I'm kind of bored, so I figured I'd do something to waste a little time. Many of my local friends know the hell my car has been through and since I'm new to this site, I thought I'd bring you up to speed. (not that it matters or anyone cares...again, I'm bored) I figure I'd use this as practice for my papers in school. Can't hurt right?
The year is 2003. I'm 18 and almost done with highschool. I've decided that the 1989 fox body was needed to be replaced, so I set out to find a replacement. I come across a bone stock 1996 Mustang GT convertible.
Several months later, now done with high school, the character of the car begins to be built. Heading home in the early morning hours on a North Carolina back road, I suddenly found myself in a situation where reaction is make or break. Deer crossing the road is an all too familiar sight, but this time I was unprepared. A flash of a black shadow is normal, but this time the shadow wasn't by itself. It barely has time to hit the light coming from my headlights when I immediately forced my foot to the pedal to the left. It was too late. Swerving to miss the deer, and almost shoving my foot through the floorboard of the car just wasn't enough this time. The damage was done.
After all the insurance business was done, my car headed to the shop. Still new to mustangs and modifying in general, I soon was able to get my feet wet in the vast world of aftermarket parts. The result is a new hood, front bumper, and headlights along with a new right side fender.
Some time later, I find myself in a similar situation. Same car.....same road....new enemy. Coming out of a turn from a stop light, I leisurely cruise up to speed, but I'm cut short by a figure in the road. As I go through the turn, the headlights sweep across the road suddenly revealing an enormous "possum" that quickly stands up to greet me. As soon as I can see the furry critter I'm completely helpless and all I can do is hope for the best. I hear a loud thump followed by the horrible sound of debris behind the car. Once again, the damage is done. A clean break completely through the front bumper, and broken fog lights is the result.
I replace the parts with that of the same and go on for quite a while with no other situations. That is until a mistake on my part causes the destruction of another front bumper. A low speed slide into a small ditch resulting from a heavy foot completely tears the fragile bumper in half. I'm not proud of this, but these things happen. I once again replace the bumper, but this time with that of a factory cobra one due to how fragile the cervinis was.
To keep things short, the car is on it's third transmission. Unsure of when the factory transmission went, I had it rebuilt. Not too long after this, the transmission goes again. Something has to be done. These transmissions are fading under normal wear and tear. So, I decide that maybe a newer transmission is the key. I then buy a 4r70w out of a 2002 in hopes that it will fair better than the others, and I'm proud to say it has.
The next event to happen was once again due to my own actions. I was about to get some new tires put on, and decided it was a good time to take the car down the road and give the old tires a good sending off and getting pictures at the same time wouldn't be a bad idea as well. Around and around I go saturated with the sound of engine rev, exhaust tone, and squealing tires and at the same time engulfed in tire smoke. After holding the car in place for a little bit, it's time to take it back up to the shop. What better way to do that than a long rolling burnout? A loud pop, and a quick jerk let me know that a tire has thrown in the towel. Now, this isn't the bad part. After getting the car back to the shop and parked, I see the damage. Rubber and wire from the right rear tire has been slug around slapping the rear giving it a nice big area of scratches that require me soon to repaint that panel.
http://youtu.be/IxkF3UAbo7c
I repair the damage, and later encounter my next event which in turn puts my car down for over two years. Heading to work one morning I come up to traffic behind a school bus. I coast up to them decreasing speed like anyone would do. As I get closer the car in front of me releases the brakes and starts to accelerate. I then proceed to apply a small amount of throttle to match speed, but as soon as I do the driver changes his mind. He slams on his brakes which causes me to without hesitation, apply mine as well. At a speed of no more than 20 mile an hour the nose of my car meets his rear bumper. In a usual fashion, the damage is once again done. The billet grille causes the most damage. It breaks through the headlight mounting panel, striking the airbag sensors which then deploys both airbags. The speed at which I hit the other car was so slow that when the airbags deployed, I never touched it. The result: broken headlights, foglights, hood, bumper, fender, hood latch assymbly, two deployed airbags, and a bent radiator support.
It's not until over two years from this accident that I'm able to get my car back on the road.
It wasn't until recently that the next event happened and at nearly 140,000 it was bound to happen at some point. The engine finally gave up, and once again my car was down. Now was the perfect time to repair my car and at the same time increase performance. I found a low mile 2004 complete GT engine out of a wrecked car a guy had that his son had wrecked in their driveway. The only issue was a broken timing cover due to a piece of fence going through the front.
I get the car home and set to work. We pull the engine and get it any my car to the shop. We replace everything that was broken, and did all the necessary replacements to make that engine compatible with my car. Careful not to turn the crank at all we get the engine in the correct timing, and button everything up and get it ready to go in.
After a long tiring weekend of work, we get the engine in the car and ready to fire. Doing everything by the book, we prime the oil and fuel and it's ready to go. What we hear next was one of our biggest fears.
The broken timing cover was not the only issue apparently. The board that broke the cover, also knocked off the chain causing the car to run for an unknown amount of time without the cam moving bending valves in the head. The end result was us pulling the motor back out, and me taking it back to the guy I bought it from to get my money back.
Seven months of waiting for the right engine, and the right amount of money goes by until i finally find one. Another 2004 GT engine, but this time ran tested and warrantied. This engine proves to be very mechanically sound, and is currently running strong in the old weathered GT.
***CLIFFS***
bought in 03 bone stock
hit a deer..repaired
hit a possum...repaired
hit a ditch...repaired
went through 2 transmissions before buying an 02 4r70w
massive burnout messed up rear panel...repaired
hit a car and sat for 2 years....repaired
engine blew
bought 04 engine that later was found to have bent valves...returned
bought ran tested 04 engine 7 months later and now runs fine
The year is 2003. I'm 18 and almost done with highschool. I've decided that the 1989 fox body was needed to be replaced, so I set out to find a replacement. I come across a bone stock 1996 Mustang GT convertible.
Several months later, now done with high school, the character of the car begins to be built. Heading home in the early morning hours on a North Carolina back road, I suddenly found myself in a situation where reaction is make or break. Deer crossing the road is an all too familiar sight, but this time I was unprepared. A flash of a black shadow is normal, but this time the shadow wasn't by itself. It barely has time to hit the light coming from my headlights when I immediately forced my foot to the pedal to the left. It was too late. Swerving to miss the deer, and almost shoving my foot through the floorboard of the car just wasn't enough this time. The damage was done.
After all the insurance business was done, my car headed to the shop. Still new to mustangs and modifying in general, I soon was able to get my feet wet in the vast world of aftermarket parts. The result is a new hood, front bumper, and headlights along with a new right side fender.
Some time later, I find myself in a similar situation. Same car.....same road....new enemy. Coming out of a turn from a stop light, I leisurely cruise up to speed, but I'm cut short by a figure in the road. As I go through the turn, the headlights sweep across the road suddenly revealing an enormous "possum" that quickly stands up to greet me. As soon as I can see the furry critter I'm completely helpless and all I can do is hope for the best. I hear a loud thump followed by the horrible sound of debris behind the car. Once again, the damage is done. A clean break completely through the front bumper, and broken fog lights is the result.
I replace the parts with that of the same and go on for quite a while with no other situations. That is until a mistake on my part causes the destruction of another front bumper. A low speed slide into a small ditch resulting from a heavy foot completely tears the fragile bumper in half. I'm not proud of this, but these things happen. I once again replace the bumper, but this time with that of a factory cobra one due to how fragile the cervinis was.
To keep things short, the car is on it's third transmission. Unsure of when the factory transmission went, I had it rebuilt. Not too long after this, the transmission goes again. Something has to be done. These transmissions are fading under normal wear and tear. So, I decide that maybe a newer transmission is the key. I then buy a 4r70w out of a 2002 in hopes that it will fair better than the others, and I'm proud to say it has.
The next event to happen was once again due to my own actions. I was about to get some new tires put on, and decided it was a good time to take the car down the road and give the old tires a good sending off and getting pictures at the same time wouldn't be a bad idea as well. Around and around I go saturated with the sound of engine rev, exhaust tone, and squealing tires and at the same time engulfed in tire smoke. After holding the car in place for a little bit, it's time to take it back up to the shop. What better way to do that than a long rolling burnout? A loud pop, and a quick jerk let me know that a tire has thrown in the towel. Now, this isn't the bad part. After getting the car back to the shop and parked, I see the damage. Rubber and wire from the right rear tire has been slug around slapping the rear giving it a nice big area of scratches that require me soon to repaint that panel.
http://youtu.be/IxkF3UAbo7c
I repair the damage, and later encounter my next event which in turn puts my car down for over two years. Heading to work one morning I come up to traffic behind a school bus. I coast up to them decreasing speed like anyone would do. As I get closer the car in front of me releases the brakes and starts to accelerate. I then proceed to apply a small amount of throttle to match speed, but as soon as I do the driver changes his mind. He slams on his brakes which causes me to without hesitation, apply mine as well. At a speed of no more than 20 mile an hour the nose of my car meets his rear bumper. In a usual fashion, the damage is once again done. The billet grille causes the most damage. It breaks through the headlight mounting panel, striking the airbag sensors which then deploys both airbags. The speed at which I hit the other car was so slow that when the airbags deployed, I never touched it. The result: broken headlights, foglights, hood, bumper, fender, hood latch assymbly, two deployed airbags, and a bent radiator support.
It's not until over two years from this accident that I'm able to get my car back on the road.
It wasn't until recently that the next event happened and at nearly 140,000 it was bound to happen at some point. The engine finally gave up, and once again my car was down. Now was the perfect time to repair my car and at the same time increase performance. I found a low mile 2004 complete GT engine out of a wrecked car a guy had that his son had wrecked in their driveway. The only issue was a broken timing cover due to a piece of fence going through the front.
I get the car home and set to work. We pull the engine and get it any my car to the shop. We replace everything that was broken, and did all the necessary replacements to make that engine compatible with my car. Careful not to turn the crank at all we get the engine in the correct timing, and button everything up and get it ready to go in.
After a long tiring weekend of work, we get the engine in the car and ready to fire. Doing everything by the book, we prime the oil and fuel and it's ready to go. What we hear next was one of our biggest fears.
The broken timing cover was not the only issue apparently. The board that broke the cover, also knocked off the chain causing the car to run for an unknown amount of time without the cam moving bending valves in the head. The end result was us pulling the motor back out, and me taking it back to the guy I bought it from to get my money back.
Seven months of waiting for the right engine, and the right amount of money goes by until i finally find one. Another 2004 GT engine, but this time ran tested and warrantied. This engine proves to be very mechanically sound, and is currently running strong in the old weathered GT.
***CLIFFS***
bought in 03 bone stock
hit a deer..repaired
hit a possum...repaired
hit a ditch...repaired
went through 2 transmissions before buying an 02 4r70w
massive burnout messed up rear panel...repaired
hit a car and sat for 2 years....repaired
engine blew
bought 04 engine that later was found to have bent valves...returned
bought ran tested 04 engine 7 months later and now runs fine
ccasion14: Car look badass
