PowerTV’s Heretic is getting close at Wheel to Wheel Powertrain as we finish up the LS7 powered Mustang’s Suspension, Rear End, and Chassis When Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that an LS7 Corvette-powered, twin-turbocharged monster would manifest from the work of his future sons.
More so, not many could imagine bringing to life something so sacrilegious—so heretic—that it could cause both sides of a war to come to terms long enough to destroy its existence. We’re talking about the powerTV Heretic, a 2006 Ford Mustang with the heart of a bow tie and the chassis of the blue oval. Throw in 1,000 plus horsepower, and daily driver civility, and you’ve got an attention getter. The boys from Wheel to Wheel Powertrain in Detroit, Michigan, are screwing it all together, and powerTV is filming every last drop.
 This is the 2006 Mustang V6 that we started off with.
It had high mileage, but was very clean. |
Heretic combines the forces of two monsters: the body of a 2006 Ford Mustang, and a 427ci GM LS7 based off the new GM LSX engine block. In Episode 1 of Project Heretic on powerTV, the Heretic was introduced. The builders went over the massive fabrication that will need to take place in order to fit the GM LS7 engine and 4L80E transmission in to their respective areas. As mentioned in the episode, Heretic will not be a drag only car, but a car with true versatility on the strip, road course, or on the street. “Heretic is so universal that it will have different wheels and tires for each activity,” explained Wheel 2 Wheel’s Brad Shantry. And Heretic won’t only perform in the horsepower department, but it will provide aggressive styling, courtesy of a Classic Design Ducktail wing and chin spoiler, as well as Forgeline custom 18-inch wheels, and burnt orange paint from Planet Color.
In episode 2, the serious fabrication started. The first step was to give the car a more aggressive stance. “After we got the Forgeline wheels and tire sizes picked out, we decided to do massive re-work of the rear suspension and created new factory style frame rails while retaining the factory 3-link geometry design. This created the clearance we needed for the rear tires and Moser M9 rear axle to sit in place while retaining our desired ride height,” explains Shantry. Up front, we got the BMR K-member, adjustable control arms, and Tokico coil-overs spec’d for Heretic’s triple threat-use of drag racing, street racing, and road course driving.
Uninhibited by sides or forces in battle, Heretic will be flying its own colors. This is the clay-mold of the Dashboard which will feature custom Heretic badging. High amounts of fabrication and work from Wheel 2 Wheel have taken place to gain clearance for our wheels and tires while still retaining the factory 3-link geometry design. You can see here a mock-up of the Moser M9 rear axle, which will hold inside a full compliment of Moser goodies including Moser 40-spline axles.
Episode 3 continues with the Heretic Mustang welded down to the surface plate for more chassis fabrication including a full 10-point Chrome-moly roll cage as well as front and rear suspension work. After that, the team went over to Woolf Aircraft to get some Woolf custom Turbo headers built for the All Pro LS7 cylinder heads which will hold up under the high boost and heat temperatures.
 It is no surprise that we tapped GM Performance Parts
for their LSX engine block. Capable of 2,000+ hp and less
than $2,000, this block is a real bargain... |
Episode 4 part of our story is all about heart, specifically the build up of the short-block of the 427 cubic inches of LSX anger, which will bubble under hood the Cervini Mustang cowl hood. powerTV will follow along with the construction at Wheel to Wheel Powertrain of the engine, which includes the GM Performance Parts LSX engine block, the Lunati Crankshaft, Lunati Pro Mod Rods, JE turbocharged-spec pistons and rings, and complete ARP engine bolt hardware.
Not only are we looking to make big power with our combination, we plan on making this short block ultra-reliable for other demanding applications such as road racing and long street driving. With this amount of power as a road racing application, Shantry explains that, “This engine and short-block will be capable of way more power than you’d need. I think powertrain wise, there is no class for road racing that would need this much power.”
Now, if putting a GM motor in a Ford chassis wasn’t enough to make Heretic one of the most controversial projects of the automotive community this, part 5 of the Heretic build will discuss several different reasons why blood should be boiling. Aside from the previously mentioned OEM Mustang-style 3-link housed within a completely fabricated rear chassis, Wheel 2 Wheel is actually raising the transmission tunnel and rear tin work in order to house a GM TCI 4L80 overdrive transmission. Along with this, the positioning of our Turbonetics twin-turbos – inside the inner Mustang fog light holes—should ice the cake for the purists. Over all, Heretic is meant to serve all audiences with a bitter taste that leaves them wanting more.
All of the Heretic build videos will be covered on PowerTV Online, at
www.powerTVonline.com, or one of powerTV’s video channels such as NMRA TV, Street Legal TV, or LSX TV. Heretic seems to share an essence with that feeling you get from a horror thriller that somehow chills your very soul when viewed, but leaves you wanting more. We all realize that Heretic walks the fine line between sanity and madness and treads on every person’s toe while doing so.
Heretic will feature some of the baddest wheels ever to fasten to the axles of a Ford Mustang – Forgeline SP3P wheels in 18×12 and 18×10 sizes. Forgeline is a top wheel builder and can build any custom offset or size you want (within reason) and in a variety of styles. We chose the evil gun metal 18’s with polished lips.
One of the nice touches with the Heretic is the custom made dash board. Here is the Heretic logo actually carved into the mold for the dashboard.
Jason Bliss did a great rendering of the Heretic Mustang in both street and drag trim.
Moser provided their M9 sheetmetal housing, and BMR provided the suspension pieces. Mix that together with Afco shocks and you have a magical combination.
Forgeline set up the Heretic with a sweet set of racing 3-piece wheels, the 18 x 12 SS3P's!
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