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Old 01-18-2022, 10:08 PM
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PBarkley PBarkley is offline
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Default A build to keep memories alive...

I have to start this thread off by stating that this is a build I never would've anticipated, or would have ever wished to have taken on.

The subject car is a 1993 Ford Mustang LX, began life as a 4 cyl/4 lug car.



I say that I never wished to take this project on, as it was my best friend's car. My best friend from 4th grade, best man in my wedding, and my closest confidant even over most of my family and my wife. There were no secrets between us. Jonathan bought the car as pictured above, and in 10 months it went from missing virtually everything to this:



It was his first full-fledged project car and he had assembled an absolute UNIT of a foxbody. Air conditioning, power steering, complete interior and a very capable 306CID engine built by a very reputable engine builder local to us. Just as he was getting the final mechanical tweaking done, he passed away in July of 2020. I am glad I had the foresight to take some pictures of him during the build.







A few months after his passing and things cleared up, his family permitted me to buy the car from his estate. Again, no secrets between us, so I knew what his intent for this car was all along. When I acquired it, it was still on the stock (and heavily used) WCT5 transmission, which didn't last much longer. Previous discussions revolved around a TKO setup, but by this time the new TKX had been released...




And needless to say...with the car making 340whp on motor alone, the new transmission is an absolute godsend over the T5.



So far, the only changes I've made to the car have been the transmission and the addition of these Recaro Trophy seats (sourced from a Volkswagen GTi of the same era) as the original seats left a lot to be desired in terms of bolster support...plus these are virtually a perfect match for the black leather trim and grey cloth interior of the car.




Long term plan is to go Vortech V1 as this was his intent. The engine was built with that intention, the transmission will handle it. Paint work will be completed by a friend we graduated high school with that has SEMA builds on his resume.

Short term goals...daily drive it, and seat time. Acquired some 17x8 Cobra wheels for track days, and the StopTech pieces just showed up. Nothing fancy, just OEM SN95 replacement parts for now.


I figure this is just one way to keep his memory alive, to put this car out there for all our friends to at least see what he built. It will never fulfill the loss, but anytime someone sees the car in traffic or at the gas station and asks about it, I get a chance to tell them about how and why the car is special to me.

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- Peter -- 66 Le Mans - 93 LX 5.0 --
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