84 GT350 20th Anniversary Edition Restoration / Minor Modifications

[Kurt84GT350]

Moved to online Car Show / Show and Tell section

[Kurt84GT350]

Well, I finally decided to start a new thread to showcase the progress on my car so far.

This is kind of a continuation of this thread: http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?t=82505

Here's the story:
This car was bought by a shop owner a while back (a couple of years ago). He was starting to try to build it up into a racecar.
For some reason unknown to me he sold it cheap to a mechanic friend of mine. My friend parked it for one year, with a damaged top, and in the course of that year, the soft interior, seats and carpet mainly, started rotting and growing mold.
I guess I started growing fond of the car, seeing it here and there. Then I learned that both engine and transmission are rebuilt and the engine had a few mods (some listed in my signature) so I decided to give it a try.
Because of some unusual circumstances my friend ended up giving me the car for free, I got it indoors and found out it had very little rust inspite of all the water.
So, I've been working on it, and decided to show you all the progress.

Plans:
Here's the deal: I know restoring this thing back to exactly how it came out of the dealership would be VERY expensive AND I am really not in a rush.
I want to take my time (a few months), do a couple of performance mods and fabricate some custom parts for it.

So that's what this thread is about. Just sharing the progress and looking for some input from my fellow "four eyer's"


What I started with:

Rough dirty body, bad interior, not a whole lot of rust surprisingly, ugly engine

[Kurt84GT350]

And yes it is an authentic 20th Anniversary edition, I still need to take a picture of the label on the door. I was glad to find the buck tag intact

[Kurt84GT350]

Engine restoration / modification so far:

Let's see... I removed some rust and treated it with rust converter, coated the firewall and surroundings (NOT the engine) in truck bed liner spray, painted the intake manifold in Ford Blue and got a set of valve covers off a 91 Mustang for 20 dollars. Also cleaned and painted brackets, throttle body, fuel lines...and added a couple of polished/chrome accents (breather, oil cap)

As for parts, I installed (have yet to wire to a relay) a Mark VIII electric fan, which I installed on the radiator, and I am fabricating a cold air intake out of a K&N air intake made for a V10 Dodge Ram. The filter and pipe are 4 inches in diameter and the filter is installed in the fender, behind the coolant reservoir. With such a large pipe my thinking is if an 8 liter V10 engine could breathe very well through it... then its enough for my 5 liter

I really want to make my own reservoir but right now I need the money for other things so I just cleaned the reservoir and installed it back.

[Kurt84GT350]

Interior restoration:

The seats and carpet were completely trashed, rotted, moldy, rusting away (literally), and even growing little plants on them... so I got rid of them

I am still looking for good cheap seats, might have found a set on craigslist, haven't bought them yet.

Door skins, plastic panels and dash were actually in fairly good condition. Some Armor All and they look pretty nice. Center console is pretty discolored so I am still thinking about what to do with it

[Kurt84GT350]

These are the seats I may be getting for my car. I am not a big fan of white but since the car is white they should look nice and I can always dye them any color. Getting them for a really good price too

[Kurt84GT350]

Question: who here likes "turbine" wheels and how do you think they might look on my car?

I am starting to like that style but I dunno between those and just pony wheels.... suggestions?

[tan84mustanggt]

Question: who here likes "turbine" wheels and how do you think they might look on my car?

I am starting to like that style but I dunno between those and just pony wheels.... suggestions?

Since you're asking, ponys. They were on my anny when I bought it and I think they look great. Just my opinion though.

[Capriman86]

I think the Ponies look much better on the Anny's.
The center caps match the fender emblems and carry the theme out IMO.

I had some Silver ones on mine before I sold it, but I was going to paint them white.

[Kurt84GT350]

I was looking at these two cars online, with the turbine wheels.... but yeah the Ponies do look fairly nice, I am just having trouble finding a set with 4 lug holes

I found a set of turbine wheels on craigslist, wheels are good and tires are fair, 195 60 R 15 AND 205'S, for 100 dollars. The black car in the picture has 225/40R15 tires and I think the stance is pretty nice, plus its a similar body style to mine(with the top up)

Thinking.....

[tan84mustanggt]

I like 'em with the ponys (that's my car in the pic ^^^^^). I prefer the silver myself, but it does look good in white.


How about chrome ponys? MMMMMMMM.

[Kurt84GT350]

I am tracking some chrome ones on craigslist... I like how they look with stainless tips on the exhaust....

The guy is asking 300 for them.... a little high for my budget at the moment.... man...

[tan84mustanggt]

Yeah, I like the chrome ones best I think. If you could get a nice set of those, go for it. I don't know why, but shiny wheels just look better than painted ones IMHO.

[eeprete]

I like the anny verts with white ponies and a white top. What a great combo!

[Kurt84GT350]

It is becoming impossible to find a white top, I only see black ones for sale. Anyone seen a website selling white tops?

I might just buy a set of ponies and paint them white. I've painted wheels before so that's not a big deal

[Capriman86]

[Kurt84GT350]

VERY nice indeed... y'all are torturing me

[Kurt84GT350]

Well, I got some more work done today.

Put in a new starter, hooked up the electrical to a battery and so far so good. Engine cranked, most of the accesories worked well.

I added a couple of pictures to my latest album. I started spraying truck bed liner on the floor pan edges after treating the rust with Rust Converter.

I also finished adapting and making the custom air intake. I think it looks pretty "industrial"

[Kurt84GT350]

Got a bunch more work done today.

Sprayed the floor boards with truck bed liner (I need to buy the convertible top first before I can get carpet)

Installed almost all the interior back in the car and I found the original convertible boot in the trunk praise the Lord

Almost got the engine done

[Kurt84GT350]

Update: Engine Bay is pretty much done. I am very satisfied with the results. Got some Accel wires, and organized the hoses and wires a lot better. There are still a couple of small details I'll paint by hand but for now what you see is it. The air intake tube I think came out pretty good.

Second picture: I had a can of red automotive paint laying around and the color happened to match the Canyon Red pretty close. So I sprayed the center console which was very discolored and I think it looks pretty stock, just a little metallic.

Interior: Installed the seats I got for 50 bucks. THey are in really nice condition actually and even though they stand out they match the white body so I think they look good.

Floorpan will stay black for now (after spraying it with the truck bed coating).
I was able to rescue the back seat and it cleaned up pretty well. Otherwise the interior panels and seatbelts are all in very good condition which is very surprising.

Let me know what you all think.

[Kurt84GT350]

Got WHEELS!!

They're off an 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. Almost new tires, got them for 100 dollars for all 4. AWESOME!!!

I think they look great, even in the air... lol... any comments?

[fox81]

Those wheels look pretty sharp on it! I say you got a good deal on them.

[Kurt84GT350]

Those wheels look pretty sharp on it! I say you got a good deal on them.

Thanks for the compliments.

I love them. They are really wide too which looks great from behind. I forgot to say I got all the hubcaps, they are like new. The clearcoat on the wheels is a little worn out as expected but its nothing major.

I'll post more pictures soon

[86 50CPRI]

This car has come a long way since you took it on.Keep up the positive momentum.Have you got it running?

[Kurt84GT350]

Thanks. No, I am trying to figure out an issue with the fuel pump and the injectors. Not a big deal, its just that I am not an expert in these cars and it probably takes me a lot longer to diagnose than it would you experts.

The engine cranks well and pretty much everything under the hood is restored to a good condition. I gotta check in-dash stuff like relays and all that.

The car does look like a different car, its very satisfying to see all the hard work pay off and read all your compliments. Thanks