Hello all, I've been on and off the forums here for a year or two now. Mostly lurking. I tend to have bad experiences at forums (not this one in particular, just in general) so I've kind of kept my distance.
I've got a 95 GT that I purchased specifically with the intention of racing it at HPDEs and Auto-X. I've done a lot of work to it over the last 2 years (at least it feels like a lot work) and I've been getting pumped up reading ReplicaR's build thread, so I figured what the hey.
June 2011
What got me started was an STI I bought in 2011. I had always wanted to do a HPDE event, and now that I had the car, it was time. I did a weekend event at Sebring International Raceway at the end of June 2011, and absolutely loved it. However, the car was brand new, so there were many years until it would be a track car. I needed something now that was affordable, had great aftermarket support, could be made to handle decently, and could be driven on the street (I didn't want to get involved in trailering). Obvious choice: Mustang. I decided I wanted a 302, however the Foxes were out for me because of the rear brakes/spindles stuff I didn't want to deal with. That left a 94 or 95 GT. As luck (fate?) would have it, I was able to locate a 95 Mustang for the Right Price not 1 week after the event at Sebring. The car was located in...Sebring. No, really. The girlfriend and I drove back down, took a look at the car, drove it, and bought it from the nice people. On July 4th. This guy right here:
Some basic specs on the car (most, if not all, will probably be familiar to you guys):
A little about the car: it drove okay, was SUPER loud, literally had a different brand tire on each wheel, there were only two bolts holding down the driver's seat so it rocked back and forth quite a bit, stalled after getting gas, has all kinds of paint damage and dings (but looks great from 10 feet away), had a broken fuel gauge and coolant temp gauge, a suspect oil pressure gauge, broken odometer (unknown miles, broke around 101,XXX), the door locks and windows sometimes worked, the shifter didn't have any spring-return anymore, the 3rd brake light didn't work, looks like the car was towed/pulled using the lower radiator bracket, parking brake didn't work, front bumper was attached via two plastic clips and a lot of hope, only the left rear speaker worked, rear tail lights were swapped to 96+ style for some reason, ignition key and door keys did not match, the rad fan was wired to turn on when the car turned on and run constantly, the wheels (which were 17x8 Bullitts) were all rashed up, and the A/C, which was supposed to work, didn't. Oh yah. Allllll mine. Actually, it was okay. For the price, I'm happy with what I ended up with. I knew what I was getting in to (at least I thought I did). The girlfriend was like "...uh, okay, if this is really what you want..." - it was. So I drove it back to Orlando white-knuckled, with her following me, waiting for it to strand me.
It didn't. We made it back!
I've got a 95 GT that I purchased specifically with the intention of racing it at HPDEs and Auto-X. I've done a lot of work to it over the last 2 years (at least it feels like a lot work) and I've been getting pumped up reading ReplicaR's build thread, so I figured what the hey.
June 2011
What got me started was an STI I bought in 2011. I had always wanted to do a HPDE event, and now that I had the car, it was time. I did a weekend event at Sebring International Raceway at the end of June 2011, and absolutely loved it. However, the car was brand new, so there were many years until it would be a track car. I needed something now that was affordable, had great aftermarket support, could be made to handle decently, and could be driven on the street (I didn't want to get involved in trailering). Obvious choice: Mustang. I decided I wanted a 302, however the Foxes were out for me because of the rear brakes/spindles stuff I didn't want to deal with. That left a 94 or 95 GT. As luck (fate?) would have it, I was able to locate a 95 Mustang for the Right Price not 1 week after the event at Sebring. The car was located in...Sebring. No, really. The girlfriend and I drove back down, took a look at the car, drove it, and bought it from the nice people. On July 4th. This guy right here:
Some basic specs on the car (most, if not all, will probably be familiar to you guys):
Car: | 1995 Ford Mustang GT |
Color: | Opal Frost |
Miles: | Unknown (odo stopped at 101K) |
Weight: | ~3450 lbs (estimated) |
Length: | 181.5 in |
Height: | 53.19 in |
Width: | 71.69 in |
Wheelbase: | 101.3 in |
Drag Coeff. | 0.36 |
Turning Radius: | 458.39 in |
Front Track: | 60.12 in (assumed on stock 7.5" wheels) |
Rear Track: | 58.7 in (assumed on stock 7.5" wheels) |
Fuel Tank: | 15.4 gal |
Engine: | Stock 302 ci (supposedly overbored and cammed according to previous owner, but I have my doubts) |
Compression: | 9.0:1 |
Stock HP: | 215 hp @ 4200 rpm, flywheel |
Stock TQ: | 285 ft-lb @ 3400 rpm, flywheel |
Stock 0-60: | 6.6 sec |
Stock 1/4: | 14.9 sec |
Rear Axle: | 8.8" w/ Trac-Lok, 3.08 |
A little about the car: it drove okay, was SUPER loud, literally had a different brand tire on each wheel, there were only two bolts holding down the driver's seat so it rocked back and forth quite a bit, stalled after getting gas, has all kinds of paint damage and dings (but looks great from 10 feet away), had a broken fuel gauge and coolant temp gauge, a suspect oil pressure gauge, broken odometer (unknown miles, broke around 101,XXX), the door locks and windows sometimes worked, the shifter didn't have any spring-return anymore, the 3rd brake light didn't work, looks like the car was towed/pulled using the lower radiator bracket, parking brake didn't work, front bumper was attached via two plastic clips and a lot of hope, only the left rear speaker worked, rear tail lights were swapped to 96+ style for some reason, ignition key and door keys did not match, the rad fan was wired to turn on when the car turned on and run constantly, the wheels (which were 17x8 Bullitts) were all rashed up, and the A/C, which was supposed to work, didn't. Oh yah. Allllll mine. Actually, it was okay. For the price, I'm happy with what I ended up with. I knew what I was getting in to (at least I thought I did). The girlfriend was like "...uh, okay, if this is really what you want..." - it was. So I drove it back to Orlando white-knuckled, with her following me, waiting for it to strand me.
It didn't. We made it back!