Gulf Oil inspired Rally car Mustang build

Matthew Vaudrin

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Hey everyone, Matt AKA Rumbuilder here, to share something a little different. This is my 1995 GT I'm turning into a budget rally car. I'm vlogging the whole process. So I hope you enjoy my trials and tribulations, and some sweet sideways action in the dirt.

Let me know what you think, and feel free to interject with advice or criticism.


 
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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Here's the next two videos, I try to do two videos a week, I hope to have the next one up tomorrow.

 

doggiedoc

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I thought for a moment you’d have a Vice Grip Garage hat on!
 
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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Back in June, I pulled the trigger on a huge pile o turd. I had been wanting to go rally racing for a while but none of my cars are suited for it. Either to high, to low, to nice or rare. So here we are. Cars was not as bad as it looked, mechanically speaking its a good car. physically it's a disaster! In my mind that makes it perfect for dirt rally. Plan was to clean it up a little, throw a quick rattle can paint job on it, 2" lift, some all terrain tires, fix the power steering, and add sub frame connectors. Then bomb the crap out of it at the local rally track. other than that, I figured the stock 215hp would be fine for my skill level. This is my first SN95, and It's probably the ugliest car I've ever owned, but I think I'm in love.
enjoy the horror...
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here's a quick "render" of how I planned on painting it.
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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Then there was paint. It's not quite finished here. I hadn't done the pin striping and the gum balls on the doors. I thought about sanding and trying to clean up the surface before painting, but the more I looked at this car the more I found wrong with it. Eventually I said f-it! and wiped the whole car down and got to painting. I used Valspar armor enamel from lowes because you can tint custom colors (unlike Rustolium that I've used in the past). The valspar acts completely different than the rustolium, It doesn't mix well with mineral spirits, and lays thicker. It also doesn't self level like I'm used to. leaving me with a very Maaco like orange peal. (I rolled this paint on not sprayed) But that's not such a bad thing on this car seeing as it kinda hides the roughness. Anyway, two days of cleaning painting, drying, taping, and painting again gave me a look I am 100% in love with. The paint is strong so far, and seeing as it's a valspar paint code if I have any issues I can always get more. I couldn't wait to see pictures of this thing sliding sideways through the dirt kicking rooster tails!
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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Here we go, got the gum balls on and the new cobra headlights in.
Still had to swap the trans and power steering. Also needed to paint the numbers on the doors.

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The new leadlamps really made a big difference! I was very happy. At this point I was torn on lifting it or not. A lot of rallyX drivers where telling me not to.
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Put in a lot of work that next weekend. Got the trans swapped out, steering rack replaced, and finished out the paint work. I tried plastidipping the wheels white, but the duplicolor spray I used didn't work well at all. Other than that, I still needed to give the car a rough alignment. This was now the weekend before my first event and the car was completely untested. At this point I was still well under $2k for the whole project. I can't complain about that.

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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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The first race weekend was amazing, it had it's highs and it's lows. Racing itself is the most fun I've ever had in a car, but the day did have it's issues. The battery shifted and pushed the power steering line into the pulley rubbing a hole in the power steering line on the first run and the rest of the day was spent with little to no power steering. My arms where sore, and I ended up with sand in places I didn't know I had, but I also had the best time of my life! I had a month till the next event, and a lot to do.

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After the race there was one thing I knew for sure, I needed a new seat! I picked this sun faded Corbeau seat for a heck of a good deal $60. I had to order a seat bracket to go with it, but what a huge difference it made.
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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That next month went by quick, and before I knew it I was back at the track. I ran all day, got faster, faster, then found the limit to my driving talent. The guys that put this on set up a different track every month and I love that they do. This time they really found a sweet spot. the track was fast and wild. I even got a little bit of air at one point. The car help up pretty well, the exhaust did get pretty tore up, it was hitting the driveshaft, axle and right rear tire. I also broke a sway bar end link. But the new seat was amazing, and the power steering lasted all day. I aslo realized the mirrors had to go. I can't tell you how many times I lost a good lap because my mirror hit a pylon.

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Here's the results for that day, I did okay-ish
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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The next weekend I gutted the car, and test fitted the new wheels while i was at it. Still a lot of weight to be found and deleted in this car, but it already felt more nimble.

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then it finally got tires! 215/65r16 General Grabber 2's on used OZracing spun aluminum two piece wheels. I'm so happy with the look, and even more happy that it didn't rub on the test drive.
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it's came a long way in a short time.
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that catches us up to last weekend, and man it was a wild weekend, Saturday I went to a local awesome muffler shop and got the exhaust fixed from last months beating. On the way home I Heard a few noises for a second and then out of no where the left rear wheel fell off. I called the wife and she brought me some tools and new lug nuts. surprisingly there was no damage besides a slightly bent bumper. Turns out the front and rear wheels are different, and the ones I put on the rear only fit on the front. Got it all fixed up and raced with out issue Sunday.

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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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I'm actually supersized how many SN95 Mustang rally cars there really are. I'm not even the only one at our races. there where actually going to be three there Sunday, but one broke Saturday testing. I was the fastest mustang there though, and the fastest driver of the three drivers that drove my car. I absolutely love these tires too. My wife got to run the car for the first time as well. She's completely hooked! I also got my friend to come out and run the car. He's now spending all his free time in facebook market place and craigslist looking for his own car. And that's all I have for now. Until next time I'll leave you with this... "life's more fun without pavement."

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evilcw311

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Get rid of your exhaust and just put dumps on it. You’ll have a lot more clearance in the back with all the suspension travel of rally racing. You might want to look into finding an irs from a 03-04 cobra. In rally it would be beneficial with the ups and downs as your popping over terrain. The sra will always limit you in rough courses.


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joe65

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looks fun. I have a couple friends that do that with their audis.
 
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Matthew Vaudrin

Matthew Vaudrin

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Get rid of your exhaust and just put dumps on it. You’ll have a lot more clearance in the back with all the suspension travel of rally racing. You might want to look into finding an irs from a 03-04 cobra. In rally it would be beneficial with the ups and downs as your popping over terrain. The sra will always limit you in rough courses.


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I'd love to run dumps, but you're not allowed to because of the chance of catching grass on fire. I am planning on doing side pipes though.

looks fun. I have a couple friends that do that with their audis.

It's so much fun!
a pro photographer came out on Sunday. These are probably the nicest pictures of a crappy car I've ever seen.

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joe65

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yeah its tempting to build a car just for that.
 

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