Purchased on August 12, 2000, I got my '91 with 75,000 kilometers on the odometer (46,000 miles). At the time, the engine was totally stock with a removed silencer, '96 Cobra exhaust, WMS subframe connectors, 3.73 gears, the ROH wheels it wears today, and the Cobra Daytona seats it wears today also. It drove like a dream and hadn't seen the perils of winter.
Like many Mustang enthusiasts, I caught the "need for speed syndrome" early in ownership. In 2001, I started with boltons including a C&L 76 mm mass air, underdrive pullies, a B&M shifter which is miraculously still on it, and the car found its way to 14.5 second passes at 96 mph in Edmonton (2300' elevation). While decently quick, it was barely enough to keep up with stock LT1's and nowhere near the same league as LS1's. I decided to spend some of my summer's earnings after 2002...
I started collecting parts in August of 2002, including TFS Twisted Wedge heads, the matching stage 1 cam, a Typhoon intake, Accufab throttle body and matching valvetrain parts. However, my Dad got involved in the process and convinced me that I should do the bottom end as well. With a bit of research under my belt, some accounting figures told me that it would be marginally more expensive to do a stroker setup than rebuilding the 302 with new pistons, rings, bearings, and rebalancing it. So I got ahold of Brian at AD Performance and ordered a Scat 331 bottom end. I did also plan ahead and forced myself into a supercharger, and selected big dish Probe pistons to drop the compression.
With a busy summer in 2003, I only made it to the track twice and was still working out the bugs, getting it to run 13.18 @ 106.09 mph on street tires - again in Edmonton. I do feel that it had a couple more tenths in it, because it kept getting quicker as I shifted it higher and higher (last pass was shifting around 5700-5800 rpm). 60' times were in the 2.0 range, which wasn't bad. I also upgraded brakes in 2003 to slotted rotors, Hawk pads, and MM stainless caliper bushings. For suspension, I put in MM rear lower control arms, Ford Racing uppers, and a MM panhard bar. The car maneuvers significantly better in the corners with those parts in place, has similar ride quality as the stock parts, and hooks up pretty decently as well!
Fall of 2003 rolled around, and I had been busy watching for deals on superchargers all summer. One finally popped up and I bought a brand new Paxton Novi 2000! It seemed like a nice big blower for the money, with strong brackets and a top notch belt and tensioner. During the winter of early 2004, I diced up the engine bay and made way for the Novi. It ran great the first year but I haven't had much time in the last 2 summers to get hard track numbers. It has surprised a few Corvettes, Mustangs, and sport bikes, however. This year I finally got the car on the dyno with an Innovate Motorsports wideband O2 sensor, and a TwEECer R/T to tune it. It put down 483 rwhp and 456 rwtq on a very safe tune. I am very happy with the broad powerband that the blower puts out!
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