New Project Car - 1992 Mustang LX

You asked for it

and you're getting it

some budget boltons that'll deliver the most horsepower possible for your hard earned money

in the platform. A 92 Mustang LX.

Yeah. But before we tear into this budget build up, we got a button up our dirt track project. This is an open wheel modified race car that we're building up. And it started with an I MC A approved chassis.

I guess we'll always be true to our drag racing routes. But when it comes to wild Real World circle track competition,

these modified are ripping up a mean group.

Last week, we put together our GM small block engine to power it

and we filled it with parts. We got from speedway motors. Then after May to get to our lightweight tranny from Falcon racing, we dropped them both into the car.

The ignition system is up next and this is where reliability and adjust ability are vital, especially in circle track racing. So this set up we got from crane seems to fit the bill for both

counts.

The street race distributor is adjustable for both mechanical and vacuum advance and it's got an optical trigger design. For precise fire and even under extreme racing conditions,

it's all loaded inside a solid billet housing that won't flex at high RPM. S

the rest of our package includes a smaller lightweight coil, a high six ignition box and a set of 8.5 millimeter silicone race wires.

You wanna keep things simple, lightweight and compact in a modified set up. So, with that in mind, we got ourselves, one of these tandem fuel and power steering pumps from KSC,

it uses one shaft drive to operate both pumps. Now, this is the power steering side with an internal pressure relief valve.

This is the fuel pump side with the inlet bypass and two pressure outlets.

This thing comes with all the hardware like brackets, you need to mount it

and use the standard A and fittings.

Now we finish running our fuel lines from the filter here

over to the fuel regulator mounted on the chassis and of course fed by the pump

and two lines running from it

to our carburetor.

Next, we can fill the reservoirs with brake fluid

and bleed the system

then install the remote oil filter. We already filled with oil and plumb the lines to the pan.

Then we can bolt up the drive shaft, no measurements needed. Here. There are only two sizes used, one for a Ford and one for a Chevy.

Finally, we can hook up our gauges

man. I can't believe how simple the wiring on this race car is look at this from the ignition box. We have this weather pack connector. The red goes to a positive 12 volt source, the white to attack

the heavy black goes to a positive and negative for the coil in this group.

Ok. Well, that's the hook up for the distributor. Don't you wish your street machine was this easy to wire up, man? I sure do. Well, the seat for our modify is pretty simple too, but it's also got to be strong and lightweight.

Now, this one comes from Kirky and it has double reinforced ribs, uh contoured bottom and this leg separator. Now, once it's bolted into the car, we'll add supports for the shoulder

and head for extra safety.

Four boats keep the seat secured to the chassis and well, this five point harness from impact will keep Mike's butt secured to the seat.

We're keeping this hot racer cool with an aluminum Griffin racing radiator. Now, this thing has two rows of one inch tubes

and notice how we added this Nomex honeycomb protector in front to keep dirt and debris from entering the radiator.

Next, we filled this reservoir for the hydraulic clutch

and for the power steering installed this KSC reservoir

bulked up the fan

and for the last piece of hardware attack that we'll get to use in a few minutes.

So after filling up all the fluids and handling some last minute details including purging the fuel system

guess what, we're ready to see if this little modified monster is going to fire

before a

dyno run a quick check for any leaks, strange vibrations or heating issues and to make sure we have working gauges and plenty of back.

Well, we do have a little oil leak under here, but

not that big a deal and definitely not enough to keep us away from the

dyno Cat.

The idea here is to break in the motor slowly

so we'll warm it up to about 100 and 70 degrees. Shut it down and let it cool for at least a half hour

and repeat that several times

this way. We make sure the whole drive train is broken in before we make a modest run for the numbers.

This whole process took a couple of hours, but it was well worth it. We don't want to hurt the motor, especially before we wind it up at the track anyways. We're ready for a dyno run,

man. That thing hit the red line quick, but we got 441 horsepower without an engine tune up.

I know we got another 100 in it at least.

Yeah, this thing's almost ready to race, but we have to finish skinning it, put on a wrap and even get some practice out on the track. That's gonna be a blast and pretty affordable when you think about it. We've got 12.5 grand in this thing. Minus the engine, the tranny and

the engine. Well, the only thing we're gonna tell you is we spent about 525 bucks because we don't want you to claim it before we have some fun with it.

Well, coming up, we're gonna show you some horsepower for the street

on the cheap. So stay with us.

Welcome back to the shop where we just broke new ground with our modified race car. Now to give this street car some horsepower without breaking the bank.

There's our starting 0.100 91 horse power as we kick off a budget build up that many of you have been begging for what a great platform for it. An old 5 L Fox body that

lends itself to all kinds of upgrades. You can get one pretty cheap these days too like we did with our 92 LX. Now, today we're going to treat this 1 to 8 popular power upgrades for budget of 1400 bucks.

We're spending our 1st 150 bucks on an ignition upgrade. Now, the stock set up in the 5 L wasn't that bad from the factory, but under hood heat and weathering will take its toll. So we stepped up and got this set up from Excel that comes with their 8.8 race wires, a higher voltage coil, a cap rotor and even a set of plugs.

The plugs and wires are usually the best place to start but always be sure to use a little bit of ants

on the threads of the new plug before you put it into the head.

Next, we can replace the rotor

and the cap

it's followed by the coil. Now, if you already have aftermarket mods done to your engine, you might even wanna consider an aftermarket ignition box

to finish this upgrade. We're also gonna replace the battery. It seemed to be a little slow starting the mustang

and we're replacing it with this deep cycle we got from Optima.

Now we'll make

dyno runs after each upgrade to see how much horsepower bang we're getting for our bucks

looks like we only freed up about four with the ignition swap, but it's an important foundation for everything else to come.

The next set of upgrades has to do with moving more air in and out of the motors. Now, all 5 L before 1994 had an air silencer in this intake which somebody's removed already

to free up a few more horsepower.

However, we're taking it a big step further by replacing this also restrictive inlet tube

with a 76 millimeter mass airflow system from CNL. While we're at it, we'll also swap out the filter in the stock air box with this filter charger from K and N

and to complete our air intake improvements. How about this larger 70 millimeter throttle body from BBK

along with this high flow EGR plate

with our first gasket in place and the stock EGR valve transfer to the plate, we could slide it

over the studs here.

Next with a gasket on the throttle body, we can slide it into place.

The CNL tube can go on the throttle body. After of course, re attaching all the factory sensors.

Hey, Joe, take a look at this. The original filter probably is. Well, this high flow filter is gonna make a big difference in the air flow.

Finally, after reinstalling the air box and this factory mass air sensor, our air inlet upgrades are a done deal. Now, this whole set of upgrades set us back about 400 bucks.

Let's see what it buys us on the

dyno Jet

looks like nine more horsepower.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. That's not a big bang for those 400 bucks, but bear in mind

an engine is just a glorified air pump. So all that new incoming air has got to have a place to go.

So let's see what happens when we address that situation

for the next set of upgrades. We've got to move the Mustang onto our lift. You can handle this project at home in your driveway though, with a good set of jack stands,

Mike's removing the stock each pipe which wasn't a bad set up from the factory, but there's room for improvement, especially after a header swap.

The old ones on Bolton come out from the top after the air injection tubes are removed.

Mustang started using these back in 86. Now, they were a big improvement over the stock cast iron manifolds, but they do have a lot of kinks and intentions in them. Now that did make them install quicker in the assembly line, but a restricted airflow considerably.

Now, these new shorties we got from BBK have an inch in 58 tubing. And unlike most shorties, each tube is equal length to get the same exhaust flow from each cylinder and they're coated in chrome for a better look

after dropping in the new headers from the top. Here's a tip for installing the gaskets

with the two outer bolts securing the header to the head slide, the gasket into place and it'll stay put while you finish bolting it up.

This replacement X pipe from BBK measures in at 2.5 inches. So it's a little larger in diameter than stock. Plus, it incorporates high flow

C

which would give us a little more torque than an off road unit.

The kit also comes with this hose to reattach the air tube

and in case you're wondering even with the high flow cats,

we'll still be able to pass emissions with flying colors.

Hey, you guessed it, we're going to replace the cat back too. Plus we've got a few more tricks up our sleeve for the budget build up. So stick with us.

Hey, welcome back to horsepower's budget build up on our 92 Mustang Fox body. We

got started with an ignition upgrade.

We made it inhale better with a 70 millimeter throttle body EGR plate, high performance intake tube and high flow air filter.

Then we added a set of better flowing headers

and a new bigger X pipe with high flow cats.

Well, now we're gonna make that Mustang exhale even better with this. It's a flow master American Thunder Cat back set up with 2.5 inch pipes feeding into these two chamber Delta flow muffler.

Plus they've got these cool stainless tips to complete the cat back system.

Here's a tip that'll make this whole installation a lot easier all the way from the header to the tail pipe

with everything bolted loosely in place. Go ahead and put a jack underneath the back of the X pipe and raise it up a couple of inches

tighten first at the header collectors.

Then at the mufflers,

this way, the system stays tucked to the bottom of the car and away from objects in the road and speed bump.

And why don't you say we go heat this new system up on the dyno Jet?

Remember our baseline was 100 and 91 horsepower. We've topped that so far by about 13.

Now, let's see what we get with the mustang inhaling and exhaling better.

Hey, guess what? We got 14 more that time. Hey, now we're finally getting somewhere, you bet. And we still got some money left in our budget and what better way to spend it than on an underdrive pulley swap. This three piece set we got from March increases power by slowing down the accessory drive. Now, it's designed for the street and should install in about an hour

with the serpentine belt still in place. That'll keep tension on the water pump pulley so we can loosen our bolts.

Now, we can remove the belt,

the fan

and the shroud

with all the pulleys removed. This will give you an idea just how small the new crank pulley is.

The new alternator pulley is smaller in diameter. So don't worry, it won't affect the charging system at all.

The water pump pulley is a little larger in diameter, so it'll keep the cooling system cooling sufficiently.

Now, we can reinstall the fan,

the shroud and the belt,

ok. The pulley kits all bolted up and uh we're out of money by the way, but hopefully not out of extra horsepower. See what happens.

All right, man. What's the deal? Don't keep me waiting.

Don't be too impatient. We made another five horsepower for a total of 223. Now, like Joe said, we are out of money, but we do have another horsepower trick up our sleeve and it won't cost a dime stick with us.

Hey, welcome back to horsepower and our budget build up on this 92 Mustang of ours.

And if they sure sounds stouter than it did before. Ok. As promised, here's that little trick that should free up some extra horsepower for you. And best of all, it won't cost you a dime.

These 5 L came from the factory with a pretty modest timing setting anywhere from 6 to 10 degrees before top dead center.

Now, by increasing the timing, you're gonna free up a few more horsepower and improve the throttle response and all you need to do it is a timing light in a half inch socket

with the engine running disconnect the EF I spout connector.

Then using the light and wrench slowly advance the timing in 1 to 2 degree intervals

with the selected advanced set, tighten the distributor, hold down and reinstall the spout connector.

Next go drive the car listening for any detonation which will result in a pinging sound from the engine. Now, if this happens, go ahead and retard the timing in single degree intervals until the sound is gone. Now, I've got to admit we've got this Mustang maxed out timing wise that we have, but you can probably find some extra power in yours, especially if the engines bone stock. All right, let's take stock of what we've done today on this budget build up.

The ignition upgrade gave us four horsepower,

the new intake parts about nine,

the headers X pipe and exhaust another 14

and the under drive pulleys about five

that's 32 extra horsepower for a little over 1500 bucks.

And ok, we did go over budget a little bit but hey, this show is called horse power, not the prices. Right. Right.

Here's a sure way to put some shine under your hood while putting some performance in your motor. Edel Brock's new A BS and performance series carbs are now available in their enduro

finish. Now, this is an industry first for carburetor.

And of course, you get unsurpassed reliability with a chrome like finish, that's sure to enhance any engine package. And of course, like all Edelbrock Carreers, they're ready to bolt on right out of the box with prices starting at 400 bucks.

This composite X Pro Bandit shifter from B and M just may be the best looking, best performing shifter for your race car ever.

You get the sleek lines of the pro bandit, the aggressive rake of the magnum grip all in real carbon fiber. You save weight because it's so light, you save space because it's so ne

and you get easy shifts every time because of the gate mechanism. Now this ram cylinders extra, of course, but you can get the whole shifter kit for a little over 360. Well, we're done with today's horsepower but not done with the Mustang or the modified racer.

They'll be back soon and we hope you're back next week.