By D. Brian Smith
Photography: Nermin Sabic
Somewhere along the streets of San Jose, CA there's a Reef Blue Fox body Mustang a prowlin'. You're apt to hear it before you see it, and by the time you see it, it's gone baby gone. The personalized license plate reads STL SLW. Is this 1993 Mustang coupe named after the famous racehorse Seattle Slew? No. The plate stands for STILL SLOW.
1993 Twin-Turbo Coyote Powered Fox Body Mustang on the Prowl
The Mustang's builder and owner, Nermin Sabic, appreciates sarcasm. He is also a Fox body Mustang guru. Starting with his first Fox at 16, Nermin has built and owned many through the years.
Above: Recaro synthetic leather front seats supply plenty of lumbar support and comfort for tooling around town or taking on the twisties, when the owner wishes to put the Fox Mustang through its paces.
This Reef Blue beauty came into his life rather unexpectedly. Nermin found a white Fox Mustang listed online that looked great. He called up the Orange County, CA owner named Collin and negotiated a solid price for it. On a Saturday morning in 2017, Nermin, a cousin Eddie, and Eddie's 13-year-old son named Eddie piled in Nermin's daily and made the drive down to OC from SJ. Before starting out that day, Nermin noticed the white Fox's owner had just listed that day no less than a total of three Foxes for sale.
Above: A Holley EFI 6.86" Standalone Pro Dash displays the Fox's vital signs, in concert with 2-1/16" Auto Meter air/fuel, fuel level, and turbo boost gauges. An AZA Auto Wheel crowns the dash. Glenn's Performance modified a 2003 Mustang Cobra fuel tank to fit a Fox body Mustang fuel filler neck and also plumbed the fuel tank with a return style fuel delivery system with dual in-tank 525 electric fuel pumps.
Nermin's cousin advised him that he shouldn't feel pressured into buying anything that day, simply because he had negotiated a price with Collin. When Nermin pulled within 100 feet of the white Fox Mustang with black interior, he told both Eddies, "I'm not buying that car. I'm just not feeling it." But when he spied a Reef Blue Fox on the lift in Collin's shop, he thought to himself, "That's the one."
The seller couldn't believe that Nermin didn't even want to test drive the white one. To appease the seller, Nermin finally offered to let his cousin drive the white one, while he waited to have Collin get the Reef Blue Fox down from the service rack.
Above: There are six-piston Wilwood disc calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in the rear that are supplied with brake fluid via stainless steel brake lines and a 99-04 Mustang hydro boost brake booster system. Nitto radials, sized 245/40/18 wrap the front BBS RK 18X8.5-inch-wide wheels. Weldcraft Wheels first widened the rear wheels to BBS RK 18X12-inchers. CalChrome.com then chromed them to match the fronts. Toyo radials, sized 335/35/18 shod the rolling stock in the back. Installation of Detroit Speed mini tubs was essential for fitting the wide rear wheels/tires.
Without even taking the blue Fox for a spin, Nermin traded an undisclosed amount of cold hard cash for the clear pink slip and drove home to SJ with Eddie and Eddie in hot pursuit.
Modular Motorsports Racing Builds Ford Coyote V8's
Though Nermin's new ride had a stout pushrod 302 Ford small block V8, four-lug wheels converted to five, a modified suspension, and a Maaco shot Reef Blue exterior paint renew, Nermin and the two Eddies removed the Mustang's V8. This was not too long after he ordered a brand new 2019 Ford Coyote V8 mill that's built to the hilt by MMR. MMR, in case you haven't heard, stands for Modular Motorsports Racing. The Camarillo, CA based USA made precision Ford engine builder and Ford engine parts provider is the world record holder with a 5.67 second quarter mile speed run at 265 miles per hour for an MMR engine equipped Mustang drag racing car!
Above: The tubular custom front and rear suspension kits are from Fox Mustang handling experts Team Z Motorsports. Upper relocated double adjustable A-arms and offset lower control arms, an anti-roll bar, the Team Z front tubular K-member, and Strange Engineering adjustable coil-over struts form the basis for the front suspension system. Strange Engineering adjustable coil-over shocks provide track or boulevard settings and have Team Z Motorsports custom strut/shock body valving for the rear as well.
The MMR custom built Coyote mill has steel cylinder sleeves, upgraded tensioners, Comp Cams camshafts, CNC ported aluminum GT350 cylinder heads, a Moroso oil pan, a MMR Billet aluminum air to water intake, and 1050 cc fuel injectors. For keeping this Coyote powerplant cool there's a PWR North America custom aluminum radiator and heat exchanger installed in the engine bay and an ice box intercooler hidden underneath the custom stereo speakers/subwoofers in the trunk for the turbos. The HVAC system has been adios'd to make room for some outstanding custom stainless plumbing. LG Fabrication supplied the custom twin turbocharger-fed polished stainless exhaust headers and three-inch diameter custom dual exhaust system. Those turbos and raucous pipes are the first thing you see, when you open the hood. The turbos are Precision Turbos' 64MM Gen2 PTE 6466 CEA's that have Precision waste gates and Precision blow off valves. They're also the first thing you hear when you fire up the engine. Exhaust cutouts before the stainless Magnaflow mufflers were installed for those times when Nermin really wants to make a grand entrance with a sweet rumblin' roar miles before arriving at his destination.
The Coyote's backed by a GM 4L80E auto trans that's also beefed up to support over 1,100-horsepower and an equally righteous amount of torque. The Mike's Transmission built custom 4L80E has a Reid Billet case and bell housing. A B&M Pro Shifter with a modified gate plate accommodates the 4L80E reverse shift pattern. A custom tubular driveshaft spins the custom built 8.8-inch Ford differential/rear axle.
All in all, Nermin's Reef Blue road and track rocket took 11 months to build. Apart from how awesome the Mustang turned out; Eddie Jr. started helping out on the Fox build when he was 13 years old. Nermin shared that Eddie Jr. now knows more about these Fox bodies than Nermin and Eddie Sr. do combined, and that's at the young age of 16. What good news this is for the American muscle car hobby in general and the Fox Mustang renovation and restomod arena in particular!
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