Meet Foxy! A Jalops Quest to Race

"Raphmoe" (raphmoe)
10/07/2014 at 10:55 • Filed to: project car hell, ford, mustang, fox body, jalops, true jalops, oppo cars, cars of oppo, jaloppos

My business partner Waymoe, directed me to this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! a few weeks ago. Check out these true Jalops and what they are doing with a truly bad ass Mustang:

Foxy is our race car. Brad and I bought her in July, and even though she hasn't seen a race track yet, she's taught me a lot about racing.

Who is Foxy?

Foxy is a 1993 Mustang LX, or a "Fox body Mustang," as this generation is known. She's very heavily modified, with her 5.0 engine bored and stroked from 302cid to 347cid with a nice cam. She's got tons of aftermarket parts from Trick Flow headers to coilovers. She's the most perfect Fox Mustang we'd ever seen. Her interior is clean and her engine bay is cleaner. The best thing about Foxy is how she sounds, though. When we drive Foxy, random people roll down their windows and shout at us, "Your car sounds amazing!"

Why we chose Foxy

Because Brad and I have never wheel-to-wheel raced automobiles, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the racing organization we're planning to race with, will require us to spend a year or two in their HPDE (high performance driving education) to earn our competition licenses that we'll need to race on the track with other cars. Street cars are allowed in HPDE, and I had initially thought we could use my BMW Z4 M Coupe. However, once we realized how much it would cost to keep the BMW in brakes, tires and other wear parts with regular track use, we thought it would make more sense to find a dedicated, street legal track car with cheaper parts. And it doesn't get much cheaper than a Fox Mustang. Foxes are rear wheel drive, V8 cars that are easy to work on, with an extensive knowledge base available online and dirt cheap parts.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Foxy, in particular, was a very special Fox. Brad and I had a hard time finding cars that weren't beaters with a few aftermarket parts thrown at them. Or on the other extreme, expensive, non-street legal, fully built race cars, which were more than we needed and required a truck and trailer to get to and from the track. Foxy was the Goldilocks of track cars. She was owned by an aerospace engineer outside of Huntsville, AL. While not every single thing on the car had been upgraded, everything that was done was done correctly. Especially that glorious engine. In the end, at the price Brad negotiated for the car, we basically bought an engine and the Fox Mustang was free!

This is where I start learning things

When we bought Foxy, we knew there were going to be a few things we'd have to do before we got her on the track. Those things were:

A dyno engine tune

An alignment

Properly sized wheels and tires

Then we drove the car and found the clutch engagement point was really high and the brakes pedal had a lot of travel. We jacked the car up, put on new 17 x 9 wheels and discovered we'd need to pull the fenders to get the wheels to fit. We also discovered there was a bunch of play in the steering wheel. We started investigating under the car and reading online and found we had a lot more work to do to get the car ready for the track. I realized then that race cars are like old houses. They surprise you. You think you're getting a place that needs some paint and new flooring, and then before you know it you're replacing the whole HVAC system. Except houses cost more than old Mustangs, and after you spend thousands of dollars you have a place to live that won't kill you. With Foxy, we're spending hundreds of dollars and we get a race car that won't kill us!

Three months later, we've identified the following projects that will need to be done to get Foxy on the track:

Steering rack

Shifter

Race seats

New wheels and tires

Front wheel spacers and pulled fenders

Hood vents

Radiator

Alignment and suspension adjustments

Dyno tune

Rear brakes

Master brake cylinder

Roll bar and door bars

Driveshaft loop

Clutch cable

Rear suspension upgrades

So far, we have completed:

Radiator

New wheels and tires

Dyno tune

Shifter

Buying lots of race car parts off the internet

While I'm disappointing that I haven't taken Foxy to the track yet, with each project we identify, I learn why each component is an issue and more about how to set up a race car. And that was exactly my hope for Foxy. She's are starter race car! Although I still can't wait to get her out on the track.

DISCUSSION (22)

Imirrelephant > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 10:59

I love the color! Looking forward to updates!

Cebu > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 11:07

So it's now cool to buy a Foxbody?

I'm still getting a white 240SX.

Jordaneer, The Mountaineer Man > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 11:07

Make sure to keep us posted!

T5Killer > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 11:16

Fox FTW. I love it.

Leadbull > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 11:18

I saw a dead fox on the interstate the other day.

It was sad. :(

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Cebu
10/07/2014 at 11:32

it's always been cool to buy a fox body

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 11:58

Neat :) that's Ann M over on G+.

She also did a series on Hooniverse called TestDriveAnnLimited. Went around testing a ton of cool newer performance cars to buy and ended up with a

Has a green 70s (I think 70s, could be late 60s, my memory is fuzzy) Charger as well :) cool lass

5 Liter Beater > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 12:27

I had a 1993 lx mustang that was a complete pile body wise, but ran so awesome. I loved beating on that car like it owed me money. Now I have a 1988 GT hatchback to fill its shoes.

Kate's Dirty Sister > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
10/07/2014 at 12:32

A great series if you enjoy things such as bullshit and narcissism.

Raphmoe > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
10/07/2014 at 12:49

What is G+?

i have heard of Hooniverse and am impressed that she wrote for them; she sounds like a successful Jalop and also an automotive journalist.

Raphmoe > Cebu
10/07/2014 at 12:50

all racecarsare cool

Raphmoe > Leadbull
10/07/2014 at 12:50

dammit leadbull i'm a jalop not a doctor!

Raphmoe > 5 Liter Beater
10/07/2014 at 12:51

it is a great car for jalops

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 13:11

That's an awesome fox. I'd love to have one like that some day. Definitely keep us updated!

I know how you feel about the big parts list. I have ever growing list of things I need to get done to my Mach. To little time and money!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 15:13

It's the social media thing that google runs. I only use it because a load of jalops migrated there after a couple of commenting system changes. It's a bit of a different flavour to oppo, but I like both :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Kate's Dirty Sister
10/07/2014 at 15:14

I must admit I haven't read a great deal of it. Love the title though...

RallyWrench > Raphmoe
10/07/2014 at 18:35

Paint it dark green, and that's how I'd want one, but with a bunch of Maximum Motorsports bits because they're local and a buddy works there. Looking forward to updates.

Leadbull > Raphmoe
10/08/2014 at 13:38

+1 Leonard McCoy reference

Jonathan Harper > Raphmoe
10/09/2014 at 12:44

Oh, I thought you wrote this. Should make that more clear...

Raphmoe > Jonathan Harper
10/10/2014 at 08:46

The first two sentences of the article:

My business partner Waymoe, directed me to this site a few weeks ago. Check out these true Jalops and what they are doing with a truly bad ass Mustang:

My apologies for any confusion, I was just sharing a story I found online about a race car build that my business associate shared with me. I hope you liked it. :)

Jonathan Harper > Raphmoe
10/10/2014 at 08:49

What kind of business do you do with Waymoe?

Zach 93 LX > Raphmoe
01/10/2016 at 17:52

Hi, me and a bunch of guys on Fox Body Addicts are wondering where you got the fog/road lights?? If you could reply that would be much appreciated! Thanks