Brutal In Blue: Precision Machines Builds One Bad Fastback

We always have our eyes open looking for cars to feature while we’re attending shows, races, and other events. While making our way through the vendors at the Mustang 50th Anniversary Show in Las Vegas this past spring we spotted Kevin Sittner’s blue Fastback sitting in the Chassisworks booth. The tale of this car and how it ended up in Sittner’s hands is a long and interesting one to say the least.

Earnest Beginnings

Sittner is the owner of Precision Machines, a Lodi, California based shop specializing in high-end restorations and restomods with an emphasis on high performance. Like any other project this particular fastback came into the PM shop one day to begin its transformation from just another cool fastback into a machine that demanded the respect of others. “The customer brought the car to me about 12 years ago and wanted a paint job but didn’t like my price. He had a really great shell, and he had a lot of parts he’d accumulated from various suppliers. The car spent the next few years in and out of three other shops, and I finally heard from him again when he wanted us to take the project over,” says Sittner.

Spotted in the Chassisworks booth in the garage area at LVMS during the Mustang 50th celebration, editor Creason admits he was quickly drawn by the beautiful blue paint hue and low stance of Sittner’s ’66 Fastback.

PM painted the car, and dug into the project, but the car’s owner ran out of money after losing his job. Like too many others before him, this owner wanted out. Sittner says with the car sitting in the PM shop there was no shortage of suitors who were interested in acquiring the idled project.

With regular offers and people constantly pestering him to buy the car, Sittner moved it to storage until he could figure out what to do with it. As Sittner recalls “A while later a really good, long time customer of ours came in and asked me ‘whatever happened to that pretty blue Fastback you had?’ Ironically, the owner, who was still looking to get out of it, had just called me said he definitely needed to sell the car.”

A deal was made and the car changed hands with a plan for a new direction that was far wilder than the seller had conceived. PM works closely with Chassiworks to research and test parts in real world applications. Sittner knew that the TCP division of Chassisworks had just the parts needed for this build. “The customer wanted a really bad hot rod he could drive on the street and I promised him we could build a great driving car with at least 1,000 horsepower,” says Sittner. Eighteen months later, with a slick paint job and the best of everything installed, PM completed the project.

Promised Power

Sittner had promised 1,000 hp and he delivered. With the help of RDI a 9.2 deck Windsor was constructed based around a Ford Racing Parts aluminum block punched out to 4.125 bore. Using a custom billet 4.00-inch stroke crankshaft, custom length connecting rods, and Wiesco pistons, the cubic inches total 427.

AFR 225 cylinder heads that have had some mild port work performed provide massive airflow and the valvetrain is controlled via a custom Crane Cams solid-roller bumpstick. There’s no chain on this engine, instead a Roush-Yates belt drive provides the link between the crank and cam.

Based around a FRPP aluminum 9.2-inch deck block, this blown and stroked 427 cubic inch Windsor has been detuned to 875 hp to make it “easier” to drive on the street and able to run on pump gas.

Left: A divorced Meziere water pump flows the coolant, while Aeromotive fuel components keep the engine fed. The air to water intercooler is tucked away inside the fender. Right: Adding the snarl to the engine is a ProCharger F1-R blower.

The customer wanted a really bad hot rod he could drive on the street, and I promised him we could build a great driving car with at least 1,000 horsepower. -Kevin Sittner

The engine gulps air through a custom Hogan’s sheet metal intake manifold, and big 95-lbs/hr fuel injectors dispatch the fuel to each cylinder fed by an Aermotive pump which draws from a Fuel Safe 22-gallon cell in the trunk. Cramming air down the throat of the intake is a ProCharger F1-R supercharger driven off a cogged belt. Engine controls come courtesy of FAST XFI 2.0

Cooling is done with a custom built radiator and a divorced Meziere electric water pump which sits remotely mounted away from the rest of the engine. Boost cooling comes from an aircraft water-to-air intercooler mounted in the fenderwell. To keep cooling that incoming air charge, Canton reservoirs are mounted in the trunk to circulate the water to SVT Lightning heat exchangers.

When it was all said and done Sittner delivered on his promised 1,000 hp, but soon found that they needed to back things off a little, “The car was such a beast with the 1,000 hp tune that we backed it down to around 875 hp, just to make it streetable. I actually spun the tires at around 140 MPH in this car while we were developing the tune.”

Tapping the keys to develop that tune was Troy Nunes. Sittner utilizes Nunes for all of his EFI tuning needs at PM and says was key to getting the FAST system tuned in a manner that not only maximized engine output, but also leant itself to the car being drivable and manageable on the street.

When all of the details turn out right you end up with this: low, lean, mean, and powerful.

Rowing Gears

The car was built prior to Tremec’s release of the T-56 Magnum, so a standard T-56 was sourced. With big power under the hood Sittner knew the transmission needed significant upgrades to handle the torque. At the same time the customer also insisted there not be any “Chevy” parts in his Mustang build. As a result the 26-spline input shaft in the T-56 was ditched in favor of a custom billet 10-spline piece. The transmission was blueprinted and upgrades including carbon fiber blockers were installed. “We basically took a brand new T-56, blew it apart, and upgraded everything we could in it,” sys Sittner. Shifts are actuated via a McLeod Street Twin clutch with aluminum flywheel and McLeod shifter. The transmission tunnel also had to be raised two-inches to accommodate the taller T-56 transmission.

Aggressive Entry

“The thing that makes this car so good to drive, and really the only reason why it’s drivable on the street at all is because it has every piece from TCP on it that we could install.“

Sittner owns a very bad, black Fastback Mustang with the same components on it. This car is a regular force to be reckoned with at places like Laguna Seca where it turns in mid 1:30 lap times. Sittner knew that his customer would only be happy with these same pieces on the blue Fastback, so they were installed and adjusted for street duty.

Front suspension includes a full TCP coilover conversion. TCP sub frame connectors and center supports 1 and 2 are also installed for increased rigidity. A Chassisworks roll bar with custom swing outs also provides rigidity and additional safety.

The rear suspension consists of a TCP’s pushrod suspension with transverse mounted coilover shocks, new tubular control arms, torque arm, and Watts-link. It’s connected to a narrowed Fab9 rearend housing with aluminum center section, Detroit Locker diff, and 3.50 gears. Adjsutable Vari-shock dampers sit at all four corners.

Baer 6S brakes with six-pot caliper and massive 14-inch rotors reside at all four corners to provide the stoping power. “With the brake system and that torque arm suspension the stopping power of the car is just brutal,” remarks Sittner.

In The Cabin

Inside the car driver and passenger ride in style. Seating is from ProCar. A bevy of Autometer Cobalt gauges ride in a custom built JME instrument cluster. Temperatures are kept cool even on the hottest California days courtesy of a Vintage Air system.

Finished Product

He took the car home and came back two weeks later, handed me the keys and said ‘Kevin, I have no business owning this car.’

“Our entire crew worked really hard to develop and build this car,” says Sittner, The car was delivered to it’s new owner during a local car show, something he and Sittner planned out in advance. Startled by his new car’s power, the owner, paid a visit to Sittner at the Precision Machines shop. “He took the car home and came back two weeks later, handed me the keys and said ‘Kevin, I have no business owning this car.’”

After some time, the car’s owner fell on hard times when the real estate market and the US economy took a beating just a few years ago. “When the economy went bad a few years ago he came back to me and said he really needed to liquidate a few things and get some cash. So I helped him out and bought the car from him.”

That’s how Sittner ended up with a car that he’s tuned, tweaked, and really made into his own creation over the course of more than a decade. With brutal power, amazing cornering, and great comfort this ’66 Fastback is the kind of machine that dreams are made of. We’re not sure what’s next for Kevin Sittner, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for the next big thing to come out of the Precision Machines shop.

 

About the author

Don Creason

Don Creason is an automotive journalist with passions that lie from everything classic, all the way to modern muscle. Experienced tech writer, and all around car aficionado, Don's love for both cars and writing makes him the perfect addition to the Power Automedia team of experts.
Read My Articles

Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Street Muscle, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

We'll send you the most interesting Street Muscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


fordmuscle
Classic Ford Performance
dragzine
Drag Racing
chevyhardcore
Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • fordmuscle Classic Ford Performance
  • dragzine Drag Racing
  • chevyhardcore Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading