I bought my 1990 Mustang GT in the spring of 1999. The car was bone stock down to the air silencer. I only planned on doing the typical bolt-ons such as pulleys, a K&N air filter, gears, Flowmasters, some wheels and a Saleen wing. In my mind that was going to be the perfect car. I even got an automatic so my wife would be able to drive too. That never happened!

Right away I did all the simple bolt-ons I had planned. Then for some reason I decided I was just going to freshen up the motor because it was approaching 100,000 miles. I was going to put in a nice mild cam, some gt-40 heads, and a gt-40 intake and that was supposed to be the end of it.
Somewhere along the line I got a little carried away. The old motor came out and a new 306 was built to replace the old one. Because I was redoing the motor, I decided this would be the time for a cam, some heads, and an intake. The motor was treated to an e-303 camshaft, Edelbrock heads, and a Holley Systemax intake. I figured this was also the best time to install a blower since the motor was sitting on a stand, so on went the Vortech S-trim. The stock AOD decided to commit suicide on the test ride, so I converted it over to a five speed with a Tremec TKO.

Once the car was finally completed it was time to see what it could do. Jimmy "the Mustang God" Chahalis tuned the car at La Rocca's Performance. Eventually the car made 477 at the rear wheels after he worked his magic and rid the car of all it's demons and bugs.

At this point I had no idea that there was a lot more to getting a car to go fast then just horsepower. Up until that point I figured the more power you made, the faster you went. I found out that was wrong in a hurry!! I raced the car for an entire 2000 season at every test and tune I could go attend, and the best I could go was 12.17. This was easily an 11 second car, but I could not get it to hook on bald drag radials and a completely stock suspension.

Over the winter of 2000 the car underwent a complete transformation. I converted back to an AOD by installing a Level-10 prepped AOD with a Lentech valve body and Art Carr 3200 stall converter. The suspension was completely redone with 90/10 struts, 4 cylinder springs all around, MAC upper and lower control arms, and an air bag in the right rear. I replaced to the stock rear with a FMS 31-spline differential and Mosier 31-spline axles. I removed the Chrome ponies and replaced them with much lighter Weld Draglights, and I changed from drag radials to Mickey Thompson ET Slicks. I had Rhodes Custom Auto install an 8-point roll bar and La Rocca's welded in a pair of Global West full-length subframe connectors.

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