Bump because I'm a consumer ***** =D

As of tomorrow, this will be my most recent purchase:

(well, not that one specifically, but one that looks exactly like that).

It's from an '01 Saleen S281. Black genuine italian leather; the **** is a MOMO piece. I think it should look amazing when I finally get the shift boot, parking brake boot, and armrest cover. To be honest, I wasn't planning on making any stupid purchases, but I found someone selling for $50 shipped (actually, $60 shipped. Apparently he's in a hurry to sell) and couldn't pass it up. I originally wanted a MOMO piece but all their shift ***** are either the ball-style (not a fan) or really flashy looking. The Saleen **** should be the perfect mix of "that didn't come in the car" and clean, subtle styling (okay, maybe a 6-pt roll bar with door bars, fixed-back racing seats, 5-pt harnesses, suede everywhere, and 7 gauges isn't that subtle lol) in a leather-wrapped package

I'll have pics when it's in the car... probably next week since I still have to paypal him the money, and he has to ship if from AZ.



Also, on an unrelated note, how well do you guys think carbon fiber could hold up to boost? We're talking like 20psi where the carbon fiber is concerned. I have an idea


*edit: picture of the shift **** in question. I forgot he posted a link to his CL ad in his for sale post on mustangforums

 

you always liked playing wtih my shift ****

 

w00t, **** will be shipped tomorrow from the looks of it. The best birthday present I ever bought myself

Also, I'm going to waste more money on stuff I hadn't planned for this year. I'm going to be ordering the leather e-brake boot, shift boot, and armrest cover sometime next week

*edit:

Just to note, I finally solved the exhaust routing problem, since a conventional routing will not only put ground clearance at the rear axle down to about an inch, but it would seriously f**k with the airflow under the car, rendering the belly pan pointless. It'll be fun; it involves cutting into the car . In a nutshell, I'm routing the exhaust along the driveshaft tunnel (to make more room for the belly pan), through where the rear seats are (they won't be there; I'm going to make a rear seat delete), into the trunk, and out the bottom of the trunk to a center-outlet exhaust where the center section of my rear bumper (the black part below the "Mustang" lettering) is. Also, the entire center section will be cut out. I'm going to be making a new one complete with a trimmed arch for the exhaust tips out of carbon fiber. I'm thinking of modifying (plastic welder and ABS) the original piece to be exactly the way I want the carbon fiber piece, then make a negative mold out of fiberglass, and use the negative mold to use for the final piece. Depending on how much of a PITA I decide carbon fiber work is (I've done fiberglass, carbon fiber is pretty much the same thing, but I (as of now, anyway) have not had the chance to play with carbon fiber), I may or may not make a rear diffuser out of carbon fiber after the first version is done. Also, I've decided I'm going to go with what I thought of earlier this week. Part of the intake tubing (between the intercooler and supercharger inlet, after the BOV. Basically, the part of the piping you'll be able to see when you look under the hood) will be hand-made from carbon fiber. But what I can't decide is what kind of carbon fiber. I could go with normal graphite carbon fiber, but there's several weaves to choose from. Then there's carbon kevlar, in which case I have to choose color. Right now I'm between red/black carbon Kevlar, orange/black carbon Kevlar, and yellow/black carbon Kevlar. To be honest, I'm leaning towards either orange and black or yellow and black, I'm probably going with orange.



Yeah, it's pretty sexy


And here's the section I was talking about (since I know half of you have no clue what I'm talking about and all of you are too lazy to go back and look at other pics lol) where the center exhaust will be:

 

Another bump because I might not be getting the boots just yet. There's a guy selling a '99 Cobra front bumper for $100+ shipping, but he's in MO, so shipping on a bumper would probably be close to $100. Still, that's $100 less than '99 cobra fronts usually go for before they're shipped. It's black, but I'll probably rattle-can it until next summer (Jack's going to hate me for having half the car rattle-canned by the time he gets to it... he's going to have fun getting it prepped for real paint. Actually, who am I kidding? I'm going to be hating myself for it when I end up helping him to get it done faster lol). Chances are he'll ship it through Greyhound, which works for me since there's a Greyhound station here in lexington

Updates as I get more information. I'm currently second in line for the bumper; hopefully the first guy backs out. I'd way rather have a cobra front than leather shift/e-brake boots and an armrest cover lol


*edit: Okay, looks like I'm not getting the bumper. As it turns out, it's the rear bumper (he didn't specify, and I saw what I wanted to see in the text I guess). I mean, who cares about 99/01 cobra rear bumpers? It's exactly like mine except it says "Cobra", not "Mustang" lol. Anyway, I'll find out what's going on with the shift boot, e-brake boot, and armrest cover in the next day or two. The shift **** won't be here for another week and a half; he shipped it to my paypal address (my parents house), so I need to wait for my parents to ship it down to me. Hopefully the boots and **** get here at about the same time. I'll probably order the boots monday if I don't order them over the weekend.

 

Third bump for more post-whoring.

I'll be getting the shift **** on the 31st, I'll probably have installed pics on the 1st. After that weekend, I'll be ordering the shift boot, e-brake boot, and armrest cover.

Also, I decided that instead of searching forever and spending $300+ and the cost of shipping for an OEM 99/01 cobra front, I might as well just get an '00 Cobra R front and be done with it; the one I'm looking at is a urethane Cervini's piece for just under $500 (pretty much the cost of an OEM bumper shipped if I'd get one with fogs and bezels). I'll strengthen the built-in splitter, as well as somehow incorporate it into the rest of the belly pan. I'm also thinking maybe do a removable carbon fiber overlay of the splitter just to make it look a little better, but i'm not sure about it yet.

Here's the front bumper I'm talking about:


Cervini's actually uses the same molds that produced the original 2000 Cobra R parts, so I'm getting the same aero/downforce benefits as the real '00R (only I'll have a good bit more aero work done on mine lol). I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the '00R wing I'm getting will be Cervini's also. I couldn't find any real numbers, but what I could find was the splitter is a 10-fold decrease in front lift, and the spoiler gives a 3-fold increase in rear downforce. That's good enough for me

 

Not a big fan of the looks of that bumper, but as long as it's functional, i like it

 

I think that bumper looks great. And it's even better since it is actually functional.

 

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the splitter on the bumper, either, but like I said, Cervini's uses the old Ford molds, so I'll be getting actual benefits from it. Even the guys with real '00Rs (all 300 of them lol) have to reinforce the splitter to see real results, so I'll definitely be doing that. I think it'll help the 00R hood and spoiler look more in place with the 00R front, too, so that won't hurt. What I might do (if I don't do the carbon fiber overlay) is paint the splitter black so it sort of looks like a chin spoiler. I'm trying to find a picture of it, I know I saw a guy do it on 3.8Mustang.

And for making it even more functional, I think I'll get the fogs and bezels, get 3000K HIDs for the fogs, and use the other hole in the bezels to direct air to the radiator. I figure the radiator's going to need all the air it can get with a huge FMIC in front of it lol.


I'll edit this when I find a picture of what I'm talking about.

*edit: not what I was looking for, but this is related. I know I've been talking about center outlet exhaust and I'm sure we're not all on the same level with what I have in mind. Here's a general idea of what it's going to look like (I'll be shaving the rear exhaust outlets and "Mustang" lettering on my current bumper when I do this):



Now, my exhaust is going to be higher up so the bottoms of the tips will be above the bottom of the bumper to fit the diffuser. Also, the black section will be carbon fiber with vents for the side scoops to exit through (like I said, I'm going to channel the air through the car and out the rear bumper to create a "self-drafting" effect) Also, I'm sure it'll look a lot better with the rear diffuser in place, too. Anyway, another edit as soon as I can find the picture of the 00R front I was thinking of.

*edit #2: Found it (finally):


I think it looks a lot better than it being straight-up one color. I think I'll do mine in semi-flat black like the one in the picture there.


Also, after seeing this picture, I will never say anything about the 00R bumper not being sexy



I also just found something by Steeda. It's an 00R splitter for the 03-04 cobra bumper. The 03-04 bumper has a little bigger openings, meaning more airflow to the intercooler and radiator, and it looks generally the same (not to mention it's not hard to find 03-04 cobra bumpers for sale, and reproduction bumpers are easy as hell to find). I'm not sure which one I want. Here's a pic of the 03-04 bumper with the splitter:


I'm leaning towards just getting an 00R bumper and being done with it (it flows a little better anyway; more angular), but like I said, the 03-04 bumper can provide a little more airflow to the radiator/FMIC. How much more is under debate though. I'll probably get the 00R bumper though. $670 for the 03-04 bumper and the splitter is a little steep for a tiny bit more airflow.

 

Oh my God. What's this? I actually have the money to buy something that gives me a reason to bump this? That's right, as I type this I'm in the process of ordering my custom leather shift boot, e-brake boot, and armrest cover. Black leather, charcoal stripe (where the stitching is) and red stitching.

Pics when they get here and I actually have internet access.

 

should match nicely.