Mustang side project
 

Back in January I found my way to this site courtesy of a pile of snow and some galvanized steel signposts. Some of you may remember the carnage that was once a highly customized 1995 Mustang...

http://www.the370z.com/new-nismo-370...llo-nismo.html

Anyway, I was left with a lot of spare parts and apparently too much time on my hands. Now that my sister will be 16 this coming February I've been working on a 1998 GT for her first car. It needs a lot of cosmetic work, but the driveline is tip-top and I was able to salvage lots of my performance mods. The paint and body work will be entirely new and custom. Performance-wise, I'm giving it basically every chassis/handling mod I can and leaving the engine bone stock since she doesn't need more power as a new driver. I may even give it a "nanny" tune to limit it to 70mph and 4k rpm or so until she learns what she's doing...

So far it's got my 17x8" Bullitt style rims (had to buy 1 new one after the wreck), 1" rear spacers, my Steeda Tri-ax, full Prothane poly bushing kit, my MM steering shaft, custom fabricated sail panels and integrated trunk wing (will look similar to the Saleen wing when done), my old drilled and slotted rotors + ferro-carbon pads, fully boxed rear control arms, my Flowmaster 44 cat-back system, a welded-in shock tower brace, SR strut tower brace, all new rear dampers, new carpet, truck bedliner on the floorboards, lowering springs, my leather shift knob and boot, Bullitt style pedal covers, rubber Ford floor mats, and probably a few more things I'm forgetting.

She doesn't know anything about it... should be a total shock.:excited:

More pics...

*not serious* Dude, a golden dragon down the side of your car is +50 HP to the wheels!

*Serious* Nice project! I would love to dump a bunch of N2O on that engine!

If it were mine it would be getting a PI head swap and a Vortech. Since it's for my sister... meh.:rofl2:

Haven't updated this in a while... Paint coming soon.

Almost time for color! It's gonna be Thunderbird blue metallic (more green than blue IMO) with white super-snake stripes down the whole car minus the bumpers. Also, I got a hood pin kit to complete the classic look. The antenna has been deleted too.:driving:

Here's the color. It's not wet-sanded yet so ignore the orange peel and dirt specs.

My buddy Josh just got it primed. I see a lot of wet sanding in my immediate future...

Almost there.

More progress today. The car is completely sanded with 1500, 2000, and 3000, and I got in a good bit of buffing in 3 stages. These letters are actually for a 1970 Fastback but I like how it looks, especially with the "Mustang GT" on the bumper filled in. I think we're going to integrate the hood stops into the pins and put them where the stops go on the radiator support.

Almost done, and that's a good thing because next Saturday is the big unveiling. We modified the Ford Racing hood pin kit to make it replace the stock hood stop bumpers and incorporate the rubber pieces into the actual posts so that they now serve 2 functions.

Looking good.

Nice work!

Thanks guys! 95% of the way there after today. I discovered the best way to get rid of an awful tint job is a fabric steamer. She's back on her wheels now and sitting pretty.:tiphat:

Here's the wife and I spraying some paint. It's just a matter of clean-up now.

Done!

The body work is excellent bro. Good job!! Your sister is very lucky to have a big brother like you:tup:

I can't take too much credit. My buddy Josh (this guy) built the sail panels and wing, plus did the majority of the work. I added parts and ideas, helped out where I could, and ended up learning a lot;)

Finally, an outdoor shot. It's more blue in the sun while it was very green/gray inside the garage.

Have you suprised her yet? You gotta make a video it happens:tup:

I did it last Saturday. She was pretty excited. Unfortunately the weather screwed us and I was only able to give her the scrap book. I wanted to have the car outside but the snow was $h*tty and it wasn't worth the risk. She'll have to come visit me to see it; she's not allowed to have it until the weather gets nice anyway.

Awesome job, Duc! You're a good bro, bro.