The #FairmontProject, “Oliver” A Mustang in Fairmont Clothing
The initial plan was to simply swap a normally aspirated carbureted V8 from a Mustang into the Fairmont and see how it would work out.
Things did not go as planned, as is often the case with custom car builds. The engine in my donor Mustang turned out to be junk unfortunately. Well the block anyway, and I needed to rethink that part of the build.
Setbacks can sometimes mean opportunity, so I figured, why not make the build a little more interesting?
I went back and forth between a supercharger and a turbo. I also briefly considered nitrous, but you have to keep filling those bottles and that can be very inconvenient. I decided on a single turbo system from On3 Performance.
This is my turbo set up
Much to the dismay of some of my viewers, I decided to stick with a blow through carburetor over fuel injection. I wanted to keep things as simple as possible and I honestly didn’t feel fuel injection would be necessary with the right carburetor. I chose a 750cfm blow through Demon carburetor. I’m confident it’s going to handle the job of fuel delivery nicely. After all, it’s one trick carburetor.
I chose a turbo because I knew a small block V8 would have plenty of bottom end grunt with the right cam. Once that started to fade, the turbo would kick in. I wanted the flattest torque curve I could get across the entire RPM range. Something that would perform at about any speed on the street.
Also; Jeremy Clarkson’s endorsement really spoke to me.
At the end of the day, the idea was to be underestimated. I knew if I built it right, my plain Jane Ford would be able to run with just about any performance car on the street. Not all of them, but enough to put some BMW’s and Corvettes in their place.
The key thing to remember here is I wanted to make this a street car. Not something that was strictly for the track. That meant upgrading every system on the car in addition to the engine.
I also wanted to upgrade the transmission, the suspension, the tires, the rear end, the fuel system, and anything else that could make the car go fast and still stay on the road.
I was also looking to teach my audience that a performance car was more than just a great engine, you have to look at the car as a complete package where every system works together to complement the engine’s power, not work against it, or be overpowered by it.
Carroll Shelby once said, “There’s no such thing as too much power, just not enough traction.”
The build started off great. Well, once I got the engine sorted out. A viewer in Washington state hooked me up with the bulk of my first suspension. I say first because it wasn’t the last suspension as you’ll see later in the article. I’ll say this, if you’re going to build a project car, especially a performance build, bring money$.
One of the first problems I ran into with these used parts was the positioning of the front wheels. After getting the engine and transmission in, I checked the clearance between the front tire and the fender. It was pretty close, too close for my taste actually.
I did what I often do in a situation like this, reach out to someone smarter than me. It’s not hard, a lot of people are smarter than me. In this case, it was Jack Hindley of Maximum Motorsports. Maximum Motorsports is the place to go when it comes to Fox body suspensions, it’s all they do, and Jack is one of their chief engineers.
It turns out the positioning of the front wheels was intentional. The reason is to move the weight of the engine and transmission back toward the center of the body. This changes the car’s center of gravity and improves handling.
However, when I showed Jack pictures of the parts I was using, he didn’t think they were actual Maximum Motorsport parts. Mainly because MM doesn’t make lower control arms that will support the stock front coil springs like mine did. With a true Maximum Motorsports front suspension and K member, you need to run coil overs.
That conversation was very productive and I learned a lot about my Fox body suspension. I also ended up buying an entirely new front and rear suspension from Maximum Motorsports. In addition to being a top automotive engineer at Maximum Motorsports, Jack is also one of the company’s best salesmen.
Remember what I said about custom builds, bring money$$.
– My new panhard bar. This positions the rear axle side to side.
– My new torque arm. This keeps the front of the differential level on take off.
I also found out the transmission I was originally using, a T-5 expertly built by Paul Cangialosi, wouldn’t be able to handle the power the new engine was producing. T-5’s are good up to about 400hp, I was well over that with my new engine. It’s a shame really, Paul did a fantastic job on my T-5 as you can see in the videos.
I’ll talk about how I solved that a little later.
Speaking of my new engine, here it is. I spent a lot of money on that too.
My engine is so cool, it even has it’s own moniker, #DarkMatterPikachu. Here’s the backstory on that name. .
It’s a completely new engine from the block up. My builders son used the word, “immortal” to describe it in one of the build videos.
Speaking of the block, it’s a beast. A rock solid foundation that the rest of the engine is built on. It’s called a Man ‘O War from World Products. It was designed from the 4 bolt mains up to be a stout platform that can handle a lot of power. To say it’s a ‘race’ engine block would be an accurate statement.
DMP also has a forged crank, lightweight pistons, H beam connecting rods, double roller timing chain, a custom cam from Comp Cams, aluminum cylinder heads that were reworked by my engine building master, Kevin Frische and his son Justin Frische at Kalvinator engines in Wapakoneta OH.
Everything was balanced and carefully assembled. I shot an entire series of videos on just the engine build at their machine shop. I loved that shoot BTW. If this YouTube thing doesn’t work out, I’m going to apply at Kalvinator for a job. I LOVED it there. The noise, the smell, the metal, the machines. Not to mention Kevin and Justin are great guys and a pleasure to work with.
Once the engine was assembled, we took it to Kevin’s old place of employment, the University of Northernwestern Ohio. He was an instructor there for many years.
They have a fantastic program for those looking to get into the world of performance vehicle building. They also have a set of engine and chassis dynos. The perfect place to dial in Kevin and Justin’s work.
