The Lemon: ZY 2001 GT

thetrex

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This is the build thread for my 2001 Mustang GT!

I purchased the car in January of 2009 during my senior year of high school. It was traded in at the local ford dealer and needed some work. The head gaskets were shot and oil had leaked into the cooling system. However, the price was right and it had the two options I found necessary at the time, a V8 and a 5 speed. With the help of my parents a week or two later it was in the driveway. I’ll never forget riding in it the first time.

Moral of the story, it has been a ton of fun. Worth every penny I paid… and every penny I borrowed from the college fund. We’ve gone everywhere together. I’ve drag raced it, done smoky burnouts, taken it on long trips, and cruised many miles on the weekends. I even learned how to drive a manual in this car. Now she’s ready for her next phase, handling. I'd like to do a little Auto-X and participate in some track days with the local Mustang club.

Current Mods:
The car came with welded in Flowmasters, a MAC short throw, Eibach pro-kit springs, AR 200s wheels, and 3.73 gears. Since then it hasn’t changed very much. I recently added some Magnaflow Magnapacks dumped at the rear and I’ve picked up some Saleen UDPs and an X pipe. It’s gonna be a slow build due to limited cash flow, but hopefully I’ll finish it someday.



^Before I bought the car at the trade in lot.

^ During head gasket replacement.


 
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thetrex

thetrex

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This is how it currently sits today. (I may have a small Mach 1 fetish)

 

Burninriverdiver

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Welcome! Good looking car, I understand the limited funds deal.... Just gotta keep at it slowly. I look forward to seeing the progress
 

mcglsr2

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Welcome to the site! Do you know what parts you have planned for the track duty?
 

g36 monkey

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Yes welcome aboard! We have plenty of handling knowledge if you wanna give us some direction on what you'd like to spend, etc ;p
 
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thetrex

thetrex

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Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone!

Welcome to the site! Do you know what parts you have planned for the track duty?

I already bought some Steeda SFC's locally and they currently need to be installed. I also came across a set of factory control arms with delrin bushings and taller balljoints for $60 so I snatched those up. I think the bushings are Global West units and the ball joints are Steeda. Then the plan is C/C plates, Koni SA shocks (when they go on sale again in the spring), bumpsteer kit, XD adjustable LCA's, and a panhard bar from maximum motorsports for now.

In the future I'd like to install a torque arm, TA springs, and round it out with some coil overs in the front.

How do you guys feel about NT05 tires? My Sumitomos are about to give it up.
 

mcglsr2

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I have NT05's right now, they are a great low cost track tire. I liked them.

Sounds like you've got good plans. If I could make a suggestion (I've essentially gone through what you are planning), skip the MM XD adjustable LCA's and go for their road race version and get coil-overs all the way around. I did the nonadjustable MM XD ones, shocks/struts and springs. Not long after I went coil-overs, so I kind of wasted money and time. I should have planned coil-overs from the beginning and got parts accordingly. I've also done MM front control arms.
 

g36 monkey

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Why the road race over the xd ones? I don't want adjustable, I'm looking for big beefy arms lol
 

mcglsr2

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Why the road race over the xd ones? I don't want adjustable, I'm looking for big beefy arms lol

If the car is to be used for track duty, the road race LCA's with a coil-over would be preferrable (except that there's no provision for stock sway bar mounting). On MM's site, they say that if you plan on drag racing the car to use the XD LCA's - so there's some truth in what you say regarding the beefy-ness of the XD ones. I suspect though the road race LCA's are certainly strong enough, I guess not for repeated launches though ;)

Edit: if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably still have gone with the XD LCA's because of the stock sway bar mounts - the class I am going for penalizes aftermarket sways. If one doesn't care about class points, then I would totally have gone with the road race LCAs.
 
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thetrex

thetrex

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*UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE*

Wow its been way too long since I've updated my build. Last December I purchased some NT05's, MM XD LCA's, a PHB, and some Koni SA shocks and struts. I installed everything in early march before autoX started. It took a little while due to rain, but I finally got it done.

Nothing like working in the great outdoors… at night… in the dark.



Mmmm new struts going in.


PHB and LCAs installed and accounted for.


The NT05's have a lot more grip than the Sumitomo's I'm used to running and I can't say enough about this panhard bar… the back of the car feels so planted and predictable. Its great. I did about 3 autoX's with this setup at the beginning of the season and enjoyed every minute of it. Not to mention, I was surprisingly competitive in CAM-C…. even with my lack of seat time. That being said, the car still has some body roll due to the Eibach springs and with my staggered set-up the front of the car has a ton of push.

I signed up for Auto X practice since I'm new to this kind of thing. It took me a few runs and some instruction to get the hang of it.



At the first auto X I ran I came in 3rd out of 9 cars in CAM-C. I was shocked when they announced results at the end of the day. Then, at the second auto X I placed 2nd. I was planning on running a few more events after this, but life happened… I ended up purchasing a 240Z unexpectedly and shortly after that I had to go to California for school/work. Needless to say, my racing budget was nonexistent.

#71 all day, everyday




The $500 240Z that I couldn't pass up...

 
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thetrex

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My goal for 2016 is to run at most of the auto X events in this region and I'd also like to participate in a few track days with the local mustang club.

With all of the good deals available during Christmas, I've already started gathering parts. I will be changing spring rates and want some more adjustability in the front of the car. I have some C/C plates that need installed and I just received some front coilovers from MM. MM recommended 275 # springs in the front with TA springs in the rear to balance my setup. Hopefully I can get a larger front sway bar as well. The spring rate in the front seems a little soft, but I'll see what happens. With the coilovers, spring rate seems infinitely adjustable.


Here she is… waiting for love and new parts.

 

g36 monkey

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Man, go stand next to your 240 late at night and listen. Listen carefully and you'll be able to hear rusting in progress ;p

Just messing man, but for real, get ready for a floor pan just in case.

Glad you loved the PHB setup!
 
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thetrex

thetrex

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Just messing man, but for real, get ready for a floor pan just in case.

Trust me… early Z ownership is painful. lol I looked at a ton of Z's and they were all missing the floor. On this car the drivers side floor pan can be patched, but the passenger side needs a pan and part of a frame rail. Gonna be some $$$$.
 
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thetrex

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Finally updated the front suspension in the yellow car over spring break. Installed the front coil over setup with 275# springs, $60 craigslist control arms, MM C/C plates, and urethane front sway bar bushings & endlinks.



With the wheels I'm running I ended up needing a 1/4" spacer at the front to keep the tires from rubbing on the coilover sleeve and they installed without the need for longer wheel studs. Mucho bueno.



To match the front spring rate MM recommended a change in the rear spring rate... so I installed some of their least aggresive TA springs in the rear. Then I did a home alignment with -2 deg camber, around 5.5 deg of caster, and 0 toe.

Took it out to Auto-X test n' tune and ran pretty close with a new GT350. The car has a lot more in it, but I need to improve my driving skills as I am the slowest part of this combination. With the mods the front end has a lot more grip and seems more responsive to steering inputs. It also seems to rotate better than before.



Can't wait to autocross this thing for the 2016 season. It is so much more fun to drive.
 

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