"Because, Streetcar"

Jean Aiton's '92 LX 

Photos by: John Fore

     One trend I have seen the past several years is the blurring of the lines between street car and race car. With so much new technology available for tuning, it is possible to have a mannerly car, with big power. The NMRA True Street class is a good example. There are some majorly fast cars competing in that class, some of them running in the sevens after a thirty mile cruise, of stop and go driving. The Hot Rod Power Tour has also helped this phenomenon. The Power Tour is an even more grueling test of how tough the car, and the driver are. Driving several hours to different tracks, making a few passes, then packing up to head to the next stop. Now granted some of the cars look like Pro Mods, but they manage to survive the trip, thus earning the title of "street car". 

    When Jean Aiton set out to build his fox body Mustang, he had a definite purpose in mind. He intended to compete in several different events such as NMRA True Street, and Radial Fest,  but he also wanted to drive the car. Gutting it to drop weight and go faster just wasn't an option. With that being said, the car still retains power windows, power locks, and full interior. He also went as afar as to install a built 4L80E trans with overdrive, despite the fact that the car would be much faster with a power glide. 

   The heart of the beast is a Motorsports A4 block bored and stroked to 349 ci by Dale Meers Racing engines. The rotating assembly consists of an Eagle crank, Eagle rods, and Diamond pistons. The cam is a custom grind unit from comp, featuring secret specs from Brian Mitchell. Up top, a ported set of Trick Flow 225 heads are bolted to a race ported Holley System Max intake, all of which receive massive amounts of atmosphere via a Vortech YS-i supercharger. Keeping everything fed is a complete Holley fuel system, and the home fires stay burning with help from an MSD ignition system. Engine management is handled by a classic FAST system with FAST data logger, and the tune was handled by Chris Terry of CTR Race Cars. 

    The drivetrain Jean needed to handle all of that power would not be for the faint of heart. The afore mentioned 4L80E trans sports a full manual valve body, transbrake, billet PTC converter and heavy duty cooler with fan. The driveshaft is a custom piece from PST, and rocks 1350 u joints. The final stop is a beefed up 8.8 with 3.73 gears, 31 spline Moser axles, a spool, and Ford Motorsports girdle. Other than planning to upgrade to 35 spline axles, the combo has proven to be up to the job. 

    The suspension and brakes of Jean's '92 are also a critical piece of the puzzle. Hooking up the estimated 800 plus horsepower is no easy task. Up front a UPR chromoly k member was bolted in, along with UPR A arms, UPR bumpsteer kit, UPR coil overs, Strange adjustable struts, and Flaming River manual steering rack. Out back, Wolf Racecaft upper/lower control arms, UPR torque boxes, Wolf anti-roll bar, Strange adjustable shocks, and Wolf springs keep the meats planted. The brake system was then converted to a manual setup, and received Aerospace five lug street brakes to haul the car down from 150mph. 

    Jean has done a ton of trial and error to make the car work. Just keeping it cool on the street required a lot of thought. The radiator is a massive three row unit, rated for two thousand horsepower. The trans cooler is aided by electric fans, to keep fluid temps down on those hot summer days. "You need to overbuild the car to increase longevity" said Jean. The street tune is used for cruising the car, running pump gas with 10psi of boost. The race tune is configured for C16 race gas, and 26psi of boost.  

    We are looking forward to seeing what Kind of numbers Jean lays down this year, especially after the new intercooler is installed.  The sound of the big YS-i alone is enough to make the hair on your neck stand up, and watching Jean shift the little small block at 7600 rpm is as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. Just don't go calling it a race car, even if it does have a parachute on the back. CR