Here is what I consider the main component of making my swap look like Ford would have made it this way. I made this k-member to have much more header clearance than any bought piece. I used an original k-member to make my jig to know where all mounting holes would be except for the rack. I lowered the mounting position of the rack by 1-1/2" to get the 460 to the same water pump centerline as the 5.0L. The k-member also lightened the front by 20#'s. I now know more weight could have been saved because I went way overboard using 1-5/8" x .134" wall tubing. Also by modifying the mounts I was able to eliminate the 1" alum spacer from the swap kit. The lowered rack requires a bump steer kit which unfortunately wasn't available when I did all this. I ended up having to use GM W-body outer tie rods. After removing the tapered tie rod sleeves from '95 or '96 Monte Carlo spindles, we had a little machining done, and then welded them onto the Mustang spindles. Luckily the boot covers the section job on the tie rods. If you look at the filthy dirty pic in the upper right corner you can see substantial ground clearance that the Mike Hamm headers have. The collectors on his headers were heading toward the ground using the swap mount spacers and lowering the motor actually improved the ground clearance situation.

Initially I was going to run manual brakes on the car, just to clear my tall Motorsport valve covers, but my brother made a bracket to relocate the booster 1" toward the shock tower. He claimed I couldn't have air and all the other power options except brakes. It's close to everything buts hits nothing. I was even able to loosen the back bolt, put a 1-1/2" chunk of rubber hose to hold it up and remove the head while leaving the booster and master cylinder on. I can't imagine how much time that saved.

I made this gauge pod from some steel tubing and freeze plugs. This allows me to keep a eye on the N2O and fuel pressures. I have come to realize that the N2O pressure is very critical for consistency.

I made the subframe connectors frome 2" x 2" square and then bent the 3/4" flat to the contour of the floor for a factory frame rail appearance. I'm glad I can't remember how long this all took.

I cut 2 of the stock trans crossmembers and using the big hump on each welded them back together for more clearance for the 3" exhaust. The floor needed massaged a little for clearance and the stock bracket off the floor needed modified but it worked out great in the end.

The exhaust was made from straight pipe and 14 3" mandrel bends. They were cut to fit and welded together. I filed and sanded the last 3' and had them Jet Hot coated and then welded them on. I'm using Flowmaster 3 chamber mufflers. I added an "X" pipe made out of a few more 45's a couple years ago. I was surprised how different it made the motor sound. It made the hog harder to remove from the rear end though. It was nice being able to drop 1 pipe and move it over.

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