5 Tips for Building a $5000 Pro-Touring Mustang

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“I bought a 1966 Mustang Fastback out of a junk yard for $400.  Thought I would challenge myself to build as exotic a g-machine as possible for $5000. ”

It sounds impossible, anti-Pro-Touring even.  MyRideisMe.com asked Ron Schwarz, owner/builder of this Grabber Blue beauty, to share his 5 Tips with our readers.  He tells it like no one else can.  This guy is hilarious!  There are some killer classic quotes here.  Stick to these 5 Tips below and you too can build your own budget dream ride.

1. Choose The Right Car

Your car has to be affordable, but still turn you on. If it doesn’t keep your interest it will be just another project that doesn’t get finished. Choose a car you can get cheap parts for, period.

2. Do your homework

The mods on this Mustang were done with factory (Ford and GM) parts from performance models/sports cars.  The front suspension is all C5 Corvette parts; great handling, big brakes, relatively cheap, and fairly easy to come by.

3. Choose The Right Drivetrain.

Find a drivetrain that meets your horsepower goals and doesn’t need an expensive rebuild or power adders. Instead of the original 4.6L Mustang mill purchased, Ron ended up with an LS1 that had been in a fire for $300.  In fairly stock form the LS1 can easily reach Ron’s goal of 400HP. The purists hate it, but it fit the budget.  Best bang for the buck!

4. Use All The Deal Finding “Tools” Available

The “tools” are Ebay, Craigslist, Racing Junk , trade and barter, your buddies “take-off parts”, etc.  Network with car buddies, see who is upgrading. “Take-offs” can be picked up cheap. The barter system is alive and well.  The tires on Ron’s ‘Stang were traded for a wine cooler.

5. DIY=Do It Yourself!

This is the hardest of the 5, but its also a MUST to meet your budget!  The more you cut, weld, grind and paint the better you get and the more money you save!  Books are good for learning fab’ skills, but we learn more from being around true craftsman.  Don’t be scared to screw up, you can fix it.

Let’s see how Ron used the 5 budget building tips on his own Pro-Touring Mustang Fastback:

We’ll let the Mustang out of the Corral and tell you that Ron didn’t quite make the $5000 budget he set, but who cares!  He did do it for under $9000 though, which is amazing.   Here’s the parts and cost rundown to see how he pulled off the impossible using his Top 5 Budget Tips.

$2750 Car and Rolling Chassis

Ford Blue

Engine/Transmission $500 + trades

Ron has previous experience running LS1’s and had enough computers/wiring laying around to get one running.  “I scored a low-mileage LS1 for $300 (with a couple hundred to replace the pieces that are missing).

“I’m painting the engine Ford blue and remote mounting the coils, maybe the Ford guys won’t notice.  LOL.”

Should cheese off all the die hard Ford guys, maybe I’ll paint the LS1 Ford blue and nobody will know the difference.  I scored a Muncie M21 trans, shifter and bellhousing from my buddy, traded it for an old set of Mustang II spindles and rack I had laying around.  Picked up a set of LS6 heads, cam and intake for a song.  Got an LS1 throttle body off ebay for 95 cents. So here I am, I have a complete chassis,motor,trans,rear,body sitting on a chassis, all accesories and brakes.  I have about $1800.00 left.”

Suspension

Rear springs and weight jacks from race proven parts, the springs were $6.50 ea. and the weight jacks were $18.00, right in my budget, you just can’t beat eBay.  The rear ended up at 63″ face to face, about the same width as a full size pickup rear.  Shocks came off a 2008 Silverado,with 100 miles on it.  I watch eBay, Craigslist, and Racingjunk like a hawk, I wouldn’t have been able to do this with out some lucky bidding.  What did we do before Ebay?

Body

“Most of the rust is gone, but then again, so is most of the car.  Also finally got a serial # and title and some parts off a car that got scrapped.  I built the chassis on the car and the track width is about a foot wider then the Mustang LOL.  I’m making the Mustang fit the track rather than the track fit the Mustang.  The hood is a 2.5″ cowl hood from CJ Mustang parts.  In keeping with the budget its a scratch and dent piece, two of the 4 corners have cracks in them (perfect for this car).

Got a chance to scale my car.  It weighed 2750 pounds with no fuel or driver.  Just under 3100 pounds with me and a full tank of fuel.  The good part was that the car had just about perfect 50/50 weight distribution.”

Ron’s Classic Quotes Continued:

“Besides its the new parts that have been killing me, all the used junk has performed flawlessly(at least so far).  Its alot nicer a car then I originally planned.”

“Hoping to squeeze a high 11 sec pass out of the thing, and be a good handling car.  I still would rather have an 11sec. Chevy powered ‘Stang than a 13 sec. Ford powered one.”

“Its coming out just as I pictured it though.  I usually hate when people stray away from the factory look, but I think I like it better then the factory lines.  I should be happy, do to all the tweeking I had to do.  I figure this will be one of those cars people will either really like,or REALLY REALLY hate.Ron”

A must-see YouTube video taken by a Pro-Touring forum member at the Peach State Musclecar Challenge!

See Ron work his magic on his personal website and pro-touring build thread.  Lots more pictures and build details if you want the nitty gritty version!

With the economy doing its downward spiral, building our rides on a budget is as important as it’s always been!  Give us your comments below on what you thought about these 5 Tips and send this story to all your friends so you can start working those trade and barter swaps with your car buddies!

Hechtspeed

2009 Peach State Muscle Car Challenge-May 15-16

Come join us for the 2009 Peach State Muscle Car Challenge. It begins tomorrow and there is still time to register.

For more info and to register visit Pro-Touring Peach State Muscle Car Challenge.

Basic info:

May15 Dinner – $5 per person
Friday will consist of Meeting up at David’s toy box in Canton GA, Hang out with our cars and get to know each other over some music and food.

May 16 Drag Racing – $15 per car
Saturday we will meet up around 8:00am then head over to Calhoun http://www.paradisedragstrip.net/ and run our cars until around 3:00pm. Then we will all cruise the back roads of Ga. to Canton for the Cruz night. There have been as little as 400 cars and as many as 700 cars at this Cruz night.
Have some dinner at one of many different restaurants. Then back to the David’s toy box to hang out some more.

May 17 Autocross – $25 per car
Sunday will meet up at the host hotel around 8:00am then cruise up 41hwy to the parking lot for the auto cross at http://http://www.redtopautoauction.com/
Wallace Sanford the owner is graciously letting us use his parking lot for our event. He has a couple of nice cars as well and might join us for the fun.

1965 Mercury Comet Caliente Pro-Touring Build

Pro-Touring? Does this sound like grandma cruisin’ Route 66 in a Mercury Marquis? Try Again! For those hiding out in your garage working on your own hot rod in the last 5 years, Pro-Touring cars are classic muscle cars modified to be driven hard with modern hot rodding technology.

Call it Pro-Touring or G-Machine, everything on these tricked out rides is upgraded and modern: Late model or aftermarket suspension, big horsepower engine, and body mods to fit those giant wheels with low profile tires and big brakes. New school muscle with old school style. Buckle up.

OK, let’s have a look-see at Josh Martin’s 1965 Pro-Touring Mercury Comet Caliente then shall we? A few magazines are planning to feature this track day-ready Comet, but the details are not set. In the meantime, MyRideisMe.com delivers the latest and greatest in hot rodding. We say, why wait? Type in your email address over on the left and you’ll receive stories like this right to your inbox.

Filling you in on the Comet build then, meet car owner, Josh Martin.

MyRideisMe: All dream cars start with just that, a dream. Personally I’m a big fan of the Comet. Tell us about yours and why you built a Comet?

Josh Martin : I chose the 1965 Mercury Comet after seeing the 1996 movie “Swingers.” (”Baby, that was money! Tell me that wasn’t money!”) I loved the look of the car in the movie so I researched and found out it’s a ‘64 Comet convertible. Then I saw a 1965 2-door hardtop and it blew me away. It was the best looking car I had ever seen, and I knew that this was the car I wanted.

MyRideisMe: Once you knew you wanted the Comet, what were your plans and why?

Josh Martin: I researched shops, and talked with a few before choosing Woody’s Hot Rodz in Bright, Indiana. Woody’s started from a small operation out of a garage and grew to a shop doing multiple high-end builds. I also knew that I wanted to do a Pro-Touring build, using the original Comet body, but upgrading everything with new parts (chassis, engine, brakes, interior, etc.). Woody’s was doing pro-touring builds based on the Art Morrison Max G chassis. So, Woody’s was a perfect fit.

MyRideisMe: So, where did you find the actual car?

Josh Martin: The 1965 Comet is not a super rare car. We didn’t care about the engine, brakes, etc., but we needed a solid body with as little rust as possible (other than the floors, which would be cut out and rebuilt anyway). We found a perfect car on Craigslist that was located in California.

MyRideisMe: So, tell us about the build itself and working with Woody’s Hot Rodz?

Josh Martin: The project started in the spring of 2006, when the car shipped from California to Woody’s. I had a list of ideas for the project from writing down general concepts that I wanted for the car. I sent pictures of other cars that had design features I liked, and then I left it up to Woody’s to fill in the blanks and execute. Throughout the three year build, Woody’s and I have been in constant communication about what parts to use, how we want certain things to look, and other details. Woody’s has done an amazing job building the car I envisioned.

[Note on Woody's: In the three years since my project started, Woody's has been busy killin' it. They had three cars built for Super Rod and other Buckaroo Buildoff-published magazines and they now tout customers such as Jeg Coughlin (2008 Prostock World Champion), Herschel Walker, and Carlos Beltran. Woody's owner Chris and partner Ryan are a couple of good guys, and they really know how to build a car the right way.]

MyRideisMe: Now, one of the coolest parts of this build is that Shelby GT500 5.4L Supercharged V8 shoehorned into that small block Ford bay!

Josh Martin: Right, we originally had planned on a 4.6L mod motor. After the build was already under way, I saw the GT500 5.4L engine. I called Woody’s and we went over all the potential problems, like, how do we get that wide/tall engine to fit, how do we control it (brand new engine not sold with a wiring harness), and is it too heavy for balanced handling. We decided that it was worth the headaches given that there really wouldn’t be many (any?) non-Mustang cars with this engine. And, once again, Woody’s came through. We located an operation that could sell us the engine, harness, and a programmed computer. Finally, a few modifications to the hood and engine bay and it slipped in.

MyRideisMe: Let’s take a look at the rest of the build. What else makes this car stand out?

Josh Martin: Both Woody’s and I would come up with ideas, and then we’d talk them through. For example, we didn’t like the original Comet mirrors so Woody’s came up with the idea of using bullit style Mustang mirrors. Since the Comet was a stable mate with the Mustang, the mirrors fit without any real modification.

Woody’s also came up with a number of original design features. The original 1965 Comet had three plastic front fender badges. We liked the general look, but wanted to update them. Woody’s came up with cool metal badges. Woody’s also added a center rear brake light between the trunk and the rear window that sits flush with the surface of the car. Custom LEDs now reside in the taillights. Check out the modern take on A/FX hood scoops too.

Woody’s also took the old grill emblem (which was red, white, and blue) and changed it to a black and silver “GT500″ emblem. I think it’s cool because we removed all the name badges from the car (it actually does not say “Comet” anywhere on the car). As for the interior, Woody’s has been using Barry Langdon Interior for years, and Barry did a great job using black leather on the seats and a really cool center console design.

MyRideisMe: Wow! I really dig the custom touches Josh. Here’s the Comet’s quick spec sheet:

Engine - 5.4L supercharged Ford SVT engine from the new GT500.

Transmission – T56 six-speed (modified).

Chassis – Art Morrison Max G (frame with pass-throughs for exhaust, Morrison IFS suspension, Morrison triangulated 4-bar rear suspension out back)

Exhaust – Borla kit (includes 2.5″ diameter stainless tubing, two Turbo XL mufflers, and two Phantom tips)

Brakes – Wilwood six-piston calipers squeezing 13 inch front and 12.1 inch rear rotors

Wheels/Tires – 18″ Bonspeed Quasars on BFG g-Force KDW 255/45/18 Rears and 225/45/18 Fronts

Gas tank – Stealth tank from Rick’s

Gauges – Classic Instruments, 6-gauge set, All American Series

Steering – Ididit shorty column, Budnik Famosa wheel

Josh Martin: We set out to create a car that looks like my favorite old car but that performs like a new performance car. It has been quite a journey (three years) , but we got to where we wanted to be. I could not have done it without the help of people on the Pro-Touring.com Forums, whether it was ideas, opinions, or just encouragement. The relationship I’ve formed with the guys at Woody’s Hot Rodz has been awesome, and I’m sure it will last a long time. I can’t wait to get the Comet on the road and to the track, but the journey itself with all of its ups and downs has been a huge part of the fun.