The term adrenaline junkie conjures thoughts of skydivers, rock climbers, and professional skateboarders. But in the world of motorsport, that term applies to all of us, especially racers. For Michael Winterer from St Louis, Missouri, and his 1987 LS-swapped Fox Body, affectionately named “$#it Fox” for its humble homebrewed beginnings, racing isn’t just a hobby, it’s a passion.

The car bug bit Michael when he was just a kid. One trip around the block in his uncle George’s T-Bucket hot rod and he knew he had found his passion. A spin in a 2,000-pound V8-powered roadster like that would get even the most stubborn environmentalist hooked.

The green accents on the all black bodywork create a striking look.

Pony Car Roots

By the time Michael got his hands on his driver’s license as a teenager, he bought his first car, a black 1986 Mustang GT with a 5-speed. He always had a thing for older Mustangs, and while the old 5.0 in that Fox Body was enough to entertain any teenager and get them in some harmless trouble, the future would prove Michael would want to go faster, a lot faster.

Everyone wanted the lift-back Fox Body Mustangs back in the day, but the notch-back models have become more popular in recent years.

By the spring of 2019, Winterer was nearing 30 years old and looking to buy his next project to build into something serious. He remembered how much fun he had in his lightweight Fox Body back in high school and knew the same platform with a better powerplant would be the recipe to stay at the top of the pack.

The interior has been stripped down for simplicity with a FuelTech screen in place of the gauge cluster.

With the help of his friend Jim Grey, he found this 1987 notchback Mustang, which was your typical “$#it Box” project car. The 1987 and later Fox Body Mustangs have a redesigned front end with smoother, more aerodynamic headlights, and over the years the notchback coupes have become desirable, so Michael snagged it before anyone else could.

Michael didn’t go to school to build engines or work on cars. He has no professional fabrication, mechanic, or racing background. He’s about as grass-roots as it gets. Michael went through the same trials and tribulations over the years most of us did to teach himself how to wrench and build to go faster.

The LS fits in the engine bay like it was made to be there.

A Simple And Direct Vision

The goal with $#it Fox was to dominate the streets and strip. Creature comforts, gas mileage, and the ability to cruise long distances on the highway went out the window. This LS swapped Fox Body has been built to run from a dig. The Mustang went through a few changes over the years, like different engine combinations and transmissions, but ultimately stuck with its current setup.

The firewall mounted coils keep the engine bay clean and easier to work on.

Under the hood of this notchback Mustang is a 404 cubic-inch LS. Starting with a used aluminum 6.0-liter LS2 block, it was machined to fit its new rotating assembly from Molnar to up the displacement. Forged 4.010-inch bore pistons and a 4.000-inch stroke crankshaft are connected by H-beam connecting rods to create that 404 cubic-inch displacement.

An LS engine that is going to see four-digit power with the aid of a blower and nitrous needs special attention when being built. The flat top pistons in this blown LS bring the compression to 11.4:1 when combined with the L92 cylinder heads. To most of us, this may sound high, but this recipe isn’t for a daily driver, it’s for max power at the drag strip on race gas. Things like the piston-to-wall clearance in the cylinders, the clearance on the rod and main bearings, and the ring gap are left a little looser than you would find in a street engine to cope with the abuse from the extremely high cylinder pressures.

The LSA supercharger is a great option for those looking to make big power on a budget.

After the long block was finished off with valvetrain from Brian Tooley Racing featuring one of its popular Stage 3 blower cams, it was topped with two power adders to reach Michael’s goals. The first power adder is a supercharger courtesy of a 6.2-liter LSA, the engine you would find in a ’09-’13 CTS-V or ’12-’15 ZL1 Camaro. Over the years, these 1.9-liter Eaton TVS blowers have been a staple of LS enthusiasts looking to make big power on a budget.

A 6.0 block filled with a 4.000-inch stroker kit brings the displacement to 404 cubic inches.

Winterer runs his TVS1900 supercharger with a 2.37-inch diameter upper pulley and a 9.17-inch diameter lower pulley to make about 13 pounds of boost. The snout of the blower has been ported to improve airflow in high-demand applications and to fit the 102mm Warr Performance throttle body. The OEM-sourced supercharger features twin cooling bricks from the factory to keep the intake charge cool under pressure, but Michael also runs a nitrous plate between the lid and blower body to feed his 404-inch LS swapped Fox Body a shot of nitrous oxide to up the power output into the four-digit range.

It’s rowdy, loud, fast, and a blast to drive! – Michael Winterer

To feed this LS that much fuel, Micheal went to Fuel Tech for the engine control, 210 pound-per-hour injectors under the fuel rails, and Aeromotive for one of its brushless high-output fuel pumps and adjustable fuel pressure regulator. Kooks stainless headers fit the LS engine and the Fox Body chassis with ease and help maximize exhaust scavenging so no power is left on the table.

Afco drag coilovers give this LS swapped Fox Body it’s sinister stance.

Don’t ask Michael about the numbers, he’s never had his LS swapped Fox Body strapped down to a chassis dyno for a glory pull. He cares more about how it performs than the internet clout from a dyno graph. He estimates that it makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-900 horsepower on the 13 psi the blower pumps out without the undisclosed shot of nitrous.

RC Comp 17-inch wheels easily clear the Strange drag brakes bring this Fox to a stop.

Digging Its Heals In

Winterer landed on a Powerglide to go behind his 404 LS. The Powerglide transmission has been a popular pick among drag racers for years. The two-speed auto is lightweight and offers little parasitic loss due to its simple design. Once he communicated his power and e.t. goals to the transmission builder (Trans To Go in Arnold, Missouri), they knocked out a ‘glide that keeps him out of the pits and on the track.

You can’t put that much power down and expect the stock rear suspension design to knock out competitive 60-foot times. Out back, Merillat torque boxes were welded into the stock frame rails to give the unibody some much-needed rigidity and adjustability. Team 2 control arms connect a Moser M9 Fabricated 9-inch Ford axle with 3.70 gears and 40-spline Strange Engineering axle shafts to the welded-in torque boxes. The weld-in torque boxes are a must for any high-horsepower LS-swapped Fox Body as the hard launches pull the factory metal apart.

No hiding the Moser M9 Fabricated 9-inch Ford axle with the green powdercoat.

RC Comp 15×12 double bead-lock wheels with Mickey Thompson 275/60R15 ET Street Radial tires and Afco adjustable drag coilovers ensure Michael doesn’t need to worry about a loss of traction, this Fox hooks hard on the street and the drag strip with a best sixty-foot time of 1.34 seconds.

A Motion Raceworks drag wing keeps the rear tires planted down the track.

Michael Winterer may not be looking to become “TV famous” like Richard Rawlings, or mega-rich like Jeff Bezos, but he isn’t shy about wanting one thing: to go faster! He didn’t build ‘$#it Fox’ for any particular class, just trying for most street-style events. This latest combination was built hoping for a 5-second pass and he made it happen on the first outing with 5.92 seconds at 120mph in the eigth-mile. Michael is just an old-school hot rodder at heart who loves racing and the adrenaline it brings, self-taught for the fun of it, and hopes to keep doing it with his LS swapped Fox Body for a long time.