If you’re reading this, chances are you wanted a fast Mustang the day you turned 16. We did. Well, Malcolm Strydom, and his son Reece, made a deal. Reece, who was 14-years old at that time, wanted a Ford Fox-body Mustang as his first car. “Not wanting to get left with a project in the driveway that he loses interest in, I made him a deal,” Malcolm says. “Tear down my Cobra engine, build the new one, and we’ll talk about a Fox.”

Just 14-years old at the time, Reece Strydom built the engine for his dad Malcolm’s 2003 Cobra. Who said these engine are hard to work on?! “The hardest part was the cams. In between homework and Xbox, it took a month to get the cams degree’d,” Malcolm says.

Reece was game, so in January of 2015, the teardown and rebuild began. Malcolm had built the engine that was already in the Cobra, and that combination featured a built short block, and a Whipple 2.9 supercharger. It was a low compression combination, and this time around, Malcolm wanted higher compression, so the deal with Reece had two primary reasons. First, to have a high compression combination for increased power, and for Reece to learn the in’s and out’s of an engine. Reece would however, learn a lot more than just about engines. More on that later.

Reece’s engine build would surround a Teksid aluminum block with a Cobra crank and rods, Diamond pistons, and Total Seal rings. Reece screwed together the short block using ARP hardware, and he even filed the piston rings. The Diamond pistons Malcolm chose feature thicker skirts and ring lands to support boost, which will still come from the Whipple 2.9 supercharger.

As for the heads, New Kid Cylinder Heads out of Kansas City, Missouri ported the stock castings, along with porting the Cobra’s intake. To go along with the ported heads, Malcolm chose Comp Stage 3 blower cams, but to help bolster the short block the valvetrain, the guys used a Cobra Engineering drill fixture to add larger dowel pins, along with the company’s revised passenger side tensioner arrangement, which puts tension against the slack side of the chain on the passenger side.

The boys had the car running again in October of last year. The Cobra’s fuel system is from Fore Innovations, and uses twin Walbro 465 pumps. Malcolm works in the electronics sector, and he made a circuit to read air volume within the mass air meter to power up the second pump when it detects a certain amount of air volume. That means, when just going to get groceries, the system is only running on one pump, but when it’s play time, both pumps come online to make sure the engine has enough E85 to keep the fires lit.

The intake and intercooler were also likewise modified. As mentioned, the intake was ported and ceramic-coated before being installed. For the intercooler, Malcolm and Reece outfitted the car with a Killer Chiller, which uses Freon from the A/C to help maintain manageable inlet temps. The supercharger also features Whipple’s Crusher inlet, as well as an intake Malcolm designed to relocate the filter into the inner fender.

Reece hasn’t had the chance to drive the Cobra yet, but Malcolm is prepared for when the spring comes, Reece will be asking for a chance at the wheel.

For the exhaust side of things, Malcolm and Reece chose Kooks 1 7/8-inch primary long-tube headers with 3-inch collectors, along with a Kooks X-pipe, and a Bassani after-cat exhaust. Behind the Reece-built Four-Valve, the boys installed a McLeod RXT clutch and a Tremec Magnum transmission to handle the increased power of the new combination. Up front, the guys added a UPR Products front suspension, and added polyurethane bushings in the stock IRS. The rear was also bolstered with an IRS differential brace.

As you can see, the build was a lot more than just the engine, but as Malcolm tells it, “The engine was all Reece.” All told, the guys had the build-up done in October of 2015. Of course, right after completing the build, winter came, which meant Malcolm hasn’t had much time to play with the car. However, he has been able to do a little tuning on the car using a Moates QuarterHorse with Binary Editor capabilities. Malcolm likes the live tuning aspect of the Moates. Since the last combination was good for 700-rwhp, Malcolm is hoping for 1,000-rwhp on E85 once he’s able to get to a dyno come spring.

So, true to his word, “Reece held up his end of the bargain, so I had to hold up mine,” Malcolm says. The two found a 1990 Fox coupe in Denver, Colorado, purchasing the car for Reece. The coupe is red with a black interior, which we all want, and wears a 5-lug swap, Bullitt wheels, 3.55 gears, and shorty headers. Perfect for a 16-year old, we say.  And yes, we are jealous.

“Reece held up his end of the bargain, so I held up mine,” Malcolm says. Therefore, here’s Reece’s Fox Mustang, a 1990 LX coupe. The coupe sat for 10 years before the previous owner decided to sell, and Malcolm and Reece were glad to take it off his hands.