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AFFORDABLE STREET
If Detroit built Pro Street Cars, They'd build 'em like these.
By Marlan Davis
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Back in the '60s, many really fast Detroit stockers presented an outward facade that at first glance seemed little different from your mom's grocery-getter. If you looked carefully, there may have been a subtle fender-mounted engine badge, proudly proclaiming to the world (if only the world knew where to look) what was really hidden under the otherwise innocuous-appearing sheetmetal. In later years, the tape stripe and decal quotient increased in inverse proportion to plummeting horsepower and performance levels. Either way, the appearance of Detroit stockers served to bear out that old aphorism, "Looks can be deceiving."
To this, hot rodders add a wry corollary: "Beware the sleeper." They know that the gaudiest, flashiest machine with a blower sticking through the hood more often that not turns out to be "all show, no go," more at home cruising the fairgrounds than Main Street or the dragstrip. Conversely, the car with the plain, stock-appearing exterior (especially an "un-Camaro") may in reality turn out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, ready and willing to devour the unsuspecting "little red rodding hood."
Consider the case of these two late-model Fords: one, a "missing link" in Dearborn's ponycar evolution that proves it "II" can be a real Mustang; the other, a boxcar that hauls a "Fair 'mount" of freight. At first glance, both Al Rose's '74 Mustang II and Joe St. Pierre's '70 Ford Fairmont Futura appear - except for the slight rake and aftermarket wheels - nearly as stock as the day they rolled off the showroom floor. But look again..at the recontoured and enlarged rear wheel openings, at the fully functional '74 Comet GT hoodscoop, at the full roll cage only partially hidden by the factory-tinted glass. Maybe there's more here than meets the eye? Pop the hoods and what you suspect turns out to be more than true, for there in all it's rompin', stompin' glory are Ford's big 460 motors, backed up by beefed C6 automatic transmissions and 9-inch rearends.
But we're not just talking a quick and dirty engine swap, nor a gaudily overdone Pro Street clone; what we see is a job so clean, it looks like the factory did it - a tribute to the fabrication skills of Al, Joe, and the rest of their buddies in the Detroit-based "Rat Roasters" car club (in cas you haven't guessed, only Fords need apply). "Clean and neat" doesn't come about by accident; rather, it's the result of a carefully thought-out plan of action and attention to detail. The Mustang started out as a thrashed stocker headed for the boneyard, while Joe's Fairmont began its second career after retiring from a rental car fleet. It took two years before the wallflowers were turned in wall shakers. The Mustang ended up with a full frame constructed from 2x3-inch square tubing, while the Fairmont received "only" a rear 2x3 tube frame that was tied into the existing front rails.
Shoehorning the 460s into engine compartments originally designed for a 302 (if that) was not an easy task. For both cars, motor plates cut on a band saw from 3/8-inch thick T6 aluminum provided a simple and practical answer to the mounting problem. As compensation for the plate's thickness, the timing cover was correspondingly thinned 3/8 inch on a Bridgeport. Because the milling process also removed part of the stock fuel pump mounting boss, a Holley electric fuel pump was required (the remainder of the sock fuel pump hole was welded shut). Both cars utilize custom-built headers. Providing adequate clearance wasn't easy - each car required steering column mods, plus the Mustang's front frame rails werre widened 4 inches from stock.
Special mods were likewise needed for oil pan clearance. On the Mustang, the front crossmember and rack-and-pinion were lowered 3 1/2 inches to clear a stock 429-CJ oil pan (C8SZ-6675-A). Joe lowered his Fairmont's rack by 2 inches so it would clear a 460 Ford mid-sump van pan (E7UZ-6675-A) that was modified to rear-sump configuration with capacity enlarged to 8 quarts. To restore correct geometry, prevent bump steer, and correctly locate the tire/wheel combo within the fenders, the front suspensions required extensive reworking, especially in the case of the Mustang, with it wider-than-stock front frame.
Joe St. Pierre built the C6s used in both cars, adding TCI shift improvement kits and Ford Motorsports chrome trans pans (M-7194-A). They were installed behind high-stall GER torque converters after the floorpans were modified for clearance. The trannys are supported by a stock Ford big-block trans mount (D0Oz-6068-A) connected to a fabricated 1/2-inch tube crossmember that in turn is bolted to the frame rails. Shifting is handled by modified factory C4 units, while shortened 3-inch o.d. 1977-'78 T-Bird C6 driveshafts (Hollander 1241) supported the torque back to the big 9-inch Ford rearends.
Al and Joe chose two very different rear suspension setups. On the Fairmont, the narrowed, 31-spline, 5.14-geared '75 Ranchero 9-inch housing is supported by Koni coil-over shocks and 32-inch Alston adjustable ladder bars with track locator. Al's Mustang uses a Mopar SS/A-type leaf-link suspension to control a 39 1/4-inch, flange-to-flange, 9-inch rear equipped with 5.43 gears, 31-spline axles, Detroit Locker diff, a nodular iron case and "Daytona" pinion flange. To clear the wheel tubs, the rear leaf springs were moved inboard from their stock locations and are now only 21 inches apart. Solid aluminum front spring eye bushings and Monroe shocks complete the Mustang's rear suspension.
Cars that go also need whoa. Rear brakes were no big deal - the big car rearends supplied big car 10x2 1/2-inch drum brakes and a five-lug wheel bolt pattern. The front brakes and their four-lug rotors required a little effort: On the Mustang, Al plugged the existing wheel stud holes, redrilled the rotors to a five-lug pattern, and installed 3-inch long Moroso wheels studs. The Fairmont's brakes were upgraded to five-lug Ranger pickup rotors (E3TZ-1102-A) cut down to 10-inch o.d. to work with the existing caliper and caliper mounting bracket. Both cars use a 1983-'85 Ranger aluminum manual brake master cylinder (E3Tz-2140-B). Besides saving weight over the original cast-iron cylinders, the Ranger cylinder allows greater engine clearance because its brake lines exit on the left-hand side. Joe was able to bolt the Ranger cylinder right up to the stock Fairmont firewall mount location and retain the stock pedal pushrod. Tor retain the proper pedal stroke on the Mustang, the Ranger cylinder was spaced 3/8-inch out from the firewall. Both cars use a 1979 Fairmont proportioning valve (D9BZ-2B257-B).
Moving inside, the interiors still look surprisingly stock. Sure, each car has a full cage, wheel tubs, extensive floorpan mods, and a full complement of gauges - but the gauges are set into the stock dash; the new floor area installed around the trans tunnel and from the front seats back is fabricated from stout .043-inch (Mustang) or 16-gauge (Fairmont) sheetmetal and covered in open-loop pile carpeting; and the welded-in custom wheel tubs are sealed to the quarter panels with trunk weatherstripping. The sanitary interior (combined with the underhood induction) allows these cars to "sing in the rain." No noise, no drips, no errors.
Looking at the interiors and engine compartments, it strikes you that if Detroit were building Pro Stree cars (without Uncle Sam breathing down their neck), they'd look very much like these. Detroit knows that a car has to be more than a fairground cruiser, more than a Sunday-only driver. A car that is stree-registered should in the final analysis, be practical. Anyone can take a race car and put a set of mufflers on it; the achievement of Al Rose and Joe St. Pierre is that they combined the best of Pro Street go-fast technology, traditional musclecar subtlety, and true street dependability into one neat package. You want practical Pro Street? Here's the textbook.
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