PROJECT EVOLUTION SVO

Lee Clary has owned this SVO since 1987 when he spotted it sitting on a used car lot in Baltimore, Maryland. He bought the SVO and began driving it. He drove the car for 3 years and did some of the now usual modifications and had fun driving it and taking it to the track on occasion. In the fall of 1990 a Tornado ripped through the area and damaged the SVO....it was at that time Lee decided to get a little more creative and he located a set of NOS Ford Motorsport fender flares and started work on the car. Lee's car was on the cover of MM&FF magazine back in 1995 wearing a set of 17" corvette wheels painted red to match the car...the car remained this way for years while Lee made more small tweaks and drove it occasionally. Due to the ever changing nature of Lee's SVO he named it "Evolution SVO".

After the first MM&FF Triathlon shootout we started tossing around the idea of building a SERIOUS competitor for such an event. We wanted a combination of handling, power and braking so we sat down and started formation of a plan.

We gutted Lee's SVO completely in preperation for the next phase of Evolution. 

We were going to start with a full Cage....Autopower supplied us with what we needed to get started. Lee is a tall guy...so we set the main hoop back a bit onto the rear seat floor edge and went from there. Although we started with an 8 point cage kit, we had to do some fabrication due to the setback of the main hoop. The side bars were kept right next to the seat horizontally so that entry was easy. We also added a bar behind the dash to tie in the two sides and 2 through the firewall and attached to the backs of the shock towers.

A call to Kumho set us up with a set of 4 275/40 17 Victoracer V700s. The flared Motorsport fenders will allow us to run those tires all the way around. Lee was running the same size tires on the old Corvette wheels...but it was now time for the vette wheels to go!

All the sound deadening material was removed to free up some weight.

We set the rear end up with 4.30 gears and a Girdle. Griggs Racing was contacted for the suspension of this beast. The combination we ended up with used the Griggs Tubular front suspension, a sever duty torque arm and the rear suspension was to be a Watts Linkage system.

The wheel of choice ended up being the Ford Motorsport 17X9 Cobra R....the factory silver finish would not do since the color combination was to be red & yellow....so we stripped the wheels and had them powder coated bright yellow. Brembo was contacted for the front brakes....the 2000 Mustang Cobra R kit was a perfect addition to this project! The rear brakes are factory SVO spec using our Stillen cross drilled rotors and metal matrix brake pads.

We are still runing the original style Turbo engine but we decided to go with a 2.5 Stroker configuration. The bottom end was sourced from Rick Byrnes and the head was sent off to Modern Performance for porting and setup. D&D performance was contacted to go through the V8 T5 transmission. The intercooler on this setup started life as an F250 Powerstroke unit but was shortened to fit between the Mustang frame rails. Felpro Speedpro was the choice for engine management and the original wiring harnesses were trimmed down to the bare necessities. This car can and will be driven on the street so the stereo will stay in place! We contacted Fuel Safe to handle the Tank duties with their Cobra R street cell and Cartech supplied us with the necessary pump, regulator, lines and fittings needed to feed the fuel from the cell to the engine. It was at this time we saw the need for a fuel rail so we had a custom billet fuel rail made for us to fit the 2.3 intake.

Sourced from powermaster, the alternator handled the charging duties. The battery is now located behind a bulkhead behind the driver seat and the muffler resides sealed under the bulkhead behind the passenger seat with the exhaust exiting from the passenger side quarter panel in front of the wheels. The car is emissions legal and equipped with a catalytic converter. Maximum Motorsports Caster Camber plates keep the alignment in check.

matching ducts on both fenders are functional....this one supplies airflow to an engine oil cooler while the passenger side one supplies fresh air to the air filter. The paint scheme used is patterned after the old Scott Pruitt Trans Am Mustang of the 80's.

The Borla muffler resides right behind the Borla tip exiting the quarter panel. A stainless steel plate was fabricated to surround the area and then polished to a mirror finish.

The hood was custom fabricated by Lee himself....he used a standard flat 87-93 fiberglass hood and then took a mold from the front of the SVO factory hood and grafted the two together. He then used Lumina Z34 scoops on each side and hand made the front heat extractor vents using parts from an Escort grill..

Koni Yellows with coilovers give this car a very aggressive stance. The car is also equipped with the Griggs GR-40 suspension system with Watts link which makes an improvement words cannot describe to this SVO Mustang!

Here is the car in finished form at the Ford Nationals in Carlisle, PA. The car handles like it is on rails and the engine made 390HP at the rear wheels on the dyno and runs 12 second quarter mile times. 

Overall a fantastic balance if power and handling with excellent road manners. This car was again featured in Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords in their 2.3 Turbo shootout.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES:

GRIGGS RACING- I can't even begin to describe the difference the GR40 Suspension system made to this project! ...You owe it to yourself to check out Griggs Racing for your suspension needs!

BREMBO- We used the Brembo 4 piston brake kit found on the 2000 Cobra R on this project...excellent braking and a great appearance too!

AUTOPOWER- We used Autopower for our starting point for our Rollbar...we started with their 6 point kit and built on to it from there. Their bars are a great fit and quality...essential if you are serious about a quality rollbar.

FUEL SAFE- Our fuel cell came from Fuel Safe...the leader in Racing Fuel Cells. We used the street version Cobra R cell.

CARTECH- Supplied our fuel system...from the 1000HP capable fuel pump down to the braided steel lines and necessary fittings!

KUMHO- Supplied our Race tires-You can't beat these tires for the money...probably the most common tire you will see on any autocross or track day and there is a reason for that! Check out their street tires too!

KONI- Equipped with Koni Sports (yellows), we have easy adjustability and the best quality shock absorber there is. Don't forget Koni shocks and struts carry a LIFETIME warranty!!!

CENTERFORCE- Centerforce was our choice for the clutch in this project and it has stood up to the challenge!

FUEL AIR SPARK TECHNOLOGY- We turned to F.A.S.T for our engine management needs. If you are building horsepower beyond the factory computer limits then you need to contact these guys!

ALL of these companies have the BEST in technical support and customer service!!!! We can't thank them enough for their assistance in this project!