HPM Coupe Build

**Snipes** · #1 05-04-2009, 09:09 PM

HPM has decided to share the HPM 91 Coupe Resto Build........Up to now there was not much sense in letting the cat out of the bag as its been a long road...No pun intended.
The basis for this project started out with a virgin original 8 cylinder auto coupe that I have owned for 10 years. The car was purchased from an elderly Female owner and was bone stock.............
I remember test driving it like it was yesterday, in fact I broke the shifter handle rite off the transmission on that test drive. Damn AOD's....

Fast forward 10 years and the Notch was crying for some well deserved attention. Last season I decided to swap out the AOD for a T-5 and clean up the interior. It started out with some fresh carpet , Corbeau front seats and snowballed into a complete black interior conversion. The fact that the front Corbeaus would never match the rear factory seat fabric, I decided to convince Corbeau to sell me some extra fabric and logo's, after a little convincing and some photo rights, they obliged and off went the factory rear seat to the upholstery shop.
I enjoyed the new interior and she almost felt revived.........well, until you started looking at the paint real close. All in all she was presentable from 10 -15 feet away, definately not a show piece though.

I had been talking about going to visit with my old friend MartyO down in Georgia for a long while and decided to plan a trip south...........That is when all the crazy ideas started!!!
Marty has a good friend who is renowned throughout the Southern car world, Derrick Smith to be exact. The man is a icon amongst the Mustang community as well as the racing world. His shop has been graced with the likes of Steve Saleen as well as Bobby Allsion. His restoration abilities are second to none. Time and time again Marty emphasized how amazing Derrick was with his restoration work.

Well, im not crazy enough to trailor a car from New York to Georgia just for paint..........

Actually, I am.......Hell, I was going there anyhow... So out came the drive train.........And off to GA I went.....

The only thing that beats towing a trailor for 15 hours is doing so in the snow......

Arrival at the MartyO Compound was a treat all in itself!!! You have to know this maniac to understand what im talking about!!!

And, of course the MO Speed shop would make any red blooded man jealous......

No home is complete without 4 lifts!! and a fleet of classic vehicles.....

**Snipes** · #2 05-04-2009, 09:11 PM

Derrick was very excited about the build and ideas where flying all over the place. When the dust settled, it was decided that the car would go direct to Scotty at Pro Chasis Fabrication for some frame stiffening, reinforced torque boxes and some engine bay smoothing.

Scotty also was tasked with fabricating a one off, through the fender intake pipe.

The car proceeded to Derricks shop where she has been completely dismantled.

The car is to be painted inside and out, from top to bottom!!! Derrick has his work cut out for him, she has seen 8 years of being used as daily driver and another 10 sitting in my garage!!! I have high hopes for the car and there is no place I'd rather have do the work............

Once I returned back to NY, the thoughts started of freshening up the tired 302.........Not a hard task as I already had a .040 over 308 on the engine stand. I brought the shortblock to Jimmy's Machine Shop in Yonkers NY and had him freshen it up. We also added a Anderson Ford Motorsport N-41 Cam, Billet timing gears/chain and high volume oil pump.

The 308 was then topped off with a set of Alluminum GT40 Turbo Swirl X heads along with a set of FMS 1.6 Rockers. The engine will breathe through a set of Holley Sytemax upper and lower intakes as well as an Accufab 75 MM Throttle Body all being pushed by a little laughing gas.......

The exhaust note will be composed of Prodigy Powder Coated Mac 1 5/8" shorty headers, off road H pipe and of course the classic FlowMaster cat back.
I opted a long time ago for the timeless appeal of the Chrome pony wheel.......Once I laid eyes on the Mavromont 17" Pony......I had to have em, they have since been wrapped with Nitto555's all around.
The fuel system is the basic 255 LPH upgrade accompanied by 24# FMS injectors and a 76MM C&L Mass Air meter. To ensure that she will be running cool, A Be Cool Radiator was purchased along with a fresh water pump.

I'll leave you with some pics of Derricks Shop, along with some of his personal race cars and current projects:

www.smithsprc.com

**Snipes** · #3 05-04-2009, 09:12 PM

A couple more project pics of Derricks work, I saw this car in person and the pics just don't do it justice.

My trip to Georgia wouldn't be complete unless I paid a visit to my other favorite place to spend money......Tim Barth, the owner of Modular Powerhouse is always more than hospitable..........www.ModularPowerhouse.com

Stay tuned for the updates....................