"Street Fighter"
Buddy Burney's '87 LX
““This car started out as a 4cyl LX, now it’s a total terror on the streets””
On the mean streets across the country, you better be ready for anything. These days, thousand horsepower street cars are the norm, and the hardware coming out of Detroit is getting even faster. Factory monsters with unheard of power levels sit on dealer lots right now, and to say the horsepower wars of the 60s were a big deal is nearly laughable compared to present day. Cars like the GT500, Hellcat, ZL1, and so on are making numbers that used to be reserved for the likes of McLaren super cars. Yes, times have changed for the better. What is even more exciting is that there seems to be no end in sight, the numbers keep climbing, the bar continues to be raised. Want some perspective? The current Toyota minivan makes the same rated horsepower as a 2004 Mustang GT, the 2014 six cylinder Mustang is rated the same as a 1998 Cobra, and 4cyl Eco-Boost Mustangs are already in the tens. Are your palms getting sweaty yet?
You have to face the fact that the fox body Mustang is totally outmatched from a power standpoint, in stock form. Leaving the factory with a paltry 225BHP, it's easy to get discouraged. However, power is not the only factor to the go-fast equation. To go A to B, there are a number of factors in play. Want more perspective, albeit on a positive note? A Hellcat checks in with a fighting weight of nearly 4,600 lbs, and a ZL1 carries 4,200lbs of heft. Take a fox body Mustang to your local scales for a weigh, and your ticket should read anywhere from 2,800-3,200lbs. According to some calculations, 100lbs is equal to a .10th in the quarter mile. Once all of the math is done, you are looking at nearly a full second advantage just for being a fly-weight fox body Mustang. Starting to see the sun peek through the clouds?
The second part of this equation is getting power to the pavement. You don't need a gang of men in lab coats to tell you that power is useless without control. Chalk up another advantage for the fox gang. While the chassis in stock form is not terribly rigid, it just works. For over three decades owners and the aftermarket have been perfecting what Ford gave us, and the results are proven at tracks all across the country. Multiple different brands make top notch products to stiffen, lighten, and help plant huge power to the pavement. From the k member to the anti-roll bar, all bases are covered. Chalk up advantage number two for the old fox body Mustang.
The third piece to the puzzle is power itself. Ah yes, everyone's favorite part. That ridiculous power that peels the skin off of your face and smears your peripheral vision. Certainly you don't need me to tell you that the options are endless for the foxbody faithful. That being said, just slapping on some aluminum heads or a supercharger just isn't enough anymore. To really be a player, plan on needing a minimum of 500 horsepower to the ground, in a lightweight car, that can put every one of those horses to good use.
When Buddy Burney set out to build his Mustang, he had no intentions of being easy prey. Starting life as a 4cyl car, he has transformed it into the predator you see here. To get things moving, he began with a 351 Windsor block, and had it bored & stroked to 393ci. The foundations consists of a Scat forged crank, DSS billet rods, and DSS billet pistons. Moving on up, a healthy set of Edelbrock Victor Jr heads were torqued down, and an Anderson Ford blower cam was slid into place. Sitting atop the Edelbrock Victor Sr intake is a custom tuned blow-through carb, that gets force fed massive amount of atmosphere via the big Vortech. If there was ever a solid combo for big power, you are looking at it.
As we covered earlier, power is nothing without control. Buddy laid out a solid plan to hook up the nearly 700 horsepower coming from the blown small block. Up front is a UPR k member, UPR tubular A arms, and UPR coil overs. Out back, UPR upper and lower control arms work in harmony with the UPR coil overs to keep the meats planted, and keep the little notch between the lines. The meats in question are massive 325/50 drag radials, mounted on gorgeous Billet Specialties Street Lites. To tuck that much width under the little coupe, Buddy had the 8.8 narrowed two inches on each end, and mini tubs welded in giving the fox a truly menacing stance.
Buddy doesn't do anything halfway. Splitting his time between motocross, rock crawling, and this seven hundred horse coupe; pushing the envelope is what he does. Whether he's jumping hills, navigating trails, or laying two hundred foot long black marks on the pavement; balls to the wall is how he rolls. The car has come a long way, going through several different combos to arrive at its current state of awesome. Looking over the final results of his hard work, we have to tip our hats to a job well done. The '93 Cobra Teal paint, classic notchback lines, blown Windsor under the hood, and tucking those big 325s is just perfection in our book. On the streets of East Tennessee boy racers are on notice; pass quietly by the Teal coupe. CR
