nicely done mustang !
if i may ask, on the jack locator on the rear end housing, what is the cotter pin's purpose, and the square item [retained by the cotter pin perhaps ?] in the center of the locator used for ?
as to side exhaust, when they came out, my brother and i did that on everything from darts to 4dr imperials, as well as everything in between, because it was cheaper to do than buying tail pipes.

Looks like a drain plug.

Yup, likely a combination drain plug & jacking point.
Plug pinned to prevent unwanted loosening.

You have a very nice car, and this your second post, so I will be very gentle, but I disagree.

In road racing, an analog tracking device for high speed off track excursions?

Yes, that’s it.

Thanks, it’s been a 28 year journey with this car, and loads of fun.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts as to why you disagree. Below is a photo of a hot pit refueling of the Sunoco Camaro that drove the point home -for me anyway. Several early Ferraris with rear exit exhausts had a protective horizontal flange of sheet metal over the pipes exit to prevent refueling spills from hitting the exhaust tips directly.

Since you asked, our biggest difference here centers around your use of "primarily". My first counterpoint is if safety indeed was a motivation, the lack of any fire suit, goggles, gloves, no socks, and the amount of gas regularly spilled in pit stops, safety seemed to be of minor concern in the big picture IMO, and there are a number of other advantages side exhaust provide that would go more toward winning races, which again IMO was the "primary" concern. I suspect that pavement wetness pictured might be from spilled fuel as is the feeble attempt at the use of safety dri? Although there is a crew barely shown with a water? hose aimed at the refueler just in case. Speaking of old pictures, my favorite related fueling pic is at Sebring with a Ferrari team using a very large galvanized wide open top funnel to dump fuel in in the trunk area for a refueling pit stop

BTW, is that Roger Penske at the RF kneeling?

Yup, that's Roger - he typically released his cars in that era.
That fueling hose may be attached to the huge gravity-fed rig they ran that year, which IIRC, SCCA eventually banned.
Filled the car VERY quickly...but could make a mess...

It looks like a typical semi gas tanker hose set-up.
Typical Roger.

never gave that a thought ! thanks for pointing that out guys ! you learned an old guy something, now if i can just put it somewhere i can remember it.......

I’ve always admired Roger Penske and his outside of the box thinking. His team chilled the fuel in that big gravity rig you described using dry ice to make it more dense, and blew it through that ginormous hose into the cell in a matter of seconds. I believe they were filling a 24 gallon cell in just a few seconds. In addition to speed of refueling, they were able to pack a few percent more fuel into the cell when compared to others fueling up at ambient summer temps. I read Mark Donohue’s book “Unfair Advantage” many years ago. And I recall he touched on this refueling topic in it. It’s a great read.

Yes, that plug and Jack point combo allows you to drain all the oil out of a 9” rear without removing the pumpkin, while also giving some protection for that low hanging plug And in road racing, I’m changing it every couple of events. I believe there a lot of opportunity for “cross pollinating” of ideas between road race and my newfound interest in big Mopar stuff and vice versa.

I personally have a tough time accepting the loss of 1" of sacred hard earned ground clearance with something likely rather adept at catching on something all for the convenience of a jack point.

Dude, if the center of the pumpkin can hit the ground, you have way bigger problems !

Valid concern on a rock crawler or off-road rig, non-issue on a pavement car.

So we agree, no need for the drain plug protector aspect?
BTW, have you ever left the track at say 100mph only partially under control in a lowered car with some DF, for any number of reasons?

I've done it a few times on a rr motorcycle on the race track at over 120mph and once in the rain at over 100mph if that counts

I know it was factory and one of the things that makes these cars unique. I personally have never been a fan of the look. Just looks cheap to me and outcof place.

Um, no, JCC, we don't agree, and you misinterpreted my statement.
And you don't want to compare/measure racing experience with me...I'll just leave it at that.

I think this is all getting way to technical.

the time frame of the design was the late 1960s with the production schedule in 1970.
The side exhaust exit really only needed to look cool and be different, to become reality. If the car company could attach a racing excuse to the cool new thing, it sold better.