1989 GSP SSP MUSTANG

Ex-Georgia State Patrol

This is the how the car looked when we got it. Like many old Police Mustangs once retired and sold after service, this one was modified by the previous owner. At the time we purchased this car it was not running but had a '95 GT engine dropped into it with nothing hooked up.

The first order of business was to get the car running. We hooked up what was there and located parts that were missing, installed the correct valve covers for this year and got the car running. The first time we moved the car you could tell the rear end had problems. The bearings were fine so the only conclusion was a poor gear install done to the rear end so we removed the rear end assembly and installed another one we had around the shop. The new rear end was equipped with 3.55 gears, 31 spline traction lock and Moser 31 spline axles with long studs(which hide nicely under stock wheels).

While on the rack to install the exhaust(also missing when we bought it), we noticed this assembly line chalk writing on the inside of the frame rail.

The paint is shot with clear peeling but what really bothered us was the Saleen rear wing...so like any good project it gained momentum so we decided to paint the correct gray back on the car and remove the wing and install a stock hood.

Here is the original gray. The car was a fleet ordered vehicle so the car was painted Blue and Gray by Ford and has 2 paint codes on the door data decal.

While stripping the roof we discovered evidence of a light bar being installed which means this was a fully marked unit. The original hole had been filled when it was painted the last time.

Now it's starting to look better with the original Smoke color on the proper panels.

The blue still looks bad but we had to stop the snowball from getting more speed so this will do for now so that we can drive it a bit. The body side molding will be repainted black and that will help hide some of the problem areas on the bumpers for now.

This car original had the black painted 15" ten hole wheels on it so we will be refinishing a set for the car.

A pair of antennas were reinstalled on the car where the originals were placed and a set of the correct wheels were powder coated black and installed with New center caps.

The car still needs to be completely stripped and repainted but for now it looks the part and can be driven until we get the time to bring it into the shop for it's official makeover.

About 3 weeks before the MCA 30th anniversary show at Barbers Motorsports Park we developed a low end noise in the engine so it was time for an engine rebuild....at this time we decided to take our SVO to the MCA show.

We started with an original 5.0 roller block that originally came out of the LSC-R #003, the engine was in good shape but needed freshening so we hot tanked the block, installed new cam bearings, brass freeze plugs and pattern honed the cylinder walls.

The crank was in good shape and only needed polishing. Here we have the new main bearings and crankshaft installed.

Here we have the rods and pistons installed.

These engines used TRW forged pistons from 1985-92 (1986 used flat tops with no valve reliefs) so these were cleaned up and re-used since they were in good condition.

We decided to add a little to this engine so we installed a Crane Cam with a .498" lift and 282 degree duration. We also installed a Rollmaster Billet Steel timing chain...these chains are top quality and don't stretch as much as the cheaper replacements.

Here we have everything assembled and ready for the intake. We used a set of MAC 1 5/8 headers and the intake we are using is a GT40 style from the Production Ford Explorer.

Here is the new engine installed. We are saving the extreme detailing for later after we paint...everything is going to get dusty during that process so once paint is complete we will go back and detail individual components.

We picked up a set of NOS center caps from Mikesparts who was recommended on the EVOOA forum.

We found this on Ebay...a brand new Georgia flag front tag that was used on the front of the GSP Mustangs. This will be installed after we finish the paint work on the car.

This will be great for car shows! While talking to Mike about buying our NOS center caps he mentioned this when he found out we were restoring a GSP Mustang and offered it to us at a price we couldn't refuse...a genuine original Georgia State Trooper license plate!