1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23

[MeatMan]

Sweet project! Nice fabrication work.

[Spottedlaurel]

Great progress Dennis, some thoughtful re-engineering there.

P.S. Happy birthday!

[Dennis Lacy]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Great progress Dennis, some thoughtful re-engineering there.

P.S. Happy birthday!

Thanks and THANKS! 😎

[Bainford]

Nice fab work. Well thought out and well executed. 

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

I didn’t have a full afternoon at the bench today (spent the earlier part of the afternoon procuring a Christmas tree, setting it up and hanging stuff) but at least I had a few hours to sit down and work on the Mustang. Despite my late start I did get some important boxes checked: mocking up the rear axle & springs to check ride height, rear disc brake conversion and adapting the front and rear wheels. 
 

After some thought and offering up other possibilities I decided to grab another pair of front brakes from a second Mustang LX kit and adapt them to the axle. This was easy as all I had to do was file the end flanges of the axle into a “D” shape to fit the depressions in the brake hubs. You can also see a stub sticking out of the end of the axle. I drilled the axle ends and brake hubs out to .080” and inserted pieces of Evergreen rod of the same size. 
 

To adapt the wheels I cut the center spokes and hubs out of the wheel backs for the Speedline wheels, cut the spokes away from the hubs, turned the hubs upside down (one end has a bigger hole than the other) and glued them to the insides of the wheels. 
 

I enlarged the hole in the hubs with a 1/8” drill bit then glued in a piece of Evergreen 1/8” tube. 
 

Once the glue was dry I trimmed the tube off flush with the hub and then drilled the inside of the tube to .080” which will now push onto the .080” rod I glued into the axle ends. 
 

Here’s a finished rear wheel and tire with the inner rim fit. 
 

Rear axle and springs mocked up with the disc brake conversion and rear wheels and tires fit. 
 

Here’s a view of the rear disc through the wheel. 
 

Here’s the stance out of the box. Can’t beat that! Needless to say, I won’t be lowering the rear. 

 

With the rear wheels adapted I moved to the front and decided to simply repeat the process since it worked so well. I glued .080” rods into the “spindles”.

I then went ahead and modified the front wheels the exact same way.

Here’s a view of how the brake fits down into the wheel and how the A-arm clears the inner rim no problem even with the “dropped spindles”.

Full mock up with the tubular k-member and wheels adapted.

And lastly, a front stance double check. 

That’s all for this go around. 

[1930fordpickup]

Dennis this is looking great. 

[Smoke Wagon]

It’s gonna have a real nice stance to it. That rake is just enough to give it some attitude. 

[mustang1989]

Great mods to get the ride height where you want it. This is going to be killer!! 

[Steve H]

Nice progress Dennis, you made quick work of that. That stance looks like it will be almost identical to the 1:1. 

[Limeyglue]

Clever mods on the wheels Nice and clean. 

[slusher]

Great looking wheels your Mustang is going to have a great stance..

[Scott8950]

Looks fantastic! I wonder what ever happened to Super Stallion?

[adamelvis]

That's a lot of work so far.  Great Stuff. 

Will be watching.

TCB,

Adam

[mustang1989]

Just realized that this one's not on my "watch" list. Got that taken care of now. Looking forward to the next update.

[Kit Karson]

Fabulous coverage, ADL!  Awesome mechanical conversion!! -KK

[tim boyd]

Dennis...a number of comments from here. 

First, I've long thought that the drag racing version of the Revell Fox LX kit had some really cool 1/1 scale aftermarket parts that were largely ignored by the modeling cognoscenti due to the issues with the body.  It's really timely that you are bringing this point to the attention of all who follow your threads. 

Second, as the one-time leader of the Ford Special Vehicle Team (1995-1998) I appreciate you referring to the engine by its proper nomenclature (SVT Cobra) rather than dropping the SVT part like so many 1/1 scale journalists seem to do. 

Third, your suspension work and fine tuning of the stance are terrific, and I hope this serves as an inspiration to the rest of us on how important stance is to a model car project, AND how that stance can be achieved with realistic and accurate mods to the kit suspension pieces. 

And oh....your 1/1 LX's looked awesome.  Someday I'll publicly reveal one of the stories on the creation and promotion of the 1/1 scale LX 5.0 package.....TIM 

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE! 
 

Got a late start at the workbench today, didn’t sit down until nearly 4pm! Despite that I still managed to get some good stuff done. Although there is more chassis work to do I wasn’t feeling it so I jumped over to the interior. 
 

For anyone that has ever sat in an ‘87-‘93 LX with base model seats then you know how soft and unsupportive they are. With all of the performance mods this car is getting it would definitely benefit from a sportier pair of seats. In the 90’s you basically had two aftermarket seat options: Flofit or Recarro. With my modern parts options very limited I remembered that the 90’s and newer issues of AMT’s 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery included a set of modern sport seats that kind of look like a mix of the two mentioned brands so I grabbed a pair. I liked them except for the headrests. As luck would have it I just got the most recent issue of AMT’s 1988 Mustang GT (for my birthday last week) which happens to include a pair of custom front seats with very 80’s and 90’s netted headrests.

I cut the original headrests off, did a little clean up and shaping then cut off and grafted the netted headrests on. 
 

I also had to trim off the bottoms to make them sit down into the interior properly. 
 

And a look with the seats setting in the basic interior. 
 

 

A quick modification to the center console was to smooth off the supports at the back for the armrest (which also had a flip top that opened with cassette tape storage inside.) In 1990 it was a one-year only option to delete the armrest portion and a plain plastic cap piece was installed at the back end in its place. 

Next I pulled out the optional roll cage from the LX kit. As it comes it also has forward bars making it a 6-point cage. Having rode in several of these cars over the years with 6-point cages I can say they are a pain in the ass for just driving around so I decided to delete the front bars making it a more practical 4-point cage for the street. I also installed mounting pins where the rear “down bars” go into the rear interior wall to located them positively. This kit is rendered to look like it has a rear seat delete setup when you leave the rear seat cushion uninstalled which is a pretty common modification in these coupes so I’m gonna go with it. Luckily the new seats just barely fit with the cage!

 

Lastly a couple of tweaks to the dash. I cut off the original steering wheel stub and installed a piece of .080” rod to mount a new wheel. I also installed a blank .020” plate over the original radio area as I’ll be using a photo-etched radio face.
 

Here’s a mock up of the interior so far. The steering wheel is from any of Revell’s 1932 Ford kits.

That’s as far as I got today. I’m really pleased with how the interior is looking so far. I say “so far” as I’m sure I’ll think of a few more things to do in there. Plenty more to come! 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Dennis Lacy

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

That looks cozy. Now, fill out the cushions on the sides of the seats where they cut away.

I hope Santa brings you some new sanding sticks for Christmas. The one in the pic above looks like it's more than well worn! -RRR

Edited December 13, 2021 by Rocking Rodney Rat

[Bullybeef]

Recaro seats were the best upgrade I ever made in my 1:1 cars. 

[Spex84]

This is very cool so far. Tough look, thoughtful parts choices and kitbashing...I look forward to seeing where it goes!

Are those the same wheels as in the Shelby Series 1 kit? They look super familiar, and I don't own any Mustang kits.

[Dennis Lacy]

1 hour ago, Spex84 said:

This is very cool so far. Tough look, thoughtful parts choices and kitbashing...I look forward to seeing where it goes!

Are those the same wheels as in the Shelby Series 1 kit? They look super familiar, and I don't own any Mustang kits.

Thanks, man! And good to hear from you! I believe they are identical wheels and tires in the Series 1. Somewhere in this thread a fellow said as much. 

[Dennis Lacy]

8 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

That looks cozy. Now, fill out the cushions on the sides of the seats where they cut away.

I hope Santa brings you some new sanding sticks for Christmas. The one in the pic above looks like it's more than well worn! -RRR

Thanks! I thought about doing that with the side bolsters but they end up buried down in there so when everything is put together you’d never know they are undercut. 

[mustang1989]

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about in regards to the factory seats. Great for cruising around town but for the long trips.............not at all. I drove my 89 from Corpus to Colorado .......twice with the factory seats. Frickin' brutal man. I'm really liking what you're doing in the interior and all these mods are definitely gonna pay off when it's all said and done. 

[Dennis Lacy]

On 12/12/2021 at 4:56 AM, tim boyd said:

Dennis...a number of comments from here. 

First, I've long thought that the drag racing version of the Revell Fox LX kit had some really cool 1/1 scale aftermarket parts that were largely ignored by the modeling cognoscenti due to the issues with the body.  It's really timely that you are bringing this point to the attention of all who follow your threads. 

Second, as the one-time leader of the Ford Special Vehicle Team (1995-1998) I appreciate you referring to the engine by its proper nomenclature (SVT Cobra) rather than dropping the SVT part like so many 1/1 scale journalists seem to do. 

Third, your suspension work and fine tuning of the stance are terrific, and I hope this serves as an inspiration to the rest of us on how important stance is to a model car project, AND how that stance can be achieved with realistic and accurate mods to the kit suspension pieces. 

And oh....your 1/1 LX's looked awesome.  Someday I'll publicly reveal one of the stories on the creation and promotion of the 1/1 scale LX 5.0 package.....TIM 

Thanks for joining in and glad you like my project, Tim! The body proportion mishaps aside this is a really nice kit with some really neat optional parts that would be good for kit-bashing all kinds of vehicles. I’m glad I finally grabbed a couple. I’m definitely going to have to find something to put the very nicely done 5-liter pushrod into. 
 

Man, I’d love to be able to a have good BS session and geek-out with you on your time on the SVT team. Some truly cool stuff including some killer one-off factory hot rods came through the shop during those years.

 

[tim boyd]

10 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Thanks for joining in and glad you like my project, Tim! The body proportion mishaps aside this is a really nice kit with some really neat optional parts that would be good for kit-bashing all kinds of vehicles. I’m glad I finally grabbed a couple. I’m definitely going to have to find something to put the very nicely done 5-liter pushrod into. 
 

Man, I’d love to be able to a have good BS session and geek-out with you on your time on the SVT team. Some truly cool stuff including some killer one-off factory hot rods came through the shop during those years.

 

Dennis.... I too would love to have a chat session with you on this topic.  Would you believe....I spent one Sunday afternoon may years ago with Jay Leno - he had expressed a desire to drive a 1995 SVT Cobra R so we arranged it.... and after the drive (he was a very good driver, btw) he showed me his collection (it was only one warehouse full back then)....and then we even took a ride through Burbank Airport in his Stanley Steamer....   I'm not much on Celebrities, to be honest, but I found him to be refreshingly down to earth - just two car guys sharing their interests. 

On a related note, I still recall a small media event we did in NorCal with the SVT Cobra R's just like the one above....driving those two-lanes around Santa Rosa and North in the Cobra R was an experience I will never forget....

Do you ever go to the NNL West?  One of these years I need to get back their again....maybe we could meet up there?   

Best...TIM