Hi Nathan!!!

Hello everyone, thanks for checking in on my site. Today before i begin on my latest project for my car, i would like to say a special hello to Nathan. I was told by a friend he shares the same love for Mustangs as I do. I really think that is awesome. When I was little my dad would take me to races and Mustang shows, and it meant the world to me. Having a passion for something is really good for someone. So I tell you what Nathan, how about I stop by some day soon (once I get my car all cleaned up) and let you hop in the car and start it up, maybe go for a cruise. Now there are a lot of cheaper hobbies out there, believe you me, lol, so in that matter I apologize because once you catch the Mustang fever...there is no cure. Keep checking up on my site for more pics of the car and soon I hope to have a few videos of the car on here as well. Thanks for the support!

In other news, today I spent some time researching a few engine kits for my car. My plan when I get the money of course, is to have the motor rebuild as it is the original engine. At first I thought I would just have it rebuilt to stock specs, but like so many before me, the horsepower bug has bitten me. I would like to have my spare 4.6L out of a '97 GT not only rebuilt, but at the same time bored and stroked to 5.0 liters. While the motor is out have the BBK shorty headers put on that have just been sitting around driving me nuts, and if i have the money at the time do the PI swap (meaning the heads and intake manifold from the 99-04 mustang GT). For those not familiar with PI, it stands for Performance Improvement. Ford improved the flow rate of the heads and intake to give the 4.6L some much needed grunt. This is a very popular modification for '96-98 GT owners like myself. I have been following Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords project car "Redheaded Stepchild" for awhile now. If you haven't read any of those articles it is worth reading, just look it up on Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords website. The goal of the project is to take a bone-stock '96 GT and make normally aspirated 300hp, no supercharger or turbo. So some of my plans for my car come for those articles, but I do plan to add a Vortech supercharger when money allows it.

2:30am....

So what else do you do at 2:30am on a Saturday when you can't sleep? The answer is simple when you live in beautiful California and own a Mustang. After tossing and turning for over two and a half hours, trying to pay attention to season three of Deadwood (please HBO, don't sue me), i got off my leather sofa and went outside to clean my car. Just five minutes into cleaning the outside with a bottle of spray wax, I felt the need to go for a cruise. It started out with just doing a loop around my local roads, but ended up lasting till sunrise. I headed out on 156 towards Hollister then made my way to 152 towards Los Banos. Although it was really foggy, the drive through the hills surrounding the reservoir was just what i needed. I fueled up at the other side of the pass and headed back for San Juan Bautista, not before being greeted by a teenage gas station attendant with a camera phone. The drive back was a little bit more fun due to the fog easing up and with the windows down i decided to dip into the throttle a bit. Once i reached San Juan, i still didn't feel like going home, so I made a last second decision and headed up Fremont Peak. An awesome narrow twisting road awaited my Mustang. Once I reached the top I was rewarded with an amazing view, like a small island amidst a sea of foggy waves.

Sometimes you really need to just get away and go for a drive.

a brief overview of the 1996 Mustang

The 4.6L 281cid SOHC V8 in all its glory

1996 only honeycomb grille insert

New for 1996 was the vertical taillights

What's so special about the 1996 Mustang GT you ask?....

For the 1996 Mustang GT, Ford replaced the 5.0L 302cid V8 with a new "Modular" 4.6L 281cid SOHC V8. Although the 4.6L displaced 31 fewer cubic inches, it still produced 215hp and matched the the 1995 5.0L V8's 285 ft-lbs of torque. Gone was the distributor, which was replaced with two coil packs. The T-5 was also replaced in favor for the Borg Warner T-45. To make room for the larger heads/block of the 4.6L, Ford saved roomed and upped braking performance with a hydraulic boost setup.

Exterior changes were few, but different none the less. The biggest change was the rear taillights. From 1994-1995, the three element design was orientated in a horizontal position. For 1996, Ford changed the position to a vertical orientation with larger lenses that were more visible. The fender emblems on the 94-95 mustang GT's read "GTmustang". Starting in '96 the design changed to "GT 4.6L", to advertise the new mod motor. The most unnoticeable exterior change was the grille. A honeycomb insert, barely seen behind the chrome pony emblem was a 1996 only piece.

Interior mods were few, but the door panels lost the perforated inserts for a smooth grain finish like the rest of the interior.

The 17x8" tri-spoke wheels were replaced with split-5 spoke 17x8 wheels with a slight inward dish. The standard 16x8" wheels were carried over for '96.

Check out AmericanMuscle.com and their large selection of Mustang Emblems.

Here is a quick update...

Decided I didn't like the center caps (wasn't crazy about the logo), so I painted them gloss black to match the rest of the wheel.
Here is a pic from the rear of the new decal.

"scotts96mustang.blogspot.com" decal in yellow to advertise my site!

This is where I decided to mount the Oil PSI gauge temporally until I determine what the issue is with my factory oil PSI gauge.

Here is my "interesting" pluming job of the oil psi gauge tubing, lol. No leaks and tucks up nice .



Stop by AmericanMuscle.com and check out their large selection of Magnum 500 Wheels.

Oil PSI Gauge issues

Lately i have been noticing my oil pressure gauge has been acting funny. I watch my oil level like a hawk because the 4.6L of my era are known to drink a lil oil. But oil level has been fine. So i though, well I should just pick up a cheap mechanical oil pressure gauge to prove that it is the gauge, not the motor acting up. Easier said then done! All throughout the day i have been struggling to find clearance to put in the needed hardware for the gauge (i.e. brass fittings). Well long story short I ended up needing to get a 90 degree elbow to make room for the fittings, and as usual OSH (orchard supply hardware didn't have it ( or "Out of Stock Hardware" as I like to call it!!!!). Eventually i went a different route with the fittings and think everything is good to go, just need to fire up the car tomorrow morning, make sure there are no leaks, and secure the tubing to the harness so it doesn't rub anything. Once that is done, then will know if it was just the factory gauge acting up or not.

Update on the decals: I just got them in the mail from edecals.com, they look awesome. Put one on my car's rear window, looks great! Thank you edecals.com for a speedy delivery and great product. I will have pics tomorrow of both the gauge install as well as the decals.

Check out AmericanMuscle.com and their large selection of Mustang Seat Covers.

Today I had a company (edecals.com) make me some custom decals to promote the site you are reading now. Can't wait to put them on. I will have pics as soon as i get them.

I would like to take the time to thank Brian Cox who has been my contact at American Muscle.com. Without his help I wouldn't have been able to design this site. Thank you so much and look forward to reviewing products from your site.

ouch!

Earlier today I was cleaning up my engine bay on the '96 GT when my elbow caught the hood prop rod. Long story short and to not embarrass myself too much, the hood came down on my head. I miss working on my old Sable with the hood struts, lol. Moral of the story is be careful around the hood prop, or buy the hood struts, believe there are a few kits out there for my car, think it is something i need to look into.

My thoughts on the new 2010 Mustang

So the new Mustang is out, and I am not 100% sure I like it. The first thing I noticed was that rear end. Now this is my own opinion, but damn that back end is ugly. Those taillights are awful! But i have to say I really like the new fender lines and the updated front end. Gotta like that hood too. My 2005 V6's interior is its weakest point. But I think Ford has really improved on the inside of the new mustang. So is this car going to keep Ford alive through these troubled times, I am not sure, but hope so. I can't wait to see what the aftermarket does for the new 'stang. Now that I think of it, when the 2005 Mustang came out I wasn't too crazy about it, but now I own one, so maybe it will grow on me.

Stop by AmericanMuscle.com and check out their large inventory of 2010 Mustang Wheels.

Future Plans?

yesterday I got back from a weekend away down in Santa Barbara for a charity event. Unfortunately for me I was away enough from my car to almost go crazy not being able to drive it (think it had to do with the fact I was driving a Town and Country van, lol). Anyways as I was sitting in my hotel room I was thinking about what I want to do to my car.

Here is just a few things I had in mind, in no particular order

• Rebuild Motor: I have a spare 4.6L V8 from a '96-'98 Gt that I want to have rebuilt and slightly bore/stroke. Nothing crazy, just a lil bit of prep for future mods.
• Do the P.I. swap: It would be nice to update my 4.6L with '99-'04 PI heads and intake.
• Supercharger: Ok, this one is way off down the line do to money, but love the idea of supercharging my 'stang. Think I would go with the Vortech S-trim blower.
• Rebuild Trans: Just like the motor, the tranny is getting a lil tired, so a nice rebuild will be in the future.
• '94-'98 SVT Cobra front bumper with Euro Yellow fog lamps
• Install Subframe connectors: I have the full length XL kit from Maximum Motorsports, but still need to find someone who can install them
• Hood: I have changed my mind so many times on what style hood I want. But think i have it narrowed down to three different designs. If money was no object or found one cheap I would love the Griggs Racing Vented hood. The '95 Cobra R hood would look great as well as the factory '96-'98 SVT Cobra hood.
• Rear Control arms: this is an area I really need to address, car just won't hook up, just hops . I was thinking Ford Racing uppers with Maximum Motorsports lower.

These were just a few things I was kicking around in my mind.

Check out AmericanMuscle.com and their large selection of Mustang Engine Parts.

Knott's Berry Farm

On April 18th, at around 7am, I hopped in my '96 GT and headed for LA. From my small apartment in San Juan Bautista, CA, it was going to be about a five hour drive. My Mustang was packed full of all the essentials for a young male heading for a weekend getaway: Plenty of Gatorade, gummie-worms, couple of sandwiches, backpack full of clothes, a digital camera, and the desire to hit the road. Once I got on hwy 5, it it about 200miles of straight nothing...so it seemed. For the most part I took it easy because there are so many highway patrol officers ready to write-up a ticket to "a guy in a mustang". My destination was Knott's Berry Farm, although I wasn't going there for the theme park...I was going to the Fabulous Fords Forever car show! Along the way, I got thumbs up from many passing cars, kids in backseats of minivans with faces pressed against the glass waving at me, and even the young at heart glancing at me perhaps reliving road trips of their own. At one point a Ferrari 308 finished in Fly Yellow went speeding by me then slowed down so we were door to door. I looked over and the "dude in all white" began revving his car, flashing his lights and took off. Before I through the car from fifth to third i was cruising at 65mph, but before I knew it i was nearing 80mph, then 100mph...and I caught up with him. He turned bright red, waved then we both slowed down, and he took the next exit, lol. About an hour later I saw him fly by me again, then about twenty mins after that the Ferrari had a CHP Charger pulled right behind him. Every gas station I stopped at, people would say things like nice car or just give me the thumbs up. I kept thinking to myself, oh I love my car. Although I did have one mishap with my car, involving a SUV running over a traffic cone and launching it into my front bumper, the car did perfect and rewarded me with 29mpg at one point. The cone managed to pop the front bumper cover off at the driver's side, breaking the plastic push pins. Along the side of the road, I zip-tied the bumper back together and somehow managed to free the cone from my BBK X-pipe, but not before melting the crap out of the orange cone, lol. After that it was smooth sailing to my Hotel for the night in Stanton.

The next morning, the day of the show I got up early and drove to the Sears parking lot next to Knott's Berry Farm for the show. With camera in hand I sat myself on the sidewalk, watching all the Fords coming into the show. It is one thing to get to walk up to a 2000 Cobra R, peer into and snap a few pics, but to see it drive up to the show, 5.4L revving up, is quite different. Eventually I made my way into the show, i was surrounded by hundreds of mustangs and people who bled Ford Blue. I was in heaven. I saw so many amazing Mustangs, ones I had only read about, 'stangs that have graced the covers of 50. Mustang and Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, and even a few like mine. Everybody was so kind there, just waiting to strike up a Mustang conversation. It was so cool to see what people do to Mustangs of every year. Although everything was outstanding, the real highlight of the show to me was walking through the SN-95 portion and seeing a whole row of black 96-98 GT's. The owners and I talked for a hour or two, bragging, swapping tips, and what they had in store for their 'stang.

I took over 1,000 pics, but still could have taken more if it wasn't for the blasting heat and lack of time. So after a wonderful day I got back onto the road and headed home. I encourage any Mustang or Ford fan to attend next year's event!

Here is Bill Musselman's amazing 1970 Mustang Mach 1. A good friend of mine and my Auto Shop teacher when I attended Hartnell College.

Here is the award I won. The category my car competed in was 1990-1999 Modified Mustang.

Thanks Salinas Valley Ford and Thunder Riders for a great event.

Special thanks goes to my dearest friend Denise Fryn, who has always supported my hobby. Thanks also to her dad Ron who stopped by the show and took this picture.


On April 11, 2009 I attended the Thunder Riders Mustang show hosted by Salinas Valley Ford. Although I am a regular at Mustang shows, this was the first time I have ever entered my or any car for that matter. I enjoyed talking with all the other Mustang owners as well as the members of Thunder Riders who is a local motorcycle club. At the end of the day awards were being handed out. When I heard my name (mispronounced of course, lol) i was shocked. Couldn't believe it. I still catch myself staring at the award sometimes.