Inside the Muscle Car Garage: Mustang Pony Ride

June 16, 2013 by Drive

Text and Photos by Matt Emery

Article

There’s been a little combining of business with pleasure going on lately at No Limit Engineering in San Bernardino, California. Recently, Rob MacGregor, owner and founder of No Limit, and his adorable girlfriend Tina were married. (Congratulations, you two!) So what does an engineer get his new wife for a wedding present? He builds her a muscle car, of course!

The coupe started out as simply a platform for MacGregor to design new suspension parts, but it has morphed into a “family car” for Tina.

There’s been a little combining of business with pleasure going on lately at No Limit Engineering in San Bernardino, California. Recently, Rob MacGregor, owner and founder of No Limit, and his adorable girlfriend Tina were married. (Congratulations, you two from MCP.) So what does an engineer get his new wife for a wedding present? He builds her a muscle car, of course!

Sure, some guys drive their wives around the bend, but Rob MacGregor is building his new wife Tina a Mustang that will be capable of driving quickly around corners.

For more than 25 years, MacGregor and No Limit Engineering have been producing performance suspension systems for trucks and hot rods, but few know that MacGregor has a long history with racing, too. MacGregor built and drove short course cars at the Orange Fairgrounds, and of late he’s been seriously competing in autocross events with his Silver Bullet F-100 pickup (check out “No Limit Challenge” page 34 for more about Rob’s autocrossing adventures).

This rendering shows that with the racing stripes and Intro wheels, the Mustang will have a decidedly racy look.

This Mustang used to belong to an employee, and the plan was to use it as a test mule for a new line of suspension systems that MacGregor had been considering. It was used for that purpose, but MacGregor figured that it would also make a great car for Tina to drive, which is a great idea. MacGregor used a No Limit SC-1 IFS complete with custom A-arms, cross member and uppers. He used billet Romic shocks, Wilwood disc brakes and a T-Bird rack-and-pinion system.

The No Limit SC-1 IFS system gives the Mustang the suspension capabilities needed for autocrossing, and is designed to fit a 351 Windsor engine. MacGregor also says that a 4.6 engine will fit right in as well.

The No Limit SC-1 IFS system features custom A-arms, cross member and uppers. A set of Wilwood disc brakes, billet Romic shocks and a rack-and-pinion steering system from a T-Bird completes the list.

The rear suspension is very trick, as the factory 8-inch rearend articulates via a 2-link and torque arm that finds the Romic coil-over shocks compressed with a 1-1 rocker arm setup that looks like it came off of an F1 car. The rearend also features the Wilwood brakes along with an Eaton True Trac equipped with 3.70 gears. Intro Wheels and BFG tires will do their part to get the ‘Stang around the course quickly.

With its cantilevered design that uses Romic billet coil-overs on a 1-1 rocker arm setup, the rear suspension is reminiscent of an F1 car. MacGregor says that the lack of room beneath the car necessitated him thinking of the radical 2-link and torque arm, cantilevered suspension design.

Proposed power will come from a 347-ci stroker with AFR heads, a BBK intake and EFI systems. Sanderson headers and Gibson mufflers will get the spent fuel out to the open air. The tranny will be a Ford AOD unit complete with a 2,000-rpm stall converter. Neither the interior color, nor overall design has been decided upon, but the exterior will be white with blue rally stripes.

The factory 8-inch rearend features an Eaton True Trac with 3.70-1 gears and Wilwood disc brakes.

They say that the family that plays together stays together, and when this Mustang is completed the MacGregors will have the perfect way to play. But Rob may find that Tina is happy to go this one alone.