So as most everyone knows, the 5.0 went away. (Click
here to see its old build thread)
In its place came the GT500, which was the car I'd always wanted. Nothing against the 5.0 as it was a fantastic car up until I did its 4th oil change at a little over 9k miles and found the oil full of metal. That was pretty cool.
So got the car as the 3rd owner with 14,2xx miles on it. Car had BMR LCAs, BMR Relo Brackets, K&N CAI, Metco Pulley, Spec clutch, and a terrible tune. Owner before me was an idiot. I spent nearly a year (March of '14 to Feb of '15) fixing problems.
Trueforged wheels from 5.0
First thing, exhaust sounded like shit. Turns out, he bought some Spintech mufflers, cannibalized the muffler to overaxle pipe piece from the stockers to make them work, cut them in half vertically, welded 2" of metal in said gap, and then welded on some shit euro tuning tips from a company that only made Audi/BMW/etc exhaust. All with shit welds. It sounded hilariously bad for a 5.4L supercharged 4V V8.
Fixed with Roush Extreme 3" Catback
Clutch slipping. Prev. owner never had the clutch TSB done for 07-09, just decided slapping a Spec clutch in there would be good. Pulled that shit, found no friction material left on the Spec clutch, just metal on metal. Burns all over flywheel.
Fixed with McLeod RST, McLeod Aluminum Flywheel, McLeod Slave Cylinder, new pilot bearing, Steeda Shifter, new transmission fluid
Car developed a terrible steering wheel shake above 30 mph. Never did figure out why.
Fixed with some sexy Ridetech coilovers
2 piece driveshaft joint went out. Bought a
DSS Aluminum 1 piece DS but that screwed my pinion angle because I was slammed. Enter my next BMR order.
Adj UCA, UCA mount, Adj Panhard bar
Car was too quiet.
Lethal O/R H
At some point during all of this, I dropped the car off at a local detailing buddy's shop and told him to peel the mysteriously torn up stripes that were on the rear of the car and the rest of the stripes off so he could just polish the shit out of the whole car. Previous owner had someone tape off around the stripes (best guess is a rear collision) and spray shit paint all the way up the bumper and trunk. Not noticeable with the big white stripes but without them there, its right against the deep gorgeous original blue that was hidden under the stripes. Front bumper had a scuff that cracked the paint under the headlight.
Ordered a pair of brand new factory bumpers
The car at this point still needed to be tuned and I knew I was going to do it right going through Lund but it was going to cost me about $600 just for that. Screw it, I'll just buy a bigger blower and all supporting mods for it and only get it tuned once instead of again later when I do upgrade blowers.
VMP Gen 1 TVS, VMP Twin 67 TB, JLT 123mm CAI, VMP 2.396" Pulley, C&R Dual Fan Heat Exchanger, KB Boost A Pump, Gates Blue Racing Belt, NGK TR7 IX Plugs, Flow Balanced Bosch 72lb Injectors, MGW Gen 2 Shifter, Roush Boost Gauge, Bob's Oil Separator, JLT Oil Separator.
I now had a fucking monster of a GT500.
Problem is, car made over 20 lbs of boost on that dyno pull, which is a no no for stock engines.
Ordered Kooks 1 7/8 LTs w/ 3" O/R H
I nearly gave up on the car but the 663 rwhp, which turned into 717rwhp after the headers, changed my mind.
Paint Done:
Seats
Mod List:
VMP Gen 1 TVS
Flow Balanced Bosch 72 lb Injectors
VMP Twin 67 Throttle Body
JLT 123mm CAI
2.396" VMP Pulley
C&R Dual Fan Heat Exchanger
KB Boost A Pump
NGK TR7 IX .026
Gates Blue Racing Belt
Bobs Passengers Side Oil Separator
JLT Drivers Side Oil Separator
Kooks 1 7/8 Headers
Kooks 3" O/R H
Corsa Sport Mufflers
Roush Extreme 3" Over Axle Pipes
Trueforged Coolant Tanks
Trueforged Supersport 20" Wheels
Nitto NT555 265/35/20
Nitto NT555R 305/35/20
MGW Gen 2 Shifter
MGW Shift Knob
McLeod RST Clutch
McLeod Aluminum Flywheel
ARP Flywheel Bolts
DSS Aluminum Driveshaft
Ridetech Coilovers
BMR Adj LCAs
BMR Relocation Brackets
BMR Adj UCA
BMR UCA Mount
BMR Adj Panhard Bar
Trufiber Supersnake Hood
Trufiber Hood Struts
Aerocatch Hood Pins
JLT Lower Grille Bezels
Roush 2010+ Style Louvers
Corbeau CR1 Racing Seats
Corbeau 4 Point Harnesses
Corbeau Harness Bar
Soon:
Shelby American Watts Link
BMR Tubular K Member