Lightning Blue GT Build

After seeing a few post on member builds I thought it would neat to document my build and share ideas and progress as the days, months and years pass. By no means is this a show car or anything sponsored. Infact its my daily driver in the south. It sees all the elements, including the occasional snow shower.

A quick background story as this is my second S550. The original one I bought on Easter Weekend 2015 in North Georgia after trading in my S197 with about every bolt on you could imagine affixed to her. I was torn between a '14 California special heavily discounted but brand new and the brand new S550. After a quick test ride on some back mountain roads I was sold on the S550.

Unfortunately that was short lived and just a few weeks after I brought her home she started having engine issues. A long trial by fire ensued and eventually the engine was replaced at just north of 6500 on the odo. After another few months the car's performance spiraled due to mechanical issues ultimately leading me to lemon the vehicle. I was pretty torn, a long time Mustang fan I started looking at other platforms for a replacement vehicle; maybe even a truck - to hell with performance cars I thought. After some back and forth I decided to give it one more shot. I placed my DORA in late October 2016 and on 12/5/17 she arrived!

'17 Lightning Blue
GT PP
6MT
401A
Recaro Seats
Security/Reverse Assist

The original trade in - 2011 mustang GT.


The last picture I took of the Lemon'd S550.


First picture of the new one - 8.8 miles on odometer; tags, stickers, and whatnut still on her. Covered in dirt and grime, just as I requested. I had quick plans for the paint.


It wasn't too long until I went and had a friend apply ceramic coating on. The last S550 being black was a scratch queen and I needed to do what I could to stop that from happening ASAP. She had just about 85 miles on her when the coating went on.


A few weeks passed until I had more time; but then the mod game began. With the old one having so many mechanical issues I stray from engine mods. To me, it has enough power at the moment. This also enables me to do all the work. However, started with the big stuff.

Roof wrapped black at a local shop in Atlanta. Phenomenal duo.


Immediately after I shot up to North Atlanta and had Oasis tint all but the front windshield. If you're in town and want quality no issue tint, speak to Clark at Oasis tint in Alpharetta.



The next day began the work I could manage. Started with the easy stuff! Installed Anchor Room's side marker smoked tint.


Moved onto the installation of something I've wanted to do for some time. I've never joined the ranks, but respect their efforts in today's society - especially down here in Atlanta.


From there it was time for the sound tube to go. Having never done this I had my printed instructions from this forum, some Gatorade and patience. It turns out my hands are small enough to snake down behind the engine and gently pull the assembly off the bolt. Never had to ratchet or rip anything.


Keeping the pace with cosmetics I began prep on the engine cover and coil covers. This one was going to be different. Generally I do a single color with inverse lettering of some sort. I searched for lightning blue paint but it didnt exist. So i decided to make my own. Started with a good base coat of adhesion promoter, followed by a silver flake leading to an anodized blue ending with a few coats of clear. All in there are probably 10-12 layers on the assembly. With the sun out yesterday these pictures do not do it justice. There is a very slick glimmer to it from the silver flake base.





From there the sun started to go down, so we backed her into the garage and began work on the suspension. Currently I simply have Eibach sport lines with Boomba vertical links. Coming from the stock links on the '15 the amount of wheel hop removal is pretty nice thanks to those links.

Buddy helping me on the front. It IS on jack stands. I always leave the jack on the K member or pumpkin with low pressure in case a stand fails.


Quick beer break with the rears going in/vertical links.


Up next is the installation of a GT350R wing I purchased back when I owned the 15. Luckily, I never installed it. However, here is a shot of it mocked up on the rear. Glad I decided to paint it black not knowing what the future held!




Update 2/2/17

So I finally got up the never with the help of a friend and began the tedious process of installing this spoiler. This was probably one of the more creative things I have ever done in order to get a spoiler like this on. Hopefully my journey can help those with the same spoiler, or similar concerns on install!


So before we started we had some planning. primiarly to make sure we had the right bits and tools once we started putting holes in the trunk. Secondly, we had to figure out how to locate the darn thing. Ultimately we came up with the picture below...I will explain whats going on here
.


For starters I had to locate 8 holes into my decklid with a final size of 0.250". The spoiler, made by HCM, though a nice make, had a horrible, horrible template for install. So as the Marines say - adapt and overcome.

So we started off with plan A - use double sided tape, poke holes through the drill points and turn upside on the trunk. Kind of a failure, holes were not precise enough and the tape moved as we tried pulling up on it. I did not feel confident at all when I drilled the holes would line up.

Enter plan B - plastic strips, with wall hangers trimmed to fit inserted into the holes of the spoiler. Crafty, right? We then hot glued them to the adjourning plastic strip. Short of injection molded plastic, this'll do. From there we turned it upside down and located it on the trunk. Took some measurements from the body lines of the car and taped it down. Carefully, and I mean carefully we lifted the spoiler up revealing the hot glued locator pins. We had our marks, finally.

Knowing when i hit it with my 0.30 pilot hole I would most likely break the glue bond, so I painted red around the circumference of the wall hanger to keep my zero when this inevitably happened. From there we broke them off and began drilling. Working in the aviation industry we do a lot of drilling into metal. Its pretty common practice to drill a hole 3-4 times until you reach your final hole size. For this one I started with a 0.30" pilot, then a 0.156", to a 0.218" and ended at the final size, 0.250". I then countersunk and de-burred the lower. Annodized the holes and let it dry while we prepped for install.

This shot is before countersink/deburr. It was a nervous ride getting to this point!


From there we mocked up the spoiler and began installing the bolts. Unfortunately with this product you have to really do some drilling on the inside of your trunk. This is to get the bolts and associated ratchet in. Fortunately I had this kit with me. It made fast work of the metal and allowed me to step it up consistently to a 7/8" hole. It was about 20$ on amazon. I'll later plug them with sheet metal caps for an OEM look.




Despite our best efforts of having a vacuum running while drilling, a massive amount of metal still managed to get between the two layers of the trunk making a hell of a sound. Luckily, there are two taped holesat the bottom of the trunk. With it wide open and the tape removed we had the bright idea to use a magnet and fish the junk out. Worked like a charm! Took about 20 passes but its all out.



From there all we had to do was bolt up the spoiler to the mated holes. And bingo! all 8 were dead on. To ensure we were good I hit them with some locktite and applied marine RTV around the seals to prevent any leakage. Let cure for 24hrs and took her out. No problems, except for rear view mirror troubles. Ha.



Upnext?

- Steeda Jacking Rails
- Redline Hood Struts
- Mishimoto Expansion Tank
- RTR front grille (no lights)
- Lightning Blue Howler Badge


I look forward to what this build brings and even more so the friends and family I will make as time passes because of this platform.


Thanks for reading!

2/2/17 - Updated to include spoiler install!

The hairs on my neck stood up when I saw those holes on your trunk, but awesome job!

Who did the roof wrap application for you, and how much did it cost, if you dont mind me asking. I just picked up a lightning blue also and have been considering this.

Tokki said:

The hairs on my neck stood up when I saw those holes on your trunk, but awesome job!

Who did the roof wrap application for you, and how much did it cost, if you dont mind me asking. I just picked up a lightning blue also and have been considering this.

Click to expand...

Mentally, it was touch and go during the drill process thats for sure! But in the end the 'ole measure twice cut once saved the day.

I had my wrap done at "sir wraps" in Powder Springs. Check them out, cost me just about 200 for everything.

Also, check out the ATL S550 group on facebook. A bunch of mustang enthusiast who would be glad to help you with anything you may need! Hopefully see you there/at some meets.