[Mr. Blue]

I've shared my plans for the trusty old 1985 Mustang SVO in the Project Cars thread in Pitstop, however I thought I might share a few pics of how the car stood pre-project and how it stands today to let everyone get a better feel for the old girl. My eventual goal is an all around track toy with the looks to make a few Mustang enthusiasts heads turn, and a few tricks up her sleeve that will get a double take when the hood is popped or when she's shooting down the straight with a turbo scream and a belch of flames from the exhaust.

The goals may be a bit lofty, but I figure if you're going to do it, do it right.

Right now:

Engine: 2003 Ranger Duratec 2.3 - Stock

Cooling: Large AFCO Radiator

Transmission: T5 sitting next to the house

Interior: Various car parts and an 89 GT interior

Suspension: Koni Double Adjustables, SN95 Front Lower Control Arms, SN95 Knuckles, Maximum Motorsports Camber/Caster Plates, Stock Springs, Stock bars

Brakes: SVO Stock 4 Wheel Discs

Wheels: 95 Cobra Wheels

On the list:

All of the above and...

Engine: GT28RS boosted and Intercooled Duratec 2.3, Eagle Rods, Custom Forged Pistons, Focus head, Cosworth Intake, Custom Cam, Custom 3" down pipe, Custom 3" Exhaust, Autronic controlled

Transmission: Cleaned T5 from next to the house

Interior: A couple of race buckets and my needed guages but for the most part still pretty empty

Suspension: Maximum Motorsports full length subframe connectors, a rebuilt TurboCoupe 8.8 with a T2R, H&R Maximum Motorsports Street Performance Springs 600-780/275-300, Maximum Motorsports Panhard Bar, Maximum Motorsports Rear Lower Control Arms

Brakes: 13" Cobra Take-offs front, stock SVO rear discs

Wheels: 17" x 9" Konig Villians

There has been some strong progress recently with the installation of the new front suspension and the purchase of the donor motor.

Car in poor running but drivable order 2 years ago:

Car looked okay in general but you can't tell how bad it was actually running in those photos, not to mention the fact that it had absolutely no exhaust after the downpipe. Although the turbo sounded fantastic, it was deafening a WOT.

Some photos from the engine teardown:

As you can see the pistons were a bit hosed and there were some mighty fine scratches in the the cylinder walls. This teardown started as just a check of the condition of the turbo (very cracked), and we just kept getting deeper and deeper until what do you know? No more engine, trans, or front suspension. There also aren't any pics of said front suspension, but believe me, it was pretty rough as well.

Some photos of recent progress:

Still quite a ways to go obviously but I am ecstatic at all of the giant steps we've made as of late. I hope to keep this thread updated with pics of the teardown of the recently aquired engine and the buidup to come.

I am of the opinion that a turbo'd Duratec 2.3 fits the spirit of the original SVO perfectly. And at the same time losing a giant chunk of weight off of the nose of the car can do nothing but good things for the handling.

Keep in mind in years to come that if you see my cheerful face smiling at you from the seat of a humdrum white SVO behind you on track, you might think about moving on over, because it just might not be quite what it seems.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

I just want to say thank you to my roommate, and honestly one of my best friends, Lorin (Omnifocus). He has been with me since the first nut came off of this car and I know I will be leaning on him quite a bit as the project progresses. Without his help I would be dead in the water.

Demonfire - Sorry, no extra T-5's. Just the one that will be going back into the car after a rebuild. As for motormounts, we will be using the pieces we recieved from the Ranger as well as the Lima pieces from the SVO and fabricating the mounts for the new engine. Should be a decent size project in itself.

SteveO - Sorry no more links or pictures as you are looking at the current progress on the car. I expect some pretty rapid progress from here on out though so stay tuned...more pics and updates are on the way.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

nice pick on ecu

Thanks, I picked it up for a steal and look forward to working with it.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Nope. The truck was bought pretty much solely to tow the Mustang.

I actually just replaced the truck as my daily driver with a "beater" 94 Sentra. The truck will spend most of it's time just hangin out now.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Post from the dead.

Life has been interesting for the past year but I can say for sure that the car has definitely not had enough progress in the past year. But a bonus at work allowed me to pick up a few parts just recently which will alow Lorin and I to make some drastic progress in the next few months.

Prepare to see some progress people including hopefully the car on the ground THIS weekend for the first time in two years or so.

Lorin says I've just been allowing the metal to relax a little.

I picked up the Maximum Motorsports front coil-over kit for my Koni Double Adjustables. Fit together like a dream and now hung in the car right below the Maximum Motorsports camber/caster plates.

This will not be going into the car this weekend but is a cool part from Quad4Rods. It is the bellhousing for the Duratec to T-5. Nice looking cast piece. It will be getting a little paint before going on the car.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

And its on the ground! Progress is great! I am very happy to have the front suspension back together and the car on the ground for the first time in 2 years. Damn I'm a slacker.....and too poor for an undertaking like this...but mostly a slacker.

Brand New hubs courtesy of Steve at Tousley Ford. Great prices and service! Thanks Steve!

'04 Mustang GT brakes. Eventually plan on stepping up to Cobra brakes but with the car weighing in at around 2650 lbs. or so when completed the GT brakes should do a pretty decent job to begin with.

It feels good to bolt up a wheel. A little less tire than I plan on running but it only needs to sit on these 225 V700's for now with a possible roll down the driveway if we need to push it out of the way.

OMG! The car is on the ground! The car is on the ground! Cobra Wheels FTW! These wheels are definitely in need of a bit of restoration, but I think once they have been cleaned up a bit and had a bit of paint applied here and there they will make a nice set of street wheels. If this car is ever able to legally see the street. :lol:

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Still going just going nice and slow.

The turbo manifold is on order and the crank will be going out shortly for a checkup. After that, the long block will be ready to assemble.

In the past couple weeks we have gotten the front sway-bar installed with the new poly bushings, trunk latch re-installed (I know I know, why was it out?), cowl panel re-installed, and gas tank dropped to empty out the 5 year old gas, install the 255 LPH Walbro, reapiant it and install the new fuel lines to replace the old plastic lines.

Slow but steady progress. A poor mans budget and complete lack of free time keeps this project moving at a nice slow pace. LOL. But she's still moving. Expect to see some pretty big updates in the next 6 months.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Crank is back and will be picked up tonight. Expect a few pictures of that although it is not particularly exciting looking. Should be a nice solid progress update coming up in the next few weeks though as we will be assembling the long block.

Still thousands and thousands of dollars away from complete though.

I should have it ready to enjoy by the time that I'm 40.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

dude. this is gonna be epic! deffantaly contact 5.0 Mustang for a mag shoot when its done. turbo Duratec 2.3 swap. update for the ages for the SVO's. YES!

Still plenty of time to do that before it is done.:lol:

Although I sure wish it were done a whole lot faster. With my budget, in retrospect, I probably should not have taken it apart all at once but we live and learn.

So I only need another 10-12 thousand dollars and I'll be in good shape.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

OK. Parts are here!

Thanks to lowlifestyle for hooking me up with the crank shop and it looks as though we will be assembling the long block this weekend.

Expect some assembly pics, along with a few of some of the other progress over the past 6 months or so.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Okay, so the progress from this weekend...

The majority of the long block is assembled. I had to order a couple more parts that had been missed in the initial order. Still waiting on ARP Main Studs, an oil pump gasket, and the rear main seal which is not included in the Ford rebuild kit. Ford isn't all that friendly when it comes to rebuilding a Duratec.

We plastigauged and measured twice as we put everything together and it looks like so far so good.

I also included a few of the other things that I have done in the past few months.

It's slow progress, but it is definitely progress. On to the pictures.

New brake booster and cleaned original SVO master cylinder and distribution block

Repainted stock SVO swaybar (which may be too big around or PERFECT for the new lighter duratec) mounted in poly

Cleaned and painted gas tank with new Walbro 255 lph fuel pump installed.

New Flaming River steering shaft to replace the floppy and tired stock Mustang rag joint.

NOS dash pad with none of the cracks that come standard on Mustangs of this era. :lol:

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

I very much needed to put a thank you in here for Norcal's lowlifestyle as this past weekends progress was in large part due to his help. Somehow I didn't end up with many pictures of him working although he did probably 90% of the work completed this weekend.

He not only did the work but took the time to explain and show me what he was doing along the way.

Thanks Ryan!

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

It's actually probably uglier than the last time you saw it. :lol:

It gets a wash once in a while but the outdoors have not been kind to it and mixed with its lowered front suspension, stock rear, and mismatched wheels at this point, it's just not pretty.

But it will get there. The last step is a hell of a deep polish from my friend Carin along with some trim paint, restored wheels, and new tires. She'll be beautiful again.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Huge progress this weekend with pics to prove it tonight.

Think...engine in SVO.

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Okay. 39 Pictures. Most should be self explanatory but I will happily answer any questions. Most definite thanks go out to my awesome roommate OmniFocus and our most awesome of friends lowlifestyle. You guys rock and have really driven the project recently.

On with the pictures...

 

[Mr. Blue]

Re: This old dog has a few new tricks!

Well, Lorin pretty much handled that question. We did some checking though just to see where the motor will sit fully dressed (Lorin stood on the motor) and it looks like it will have PLENTY of room even fully dressed.

 

[Mr. Blue]

It was actually much faster than you would think using a nice sharp hack saw blade and a good quality cutting oil.

I won't lie, it was hard on the arms, but it was still reasonable.

We had an air-saw and a cutting wheel there but those seemed like they were taking even longer.

By the way, don't tell the SVO guys that I cut up an authentic SVO hood. I think they might scream. :lol:

 

[Mr. Blue]

Yeah I know better than to post it there. But honestly, the car had a toast engine and no original SVO interior when I got it. I haven't really changed much that couldn't be reversed at this point.

Oh well anyways really. It's my car. I'm just attempting a modern interpretation of an SVO Mustang. An SVO restomod if you will.

 

[Mr. Blue]

I believe you played a large part in cutting up the center console didn't you?

 

[Mr. Blue]

:lol: Sure thing Dev. That has got to add some value.