Words: Tommy Parry Images: Danny
Popular among drifters, amateur road racers and hooligans alike, the Foxbody Mustang is cheap, plentiful, powerful and versatile – no wonder it’s a regular platform for a Pro Touring build. Especially when a wrecking yard is offering one for $300, and a friend is helping with a tow and throwing in a smattering of modifications to boot! It’s nice to be connected.
The Mustang hadn’t been running for months, but in no time flat, Danny found a spun balancer and fixed the timing. Thirty minutes later, he had a running Foxbody in his possession, and subframe connectors, turbo coupe discs, SVO aluminum heads and a Trick Flow manifold to sweeten the deal.
Danny’s garage was quite full when he trailered the Mustang home that day, and put his Pony car at the bottom of his lengthy to-do list. However, one afternoon trip to the autocross changed all that. Spurred on by his new venture, despite the brake fade and the dry-rotted tires, Danny ordered up the following parts:
Cobra wheels, wrapped in Nitto NT05s 255/40 and 275/40, respectively, a ‘95 Cobra front brakes, and ‘95 GT rear brakes added some stick and stop. Additionally, Aerostar 5 lug axles, SN95 (‘94-‘95) spindles and front control arms (of course with some added urethane), MM CC Plates and bumpsteer kit, 04′ Cobra rack, and an MM solid steering column, a used Griggs Torque arm, a panhard bar, rear lower control arms, and a thicker rear sway bar helped the direction change. This full gamut ought to have provided the roadholding for which Danny was searching, but some considerable tuning was needed first.
With that arsenal of parts sparking new ideas, Danny’s mind shifted towards the specific concerns of an autocrosser, and ditched the heavy battery before tweaking the alignment. As Foxbodies are known to have a horrendous camber curve, Danny tweaked a full -2.5* out of each corner, which made tire conservation during runs to the shop and around town a nightmare. Even worse, after adjusting the front to -3*, he still had difficulty avoiding positive camber under full loading.
Then his wife gave him a considerate birthday present: a BartsWorks SLA front end, Koni coilovers, and fresh urethane motor/transmission mounts. Bringing this aging Mustang into the twenty-first century, this kit fixed the camber curves and lowered the roll center. For the retrofit, all Danny had to do was cut the driveshaft down a bit, move the swaybar mounting brackets forward, and shorten the exhaust to accommodate the engine setback.
To capitalize upon the new suspension setup, Danny grabbed a set of Tiger Racing fender flares and stuffed a set of 315- and 335-section tires in the front and rear, respectively.
A bit of bondo, some 3M fiberglass filler for the seam and hours of sanding later, and Danny’s Mustang had the hips and shoulder of authentic cone crusher. Some simple-yet-stylish rollers, XXR 531s measuring eleven inches across, added the final touch to the fancy footwork this car enjoys. In aggregate, those modifications made a noticeable difference in both the turn-in and the stability during direction changes, as seen below:
Despite the sporty stance, the sound and the inevitable tramlining for which a focused Pro Tourer is known, this Mustang still manages to get a few practical deeds done. It’s no Toyota Sienna, but it does look natural with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof.
