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If you've followed this webmagazine for a couple years then you surely are familiar with the red '69 Mach 1 Mustang, owned by our veteran racer Victor Silva. The Mach 1 started out in our magazine as "Project FE", utilizing the originally equipped, and rare, combo of the 390 motor and Toploader four-speed manual to run as quick as 12-teens.

Then, two years ago, the need to rebuild the motor prompted us to add more cubes in the way of a 428 FE powerplant. At this time Victor also decided to switch over to a C6 auto transmission to gain the consistency required for racing in the local Comp-Rod classes.

The 428 project had it's ups and downs. Working the ET's down to an impressive 11.39 got us salivating for potentially our first 10 second project car. But then disaster struck. At a test and tune session to try out different carburetors, the 428 decided it had had enough. The bottom end grenaded at mid track, and the post-mortem would reveal potential oil starvation at some of the rod journals. We got a lot of flack from our readers about blowing up the 428 - after all FE's already have a long-standing bad rap as an unfit race motor. We got even more flack for deciding to abandon Project FE and replace the 428 with a 460 crate motor.

The decision to go with a Ford Racing's 535HP crate 460 was all Victors. We were more than willing to do another FE, but Victor had decided that it was just getting to expensive, and unreliable. For someone who races competitively week after week, almost year-round, down time on a motor is not acceptable. We estimated that to rebuild the 428, with all the proper oiling mods necessary, would run near $5000 -again. The other option was to simply shell out $6000 and have a crate show up with 535 dyno certified horses. Victor took the latter option and never looked back.

The 460 was promptly dropped into the Mach 1. However just as soon as it was dropped it, it was pulled back out. For all you FE fans that hate us for not rebuilding the 428 - you got your chance to gloat when the first 460 Ford Racing crate motor, the one we bought for reliability, blew up the very first pass down the strip! That was back in April of 2001. In that article we wrote
:

"A $6000 crate motor, that was bought for the very reason that it was professionally built and broken in on the dyno, blew up with less than 2 miles on the clock! Well maybe blown up is a bit dramatic. The 460 simply started knocking ferociously half way down the strip, and then cut out.

The first sign of what happened was evident when the heads came off. All the pistons had nicks where the valves had smacked into them. Examining the heads revealed several bent valves. It was obvious this wasn't one or two valve springs or locks giving out, but a wholesale timing problem, such as a broken timing chain or gear.

Pulling the timing chain cover led to the piece of evidence we were looking for -a broken timing gear bolt. It looked as if the bolt had been over torqued, and sheared due to fatigue. In either case, we knew it wasn't out fault since we had never so much as removed a valve cover on this crate motor. "

Fortunately Ford Racing admitted to some quality problems with their 460 motors and worked with Victor to replace the short lived engine. A few weeks later a new 460 was back in the Mach 1.

After getting over initial jitters, after all this would be Victors 3rd motor in as many months, Victor started hammering out some good passes. In January of this year we got our first 10-second ET's, with a best of 10.90 at 122mph.

Somewhere around this point we witnessed a beautiful 10-second '69 RS Camaro hit the divider and flip over at a local weekend bracket event. This got Victor thinking...is the car he never intended to race, let alone into the 10's, something worth destroying in the event of a mishap? We knew the answer when a short time later he informed us of his new purchases, the plum burgundy '67 Mustang coupe seen above.

Other than being a '67 coupe, this particular coupe shares very little else in common with our other '67 Project car. This car from day one would be "the race car". Victor promptly gutted the interior and had the NHRA mandatory six-point cage installed. The 460 and C6 were dropped in -this time the shock towers were left untouched (we cut them back on the Mach 1.) It's a tight fit, but notching the header bolt holes in the flanges of the Crites headers allows them to be slipped into place against the head, rather than needing to come in straight on.

The 460 propelled '67, weighing in at a brisk 2910 lb. without driver, would prove to be a terror at the track. Sixty-foots have dropped to the high 1.4's, and the ET is now consistently 10.70's @ 124! Perhaps even more amazing is that the motor is being shifted at a paltry 5500rpm. So far this appears to be a very stable and consistent combo. Let's see if Victor can come home with some prize money in the near future! F/M

 

 

More Project 460 Articles
Introduction

Chopping the Shock Towers

460 Grenade!?

Tuning the Race Demon

Track Results! Jan. 2002

 

 

 

 


The '69 Mach 1 has been retired from serious race activity. It now sports a mild 351W (which has run mid-12's by the way.)

The interior features a seat, a steering wheel and shifter, and 6-point cage. No need for creature comforts in the car.

Race weight would make Jenny Craig proud - 2910 lbs.

Tires and wheels: 28 x 11.5 MT ET Drags on 15 x 8 Cragar Drag Lites.

The Mach 1's nine-inch rear was also transferred over. It houses a 3.70:1 gear, and 35-spline spool. Rear suspension is surprisingly simple: five-leaf springs, Traction Masters, and air-shocks...yes air shocks. Note the subframe connectors - mandatory if you plan to withstand the 460's 500+ lb.ft. of torque.

An RCI 12 gallon fuel cell sits in the trunk (motor runs on 91-92 octane). The dual 12" batteries help keep the electric fan, water and fuel pumps alive during long events.

Though we weren't able to get a photo in time for this article, the car now sports a custom fiberglass hood to cover the tall 460 intake and air cleaner.

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