I know just about none of you guys know who I am, but to see more about my car, check out my IG @kline2012.
Well, let's start off with the backstory. I've owned this car for about 5 years now, and it is the 2nd mustang I've owned. I sold the mustang I had before this one, and regretted it so much that I had to buy another. This car has meant more to me than just about anything in this world for a lot of different reasons, but the biggest reason is that it saved my life. In 2012-2013, I went through a depression that almost killed me. I couldn't eat which caused me to lose 47lbs of weight that I really didn't have to lose, and also triggered a few suicidal thoughts with failed attempts. This car was my distraction from that depression.
At the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014, I had decided that I needed to relocate myself in an attempt to grow up, and become an adult. With the helpful advice from some of members on this site, at 20 years old I ended up moving from the mountains of Asheville NC, to the oilfields of Odessa TX. There, I met up with and became roommates with another member of the forum, Andrew Clark, and began my life away from home. I lived there for 2 full years, and during that time I was able to get the larger part of this expensive process completed, but absolutely none of it went smoothly. Everything that could possibly go wrong, did.
I wanted this build to be as thorough as possible, and just about all of the work was completed by me in our 2 car garage with a jack & 4 jack stands, a walmart socket set, a cherry picker and some mechanic gloves lol. I stripped the car of everything but the doors and a few body panels. The 2v, transmission, interior, fuel system, and every single wire on the car was pulled and sold/trashed until it was almost a bare frame; and I started from scratch.
I didn't have a donor car to pull parts from, so every part was tracked down individually and purchased separately. I tracked down an 03 cobra engine and transmission, that came with an engine harness and an ECU, but no blower, with 80k miles on it. I then found a mint eaton that only had 7,000 miles (if I remember correctly), and added that to the pile. Then I started searching on the internet for wiring harnesses, and found a vendor on eBay that does nothing but part out mustangs, and was able to get all of those. But my exhaust components, fuel system, and other miscellaneous stuff new. So far so good, right?
Well, the down hill slide began when I took the car to get it painted. I had posted on multiple local pages in Odessa asking where the best place to take the car to would be, and everybody said the same guy. So, thats where I went. The car was already completely disassembled when I brought it to him, and could have been painted in less than 2 weeks if the guy had wanted to. Almost 3.5 months later, I found myself in a legal situation, trying to recover my car, and all of the body parts I had taken to be painted. What I got back was he sorriest excuse of a paint job anyone has ever seen. He didn't prep the car at all, and sprayed it in a dirty and dusty shed, (not the shop I had dropped it off at,) and on top of that, the paint he used was house paint. Not automotive. It was an absolute disaster. Before any legal action could be taken, the man literally shut down his shop and disappeared.
So I finally got the car back home, and had assessed/accounted for all of the damage/missing/broken parts. A total repaint was a must, but I was running out of time and needed to get the car reassembled (had a time scheduled with a performance shop for them to finish buttoning it up, and getting it dyno tuned). I began putting the car back together piece by piece. Rewired the body, dash, engine bay, etc. with all of the cobra harnesses, and then dropped the drivetrain in. It was was time to take it to the performance shop.
Welllllllll, I arrived at the performance shop in Victoria TX, 7 hours away from Odessa. I had high hopes and expectations, because I was told that this guy was one of the best. He'd built GTR's, vettes, and multiple other mustangs, and was going to get mine going in no time, or so I was told. While he had the car there, he would send "progress pictures" and parts lists of things he was needing to get everything completed. In response, I was sending him money for everything he was saying he needed. 5 months go by, and by this point he isn't communicating with me at all anymore, and progress pictures stopped coming. Finally, he responded to me when I told him I was going to come pick up the car, and was bringing cops. We got in a heated argument, but it was settled that I was coming to get it. When I arrived the next day, I discovered that NO work had been completed. All of the pictures he was sending me of the engine bay with the blower mounted, and pictures of the fuel system/wired up, consisted of the blower just sitting on top of the engine unmounted, and the pumps just sitting inside the tank with the wiring twisted and crimped together but leading no where. On top of that, the car smelled like an ashtray on the inside. All of the parts he said he had ordered were no where to be found, and the car was in worse condition than it was when I took it to him. At this point, I'm completely defeated and back to square 1.
To make this long story a lot shorter, I was able to work out a way for my good buddies Bobby Scherker and Tyler Kleer to team up and repaint the car, at Tyler's shop in KY. The guys did an awesome job, and I will never be able to thank them enough. The white wasn't intended originally, but I will rock it for a while until I get bored again, and switch all of the white accents to black. For now though, I love the way it sits. Seeing the car with a proper paint job was one of the most exciting days throughout this entire build. While the car was in KY, I took it to my best friends at Kennedy's Performance for them to finish the work that the previous shop had never started.
When I finally got the word that the car was ready to be started up and dyno tuned, I drove back up to KY to pick it up, and took it to Lee Blankenship. Lee turned off the PATS, uploaded a start up tune, turned the key, and it actually started. For about 2 seconds I realized that all of my hard work had paid off, and the car actually ran. But my little celebration was cut short when we heard the knocking. Pulled the plug from cylinder #8, and recovered what appeared to be an alan wrench or a lock washer. Come to find out, the shop who had before had sabotaged the engine, it was f***ed.
That same day, I took the car back to Kennedy's, where it still remains today, to start the rebuilding process. After it was pulled back apart they found that the piston was demolished, it lifted the head, the cylinder wall was scorched, and the block was cracked. It was time to build it back better than ever!
Today is the day that I finally gathered up the last bit of money to pay for last bit of this rebuild, and once they finish the machine work and reassembly, Ill be able to pick the car up and drive it for the first time in 2 years. I'm so excited and nervous at the same time, but for once, I am able to trust the hands that are working on it, and know it will be done right.
The car isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it's just the way I wanted it. Most say they liked it better when it was red, but none of them had seen it while it was. There wasn't a body panel on that car that matched lol. I am proud of where the car is, and the work that has gone into it. I also apologize for this write up. I am at work, and people keep coming into the office distracting me. It's a lot to try to remember and put into words, and this barely put a dent in it. There were so many different events leading up to today, but these were just the key points.
Here are some before and after photos showing the color and the engine. I've got hundreds of progress photos showing the process in its entirety. Including the photos the first shop sent me, and the photos of the first paint job. I might update this thread at a later date with all of those.
Thanks for reading along if you did!
Mod list:
Suspension:
Airride tech bags w/ accuair managment
Eibach pro rear struts
Bilstien front struts
Maximum motorsports caster camber plates
Exhaust:
1 3/4" kooks l/t's w/3" collectors
3" to 2.5" kooks off road x
2.5" slp lm1's
Engine:
mishimoto radiator
ported eaton
2.76 upper
4lb lower
SCT-BA2600 MAF
CP pistons
ARP rod bolts
ARP head studs
ARP main studs
Calico coated rod bearings
Calico coated main bearings
Calico coated piston tops and skirts
Anodized spark plug inserts
Degreed stock cams
Fuel System:
Return style
Dual walbro 255's w/ Fore hat
10an feed 8an return
Fore fuel rails
Braided stainless lines
XRP fittings
60lb injectors
Miscellaneous:
3.73 gear
pro 5.0 short throw
solid rear
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