Project Red Headed 3v

[Thomas_W]

Basically i bought a project. A Laser Red 99GT. It has been abused and neglected so much of this build will be repairs/restoration so as to be able to drive the car:

Current mod list:

2008 4.6 3v swap
03/04 cobra TB
Lightning MAF
CLT inlet elbow
Steeda charge motion delete plates
MMR coolant crossover delete
MMR inline thermostat housing
160* thermostat
SVE aluminum radiator
Ford racing blue valve covers
Ford racing shorty headers
O/R X pipe
SLP loudmouth catback
aluminum clutch quadrant
spec stage 1 clutch
MSD 2 step launch control
Aluminum driveshaft
4:10 gears
Yukon locker
Summit Upper/Lower rear control arms
Strange 10way shocks/struts
strange rear coilovers
4bolt C/C plates
Eibach pro front springs
Trunk mount Battery relocation
Optima yellow top
03/04 cobra front bumper
4" Cowl hood
17x9 and 17x10.5 Fr500 rims
nitto drag radials
Aem wideband O2 sensor
hid headlight bulbs
diablosport predator

photos:






First stage projects:

1. Replace leaking radiator- the SVE unit looks great, but the mounting is crap. The mount pegs are positioned incorrectly so you have to force the radiator into position which causes the endtank to core joints to fail. I was going to replace it with a Mishimoto unit, but they apparently have the same problem as well. Going off the experience with my 96GT with a single 70mm turbo and stock cooling system, i elected to go with a stock replacement spectra radiator from Summit racing which arrives tomorrow:
2. Front bumper mounting- all of the factory tabs for the fender mounts were cut off by a previous owner. Since im not wanting to drop $200+ on a new bumper when this one is otherwise fine, i'll be using Dzus fasteners to attach the bumper. Parts for this arrive on friday
3. Power steering pump replacement-
4. Seat belt replacement- all four seatbelts dont work. Three have no receivers and the drive side belt doesnt lock. New belts arrive today
5. Code PO0340- this is said to be a cam position sensor, but with 3v motors a failing alternator is said to cause the code as well. Since i'm not sure if the 4 extra cam position tabs on the cam phaser was removed, i need to pull the passenger side valve cover to verify, then figure out what to do from there.
6. Clean up wiring inside the vehicle- the wiring for the cobra fog lights and msd launch control is horrible. Its just dangling across the pedal and shoved between the fuse and fuse blocks. I'll clean this all up and reposition the launch box to inside the vehicle
7. Hood pins- the current hood is probably a cincinatti composites or ho fibertrends (judging by the inner liner that is still there). It obviously ripped off the vehicle at some point so hood pins were put in place and the latch removed. I've got new ford racing pins to put in its place.
8. Dyno tune
9. Interior refurb- replace some broken interior pieces (interior door swith panels, shifter bezel/boot, center console, etc)
10. Clean up under hood wiring, relocate power steering reservoir and coolant overflow bottles


with all that done, i should be able to drive the car. Then Stage 2 will begin. As i begin work, i'll get photos and post then up.

 

[Thomas_W]

Man o man, this car is just layers of WTH were they thinking. Lol

anyways, The dark charcoal seatbelts and receivers arrived today. So first up was removing the seats to make room for cleaning up the interior:



I then found out the driver side seat track had been replaced with a 94-98 seat track. So there is nowhere to mount the seatbelt receiver on those tracks as those year stangs have the receiver mounted to a fitting on the trans tunnel. And the right rear mount was broken anyways, so looks like i'll be scouring for a drivers seat track.

The backseat and interior panels were also removed. I need to get the hardware to attach all this stuff as well.




I then started vacuuming everything off the carpet and pulled up the carpet to get under it. This weekend i'm going to take the carpet out and scrub the floor pans. There are some rubber gromments missing from the floor pans and they are just ridiculously dirty.

I also figured out at this point that someone decided it was a smart idea to try and jack up the car by the floor pans, on both the driver and passenger side:



Thats the passenger side, i forgot to get a photo of the drivers, but it was similar.

Here it is after massaging the area with a BFH and a piece of scrap 2x4 lumber. It almost looks like it was never damaged to begin with, but you can see how dirty the floor pans are.



When i was doing the driver side, i noticed the driver floorpan between the seat and pedals was bowed up. The front subframe rail is pretty beat up. So it looks like i'll be doing either full length subframe connectors or some custom Full length through the floor subframe connectors so I can inset a piece if box steel inside the forward frame rails so i can mostly pound then back to shape and restore the strength as well.

I also investigated why the trunk lid doesnt seal on the drive side. I figured out the trunk reinforcement liner is cracked and there is some rust repair needed done on the trunk opening sheetmetal.


I've really got my work cut out for me on this car. Its almost tempting to just find a V6 with a blown motor/trans with a good body and interior and just swap everything over. Way more time consuming, but i would probably end up with a nicer car and cheaper insurance lol

 

[evilcw311]

Sounds like a good bit of work either way ya go.

Either which way should be sweet once it's done!!!


This message courtesy of crapatalk!

 

[Thomas_W]

Yea, definitely a bunch of work. Im working on getting a piece of body panel to fix the rusted spot around the trunk. I also priced the materials for some full length through the floor subframe connectors, at $140, that is one mod that will get done sooner than later. Once i get the car driving, i'll take it up to the hangar at work so i can put it on jack stands, then install upper/lower battle boxes, subframe connectors and the lower torque box reinforcement panel. I'll fix up the rusted spot as well.

The tubular Front suspension will have to hold off a bit.

 

[Ineedav8]

Palm trees!? You have to live in Florida lol car looks good tho definitely has to be a fun project

 

[Thomas_W]

Palm trees!? You have to live in Florida lol car looks good tho definitely has to be a fun project

Lol. Yup, wanna buy them!? I hate those trees lol

 

[Ineedav8]

No im ok the worst is pine trees.... there all over in Loxahatchee lol

 

[Burninriverdiver]

That's a kickass start to a project, I haven't seen too many 3v swapped sn95s. Looking forward to see where this thing goes, should be a fun car!

 

[evilcw311]

I'll take the palm trees!!!!! Lol

But by that I mean I'd rather live n Florida and have my own palm trees!!!!!


This message courtesy of crapatalk!

 

[Thomas_W]

No im ok the worst is pine trees.... there all over in Loxahatchee lol

Haha.

 

[Thomas_W]

That's a kickass start to a project, I haven't seen too many 3v swapped sn95s. Looking forward to see where this thing goes, should be a fun car!

Yea the 3v swap is really the main reason i bought the car.

 

[Thomas_W]

I'll take the palm trees!!!!! Lol

But by that I mean I'd rather live n Florida and have my own palm trees!!!!!


This message courtesy of crapatalk!

Lol. Florida is great, until may through September, then its hot as hell

 

[Thomas_W]

Parts started arriving yesterday, so today i started some stuff.

first up, getting the quick release fasteners used to mount the front bumper. I'm just going to post photos, so if anyone has specifics, feel free to ask:






























so thats where I am with the bumper. Ive got one of the fender dzus' on each side done I plan to run two are each fender, 2 in the normal push pin area under the hood, 1 on each inner fender well and possibly two on the core support. 10 of these should hold the bumper pretty well.

 

[RedTwilight]

Nice work so far! Love that it has a 3v swap. Not too many of those around.
I see you also fly RC. Do you attend Top Gun any?

 

[Thomas_W]

Nice work so far! Love that it has a 3v swap. Not too many of those around.
I see you also fly RC. Do you attend Top Gun any?

Not yet... I'm working on a 1/4 Fock Wulfe TA-152H (own design, all composite) that i hope will be ready for TG2017

 

[RedTwilight]

Not yet... I'm working on a 1/4 Fock Wulfe TA-152H (own design, all composite) that i hope will be ready for TG2017

That sounds sweet. I've been working on and off on a few crop dusters. I plan to do them scaled out but not quite TG quality.

 

[Thomas_W]

Nice man! Honestly, i was at Topgun last year and was not impressed with the quality of what i saw. Less than 6 models were what i would call impressive.

 

[Thomas_W]

I finished up the bumper install today. Mostly. Im still debating on if i want to dzus fasten the inner fenders to the front bumper and the lower bumper to the core support.

Some more pictures:
















I also installed the new stock replacement radiator, put a new rubber pad on the clutch and brake pedals and painted the 1/4 window interior pieces to match the rest of the interior.

Once the driver side seat track arrives and i replace the power steering pump, i should be able to finally drive this beast.

 

[Thomas_W]

I installed the ford racing hood pins... Mostly. Im leaving the scuff plates and reinforcment plates till later. You can see the horrible repair job on the hood from the previous owner. Im still unsure on if i am going to repair this hood properly or just replace it.



I also organized the engine wiring loom a bit. I despise convoluted tubing, so around the time the twin turbo kit goes in, I'll be pulling the harness and reorganizing it with high temp expanded wire sleeve:

 

[Thomas_W]

Ive been doing lots of little piddly stuff that really isnt even noticeable in photos, but progress has been made. I have the interior rehab 90% complete at this point. Here is everything ive bought/installed:

Cleaned!
shifter bezel and boot
hardware, lots of hardware
All seatbelts and receivers
repainted grey upper quarter interior panels to match the rest of the interior
installed charcoal drivers interior door handle (still looking for a passenger side)
forward seatbelt bolt covers
driver side manual seat track
passenger side mirror rewired (someone decided to cut the wires instead of disconnecting the connector 3" away.. LOL)
organized the rats nest of aftermarket radio wiring
trans tunnel shifter gasket
interior door handle pulls
trunk carpet
clutch and brake pedal covers

stuff still to replace:
steering wheel/airbag
headliner
front seats
passenger side AC vent
passenger side interior door handle


moving away from the interior...

I purchased new 03/04 cobra throttle and cruise control cables (stock GT cables are to short for the 3v swap)
stock power steering reservoir bracket (doesnt fit.. Ugh)
replumbed some of the vacuum lines
relocated and routed the 2step wiring



I have also been researching the wiring on the battery relocation. Current it uses a OO gauge positive cable running through the cabin to under the trunk, which im not a huge fan of, but Since i plan to take this thing to a track fairly often when its done, i need to wire it properly with the shutoff switch. Anyone have any good wiring diagrams?

I have also planned to do a wire tuck, which will be next on the list of things to acccomplish. Unfortunately, it'!l be a few weeks nc i have to go out of town in a week for Recurrency training.

Im also going to get rid of all the rubber and steel hardlines on the power steering and hydroboost setup. I'll replace all of that wire steel braided flex line and relocate the reservoir to the driver side inner fender. All of this is to prep the car for the twin turbo install, which will hopefully end up happening at the end of the year.

I'll get some pictures of stuff tomorrow.