gofastbobby
New Member
Hey all lets talk about my mustang, it's a '95 GT, was automatic, now 5spd. The car is well optioned from the factory, ac, cruise, power windows, power locks, foglights, mach460 sound, leather seats etc. But many many miles and poor maintenance have faded or broken anything on this car that once made it nice.
Believe me, this thing is ugly as sin. I picked it up from a friend last year as it turned out to be too much of a project for his family. Honestly, some days when I look at the car, I agree with him. The interior is bad, all the leather seats are torn and need to be replaced. As far as I can tell the car has been hit on all sides. both sides of the car have been repainted at some point. The passenger door was replaced, why I don't know, with a manual window door/lock and then very poorly painted. There are dents on both of the quarter panels, scratches and peeling paint on both bumpers, chips and scratches on the hood and to top it all off the original paint that does remain is very faded.
So. Those of you with sharp eyes will notice this car has the wrong wheels on it. They are '05-later gt wheels, three of them silver in color, one gunmetal. The wheels have the wrong offset, the wrong tires and even one oddball mismatched tire. With this package the car is slower, an inch narrower, and sits an inch higher than stock.
If you are getting the impression by now that some previous owner mistakenly thought he was a mechanic, you are not alone. Let's talk "custom" sidepipe exhaust. Picture dude cutting off the end of the hpipe, clamping on some 2.5" exhaust tube with a 90 degree bend and out the side of the car right before the rear tire. All that custom exhaust work has been hung up with your trusty coat hanger and mechanics wire. Oddly, it sounds pretty good but definitely has to go.
Ok. From here I am just going to say it's been a struggle to get it fixed up and back to working order, as of today the car runs well and drives like a 155,000 mile mustang should. The car really is a completely different ride now, and I am happy with it. However, it is still a heavy and slow automatic transmission SN95.
I want the car to be a driver's car. I want to hop in the partially stripped interior and drive away feeling a balanced car with tuned suspension, appropriate power and a good raw feeling of the road.
It'll never be the prom queen at a car show for two reasons, it would take more effort and money than I possess, and because I don't enjoy a long meaningful embrace with other men.
I will autocross the car, and I will drive it around my hometown of Kalamazoo like a teenager with something to prove. It may occasionally go to the drag strip with me since I am right down the road from the very worthy US131 Motorsports Park. Even though I am close to a few road courses, I doubt it'll see much time on a track.
Ideally I would've liked to start with a cleaner no options GTS car. But I have this one now, so I am going to do my best with it.
I have broken down my future mods into three timeline based categories:
Short term: Lose weight, fix problems. Performance upgrades only as maintenance needs arise.
Not so short term: Add necessary mods to help the car turn, stop and perform better. Also in this time frame I'll add some budget minded suspension mods like subframe connectors, rear control arms, caster/camber plates and front control arm bushings.
Long term: Add power, swap to manual transmission, give the car the attitude it deserves.
So without making a long mustang story longer, I give you Ole Girl.
Current mods:
3.73 gears. Installed last weekend. A well used and noisy set, but hopefully will last a solid year or so.
2 row all aluminum radiator, via ebay, for improved cooling. Plus the old one leaked.
"custom" side pipe exhaust (not by choice)
AC and Smog pump delete.
Very next mods:
Proper wheels/tires from a 99gt
Strip the excess weight from the trunk
Rear seat delete
So, what do you think? Am I headed in the right direction?
Believe me, this thing is ugly as sin. I picked it up from a friend last year as it turned out to be too much of a project for his family. Honestly, some days when I look at the car, I agree with him. The interior is bad, all the leather seats are torn and need to be replaced. As far as I can tell the car has been hit on all sides. both sides of the car have been repainted at some point. The passenger door was replaced, why I don't know, with a manual window door/lock and then very poorly painted. There are dents on both of the quarter panels, scratches and peeling paint on both bumpers, chips and scratches on the hood and to top it all off the original paint that does remain is very faded.
So. Those of you with sharp eyes will notice this car has the wrong wheels on it. They are '05-later gt wheels, three of them silver in color, one gunmetal. The wheels have the wrong offset, the wrong tires and even one oddball mismatched tire. With this package the car is slower, an inch narrower, and sits an inch higher than stock.
If you are getting the impression by now that some previous owner mistakenly thought he was a mechanic, you are not alone. Let's talk "custom" sidepipe exhaust. Picture dude cutting off the end of the hpipe, clamping on some 2.5" exhaust tube with a 90 degree bend and out the side of the car right before the rear tire. All that custom exhaust work has been hung up with your trusty coat hanger and mechanics wire. Oddly, it sounds pretty good but definitely has to go.
Ok. From here I am just going to say it's been a struggle to get it fixed up and back to working order, as of today the car runs well and drives like a 155,000 mile mustang should. The car really is a completely different ride now, and I am happy with it. However, it is still a heavy and slow automatic transmission SN95.
I want the car to be a driver's car. I want to hop in the partially stripped interior and drive away feeling a balanced car with tuned suspension, appropriate power and a good raw feeling of the road.
It'll never be the prom queen at a car show for two reasons, it would take more effort and money than I possess, and because I don't enjoy a long meaningful embrace with other men.
I will autocross the car, and I will drive it around my hometown of Kalamazoo like a teenager with something to prove. It may occasionally go to the drag strip with me since I am right down the road from the very worthy US131 Motorsports Park. Even though I am close to a few road courses, I doubt it'll see much time on a track.
Ideally I would've liked to start with a cleaner no options GTS car. But I have this one now, so I am going to do my best with it.
I have broken down my future mods into three timeline based categories:
Short term: Lose weight, fix problems. Performance upgrades only as maintenance needs arise.
Not so short term: Add necessary mods to help the car turn, stop and perform better. Also in this time frame I'll add some budget minded suspension mods like subframe connectors, rear control arms, caster/camber plates and front control arm bushings.
Long term: Add power, swap to manual transmission, give the car the attitude it deserves.
So without making a long mustang story longer, I give you Ole Girl.
Current mods:
3.73 gears. Installed last weekend. A well used and noisy set, but hopefully will last a solid year or so.
2 row all aluminum radiator, via ebay, for improved cooling. Plus the old one leaked.
"custom" side pipe exhaust (not by choice)
AC and Smog pump delete.
Very next mods:
Proper wheels/tires from a 99gt
Strip the excess weight from the trunk
Rear seat delete
So, what do you think? Am I headed in the right direction?