The Loaf - Dean Comazzolo - Everybody wants a piece of this LS powered Fox Stang!

Everybody wants a piece o 28

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Story by George Pich Photos by Tia Elizabeth

of this LS powered Fox Stang! www.rpmmag.com

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Alright, you’re looking at the title of this article and thinking what the heck is “The Loaf”?

Allow us to explain. “It is kind of a funny story,” says owner Dean Comazzolo. Apparently back in 2017 when the car was much milder there was one of those snipers on Facebook who tried to get Dean going, but it backfired. The edited, censored, redacted comments went something like; “there is no way that loaf could cut a 1.30 60 foot”.

Ah the world is full of some real winners. Not too long afterwards, Dean was registering for a No Prep race at Empire Dragway with a lot of serious street cars coming. “One of the questions they asked on the registration form was ‘what is the name of the car?’ To be honest I had never thought of naming the car and I really didn’t know what to put down, so I just wrote down The Loaf as a joke,” explained Comazzolo. As luck would have it, the event promoters took a liking to The Loaf and actually used in on their poster featuring Dean’s Mustang with THE LOAF in large bold text. “I thought it was hilarious and from there everyone started to refer to the car as The Loaf. So what really began as an insult morphed into a big joke amongst fellow racers;

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Even the hood is factory on this quick Fox Body Stang, but when you walk around to the back of the car the Chute is a dead giveaway.

Chris and Trish Biro

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‘Everyone wants a piece of the Loaf ’”.

There’s nothing like your first car and most of us probably wish we had ours back. This Mustang was Dean’s first car that he purchased 17 years ago when he was, coincidentally, 17 years old. It was not the well-executed big power stock-looking (from the exterior anyway) Fox Body you see here, though.

It was completely original with 210,000km on it and cost $3,300. “On the drive home after picking it up the rear main seal let go wiping out the clutch and then to top it all off, the turn signal broke right off the column when signaling into my driveway. I should have known at that time that this car would turn into an ongoing battle!” Something Comazzolo can joke about now.

Being a student at the time he really didn’t have much disposable income but was determined to turn the car into something special on a budget.

Some of that budget went to the Friday night test and tune fund at the local drag strips earning his cred on the strip, “My record to this day is 33 passes in one day,” he laughed. Dean even learned how to race a T5 with no second gear synchro because he could afford to fix it at the time.

Hunting high and low for deals on parts, the car slowly progressed. First was the usual .030 over small block with 650 double pumper Holley carb and heads ported by owner, “I had no idea what I was doing at the time, I just hogged them out” he

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The Mustang is a family thing...

Dean with his wife Breanne, son Ethan and daughter Alaina met with our photographer at a local Drive-In Theatre for the shoot.

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Adam Hewton added to the cage for a 25.5 cert late in 2019 during a complete rebuild of the car.

Comazzolo wound up backhalving the car during late 2019/early 2020 with his buddy Josh Gunby at Fabmac Industries fabricating the rear cage, suspension and mini tubs.

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Lots of OEM stuff along with a Motion Raceworks steering column with Flaming River shaft and Holley EFI dash make for minimal clutter in the cockpit of the dual purpose Mustang.

Let’s Build itTogether Low Cost, No Hassle, Landed Cost Shipping.

Landed Cost shipping includes all duties, taxes, and clearance fees.

In-stock parts are shipped FAST, delivered to your door with no unexpected fees.

Questions?

Complete details available in the Customer Service section of SummitRacing.com, talk via Live Chat, or Call.

1-800-230-3030 www.rpmmag.com

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The stock GM 5.3 Gen4 iron block works out to approximately 328ci and Wiseco 3.80 forged pistons, Scat rods and a K1 stock stroke forged crank hang out inside.

One day I was browsing online and came across the shell of my old car! laughed, After getting together enough dough for new aluminum heads, he hit the track again. Unbeknownst to Dean, though, when he was replacing the air cleaner after a jet change, the brass vent tube on the carb dropped into the motor. Well we don’t have to tell you what happened from there.

Waiting until he had the cash for the repairs and some upgrades, he would hit the street and track again. A few months later more problems with the motor that were compounded by all those little problems that crop up with a car when you don’t really have the spare money to get them fixed.

Dean waved the white flag and sold the car, against the advice of his girlfriend (now his wife). Two years passed and he tried out motorcycles and even bought a Camaro but it just didn’t fill the void for him. “One day I was browsing online and came across the shell of my old car!” he exclaimed. “It was sitting in a grass field all stripped down half part-

Since Dean races a number of different gigs, he’d rather not talk about turbo sizes.

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The car is a topshelf build front to back, and even underneath.

Check out the heavily fortified 8.8 rear diff with Afco coilovers and a bunch of trick suspension parts.

A BTR Equalizer intake sits atop the LS mill.

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Dean hazes the tires at the hit during the SMACKDOWN 4 event in September. The weather was incredible and the track had teeth but the wick was up just a bit much on the Mustang.

Josh Gunby (passenger seat) hangs out in the lanes with Dean at the wheel and Kyle Lanigan, Carter Lanigan (the little guy) and Patrick Stuiver providing support at SMACKDOWN 4.

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ed out and looking extremely neglected. On November 6, 2011, I borrowed a friend’s truck, rented a trailer and headed north to buy back my first car.”

Life had changed a bit, marriage was right around the corner and Dean was still in the early days of his career, but he was determined to bring the car back better than ever.

“I was born into a GM family, my father even worked at the plant assembling the LS engines in St Catharines,

so naturally the Ford in the driveway always looked a bit out of place,” he said. “When I was planning the rebuild of my car, I decided to do something that I hadn’t personally seen in Canada yet, and that was to swap in an LS motor and turbocharge it.”

Systemic racism between brands has calmed and acceptance is more common these days, but back then, as you can imagine, Dean was hit a lot of negative attention. “Whether it was the Ford guys being upset about www.rpmmag.com

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Dean Comazzolo’s Street / Strip 1985 Ford Mustang GT

Chassis Type & Mods:

The car is set up for 235 radial racing as well as NT and is still plated for the road. 25.5 chromoly cage.

Suspension:

Over the winter the entire rear suspension was updated. The car is set up for drag radial racing with a ton of rear extension possible.

Front: AJE K Member with coil overs, tubular control arms and Strange single adjustable struts. Maximum Motorsports castor camber plates and Steeda bumpsteer kit.

Rear: Merillat Racing upper and lower adjustable torque boxes, TRZ radial valved AFCO rear shocks, TRZ anti roll bar, Racecraft rear end brackets, aftermarket Lower and upper DA control arms.

Body & Paint:

Porsche GT Silver. Body at paint was completed approximately 4 years ago by Jay Gallant at Priority Collision & Refinishing. The car was stripped to bare metal and the under carriage has also been blasted and painted.

All stock steel body panels (including the stock hood), full frame rails still intact and factory glass. It even still has the factory dash.

Engine:

Stock 5.3 Gen4 Iron Block LS - approximately 328ci.

Wiseco 3.80 forged pistons, Scat rods, K1 stock stroke forged crank. ARP 2000 head and main studs, Trick Flow 220 cylinder heads with softened chambers, Johnson Link bar lifters, hydraulic roller BTR cam, 3/8th pushrods and BTR High RPM springs, stock rollers with trunion upgrade, Moroso Oil Pan w/ stock trimmed windage tray. Bosch 210lb/hr injectors, PRP electric water pump. The motor turns 8200rpm.

Induction:

BTR Equalizer intake Power Adder: Its turbocharged, but the turbo de-

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pends where I’m racing so I will leave this part a mystery ;) Stainless Hotside, 4” Vibrant aluminum cold side and custom A2W intercooler fabbed by Josh @ Fabmac. 5” exhaust down pipe. c02 boost control

Electronics:

Holley Dominator EFI controls the entire car and tuned by me. Holley 7” Digital Screen. Aeromotive Brushless 5GPM fuel pump. Arc Panel 8000

Transmission & Converter:

ATI ProGlide 1.80 first gear, PTC 9.5” 18-0 convertor, 4” chromoly driveshaft.

Rear Differential:

Ford 8.8, 4.10 gears, 35 spline Strange axles and spool, c-clip eliminators, Trick Flow differential cover. Set up

by Wajdy at WK Automotive. Rear end housing fully braced by Josh Gunby Fabmac Industries.

Misc: ICT motor and mid plate. Motion Raceworks steering column with flaming river shaft. Maximum motorsports manual brake conversion. PRP Kwik Shift Shifter. Rhodes Race Cars Fuel Cell/Intercooler tank Combo with Davies Craig intercooler pump. Strange race brakes and Motion Raceworks Parachute Kit. Fire Bottle Fire System.

Thanks to:

In no particular order I’d like to thank the following for all the help: Josh Gunby @ Fabmac Industries for all the chassis and turbo fabrication. Wajdy Khalil @ WK Automotive for all the constant help and constantly setting up gears. Carl White @ White’s Automotive – We built this car initially together when it was a science fair project and learned a lot along the way. My wife and kids for the constant support for this time consuming hobby. Some of my friend’s said I don’t work on my car enough because I just finished it mid-season. To them I say, ask my wife and kids!

the motor, or people saying that a Borg Warner S475 ‘will never spool’, I knew I had an uphill battle ahead and I pretty much had to figure it out as I went along.”

A few years later, building the car on a tight budget, it finally hit the street, and made twice as much power on the dyno as anyone expected; 679rwhp and 735rwtq. Not bad for a $1500 investment into a motor and turbo.

With 18-inch wheels, big brakes, big stereo, an automatic transmission, whisper quiet full exhaust and no roll cage, it was really a cruiser that just turned out to be fast. “To say it was a sleeper is an understatement, it looked like a 13-second car but ran 9s!”

Fast forward a few years and with a young family and solid career the Mustang got more attention than ever. Comazzolo spent more time racing and by 2019 had gotten into the 235Outlaw class and No Time Shootouts. A hurt head gasket at the end of 2019 would open up the opportunity to completely re-do the car from ground up. Until this point,

Dean had done the majority of the work on the car and most of the learning came from making mistakes along the way, admittedly though, he was never 100% happy with it.

“I tore the car down, sent the chassis to Adam Hewton who added to the cage for a 25.5 cert. I wound up backhalving the car and my friend Josh Gunby at Fabmac Industries worked his magic on fabricating the rear cage, suspension, mini tubs as well as the new turbo set up and motor plates.”

Dean and his team had effectively built an entirely new car in 6 months.

In fact, they finished fabrication on the car at 9:30pm on Thursday July 23rd 2020 and strapped it to the dyno that same night until 2am. “The next

morning I was loaded up and on route for Race 1 of Ian Hill’s Canada Heads Up Series 235Outlaws. Despite having to overcome a slew of new car issues, we managed to get to the finals!” Not bad at all for a fresh car.

Throughout the rest of the summer Dean put a bunch more passes on the car, getting better results with every run. And while we’d love to share ET info on The Loaf, sorry, that is confidential so you will just have to check it out for yourself.

So let this be fair warning to anyone wanting a piece of Dean Comazzolo’s turbo’d LS Mustang, we regret to say that it probably won’t live up to its name. So the joke is on you, as Dean’s ride is anything but a loaf!

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