What do you get if you take a 1980 Mercury Capri and mate it with a 1993 Cobra? A head turning, show winning, four-eyed love machine.

Mustang Matt is a regular face in the crowd at any South Florida car show - especially if there are some pony cars around. He has been customizing, and restoring Fox bodied cars for the past 15 years - and his creations are anything but ordinary. The 1980 hatch (now named Dusty) belonged to a fellow Mustang Club member that had slated it to be a “project” car. It sat for a few years untouched, so in 2006 the owner decided to sell the car to Matt. In boxes. Before the sale, the car had begun the transformation to Capri fenders thanks to a dent in the original rear corner. Being a huge fan of four-eyed Mustangs, Matt decided to keep the new fenders, and start bringing two Fox iterations together.

The plan was simple. Make a signature car that utilizes the best Ford had to offer for the Fox platform, make it fun to drive, and keep it as factory authentic as possible. The result is a handcrafted combination of 1979-1993 genuine Ford components.

The rebuild began with an exhaustive search for new-old-stock (NOS) replacement and good used original parts. “I spent countless hours searching for the right parts,” recalls Matt. “Everything on the car is original Ford if it was available.” The results of that hard work are simply astounding. No attention was spared on any detail. Every single panel, cover, and grommet was sourced to recreate a flawless interior that could have been driven right off the showroom floor. “I ended up going through 12 different sets of map pockets to find the right ones,” recalls Matt with a grin. “I spent just about an entire day ironing the pleats back into the final pockets.”

Exterior

• 80-81 Cobra front air dam, hood and rear spoiler with 80-81 Cobra hood graphics
• Marchal fog lights
• 79-83 Factory three piece rear spoiler in mint condition 
• 93 Cobra replica tail lights
• 93 Cobra ground effects- ORIGINAL not reproduction
• 93 Cobra replica wheels with new 255/40/17 tires
• Mercury Capri flared fenders and rear quarters, grafted by a professional vintage restorer
• OEM 87-93 Mustang rear ¼ windows in perfect condition
• Factory sunroof with NOS weatherstrip- no rust, all original hardware
• Hand painted pinstripes- fits the old school look. 
• The stock Cobra hood graphic from Phoenix Graphics was hand trimmed to open up the center portions and let the paint show through.

Attention to every detail: This car features NOS and original hardware everywhere. That’s one of the reasons that this cobra is a complete trophy magnet at car shows. “The car has never failed to win an award in any car show entered to date,” mentions Matt. And with 7,000 miles on the odometer since the restoration - driven primarily to car shows - that’s a lot of awards. “I preferred the original look,” in reference to a completely factory looking powerplant, “but I could eventually dress the engine up and really knock them dead at the shows.”

Interior

• Interior- Original 87-93 BLACK from a low mileage car
• 93 dash with 140 speedo (mileage reset to 0 at build)
• Retro Mach 1 upholstery in black vinyl with early style large headrests 
• SVO lumbar air bladders in both front seats, 84-91 style pull out leg bolsters
• OEM carpet front and rear
• Pioneer stereo with Infinity speakers in stock locations- car is wired for trunk subwoofer
• The very first set of reproduction front seatbelts for foxes
• Leather shift knob and shifter boot
• The car has a leather cruise wheel but Cobras had no cruise control

Drivetrain- Stock 1993 Cobra 

• Under 20K miles on engine and trans
• Valve covers have never been removed
• No leaks, engine is super clean and original
• Stock Cobra trans and shifter
• 8.8 inch rear with 3:08 gears for the long hauls…
• Factory Cobra driveshaft and shifter 
• Walbro 190lph fuel pump and new fuel level sender
• 2 ½ inch H-pipe exhaust with Flowmaster Mufflers
• Cobra throttle body, mass air A9L etc.
• New Steeda sport springs and Tokico Illumina struts in front
• Koni red rear shocks, factory control arms with boxed uppers

There is a new player in the supercar arena. And even though Rossion Automotive has successfully appointed the new Q1 with abundant creature comforts - this is still one hell of a beast. The recipe isn’t exactly original. Engineer a world class chassis and suspension, carefully restrict weight to include only the bare essentials, and throw gobs of horsepower and torque into the mix. Delicious. But this is a new approach to the supercar market. And we have to keep tossing that word around, because the Rossion Q1 is just that. Super. It may look a little like a car you already know. But trust us, this car is more than you think it is.

The 2009 Rossion Q1 shares it’s recent heritage with a platform that may seem familiar - the Noble M12, and M400. As the original Noble has taken a different direction for the pending M15 and M600 - The Q1 has been refined to create a unique brand and pedigree.

The Q1 has the same tubular frame, integrated roll cage, and suspension originally designed by lee Noble. It continues the power plant first used in the M400 - a 450 horsepower twin turbo Ford Duratec 3.0L V6 - but uses a more powerful engine management system, and forged internals. The result? A nimble, comfortable, and well mannered street car with asphalt crushing horsepower and torque on demand when your inner Dr. Jekll turns into Mr. Hyde. And with a suspension that can handle 1.4 G’s in stock trim, weekend blasts around local racetracks become, well, a blast!

Rossion Q1: Better than a sum of it’s parts

Technically, for the American consumer, the Q1 is a “component car.” What the hell is that? That’s a dressed up way of saying the Q1 will never be subjected to US crash tests, so it can’t be sold as a complete car, rather as a component or kit car. Rossion will be selling the Q1 as a complete car to the rest of the world, using the same engine and transaxle that is termed “recommended” here in the States. Those recommendations add up to some pretty impressive (estimated*) performance numbers:

0-60: 3.3 seconds

0-100: 8 seconds

Top speed: 185mph

The 2009 Rossion Q1 boasts 450hp/390tq in a scant 2,400 pound package.

The 2009 Rossion Q1 features lightweight forged one-piece monoblock aluminum wheels, 8.5 X 18″ front, and 10.5 X 18″ rear.

The 2009 Rossion Q1 suspension uses upper and lower wishbone in the front and rear, with Bilstein adjustable coilover dampers. 

The 2009 Rossion Q1 has a fully integrated roll cage, and bonded/riveted alloy panels. The chassis features a flat bottom under tray with rear diffuser.

Rossion Q1: More Than Noble

Rossion Automotive didn’t simply rebadge an existing car. They’ve implemented over 300 revisions and improvements based on feedback from hundreds of previous Noble owners. The most notable of these changes are the creature comforts. After all, it was pretty difficult to rationalize a $70k + purchase price for earlier cars that didn’t have electric windows, or air conditioning. Let’s face it. If you’re in the market to spend that kind of money on a track-only car, the Rossion Q1 is probably pretty far down your shopping list.

2009 Rossion Q1: A completely redesigned interior is new for this platform. Leather and Alcantara surround this cockpit, with a hint of machined metal finishes. The carbon fiber race seats are designed for full support on track, and supple support on the street.

2009 Rossion Q1: 450hp @ 6500rpm, and 390lb ft @ 5000rpm

The only available option for the 2009 Rossion Q1 is an integrated satellite navigation system with Bluetooth.

Company Info:
www.rossioncars.com 
Rossion Automotive
920 S.W. 2nd Place 
Pompano Beach, FL 33069  

866.612.6625 (USA only – toll free)
954.788.1001 (International) 

So. Exactly what is the difference in sound between high performance exhaust systems with and without Catalytic converters? Click the video, and hear for yourself. Here are the details of the equipment being featured…

Our 2006 Z06 is still mostly stock. We’ve left the motor alone, added an aftermarket air intake, and replaced the exhaust. The headers are American Racing Long tubes that we had Jet Hot coated, and the mufflers are Corsa. The installation of the exhaust left us with a couple of surprises, as shown here, but overall we’ve been happy. We changed the exhaust in September of ‘06, so we were the first on the block to have such a distinctive howl at WOT.

Originally, we went with the American Racing Xpipe, with catalytic converters. But then we got to thinking. “Wonder what this thing would sound like with an offroad Xpipe?” The only reason to consider this change would be for the difference in sound. The American Racing Xpipe with cats did a remarkable job opening up the flow. Reese Cox from MTI was able to tune an eyebrow raising 500rwhp with the Cat-combo. But man, there’s nothing quite like the sound of an offroad Xpipe.

Listen for yourself, and hit us with any comments or questions…

Finally! We scoured the internet looking for a solution to our fender woes. With the new 275 Toyo Proxies up front, combined with an increased track and offset from our Griggs/MM front suspension, we were left pulling our hair out trying to find a fender solution that would let the tire clear the fender. We found many partial posts, and a couple of manufacturers that promised the perfect solution - but nobody had a step-by-step how to on flared fenders for the Mustang Coupe. Until now.

Every car is different. But when it comes to modifications that are well beyond the original intent of the designers at Ford, you’re faced with more art than science. There are two things that are constant for any original fox Mustang: The original front suspension geometry sucks, and the front fender openings are too small to accommodate a decent sized tire.

We already addressed the first point with the addition of our Griggs K-member and Maximum Motorsports control arms. With our previous 8.5″ wheel and 245 tire combination, we needed a “little” finesse to get the meat to fit up front. Now that we’ve switched to a 9″/275 tire combo - we need a lot more room. We’ve tried all of the DIY fender mods - we even had an unsuccessful attempt at a new one (more on that later) to no avail. We needed to replace or modify our fenders to get the proper flare.

Choosing a Fender Flare for the Mustang

We considered both of the available solution types: Entire Fender -vs- grafting on a fender extension. We’re the first to admit that form should follow function. But somehow, turning the front of our track whore into a rivet strewn freak from a Frankenstein movie just wasn’t for us. So that left us to choose between replacement fenders from Tiger Racing, or Maier Racing.

It wasn’t easy to decide. Frankly - both of the company web sites suck at showing their product, fit, finish, or installation tips. We found a great write up by Patrick Olsen over at Corner-Carvers.com about his Maier Racing 1.5″ flares, but since he was having a bodyshop do the work, it didn’t have the detail we were searching for to help make our decision.

Tiger Racing

offers replacement fenders in fiberglass for $399/ea, or vacuum bagged carbon for $769/ea. They only show fenders available for Mustangs 1994-2004, but rumor has it you can order for Fox Mustangs as well. (Griggs lists the Fox fenders for sale, but apparently nobody thought to photograph them) It’s pretty tough to smack down a grand (with shipping) without so much as a picture of the product. They have a great reputation, and a nice following with the SN95 crowd, but as fox owners - we felt a little like the proverbial red-headed stepchild.

Maier Racing

offers replacement fiberglass fenders with a 1.5″ or 3″ flare for $634/pair. They have a photo of one of them (they don’t discern between the two in the photo description) and have an “after” photo of one of the fenders on a car. Wow. Great details fellas, where do we send the check?

Maier Racing Flared Fenders FTW!

A phone call to Maier Racing had us talking to none other than Bill Maier himself. He could not confirm or deny that the fenders would solve our clearance issues, and expressed surprised that the fenders had been selling more frequently lately. (Hmmm, wonder if the American Iron rule change for the AI class had anything to do with that?) We spent another day researching, and talking to anyone that had actually used the fender in a similar application (thanks again Pat,) and decided to try the Maier fenders for our coupe.

One more phone call later to a less than cheerful “Dave” from Maier racing (seriously, he sounded like he was trying to talk us out of buying the things. He must talk to a lot of fanboys all day - cause he was anything but helpful) plus $725 later (MR had a 10% off sale on fiberglass for the month of May,) we had a pair of fenders heading to us just in time for Sebring. 

EDITORS NOTE: We don’t mention this often enough - but we pay retail for all of these parts we test. Why? We don’t want any conflict of interests when it comes to sharing our opinion of how things perform. If it rocks - great, we’ll say so. But if something sucks, we want to be free to express that as well. We smack down our hard earned money just like you.

Maier Racing Fender Flares - Install notes

The fenders arrived as promised, within 5 business days from California to South Florida. Maier Racing chooses private air freight for shipping to ensure things arrive in one piece. The fenders are well made, and solidly constructed. There was good attention to detail in the finish. If you’re going to be hitting the show car circuit, you’ll probably want to enlist the help of a bodyshop to make it look like a perfect ten. If you’re like us - and you just want a nice looking ride tearing up the race track - you’ll be pleased with how the fenders line up after a single afternoon of fitment.

Here is a comparison of the 1.5″ Maier Racing flared fender compared to that of the stock 1990 fender. Huge. The 1.5″ looks huge - the 3″ fender must look almost ridiculous.

The Maier Racing Fenders have the same size opening from front to rear. They solve the clearance issue above the 275 tire - but we’re still going to need the stretcher bar we made during our fender stretching modification to clear the front of the fender.

There are a lot of fasteners holding the fender to the coupe. There are three bolts at the top - in the engine bay, there are six nuts attaching the fender to the bumper cover, one bolt attaching the brace to the fender/bumper cover, and two bolts attaching the fender to the chassis near the door.

There are no instructions provided with the fenders. We prodded the ever-cheerful Dave from Maier Racing for installation tips. “Measure twice, drill once.” Thanks buddy. We found the best way to do this was sample and measure the stock fender from a couple of reference points for each hole. X many inches from this corner, X many inches from this crease - etc. We weren’t keeping the fender extender (that will be replaced by an undetermined spoiler soon) so we were left with 5 holes to measure/mark before drilling. We went back and forth between the two fenders - and the bolts on the car - several times, adjusting our marks before we broke out the drill.

There are enough “landmarks” on the two fenders to reference and measure from to find the new mounting locations. Take your time, double check your work, and then check it again. The front holes are probably the most worrisome, but you have to do these first to line up the rest of the marks.

We used a 3/8″ bit with a pilot point tip for the front holes. The fastener holes on the stock fenders were much larger - but we anticipated that we wouldn’t get it perfect on the first try, and wanted some extra real estate left over to elongate holes as necessary (some of the marks end up really close to the edge. If Maier provided an extra 1/2″ or so in these spots it would be helpful). When drilling, we were cautious to work slowly, not press too hard and let the drill do the work. It kicks off a lot of powdery fiberglass that you probably don’t want in your lungs and eyes, so use the proper equipment to be safe. Or not, if you’re a Darwin Award fan.

Trial fit: After the front holes are drilled - we slide the fender into position to check our alignment and fit. Our first stab wasn’t too bad. We’ll need to clean and elongate a couple of holes to get the surfaces on the top and side to line up better. We’ll do that first before we measure the other mounting locations.

While we have the fender on for it’s second fitment, we’ve marked the locations for the engine bay fasteners. Most of the existing threaded clips had full travel in the stock locations. But, because it’s an 18 year-old car, one of the threaded pieces wasn’t going to slide anymore, and we had to be sure to mark that one exactly. YMMV.

The inner mounting bracket for the top/rear of the fender needs two holes. One for the fastener, and one for the tab on the bracket. We used the stamped seam as a reference point for the up/down location of the hole (green lines) it turned out to be just off-center on the high side.We measured the fore/aft location for the hole with a tape measure.

It’s a little tricky getting a nut/washer to slide into the underside of the fiberglass. Our passenger side had enough room to slide our fat fingers under to hold the new nut/washer. The driver’s side had less room, so we had to use some really long needle nosed pliers. It was a considerable effort in patients to get the washer/bolt/nut to line up when installing the bracket.

Once installed, the top clears the tire, but the front rubs a bit on turn-in. We ended up using the same fender stretcher bar that we created for the old fenders - and mounted in a similar location to the new fender. The fiberglass in the front of the fender had a lot of flexibility to be pushed outward because we did not fasten the stock brace from the radiator support area to the fender/bumper support. We still had to grind a little bit off the lower front of the fender for clearance, but now we have enough room around the tire for any movement, under any load, at a much lower ride height if desired.

We’re pretty happy with the results. We were also very surprised by the reactions these fenders received at the track. In between every session someone would stop to ask what type of fender we had, and ask about the installation. We tested the fender on track without paint to be certain they were fully functional and they passed with flying colors (Bye-bye fender rub in turn 17!) 

Tell us what you think. How does it look? Are you looking to do this yourself? Feel like you can do the install now? Leave us some feedback in the comments section.

The 2010 Camaro SS is set to shake up the muscle car wars between the Mustang, and Challenger as the Bowtie’s heavy weight entry. We don’t have our hands on one, yet. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start preparing the stable with some easy horsepower gains from a Cold Air Kit for the 2010 Camaro.Few people have seen the outside of the 2010 Camaro - let alone the inside. We’ve had our associates lurking in all the right shadows in hopes of getting a head start on wringing extra horsepower out of this Bowtie beast. All the espionage and cloak and dagger behavior has paid off.

Cold Air Intake for the 2010 Camaro SS

The 2010 Camaro in V8 trim will use the LS2 motor to create 400 stock horsepower. We’re sure to see multiple cams, and exhaust options in the near future - but first we’ll start with something everyone can use. Cooler, denser air flying through a larger air intake column. The initial CAI designs call for an 85mm inlet tube and will add horsepower throughout the power band - not just at the top. Final tests are being done now to achieve perfect harmony with or without a tune. 

The photos available of the concept car leave a lot to the imagination for location, and functional details of a Cold Air Intake. Our associates have gotten an intimate look at the production version of the 2010 Camaro - and we’ll have details and photos of the new Cold Air Intake soon.

Stay tuned - and leave us some comments about what you think of the 2010 Camaro.

Update: 2010 Camaro CAI

We’ll have some new details and photos after the Miami Autoshow next week.

TEC (Total Engine Concepts) is located in northern Palm Beach County – yet another world-class engine facility to South Florida. The 9000 square foot state-of-the-art facility has been created with the sole intent of developing, testing, and breaking in racing motors. TEC specializes in designing for circle-track, road racing, and drag racing applications. While domestic motors take most of the focus – there is an increase recently for work designing import applications. “Four years ago you wouldn’t see an import motor in here.” Claims Mike Kovacs, owner and founder of TEC. “Now we get lots.” Including a lot of work for Titan Motorsports in Orlando.

Mike has been building some of the highest performing and durable motors for the LS1-LS3, and LS7 series over the years. In addition to have an international reputation for creating consistent top performing engines under the strict confines of spec classifications – he’s been creating all of the special application and racing motors for the Mosler 900 platform for the last 13 years. Fast company indeed.

LSX Iron Block

When GM announced the LSX iron block back in late 2006 – the LS faithful was immediately abuzz with all of the asphalt crunching possibilities – and lining up to be first on the block to get one. Well – we weren’t the first – but we’ll do our best to keep this project interesting. The General has delivered something that’s sure to be a favorite on the street and strip for a while. This iron block can handle stupid horsepower – and thanks to the 6 bolt per cylinder head compatibility – do so without letting the heads stretch off the deck lid.

Couple of little things that make a huge difference: Many of the LS7 owners were and are still disappointed with the performance of the oil system GM let slide out the door. We’re glad to see GM at least addressed some oiling features on the new LSX iron block. A motor like this – with solid lifters – the engine can flow too much oil at high RPMs, and you can starve the main journals of oil. True priority oiling on the new LSX iron block provides oil to the main journals first and restricts oil flow on top of the heads.

Everything about these LSW 12˚ Hurricane heads from All Pro are just massive. Here we find something for scale to show the cavernous exhaust ports on these 6 bolts per cylinder heads.

The 12˚ Hurricane heads support Intake valve diameter up to 2.2 and exhaust valve diameter up to 1.625 inches. These heads with our planned displacement should flow over 400 cfm intake and 260 cfm exhaust.

Overview of our Six Bolt – LSX Iron Block

Many displacements are easily available (364ci - 511ci,) and any one of them from 427-482 cubic inches may prove to be the ultimate LS-fan favorite. We’re opting for a size that’s less than the maximum – but perfectly matched for our goals. Mike Kovacs is suggesting a 4.155” bore and 4” stroke for 434 cubic inches. A very popular option is to go with a larger bore of 4.250”but Mike would prefer to leave a little more meat in cylinder walls for structural integrity. Especially with the amount of nitrous we have planned for this application. Mike also selected a specific rod length to maintain piston stability at the end of the stroke. It’s a house secret recipe that we can’t elaborate on much more than that.

The LSX block is precision cast iron, and CNC machined. It supports a siamesed bore up to 4.25” and 4.5” stroke. With a 6-bolt billet main cap, and 6 bolts (accepts production 4 bolt also) per cylinder head – the LSX iron block is engineered to handle up to 2,500 horsepower.

Their single-plane, high-rise, dual-quad design delivers excellent mid-range torque and outstanding high-rpm horsepower, from 3,500 rpm up to 7,500.Few things say “musclecar” more emphatically than a Tunnel Ram manifold. You can bring back that nostalgic look and hairy-chested performance with Edelbrock’s Street Tunnel Ram intake manifolds. They’re applicable to all street machines, street rods, Pro-Street cars, and marine applications where low-end torque is not a major concern. New intakes are available for $469.95, or you can buy our used one and save!

Price: $275

To purchase, or ask any questions please contact us using this form:

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Original 429/460 Heads, Reconditioned and rebuilt with stock valvetrain.These stock 429/460 heads have recently been rebuilt by TK Machining in Boca Raton, Florida. They are fresh and ready for heavy duty.

Price: $300

To purchase, or ask any questions please contact us using this form:

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Original castings - Late 1959-1967 Finned Corvette aluminum valve covers.

These finned aluminum rocker arm covers are in good condition, and show zero seam (casting flaw) in the low script Corvette “o” lettering. They will fit all high performance small block 283 and 327 engines from 1959-1967. These aluminum valve covers are stamped with “Lester” and “3767493.” These Corvette valve covers are hard to find without the casting flaw, and are perfect for the right restoration project.

Price: $375

To purchase, or ask any questions please contact us using this form:

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