My 1965 Retro ‘R’ Model Mustang Fastback…

‘The Ripper’ started out life as a mild mannered A-Code Mustang Fastback. 4 Speed, Drum Brakes, no frills car. I purchased the car from a fellow in Monterey California and drove it home. It was in very clean semi-restored condition but lacked anything good other then the upgraded 9″ in the back. It had a 302 motor that was pretty stock and bad brakes, and all the stuff you hate about a 60’s car. On the ride home on Interstate 5 I quickly found out that Mustang seats without seat belts don’t mix. My initial idea behind the car was a streetable Mustang cruiser with a nice motor, some rims, brakes and be done.

After couple of weeks working on the car it’s path drastically changed…

The simple car project turned into a complete gutting of the car, removal of everything not welded together. Then the special speckle paint treatment I have become known for. The car was blasted and repainted at some point so paint was still clean and I removed all tar and good and rolled a few coats of Rustoleum paint (not spray paint). The a couple of coats of Satin Black, again rolled on, then finally spraying Trunk Speckle paint and sealer over the thick Rustoleum. While not Zolotone, it has ended up being very durable.

Suspension and many parts fitted over the ensuing months. Finally to the track, but first with some help from a friend The Ripper receives it’s infamous Black stripe the night before. The car was San Francisco 49’s Red and Gold. Well the Gold had to go and since most of the plastic body parts were black AND I had a can of flat BBQ black paint we laid it down with some blue tape and fish paper. Looked GREAT! This is the trademark RIPPER color scheme…

The original motor was a tired 302 with a set of headers. That’s got to go. Initially went with a FPS 347 Stroker motor but after a few issues I finally upgraded to the full aluminum block from Ford Racing. Motor built, lasted a few track runs, then dropped a valve. After looking at quality of components used in the build it was time to upgrade since the motor was obviously going to be run a lot harder on the track then a ‘street hot rod’. In it’s current incarnation the motor makes good power to about 7500 RPM and other then over-revving violently holds together well. See what happens to a motor that did not survive here in the HALL OF SHAME. Transmission was another spot of problems. Since the cars original plan was for the street a Tremec TKO was in order. Good street gearbox, but on the track at higher RPM always seemed to be fighting the synchros (and yes the clutch was releasing properly…). Ended up seeing a lot of NASCAR parts showing up on Ebay. The T101A’s were plentiful and I figured I would call up TexRacing to find out more about them. After a conversation they said they sell used rebuild T101A’s and can have any ratio and all sorts of other stuff all for the same price of an Epay job. SOLD. If you don’t know what a T101A shifts like, imagine that you can pull the handle and no matter what it shifts. It makes a big clunk, but it always shifts. The only way to botch a shift is by extreme operator error. It sounds cool too…

I typically run Royal Purple racing or Shell Rotella T6 synthetic, and now Scheafers motor oil and water and water-wetter only in the cooling system. With a powerful 289 engine like this and the summer heat at Willow Springs you need all the cooling you can get.

Recent work has been to remove the older Global West front suspension and replace it with a Street or Track coil over kit, Dry Sump system, Watts Link, new seats and fuel injection. All work in progress!

More of the details are below. Old previous components are stricken from the record…

To watch a video of what the Ripper is all about (It’s a bit old) but will give an overview of many things in the car. Check that video out on YouTube CarCast.

Suspension

• Full SOT (Street or Track) front coil overs
• Custom front Afco racing shocks
• Low friction ball joints added
• CSRP 65 big bearing spindles
• Dual Masters with balance bar
• Custom stainless brake brackets, with some help from Wilwood for radial mounts
• Wilwood radial mount 6 piston Thermlock piston, J Compound pads
• 13.06″ Wilwood GT Rotors, GT Hats, and Wilwood aluminum hubs with ARP long studs
• Randall’s Power Rack and Pinion kit with KRC pump
• Global West Rear Cat 5 Spring with pressed in spherical ends
• Global West Del-A-Lum Rear Shakles
• Rear Afco racing shocks. Leaf spring brackets updated as well as chassis
• Fays2 Watts linkage
• Wilwood Dynapro 6 piston on the rears, BP20 pads as I recall.
• Global West Upper and Lower control arms
• Global West Strut Rods
  
• Global West 6 Piston Front Brake Kit and related spindles, rotors, hats, etc
• Koni Shocks on all 4 Corners
• Wilwood 9″ Dynalite Rear Brake Kit, old style with Go-Kart parking brake

The Motor

• Small Block Ford
• Ford Racing R302 Aluminum Block
• TEA Ported Canfield Heads, Titanium Valves, T&D Shaft Rockers
• Edelbrock Victor (Sr.) Heads, Victory 1 Ti valves, Isky RAD springs
• Jones MECHANICAL Roller Cam
• Ross Racing Pistons
• Oliver Billet Rods
• Scat Forged Crank
• Champ Pans SBF 3 Pickup
• Billet Timing Cover
• Peterson R4 3 Stage Pump and 4 gallon Tank
• TWM 8 Stack injection with LARGE throttles
• Megasquirt MS3Pro Ultimate ECU
• Armondo Racing Pan
• MSD Distributor and 6D Ignition System
• Racemate Waterpump Alternator
• Edelbrock Victor Manifold
• DamnBest 358 Open Track Carb with modifications

Transmission and Driveline

• 4 Speed Custom Ratio Gforce Transmission T101A
• Hurst Competition Plus Shifter
• Tilton Light weight  Flywheel
• Tilton Magnesium Bellhousing
• Tilton Cerametallic 2 Disk Clutch and Housing
• John’s Mustang Hydraulic Clutch Master
• Coleman Racing Aluminum Driveshaft with 1350 U-Joints
• Strange Engineering Aluminum Carrier with Strange gears and clutch pack locking differential
• Strange Engineering Axles
• Compomotive 3 piece Halibrand Style

Chassis

• Cooling Fluidyne Radiator – 69 Camaro
• Oil Cooling – Fluidyne
• Global West Sub-frame connectors
• Autopower Roll Bar – Welded In
• Shelby R-Model Cowl Support
• Shelby R-Model Rear Window
• TCP Chassis Bracing along with Stock Export Brace
• Safecraft Halon Fire Supression System
• Fuelsafe 22 Gallon Aluminum Cell

Other Stuff

• R-Model Dash Pad – DO THIS MODIFICATION IF YOU HATE THE MUSTANG FOAM EYEBROWS LIKE I DO!
• R-Model Gage Panel and Moon Racing Gauges (the older Autometer versions)
• Custom Wiring for ECU and related, with a few parts of the stock harness left
• OMP Red racing seats with Harness and Sub belts
• Antigravity Lithium battery in aluminum Mele batttery mount in an aluminum box
• Exhaust still unknown, may go back to Hooker Aerochamber race, or Dynomax Ultraflow mufflers
• Headers will need to be custom made for the Edelbrock Victors, TBD
• MOMO Racing Buckets with Harness and Sub belts
• Odyssey PC680 Battery Rear Mount in Aluminum Box
• Custom Stepped Headers
• Flowmaster Hushpower 3″ Racing Mufflers

Image Gallery Below

Click images for larger size (If available)

Willow Springs – Big Track

This is an early photo of The Ripper at Willow Springs. You can still see the GOLD stripes on the roof and see the open quarter window before it got the trademark stainless wire mesh.

Early Ripper’s Engine

Engine fresh back from the Builder and Dyno run. It’s about to be tossed into the car. I think this was done by M&R Engines in Glendale CA. They are long out of business. Nices folks and almost across the street where my car was being working on (Adam’s warehouse). Pushed it over on an engine stand for the work. Wheeled it back the same way…

Engine

This shot is engine freshly installed. Changed out the old can style coil which failed at some point. Updated it with a fender mounted coil. Things looking clean with a nice fresh DamBest carb in all it’s glory. The NEW engine is yet to be built but will be a Dry Sump and Fuel Injected version.

Radiator Upgrade

With the increased power the engine is making and how F’n hot it gets in the summer at Willow Springs, it was time to sort out the cooling issues. The car had a Mustang direct fit Fluidyne radiator that worked pretty well… most of the time. Updated the cooling with a 1969 Camaro Fluidyne model. Had to trim the radiator support but cooling issues gone. Fit really well. Look for the project info somewhere here on the site.

T101A Transmission

The T101A transmission. Case is magnesium with teflon coating (blue). It came with a Hurst Competition Plus Shifter and stock style shift rods to keep things tight to the transmission as the Mustang has a small transmission tunnel. The job to fit the transmission did require some hacking to the tunnel as well as fabricating a new transmission mount from an old stock one. The tall boy breather midship in the transmission also landed right in an area transmission tunnel that had a support. All little things that were fixed after a few test fitments. See the Projects sections for some of the hack work. This was hands down one of the best upgrades for the car!

Front Suspension

Changed out the Global West front suspension for Street or Track Mustang Suspension coil overs. Then added my own shocks and springs to ensure I created extra work. Used Afco custom made fronts, and changed the springs which ended up being a good modification as the outside diameter was a bit smaller.

Front Brakes

With removing the Global West front suspension, I had to redo the front brakes. The issue was the 65 Big Bearing CSRP spindles use a different mount for the brake then the later 69 on spindles. So had to redo them with 6 Piston Superlite’s with Thermlock pistons.

Rear Brakes

Doing the addition of the Fays Watts Link, I decided to remove the puck parking brakes as they really were worthless. Decided to update the rear Dynalite calipers with newer Dynapro 6 piston. They also have a bit of a larger pad to boot.

Front Spoiler

With a rear spoiler you must have a front spoiler. So in looking around, nothing really fit my needs, so I made my own adjustable one that can also lift up easily for getting the car on the trailer. Manny was consulted so I know it will work!

Rear Spoiler

Added a rear spoiler to help with some bad aerodynamics the Fastback has at high speeds. Note the quality stickers applied. You can also see the ‘Racing’ holes I drilled into the rear valence. This is a good modification to let trapped air out.

Ready for the Track

All ready to go. Heading off to Willow Springs for some club event or something. This is an old image as I have not been to the track since tearing the car down for all the work. Still nice to see it on the trailer!