Project 3V : A Corner Pony
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked Mustangs. As a kid, I remember it being one of the first cars I took a real interest in; the way they sounded and how they looked like they were doing 100 miles per hour while sitting still pulled me towards them. As I grew up and started looking at cars to buy for my first project, I took a big interest in Foxbodies; they had that cool retro style, had the famous 5.0L V8, and at the time were relatively cheap. However, the prices kept climbing on them and I slowly lost interest. With a high school / college budget, I couldn’t afford the insurance and gas and still be able to modify it like I wanted, so I put the idea on the shelf for a later date.
Fast forward to September of 2022: I’d recently sold a project I had and was looking to replace it with something else for the purpose of building a dedicated track car. I had been throwing the idea around again of picking up a cheap mustang like an SN95 or a new edge, when a friend told me about an S197 that he knew about that needed some work and could be had for cheap. Now, this put me in an interesting spot: the S197 chassis ran from 2005 until 2014, meaning that the aftermarket was still alive and well for this ‘05. There would be no shortage of parts both aftermarket and replacements, and they’re relatively cheap to modify. However, this car is the older, less attractive body style and came with the 3V 4.6, the black sheep of modern mustang powerplants. I looked at the car to see how much work it needed, and after a week of thinking on it, I decided to jump on it.
- The car the day I brought it home -
After getting the car home, I was quick to jump in and start working. A few weeks later, I had managed to get the car started for the first time with the help of a few friends. After a few more days of ironing out the kinks in it, I was able to take it on its first drive in over a year according to the previous owner. This revealed more issues. The car kept blowing coolant past the radiator cap and would overheat if it was left running for too long. After replacing the radiator cap, fixing the fan, and burping the coolant system a little more, the overheating was solved. However, it still was losing coolant a little at a time, and would steam for a minute or two once parked. After some investigation, we found a coolant line running below the intake manifold that had busted and needed to be replaced.
After a few attempts and different strategies, I finally got the coolant leak fixed. The car now runs and drives very smoothly and can be driven without worry. Now that a lot of the reliability concerns have been addressed, I’m ready to start working on some of the other things that need attention with the car. Over the winter, my goal is to get the car prepped to hit the track for the first time in the spring of 2023. To do this, my only real plan is to give this thing a full detailed inspection, upgrade the brake pads and fluid, change the fluids, and make sure it will survive the weekend at the track. If time allows, I may make a few other changes or upgrades to make the car easier to drive, but as it sits right now reliability is the main concern. As the season moves forward, I hope to make it into a car that grows with me as I get more comfortable on the track. In fact, one of the reasons I wanted a mustang was because of the extra challenge that it brought with it. So, let’s see what the future brings for this Mustang!
