a history that goes back 50 years when a young Texan named Carol Shelby was winning races around the world behind the wheel of his Aston Martin.

That is before his career was cut short due to heart problems. By then, Shelby had been working secretly on a plan to build the ultimate racing sports car.

After its introduction in 1963 the Shelby AC was dominating tracks across the country becoming a true American legend.

After building his 1st 427 version to one up, the Corvette Ford enthusiasts were begging for the Shelby Magic on the street.

This GT 350

is a racing version of Ford's Mustang two plus two.

We set the cars up for racing by installing special components, racing shocks and so on.

We're doing a lot of testing as well.

The Shelby GT 500 with this 427 cube big block was introduced in 1967. All 2000 of them.

Hi, how you doing

at this recent National convention of the Shelby American Automobile Club. The legend himself was there to sign autographs

and hundreds of visitors lined up to pay 50 bucks to meet their hero and help a good cause

I have a heart transplant and a kidney transplant. And I said I was going to

create something back to society

and we have a Carol Shelby Children's Foundation that we help with transplantation. We help all kind of kids.

And uh

that's my way of saying thank you.

In addition to mixing it up on the road course, there are a couple of car shows here. One where cars are judged against the highest standards of restoration.

One of those, the sad things is that the more cars get restored,

the fewer originals are gonna be left and at some point they'll all be restored and nobody will know what they really look like. And that's why we have a Survivor's class.

This Hank Williams is no country singer, but his original 289 Shelby sure is something to sing about.

It's got 100 and 31,000 miles on it and he still drives it.

I know where all the chips and scratches are,

but I'm not allowed to change it.

You know, being the original. So every crack you keep going with the car.

Well, I guess it's safe to say this car will be with you and your ancestors

indefinitely. Right? I hope it will.

And if not, uh I insist on them, burying me with this car

over the years, the S A AC has opened its doors to just about any kind of Mustang Ford or for

powered car.

And the chance to turn a loose on the track is the ultimate thrill.

They take their car out on the track and

they come back in and say I did 100 and 25 on the back straight. Nobody can prove that they did and nobody can prove that they didn't,

they're happy,

happy. That is

unless you don't have a car to play with.

Of course, you can always bring your wallet.

It's the best place in the world to buy one and it's the worst place in the world to buy one.

It's the best place because

there are cars here available,

but it's a good place to come to compare.

It's the worst place because when you come here without a car, everybody else seems to have a car and you feel like the odd man out.

Ok, let's pretend we're in a buying mood. How about this? Gt 501 of 89 built that year with a 428 Coba Ram Air Motor

suggested value

140 grand suggested strategy.

Uh Keep looking.

Now, of course, Carol's putting his blessing on a few new old Shelby cars

like the GT 500 E

the ES for Eleanor

star of the movie. Gone in 60 seconds. Well, Carol has been looking to do some continuation cars. Uh You know, one is he didn't build all that many in the sixties and there were some much money now, you know,

and uh the movie gave us uh the, the excuse to build the car

uh with Shelby's name with modern technology. This one here is what we call our performance package.

It's uh 351 Windsor stroke to 408

with 475 horsepower

and all Shelby to,

oh Eleanor, you're so sweet.

I feel like Nicholas Cage already.

Yeah.

Well, he's making a few more bucks than I am. So, while this toy may be worth 100 grand to some folks, I think I'll keep looking.

Of course, the man himself is still making Cobras and I think I look pretty good in this 40th anniversary special edition

and it could be mine for 87 grand. Of course, with the transmission and a blown stroke 427 gonna be a little extra.

That's the one I'm buying today. 64 Cobra 427. That's never been driven and guess what?

It never will be, I guess unless it grows up to be like that one.

That's a start.

Hi. Welcome back to the horsepower shot. We just made a baseline run on project nightmare here. If your game,

let's see what we got to work with.

Well, it looks like

about 100 and 83 horsepower.

That's what we got to work with.

Now, in case you missed previous episodes with our project nightmare,

let me bring you up to speed a bit.

We enhanced the handling of the GT with new shocks,

stiffer springs,

subprime connectors and control arms.

But the only power ADDers we installed and left on the car were a larger throttle body

and the high flow exhaust system.

Those two enhancements of course, help the Mustang to breathe better but somewhat like a puzzle with a missing piece. This Pony's respiratory system has a missing link and that of course is a set of performance headers, one of the best boltons

for the buck and we'll install these a little bit later. First though, we're gonna try out a performance piece that's not a bolton, actually, it's a plug in.

This is a max micro tuner from Super chip. So now I've been dying to try one of these things. Now, they've got them for late model fords and GM cars with unmodified stock engines. This little tool allows you to reprogram your vehicle to maximize horsepower and torque and improve drivability. Plus if you have an automatic transmission, which of course, I don't, you can also change the shift points and shift firmness. In any event, you can use this thing as a diagnostic tool to tell you what those warning lights really mean

before you use it though. Make sure you got a well charged battery with no drain on it. And

I'm sorry, that means you can't listen to the stereo while you work on your car or even have your cell phone plugged in.

Now, on the Mustang here, we also need to go into this power distribution box,

remove the fuel pump fuse and again, that's to prevent drain on the battery.

Next, take your micro tuner and plug the cable into it

and lock it down.

Now we go into the car

and with the ignition still in the opposition, we'll take the other end of the cable, go under the dash

and plug into the car's diagnostic port.

Well, now we're ready to reprogram

or once you shut the doors, make sure you leave them shut. Because again, you don't wanna draw any power, by the way, these things are engineered at the factory to work on one car and one car only try using your buddies and you'll get a display that says,

well, tough luck. I know this one's new. So let's turn the ignition just to the on position and see what happens.

And the display reads A for tune, vehicle b for diagnostics.

Of course, we want a for tuning.

Now, from here on the micro tuner does all the prompting. All you have to do is push a few keys and well, in less than five minutes you're done.

Well, check this. We had an extra five horsepower at peak, but the real story is back here in the mid and lower range where we had 10 extra horsepower.

And I tell you what, I'll take that any day for a few minutes work and didn't even get my hands dirty.

Now, it should go without saying that our super chips micro tuner didn't make that horsepower. The mustang just told the computer to free it up. By the way, there are other options for many vehicles to change your speed limiter, rev limiter, even make adjustments in your speedometer and odometer for changes in gearing and wheel and tire sizes in any event. Don't forget your stock information is stored in this little box. So hang on to it

and hang on to your seat. There's more ahead for project nightmare right after the break.

Next week, Chuck is back to help Joe drop the monster 572 in their Nova project. But right now here's more project nightmare.

Well, I got Project nightmare up in the air for phase two of today's power

buns in case you're just joining the show, I reprogrammed the computer with a micro tuner from super chips, got an extra five horses at peak 10 in the lower range.

Most of you guys know that headers are one of the most efficient ways to free up horse power. But some of you novices may be wondering why.

Let me show you

this cutaway engine is not a Ford, but the principle is the same during the exhaust stroke, the piston is trying to push all the gasses out this exhaust port and

into this stock manifold which is shared by four cylinders. Well, the problem is that causes resistance caused by back pressure and well, that means a loss of power.

Meanwhile, with these full length headers from BBK that we're gonna use each cylinder gets its own exhaust pipe. By the way, this is computer mander bit one and five eights inch tubing feeding into a collector with a three eights laser cut flange and a standard ceramic finish.

Now to make the installation complete, we're gonna use one of their matching H pipes that come with a pair of catalytic converters

after disconnecting the battery and the four oxygen sensors,

you can remove the stock H pipe,

then removed the engine cross member support bar

on both the starter and get it out of the way for better access to the passenger side manifold bolts

on both the steering shaft and swing it out of the way from the racks.

Then on both the stock manifold boats

and remove the motor mount nuts.

I'm using a block of wood and a jack to get the engine up just enough to get the manifolds out and the new headers in.

Oh,

I shouldn't have to tell you this now, but in case you're doing this in the driveway, better be using those jack stands. I want you to be around to enjoy your new headers.

Let's see if we get that thing out. Now,

while I was under there, I noticed the original motor mounts from the mustang are totally shot. The rubber is almost gone. So no time like the present to replace them with some new ones.

Here's a little tip that'll make installing your headers a lot easier.

Put four of your old studs in a vice and remove the nuts.

Put a dab of silicone on your gaskets

and with the studs in place, your gaskets will stay put

while you use the studs as a guide for installing the headers.

Now you can tighten your headers down with new boats from the kit.

Ok. These new headers are now connected to the

pipe

and don't they look good.

Now, I got the sensors back in place, the starters reinstalled and the steering box, cross memberm sections back in.

Hey, I guess I'm done under here.

One more thing.

It never hurts to have fresh motor oil when you're putting your engine through the paces like this. So before we make another dyno Jet run,

I'm gonna give some of this Quaker state synthetic blend a shot.

It says it's formulated for high performance engines, make it over 200 horsepower.

And I know the nightmare is gonna make it there this time.

That's more like it. 204 horsepower at the rear wheels. I think that's 16 more than I had when I started this header project. No wonder guys will tell you that headers are one of the best bang for the buck when it comes to extra horsepower. Oh by the way, a BBK set like mine will set you back about 420 without the ceramic coating H pipe, of course, is extra.

Now, I gotta tell you with these late models since it's all crowded under there, you're gonna have to do some wrestling and finagling to get your headers in, but stick with it, get the boats tight and check for leaks.

Well, now that we freed up some ponies in the project nightmare, I think it's time to give this steed some striking new looks look no further than right here after the break.

Want the latest on horsepower, check out our website at Horsepower tv.com.

There's nothing like a little cosmetic makeover to make any car. Even this Honda here attracts some eyeballs on the street.

So after pumping up the power and the project nightmare, I think it's time to liven up its looks too.

In fact, it's just about begging for one of the most popular add ons you can get for a drop top. GT check this out.

I got this light bar kit from a place called California Mustang. And what I got back was this cool bar. Of course, plus all the mounting hardware, some templates and even electrical connectors. The bar itself, by the way, is made of sturdy one and a quarter inch steel tubing

covered by a sleek durable vinyl shell. Now, this is available in colors to match your interior

including of course black.

The first step is to remove the back seat by pressing in on a couple of spring loaded tabs that hold it in place.

Then after moving a couple of 10 millimeter bolts,

the back of the seat will come out

on the floor loosen and remove the seatbelt retainer.

Then you can loosen

and remove the quarter trim panels

loosen and remove the speakers, lay them aside,

then take a putty knife

and loosen and remove this inner corner cover

with that out of the way I can install these mounting brackets for the light bar. What I'm gonna do is take this little rivet that came with our kit

and use an existing hole here on the B pillar for reference.

Now, I can mark and drill a couple of holes.

Here's where you need a whole saw in order to drill through the door frame

and with the correct bracket behind the B pillar

pop rivet in place

using the templates from the kit. I transferred the patterns to the interior panels and drilled holes.

I'm running my wire through this panel which is loosely installed.

Now, I wanna drop the light bar into those holes. I make,

I can now both the bar to the brackets

and cover the holes with these caps from the kit.

After you locate this wiring harness behind the back seat,

we'll go ahead and tap into the brake lights

with these connectors from the kit.

Wiring is all tucked away the back seat securely in place.

There's only one step left in this light bar installation. That's the press on the brake and

all right, we got light a little extra safety and style to boot. Well,

speaking of boot,

we ain't done yet.

There's nothing attractive about a rag top all wadded up behind the back seat.

I really like those hard tunnel covers, but it's not too much fun in a driving rain. So

I thought I'd try this soft tunnel cover that I also got from California Mustang.

Now, this thing's made of heavy duty vinyl. It's a perfect complement to the new light bar and the best part is

it installs in a couple of minutes.

Ok.

First from inside the trunk need to remove these six screws along this lining here and replace them with the snap screws that come with a kit.

Attach the back of the tunnel cover to the snaps.

Yeah.

Slide these outside tabs under the liner.

Finally, after tucking in some tabs under the rear seat cushion, you're done.

So after a little bit of work and a little over 600 bucks for the bar and the tunnel cover,

you got yourself a staging that stands out ahead of the herd

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Well, our time is just about up, but I do wanna remind you not to miss one minute of horsepower TV. In coming weeks. Among other things, we're gonna take our project Kingfish and show you how to install a fuel cell and plumb the fuel system. Our project supernova is back as well. We make some custom headers for it

and install a high performance wiring harness that's just for starters. Meanwhile, Chuck and I will see you next week.