how's it going everyone i'm landon with lmr.com welcome to another one of our what
is videos this time around we're going to be talking about all things svo let's get rolling
like any of our what is videos we'll go ahead and start with a little history lesson first
in the early 1980s ford had started to give hints that they wanted to get involved with competition
again well in september of 1980 they announced the formation of special vehicle operations or
what we know it as sbo under michael cranfis who is the competition director for ford europe the
initial vision for the svl group was to create a series of limited production cars promoted
through motorsports the sbo team didn't waste any time and shortly after the formation of the group
a mustang imsa concept was born powered by a highly modified turbocharged four-cylinder
engine this car was to be run in select 1981 emsa events emsa stands for international motorsports
association and is a north american sports car racing sanctioning body for road racing
in late 1980 ford released the mclaren mustang which was dubbed the m81 project it featured a 2.3
liter turbocharged four banger that was reworked by mclaren a variable boost controller mounted
inside of the car that was adjustable from 5 to 11 psi coney shocks higher rate springs larger
sway bars better brakes and a surplus of other racing inspired upgrades they intended to hand
build 250 cars but that never happened because of the staggering 25 000 price tag that's 88 grand in
2022 money in total only 11 cars were ever made now comes 1982 a group of 30 engineers built two
svo prototypes from 1982 mustangs with jack roush prepped engines and competed in the quaker state
longest day of nelson 24-hour endurance race in nelson ledges ohio in this race for the likes of
the camaro z28 280zx turbo porsche 944 rx7 gsl and toyota supra of the two cars one did finish the
race at the 1983 event one of the svo prototypes finished second to none other than the camaro
a few years would roll on by and in late 1983 the svo mustang would finally release as a 1984
model year and would only last until 1986. the exterior of the svos remained largely unchanged
throughout the short three-year run up front they featured a unique hood with an offset
scoop to feed air into the intercooler a wrap around front bumper that deleted the front spat
marshall fog lights and unique headlights ford changed the headlights mid-year in 1985 to the
aero or flush dial lights which was much needed as the recessed version looked kind of funky the
traditional large body side moldings that were used on other mustang trim levels were removed
and in their place was a narrow molding that was positioned in the center of the body line
this would run the entire length of the car down the side 1984 cars got black exterior trim while
the 85 85 and a half and 86 cars were changed to charcoal gray which is known in the modern day
as svo grade running the length of the car at the bottom was an appropriate rocker trim
piece that would transition to a front of rear tire spat that had some extra kick out
and this was also another svo exclusive svo specific body color cell panels were fitted behind
the quarter windows and the roof rail moldings were also painted body colored all model gear svos
could be optioned with a sunroof out back the svos sported a european style biplane wing
which was many iconic attributes of the car the biplane wing was standard equipment on all
svos except for the 86 cars where it could be deleted if someone selected that option the
tail lights were standard issue fox body units from the current production that featured trim
color pinstriping which was black for 84 cars and then charcoal gray for 85 through 86. this
style of tail light would be reused several years later on the 93 cobra early 84 cars had
an sbo sticker on the hatch and fender 85 and 85 and a half cars had nothing on the fenders but
they did have svo badges on the hatch 1986 cars had svo badges on both the fenders and the hatch
taking a look at the inside of the svo it was standard issue fox body with the exception
of a few exclusivities the seats were manufactured by a lear ziggler and featured oversized bolsters
with pump up lumbar supports cloth was standard but leather was also an option
1984 and early 85 cars used piping for the seat trim and that was switched to dove stitch for 85
and a half and 86 cars continuing with a great attention to detail ford used the same cloth
material from the seats and added it to the door panels even if the car was optioned with leather
the svos utilized a unique pedal assembly that borrowed the brake pedal from automatic
transmission equipped cars which would help facilitate heel toe driving these were the
first fox mustangs that came equipped with a dead pedal unlike other mustangs with the dark gray
interior color option this was also referred to as charcoal gray the svos did not have any black
accents around the console area these areas were all painted using the dark gray color
a unique leather leather-wrapped steering wheel and horn pad with svo logo reused along with a
hurst shifter purse 5-speed shift knob and shift boot the instrument cluster featured red back
lighting and the gauge overlay and passenger side dash applique had a suede-like effect
the svo was the first production mustang of any kind with four wheel disc brakes it was also the
first fox body mustang from ford with five lug wheels the wheels were unique to the svo
measured 16 by 7 inches and were wrapped in 225 50 16 goodyear gator back tires the
front rotors measured 10.91 inches and the rears were vented 11.25 inch rotors over
the years the front brake calipers became a popular swap on later model fox mustangs
because of the larger 73 millimeter piston the front sway bars measured 1.12 inches in
diameter and the rear bar was 0.67 inches in diameter the svos used a specific front
lower control arm that had non-serviceable built-in ball joints these control arms
would allow the svo to have a wider front track with versus the other mustang models
because of the wider track width and rear disc brakes the svo wheels had a different offset
adjustable koni shocks and struts were used and as years passed they were dubbed as kony reds
the power plant for the svo mustangs was a turbocharged lima 2.3 liter engine it had
two valves per cylinder and was a single overhead cam design the compression ratio was eight to one
the intake valves measured 1.73 inches and the exhaust valve measured 1.49 inches now i'll go
ahead and talk about each year and some of the details related to each respective year
the 1984 sbo sold for around 16 grand this was nearly double the price of a gt model
and was reaching the sticker price of a corvette with the higher price tag unconventional engine
option and its european get up the cell success of the sbo wasn't all that great americans still
wanted their v8s in 1984 you could choose between black silver metallic medium canyon red and dark
charcoal metallic of those colors ford built four thousand five hundred and seven svos in 1984. the
turbocharged four-cylinder engine was rated at 175 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque a
little side note this was the same horsepower as the 1984 5-liter v8 mustang gt the turbo was an
air research unit with a t3 housing and an area over radius of 0.63 this would spool up and push
14 pounds of boost back through the intake the engine was electronically controlled via ford's
eec version 4 processor the fuel switch was added to calibrate the engine and modulate the amount of
boost for the type of fuel that was being used whether it be low octane unleaded fuel or what
the switch implied as premium which was meant for the highest available octane at the pump
aboard warner t5 5-speed transmission was mated to the 2.3 liter engine out back the drive train
consisted of a seven and a half inch traction lock diff with 345 rear gears wheel hop was controlled
by traction bars or also known as slapper bars in all 1984 model year sbos built after december
of 1983 received kony quad shocks the 84 sbo had a trw 20 to 1 ratio steering rack starting as an
option after november of 1983 buyers could choose the comp prep r41c option this option would delete
the air conditioning power windows and radio it's unknown how many of these cars were optioned this
way so they're probably super rare think of the comp prep svo as the cobra r of the mid 80s
the early 1985 sbo was pretty much a direct copy of the 84 model with just a few exceptions the
rear end gear ratio was changed to 373 and the transmission received revised ratios as well
since it was now a borg warner world class unit suspension changes included shocks and struts
that were preset by kony to firm up the ride the rear spring rate was also increased and the rack
and pinion was updated to a 15 to 1 ratio in 1985 1515 sbos were produced and were available
in seven colors which included black silver metallic medium canyon red jalapeno red dark sage
oxford white and medium gray metallic in typical ford fashion well any vehicle manufacturer really
they updated the svo in the middle of the model here which is why we have the 85 and a half svo
mustang all svos built after april of 1985 were designated as 85 in half the 2.3 liter engine
was now equipped with a different intake manifold and the boost was increased to 15 psi the turbo
was now water cooled and the turbine was changed to a 0.48 area over radius for quicker spool up
the injectors were also increased from 30 pounds to 35 pounds per hour and an updated eec version
4 computer was used dual mufflers and tailpipes rounded out the new modification with all those
changes the 85 and a half svo was rated at 205 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque there
were only 439 85 and a half sbos produced making them some of the rarest birds in the svo flop
for the 1986 model year ford built 3 382 sbos and this would also be the last year for the sbo there
were no changes to 86 sdo except the horsepower rating was changed to 200 horsepower from 205.
the federal mandated third brake light was added to the lower spoiler the color palette in 1986
included black silver metallic medium canyon red jalapeno red dark sage oxford white medium
charcoal metallic which was changed from medium gray metallic and the new shade on the block was
dark shadow blue although the svo was short-lived ford would sell 9984 units over the three-year
run my personal opinion is that the svo mustang was ahead of its time and it would help inspire
future performance vehicles from ford such as the 93 cobra and the 93 cobra r no doubt about it the
svo is a key player in the history and lineage of the mustang and still has its own little following
to this day we're fortunate enough to own a pretty dang good example in this 1986 jalapeno red spo
which had a mild restoration some years ago as always we hope that you have enjoyed this what
is video that's all we have for you today so until we catch you in the next one y'all know what to do
for all things 1979 the present mustang keep it right here with the real enthusiasts lmr.com