"Down With the Sickness"

Tyler Farrell's '92 GT 

Photos by: T. Allen Photography 

     To this day, I still love hearing the crazy stories about how a car build came to be. That is what's so cool about the car hobby, some cars are built in memory of something or someone, some are fulfilling a childhood dream, and some start out as a few mods then spiral out of control. The point is that all cars have a story, glancing over them at car shows or the local cruise in, does not give you the full picture. Tyler Farrell's fox body is no different. Purchased from his grandfather several years ago, as a bone stock GT with a scant 55K miles on the clock. Talk about a score! Anyone who has ever bought a modified car knows that sorting out someone else's work can be a major headache. There simply isn't anything much worse than trying to undo a previous owner's botched build.  

    The GT was mint in every sense of the word. Mature owner, no mods, and he had all of the history. Tyler loved driving the car, and for a time, was content with having such a cool car. However, we know that feeling doesn't last long. A good friend of his also owned a fox body Mustang, and his was built. Sporting a full top end kit, Vortech supercharger, and custom tune; the car was animal. After just one ride in it, Tyler was hooked. The mod sickness had sunk it's teeth into Tyler, and there just wasn't anything that was going to stop him. 

    His friends fox body Mustang had run flawlessly for years, so Tyler figured it would be smooth sailing once he began building up his GT. Over the next year, he began adding parts, heads, cam, intake, and all of the supporting mods. After what seemed like an eternity, Tyler was able to buy the Vortech supercharger he had been longing for. After three months of bliss, enjoying his little slice of boosted heaven, disaster struck. Hanging out at the beach with his friends, doing a little cruising, the GT decided to have a melt down. The bottom end was totally smoked, and Tyler was devastated. Once the car was home, Tyler decided that if he had to totally go through the engine anyway, he was going to do it right. No way he wanted to be in this spot again. For the next year, the GT sat in the garage while the pile of new parts stacked up around it. One thing was for sure; Tyler wanted to up the boost, and a stock block simply wouldn't do.     

    A solid foundation for the new beast came via a Dart Sportsman block. Once she arrived, it was sent off to the machine shop to be assembled into a forged 331. A Scat crank, Scat forged H beam rods, and J&E forged pistons make for a bullet proof combo. Moving on up, an Anderson B-31 blower cam was slid into place, and actuate the 2.02/1.60 valves on the Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads. For max airflow, Tyler gave the nod to a Holley Systemax Intake, which is force fed large amounts of pressurized air via the Vortech supercharger. To ensure his piston melting days were over, Tyler installed a Snow Performance methanol injection system, and upped the fuel system capabilities with Deka 60lb injectors, and Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump. To get the air out, a set 1 3/4 long tube headers, MAC Prochamber mid-pipe, and MAC Flowpath cat-back usher the spent exhaust gasses to the rear. 

    Knowing the extra power would not play nice with the stock suspension and drivetrain, Tyler covered his bases there as well. A Tremec 3550 trans was hoisted into place, and a Spec stage II clutch does it's best to keep up with the blown small block. On back, an aluminum driveshaft sends power to a freshened 8.8 rear with 3.73 gears. To help put the power to the ground, Koni struts, Bilstein shocks, and Eibach springs get things rolling. Next steps were Maximum Motorsports full length subframes, and Maximum Motorsports lower control arms. 

   The guts of the GT were not forgotten either. Starting with Corbeau LG1 seats with four point harness, and a K Dezines rear seat delete. Next up was a Nardi Challenge steering wheel, and gages from Autometer to monitor the goings on under the hood. Aside from those simple, yet functional additions, the interior remains vintage '92 foxbody Mustang.

   The payoff for Tyler came when his fox spun the dyno to the tune of 662/625 angry horses, snorting a healthy dose of methanol. Make no mistake, this GT has a double helping of beans on tap, and Tyler couldn't be happier with the results. The only real problem left is that there simply isn't a cure for the mod sickness, so don't go thinking Tyler is done yet.  CR