COOL IDEA FOR AN UNLIMITED BUDGET MUSTANG SUPERCAR

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Car Craft magazine Editor Douglas Glad asked readers a while back what they'd build if they had an unlimited budget. Among the responses was this jewel from 460-BBF-In-CC.

The budget for this fantasy build seems higher than anything John Coletti had for a show/go car back in SVT's glory days (remember the audcious "Boss 429"-powered SN95 and the dual-fuel supercharged SN95).

Still, it would be a supercar like none other.

If I had a REALLY unlimited budget, I'd start by engineering a set of bolt-on DOHC 4-Valve aluminum heads for the 460 Ford, with capability for direct injection and Ethanol Boosting System's direct auxillary ethanol injection system . . . .

However, using parts that generally exist, I'd build (probably with the help of Chip Foose, or Troy Trepanier, or Pure Vision or some other pro builder that has industry connections) a "triple-charged" hybrid electric, modular displacement, all-wheel-drive big block Ford-powered 1969 Mustang as follows:

1. HYBRID ELECTRIC MANUAL TRANSMISSION: I'd raid the GM parts bin/insurance wrecking yard for the transmission, high-voltage batteries and electric control gear from a Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. I'd then machine the twin electric motor section of the transmission to interface with a beefed T-56 manual (or possibly a strengthened TKO-600 with a Gear Vendors overdrive added on). The Tahoe hybrid controller would be hacked to allow for manual operation of the electric motors. Ahead of the elecric motor pack I'd use a multiplate clutch and a "decoupler" box (allows electric-only operation if desired).

2. VARIABLE DISPLACEMENT: I'd grab a set of either Chrysler or GM "displacement-on-demand" hydraulic roller lifters and send them off to Rhodes Lifters for machining with their patented variable duration grooves and to fit in an Eliminator Products aftermarket 460 Ford block. The DOD oil feed solenoids would be triggered by a manual controller.

3. VARIABLE GEOMETRY INTAKE MANIFOLD: I'd engineer and have built by one of the sheet metal manifold companies a "variable geometry" EFI intake manifold that would allow a low r.p.m. intake runner length (to the valve) of 26" with butterfly valves in the runners to shorten the effective ram pipe lengths to 19" and 13" as the r.p.m. increased.

3. DUAL FUEL INJECTION: I'd buy a top-of-the-line Motec EFI/Ignition system and a datalogging system and at least 16 injectors (so that the vehicle could run off-boost on pump gas and immediately switch on-boost to alcohol(E100) or E85). I'd run two fuel cells (one 16 gallon and one 8 gallon) with two sets of lines, filters and pumps.

4. LONG BLOCK: Bored and stroked 460 Ford with aforementioned aftermarket block, fitted with oil squirters for the pistons, billet main caps, billet crank, billet rods, forged reverse deflector pistons featuring anti-scuff and thermal barrier coatings, Total Seal gapless top and second rings, hydraulic roller cam in the 230-degree (at .050 lift) range, ported Jon Kaase P-51 aluminum heads [The NEW KAASE BOSS NINE HEADS WOULD SEEM A BETTER CHOICE FOR AN ULTIMATE MUSTANG], roller rockers (no shaft rockers for me, even with an "unlimited" budget) ARP main and head studs, fabricated reverse-flow cooling system, true-roller timing chain or gear drive (no belt cam drive, even with "unlimited" budget); cam phaser added to the timing set; chain-driven dry sump oiling system (no belts to break).

5. FORCED INDUCTION: A "twincharging system" similar to what I described in the "We're not rich but we're not Stupid" thread (Turbos into air-air intercooler into Roots or bypass into air-water aftercooler), with these modifications: Heavy-duty 4-into-2 (bifurcated) exhaust headers with four Turbonetics racegate wastegates (one for each exhaust channel), dual sequential ball-bearing, divided entry-turbine turbochargers (four turbos -- two per cylinder bank), Lancia Delta-style stainless steel flap valve at the exducer of both secondary turbines to prevent exhaust flow at low RPM and an electric secondary throttle to prevent flow out of both secondary compressors at low RPM.

6. JOHN COLETTI "SUPERCOOLER" SYSTEM: The second stage aftercooler/intercooler would be augmented with an the AC-cooled "supercooler" designed and patented by John Coletti when he was chief at Ford SVT.

7. REAR AXLE: Dana 60 with an Auburn ECTED (limited slip with an electric locker), NASCAR-style full-floating axles (would consider a quick change rear if strong enough and the ECTED could be made to fit).

8. FRONT AXLE: adapt in an AWD Chrysler 300 differential and beefed half-shafts (obviously, the torque split would have to be limited).

9. CENTER DIFFERENTIAL/TRANSFER CASE: Single speed, non-locking viscous differential modified to transfer no more than 150-200 lbs/ft of torque to the front axle (Source and modifications to be determined).

10. CHASSIS: Art Morrison pro-touring with Air Ride Systems air springs and weight jackers, Koni adjustable shocks (I would add a solenoid controlled external bypass to the front shocks so that they could be switched on-the-fly to loose-rebound "drag" shocks), huge swaybars with a remote off-road-style disconnect of the front bar (for drag racing).

11. TIRES AND WHEELS: NO DUBS! NO PRO STREET! 17" diameter "Mini-lite"-style or billet Magnum 500s (8" wide front, 10" wide rear) with Goodyear F1s on front and drag radials on the rear (Of course it still wouldn't hook up, even with AWD!).

12. BRAKES: Baer/Brembo four-wheel discs with modified ABS adapted from factory Ford Mustang parts, line-loc, dual Tilton master cylinders with balance bar.

13. BODY: Boss 302 rear scoop delete, Black Boss 302 stripes with "Boss 555" call-outs, Thunderbolt hood bubble (the greatest FoMoCo hoodscoop of all time) on a blacked-out hood, revised Boss 302 front spoiler with a small splitter, "Off-road-only" High/Low-beam H4s bulb assemblies in the high-beam headlamp sockets, HID conversion in the low-beam head-lamp sockets, discrete but period-correct fog lamps below the bumper, fiber optic lamp monitors from a 1980s Cadillac, rear spoiler, hood tach nacelle fitted with fuel pressure gauges (one for each fuel system), legal window tint on rear and side windows, NASCAR-style rear window straps and windshield retaining tabs, hood pins with lanyards on hood and trunk (trunk pins are weather-sealed), Shelby Cobra-style mirrors modified to add heat, electric adjusters and auto-dimming glass, two recessed flip-top Cobra-style fuel caps (one for each fuel system), 1970 Mustang tail lamp panel and taillights, blacked out and with tasteful, period-style "honeycomb" accent, tail lamp segments converted to Cougar-style sequential operation with high-intensity LED bulbs.

14. SAFETY: Full cage with triangulated swing-out side bars that can be pinned either to the doors (street) or the cage (track) and removable main hoop cross-bar on the passenger-side for rear seat access (driver's side cross-bar is fixed and tied into the main hoop diagonal bar), all safety equipment required for bracket racing, HRM Drag Week (tm), CC's new Street Car contest, open road events, HRM Top Speed Challenge at Maxton Mile, ECTA events, integrated fire suppression system, Five-panel WINK rear view mirror refitted with electric auto-dimming glass.

15. INTERIOR: Leather and wool in the style of the original interior, but with fully power-adjustable RECARO front seats (driver's seat can be removed for certified racing seat), Taurus-style lighted sun visors modified to work with the cage and the Wink mirror, Engine-turned auxiliary gauge/control panel with carbon-fiber accents (panel can be turned to face "riding mechanic/tuner" in the front passenger seat, dome light with map lights, courtesy lighting, center console with drink holders, rear seat with fold-down center arm rest, stereo, tilt and telescoping steering column with modern "stalk" controls for accessories and a vintage-style Shelby Mustang steering wheel.

16. MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT: A/C (pirated off the hybrid Tahoe?), electric power steering, power windows, power door locks, custom security system (schematics known only to me), electric vacuum pump (if Tilton master cylinders can be interfaced with a brake booster), cruise control, Valentine One, interval wipers, automatic headlamp system, automatic emergency brake release with an override system to facilitate "bootleg" e-brake turns.

17. EXHAUST: Expansion megaphones after each turbo lead to manual dump caps and split into four three-inch pipes; four catalytic converters; two after-cat pipes run to the sides, through minimal "race" mufflers to NASCAR-style side outlets, but flow through the side pipes is regulated by "cut-out" valves; the other two pipes run through turbo mufflers and exit through polished MEGS at the rear.

It'd probably be cheaper to just buy a Bugatti Veyron . . . .

Something like that will be fun to contemplate as we putt around in our 2020 Obama Car Czar Central Committee-approved, 60 m.p.g. toll-booth microcars . . . .

MULALLY: THERE’S AN ELECTRO-FORD IN YOUR FUTURE

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“In 10 years, 12 years, you are going to see a major portion of our portfolio move to electric vehicles," Alan Mulally said at the recent Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, California.

How should we react to that prediction?

Some PowerStroke® diesel owners who have thrown down $250.00 at their local Ford store for a pair of Motorcraft® batteries every four or five years are probably not tingling with excitement over Alan Mulally’s pandering to the greeniacs and global warming true believers and the prospect of future battery replacements costing ten times as much.

Perhaps some fans of Ford’s storied V8, Mustang, and “Total Performance” heritage may be wondering if the next Thunderbolt or Lightning will be some government-specification FWD electric golf cart instead of legendary pavement-ripping muscle.

A few futurists are imagining spaceship-like Electro-Matic Fords dominating the nearly-silent drag racing at the “Plasma Boy Nationals” in 2025.

And some probably wonder how they’re ever going to afford another new vehicle when government regulations have added $5,000.00 to $15,000.00 to the cost to pay for all of this electrification.

What is the reality?

Are Willie Wiredhand (tm) and Reddy Kilowatt (tm) really the go-to guys for the Ford Motor Company? Or is Mulally just shoveling another load of politically-correct, all-organic biomass?

1. Mulally’s comments demonstrate the obvious – that to meet the draconian Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards now on the books and expected from the mean green OBAMAites (regardless of whether California gets its CAA waiver from the E.P.A.), some electrification is inevitable.

2. Mulally’s prognostications mirror the hopes and dreams of the real boss: William Clay Ford, Jr. Bill Ford has always been “dual minded” with respect to Ford’s products. On the one hand, he apparently appreciates “throaty” Mustangs and profit-making trucks and SUVs. On the other, he apparently pines for adulation by the Sierra Clubbers and luddites who believe that we’re burning “the Planet” to a crisp with the “evil” internal combustion engine and personal automotive liberty. Thus, Mulally is Bill’s “boy” and he’s got to advance the Ford family line when appropriate.

3. Mulally’s opinions reflect an engineer’s sensibilities. For a vast majority of automotive uses, partial or full electrification would be efficient. Regenerative braking, start-stop shut-downs, and electric traction motor-assisted acceleration are elegant and intriguing engineering problems. The space-aged prospect of hydrogen fuel cells is enough to keep a creative engineer awake at nights.

4. Other than the expense, extra weight, complexity, and potential safety hazards, partial electrification of performance cars isn’t such a bad thing. It would allow them to survive in a hostile regulatory world.

A proper turbocharged V8 with a full-spread of torque-broadening technologies would be further enhanced by a torquey electric “booster” motor. Such a V8 could do most of the things a wimpy Prius could, and even run on four cylinders at steady-state cruise, but deliver enough off-boost fuel economy to placate the reasonable regulators and pragmatic greens (the hard core performance haters will never be satisfied as long as anyone is still having fun with “hot” cars).

Many of the parasitic systems on performance cars are begging to be electrified, which would permit more power-to-the-wheels. If and when Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) make a splash in Formula One racing, many technophiles and Walter Mittys will want similar systems for their sports cars and club racers -- just like they wanted turbos in the 1980s.

5. Electrification could save a thin remnant of traditional performance. If more pedestrian uses of light vehicles can be electrified, then their contributions to the CAFE average is increased. This could offset the production of a few more serious high-performance cars.

Certainly, this will eventually decrease the supplies of traditional junkyard-sourced hot rodding parts (much as the earlier switch to low-performance FWD and multi-valve fours and sixes already has) and will dramatically increase the acquisition costs of a surviving traditional muscle or sports car due to fewer mass production synergies. But the most likely alternative is worse – forcing everyone into soulless Fiat 500-sized microcars (or worse) and greatly limiting supplies of light trucks and sporting machines.

6.For all of the good wishes, hopes, dreams, and imagination of the legion of electric car advocates, electric cars are still a poor second to vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. In the vast heartland, a car with a 100-250 mile range between lengthy recharges is impractical. Huge breakthroughs must be accomplished before electric cars have the range and power density of a traditional gasoline/E-85/Diesel-powered vehicle. AND FULL HYBRIDS AND "TOTAL ELECTRICS" STILL AREN'T PROFITABLE TO BUILD IN MASS QUANTITIES. So Mulally’s comments ought to be taken in light of these practical realities. The internal combustion engine will be available in Ford showrooms in some form for the foreseeable future.

7. Mulally IS telling the appliance motorist greens what they want to hear. In these troubled times, Ford has to acknowledge the mostly erroneous popular narrative that the Detroit 3 alone caused the mess they’re in. And the way out of the mess is to “build cars that people want.”

If you’re a “true believer” in the Greenhouse Gas religion, then the “cars that people want” are really the cars greens think people ought to have, notwithstanding the reluctance of the masses to venerate egg-shaped electric hybrids, Smart® toll-booth cars, and the horrendously expensive and impractical GM EV-1.

The greens and the liberal freedom-hating bureaucrats are terrified of true free-market solutions because they know that a fairly large plurality, if not a majority, are not “true believers” and would snap up old school Detroit vehicles in huge numbers – if they were still built in reasonable numbers and at real market prices (Note that the prices for large vehicles have been artificially increased by the twin engines of regulatory compliance and supply constraints dictated by CAFE regulations. These factors have also artificially reduced the diversity of available models, designs and equipment).

It should also be noted that even a lot of bureaucrats inside of the Detroit 3 are scarred of the free market. If the fleet mix were truly market-based, it could affect profit margins on some of Detroit’s largest and most powerful vehicles. For example, there’s simply no technological reason why adding a couple of cylinders and some beef to the drive-line should cause the customer to pay a $10,000.00+ “penalty” over a mass-market six. And a supercharger or turbo which costs significantly less than $1,000.00 when purchased in bulk shouldn’t command a $5,000.00+ premium on the showroom floor if supplies and demand were not artificially limited. Yet some of these Detroit 3 bureaucrats who favor increased margins on fewer units see CAFE as a magic bullet to artificially decrease demand and increase opportunities for price gouging. Why would you want the hassle and risk to build 1,000 units to make a million in net profit if you could make the same amount of profit on 100 units?

Remember, the Detroit 3's management is packed with deadweight, appliance motorists who will never understand high performance vehicles, and boring bean counters who would be just as happy “costing out” any consumer product as they are working for an automaker. They do not hope to build legendary vehicles or help millions of automobile enthusiasts live their dreams. They build "widgets."

8. Mulally has to play the hand he’s been dealt. Even if he were an optimal combination of Zora Arkus-Duntov, Carroll Shelby, “Maximum” Bob Lutz, Enzo Ferrari, Ferdinand Porsche, Vince Piggens, and John Coletti, Mulally is still stuck with a company bleeding sales, virtually no youth market penetration, dwindling cash reserves, and a Katrina-sized hurricane of emission/fuel economy regulations bearing down upon him. So Mulally’s paean to the magic future virtues of electromagnetism is merely a recognition that the wide-open frontiers that faced Henry Ford, Henry Ford II, and even the hapless Lee Iacocca are not so open at the moment. If he’s to be credible, he’s got to talk a game that consistent with the funless, dower, depressed times in which his potential consumers and shareholders live.

Conclusion: Is there an Electro-Ford in your future?

Probably.

Does it mean the end of Ford’s “Total Performance,” Affordable-V8s-for-the-masses persona?

Hopefully not.

Does it mean the future is going to be a lot more complicated and expensive?

Most certainly.