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Trying to get down to one hobby vehicle, something that I shouldn't have to wrench on too much as I enjoy doing that less and less as I get older. Sold my 66 T-Bird a few weeks ago, it was going to need a transmission refresh, and sometime in the future body and paint as well. Liked the car, but didn't love it, so no use pouring money in.
I've had an 89 Mustang 5.0 track day car project on the go for a few years. Doing it with mostly old school parts, no tubular suspension or coilovers, just stuff that would be available in the late 80s / early 90s. Had fun searching out the parts all over the interwebs, got some of it put together, but the project has stalled out.
In the meantime, my friend Rob that I do some of the track day instructing with had decided that he was looking to sell his modded 07 Mustang GT. He has some ongoing health issues that limit his mobility and strength at times, so he won't be doing as many events in the future. He wants to just go with a simple car that he can air up the tires on, and drive to the track to rip around in ... probably a Fiesta ST. So rather than deal with the hassle of trying to sell a modded car that is pretty track-focused, or attempting to return the car to stock to use as a trade-in on a new car, he offered it to me at a price below the current market value for a nice stocker.
The car is clean at 68,000 km, never winter driven, always properly maintained, with some great well-executed mods for getting it around the track quicker. Rob is a pilot for Air Canada, and also does safety investigation for them, and has a background going way back wrenching on race cars and racing 750 superbikes, so everything on the car is well-thought out and done properly. Drivetrain is pretty mild, just the original 4.6 3V with a CAI and tune, underdrive pulleys, FRPP X-pipe and Magnaflow cat-back, FRPP 3.73 gears and a Torsen T2R diff. He's also added GT-500 14" Brembo brakes, FRPP springs, Bilstein shocks, and various Whiteline rear suspension bits. This year he had also installed a Maximum Motorsports 4-point roll bar and Crow harnesses, which work nice with the Sparco seat already in there. I've driven this car on the street and on track many times over the years as the mods have progressed, and it is a blast to drive at a brisk pace around the circuits. Very easy and predictable, super reliable and looks and sounds great. It's basically the same car as my 87 5.0 was, but 20 years later ... plain looking car with the right mods to get the job done.
The car is very low key looking, Tungsten silver grey, and originally ordered with no rear spoiler. The running pony in the grille has been painted satin black, and he had put some tint over the big googly fog lights, as well as swapping out the giant OEM side mirrors for the retro style units available from Agent 47. He had added a Cervinis front splitter early last year, and it made enough difference to the aero on the higher speed tracks that he needed to add a rear wing, so one from Steeda was installed on an extra trunk lid, so that it can be swapped out to get the plain appearance back if not going to the track for a while. Even the street wheels are pretty low key, silver painted Steeda split 5-spoke 18x9.5" with a fresh set of Contintenal ExtremeContact DW 285/40R18 all around. Part of the deal was an extra set of wheels for track tires, 18x10" matte black BBS style from LateModelResto, with about 4 sets of used track tires too. Also getting some spare suspension parts, as well as all of the OEM parts removed in case I decide to change anything back in the future. A few crappy cellphone pics:
So I think this was the right answer for me ... I now have a decent looking car that I can depend on for events that are a fair drive like Carlisle, and have some fun ripping around the track with too. The Fox when assembled would be a decent track car, but not as nice to drive on the street, and although I like the look of the Fox Mustangs, to me the 05-up cars look much more like a Mustang should, and are a much better package overall with the march of progress. The 89 is up for sale, hopefully I can find someone to take the car and all the pieces in one go, but if I have to separate them, I can probably make more money back that way.
cheers
Ed
I've had an 89 Mustang 5.0 track day car project on the go for a few years. Doing it with mostly old school parts, no tubular suspension or coilovers, just stuff that would be available in the late 80s / early 90s. Had fun searching out the parts all over the interwebs, got some of it put together, but the project has stalled out.
In the meantime, my friend Rob that I do some of the track day instructing with had decided that he was looking to sell his modded 07 Mustang GT. He has some ongoing health issues that limit his mobility and strength at times, so he won't be doing as many events in the future. He wants to just go with a simple car that he can air up the tires on, and drive to the track to rip around in ... probably a Fiesta ST. So rather than deal with the hassle of trying to sell a modded car that is pretty track-focused, or attempting to return the car to stock to use as a trade-in on a new car, he offered it to me at a price below the current market value for a nice stocker.
The car is clean at 68,000 km, never winter driven, always properly maintained, with some great well-executed mods for getting it around the track quicker. Rob is a pilot for Air Canada, and also does safety investigation for them, and has a background going way back wrenching on race cars and racing 750 superbikes, so everything on the car is well-thought out and done properly. Drivetrain is pretty mild, just the original 4.6 3V with a CAI and tune, underdrive pulleys, FRPP X-pipe and Magnaflow cat-back, FRPP 3.73 gears and a Torsen T2R diff. He's also added GT-500 14" Brembo brakes, FRPP springs, Bilstein shocks, and various Whiteline rear suspension bits. This year he had also installed a Maximum Motorsports 4-point roll bar and Crow harnesses, which work nice with the Sparco seat already in there. I've driven this car on the street and on track many times over the years as the mods have progressed, and it is a blast to drive at a brisk pace around the circuits. Very easy and predictable, super reliable and looks and sounds great. It's basically the same car as my 87 5.0 was, but 20 years later ... plain looking car with the right mods to get the job done.
The car is very low key looking, Tungsten silver grey, and originally ordered with no rear spoiler. The running pony in the grille has been painted satin black, and he had put some tint over the big googly fog lights, as well as swapping out the giant OEM side mirrors for the retro style units available from Agent 47. He had added a Cervinis front splitter early last year, and it made enough difference to the aero on the higher speed tracks that he needed to add a rear wing, so one from Steeda was installed on an extra trunk lid, so that it can be swapped out to get the plain appearance back if not going to the track for a while. Even the street wheels are pretty low key, silver painted Steeda split 5-spoke 18x9.5" with a fresh set of Contintenal ExtremeContact DW 285/40R18 all around. Part of the deal was an extra set of wheels for track tires, 18x10" matte black BBS style from LateModelResto, with about 4 sets of used track tires too. Also getting some spare suspension parts, as well as all of the OEM parts removed in case I decide to change anything back in the future. A few crappy cellphone pics:
So I think this was the right answer for me ... I now have a decent looking car that I can depend on for events that are a fair drive like Carlisle, and have some fun ripping around the track with too. The Fox when assembled would be a decent track car, but not as nice to drive on the street, and although I like the look of the Fox Mustangs, to me the 05-up cars look much more like a Mustang should, and are a much better package overall with the march of progress. The 89 is up for sale, hopefully I can find someone to take the car and all the pieces in one go, but if I have to separate them, I can probably make more money back that way.
cheers
Ed
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