‘My first pass down the track was a blistering 14.85 @90 mph,” said Scarborough, Ontario’s Chris Damovski with a hearty laugh. And fast it wasn’t. But a start, it was. And we all gotta start somewhere, right?
Damovski acquired the car as a hand-me-down from his uncle while working in his grandfather’s shop at the tender age of 15. “My uncle had bought the car for $1000, and when it showed up at the shop, it reminded me of my dad’s old ’85 Mustang,” he recalled. “I was probably 7 when he had it and when I found out he was selling it, I balled my eyes out,” he admitted.
After working in the shop all summer, Chris’ uncle stayed true to his word and gave him the car as a roller. With no money, the car sat patiently awaiting its new drivetrain for two years when it was eventually treated to a stock replacement motor and a T5 transmission in 2008. That sleepy combo resulted in the previously-mentioned sundial-read ET and two-digit mph that left Chris hungry for more.
Upgrades started slowly and affordably and eventually grew over time. First the stock ’86 upper intake and throttle body were swapped to a bit larger ’92 version. The addition of stock springs and a removed factory sway bar improved the time slip to 13.75 @ 100 mph. “The car stayed that way until about 2012 when Paul at PSP built a 306 and I ran a 12.00 @ 113 mph. The car then progressed to 11.80s in 2013 and then in 2014 it went 10.2s with a combination of my top end on my brother’s short block that we put in my car because his car wasn’t ready,” said.
Satisfied with the trend but not with the end result, Damovski decided to completely tear the car apart in 2015, where the bare bones were trucked to JD Auto Collision for a fresh paint job, where it spent the next 8 months undergoing a total metamorphosis.
“I started collecting parts for my current setup while the car was in for paint,” Damovski said. The first step in that direction was a Paul Silva Performance-built 336 small block Ford powerplant. Starting with an R302 SVO block, Silva used a Callies Dragon Slayer crank with GRP rods and Diamond pistons… Read more of this article. Just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
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