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J-Mac's DPS Coupe - 1993 Mustang Coupe

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1993 was the last year the Mustang was offered with the Special Service Package and the last year it was ordered by law enforcement agencies. I came across this one in December of 1999; I was on the hunt for a new ride after my 1988 GT met an untimely end. It belonged to Scott Springer, who is now our General Manager. We struck a deal and I drove off in my first coupe! Scott and I became friends, which ultimately led to me coming to work at LMR.com in 2003, but that's a whole other story.

The car served in McLennan County as a Texas State Trooper patrol car. Prior to the release from service, she was painted single stage red to cover the black & white scheme known to be used on Texas DPS vehicles. She was also equipped with the solid Ruby Red interior, which I pretty much hated at first, but have now come to appreciate. Sometime in 2000 she was re-sprayed solid black and stayed that way until January 2003. As the odometer showed 176,000 when purchased, she saw three engine and transmission swaps and multiple other mods and upgrades between 2000 & 2003. In January 2003 with the odometer showing over 210,000 miles, I stripped her down to nothing and began on the long journey which produced the finished product you see today.

All in all, my 1993 Mustang has performed admirably. There are still changes to be made to get her closer to my goal, but I have learned quite a bit along the way. So far she has seen lots of open track time and is a blast to drive. On the 1/4 she has gone 12.30 @ 109mph on 275/40/17 Nitto drag radials. On the open highway, 23mpg is the norm all while the cruise is set and the A/C is blowing cold. It's pretty rare to get the whole package and I wouldn’t trade her for the world!

Exterior

The exterior of the 93 is covered in PPG paint and is the same black and white color scheme that would have been used when the car was in service. Upgrades are very few consisting of a 2.5" Fiberglass Cowl Hood, 84 SVO Taillight Lenses, a 1993 Cobra Grille Insert, and a pair of 4.6 Fender Emblems that I painted satin black. When the paint was dry she received the full host of trim and weatherstrip that we offer in our 50Resto Exterior Renewal Kit, along with a brand new pair of OE Carlite Quarter Windows (no longer available – sorry guys!). I chose to stick with the OE style Headlights with Amber Sidemarkers.

Interior

As stated earlier, the interior color is solid Ruby Red. Everything. This was almost a deal breaker for me and it was always in my plans to convert the interior to black. However, when I tore the car down in 2003, I just couldn’t bring myself to carry through with it. I completely cleaned all the panels and sourced a dash and front seats from a four cylinder hatch as the stock dash looked a bit like Swiss cheese and the driver front seat was quite worn from her days in service. I selected ACC Mass Back Carpet to quiet down the interior a bit along with a set of plain floor mats in the matching hue. The Shifter Knob and Parking Brake Handle are black leather wrapped pieces from a 1994-1998 Cobra. The factory leather wrapped steering wheel was treated to a re-cover and the cluster retains the 160mph speedometer. For safety, I added a Maximum Motorsports 6-point Roll Bar and Corbeau 5-point Harnesses. I was lucky as the only items I had to replace were the Door Armrest Pads. I removed the center console arm rest and filled in the hole with our Console Armrest Delete. The door panels, headliner, sun visors, etc. are all still original to the car.

Powetrain

My original plans for the 93 called for a 351W swap. As fate would have it, just as the car was finishing up at the paint shop, I came across a smoking deal on a 2001 Cobra crate motor. This completely changed the course of the build and I’m glad it did. The engine is stock intake to oil pan and laid down a straight up 300hp and 300lb-ft to the wheels. The only power adder is a Nitrous Outlet Mustang Nitrous Kit that adds 100hp to the wheels and 120lb-ft of torque. For engine wiring and controls I took a 1998 Mustang GT PCM and wiring harness & spent lots of hours making it a literal plug & play for the 93. All the factory gauges work along with the cruise & A/C! The tuning is handled via a Custom Tune & SCT Programmer. My exhaust system is composed of 1-5/8" long tube headers, a custom modified Bassani catted x-pipe, and a Flowmaster American Thunder Catback. To keep her cool, I coupled an SVE Aluminum Radiator with a stock 1994-96 GT electric cooling fan.

Transmission:
The transmission is a standard issue Tremec T45 from a 1998 Cobra. I chose the 1998 Cobra unit for the upgraded shift forks and the fact it retains a mechanical speedometer drive with a 7-tooth speedometer drive gear. Plus it was available and cheap! A RAM Billet Aluminum Flywheel and RAM HDX Clutch transfer the power to the transmission and it is topped off with a Pro 5.0 Shifter. A Ford Racing Aluminum Driveshaft sends the power to the 8.8" Rear End.

Rear Axle:
The Fox 8.8" rear axle housing was retained, but all the insides were beefed up. Moser 31-spline Axles with SN95 Flanges replaced the stockers and they mate with a Ford Racing Traction-Lok Differential. I chose FRPP 4.10 Gears to take full advantage of the 4.6L 4V engine’s power curve. For durability, I added a Ford Racing Differential Girdle and Moser Differential Bearing Cap Studs.

Brakes and Wheels

Front Brakes:
The front brakes consist of our SVE Cobra style Front Brake Kit. Red powdercoat calipers, Powerslot Rotors, StopTech pads, and stainless braided hoses. To adapt the passenger side front hose to the body hard line, I used the Fox to SN95 Brake Hose Adapter.

Rear Brakes:
SVE Rear Brakes are employed as well & feature red powder coat calipers with StopTech pads, PowerSlot Rotors, & Stainless Braided Hoses. I modified the rear axle brake hard lines with new line nuts & shortened them to fit the new disc setup. North Racecars Axle Brackets are used to keep the stock Fox track width. 1993 Cobra Parking Brake Cables keep the emergency brake functional.

Master Cylinder, Booster, and Proportioning Valve:
Because of the Modular engine swap, I used the hydro-boost and master cylinder from a 99-04 Mustang GT. I utilized an 84-86 Proportioning Valve/Distribution Block and custom made my own brake lines to mate everything together. The distribution block was gutted & plugged with our 50Resto Proportioning Valve Plug. To adjust the rear brake bias, a Ford Racing Adjustable Proportioning Valve was added in.

Wheels and Tires:
My 1993 LX Coupe started out with set of 17×9" OE Ford 10th Anniversary Cobra wheels wrapped in 275/40/17 tires all around. Currently, a set of 18x9" SVE Drift Wheels with 255/40/18 Nitto 555 tires sit up front and a set of 18x10" SVE Drift Wheels with 275/35/18 Nitto 555 tires sit out back.

Suspension and Steering

Front Suspension:
My original plans for the car had her heading toward drag strip duty. After I came to LMR.com on March 2003 I was introduced to open track driving. Then the 01 Cobra motor fell in my lap. Suddenly, I wanted to be able to take turns at speed & stop the car on a dime! At the time, the AJE k-member was the main one being used for modular Foxes, so that's what went on mine. Another very near future upgrade is to swap it out for a Maximum Motorsports k-member. The control arms are OE Ford stamps upgraded with Steeda X2 Ball Joints and Global West Delrin control arm bushings. Tokico Illumina Front Struts are used with a coil over kit and 325lb 12" springs suspend the front load. Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber Plates help with the alignment and 94-95 Mustang spindles tie everything together.

Rear Suspension:
To match the front suspension, Tokico Illumina Rear Shocks work with H&R Super Race springs. Maximum Motorsports Lower Control Arms along with Ford Racing HD upper control arms keep the axle attached. To keep the rear axle properly located while turning, I utilized a Maximum Motorsports Panhard Bar.

Steering:
Steering chores are handled by an OE remanufactured 15:1 power steering rack & a Steeda Bumpsteer Kit. A Maximum Motorsports Steering Shaft ties the power steering rack to the steering column.

About the Video

Texas DPS Mustang Coupe - Jmac at LatemodelRestoration.com

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Published on 2013-07-30
Jonathan McDonald, AKA Jmac, owns an amazing Fox Body Mustang. This project car has graced the covers of our past Latemodel Restoration catalogs and has been featured in 5.0 Mustang Magazine. He built this project around a true Texas DPS Mustang Coupe. After multiple motor swaps, the final configuration is 4.6L 4V Cobra motor. Check out the video for all the details on car and how Jmac ended up at www.LatemodelRestoration.com.

Check out our project car page for more information and pictures of Jmac's Mustang Coupe!!

Transcript
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I ended up here at Latemodel probably-- well, no, it was in April of 2003. The how, I actually had a couple of opportunities. I went to college up here in Waco, and needed some parts. And a buddy of mine worked over at the other Mustang place. Well, they didn't have what I needed. Said hey, go talk to Shannon over at Latemodel. So I did, and he hooked me up. He had a clutch fork and a pivot stud, which was what was holding me up. And he offered me a job at that point.

Well, I had already had everything lined up. I was going back home to my hometown of Victoria. Years later, I got a call form my buddy Scott, who I actually bought this car from, which is the car that I was buying parts for. Said hey, we have a sales position open here at Latemodel. We thought you'd fit perfectly.

Not too long after I came to work here, there was another guy that they had hired into sales, had the desk right behind me. Started calling me Johnny Mac, and somehow or another that morphed into J-Mac, and it just stuck.

I was probably about 14. A buddy of mine took me for a ride in his '88 GT, and that just sold me on the Fox Mustang. Just the looks, the feel, the power. It was a very good package for the time, and a few years later whenever I turned 17, I bought my first Mustang, which was also an '88 GT.

Well, I grew up on a farm, so doing all your own maintenance and repairing everything, that was just something I grew up with. Buying that first Mustang, I did all my own repair work to it. And the group of guys that I was hanging around in high school, they started bringing me their cars, and before it was all said and done, I'd pretty much worked on every late model Mustang in the area.

And then after I graduated high school, I got the typical parental talk, go to college, or get a job, or get going. Well, I decided to go to college, but in my mind, I took a little bit of an easy way out. I went to TSTC and got my associate's degree an automotive technology. Granted, it kind of worked out for me. I worked in industrial maintenance for a plastics plant for about a year, and then after that, I want to work for a Ford dealership for a couple of years. Got master certified, and I worked there until early '03 before I came here to Latemodel.

There's a lot we can talk about on this car. I bought it in '99 from Scott, which is our general manager now, kind of the whole way that I got mixed into this group. It's been through, I don't know, three or four different motors, a couple of different transmissions, got different rear ends. This is the third paint job that's been on it. Whenever I originally tore it down and painted it back to the black and white color scheme this last go around, it was intended to be a drag car. And I had a 351 Windsor that I was going to put in it, fuel injected, and it was going to have full suspension, and it was just going to go fast in a straight line.

Well, after coming to work at Latemodel, and Shannon introduced me to taking corners at speed, and I was hooked on that from that point. And shortly after an '01 Cobra motor landed in my lap pretty much, so the car took a whole different direction, ended up with a mod motor, ended up with a full corner-carving suspension, full on [INAUDIBLE] brake setup, big wheels and tires. I mean, it's like driving a 300 horsepower go cart.

There's been just a few Mustangs. Granted, this is the longest I've ever owned a vehicle. It is this '93 coupe here. But I've also own an '01 GT, bought it new. Had a '92 Calypso Green coupe that I converted from four cylinder to a 5.0. Then I had a '93 Reef Blue couple, which is one of the few cars that I really regret selling. Had a '98 GT. Bought an '07 GT and had a lot of fun with it on the track. I mean, the newer body style is just so capable right out of the box. Hadn't owned a Coyote yet. I've been eyeing those with the evil eye, but as of yet, nothing new in the stable. Worked on plenty of them, but just hadn't convinced the wife that putting one in the garage is the right thing to do yet.

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