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Originally Posted by JasonM
I'm probably stealing Terry's thunder, but we looked at both the 4.6 and the 5.0 chassis as a home for a 5.0 powered ESP Mustang. The cost, weight and "unknown technical solutions" all pointed to starting with a Coyote chassis. The big worry was weight. Were we going to be saddled with some weight in the 5.0 chassis that the 4.6 chassis could get rid of? We sketched out two simple spreadsheets on the weights and the costs. The weights look like a draw and the costs look like an advantage for the 5.0 chassis. We'll see how it actually pans out, but I'm expecting to have this car up and running much quicker and without having to buy multiple wrecked donors to source all the parts we need for the UD/BD stuff that has to be done. There are also technical issues with trying to get the EPAS rack working with a non-EPAS harness that make it look like a full harness and switchgear swap would be necessary.
We also look like ballers building a brand new car into a dedicated no-compromises competition car.  LOL |
The wiring harness challenges necessary to remain ESP legal were extensive and daunting, and I cannot overstate this factor. I don't want to discourage readers from doing an early S197 car 5.0L swap, but I have read some builds already and it is much harder to pull off than you think. And to do it and stay SCCA SP legal would be much harder than the swaps we have seen done online, too.
So since we can't cut on or sell our red 2011, we started looking for another 2011 GT with an affordable price, but they just don't seem to exist. These cars are holding their value strangely well - as are many used late-model cars for the past 12-24 months (which is itself a long, complex subject). Even clean 2005-06 GTs were going to cost $12-15K (these were $25K new!) unless we wanted to start with a 150K mile beat-to-hell junker, which still cost in the neighborhood of $9-10K. Then we would need to also buy a
totaled/rear hit 2011 GT salvage car to get the engine, trans,
complete wiring harness, and the entire front sheet metal/hood/bumper cover/doghouse (to be able to legally use the 2012 Boss 302 LS splitter). The numbers just didn't add up - it would be cheaper and FAR easier to start with a new car.
Let's Buy A Brand New Mustang... And Cut It Up!
So I started looking for 2012 GTs still sitting on dealer lots, hoping to find a smokin' deal. Not much left other than weird option packages, convertibles, and automatics. They blew the remaining '12 inventory out months ago. I really wanted to start with a BASE model GT, without the $4000 Premium package and options so many dealers order. This means no navigation, no power seats, no rear view cameras, no wings or doo-dads - no budget or scale busting upgrades that would end up removed from the car anyways. We found jack and squat.
We spotted this 2013 black beauty at Five Star.
I called a buddy Corey White, who is a big Mustang dealer at Five Star Ford in Plano. Corey is who I should have bought the 2011 GT from two years ago, but I didn't know about him back then. He organizes car shows and track days for Dallas/Ft. Worth Mustang owners, including the ECR event we went to in June (and another we're going to November 17th, also at ECR). Great guy, knows the cars very well, and people fly in from across the country to buy Mustangs GTs, Boss 302s and Raptors from him.
We had a hail storm a few weeks ago that only affected a tiny portion of our DFW Metroplex, and part of that was this dealership. Corey said there were some 2013 GTs they had not repaired yet and they were willing to deal...
Left: It is as stripper as they come! One option (3.55 gears) and a $31,490 MSRP. Right: One of many hail dents visible in the vented hood.
Last Friday afternoon, I was about to lose my mind looking at 2011-12 GTs and early 2005-2007 GTs and having zero luck finding the car we wanted. I was tired of theorizing and wanted to move quickly if we were to have a hope of being ready for the Spring 2013 National level Solo events. So Amy and I went to see Corey and within five minutes we were test driving the black car above. I pressed the magic button for five seconds to get into the "AdvanceTrac Off" mode and left the parking lot in a cloud of tire smoke.
This rental-fleet special was missing all of the leather coverings, lighted door sills, auto climate control, fancy shift knobs, navigation system, and integrated Sync. It had cloth seats with all manual adjustments, the base AM/FM/CD radio, the "small" 13.2" front brakes, skinny 18x8" wheels and little bitty 235mm all season Pirellis.
OMFG these tires would spin for a city block! Absolutely atrocious for performance, but a riot for a test drive. I performed some of the most juvenile stunt driving maneuvers in this car, with Amy riding shotgun and laughing so hard she was crying! The stock marshmallow suspension was hilariously mushy and entertaining. She said at one point - "well we can't let anyone else have this car after what you just did on that test drive!" I couldn't argue with that logic.
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We went back and talked numbers with Corey. A $1500 rebate, big discount for the hail issues, and some more just because he rocks. In the end, the number was so low we couldn't NOT buy it. I felt like I needed a ski mask and gloves after the deal we got. Corey got the paperwork started and that was the quickest new car purchase I have ever seen. He had a Roush supercharged 2013 Raptor F150 warmed up and waiting for a test drive while the Mustang was being "make readied" for us, so we proceeded to go on the 2nd most hilarious test drive of my life, both of which were on the same day. I won't give away his crafty sales tactics, but after that ten minute test drive, all done by Corey, we both were AMAZED at the Raptor's off road capability and wanted one of these trucks. That's all I am allowed to say without giving Corey's trick away, but with 558 whp, Fox shocks, crackin' exhaust, and a suspension that can blow your mind... DAAAAMN that truck is a BEAST!
After that hilarious Raptor test drive that Matt here at Vorshlag joined us on (the back seat is absolutely
massive, BTW), the 2013 GT was fueled up and ready to go. We hit the streets in both the 2011 and 2013 GTs, with a light drizzle starting to come down. I was really psyched about the new car we just stole and continued my jackassery, then proceeded to whip Amy 2-0 in wet drag races from stop lights.
The next morning I was still in shock from adding the 9th car to my fleet of sports car and got to washing off the previous night's rain. PaulM joined me with his 2011 GT and we washed both, then went with McCall and bought yet another car - something for a ChumpCar build, that I will start to chronicle next week (not a Vorshlag build, but we will make the roll cage). What a weekend!
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