This 1993 Mustang LX Can Do It All

The Rise of the Notchback

It is official: notchbacks are in. More and more mustang builders are choosing notchbacks as their base. If your goal is outright performance, then it is not hard to see why everyone is choosing notchbacks. The absence of the large hatch means these cars are a little lighter, and the architecture possibly allows for higher structural rigidity as well. Let's say you have decided you need to build a notchback of your own, where do you start? Finding a clean Fox Body these days can be hard. More often than not, you are going to have to do a lot of work to get it where you want. And if you're going through all that work anyway, then why not follow in the footsteps of Eric Sutherland?

Clean Slate

Instead of going out and trying to find a clean Mustang and ripping it all apart, or cleaning out a nasty rusty old chassis, Eric did the sensible thing and bought a roller. And in doing so, there is always the question of what kind of drivetrain/powertrain to put in the car. Not only does Ford offer a ton of engines that fit nice and cozy in this Mustang's engine bay, just about any power plant you can think of has, at some point, found its way under the hood of these Fox Bodies.

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An Easy Choice

Luckily for Eric, the choice of engine was made very simple. Not too far away, there was a 363ci engine that had just been finished at Anthony DiSomma Racing that would be a perfect fit. That 363 was actually out of the 1986 fastback that Eric had been building before the notchback bug bit. The engine was built up with forged internals set at a nice boost-ready 8.5:1 compression. That would come in handy because the Vortech Ti Supercharger strapped to it is capable of 26psi of boost at full tilt. All that air flows through a Trick Flow Box-R intake manifold and custom ported Edelbrock Victor Jr. heads.

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Working in Harmony

To help cool and condense that air as it enters the engine a ProMeth methanol injection kit is also fitted. Of course, big air means big fuel and big spark so the engine also has large Holly fuel injectors, a Behind Bars Race Cars fuel rail set, MSD ignition system and Demon coils. A Holly HP EFI system makes the whole combo work, and does it well, helping the unit produce 700 wheel horsepower after the tune.

>>Join the conversation about this do-it-all Fox Body Mustang right here in The Mustang Source.

Not a Race Car

700 horsepower is no joke, but this is no race car. Eric's LX still features a full interior, only made slightly less comfortable by the addition of a roll bar. Inside, Eric has all the information he needs from the custom Pro-Comp gauge setup. The streetcar interior is complemented by a suspension designed for the street as well. The car runs a 5 lug swap from an SN95 as well as QA1 tubular K-member, control arms, springs, and struts. Some Maximum Motorsports camber/caster plates keep the front end aligned and Eibach anti-roll bars keep the body roll in check.

>>Join the conversation about this do-it-all Fox Body Mustang right here in The Mustang Source.

Best of All Worlds

When a car show rolls around, this LX can pop its hood and show off that extremely clean engine bay. When the time comes to show just what that engine can do, the car can perform at the track, laying down 10.28s at 142mph in the 1/4 mile. Of course, if Eric just needs to haul some groceries in the trunk, then this notchback up to the task for that as well. Eric's Mustang may have started as a blank slate, but it has now been transformed into a vehicle that can do it all.

>>Join the conversation about this do-it-all Fox Body Mustang right here in The Mustang Source.

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