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

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

7 hours ago, Kit Karson said:

Got to drive @Rocking Rodney RatMustang shortly before he rolled it

Not one of my prouder moments. Remember kids: Speed (can) Kill. I know I'm older, I'm hopefully wiser. 

[Dennis Lacy]

On 2/1/2022 at 6:47 AM, Kit Karson said:

Big Tach - Little Tach - Factory Tach - Hooray!  In a model car even the least notable detail is not left untouched.  To the model viewer the size of the tach(s) is only caught by the corner of their eye and seeing any amount of model detail, even to the untrained eye, is the difference between a model built absolutely box stock and one with modified points of interest throughout!  Not every kit comes with a big tach... think about it.

Notwithstanding the amount of knowledge and reference material being drawn on in the construction of this pony car, but also the flavor of having your own 1:1 pony car is outstanding!  Having owned a number of Mustangs from a '66 Six w/3spd Coupe with sequential T-Bird taillights to a '68 Shelby KR500 Convertible.  Wait, a '69 351 Windsor coming in last.  Got to drive @Rocking Rodney RatMustang shortly before he rolled it;-( Can you imagine how much fun it would be to drive ADL's SVT Cobra DOHC Pony Car?!.

Keep watching because with what we've been left preview to thus far... the future of this pony car build is in excellent hands! -KK

Thanks for the nice post, KK. Always appreciate your thoughts and support!

[deuces wild]

On 2/1/2022 at 5:38 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Not one of my prouder moments. Remember kids: Speed (can) Kill. I know I'm older, I'm hopefully wiser. 

Yeah, these things are death traps.... Here's mine...

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

2 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Yeah, these things are death traps.... Here's mine...

A far superior Mustang than I had! The ole Fox unibody wasn't built to handle a V8... -RRR

Edited February 7, 2022 by Rocking Rodney Rat

[deuces wild]

45 minutes ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

A far superior Mustang than I had! The ole Fox unibody wasn't built to handle a V8... -RRR

I have a '91 in the garage....

Those can take the abuse... It has a 5.8L Lightning motor in it from Ford Motorsport...

[Dennis Lacy]

1 hour ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

A far superior Mustang than I had! The ole Fox unibody wasn't built to handle a V8... -RRR

Maybe it wasn’t built to handle you! ?

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

I’m happy to report that there were no setbacks this time. In fact the day was productive at finishing the last of the major fab work needed and then moved on to chassis and engine parts clean up towards primer and paint. 
 

The first thing I did was scratch build a pair of subframe connectors out of .020 and .040 sheet. These are in the style of a popular bolt-on set from BBK in the 90’s. 
 

 

Next I had to make some tweaks to the engine coolant connections. On the upper U-shaped pipe that connects the heads the original hose connection was on top but that might interfere with the hood so I grafted in and blended a piece of .080” rod and to make a new connection pointing forward. The lower hose is a T-shaped piece that ties in with the oil cooler on the left side of the engine. I had to cut off the forward portion that would have connected to the radiator in the ‘32 Ford street rod kit the engine came from. I cut that off then added a relocated piece of .080” rod to give a better approach for the lower hose to the radiator. 
 

Lastly I addressed the brake master cylinder. When you swap one of these wide ‘96-‘04 4-cam SVT Cobra engines into the older cars there’s no room for the conventional vacuum brake booster. Instead you have to use the “hydroboost” unit from later cars. The hydroboost is tied into the power steering system and uses hydraulic pressure to boost pedal input. I cut out the molded-in booster area from the firewall and filled it with a piece of .040 sheet. I then created a loose interpretation of the hydroboost unit from a Ford starter and used the kits master cylinder. It’s still a tight fit but a sliver is as good as a mile!

 

At this point I think I’ve done all I can do until the engine is installed and permanently located which means it and the chassis needs to be painted and assembled. Then I can make the radiator hoses and air intake and I may try to make a few other under hood details. ?

[afx]

Looking good Dennis.

[Bullybeef]

I look forward to all these extra details being put together in the finale. Well executed@Dennis Lacy

[slusher]

Very impressive work!

[Kit Karson]

I really enjoy watching over your shoulder, Brother!

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

 I heard there was some kind of big sports game on today? ?‍♂️ At least my wife made a bunch of bomb party appetizers to take out to the bench with me! ?

I spent the week getting most of the suspension and engine parts primed and sprayed on my lunch hours at work, sat down today and did all of the fine detail painting and then did some unplanned assembly. I was in The Zone!

The rear axle was assembled with the girdle style rear cover, upper control arms, springs and anti roll bar. I painted the springs and anti roll bars Duplicolor Red to represent Eibach parts while the struts and shocks are Tamiya TS34 Camel Yellow to represent Koni “Sport” models. The rear axle cover is Tamiya TS30 Silver Leaf with their flat clear to look like cast aluminum while the trailing arms are Model Master Aluminum metalizer brushed on. The steering rack was also done in Silver Leaf with flat clear with flat black boots and Model Master Magnesium metalizer on the outer ends. 
 

Here’s a close up of all of the springs to show better how they are detailed flat black down between all of the coils.

The 1996-1998 SVT Cobra engine is an aluminum block, cylinders heads and front cam chain drive covers. The bell housing and 5-speed transmission are also aluminum. As a unit they were sprayed with Silver Leaf, flat clear and then treated to a full wash of thinned Testors flat black. The cam covers and intake plenum are Tamiya TS76 Mica Silver with their gloss clear. Where the oil cap would be on the driver side cover I installed a K&N style breather cap as is popular to do. The breather is from the Revell 1948 Ford Convertibles optional hot rod parts for its Flathead V8. The coolant tubes are gloss black and I cut the molded in no-detail oil filter off and replaced it with one from Revell’s ‘32 Ford kits painted bright white. The belt drive was painted flat black then the pulleys and tensioners detailed in a combo of aluminum and magnesium metalizer. The engine comes with plug wires and coil packs. The wires are Duplicolor Red while the boots, coil packs and divider clips are flat black. They are not glued yet as now that they are detail painted I’m going to dull coat the wires because they shouldn’t be glossy. The plenum is also not attached because now that I’ve detailed the throttle body with bright silver and the EGR valve with Model Master Jet  Exhaust I’m going to bury it in gloss clear like the cam covers. The headers are done in Silver Leaf but left as-is to look like silver ceramic coating. The oil pan is semi gloss black. 
 

 

Here’s a quick mock up with the rear axle and suspension in place along with the finished exhaust which, like the headers, is finished in Silver Leaf left as-is to look like silver ceramic coating. 
 

And I couldn’t resist setting the engine under the hood!

In the coming week I hope to get the front K-member and subframe connectors painted (which I picked up the color for yesterday at my LHS) and also get the interior pieces painted except for the floor and roll bar as they aren’t quite ready yet. I also picked up the exterior color yesterday which isn’t an exact match but very similar to a very sought after color that was new to the Mustang palette in 1990. Any guesses?

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Dennis Lacy

[mrm]

Pretty cool! The only problem I see, is that it doesn’t look like a ‘32 much ?

[Dennis Lacy]

1 minute ago, mrm said:

Pretty cool! The only problem I see, is that it doesn’t look like a ‘32 much ?

LOL! With my last 3 projects being a ‘57 Chevy, ‘63 Nova Wagon and this ‘90 Mustang, believe me, I’m really itchin’ to get back to hot rods. But I can’t stop now or I’ll likely never come back! ?

[Dr Cobra]

Wild Strawberry ?

 

[Dennis Lacy]

2 minutes ago, Dr Cobra said:

Wild Strawberry ?

 

No, but I strongly considered it.

[slusher]

Beautiful detailed engine!  ? 

[Spottedlaurel]

Wonderful to see the engine and suspension components now they've been painted - fantastic detailing that looks 'right'.

[Zen]

Teal .........

[afx]

Emerald Green?

Edited February 14, 2022 by afx

[Scott8950]

12 minutes ago, afx said:

Emerald Green?

That's a nice 7 up edition car. Those are rare.

[Scott8950]

I'd do the emerald 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Scott8950

[mrm]

It’s a custom build that deserves a custom paint. 

[Kit Karson]

FlipFlop Gold & beyond!!!

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flip+flop+gold+paint&docid=608014404063604280&mid=D67978C848B6AD861CF9D67978C848B6AD861CF9&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Kit Karson

[Bullybeef]

@Dennis Lacy that engine came out excellent. I was floored on the neatness of the plug wires, then I zoomed in haha. Paint detail is top notch sir!