Whats up guys, I don't post much on here, and If I did it was from my Dad's account (Fishinjeff) cause that's what is logged on here at the shop.
Anyway, background, I've owned 6 mustangs, always had one since I was 16. Ive own a '98 V6 - that I went on to put a cobra motor in all that blah blah... went from an ugly torn up V6 to a show winner. Also went from 17.4 @ 82 mph to a 11.9 @ 119 mph. Was a fun car. Owned a '95 gt, a real '98 chrome yellow cobra, a '02 GT, and the latest was my prized '04 Mystichrome Cobra w/42K miles. It had just bolts ons all that was 450RWHP.... The color never grew on me, it was just there.... Well met a girl, changed my life, so I asked her to marry me, I sold the cobra in the mean time last fall... WELL she was mad I sold the car, so pretty much told me I better find one...
Started looking and found this on here.... and heres the story.
And would like to give a shout out to Machofmanhattan I believe is his name on here, or Rex. Great guy, would do business with him any day.
To start out. Saw the car on SVTP, and said it was too far, to expensive, blah blah blah.... Anyway. I messaged the guy anyway, nice guy, kept asking questions. I felt like I had to be annoying him. So I got to thinking, maybe it isn't too far. I love the car, why not make this work, but how could I....
Starting doing some research on best routes to get out there, the car was located in SW Colorado... Getting to Southwest Colorado is nearly impossible and dangerous this time of year. Well got to talking to Rex, the old owner. He says he can meet me in Moab, Utah, I laugh at that, but got to looking it's a state over, but it's actually a better drive, and right off of HWY 70... So I start talking to my father and my soon to be father in law, about what'd they do. My dad said take your father in laws enclosed trailer if you go, and be safe... So I did exactly that. I even talked my fiancé into going. "not sure she'll ever do that again lol" Her dad is a huge car guy so she knows how this works ha.
Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger, had a shipping company lined up. This fell through cause they couldn't get to him this time of year out in Colorado... It was going to be $1700... So I started running numbers with my F150 pulling my father in laws closed 24ft trailer. My truck does have an Add-A-Leaf, SCT Xcal 3 tuned, load E tires, all that stuff, but I was scared about that mountains being over loaded.
I'm stubborn and said screw it, the weather is nice, I'm going. Loaded up Thursday night, bought food so we didn't spend money on that. Loaded my truck with tools, spares, scraps, chains. Friday after work, my fiancé got off work and met me at my shop, locked up and headed west at 4pm.. Picked up the trailer at HWY 65 in the middle of Missouri, from my father in law, and kept on rollin. Stopped in KC to eat, and headed out to Kansas. Drove all the way non stop except for fuel, and let her drive from western Kansas to Denver, where I took over and got us to Moab Utah. The trailer pulled terrible unloaded, truck would only do around 65 and it wanted to whip any faster. Scary part of the trip, I had a van pass me going over 100 mph on 70 at about 4 AM eastern Denver. Shook the whole truck and put the trailer into a whip at 65 MPH, I couldn't get control of the wheel, as I was dead tired, and thank God for the Ford Anti-Sway feature, it took the truck off cruise and got it to straighten out... Needless to say I was awake the rest of the trip. It pulled it through the mountains fine empty, I noticed a bit of power gone from the altitude but not too bad.
Finally get to Moab, Utah by 10:30am on Saturday. Take the car for a spin, I fall in love with the thing, load it up, and back on our way... Pulled AWESOME, no whip, pulling great. Get gas and head back towards Colorado. Pulls awesome, but Im thinking about Vail Pass, and worried about it a little bit. This is where it got a little hairy. All the ski resorts were letting out, traffic everywhere, I don't have tow mirrors, cant see who's coming up on me. Every time a semi passed me or I passed them I was thrown around a bit... So I was white knuckled the whole way back.
I hit Vail Pass. I hop in line with the truckers.. Well I'm pullin hard up the mountain, it was -13 the last night there. Well it was 50 degrees the next day "Saturday" and I was watching all my temps. My tranny is pullin HARD in 3rd the whole way up, and no shoulder cause of the snow banks. And I look up my motor temp is comin up.. Thank God I did this in winter, and that I reached the top without hurting anything. Nothing got too hot. After Denver it was easy going, as soon as I hit Kansas again, the truck actually was making power again, and with the load would run 72-75 no problem. With my '33 mud tires I actually got 11.5 mpg on the way back pulling...
I got very lucky, I had VERY nice weather going and coming back. No snow on the roads, minimal wind. Would I do it again in an F150 maybe not in the mountains. I have a decent story to go with it though. Saw some very cool things, saw some strange people, met a nice guy who loves cars, his fiancé, and mother. Saw some cool trucks/cars. And had my fiancé riding shotgun keeping me going the whole time. Got home at 7PM Sunday. We stayed in Denver Saturday night and got on the road early Sunday. Over 2000 Miles in 52 Hours....
Some pictures and specs of the car.. Sorry if this was poorly written lol I did it quickly.
Here's the map.
1st stop in KC
Wind fields in Kansas
Hit Colorado mountain pass
MADE IT TO THE CAR FINALLY!
Finally got it, this is how the truck sat loaded. Sat perfectly level.
Photos he had...
Here's the run down on what I bought 2003 Mustang Mach 1
Motor:
4.6 DOHC Built by House of Boost ( - House of Boost :: We Make Fast Stuff Faster® - (Powered by CubeCart) )
Diamond Forged dished pistons (~9.5:1 comp)
Manley Forged H beam rods
Stock aluminum block bored .020 over
Clevite main bearings
Melling oil pump
All ARP assembly hardware
Ported and powdercoated 01 cobra upper & lower intake manifold
Roy’s intake spacer
Exhaust:
SLP Longtube Headers
SLP Catted X pipe
Magnaflow Magnapack catback
SLP tips
Power Adder:
Procharger D1SC with both 3.85 (installed) & 3.70 pulleys (included)
Sheetmetal 3 core (LARGE) intercooler
Polished head unit, bracket, and inlet pipe
Diablo MAFia
currently ~12psi (maybe 13 at sea level) (3.85 pulley)
SCT Xcal3 tuned by Brook Speed / Eric Brooks
Fuel System:
Siemens 60lb injectors
Stock tank modified with Dual cobra pumps
Kenne Bell Boost a pump 40amp
Rear End:
FRPP 4.10 gears
Moser hardened 28 spline axles
Wheels:
True Forged Victory wheels (18x9, 18x10)
Big Brake cut up front
Deep Dish (4.5" lip) rears
Tires:
265/35/18 Cooper fronts 65-70% remaining
315/35/18 Toyo Drag Radials 20-30% remaining
Suspension:
Hans Racecraft Full length subframes
Stangsuspension adjustable lower control arms
Stangsuspension upper control arms spherical bushings
Lakewood 70/30 struts
Strange adjustable rear drag shocks
Stock springs cut ~1.75”
MM Caster Camber plates
Hans Racecraft rear shock tower brace
Drivetrain:
MGW orange shifter
FRPP aluminum driveshaft
Lakewood driveshaft safety loop
Exterior:
30% tint
Gloss custom hood stripe
03 cobra front bumper
03 cobra sideskirts
shorty antenna
gloss black rear spoiler
lowered 1.5"-1.75"
MUSTANG rear bumper inserts
Interior:
Sony Touchscreen DVD/MP3/Bluetooth Head unit
Speed of sound dual A pillar
Autometer Boost gauge
AEM Wideband
Raptor shift light
MGW interior knobs, shift knob, etc
Custom Mach 1 rear seat delete
grandesignmats Mach 1 rear trunk mat
Motor dress-up:
Powdercoated (red) valve covers)
Polished head unit, piping, etc
MGW covers, oil cap, etc
Powdercoated (gloss black) shaker
Ford Racing coil covers
Steeda radiator cover
MOROSO power steering & coolant over flow tanks
UPR Battery tie down
Misc other dress up items
Anyway, background, I've owned 6 mustangs, always had one since I was 16. Ive own a '98 V6 - that I went on to put a cobra motor in all that blah blah... went from an ugly torn up V6 to a show winner. Also went from 17.4 @ 82 mph to a 11.9 @ 119 mph. Was a fun car. Owned a '95 gt, a real '98 chrome yellow cobra, a '02 GT, and the latest was my prized '04 Mystichrome Cobra w/42K miles. It had just bolts ons all that was 450RWHP.... The color never grew on me, it was just there.... Well met a girl, changed my life, so I asked her to marry me, I sold the cobra in the mean time last fall... WELL she was mad I sold the car, so pretty much told me I better find one...
Started looking and found this on here.... and heres the story.
And would like to give a shout out to Machofmanhattan I believe is his name on here, or Rex. Great guy, would do business with him any day.
To start out. Saw the car on SVTP, and said it was too far, to expensive, blah blah blah.... Anyway. I messaged the guy anyway, nice guy, kept asking questions. I felt like I had to be annoying him. So I got to thinking, maybe it isn't too far. I love the car, why not make this work, but how could I....
Starting doing some research on best routes to get out there, the car was located in SW Colorado... Getting to Southwest Colorado is nearly impossible and dangerous this time of year. Well got to talking to Rex, the old owner. He says he can meet me in Moab, Utah, I laugh at that, but got to looking it's a state over, but it's actually a better drive, and right off of HWY 70... So I start talking to my father and my soon to be father in law, about what'd they do. My dad said take your father in laws enclosed trailer if you go, and be safe... So I did exactly that. I even talked my fiancé into going. "not sure she'll ever do that again lol" Her dad is a huge car guy so she knows how this works ha.
Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger, had a shipping company lined up. This fell through cause they couldn't get to him this time of year out in Colorado... It was going to be $1700... So I started running numbers with my F150 pulling my father in laws closed 24ft trailer. My truck does have an Add-A-Leaf, SCT Xcal 3 tuned, load E tires, all that stuff, but I was scared about that mountains being over loaded.
I'm stubborn and said screw it, the weather is nice, I'm going. Loaded up Thursday night, bought food so we didn't spend money on that. Loaded my truck with tools, spares, scraps, chains. Friday after work, my fiancé got off work and met me at my shop, locked up and headed west at 4pm.. Picked up the trailer at HWY 65 in the middle of Missouri, from my father in law, and kept on rollin. Stopped in KC to eat, and headed out to Kansas. Drove all the way non stop except for fuel, and let her drive from western Kansas to Denver, where I took over and got us to Moab Utah. The trailer pulled terrible unloaded, truck would only do around 65 and it wanted to whip any faster. Scary part of the trip, I had a van pass me going over 100 mph on 70 at about 4 AM eastern Denver. Shook the whole truck and put the trailer into a whip at 65 MPH, I couldn't get control of the wheel, as I was dead tired, and thank God for the Ford Anti-Sway feature, it took the truck off cruise and got it to straighten out... Needless to say I was awake the rest of the trip. It pulled it through the mountains fine empty, I noticed a bit of power gone from the altitude but not too bad.
Finally get to Moab, Utah by 10:30am on Saturday. Take the car for a spin, I fall in love with the thing, load it up, and back on our way... Pulled AWESOME, no whip, pulling great. Get gas and head back towards Colorado. Pulls awesome, but Im thinking about Vail Pass, and worried about it a little bit. This is where it got a little hairy. All the ski resorts were letting out, traffic everywhere, I don't have tow mirrors, cant see who's coming up on me. Every time a semi passed me or I passed them I was thrown around a bit... So I was white knuckled the whole way back.
I hit Vail Pass. I hop in line with the truckers.. Well I'm pullin hard up the mountain, it was -13 the last night there. Well it was 50 degrees the next day "Saturday" and I was watching all my temps. My tranny is pullin HARD in 3rd the whole way up, and no shoulder cause of the snow banks. And I look up my motor temp is comin up.. Thank God I did this in winter, and that I reached the top without hurting anything. Nothing got too hot. After Denver it was easy going, as soon as I hit Kansas again, the truck actually was making power again, and with the load would run 72-75 no problem. With my '33 mud tires I actually got 11.5 mpg on the way back pulling...
I got very lucky, I had VERY nice weather going and coming back. No snow on the roads, minimal wind. Would I do it again in an F150 maybe not in the mountains. I have a decent story to go with it though. Saw some very cool things, saw some strange people, met a nice guy who loves cars, his fiancé, and mother. Saw some cool trucks/cars. And had my fiancé riding shotgun keeping me going the whole time. Got home at 7PM Sunday. We stayed in Denver Saturday night and got on the road early Sunday. Over 2000 Miles in 52 Hours....
Some pictures and specs of the car.. Sorry if this was poorly written lol I did it quickly.
Here's the map.
1st stop in KC
Wind fields in Kansas
Hit Colorado mountain pass
MADE IT TO THE CAR FINALLY!
Finally got it, this is how the truck sat loaded. Sat perfectly level.
Photos he had...
Here's the run down on what I bought 2003 Mustang Mach 1
Motor:
4.6 DOHC Built by House of Boost ( - House of Boost :: We Make Fast Stuff Faster® - (Powered by CubeCart) )
Diamond Forged dished pistons (~9.5:1 comp)
Manley Forged H beam rods
Stock aluminum block bored .020 over
Clevite main bearings
Melling oil pump
All ARP assembly hardware
Ported and powdercoated 01 cobra upper & lower intake manifold
Roy’s intake spacer
Exhaust:
SLP Longtube Headers
SLP Catted X pipe
Magnaflow Magnapack catback
SLP tips
Power Adder:
Procharger D1SC with both 3.85 (installed) & 3.70 pulleys (included)
Sheetmetal 3 core (LARGE) intercooler
Polished head unit, bracket, and inlet pipe
Diablo MAFia
currently ~12psi (maybe 13 at sea level) (3.85 pulley)
SCT Xcal3 tuned by Brook Speed / Eric Brooks
Fuel System:
Siemens 60lb injectors
Stock tank modified with Dual cobra pumps
Kenne Bell Boost a pump 40amp
Rear End:
FRPP 4.10 gears
Moser hardened 28 spline axles
Wheels:
True Forged Victory wheels (18x9, 18x10)
Big Brake cut up front
Deep Dish (4.5" lip) rears
Tires:
265/35/18 Cooper fronts 65-70% remaining
315/35/18 Toyo Drag Radials 20-30% remaining
Suspension:
Hans Racecraft Full length subframes
Stangsuspension adjustable lower control arms
Stangsuspension upper control arms spherical bushings
Lakewood 70/30 struts
Strange adjustable rear drag shocks
Stock springs cut ~1.75”
MM Caster Camber plates
Hans Racecraft rear shock tower brace
Drivetrain:
MGW orange shifter
FRPP aluminum driveshaft
Lakewood driveshaft safety loop
Exterior:
30% tint
Gloss custom hood stripe
03 cobra front bumper
03 cobra sideskirts
shorty antenna
gloss black rear spoiler
lowered 1.5"-1.75"
MUSTANG rear bumper inserts
Interior:
Sony Touchscreen DVD/MP3/Bluetooth Head unit
Speed of sound dual A pillar
Autometer Boost gauge
AEM Wideband
Raptor shift light
MGW interior knobs, shift knob, etc
Custom Mach 1 rear seat delete
grandesignmats Mach 1 rear trunk mat
Motor dress-up:
Powdercoated (red) valve covers)
Polished head unit, piping, etc
MGW covers, oil cap, etc
Powdercoated (gloss black) shaker
Ford Racing coil covers
Steeda radiator cover
MOROSO power steering & coolant over flow tanks
UPR Battery tie down
Misc other dress up items
Last edited: