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The Next Warhorse: 1993 Mustang LX Autocross Build

It’s time to build THE NEXT WARHORSE!

I’ve been autocrossing my 1992 GT, 2000 GT, and 2004 V6 for years, and I’ve been sharing my experience on my Warhorse Racing YouTube channel. I’ve made it my mission to prove that any 79-04 Mustang can be built into a capable and competitive autocross car.

I’ve been fortunate to win several local championships in my V8 and V6 cars. When it came time to decide on a new long-term project, I wanted a challenge. So, I thought outside the box when choosing this Fox Body.

The tips and tech in this series will help anyone building a 79-04 Mustang for autocross. If you have any questions, please ask here or in the comments on YouTube. I’m always happy to help.

 
It’s time to start taking weight out of my 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car. There’s a lot of weight hiding in the interior of Fox Body Mustangs that’s free or inexpensive to remove. In this video, I strip out the interior pieces that won’t be going back into the car and weigh the OEM interior parts that can be swapped for lighter alternatives.

 

Erkenbrand

Active Member
This is a fantastic series! I have a friend who races autocross in a 370Z, or his WRX. He's been trying to talk me into running with my 80 Mustang. I appreciate getting a glimpse into what it would take to make a Foxbody competitive.
 
This is a fantastic series! I have a friend who races autocross in a 370Z, or his WRX. He's been trying to talk me into running with my 80 Mustang. I appreciate getting a glimpse into what it would take to make a Foxbody competitive.
Thank you! Keep in mind that there are a lot of different SCCA Categories that Mustangs fit into. Some allow for just a few mods; others allow for many mods. This project will end up being heavily modified. But people don't have to modify their Mustangs to give autocross a try. When you're starting out, seat time is better than any modification you will make to the car.

If you ever have any questions, please ask here or in the comments on YouTube. I'm always happy to help.
 

Erkenbrand

Active Member
Thank you! Keep in mind that there are a lot of different SCCA Categories that Mustangs fit into. Some allow for just a few mods; others allow for many mods. This project will end up being heavily modified. But people don't have to modify their Mustangs to give autocross a try. When you're starting out, seat time is better than any modification you will make to the car.

If you ever have any questions, please ask here or in the comments on YouTube. I'm always happy to help.
I appreciate the offer. Step 1: I need to get my Mustang running and able to pass New York State inspection. All of the other comes after that. :)
 
In my quest to get 500 lbs. out of my 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car, I have to make mods I’ve never made before. In 30 years of working on Mustangs, I’ve never removed the sound deadening. But, because Apocalypso has to be much lighter than my other autocross Mustangs, the sound deadening has to go. This video covers the tools I used, how well they worked, and how much weight I lost.

 
I’ve already taken 147.8 lbs. out of my 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car. Weight reduction is important, but so is weight distribution. I need to get some mass off of the front end. In this video, I delete the A/C, remove some unnecessary items & swap in a Ranger header.

 

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
Have your thought about removing the bracing from the underside of the hood? I've seen 50tussin do it on his cars. His gets pretty flimsy, but it works fine. You could pick up a nice used hood for cheap if you don't want to ruin the integrity of your oem hood.
 
So far, my 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car has lost 198.6 lbs. But I’m still 300 lbs. away from my goal. Lightweight bumper supports are an inexpensive way to pull pounds out of your autocross pony. In this video, I install MAF Racing front & rear bumper supports.

 
Apocalypso has already lost 250.4 lbs. In order to reach my goal of 500 lbs., I need to make mods I’ve never made before. So, it’s time to install my first lightweight K-member. This video covers what I had to do to get the OEM K-member out, the UPR K-member bolted in, and the engine mounted to the new K-member.

 
The UPR K-member install was more chaotic than I expected. In this video, I cover the problems I encountered and the solutions I found while installing the OEM A-arms with OEM rubber bushings, the OEM A-arms with poly bushings, the OEM steering rack, stock-style springs, and the OEM sway bar.

I also reveal how much weight the UPR K-member and spring perches took off of Apocalypso.

 

2.3svx

New Member
It’s time to build THE NEXT WARHORSE!

I’ve been autocrossing my 1992 GT, 2000 GT, and 2004 V6 for years, and I’ve been sharing my experience on my Warhorse Racing YouTube channel. I’ve made it my mission to prove that any 79-04 Mustang can be built into a capable and competitive autocross car.

I’ve been fortunate to win several local championships in my V8 and V6 cars. When it came time to decide on a new long-term project, I wanted a challenge. So, I thought outside the box when choosing this Fox Body.

The tips and tech in this series will help anyone building a 79-04 Mustang for autocross. If you have any questions, please ask here or in the comments on YouTube. I’m always happy to help.

Hey man! I just got on this forum, I'm the dude home grown customs from yt. Thanks for all your tips and constructive criticism it was much appreciated! Good to see someone I "know" on here hopefully people are nice like on the ranger station forums!!
 
Hey man! I just got on this forum, I'm the dude home grown customs from yt. Thanks for all your tips and constructive criticism it was much appreciated! Good to see someone I "know" on here hopefully people are nice like on the ranger station forums!!
Welcome to the forum! I'm glad I was able to help. I saw that you added some boost to your 2.3L. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your autocross videos!
 
My 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car has already lost 275.7 lbs. I’m getting closer to my goal of taking 500 lbs. out of Apocalypso. Swapping the heavy OEM steel driveshaft for a Ford Performance aluminum driveshaft will shed a few more pounds and improve this pony’s performance out on course.

This video covers the benefits of installing an aluminum driveshaft, provides some install tips & reveals how much weight the aluminum driveshaft took out of Apocalypso.

 
I’ve pulled 286.8 lbs. out of my 1993 2.3L Mustang autocross car. Reaching my goal of 500 lbs. requires me to look for every opportunity to reduce weight.

I’m upgrading my solid rear axle suspension with Steeda aluminum upper & lower control arms.

This video covers the problems I had with the entry-level rear upper & lower control arms that were on Apocalypso, details the benefits of using quality rear upper & lower control arms, provides some install tips, and reveals how much weight I saved by switching to the Steeda aluminum rear control arms.

 

BlakeS

New Member
So glad I just found this thread, I'll have to start watching all your vids as I'm looking to get my new Notch setup for AutoX duties. I still want to drive on the street though so I probably won't remove the sound deadening (at least for a couple of months till I need to loose the weight). Can't "weight" to see what else you'll do and any tips about good AutoX setup for the foxbody. Hopefully the videos will show but what width wheels and what size tires are you running? I assume your running in CAM-T?
 
So glad I just found this thread, I'll have to start watching all your vids as I'm looking to get my new Notch setup for AutoX duties. I still want to drive on the street though so I probably won't remove the sound deadening (at least for a couple of months till I need to loose the weight). Can't "weight" to see what else you'll do and any tips about good AutoX setup for the foxbody. Hopefully the videos will show but what width wheels and what size tires are you running? I assume your running in CAM-T?
It's great to hear that another Fox is going to be out on an autocross course. This is a long-term project, but I try to post a video about its progress every month. I appreciate you checking out my videos. My "Budget Autocross" & "ThoroughbRED" playlists offer some good tips for setting up SRA Mustangs for autocross. You'll also find autocross driving tips (I'm an instructor). I'm always happy to help recommend mods if you ever have questions. Right now, Apocalypso is being built for CAM-S at 2,680 lbs. (with the driver). I might try to go lighter, but that will depend on class/budget. My 1992 GT (featured in my ThoroughbRED series) and my SN95 cars run in CAM-T. I'm going to experiment with rim & tire fitment on Apocalypso, but it will have to wait until all the suspension mods are complete. As you know, there isn't a lot of room to work with on these cars (and no two Foxes have the same production tolerances). I run 18x9" +30 offset American Muscle FR500 wheels with 245/40/18 BFG Rival S 1.5 tires on my 1992 GT. If you check out the results videos for that car, you can see that it does pretty well on "small" tires.
 

BlakeS

New Member
Appreciate the info and I've already started to watch some of your videos on Youtube. I am trying to figure out classing and with the factory weight of the 80 foxbody I may be stuck in CAM-S unless I can add weight or things already done have added enough weight as from what I've gathered the car should have been 2800 pounds from the factory.
 
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