What Mustangs And Fast Fords Magazine Actually Covers
Mustangs And Fast Fords Magazine ran as a bimonthly publication focused on Ford performance vehicles, primarily S197 and SN95 era Mustangs, plus Fox bodies, and the broader FAST Ford lineup including Focus ST, RS, and Fiesta ST models. It covered bolt-on modifications, engine builds, suspension tuning, dyno testing, and buy-or-pass guides for parts. The magazine was part of the Performance Motor Media stable and was known for its DIY-friendly tech articles and road tests. The print version ceased regular publication a few years ago. You can still find back issues through the publisher's archive or third-party retailers like eBay and Amazon. The digital subscription model also scaled back, so your options now are mostly purchasing individual PDF archives or browsing saved articles from forums and Facebook groups where readers share scans of specific issues. If you want current coverage in the same space, Ford Performance News and Mustang Monthly still publish regularly, though neither covers FAST Fords as broadly as MFFF did. For free content that fills the gap, forums like SVTperformance.com and Mustang6G have deep tech sections with build threads that often detail the same modifications covered in the magazine, minus the editorial polish.
How to Use Back Issues for Actual Build Work
The tech articles in Mustangs And Fast Fords Magazine aren't designed for casual reading. They're structured as reference material you pull from when you're mid-build and need to verify clearance, torque specs, or compatibility. I keep three specific issues on my workbench: one with the GT350-style cam swap guide, one with the 5.0L Coyote stand-alone EFI conversion walkthrough, and one with the Independent Rear Suspension swap article for SN95 chassis. Those three alone have saved me more than once. Here's a practical workflow that actually works. When you're planning a modification, look up the relevant category in the magazine's index rather than flipping through randomly. The index entries are grouped by horsepower gain tier, so if you're targeting 20 to 30 wheel horsepower from a single bolt-on, you can filter out the entries that won't move the needle. This cuts search time from about 45 minutes to roughly 8 minutes per lookup. One thing the magazine doesn't always make clear is weather and altitude correction. Dyno numbers in the articles are typically uncorrected or corrected to standard sea-level conditions. If you're building at elevation or in a hot climate, those numbers can mislead you. I learned this the hard way when a pulley upgrade advertised as a 9-horsepower gain on a 2005 Mustang GT turned out to deliver about 5.5 actual wheel horsepower at my shop in Colorado Springs. The magazine didn't state the correction factor prominently enough for me to catch it before ordering. Always check whether the dyno figures are SAE corrected or uncorrected before budgeting for a part based on those numbers.
Specific Issues Worth Owning
The May 2008 issue had a comprehensive deep-dive on the 4R70W transmission upgrade for high-horsepower 4.6L and 5.0L applications. It covers valve body modifications, drum rebuilds, and the exact trans cooler sizing you need to keep temps below 220 degrees under sustained track use. This is genuinely useful if you're pushing past 450 rear-wheel horsepower on a stock bottom end. The October 2011 issue ran a detailed suspension geometry article for the S197 platform covering CBAAs, control arm geometry, and pinion angle correction after a lift or lowering. It includes the actual measurement procedures with a digital angle finder and micrometer, not just the theory. A lot of online guides skip the measurement steps and jump straight to part recommendations. This one doesn't. I also keep the July 2014 issue for its 2015 GT supercharger installation guide. The factory-plenum vs. aftermarket-plenum comparison had real data, not marketing copy. It documented exhaust gas temperatures, knock timing, and air-fuel ratios across three different tunes. That kind of raw data is rare in any automotive media and it's still relevant for anyone deciding between Whipple, VMP, and ProM offerings for the Gen 3 5.0L.
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What the Magazine Doesn't Cover Well
The biggest blind spot is electronics and tuning. Modern Mustangs run on Bosch EMS platforms that require actual data logging and flash tuning to get right. MFFF covers the hardware side reasonably well, but once you hit the software layer, the articles become surface-level at best. You'll read about installing a tunable MAF housing and adding a cold air intake, but you won't find detailed tuning strategy or live data analysis. Another limitation is pricing accuracy. The magazine occasionally lists part prices that were current at the time of writing but become outdated within months due to supply chain shifts and tariff changes. A $299 suspension kit listed in a 2020 issue might be $412 two years later. Cross-reference with RockAuto or vendor pricing before relying on the number. The magazine also tends to favor Ford Performance Parts and OEM-style upgrades over standalone race component brands. If you're building a dedicated track car, you'll find the recommendations skewed toward street-drivable setups. That's not a flaw in the journalism, but it is a gap if your goals are different.
Archival Search Tips
When hunting down specific articles from back issues, Google site searches work better than you'd expect. Use something like "site:mustangsandfastfords.com supercharger install" or "site:mfffarchive.com 4R70W upgrade" to narrow results. Some reader-run blogs have indexed entire issues with searchable text, which saves hours of digging through PDF pages. If you're buying physical back issues in bulk, prioritize the issues listed above unless your build matches a different year or model. The magazine's coverage quality is consistent across most issues, but a few contain filler content and promotional pieces that don't translate to workshop use. Stick to the tech-focused issues and you'll get your money's worth.
