Also, you may have noticed that my counter on the main page is going haywire. I used to have over 20,000 hits. I changed counters a few months ago to gostats.com. They give some great counter statistics. But for some reason they have now reset my counter 5-6 times. They are not responding to any e-mails I send them about the problem, and I'm about fed up with it. If anyone knows of a good free counter, that gives lots of statistics, please e-mail me. Thanks.

Thursday, June 6, 2002
URGENT NEWS. I have become the victim of internet piracy. Someone who had seen my website ripped graphics and images from my site and incorporated them into their own website for the purpose of selling their own product, without my authorization. More specifically, they are selling similar Air/Fuel ratio meters to those I describe how to build here: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/twinturbostang/cool_stuff.html. This is not a new thing, nor did I design them. I merely pass on information to those that might want to build them themselves. The circuit and information have been in the public knowledge for quite some time. That is not the issue. The issue is that this individual took my pictures and graphics, and put them on their website, stating that they had designed them, using them to profit from, and even going so far as to attempt to say that the pictures were their copyright. This is totally FALSE, and I have proof that they belong to me. I have e-mailed the person, but have not received a response yet. However they have removed their website, most likely after seeing a conversation about this on a news group. I hope that they are removing my material from their website. Or I will be forced to consider legal action.

Unfortunately, I now feel that I must make it more obvious that the content contained in this website is copyrighted by myself (Brian Renegar), and is NOT to be reproduced without my expressed written consent. I will also be adding copyright statements to all of my graphics and images. While by law, this is not legally necessary (go here for info: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wccc), I feel it necessary to be more forceful in pointing out my legal rights.

It's a shame that these types of things are necessary. But there are many dishonest people in the world we live in. My original intent when building my website was to of course showcase my Mustang. But also I felt that the knowledge I had gained over the years should be passed on to others. It's a nice satisfaction knowing that I have helped others. And I will continue to do so. I just hope no one else decides to try to profit off of my hard work. If anyone sees my images, graphics, designs etc. on another website, PLEASE let me know about it. Thanks.

Monday, March 4, 2002
As you probably have noticed, my web page has moved. My old Erol's account will be expiring within a month probably. So if you have not done so already, please update your links to the new webpage, located now on Comcast (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/twinturbostang/). UPDATE: LATEST PAGE NOW HERE: www.twinturbostang.com

Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Happy New Year!

More updates. Finally got the engine out of the Mustang. I thought I'd never see the day when I would finally get it out of there! I still have A LOT of stuff to do before it will be running with the turbo engine. But at least I'm on my way! I have an Edelbrock Performer intake now for sale. If anyone is interested, e-mail me. Update: Intake is SOLD.

Here's a couple of pictures of the engine pull...
pic 1
pic 2
pic 3

Tuesday, December 18, 2001
Finally have something to update the news page about!! My Jeep, which desperately needed an engine rebuild is FINALLY done! I did all of the work myself, except for the rebuild which I had an engine shop do. Sure am glad I'm not a die-hard Mopar fan, because they are NOT easy to work on at all. Added to that the not so "grand" engine space of a Grand Cherokee, and you'll be pulling your hair out! But I finally have everything running good now. I have over 100 miles on the new engine so far, and it seems to be doing fine (knock on wood!). So.... after Christmas, I plan on getting to work on the Mustang. Should be able to get the engine out pretty quickly (still interested in the heads and intake Kevin??). And then it's on to getting the engine bay ready for the turbo motor. Can't wait!

Friday, August 24, 2001
Everything should be updated on the website now. Lots of pictures in the pictures section. There shouldn't be any broken links now. If anyone finds anything that's not correct, please let me know. Thanks, and enjoy.

Friday, August 17, 2001
Welcome to my new and improved website! It's been a while since I've had any updates, but I finally got around to it. This is my latest attempt at HTML. Using a nice web editor, I've been able to figure out some of the cooler features of HTML. Take a minute to check out the new features here. There may be a few broken links until I get everything updated, so please be patient.

Haven't been able to get much accomplished on the Mustang. The engine is still sitting on the stand, waiting to be dropped into the car. I do have the 3G alternator, and Mark VIII electric fan installed. But most everything else is still waiting for the engine. A bunch of non-related things have come up, which have delayed work on the stang. The engine in my Jeep died, and I've been forced to rebuild that before working on the Mustang. Also, my wife is about 8 months pregnant with our second child. I'm not sure what my schedule will look like after the baby is born, but probably worse than it already is! One of these eons I will get the car back together. And hopefully it will have been worth the wait.

Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Engine's DONE!!!!  It's about time, eh!  Finished it up last weekend.  Not ready to swap it into the new car yet.  Actually I still have a bunch of stuff to do.  Pull engine, install frame rail plate for turbos, relocate stuff for turbos, install intercooler, line-loc, 3G alternator wiring, electric fan, etc.  Plus I also want to paint the engine bay while the engine is out.  So it will still be a little bit before the engine goes in.  But at least I've overcome one huge hurdle!  Took some more pics of the final engine assembly too.  The upper intake will be bolted on after the engine is in the car, but I layed it on the engine just for the pictures.  Enjoy... engine pictures.

Monday, March 5, 2001
Took some pictures of the engine and a few other things last weekend.  Go here for the pics: pictures.  There are some pictures of the engine in it's current form, turbos, turbos temporarily bolted to the engine, and a door bar clevis for my roll cage.  I also took a picture of some guide bolts that I bolt to the cylinder heads to guide the lower intake down for assembly.  This is a trick I came up with a while ago.  Ever try to install the intake only to find you're not positioned over the bolt holes?  It's even harder to get correct when the engine is in the car.  So, get four bolts of the same size as the lower intake bolts, but about 4" long.  Cut the hex part of the bolt off.  Now just thread them down into the heads at the four corners.  Set up your gaskets.  Then lower the intake down using the guide bolts to guide it into position.  Remove the guide bolts, install the regular bolts, and torque the intake down.  Walla!

Monday, February 26, 2001
Been a while since I've updated.  Engine is finally going together.  Had another major problem.  The kind that would have resulted in lots of expensive paper weights...  Piston to valve clearance problems!!  My new pistons needed to be cut for more clearance.  Not so much a problem of valve relief depth, but of placement.  The very edge of the valve was hitting the edge of the valve relief.  Course I found this out AFTER installing all 8 pistons!  So I had to pull them all out, have them cut, and then re-install them.  That's all good now.  Cylinder heads are on also, as is the DSS main support, cam, timing chain, cover, and Motorsport SFI balancer.  Compression ratio is now going to be 8.66:1.  Not too bad.  I was hoping for 8.7:1 or 8.8:1, to maintain some off-boost power, but it should be ok.  Right now I'm waiting for new Motorsport lifters.  My stock 100,000+mile lifters need to be retired!  I should have them in a few days.  Turbos are ready to go on also.  And as soon as they are on and the valvetrain is done, the lower intake will go on.  I'm going to leave the upper off until the engine is in the car.  More room that way.  It's all coming together, slowly.  But in the end it will be worth all the extra work.  I'll have some pictures of the engine posted in a little while too.

Friday, December 15, 2000
Just a quick update...  I took a few pictures of the engine block and turbos last night.  Here they are:

Left turbo
Right turbo
Engine block

Engine block, showing ARP main studs 

Thursday, December 14, 2000
A lot has happened with the engine, in the last month.  Here's an example... check out one of the parts I removed yesterday!  As you can see, the motor is completely torn apart!  I really was not planning on having to go this far again.  But I've had several major problems in working on the motor.  I pulled the heads and intake off.  No problems there.  Started swapping the cam from the E303 to my new F303 when I ran into my first problem.  I broke the harmonic balancer puller!  The Motorsport SFI balancer was on there so tight, it bent the puller!!  It also wedged the tapered piece of the puller in the snout of the crankshaft!  Arrgh.  So, I made a puller out of inch thick stainless steel and found a new way to position it on the crank.  That didn't break!!  Balancer came off.  Then I had to get the rest of the puller out of the crank.  Cut it flat, drilled a hole down the center of it, and tapped it for a bolt to thread into it and hook up to a slide hammer.  Halfway through tapping the hole, the piece started to turn, and I got it out.  First problem solved...  Then, I was installing the cam, when I noticed more damage from the car accident.  The front of the oil pan had been pushed in.  I was very lucky there.  The front drain bolt just barely missed hitting the oil pump.  So, I had to pull the oil pan.  Hammered the dent back out.  But the threads for the drain plug were messed up, so I had a shop weld a 1/2" nut to the outside of the pan.  A short 1/2" bolt threads into that as my new front drain plug.  Second problem solved...  Then, I ran into the third problem.  I had sent my heads out to be checked for flatness, flowed, and have the chamber cc'd.  Well, they fixed a few things that were wrong with them, checked flatness (which was fine), flowed, and cc'd them.  The chambers measure 62.3 cc's.  I was calculating compression ratio, when I found a BIG problem...  9.6:1 compression!!  Whoa!!  That's way too high for a boosted motor!  Perhaps that's why I was always having problems with detonation, ever since re-building my engine.  Before that I never had problems.  But by rebuilding the engine, the deck was milled, and the main caps allign honed, which brings the pistons closer to the heads, and increases compression ratio.  Also, just boring the motor to a .020" over-bore results in higher compression as well.  Removing material from the cylinder head chambers will not get the compression down far enough.  So, my only option is to swap to lower compression pistons.  As a result, the whole motor had to come apart.  Arrgh again!  I'm currently waiting on the new pistons.  They are TRW forged pieces, similar to the ones I have now, except that the piston top sits lower in the cylinder, and they have a shallow dish machined into them.  Compression ratio should be about 8.7:1, which is perfect for my boosted application.  I'm going to double check the compression ratio, though, after I measure the piston height of the new pistons in the motor.  The new pistons use a different size ring, so I have to buy new rings for them.  I've also decided that since I've got the motor apart, I might as well put new main and rod bearings in.  Better safe than sorry, right!

Some good news though... I had sent the damaged turbo back to Incon.  Got that back a little bit ago, along with new billet actuators, that will be adjustable from 8-16 psi (when I get the correct springs for them).  I also painted the exhaust manifolds with some black, high temp manifold paint.  The turbos look really good now.  I'll try to take some pictures of them.

I also have some pretty good flow #'s on my Edelbrock heads.  Here they are:
 

Valve Lift	Intake Flow	Exhaust Flow
0.1	95.4	66.9
0.2	148.4	100.4
0.3	205.3	154.0
0.4	252.7	176.3
0.5	268.4	186.5
0.6	265.3	-

The exhaust #'s could be a little higher; maybe 195-200.  But I'm real happy with almost 270 cfm on the intake side.  I also had the shop port match the turbo manifolds to the cylinder head exhaust ports.  They were mis-aligned a little before, so that should smooth out the flow some.

Well, it seems like I keep taking one step forward, and two steps back, but I think I'm getting there.  I hope to have the engine swap done in a month.  I also ordered my 8 pt. roll bar, and subframes from Chassis Craft.  So I'll be installing the cage right after the motor swap.  This car is gona be set, more than any of my previous cars!!

Monday, October 23, 2000
Got the turbo motor out of the old car last weekend.  I fabricated a small engine cradle to put the motor on while I work on it.  It was a real pain in the butt getting the engine out of the car because the frame rails were bent to the side and holding up the compressor cover of the turbo that was smashed.  I ended up ripping the cover the rest of the way off of the turbo to get the engine out of the car.  Amazingly, the shaft still spins on the turbo, but the compressor blades are mangled, and the shaft is bent (it wobbles a bit).  Here's a picture of the blades on the center section.  The compressor cover was broken also, and scraped pretty good from the blades.  Hopefully I'll be able to ship the damaged turbo back to Incon this week.  The old car is just about ready to head off to the scrap yard now.  Just have to remove the final wiring harnesses and the heater box.  Oh, and here's what my 4 core radiator looked like after saying hello to Mr. Bumper!!

Monday, October 2, 2000
Got some more stuff done on the car.  Rear axle went in a few weeks ago.  Megabite Jr. control arms and my Borla exhaust went in at the same time.  Yesterday I finished up swapping fuel tanks (with the 255 in-tank pump), installed T-Rex external pump, and relocated the battery to the trunk with remote kill switch.  Next up is to install the Crane HI-6 ignition box.  That shouldn't take too long since I've already got all the wires routed.  Just have to bolt it in, and hook it up.  And then it's on to the motor!!  Finally!  I was really hoping to make it to my local track's Ford weekend Oct. 7-8, but it just didn't happen.  Right now, I'm just hoping I make it to the track before everyone closes up for the winter.  I've got at least a couple of weeks worth of work to do on the motor (at my busy schedule's pace).  Then put it in the new car with all the ancillary stuff for the turbos.  After that, it's off to the chassis shop to have the cage put in.  So, I've still got a lot of work ahead of me.  But it will be worth it once everything is done.

Thursday, September 7, 2000
My fuel pressure gauge miraculously started working.  Guess there was an air bubble in the line to the isolator that finally worked it's way out.  I've updated my Cool Stuff section with new (and clearer) pictures of the O2 readouts on the new car.  I also got my Mark VIII electric fan and came up with a better wiring circuit to control the fan with.  This is on the "cool stuff" page as well.  In my old car, I was controlling the fan using 3 relays.  I've still got all the functionality I had before, but now control it with only 1 relay.  And I also dropped the number of wires need to be routed through the firewall from 4 to 2.  Using only 1 relay now is good since I need to get a 75 amp Bosch unit this time around because of the current draw of the Mark VIII fan.  These relays are more expensive.

Didn't get the axle in last weekend, but I did get it all put together, with the new c-clip eliminators, new pinion seal/nut/crush collar, and T/A cover with carrier cap studs to replace the factory bolts.  Should go in this weekend.  I'll try to snap a pic of it before it goes in though.  Looks cool with the T/A cover!

Tuesday, August 29, 2000
I've finally got some stuff done on the new car.  Alarm went it, stereo, O2 sensor displays, shift light, and fuel pressure and boost gauges.  Although the fuel pressure gauge is reading 0 psi right now!  I think I've got an air bubble in the line to the isolator.  Have to look at that this weekend.  So most of the electrical stuff is done.  Still left to do before working on the motor is the ignition box, relocate battery, swap fuel pumps, line lock, exhaust, electric fan (which is on it's way to me right now), and swap axles.  I should be ready to swap axles soon.  I had sent them back to Moser for new seals and bearings.  Turned out they just installed new c-clip eliminators at no extra charge (above bearing/seal work)!  Pretty cool.  But they did forget to install long wheel studs like I asked them to.  So they had to send those out separately, and I'm having those done now.  Should be ready today.  So hopefully the rear will be ready to go in this weekend.

It's a long process, but it's getting there.  I just hope I'm done by October 7.  There's a Fall Ford Spectacular at my home track, 75-80 Dragway, and I don't want to miss it!

Monday, July 24, 2000
Couple of new parts are on the way or are already here.  I will be swapping rear axles soon, and mine needed a few things before the swap.  So, I got new seals for the c-clip eliminators (left seal has been leaking), a carrier main cap stud kit (instead of factory bolts), and a TA cover.  The TA cover looks really nice and is supposed to help keep the axle together by locating the carrier main caps.

Work is going slowly on the cars.  Not much has been done on my new car, but I've been gutting the old car.  All of the interior parts are now out of the car with the exception of some wiring harnesses, the carpet, and the headliner.  It's gona be a shell when I'm done with it!  I'll be sure to post a pic of it before it heads off to the salvage yard.

Thursday, July 13, 2000
Here's a few pictures of my new car.  It's a 91 coupe with an AOD.  Picture it all black with new Weld Draglites, because that's what it's going to look like when I'm done with it!  I've got a bunch of stuff for sale now, so head on over to the for sale page and see if there's anything you need.

Friday, July 7, 2000
I bought another car last weekend!  I went pretty far to get it... Athens Tennessee.  Actually I was in Bristol, TN visiting with family, so it was just a few hours from there.  It's a 91 AOD coupe with 93,000 miles on the ticker.  The exterior color is light crystal blue, which looks blue during the day, and silver at night.  I'll be painting it black though.  It has black interior (woohoo!), which means I can sell the black interior out of my old car (I was going to swap interiors if I didn't end up with black interior).  The motor has been modified with an Edelbrock Performer intake, 65 mm throttle body and EGR spacer, C&L 73 mm mass air meter, and Twisted Wedge heads with Harland Sharp stud mount rockers.  All that will of course be sold so my turbo motor can go in instead.  That won't happen for a little while though.  First thing is to install my alarm, then rear axle, guagues, roll cage, sub frames, and then the motor/trans.  After all that, then it will be painted black and I will pick up a set of Weld Draglite 16X8 rims.  Should look pretty nice!  It will be a long process, but well worth it in the long run.  From all the parts I can sell, I will have more than enough money left over for the roll cage and other stuff I'm thinking of buying.  I should have some pictures of it up soon.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
It's finally over...
I settled with the insurance company today on my property damage.  It got to the point where two profesional appraisers went out and looked at the car.  They came up with a value of $9700.  Not great, but better than what I had before.  Anyways, that plus tax, minus the salvage value ended up at about $7300.  I worked with the insurance guy some and we finally came to an agreement of $7800 plus I keep the car.  I wanted more, but taking everything into consideration, I decided that that's good enough.  Once I buy another car, I will be able to sell the entire drivetrain out of that for probably $1000-$1200.  I will also have a lot of other parts for sale.  I think I will actually end up with money in my pocket once everything is sold.  Enough for a roll cage hopefully!  But it will depend on how much my next vehicle costs.  I'm hoping to buy something for about $6500.  I'm now in full "car searching" mode now that I actually have money to buy a car.  I'm still looking for a 90-93 coupe, but they are becoming VERY hard to locate.  We'll see what happens though.  If I can't find one for a while, I might end up going with an LX hatchback.  There's plenty of those around.  I will also have a list of parts for sale when I get to that point.  Right now I know that I will have a bunch to sell off of my existing car.  No drivetrain, but lots of body parts.  Doors, rear quarter windows, rear window, trunk lid and possibly the Saleen wing (haven't decided on that yet), rear bumper, and some suspension components.  I will also (when I get the next car) have a full interior to sell, wiring harness, computer, engine/trans/rear, set of wheels, and probably a bunch of other things too.

Wednesday, May 17, 2000
The war is on...
I didn't want it to come to this point, but it's even worse than I thought now.  It's time to call in the big guns.  I spoke with a lawyer today and he advised me on several courses of action.  I'll get to that in a second.  But first, the insurance guy got back to me today with a salvage value for the car: $2800.  So that means that if I want to keep the car they will only give me $6,139.64 total.  This is total bull sh*t.  First of all, I can't even find a bone stock 93 coupe for that amount.  The lowest I've seen is over $7,000.  Then I have to pay taxes on whatever I buy (5% of the vehicle's sale price).  And then on top of that I have to have the turbo fixed, get a new 4 core radiator, a new electric fan, and get another cowl hood and have it painted.  At that point, THEN I will have to move everything that is not broken over to the new car; no small task.  I did find a 93 coupe, identical to mine, but selling for $8500.  So if you figure that price plus tax: $425, plus a new radiator: $200, new electric fan: $200, and a new hood plus painting: $400 + $150, and repairing the turbo: $1945.65, I'm looking at a total of $11,820.65.  This means that $5,681.01 would be coming straight out of my pocket.  TOTALLY UNACEPTABLE.  So, I spoke with a lawyer about this, and he basically said State Farm sucks and they will try to screw you any way they can.  No kidding!  But I have 3 courses of action.  1) Have the car professionally appraised.  I might have to initially pay out of pocket for this, but this might be a good way to show the insurance guy he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about, and that the car is worth a lot more.  I'm going to look into this most likely.  2) Pursue my personal injury.  I was injured in the accident and it might be that I need to pursue this farther...  'nuff said.  3) Sue their asses.  He said I could end up with more money this way, but then I might not also.  It would depend on a lot of things, like how much the lawyer fees ended up being and how much money I got.  I asked him if I could include lawyer fees in my suing amount and he said I could, but there really is no guarantee on getting that back.  This is the worst case, as this would take a minimum of 6 months.  So it looks like I'm going to head toward option one and two, and three is my last resort.  I'm not trying to make a profit on this, just trying to get back what is due to me.  Aren't insurance companies great!!!

Tuesday, May 16, 2000
Gone for good...
Well, there was a possibility that the car was going to be fixed.  That's gone now.  The body shop guy really wanted to see it fixed, so he checked out the car in detail to see exactly what was damaged.  Plus the insurance guy had totaled the vehicle on only a base value of $5400.  That was before I sent him $12,500 in receipts of performance parts.  So I was really hoping that they would change their mind and fix the car instead.  But the body shop guy came back with more damage than he originally saw.  The windshield had cracked meaning there was structural damage behind the shock towers, which he didn't see before.  So it's totaled for sure now.  :(  I also spoke with the insurance guy today.  He came up with a value for my car including all the receipts I gave him.  Get this, total value of only $8,939.64.  There is no way I'm accepting that because there's just no way I'm going to find a 93 coupe AND fix all the damaged performance parts (especially the turbo) for that value.  That also does not have the salvage value (price I pay for keeping the car) included in it.  Nor does it consider all the time I'm going to have to put into building up another car.  It just is not going to happen.  So here comes the part I've been dreading ever since this whole mess happened.  I've got to try and get more money out of the insurance guy for my loss.  I think it's easier to walk across the Atlantic Ocean than getting more money out of an insurance agent!  It looks like I might be having the car appraised by an outside company.  Hopefully they will come up with a lot better value than what he came up with.  Because I am not accepting his value.  That is NOT a fair value based on the work done to the car.

So I'm definitely looking for another car now.  A '90-'93 black coupe is what I'm looking for.  If anyone sees one for sale, PLEASE PLEASE let me know!!

Thursday, Apr. 27, 2000
More Wonderful News...
Just talked to the insurance agent.  They are declaring the car a total loss.  He said it's not debatable, which means goodbye silver coupe.  I was really hoping they would fix it.  It being a total loss brings up all kinds of other problems now.  What car do I buy?  How much will they give me for my car?  Do I buy the car back from them?  Not to mention all the time and effort awaiting in my next car.  I argued with the insurance guy for probably 20 minutes. I hate those guys.  They don't seem to care at all about your needs or your situation.  All they care about are $$'s and how little they can get away with paying you.  Now the guy said to get all my receipts of performance parts and send him copies.  But first of all, I've been building this car for years.  There's no way I'm going to find every single receipt.  I also did not buy some of the stuff new (like the heads and intake).  So I'm at a loss if I have to go out and buy new heads and intake if I can't find used ones.  But what's worse, is I did a quick add of all the money I've put into the car, using my modification list on this page as a basis (which is just about all the mods I've done, but not 100%), and the grand total was over $14,000!!  I'm sure it would be a snowy day in Hell before they pay me that plus the market value of my car!  The only option left is to buy the car back from the insurance company.  Then I have most of my mods to transfer over to another vehicle.  Some of them were damaged however, most notably the driver's side turbo.  And I feel they should pay for these regardless of whether they total the vehicle or not.  And I should get full reimbursement for these, since I will have to go out and purchase these again.  I asked the guy several times "Why should I have to end up paying for a similarly equipped vehicle, when this accident wasn't my fault?"  And you know what... he NEVER did give me a straight answer.  NOT ONCE.  But if they pay me the market value of the car, plus damaged add on parts, plus labor to transfer stuff over to another vehicle (my time is valuable as I have a wife and kid, or I'd have to pay someone else to do it), minus a small salvage fee, then maybe it will work out.  If they decide to play hardball, though, I'm gona shove that ball right down their throat!  This is the third time now that I've had a Mustang totaled by some idiot on the road with a driver's license acquired from K-Mart, and I'm sure as hell not going to take any crap this time!  THEY WILL PAY...

Monday, Apr. 24, 2000
BAD NEWS....
Last Thursday, I was heading home for lunch when a guy attempting to make a left hand turn pulled out in front of me without yielding.   I had nowhere to go except plow right into his passenger side door.  Of course I had to be driving the Mustang and not my Jeep.  And it's wrecked pretty bad.  The airbag deployed burning my arms somewhat.  Luckily I wasn't badly hurt except for that and the usual stiff neck and back.  The police were on the scene and gave the other guy a ticket for "failure to yield to on-coming traffic while making a left hand turn".  I guess that's about the only good news I've got.  He was clearly at fault, and it's documented as so.  I've been talking with the insurance people and they are going to look at the car tomorrow and determine if it will be fixed or declared as a total loss.  Most of the damage is forward of the shock towers, however the windshield did crack some.  Both fenders are done, as well as the front bumper, and the hood (which happened to be a Harwood 2 1/2").  Also gone is my 4 core radiator and electric fan.  I really hope they can fix the damage.  I have put so much money and time and effort into that car, that if they declare it totaled, there is NO WAY they would reimburse me for everything I've put into the car.  The only thing I would be able to do would be to buy the car back from the insurance company (minus any salvage value they declare), and then buy another car and transfer everything over to that one.  That's not so great either, though, because it would take me a LONG time to transfer everything from one vehicle to another (we're talking entire drivetrain, entire turbo system, battery relocation kit, gauges, alarm, stereo, other wiring, etc. etc.) and I would still have to worry about them giving me enough money to cover all this.  I've talked to the body shop guy and he says it is fixable.  I told him the HP level and that I race it and he said that is not a problem; that he could make the car straight.  But some really bad news is the driver's side turbo was smashed beyond repair.  I called Incon and they said each turbo unit is $1345!  The other turbo got VERY close to the frame rail (as in less than a millimeter), so I will have to have them check that one out also just in case.  Getting the insurance company to pay for this is going to be a pain!  This happened just one week after I finally got the car back on the road with the new TKO, clutch, bell housing, fuel pumps, harmonic balancer etc!  I guess I just have the worst luck in the world.  I've also had two other Mustangs totaled in accidents that were not my fault.  If they total this one, that makes 3 total losses as a result of retarded drivers out there!  I took some pictures of the car.  Here is a picture of the front end where the damage was.  Note that the hood is still straight, it's the fenders, bumper and core support that shifted toward the passenger side!  And here is a closer picture of the passenger side fender.  You can see how mangled the upper support for the fender is.  I'll let you guys know what happens to the car.  In the mean time, if anyone has a '90-'93 (preferably '90) black 5.0 coupe for sale, let me know.  If they do decide to total the car, I'm thinking of going with a black coupe.  Mileage is not a concern, since I would be replacing the entire drivetrain, just as long as the body is straight and with good paint.  But hopefully I'll have MY car back soon!

Friday, Apr. 14, 2000
Cool news today!  The trans and clutch had enough miles on them to do a little testing, so I decided to do a pull using Street Dyno computer software written by Mike Glover.  You can get to his website here.  What this program does is calculates rear wheel HP and Torque of a vehicle.  It works on the premise that if you know the engine's rate of RPM change over time, you can calculate Torque if you also know specific variables such as vehicle weight, axle ratio, trans ratio, tire diam., and wind resistance data.  What you do is record the spark pulses off of the coil with a tape player or the sound card on a lap top by tapping into the negative side of the coil.  If recorded from a tape player, this is then played into the sound card on a PC and saved in a .wav format.  The software reads the wav file and then determines engine RPM based on the number of sparks per second.  You then enter all the information about the vehicle, and then calculating the RPM rate of change over time(acceleration), it can calculate rear wheel Torque.  HP can then be calculated from this and if you know how much drivetrain loss there is (usually 12-15%), you can calculate back to flywheel HP.  Measuring the RPM rate of change over time is basically how a chassis dyno operates, and if the vehicle data entered is accurate enough, this program can actually calculate HP and Torque very close to what a "real" dyno would show.  That said, I tried it out on my car today and got these results:

Rear Wheel HP - 535 @ 5090 RPM
Rear Wheel TQ - 579 @ 4160 RPM

Assuming a 12% drivetrain loss, that puts flywheel HP at 608 HP!!  I was also getting some detonation, so if I get that solved, power could even go higher than that.  I was pretty excited about these numbers as you can imagine.  If we use the popular ET calculator based on vehicle weight and HP, we get an ET of 10.29 seconds. If we do some more "calculator racing" we can determine that this would be at 132.5 MPH.  Woohoo!!  This of course would be an ideal run.  I doubt I will run that good an ET (probably 10.40 - 10.60 on slicks), but the MPH shouldn't be off much since wheel spin off the line doesn't really affect MPH, just ET.  These power levels were attained with approx. 10 psi of boost.

Update:  I did some refiguring with tire diameter.  Turns out I was using a larger diam. then actual.  I had just calculated diam by using the measurements of the tire (245/50-16).  However I then did a more acurate test of effective diam.  I did this by marking a spot on the tire and pavement that met together, then pushing the car till the tire had rotated one full revolution.  Then measured this length on the pavement.  This is the effective circumference, and the diam. can easily be calculated from this.  I think this is probably more accurate.  Using this method it drops the rear wheel HP to just over 500HP which means about 575HP at the flywheel.  Better to be more accurate though.

Wednesday, Apr. 12, 2000
Installed an adjustable clutch quadrant last night and that totally solved the clutch drag problem!  The trans. feels good now.  I went with a Forte billet adjustable unit.  It is adjustable on the firewall and I love it!  I've installed one that adjusts down at the fork on a buddy's car before, and he had me re-adjusting that thing every week.  Pain in the butt!  Had to jack the car up everytime to re-adjust it.  With the firewall adjust, all you do is pop the hood and rotate a screw.  Other things I'm working on right now are installing a new stereo, and a battery cut-off switch I got yesterday.  I went with the push-pull design kill switch instead of the rotary knob, because it will be easier to unhook and hide from site for street use.  I will drill a hole in the back panel right in-between the license plate and the right hand tail light.  The push-pull rod slides through that hole and attaches to the kill switch.  But during street use, I will be able to disconnect and remove the rod, and then put a grommet or cap in the place of the hole, so it will hardly be visible.  Also will keep people from turning my car off, while I'm sitting at a stop light!!

Tuesday, Apr. 11, 2000
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!
Finally made it!  I had finished up all the work last Sunday, but had a few exhaust leaks.  Tried to fix those yesterday, and I think I somewhat succeeded.  Still leaks a little bit from the collectors, but I'll live with it for now.  Feels like it's running good.  Idle vacuum is still a bit low (10"), so I might look into getting an air adjuster for the mass air signal sometime.  It idles really well though, better than before I think.  I am having one problem, which has to do with the trans/clutch.  The trans seems to be shifting VERY hard right now.  I called Hanlon and they said it shouldn't be that hard even when it's brand new.  I expect it to smooth out a little bit after break in, but this is really bad right now.  I think I might be getting some clutch drag.  I checked for disengagement and that was fine, but it might be dragging just a little bit causing the shifts to be harder.  It shifts better when the engine is off, so that probably means there is a little bit of drag.  Actually I had a clutch drag problem back before the new trans and clutch, with my old T-5 and Centerforce.  So I'm wondering if it's something with the clutch cable or quadrant.  I think it's about time to get that stock plastic quadrant out of there!  I'll look into that possibility today.

I was thinking about going to the track this Friday for test and tune, but it depends now on if I can get the clutch drag sorted out by then.  I also have to install a battery cut-off switch before then, so I might not make it in time.  They won't let me race on a regular race day because I don't have a roll cage, but on Friday night test and tune, they either don't care as much or they don't notice since it's dark!

I promised to describe everything about the new McLeod dual disk clutch, so here it is.  I'm still working on that area of the car, but I think it's more cable related.  So, the new clutch feels great!  It's probably just slightly heavier than stock, but not as much as a Motorsport HD.  Engagement is smooth and easy to get accustomed to.  There is NO "on/off" feel to the clutch.  Pleanty of engagement area.  I haven't raced it yet, so I can't comment on how well it clamps, but I'm assuming it will be very good.  Installation was somewhat of a pain, mostly because I was figuring a lot of it out.  I had help over the phone, but would have been much easier if they had been there with me.  The most important thing to remember when installing the clutch is Some Fitment May Be Required!  And I had to modify several things for it to work right.  In addition to the clutch assembly (flywheel, disks, floater, and press. plate) you need an adjustable ball stud (part # 16909), adjustable throwout bearing (part # 16515), and a wide face adapter (part # 139051).  The adjustable throwout bearing has two 0.200" spacers in it that allow you to adjust the height, or thickness of the bearing.  You can leave them in or take one or two out to adjust fork geometry.  The wide face adapter fits on the throwout bearing.  This is required because of the 3 finger design of the clutch.  The finger contact points are on a larger diameter circle (farther apart) than a regular diaphram design clutch.  So the adapter allows the bearing to contact the fingers properly.  Don't know why they didn't make the adjustable bearing and the wide face adapter one unit.  The other thing is the adjustable ball stud.  This is required to move the pivot point of the shift fork back away from the engine some to clear the "thicker" dual disk clutch.  Otherwise fork geometry is messed up and more importantly, the bell housing won't even bolt to the engine because the fork contacts the press. plate housing.  Now for the fitment part...  First thing to do is to cut the slot in the bell housing where the fork comes out all the ways back to the back edge of the housing.  Not sure if this is needed on a stock housing as I used the Lakewood blow proof.  The fork will ride very far back and so the slot needs to be lengthened so the fork doesn't hit the housing.  In some cases it may even be necessary to grind some of the fork off in order to gain proper clearance.  I didn't have to do this, but I've heard that it may be needed.  Remember, Some Fitment May Be Required!  Next is to bolt the housing up and adjust the fork geometry.  There are two points of adjustment: the ball stud, and the throwout bearing.  Basically you want to get the ball stud as close to the press. plate as you can stand (it's gona be scary close), and then remove or add the spacers in the throwout bearing to get proper geometry.  You will adjust the ball stud to where it needs to be by threading it in or out, and lock it down with the lock nut.  I recommend using Loc-Tite on it.  You will probably also have to cut off any of the ball stud that protrudes through the back of the bell housing.  Proper geometry would be for the fork to be angled back slightly when the clutch is engaged, and angled forward slightly when the clutch is disengaged.  About halfway through the throw the fork should be square with the back of the engine.  Easier said than done I know.  I just used my best educated guess.  I ended up removing one of the spacers in the throwout bearing.  I could have left both in and had good pedal actuation, but with one spacer, it seemed to have slightly better geometry.  You also need to make sure the fork does not hit anything; bell housing, press. plate housing, etc.  One more thing had to be modified.  The clutch is so thick that a possible interference problem between the face of the upper disk and the end of the bearing retainer on the transmission could occur.  If this happens, you will not get total disengagement or possibly none at all.  What you need to do is measure the distance from the face of the upper disk (right near the splines) to the outside face of the bell housing.  Call this measurement: A.  Then measure from the mounting face of the transmission to the end of the bearing retainer.  Call this measurement: B.  A - B should be a positive number.  If it's negative, that means that when you bolt the trans to the housing, the bearing retainer will be pushing on the upper disk.  Very bad!  In actuality you're going to want to have about 0.100" clearance.  I had about 0.048" clearance and when the clutch was depressed, I could not turn the driveshaft with it in gear.  That meant that the clutch was not totally disengaging.  This is due to the disks expanding when the press. plate is released.  What do you do about it?  Unfortunately the only way to solve this is to remove the bearing retainer from the trans. and using a Dremel or cut-off wheel, cut about 0.100" off the end of the bearing retainer.  Sucks to do, I know, especially if you have a brand new trans. like I did!  But, as I said: Some Fitment May Be Required!  After that's done, bolt the bearing retainer back on (remember to properly torque the bolts to spec!) and re-measure.  After that I could turn the driveshaft with one hand with it in gear and the clutch depressed. You might have this problem or not.  It's called Production Variances on the trans.  :)  That's it!!  You're done!  Unless you have other fitment problems that I did not have and am unaware of.  :-)  Otherwise, have fun!

Tuesday, Mar. 14, 2000
Another delay... I just about had everything completed until I came to installing the bell housing.  As I was previously told there might be clearancing problems and shift fork geometry problems associated with the McLeod dual disk clutch.  Sure enough, there were!  The clutch is much thicker than a stock clutch due to the extra disk and floater plate.  The billet steel flywheel might also be thicker.  This locates the throw out bearing farther back than stock by more than 1/2" probably.  Because of this, the shift fork hits the bell housing at the back edge of the slot that is cut out of the housing.  Not so bad... Just used my trusty Dremel tool to cut the slot back farther to the back edge of the housing.  Now the really ugly problem.  Because the clutch is so much thicker, the ball stud (pivot point for the shift fork) needs to be moved back.  In the stock location it actually hits the pressure plate housing when trying to install the bell housing.  Ooops.  And that's not even with the shift fork on it!  What do you do?  One of two things...  First, you can mill some off of the threaded boss that the ball stud threads into and sits on.  This was my original plan until I found that I had to just about mill the entire thing off, leaving nothing for the ball stud to thread into.  Ooops again!  Second thing you could do is to purchase an adjustable ball stud.  This has no hex fitting stop on it to sit against the bell housing.  Instead it has the shaped top end of the stock ball stud but the rest of it is just threaded rod.  You can thread the ball stud in or out as much as needed and then when the proper location is found, you use a lock nut to hold it in place in the bell housing.  This is what I should have done in the first place, but was told that it would be better (for various reasons) to just mill the boss off of the bell housing.  But then by jigging it up I found how much really needed to be removed.  So I'm in the process of getting the adjustable ball stud.

As I thought, there was some work required to get the dual disk clutch fitted properly.  Seems like a lot of work to me right now, but I'm sorta figuring it out as I go.  I've had some help from the speed shop I bought the clutch from and McLeod, but it's a bit hard to explain everything when they're 1000 miles away.  So once I get it all figured out and installed, I will explain what exactly is required to get it to fit right for those that might be interested in this clutch.  Remember, this clutch can hold up to 1400 HP.  So those that need to step up from the dual friction Centerforce or King Cobra, this might be for you.

Wednesday, Mar. 1, 2000
Finally got the McLeod dual disk clutch yesterday!  And it is SWEEEETTTT!!!  I grabbed a digital camera and took some pictures of it since it looks so cool.  I tell ya, if it didn't cost so much and it wasn't going on my car, I'd have to hang it on the wall somewhere!  The clutch is a three finger design as opposed to a stock diaphram type, which is evident in the pictures.   Here is the clutch assembled with throwout bearing.  Here are the components of the kit (clockwise from top: billet steel flywheel, lower disk, floater plate, upper disk, pressure plate).  This is a close up of it assembled but with the pressure plate off so you can see how things fit together.  The floater plate is not bolted down, although it kinda looks that way.  It "floats" in between the disks and is supported by the guides.  And finally, here is a close up of the pressure plate's springs and finger lever assembly.  So, two disks means twice the friction area, meaning A LOT more clamping potential without super heavy pedal effort.  It's supposed to be great for a street car with insane amounts of torque.  So, I will let you guys know how it works out.

Now that I have all the parts, I can get to work finishing up the car.  I am going to have the new and old flywheels match balanced hopefully this weekend.  And should, hopefully, be done with everything (at least to get the car back on the road as there's ALWAYS something to do!) by next weekend.  Stay tuned...

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000
New pictures up!  I've got pictures of the Tremec TKO, Pro-5.0 shifter, Transmission girdle, Lakewood bell housing, and it all put together.

I'm still waiting on the McLeod dual disk clutch.  Arrghhh!!  It is being built right now since it's not a large quantity type of clutch, but the problem is they don't have any flywheels.  So I'm waiting for the flywheel and then they will send me the whole thing.  The flywheel is a billet steel SFI approved piece that is custom made for the dual disk clutch.  I hope it gets to me next week, because I will need to take the flywheel to the guy that balanced my motor, and have it match balanced to my old flywheel.  But in the mean time I'm trying to put everything else together.  Kirban fuel pressure regulator is installed, I've indicated the bell housing (was out by 0.020" so I needed to get some offset dowel pins), need to install the 255 lph pump, install Motorsport SFI approved harmonic balancer, and a bunch of other little things.  But I hope to have the car back on the road in a few weeks!

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000
I think I've got all of the new webpage done now.  Just finished the Turbo and FAQ pages.  I will add more stuff as I think of it.  Enjoy!

The parts are on the way.  I'm waiting on confirmation about the McLeod dual disk clutch, but everything else (TKO, shifter, bellhousing, balancer), is on the way.  Woohoo!

Saturday, Jan. 30, 2000
Well, I finally got around to updating my website.  I have tried to add a few pages with more info on things, especially the turbos.  I'm going with a frame design, so you can get to any page from any other page.

I have several new mods to the car, that I did not have listed on the old version of the webpage.  Here they are:

• Edelbrock Performer aluminum heads with mild porting to the exhaust side.  Valves are 1.92/1.6
• Edelbrock Performer intake
• 65 mm Throttle Body and EGR spacer
• Motorsport 1.6 Roller Rockers and hardened pushrods

• block hot tanked and mag'd
• bored .020" over (305 cubic inches)
• main caps align honed and the deck was machined flat
• stock rods were rebuilt with ARP bolts
• crank was polished
• TRW forged pistons
• reciprocating assembly was fully balanced
• DSS main cap girdle installed
• All new Clevite bearings, ARP bolts throughout, and Speed Pro Moly Rings