We purchased a 69 fastback with the plans of doing restomod rebuild sometime in the distant future. This would include reinstalling the original inline six, which was removed to make room for a 351ci engine, as well as continuing the V8 suspension upgrade which was already in progress. Although our version of the six would be anything but stock or original.

With that in mind, we updated the suspension and steering, added disc brakes in all four corners, and built a hot little six. While we'll cover the basics and post a few pics you need to read the magazine article, which was published in the Oct, Nov, and Dec issues of Mustang & Fords, for all the details.

The roughest part about the project, was the time line, as we only had twelve weeks to get it ready for the photo shoot. Hence, the first step was a quick single stage paint job applied by Macco. The car was shot as it sat, with no attention given to the small dings and dents. We felt it didn't make sense to spend a big portion of our budget on body work and paint, if the pony was going to spend time out on the track. Therefore, she's a little rough around the edges, which is commonly called "a twenty footer" because it looks best from twenty feet away.

Our instructions were to paint the entire width of the hood gray, leaving five inches of yellow across the front. The gray was to match the center of our Torque Thrust wheels. However the instructions were misinterpreted and the paint was applied just the opposite, leaving five inches on each side, while extending all the way in front. With the given timeline, and no time to repaint, we were force to leave the hood as is. For accent, we added a quarter inch black pen stripe down each edge. All in all, it's not to bad, and over time, it actually grows on you. Now all we need is the white meatball and the number "6i", which will be painted just in front of the scoop, and on both doors.

For the next step, we took the car over to the Mustang Shop in Chandler Arizona. Since our time was so limited, they stepped up to the plate by offering to install all the suspension, steering, and brake upgrades at no charge. We readily agreed to take them up on their generous offer. Not only did they have a shop better equip to handle the task, they did the entire job in two days. This was very important as the entire photo shoot had to happen over four days. With the suspension, steering, and brakes being accomplished in two days, it left the last two days to do the engine and drive train install, and every second was going to count. It reminded me of all those shows on TV, where they always seem to be under the gun to have a car done by a certain date, and barely enough time to do the job. Now I know why.

As stated above, we won't go into all the details as they are covered in depth in the three part Mustang & Fords article. Hence we'll only cover the basics of one of the hottest inline sixes ever built. Future plans include putting the car on a chassis dyno so we can tune it and get every ounce of power available. Once that's been accomplished we'll post the results here, and in our Dyno section.

We would like to thank all the sponsors who pitched in by donating parts, as well as Jim Smart from Primeda Magazines. We also want to extend a special "thank you" to The Mustang Shop in Chandler Arizona, not only for donating the rack and pinion steering and their sub-frame connectors, but all the labor to install the suspension, steering, and brake upgrades. And for offering their shop to Jim Smart for that part of the photo shoot.

Items in Red are products sold by Classic Inlines.
Items in Blue are planned for future upgrades.
Items in Green were donated by Sponsors.

Engine Exhaust 250ci O-Ring, Stroked and Bored to 273ci. Exhaust Port Divider not required ARP Rod, Main & Head Stud Kits Custom Turbo Header Lightened Nodular Cast Iron Crank Custom 4" Single Out Custom Forged Crower Rods w/ ARP Bolts Flowmaster - 40 Series Muffler Forged Dished Pistons - 8.5:1 CR Steering & Suspension Seal Power Plasma Rings Mustang Shop - Power Rack & Pinion Kit C.I. Aluminum 250-4V Cylinder Head OpenTracker - Roller Bearing Upper Arms Clay Smith S294-112* Camshaft & Lifters OpenTracker - Roller Bearing Lower Arms SI Valves - Port Flow Valve 1.86/1.56 OpenTracker Roller Bearing Perches Yella Terra - 1.65 Full Roller Rocker Kit Global West - Adjustable Struts Clay Smith - Dual Valve Springs Stam-Bar - 1.25" Adjustable Sway Bar High Energy - 7qt Oil Pan w/ Windage Tray Mustang Plus - 620 Front Coil Spring Romac - High Performance Balancer Mustang Plus - 5 Leaf Mid-Eye Springs Classic Inlines - Alloy Ribbed Valve Cover Traction Bars Ignition System Rear Suspension Upgrade (of some sort) DUI - Distributor, Internal Coil, & LiveWires Brakes, Wheels, and Tires FAST - Electronic Fuel Injection Controller Baer 12" rotor/dual piston caliper Front Induction System Baer 11" rotor/single piston caliper Rear Triple Weber Dual Throttle Bodies American Racing 15x7 Torque Thrust Custom Plenum Chamber Yokohama P205/50R15 tires - front Turbonetics T4 Turbo Charger Yokohama P245/50R15 tires - rear Yonaka Inter-cooler Body & Paint Fuel System Urethane Screaming Yellow Single Stage Electric Fuel Pump Custom Gray Hood with Black Pen stripes Fuel Filter Mach 1 Hood Scoop Fuel Cell Interior MDS - Fuel Injectors Bucket Seats - Black Drive Train Six Point Roll Bar T5 - 5 Speed Manual Transmission Four Point Safety Harnesses - Yellow Traction-Loc 8" Differential w/ 3.50 Hurst T5 Shifter Stock 28 Spline Rear Axles Grant Steering Wheel - Black & Yellow Traction-Lock 3.50 Gear Ratio AutoMeter Phantom Gauges