'98 Mustang Father/Son Project

[Doug Gompertz]

A very nice looking ride.

I remember a project with my dad on my 54 Chevy when I was 19 . . . I'm 72 now and dads been gone 20 years but the point is. . . I still remember it.

The memories you are building with your son today will stay with him all of his life.

More fathers and sons should do something like this. It's a game changer!

[threestang]

Its awesome that you two can share a project like this ! Like Doug said the memories will last a lifetime. My first car was a 1965 GT 2+2 that was pretty much rebuilt from the ground up at my fathers shop with the help from him ($$) and my older brother. I've had a love affair with the Mustang ever since. Some of the very best friends I have now are those I met in the Mustang community !

[GTstang]

This is a great story. I too did a 98 Mustang project with my son. We live in North Wilmington. From the looks of your pictures you are in the same area. I am the Regional Director and Events Director for the First State Mustang and Ford Club. We are always looking for new members especially fathers and sons. Why don't you come to one of our meetings or come out to our monthly cruise held at the Pike Creek Shopping Center the second Saturday of the month April through November. Really look forward to meeting up, Tim Narvell

[28HopUp]

Thanks Tim! We've gone to the Pike Creek show/cruise a few times, and it's a very nice event. I know that we will be tied up the weekend of the April show (we will be putting the final touches on installing the freshly rebuilt 5.0L in my 1985 SSP). We should be able to make the May show/cruise though.

As an update on our project, we now have the assembled, ported splitport heads in-hand. The ported lower intake and custom camshaft are enroute to us now. We plan to do the H/C/I swap the week after the April show. This Friday, we are taking the car to Performance Evolution in Smyrna, DE to do a couple of baseline dyno runs to see what the car will do in its relatively stock configuration. Once the new parts are installed, we will take the car back to PE for dyno tuning. That way we will be able to quantify the gains realized from the ported Windstar H/C/I swap.

[28HopUp]

I am active on other Mustang sites. One of them, www.MustangCollective.com, puts on an annual event called the Buckeye Brawl (#6 this year) at Thompson Raceway in Ohio. There was a group from MOCSEM, and members from Texas, Virgina, and other states - over 20 Mustangs together for a weekend of racing and friendship. We had such a great time this year.

Debbie, Jack, and I drove out in Jack's 98 project car, which is still a relatively stock 3.8L/5spd. The only go-fast mods are duals, suspension, drag radials, and 3.90:1 gears. Jack recently got his driver's license, and this was his first time running at the track. On the first run with the car, Jack rode along with me and I showed him what to do. Then he solo'd -




Photographs by John Stachlewicz


Jack did great mastering the clutch and line locks, and ended up making 11 passes at the Brawl, with a best ET of 16.5xx. Here's a video of one of Jack's first runs -


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imvqH...ature=youtu.be


The Brawl was the perfect place for him to race at the track for his first time, and he's hooked now for sure! We did slightly injure the car at the track - a broken lower control arm bushing came out from under the car during Jack's last run. But we limped it home without any real issues, other than the rear of the car kicking out left slightly with every shift. We will replace all of the LCA bushings this weekend.

Now Jack is re-thinking his future mods for the car.

[stevenkaty]

Thanks Jake!

As I understand it, you can swap both intakes (upper & lower) and split-port heads from a 99-04 3.8L onto the older single-port engines (94-98). You might be able to do a split-port swap onto the older 3.8L engines as well, but I'm not 100% sure. But you must match the lower/upper intakes to the correct head design in order for the swap to work (i.e. you can't simply swap the intakes). This will be our first time doing the swap, but I have several friends who can help us along the way if we encounter any problems. Once the mechanicals are handled, then we will have it towed to a local speed shop to be dyno tuned (due to the new camshaft).

yes, it looks very nice.

[28HopUp]

yes, it looks very nice.

Thanks, but I'm guessing you're a SPAMMER since your comment had nothing to do with what you quoted. Plus, you've got SPAM in your signature.




Here's what the busted LCA bushing looked like when it was ejected from under the car -



Jack and I used new MaximumMotorsports LCA's when we installed the 8.8" rear, but we subsequently learned that the ones we researched and installed ourselves are NOT recommended for use on the dragstrip. We removed the LCA's last night, and saw why -




As I said previously, we drove home from BB6 on that bad LCA, which wasn't a problem if I stayed at the speed limit. I assisted Jack last night in installing the new, better LCA's. Now he's back in good shape, and trying to decide on which way to go with his 3.8L (either a H/C/I splitport swap or a SuperCoupe FI swap). Either way, it will continue to be a great father/son project!

[28HopUp]

For about the price of two new rear tires, it looks like we will be picking up a wrecked (but running) 1993 Thunderbird SuperCoupe. This will be the donor for a 3.8L/M90 swap

[28HopUp]

Jack and I drove out to Flint, Michigan this past weekend to pick up that 1993 SuperCoupe. We borrowed a friend's trailer, and drove out there on Friday. After loading it up Saturday morning, we caught up with some friends at nearby Lapeer Dragway to see a new 2013 3.7L MCA convertible run for the first time. It's not my place to give out his ET's, but the car was SWEET!

Here are some pictures of Jack's new parts car. The first one shows me using the Come-Along to pull the car onto the trailer. Note the use of car dollies under the rear wheels.




The Come-Along only had a 6' length of pull, so once it was drawn up we had to reposition/shorten the yellow strap to pull it another 6', and repeat, and repeat, etc. Unloading it went about the same way, except once those dollies were on the garage floor I had Jack start it up and use the front brakes to ease it off the trailer. The car is at my parent's house, which is a 3-car unit my Dad built using recycled timbers from a barn he tore down across the street. With an 8"x10" overhead beam, I've used that Come-Along to remove several engines in the past. Just need to move some of my Mom's clutter to get the car positioned to remove the engine.








Jack is anxious to remove the engine and get going on the swap. The plan is to have the transplant done and running before school starts at the end of August.

[old5.0]

Great project, I love the idea of a blower 3.8 in an SN. I can't wait to start on projects like this with my own kids. They're only four but already obsessed with cars.