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- Magazine Articles -
Text from April 2003 Mustang 5.0 & Super
Ford article
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“As you guessed by now,
we’ve arrived at 5.0&SF’s first ever King of the Street – John Garner. It
seems appropriate this computer guru attended the KOTS test wearing a
Superman shirt, because his car delivered Kryptonian performance with Clark
Kent drivability. Of course, one look at this car and there was no keeping
its performance identity secret. Its basic combination of Vortech YS-Trim-boosted
347 was augmented by all manner of custom touches. From the one-off,
intercooled upper intake and intercooler water tanks to the electrically
actuated exhaust cutouts and protective cage for the fuel cell, this Mustang
is simply awesome.
Of course, all the tricks in the world wouldn’t matter if it didn’t work –
but it does! John’s 90 GT convertible burst out of the phone booth and ripped
the Holley Dynojet for 607.5 hp and 638.6 lb-ft of torque! The power was
superb, but it was when we drove the car we knew we had a winner. Again, this
car had the blower, big heads, a monster fuel system, a huge throttle body,
and other bleeding-edge pieces, but it cranked right up and idled like a
charm. And the fun didn’t stop there. Not only did John’s GT have working A/C
and power accessories, but also the stereo was filled with quality
aftermarket gear and already had the Guns ‘N Roses CD playing for us when we
drove away.
With a mild 2,800-stall converter in the Lentech AOD and a 3.73-geared
Traction-Lok, the 600hp GT was extremely tractable in the rain, and the
smooth, unassisted shifting provided by the build AOD was outstanding. The
car pulled strongly and smoothly and never complained, stumbled, or popped.
The tuning was right there, and John used a little-publicized tuning aid
called the TwEECer to do the number on the stock EEC IV processor. In the
end, what impressed us most about this car was that you could toss the keys
to someone, and they could drive it without the usual list of dos and don’ts
required by most big-power street cars.
Such performance and drivability was John’s plan all along. “It all started
with the goal of building crazy horsepower in a car that can (and is) driven
often,” he says. “It had to be reliable, easy to drive, and keep all the
creature comforts (A/C, power steering, power brakes, cruise). Along the way,
I had many people and vendors tell me what I wanted to do couldn’t be done. I
have hit many roadblocks, but whenever something was said to be ‘impossible’,
I found a way to build my own part or piece that would work”.
And work it did, as John’s 90 GT convertible is the reigning King of the
Street. Now if you’re thinking your Mustang has what it takes to compete with
the likes of these cars, don’t be disappointed you weren’t at last year’s
test. We plan to do it all gain this year – without the rain. However, you
guys are going to have to work really hard to leap over the tall building
John Garner built at our first test. We can’t wait to see what you come up
with”
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