Saving a GT500

MIKE93SVT

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hey gents,

I posted up about wanting to get back into a SN95 and someone asked for me to share my current project on here. I'll copy over all the posts I've made so far and keep it current from there.

Enjoy:



Short version: someone wrecked this 2010 GT500 a few years and it went to auction. The new owner slapped an ebay front clip on it, spray painted the whole car flat black. It changed hands and that owner wrapped it in vinyl and daily drove it until I picked it up earlier this year. I knew exactly what I was getting into and am now making good progress on resurrecting the car.

the drivetrain and interior are mint on the car. it has 33k miles and will be great when it's done. I'm going to get it painted crystal white because it's brighter than the original performance white and I miss my sn95.

How I bought it:
stock pulley
JLT 127mm CAI
BAMA tune (will be VMP now)
Borla S-type mufflers
Koni struts and shocks
Eibach springs

Parts waiting to install:
BPS Bullet cams
all OEM front clip
2.5 pulley and 90mm idler
off road H pipe
AFCO heat exchanger
MGW shifter
performance pack wheels (19/20)
the new NITTO 555 G2 tires
JLT oil separator
BMR rear suspension
other common small upgrades for these cars

I'm also going to do a wire tuck and shave the engine bay.


Here she is after a thorough cleaning and quick detail. it was a good 25 footer. but the panel gap was awful, you could see the waves in the bare fiberglass panels (no prep done), wheels curb rashed, and it was just nasty dirty in and out.










here's the stock front panels. it wasn't a terrible wreck. but the hood did bow a tiny bit and rolled the corner of it and the fender. the radiator support got pushed over an inch. you can see how the radiator mounts are slightly angled different. all this is being taken care of




a small project was a quick vinyl wrap on the center console. had some scratches on it, so a 3m brushed aluminum vinyl made it look great again.





next step was to get rid of the front clip and take off the vinyl wrap. there I found the many coats of rattle can flat black. they painted the door jambs, trunk, engine bay and all. unfortunately they scuffed up the original paint with 80 grit of something very coarse. those are the scratch marks you see where I removed the spray paint. it took over fifty 180 grit sanding discs to remove 90 percent of the spray paint. I'm still working on that as the car isn't ready to be striped down all the way yet.









and most recently was grafting the old gt500 vent into the new hood. I live in Hawaii for the next 2 1/2 years and wasn't will to pay $1,000+ in shipping fees for a used hood. so it was time to make my own with a 13/14 v6 hood. here's the full write up on that. wasn't hard at all actually. just took some time and patience

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128967





 
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MIKE93SVT

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picked up a set of wheels from a buddy. 2011 performance pack 19/20's. going to pick them up from getting the 555 G2 tires on lunch today



and this morning I put together the new front bumper assembly. the car is at the frame shop right now getting squared up, new radiator support and inner fender apron. It was supposed to be done yesterday, but it's not. hoping to get it back before the weekend and slap it together for a big meet.








plenty more to come on this one.
 
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MIKE93SVT

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Here's my last car and motivation. Started with a bone stock 95 GT. The chassis build went a little far and I let it go to start our family. Other than the cage and no a/c, the Shelby will end up similar





Ohhh, you posted those on my thread too. Badass for sure man. Really looking forward to how this car comes out.

thanks buddy, yours too. I'm jealous of your car.


car is still at the chassis shop so I played with the radiator cover. cut out the prop rod clips and plastic welded in a smooth piece using a soldering iron. will paint it later on

how to: http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129123

Mike







It's not much, but has me very excited. Work getting done on the frame rack. It's straightened and getting some new metal now.

Mike




Went down to check out the car's progress and couldn't be happier. It's straight as an arrow and everything looks great. I'll have it back by the weekend.

Mike



Got the car back yesterday and it's perfect. Has a new radiator support and inner apron on the drivers side. All the panels line up in the old paint marks and the panel gap is good without even trying. Just slapped everything on today along with the new wheels and rubber. Put together the front bumper setup and hit the local cruise in spot.

Progress will slow for a month. Have family coming down and we'll use the car. Paint in September and installing all the parts I've been collecting!

Mike





 
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MIKE93SVT

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No big updates. Enjoying the car with family in town. Tear down begins in September. Cams showed up and the shelf of parts is looking good

Mike










Family left town. Still have some other projects before I complete before diving into this. But I got the blower and stuff off and it should be sold tonight. Played with the fuse box and computer to clean that area up. Going to keep it accessible instead of in the fender. The harness on the valve cover will move and the battery is going in the trunk. So those cables will disappear as well

Mike







Was very fortunate that a local buddy had just gotten an Eaton ported by Jokerz and ended up buying a whipple. He held on to it while I found a buyer for my stock blower, TB, intake and injectors. It also came with a 2.6 pulley (I already have one). Once I sell the pulley it'll be an even swap price wise!!!

I'm going to port match the opening and clean up the inside of the VMP elbow I have. Adding a 10% lower with the 2.6 and port should make for a healthy combo

Mike







Hard to capture in the pics. But the VMP elbow is quite larger. The short radius is much improved. Along with the overall inner diameter. Notice my high tech measurement comparison:



Stock



VMP



Had a productive afternoon. Finished stripping the engine bay for the most part. Still have to pull the brake booster and abs module. Then fill a few holes and prep for paint. After that the fun stuff begins with installing the cams, 10% lower and exhaust

Mike



The 3M satin white vinyl showed up. Waiting for a big box from VMP as well as the tune

Cams are going in tomorrow night and then it's onto cosmetics and assembly

Mike



Not much accomplished, but some

Got the cams installed Friday night. Then cleaned up the aluminum on the motor and got it looking new. Also installed the ATI 10% dampener

Also found that my clutch line had been rubbing on the back of the cylinder head. Going to order a stainless line

Mike





 
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MIKE93SVT

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Got up early this morning and finished the elbow and blower up. This little guy is ready to scream

Mike







Started the engine bay clean up. Welded the seams and got the first coat of filler on it. Lots more work to be done

Mike



Preview of things to come. Painted valve covers, coil covers and intake tube so far. Still have to clear everything this weekend. Hoping to get the engine bay primered and base coat as well, but that's based on available time

 

lwarrior1016

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YES! Thank you for moving this over here! So much hard work into this thing, Im really excited to see the finished product. Great work so far, keep it up and keep us posted.
 

lwarrior1016

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You got any tips to doing that 3m brushed vinyl wrap? That came out really nice and I feel like I could use that.
 
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MIKE93SVT

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You got any tips to doing that 3m brushed vinyl wrap? That came out really nice and I feel like I could use that.


it's pretty straight forward. I'd recommend buying 3m because it's better quality and more forgiving when stretching. just use a heat gun or hair dryer and take your time. couple youtube videos will have you wrapping like a pro. also, post heat the vinyl after you're done. that will let it relax and hold the curves better

Mike
 
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MIKE93SVT

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Starting to feel like there's real progress. Hoping to shoot color in the engine bay tomorrow


Mike














 
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MIKE93SVT

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Sprayed the PPG, ford crystal white base color. It'll really pop with the clear on there. Cell phone pic sucks, but you get the point. Will clear it next weekend and start assembling the top end of the motor. Can't wait to get the blower and valve covers sitting on there


Mike


 
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MIKE93SVT

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Some of them. Was originally going to relocate the computer, but decided to hold off. Will eventually move the battery, but not yet.
 
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MIKE93SVT

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Family in town again, so I haven't touched the car much. Cleared the engine bay and set some stuff on it to see how it'll all look. Motivation. Sun was going down, so the pics suck. Will take another in the morning.

Mike





 
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MIKE93SVT

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Very productive day. Got the Lethal H pipe installed, radiator, engine harness, brakes bled, power steering lines, clearanced the crank sensor for the ATI 10% lower, etc


Hope to load the tune and start it tomorrow or Sunday


Mike








 

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