Words: Tommy Parry
In 2013, just before the birth of Dan’s second daughter, he bought a ‘64 Mustang from a friend of mine who needed to clean house. Up to this point, Dan had been intimately involved with old Porsches – most specifically as a Porsche Club of America instructor – and felt the urge to take something other than his trusty 944 to the track.
A ‘64.5 Mustang would do. When he grabbed the car, it was missing a motor and transmission. Despite looking quite nice and having very little rust, it still needed plenty of work. So, Dan first stripped the car down to a shell, sandblasted everything and covered it in epoxy primer. The 50-year-old-car needed a floor pan replacement and a quarter panel, but that was mostly it. With some impressive metalworking skills, Dan built a rotisserie to work on the car and used it to help weld in his frame ties and fit his torque boxes.
Around this point he fitted the front and rear with AJE suspension and Ridetech coilovers, and since the front setup allowed him to use just about any motor-transmission package, he went with something affordable – and slightly exotic, too.
The affordable element is the 6.0-liter LY6 fresh out of a Chevy truck, and the exotic element is the Aston Martin-sourced T-56, which relies on a Camaro bellhousing for an easy fit. The T-56 was cheap, but it’s considerably larger than the standard transmission, so Dan had to cut the tunnel to fit the new piece. That gearbox would send power back to the Quick Performance 9” rear with 35-spline axles and a Richmond Powertrax Grip PRO differential-
To ensure some decent turn-in, Dan went with an SN95’s steering and wheels. Potent brakes are high on the list of a track car’s requirements, so he opted for Cobra 13″ units, with a Cobra master cylinder mounted on a stock booster – which fits surprisingly well after very little work. The rear brakes use a GM metric caliper with custom mounts and 11″ rotors. Hawk Racing pads help provide repeatable stops, and the 275- and 295-sections offer the necessary stick, especially when shod in RT615K tires.
With the footwork and the powertrain sorted, Dan could focus on replacing the bumpers with fiberglass pieces, sanding the drip rails and flaring the quarters by two inches. Displeased with the appearance of the car, he tossed the flares and welded on some fresh skins over the wheel housings. With the help of his cousin, Dan installed the four-point roll hoop and mounted it to a couple of sturdy ⅜” plates. Quickly, this was beginning to look like a genuine track toy.
Next came the rebuild of the LY6. Though a Chevy motor would be sitting inside a Ford’s engine bay, Dan grabbed a can of Grabber Blue and set it aside for later, since it would help the move-in process. For a little more grunt, he added a MAST 585-lift VVT cam, an LS3 intake and a 2.5” exhaust with an x-pipe and 2-chamber mufflers. With a few stickers and a dash of paint, this potent package – which provides Dan with 390 horsepower at the wheels – was ready for installation.
Next came the fuel delivery. To satisfy the motor’s ravenous thirst under the trying conditions of the road course, Dan opted for a drop-in tank from Tanks Inc., which features plenty of baffling, and ran a Walbro 255 pump with NiCopp lines.
Back inside the cabin, Dan added a Sparco Evo 2 seat for the much-needed support, and a set of G-Force harnesses to keep his innards from lining the cabin walls in the event of rapid deceleration. Complementing those bold seats is the classic Momo Prototipo wheel, sitting proudly atop a Flaming River steering column. Speedhut gauges and a GPS-speedometer relay all the easily-digestible information while apexing and bouncing around in the seat. Lastly, hidden more subtly out of the eyes of the onlooker, are the American Auto Wire fuses lurking within the glovebox.
With the bodywork and paint in progress, Dan still has a long road ahead before he’s wowing the judges at the local meet – though there are those who prefer the rugged, unshaven look. Soon, a coat of Caspian Blue will adorn the hide of this striking car, which will spend far more time at Mid-Ohio, Putnam Park, and a smattering of autocross courses than it will at a car show. With Dan’s build quality, the sound footwork, and four-hundred ponies propelling this Mustang, there should be plenty for those on the sidelines and in his rearview to enjoy.
