05 Feb. 2004

Ok, so it's been a loooong time since I updated the site and people are hounding me to post some updates. Unfortunately I don't have many pics but I do have much to tell. I didn't get a chance to do any of the projects I wanted to do this winter (time and money) :-( I finally took out the package tray and fixed to rattling noise. I cut holes on the cardboard package tray and glued metal grilles on top but the subs made so much pressure the grilles came undone and the carpet was glued over them so I couldn't take them out without tearing everything up. Weatherstripping adhesive to the rescue! Two tubes later and some black silicone and the grilles are now a permanent part of the package tray. It only took me a half day to complete the whole task. After a few days to cure I reassembled the rear of the car and cranked the cd player. Now I can turn the subs way up and it doesn't sound like they are clipping. I finally got the car tuned to perfection and it has to be making around 385HP to the rear wheels and probably 525HP on the bottle. I will Dyno the car again later this year. I recently went over 2700 miles on the car and gave her a third oil change. Upon close inspection of the oil filter I found no presence of metal whatsoever. I have been receiving alot of requests for info on how much each mod costs and where to get some of the parts I used. Well, I cannot provide pricing since the prices change, you can find almost all the parts I used in Summit or Jegs catalogs. Mustang parts are becoming harder to find. I suggest the Paddock or National Parts Depot. I sold all the extra parts I had on EBay. I can send you hi-res pics of my car if you email me. Please try to be unique when building your car and try not to copy someone elses ideas, after all thats why they look so cool in the first place. More future upgrades include:

3 inch Aluminum Mandrel tailpipes.

Fiberglass leaf springs.

Carbon Fiber/Honeycomb fiberglass speakerbox.

These mods will shave another 240LBs from the car and should get me close to my 3000 goal (dry weight)

See me at the Knottsberry Farm show on Apr 18, 2004

06 Oct. 2003

Well, it's finally time for an update. Lots of news. The Saleen show went well. My wonderful girlfriend Jennifer spent two weeks making a scrapbook for the shows. It has all the pics from the web site and many more, over 300+. People love it! Now they can see all the work and don't have to climb under the car to see everything. I ended up winning first place again at the Saleen show. The late model Mustang guys love the car. We also went to the Cruisin for a cure show, what a great show. There were over 3000 cars! I didn't win, but I went to have fun anyway. They only picked one Mustang for all the Mustangs there. Coincidentally the winner was parked next to me, a restored 70 428 Mach I. Now for the shocker, we just finished the San Diego Mustang show yesterday and what a great turnout! I think there were over 400 cars. There were alot of great cars. I won 1st place again and one of the sponsors John DeLuz of Johns Mustangs picked my car as Best of Show so I got two trophies! I also talked with Jim Smart from Mustangs and Fords. He seemed interested but didn't recall me e-mailing him months ago. He said he would call me and arrange something. I didn't take many pics but I'll post what I have.

02 July 2003

Looks like it's time for another update. First I met a guy named Greg Capes at the Knotts show. He is the Pres. of Musclecarcalendar.com. He called me and asked if he could do a feature car photo shoot for his web site. I said "Hell Ya" and he promptly showed up the next weekend. We spent all morning cruising in the Stang. He took about 70 pics and wanted to video the car doing a burnout. Well, I had already done a few burnouts and despite the excessive horsepower the Nitto tires do not smoke. They just leave black marks, so we brought some bleach to help. We drove around for a while and could not find a suitable area to execute the law breaking maneuver. Finally we found an empty 4 story parking garage in an industrial complex. The top floor was open and nearly 1/4 mile long! So I revved to about 4000RPMs and dumped the clutch. I hammered it through first and half way through second gear the car was bouncing around due to the pavement not being very level, so I had to cut it short. Anyway you will see what I mean when you view the Video. The damn tires still didn't smoke! I went to Qualcomm to race and that was discouraging. The track is not properly maintained and I was spinning so bad I'm not even going to tell you how I did. Lets just say I made two passes and went home. Not much else, here is a list of upcoming shows I will be attending. Hope to see you there!

Mustangs at the Queen Mary Aug 10, 2003

Saleen 7th annual car show Sep 13, 2003

Cruisin for a Cure Sep 27, 2003 (not definate)

SDMC Mustangs at the Bay Oct 05, 2003

Mustang Madness Oct 26, 2003 (Maybe)

06 May 2003

Well I finally got around to updating the site. It's been a very long time and I'm sorry for not doing it sooner. The good news is that I have alot of stuff to tell you. I went and got the car weighed at the local scales. The car weighs 3500lbs exactly with a full tank of gas. I was hoping it would weigh about 3250 but I am planning to rebuild my speaker box out of honeycomb fiberglass and carbon fiber. That will shave about 50lbs and I'm considering other options to lose a few pounds. I really want to get it close to 3200lbs. I also had the car Dynoed, another disappointment! You can read about it in the latest pics section where I have the Dyno sheets posted. I recently went to the Knottsberry Farm show in Buena Park California and took the car. There were alot of magnificent cars as usual. I still have yet to be approached by a magazine photographer. I guess the car isn't all that, but I still like it. I might be racing later this month at Qualcomm stadium in San Diego. They do 1/8th mile drags and it's close. I would really rather run the 1/4 but it will tell me if my tuning skills are up to par. Anyway check out the latest pics and I'll post more later!

07 Oct 2002

I was already pre-registered for a show in Riverside and the body shop took two weeks to roll the fenders. When I got the car home late Fri night the condition was too bad to have ready for the show the next morning. The show in Riverside was a two day show and I didn't want to stay up all night to detail the car and get up early. So I decided to do a local show on sunday this way I could spend all day Saturday cleaning and detailing. It's a good thing too because my hydraulic clutch master cylinder was leaking bad. So I had to take it out and replace it and clean up all the brake fluid. We managed to get the car done late Sat night thanks to my buddy Troy and my girlfriend Jen and arrived at the show in downtown San Diego at 7:30 in the morning. Luckily I arrived early because the lot was filling fast. This time I was entered in the 69-73 modified class. There were 6 or 7 entries in my class. I managed to win 1st place again. That makes two for two. Check the lastest pics section for pics of the show!

15 Sept 2002

Well I just returned from my first official car show at the Saleen factory in Irvine CA and I won 1st place in my category!! The show was pretty cool and Steve Saleen handed out the trophies. I also got a pretty cool goodie bag which contained some car care products. The bad news is when I was leaving the show I turned the wheel all the way to the left and went through a dip and the tire caught the lip of the drivers side fender and pulled it out. So I will have to have the fenders rolled. Check the latest section for pics from the show!

05 Sept 2002

I recently went on the Car Craft Road Tour and was very disappointed to say the least. It was only the third one but it was sooo unorganized. The people at the track (LACR) were complete jerks and they wouldn't let me use my helmet because it was too old. Luckily the editor of Car Craft Matt King loaned me his own helmet. Needless to say the car ran very poorly. The hydraulic clutch was not properly adjusted and I missed second gear all but one time and the steering was all over the place. The front end was about two inches too high and that seriously affected the handling at higher speeds. So the one good pass I did make was a scary white knuckle attempt. I had to slow the car down before the end of the track and ran a rather disappointing 13.85 @ 99 M.P.H. This of course was on street tires and NOT on the bottle. The car was leaning out at about 4000RPMs and traction was nonexistant.

From there we drove to San Luis Obispo where a car show was held. I was told the whole thing was taken care of by Car Craft. When I showed up the next morning for the show the official gave me a number and entered me in the modified muscle car class. Many people told me the car was awesome, but when the results were given I didn't even place! Later when I got home, I called the show organizers to find out how many votes I got. Later that week Joe Rivera from Wheels of SLO called me back and told me the Car Craft cars were not included in the judging. Oh well I won't be going back to that show.

So the whole trip put 800 miles on the car and now it reads just over 900. I had to fix a leak in the oil pan so it was a good time to change the oil. I finally got the front end at the proper height with the help of Ron Bramblett from Mustangs Plus. Unlike his sales guy he was willing to work with me and sent me a couple sets of springs to find the right set. I eventually had to cut a pair of progressive rate springs to achieve the desired height.

I will be in Irvine on Sept 14 for the Saleen show. Hopefully this one works out better than the last one!