4eyedconekiller
09-17-2013, 02:55 PM
Hey all,
I've been lurking around on and off, watching some of the awesome builds, wishing I could do the same at some point!
I'm a later-in-life nursing student, but a lifetime gearhead. I grew up handing wrenches to my old man, and was blessed to spend some time working on a few with him over the years. I've never done any kind of crazy build, but have learned a lot from what I have messed with over the years. *Disclaimer* if you don't mind a read, this is gonna be a little long, lol. If you aren't much of a reader, check out the Pictures at the end of the post.
I've got a long term project that I've been tinkering with for the last several years, and it looks like I'll be a while longer. It really isn't "Pro-Touring" by some standards, but I'm gonna try and make a newer representation of it. Here we go!
I have an '86 Mustang GT that I bought basically stock 7-8 years ago. I planned to use it as my daily and weekend toy, but wound up with a good daily and started buying parts. Little did I know how much of a snowball I was about to get rolling, lol. Since then, I've been able to do my first brake upgrade, my first paint job, basic suspension setup, and and learn the joys of owning an antique - squeaks, rust and all. It has some serious sentimental value, as it was my first car to really wrench on, and my now late Dad and I spent many hours messing with it over the years. I really put it together to be a great handling street car, that I could take to the strip for some fun. It's been a lot of fun, and I have huge plans, but I'll get to that in a minute - here's the scoop on it so far:
Mod List:
STOCK engine - never even had the valve covers off!
Bassanni EL Ceramic Coated Headers
Pypes X Pipe
Magnaflow catback (currently dumped)
Harris Speed Works Nitrous Kit (currently pilled ~150 shot)
Suspension/Brakes:
MM CC Plates
Koni SA struts and shocks
H&R Race Springs (Front), with Steeda 350# Torque Arm Springs in the rear
Steeda 5-link-2
Carriage House Engineering LCA's
MM XL Subframe Connectors
'03 Cobra front brakes, '96 GT rears, stainless soft lines on calipers and MC
Drivetrain:
Stock T5, with RAM HDX Clutch
Detroit Trutrac
Moser Axles
ARP Wheel studs
FRPP 3.73's
FRPP Driveshaft
MGW Shifter with orange handle, and custom cue ball knob
Electronics:
HID's both lows (5000K) and fogs (3000K)
LED taillight conversion from CJ Pony Parts
Had a stereo system, but was all recently sold (bills suck!)
OEM Ford 10th Anniversary Cobra wheels, wrapped in 245's (F) and 275's (R)
The car handles a million times better than it did stock, and looks amazing for the hell it's been through over the years. I did a good bit of auto cross with it, and realized with the setup it wasn't much of a drag car, so the nitrous kit is just to keep it from feeling so slow, lol. My current locale has TERRIBLE roads, so the heavy rate springs are rough on the kidneys, and everything else. With this being my "first" for all this stuff, there's a lot that I learned, but see things I could've done differently. The car currently has some rust issues in the rear seat pans and some bubbling in the paint, so it's down until I can find someone I trust to weld in some new panels. I'm pretty confident doing anything but tranny rebuilds, but I can't weld for crap. My Dad was a professional, but by the time I had the time and place to learn, he had a pacemaker, so I tried to keep him from welding any more than he had to. Being in nursing school poses challenges both in time and finances, so the car is currently riding an awesome mismatched set of jackstands, and I piddle along when I can to keep me from getting too worried about it, lol.
I have the engine and headers sold, and have been working on an explorer setup to go in the car next. On the eventual side of things, I plan to go at the least all MM tubular, running forward offset control arms, and likely going with the Maier or Tiger Racing fenders and quarter panels to allow me to run some real tire sizes. I'm going to try and progress up from my staggered setup now to 275's at all corners, to eventually being able to run a 315 or so. I don't know yet if I want to run an air suspension, or if I'm going to go the coilover route, but I'm going to try and put something together that'll be more road-worthy than the current situation. I eventually plan to either go the DOHC 4.6 or Coyote route, running through a T56, and would like to eventually go to hydroboost brakes and newer creature comforts liek cruise control, and redo the stereo with new stuff, and soing some major interior work to make the car a solid cruiser, whether I want to drive to the store, or across country.
After I finish with the fox, I'd like to really do something really nuts, and build a PT GTX, with all late model SRT power and drivetrain, something like the "Hammer" that I saw a few years back. If you're gonna dream, you might as well dream big, right?
PICS!
82409
82410
82411
82412
82413
Before the teardown (dirty):
82414
How she currently sits:
82415
Anyway, enough from me - lookin forward to learning from and meeting some of you guys!
-Michael
I've been lurking around on and off, watching some of the awesome builds, wishing I could do the same at some point!
I'm a later-in-life nursing student, but a lifetime gearhead. I grew up handing wrenches to my old man, and was blessed to spend some time working on a few with him over the years. I've never done any kind of crazy build, but have learned a lot from what I have messed with over the years. *Disclaimer* if you don't mind a read, this is gonna be a little long, lol. If you aren't much of a reader, check out the Pictures at the end of the post.
I've got a long term project that I've been tinkering with for the last several years, and it looks like I'll be a while longer. It really isn't "Pro-Touring" by some standards, but I'm gonna try and make a newer representation of it. Here we go!
I have an '86 Mustang GT that I bought basically stock 7-8 years ago. I planned to use it as my daily and weekend toy, but wound up with a good daily and started buying parts. Little did I know how much of a snowball I was about to get rolling, lol. Since then, I've been able to do my first brake upgrade, my first paint job, basic suspension setup, and and learn the joys of owning an antique - squeaks, rust and all. It has some serious sentimental value, as it was my first car to really wrench on, and my now late Dad and I spent many hours messing with it over the years. I really put it together to be a great handling street car, that I could take to the strip for some fun. It's been a lot of fun, and I have huge plans, but I'll get to that in a minute - here's the scoop on it so far:
Mod List:
STOCK engine - never even had the valve covers off!
Bassanni EL Ceramic Coated Headers
Pypes X Pipe
Magnaflow catback (currently dumped)
Harris Speed Works Nitrous Kit (currently pilled ~150 shot)
Suspension/Brakes:
MM CC Plates
Koni SA struts and shocks
H&R Race Springs (Front), with Steeda 350# Torque Arm Springs in the rear
Steeda 5-link-2
Carriage House Engineering LCA's
MM XL Subframe Connectors
'03 Cobra front brakes, '96 GT rears, stainless soft lines on calipers and MC
Drivetrain:
Stock T5, with RAM HDX Clutch
Detroit Trutrac
Moser Axles
ARP Wheel studs
FRPP 3.73's
FRPP Driveshaft
MGW Shifter with orange handle, and custom cue ball knob
Electronics:
HID's both lows (5000K) and fogs (3000K)
LED taillight conversion from CJ Pony Parts
Had a stereo system, but was all recently sold (bills suck!)
OEM Ford 10th Anniversary Cobra wheels, wrapped in 245's (F) and 275's (R)
The car handles a million times better than it did stock, and looks amazing for the hell it's been through over the years. I did a good bit of auto cross with it, and realized with the setup it wasn't much of a drag car, so the nitrous kit is just to keep it from feeling so slow, lol. My current locale has TERRIBLE roads, so the heavy rate springs are rough on the kidneys, and everything else. With this being my "first" for all this stuff, there's a lot that I learned, but see things I could've done differently. The car currently has some rust issues in the rear seat pans and some bubbling in the paint, so it's down until I can find someone I trust to weld in some new panels. I'm pretty confident doing anything but tranny rebuilds, but I can't weld for crap. My Dad was a professional, but by the time I had the time and place to learn, he had a pacemaker, so I tried to keep him from welding any more than he had to. Being in nursing school poses challenges both in time and finances, so the car is currently riding an awesome mismatched set of jackstands, and I piddle along when I can to keep me from getting too worried about it, lol.
I have the engine and headers sold, and have been working on an explorer setup to go in the car next. On the eventual side of things, I plan to go at the least all MM tubular, running forward offset control arms, and likely going with the Maier or Tiger Racing fenders and quarter panels to allow me to run some real tire sizes. I'm going to try and progress up from my staggered setup now to 275's at all corners, to eventually being able to run a 315 or so. I don't know yet if I want to run an air suspension, or if I'm going to go the coilover route, but I'm going to try and put something together that'll be more road-worthy than the current situation. I eventually plan to either go the DOHC 4.6 or Coyote route, running through a T56, and would like to eventually go to hydroboost brakes and newer creature comforts liek cruise control, and redo the stereo with new stuff, and soing some major interior work to make the car a solid cruiser, whether I want to drive to the store, or across country.
After I finish with the fox, I'd like to really do something really nuts, and build a PT GTX, with all late model SRT power and drivetrain, something like the "Hammer" that I saw a few years back. If you're gonna dream, you might as well dream big, right?
PICS!
82409
82410
82411
82412
82413
Before the teardown (dirty):
82414
How she currently sits:
82415
Anyway, enough from me - lookin forward to learning from and meeting some of you guys!
-Michael