"Evolution of a Fox Body"

    Matt Glover's '88 GT

    Every car guy knows that modding their car is a slippery slope. Things start out innocent enough with a few bolt-on parts, and before you know it things can get a little out of hand. In Matt Glover's case, things got way out of hand with his '88 GT. The saga begins with simple things like heads, cam intake, and before you know it the car is in pieces. Matt has owned this car since '00, having bought it from a friend of his fathers, and had no plans to get this crazy with it. Matt's father is a very talented mechanic, and has taken the time to teach Matt the ropes of turning a wrench. In doing so, Matt has also caught the hot rod fever, and the results are the subject of this writing. 

    Diving head first into the mod friendly fox body Mustang, Matt bolted on the standard fare top end kit, and a Vortech supercharger to get the ball rolling. This combo netted a respectable 10.68 @131, and managed to pacify Matt for a short while. The second combo involved a stock block 347, with the same HCI, and blower, rewarding Matt with a 10.09 @139; the sickness had taken total control at this point. By 2012, the mean streets that are riddled with thousand horsepower car had made him want to up the ante again, and this time he was swinging for the fences. With a goal of over one thousand horsepower in mind, the '88 was torn apart again for an all out build. 

   Shooting for such a lofty goal, Matt knew a big inch 363 stroker would be in order. Ordering up a Dart SHP block, and forged rotating assembly, the build was on. Next on the list was a custom ground bumpstick from Kurgan Motorsports, AFR 205 heads with some mild porting, and after some porting the Holley Systemax intake was torqued down. The smallish S trim supercharger was replaced by a behemoth YS-i trim, and a Big Stuff III ECU was tapped to manage the action. While he was at it, Matt also upgraded the transmission to a T56 Magnum, just to make sure everything held together. 

    Once everything was buttoned up, a call was put in to Bob Kurgan to work his tuning magic on the GT. Matt knew the numbers would be big, but  the question was how big. As Kurgan typed furiously away on his laptop, everyone looked on, anxiously awaiting the outcome. After several pulls, and much tweaking on the tune, the boosted small block laid down 1014RWHP, on 24 psi. Cheers rang out as the number flashed on the screen; Matt had hit his goal.

      So he's done right? Absolutely not! I mean really, who's ok with just a thousand horsepower? Fast forward to 2014, Matt got this crazy idea he could fit a 345 series tire under his foxbody. After some measuring, he knew it was not gonna happen without some serious work. So in true Glover family fashion, the torches came back out, and Matt set about mini tubbing the car. As the rear end and body were being prepped to swallow more meat, Matt also had to address the rear wheels. Loving his True Forged Mach V hoops, He called Steve Medina at True Forged, and ordered a custom set of 13" barrels. Being three piece wheels, all Matt had to do was switch the centers to the new hoops, and done.

    With time on his hands as the carries parts for the car were in the fab shop, Matt began hatching ideas again. While the engine bay of the car looked great, he wanted cleaner, and more power. The idea of twin turbos had popped in his head, and he couldn't shake the desire. The problem was that turbos required a ton of plumbing, and clean was the only way Matt was going to have it. After several long conversations with his fabricator, a plan was devised to his the turbos behind the bumper cover. Instead of the build almost being done, again, Matt dove in further in his quest for mega power. Months of fabricating and test fitting went into the totally custom turbo kit, and the final results speak for themselves. 

    Fast forward to 2016, the seemingly endless build was almost finished, and Matt was chomping at the bit to see what the car was made of now. Knowing Bob Kurgan's talent, he once again called I'm up to dial in the extreme combo, which would prove to be a much more complex task. Bob accepted the challenge and put his laptop into overdrive finding the sweet spot for the turbo 363. When the dust settled, Matt 1126RWHP and 1103RWTQ under his right foot. All jaws were on the floor as the monitor flashed up the insane power. 

    After years of pushing the envelope on his build, and making the seemly impossible, possible, Matt has a next level fox body Mustang. Obviously there isn't time or space to cover the seemingly endless build, and the massive amounts of work that went into it. Who knows if Matt is done with his '88 this time, because you can always turn up the boost right? CR