I've seen their rootbeer on an EG in Honda Tuning... absolutely sick color. But I want to keep the mustang either orange or red (since it's sort of both right now lol). I was originally thinking maybe doing orange flake in the clear, since it'd really shine in the sunlight, but I decided on gold since it'll brighten up the color and really pop in the sunlight.

Anyway, I've been toying with a lot of ideas today (like I said, slow day at work... gave me lots of time to think lol). I'm thinking about caging the trunk to protect the fuel cell in case I get rear-ended, but I'm not sure about it since it'd reduce my rear crumple zones.

I also decided what I'm going to do with the side scoops; I'm going to open them, and channel them to a pocket I'm going to design into the rear diffuser where the pumpkin is. The air will be used to cool the differential; basically, I'm creating a sort of artificial airflow around the pumpkin, like there would be if the car didn't have the under-body panel. From there, the airflow will be ducted on either side of the center-exit exhaust to run above it, to the small area above where the exhaust will be (the small angled area immediately above the black panel on my rear bumper). It will stick out slightly, so the top and bottom of the vent are plumb. It'll also help make the center exhaust look a little better since I'm going to be using the exhaust tips I have now, which are slant-cut. I think what I'm going to do is try to source a cheap v6 rear bumper to make a cardboard mock-up of what I plan on doing to give you guys (as well as myself) a better idea of how it's going to look.

Speaking of the rear diffuser, I decided to widen the design since I won't have the exhaust in the way. The design will now have the area immediately behind the wheels blocked off to keep turbulent air from the wheel wells from washing over to the "clean" air of the diffuser. It will have the center section boxed out, the bottom being level with the fins (it'll be part of the lower section that will house the pumpkin, I'm just going to extend it to the rear of the car to avoid having to better engineer the diffuser to re-attach the air that I'm sure would separate from the boundary layer after the pumpkin... again, the 15-degree angle thing I've mentioned). It will have two fins on each side between the outside and the lower center section. Also, the flat part of the diffuser will extend past the natural curve of the bumper to be even with the part of the bumper at the wheel well. The idea is that it will (hopefully) act as sort of a rear splitter. Even if it doesn't do anything for air flow (theoretically it will, but without a wind tunnel I have no way of knowing. My general assumption (yes, I'm assuming) is that it will help avoid possibly turbulent air from washing over to the diffuser)), it'll add to the aggressive look of the car

And the last thing I was thinking about is how I'm going to route the wastegate dumps. As I've said before, I'm dumping them to the atmosphere. I'm now trying to think of the most efficient place to dump them. If I have them exit where I originally planned, I can fit a small catalytic converter on them (mellowing out the tone and making myself feel better about the environment at the same time). The downfall is that I'll be running at least three feet of extra exhaust tubing on either side of the car. I'm not worried about cost at the moment (as I've already hinted that this project will take quite a few years), but I am concerned with how much of a PITA it will be to get the tight bends perfect. The wastegate dumps will be heat-wrapped (like the rest of the exhaust), and I'll be insulating the inside of the fender where the dumps will be routed, so I'm not worried about heat as much. Of course, I don't actually know what's underneath my fenders (I know some wiring and my cruise control module), so I might have to wait until next spring when I do the body work to find out. If it comes down to it, I'll delete the cruise control; I never use it anyway.


Thoughts/opinions/concerns?

 

HOK does rule... but be sure to find a good shop to lay it down since it can be tuff to apply!!!!!!!!
i originally planned to go HOK on my old impala but after i ruined and wasted a quart screwing up the overlay and i went with another type of paint that was alot easier to lay out!

 

Like I've said before, I'll be driving up to New York to have my friend Jack spray the car. He went to Wyotech for collision/refinishing, and he's d*mn good with bodywork and painting. I have faith in his ability. At any rate, with how much money everything I'll need for the paint job will cost, he better get it right lol

 

ya just cross your fingers! when done right there paint just...... well hard to describe... just pure sex!
well worth the money when its layed out and buffed out so smooth!

 

Well, I talked to Jack today about how confident he was in being able to spray HoK paint with burnt lime and flake in the clear, and his response was "Its paint lol i can handle it", so I'm thinking he's pretty confident that he can get it laid down correctly.

The paint iteslf isn't a tri-coat, but after talking to him, we agreed it's going to be sprayed as a tri-coat just because of the burnt lime and gold flake added to the clear; once the car is primered and sealed, the color will be laid down, followed by clear coat with the burnt lime and gold flake mixed in, followed by regular clear to smooth out the lines between the paint and carbon fiber (I'm going to be spending a ton of money on the paint, I don't want it half-a**ed). At the end of the week, I'll cover the front bumper, leading edge and top of the fenders, front half of the hood, side skirts, and the bottom edge of the sides of the rear bumper with 2-3 layers of painters tape (I'm not getting paint chips on a paint job that's only a few days old) and make the 12-hour drive back to Lexington. It should be a fun week though... a nice, long road-trip followed by a week of catching up with some friends.

Anyway, I picked up some detailing products today while I was at wal-mart getting a few groceries. Came home with Meguiars interior protectant, leather wipes, clay bar kit, and wax, as well as some Titanium tire wet and some generic cotton cloths (for the interior protectant). I still need at least two buckets (I'll probably get a 3rd), a sponge, some Meguiars car wash, a tire brush, and some (a lot of) microfiber towels. This coming weekend, I'm going to town on the car with a full detailing. If I feel up to it, I might do a photoshoot Sunday, but I'm not sure. It's occurred to me that the camera I have, while good for normal use, does the car no justice, and I'll need to upgrade to a better camera, various lenses (fisheye is a must), and a tripod in the near future. After I get the suspension finished and get a good camera, expect a photoshoot at least once a month

*edit: also, this weekend I plan on getting some rubberized undercoating and some sandpaper; I'm going to sand the gas tank straps down and polish them, and spray the undercoating on the gas tank cover. The gas tank is going to be pulled next spring (trunk-mounted fuel cell), but I figure I might as well spend an hour on making it look good this weekend while I'm working on the car anyway.

 

Okay, two things. First, I drew a rough sketch of what I'm thinking for the rear diffuser in mspaint. Obviously being mspaint, the picture sucks, but it should give you guys a good idea of what we're looking at here. Once I get my hands on a cheap rear bumper, I can make a mock-up and start on V1 of the carbon fiber centerpiece (since it's probably going to be the most complicated (technicality and complication are two different things) piece I'll have to mold.



(A) is where the differential ducts are going to be vented
(B) is the differential tunnel
(C) is one of the blocks I was talking about to keep turbulent air from washing over to the diffuser


And speaking of air flow to and past the rear diff, I got to thinking. The GT side scoops I have only stick out about an inch; that's barely past the boundary layer, so they won't be flowing too much air. What I think I'm going to do (in addition to opening up the side scoops and ducting them to the pumpkin) is get a pair of Agent 47 quarter windows. They replace the glass with ABS plastic with a NACA duct in each window. For the sake of saving my blind spots, I'll probably only put one on (I haven't decided which side it's going on yet. I need to make a note of what quarter window I look through most). For those that haven't heard of it, the NACA duct is an extremely low-drag, but highly efficient duct design that pulls a great deal of fairly high-velocity air. It's used on everything from ferraris to jet fighters, so you can safely bet it's a tried and true design. Here's a quick pic of the ones I'm looking at:



(Images taken from AmericanMuscle.com)

 

Dont you think that only having 1 window replacement would look odd?

 

Yeah, but it's one of those "It's not pretty but it works" kind of deals; being able to see out of one quarter window is better than not being able to see out of them at all. I still might throw both of them on, but I'd like to keep as much visibility as possible seeing as how the car will be driven regularly.

 

If it were me I would put it on the driver side (if not puttin on both) becuase if you have to check your blind spot you can always stick your head out the window real quick and check.

 

So is that drag really that big of a deal for daily driving???