UPDATE: PICS ADDED!! 94 GT needs direction

Please feel free to vote in the horsepower options poll above. I'd like to know what you guys think of the ideas that have been stewing in my head (NO, not THOSE ideas!!:angel. All comments and suggestions are welcome!

I've been looking at this essentially bone stock '94 GT that my dad picked up 10 years ago. It's a real project that was in really rough shape needing body work, paint, a new interior, and troubleshooting on electrical gremlins and a non-functional A/C and heater. The real surprise is that believe it or not, this car runs and drives fine!

First day I started pulling it apart:



At the body shop:







As it sits now (Yes, paint jail is a dirty place):









-'94 GT with OEM Ford '96 Cobra hood and OEM front bumper cover.

-New black paint with all emblems shaved, mirrors painted body color and spoiler deleted. Car is still at the paint shop because the guy who did the paint is also doing some of the mechanical repair for me.

-Completely rebuilt (zero miles) 8.8 from a '99 GT with all new bearings, races, seals, Ford Racing 3.73s and a TFS rear cover.

-5.0 has 30K on rebuild. Engine is bone stock internally.

-Has shorties, offroad H and dumped Flowmaster Super 40 series mufflers.

-T-5 trans has maybe 250 miles on the rebuild.



Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Wheels:
-Sell the fresh '99 8.8 and order 18" staggered black chrome Saleens.

Exhaust:
-Custom side exhaust. I've been sitting on an SVO kit for a decade and have decided to use it on this car. I'm going to create a custom 2.5" oval setup and use the skirts. I've been thinking about using Dzus fasteners with a bracket/slider rail system (basically armor for the SVO skirts) to attach and protect the skirts and allow for removal when necessary.

Suspension:
-Rebuild and revalve my old blown '03 Cobra front Bilsteins with the MM coilover kit from my Cobra. 300 lb. springs
-Sell or trade my spare 31 spline Eaton-T2-equipped '96 8.8 rearend for a FTBR-equipped IRS.
-Griggs front suspension. Had it on my Cobra. Good stuff.
-S197 brake kit up front. I read the R&D thread on this here on the forum. Looks like a great option that leaves me with more kay$h for other mods.

Interior:
-I've already bought a complete (EVERYTHING) '01 Bullitt interior for this car that I found in TX. It's currently pissing off my wife in our walk-in closet waiting for the car to arrive for installation.

Exterior:
-Envoy fogs.
-Just enough low to keep the skirts safe.

Not looking to make big power with this just yet. I still have my Incon TTI kit for modular motor that I was going to install on my Cobra, so once I get all of the bugs worked out of the car maybe I'll do a modular swap and throw it on. A lot of the issues with the car have been addressed over the past year. I'll be doing a build thread here, but before I start posting pics of all of the progress, I'd like to know what ideas you guys have for the car.

 

Yeah, I know taking off the emblems was a polarizing choice. Left 'em off my last build and I liked it. Shaved the antenna too (Satellite radio FTW).

 

The H/C/I plan would be cool and I've read about so many cars that have gone that route that are awesome.

I have kinda been thinking about the Coyote swap idea too. It's a lot to do and I do have a good running car at this point, so I'm going to think hard on that one.

I have a Teksid block and some B cams laying around, so I could start a build in that direction. Then again, I have a TFS Stage 2 cam that's been sitting for 9 years in my garage so I could pick up some heads and an intake and make some decent power with that. So many options...

 

The car is a weekend driver. It's not for the winter, and it's not a DD. I'm driving something far more mundane on a daily basis, so this is to appease my horsepower crack addiction when it overwhelms me.

As for the budget, it costs what it costs. It's not a matter of money but rather a matter of time. Once I decide my direction, I'm going to drive the car until I have everything I need to put it together the right way. I'll patiently stockpile parts until I have everything I need while driving the car the way it is. I'm not in a hurry, and I don't depend on this car to get me around. I'm just trying to build something that is unique, clean, reliable, and a blast to drive.

 

When I was still in school I worked part-time for Jake Lamotta (Lamotta Performance of Longwood, FL) and he was one of the developers of the Incon twin turbo kits back in the day. One day we were talking about the 4V Incon cars that he had built. There were only a few of the modular kits ever built, and he had been the source for most of the R&D. I mentioned that I wished I could have a setup like that on my '96 Cobra. Long story short- I went home with everything but the turbos themselves that day.

I could do this, but it's going to require buying everything to convert the car so a 4V donor car would be the route to go. T-56 would work, and my existing spare 31 spline Eaton-equipped 8.8 would handle things out back. Fuel would be all Glenn's Performance. Engine management I'd probably go SCT.

 

Thank you. I really appreciated this.

 

Too true.

 

You're killin' me, Smalls!

The more I ponder it, this is what I really want. The H/C/I longtubes route is one that I could definitely be happy with, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that what I really want for this build is to create something truly unique. For me, that leaves me with only one option- using the Incon kit on a 4v. Anyone have a wrecked 4v they'd like to part with?