Project: Clementine

Traded in my 15’ Jeep Wrangler JK for a 17’ base model GT when the girlfriend gave me the “OK”, back in September. She had bought be things for the Jeep, and I told her I would feel bad trading it in, seeing as the stuff she got me were presents. But she said, “It’s okay, I know the 5.0 will make you happy and I can still get you stuff for the 5.0.”

Ultimately I want to use this thread to keep up with my build/progress and get feedback from the community. Looking to build this as the “ultimate drivers feel” for spirited and daily driving to my personal standards. HPDE and AutoX car is a 91’ MR2 Turbo that is currently out of commision due to suspension rebuild, slowly being rebuilt and upgraded due to searching for parts. So the Mustang won’t see much the track much, maybe 2 or 3 HPDE days a year at most.

Started with the handling aspect first by upgrading the suspension. Decided to go with full on BMR, due to highly appreciated reviews and feedback from what I read in the forums. After receiving their products in the mail, build quality is top notch and decided to stick with them from then on out. Went with Koni, since that’s what I ran in all 3 of my MR2s, so no doubt there when I found out that Koni was an option for the S550. Girlfriend got the entire set this past Christmas, she wasn’t lying when she said, “I can still buy you stuff for the 5.0.” I have the front set at “0.25” turn from full stiff and the rear “0.50” turn from full stiff -- took me 2 weeks to adjust it just right, the ride is perfect for me, no more sketchy “bunny hops” when hitting dips on highway at speed. The car now handles much much better over stock, you have a lot more turn in input with the swaybar added. Car is setup to oversteer, just my personal preference due to the MR2 driving style. Not to mention, the rear end feels A LOT more solid with CB005 and TCA047 added. Overall, I have a lot more drivers feel than before. Rear end “skips” mid turn and sometimes when powering out of the turn, but I’m sure that’ll be fixed when the 18x10 wheels and 285/40 tires go on. Car is still on stock square setup with 18x8 +40 and 235/50 sadly, alignment currently right now is:

Front Camber: 0* total
Front Toe: 0* total
Caster: can’t remember total number off the top of my head, but it’s like 8.14* on both sides if I remember correctly.

Rear Camber: 2.2* on left and rear
Rear Toe: 0.24* (BMR toe links haven’t been put on yet, waiting to order control arms)
0.10* on left and 0.14* on right

Suspension:

• BMR (SP083R) Handling Springs
• BMR (SB043R) Front and Rear Sway Bars
• BMR (CB005R) IRS Cradle Bushing Lockout Kit
• BMR (TCA047) Aluminium Vertical Links
• BMR (CP001H) Caster/Camber Plates
• BMR (TR005R) Adjustable Rear Toe Links
• KONI Yellow Adjustable Struts; (Front and Rear)
• Steeda (555-4123) Adjustable Rear Camber Arms

Still deciding whether I want to go with Steeda’s adjustable control arms or BMR’s fixed arms to bring the rear camber closer to 0* -- Eventually going to run Enkei RPF1 18x10 +38 with 285/40 all around once the tread wears down on the stock tires. So idk just how much the BMR fixed arms will get me closer to 0*, when Steeda’s say they can give you up to +2* of camber. Rather keep it all BMR, but we’ll see.


Transmission/Drivetrain:

• MGW Race X-Spec Short Throw Shifter (w/shift knob)

To add more to the “ultimate drivers feel”, I purchased the MGW X-Spec with the lower profile shaft, to give me more the MR2 cabin feel. Was on edge between the Barton and MGW, but opted for the MGW since, to me anyway, it looked like the Barton “copied” the design from MGW. So I went with the original, not risking any install or hardware issues. I have nothing but good things to say about this shifter, the best way to describe the satisfaction from shifting gear to gear is like racking a bolt action rifle. It feels just that good.

Future Build Purchases:

• Kooks long tube headers.
• Corsa Xtreme.
• 350 Intake Manifold with 90mm TB (would love to see velocity stacks, seeing InnoV8s system for the coyote motor back in 2012, “good for 620hp and 450ft-lb and redline of 8,200rpm” is what they’re claiming, but not too much information on it or dyno sheets. But it sounds heavenly)
• JLT Intake
• Upgraded fuel system.
• Upgrade to 6-piston brakes (undecided on who to go with)
• Upgrade to a McLeod RST twin disc clutch and flywheel.
• Undecided tune, any suggestions? Might just take it to ATS racing who does all the tuning for MR2s in the DFW area.

Wanting to keep the Mustang all motor, aiming to get as close as possible to 500rwp with 430-ish ft-lb of torque on E85. I’ll be happy with that, but realistically -- I’ll probably be around 450rwhp and 420ft-lb on 91/93 octane (ballparking it) after seeing dyno sheets here on the forums. But it’s all relative to tune and tuner really.

But here’s a picture of how Clementine sits as of now, nothing too special. Exterior and Interior will come way after. Want to eventually get a pair of Sparco Evo2 and Watson 4-pt roll cage in it.



My current 91’ MR2 Turbo with a gt28rs turbo on 10psi with a stock overhauled 3SGTE (just fuel upgrades mainly) making a little over 300rwhp.



The black one was a 93’ NA stock (sold to a MR2OC member in Florida), the blue is a 91’ Turbo (sold to a buddy locally) with a CT26 w/upgraded 60mm compressor at 18psi at 350rwp also on a stock 3SGTE with fuel and cooling upgrades. The blue was taken from the Lexus LFA Pearl Blue when I had it repainted, love that color. The MR2s were sold due to the girlfriend saying it was unnecessary to have 3. The 370z was stock and used primarily as a DD, nothing special about it, ended up trading it in for the Jeep.

Nice work. Can't go wrong with the BMR suspension stuff in my opinion. You've got a solid start.

Looks great and you have a great focus on your project! Feel free to contact us for any needs, we offer our own MyCalibrator proprietary tunes/tuning software along with being a dealer for Kooks, McLeod, BMR etc...

Feel free to PM us or give us a call!

Just as a follow up, our Severe Windstorm bundle is a tune required CAI, MyCal tuner, and Evenflo thermostat package that adds 61 hp and 55 tq on 93 octane, all for $979.99!

From that point we can step up into exhaust packages and further products. If you'd like to talk prices, shoot me a pm or give me a call and we can discuss all other options, including the headers, clutch, fuel system and all other needs! Looking forward to hearing back from you and being involved in this project!

Livernois Motorsports said:

Just as a follow up, our Severe Windstorm bundle is a tune required CAI, MyCal tuner, and Evenflo thermostat package that adds 61 hp and 55 tq on 93 octane, all for $979.99!

From that point we can step up into exhaust packages and further products. If you'd like to talk prices, shoot me a pm or give me a call and we can discuss all other options, including the headers, clutch, fuel system and all other needs! Looking forward to hearing back from you and being involved in this project!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind once me and the girlfriend get settled into our new place towards the end of the year, that'll give me enough time to persuade her into letting me build the Mustang some more haha

**Update**

Installed the BMR Toe Links (TR005) Sunday afternoon along with the Steeda Rear Camber Arms (555-4123), both adjustable.

Both were a pretty straight forward install, although I must say the Camber Arms was a tedious install. There's no room for a ratchet when getting to the inner mount bolts of the arms, so I was turning maybe 1/8th of an inch every turn of that with a wrench. The passenger side has enough room for a ratchet though, so that was a breeze. "Install Tip": dab a little grease on the lockout tabs, otherwise they'll just keep falling out of the hole when trying to slide the bolt though. Per the instructions of Steeda, you have to install the bolts reverse of how you pulled them out? I didn't see why, so I just put them in the way I took em out. The BMR toe links were a straight forward install, didn't run into any problems there.

Here's some photos comparing them to the OEM ones, wish I could've remembered to weigh them to see if there's a difference.





Pictures of them installed on the car, I adjusted it the best I could by eye.









Here are the final alignment specs, running the stock 18x8" wheels with 235/30 PZero tires -- figured I'd wait on the Enkei RPF1s for the time being and purchase the Corsa Extreme exhaust this summer or spring. I'll replace the stock Perelli's with 255/45 NT555 when the tread starts wearing down more. But for the time being, all the suspension components are done in my build aside from IRS bushings that'll come later down the road.

Update (11/12/2017)

Not much has happened, mainly a small interior "overhual." Decided to update it since its been awhile. Pictures and information of the installs will be below.

Added:
- Watson Racing 4-point Bolt in Roll Cage
- Sparco Evo2 Seat (driver only)
- Takata 6 Point Harness
- Truefiber Ducktail Spoiler
- Mickey Thompson "Street Comp" Tires (255/45/18 square set up)


Watson Racing's roll cage was a pretty simple install, but I think the the weight savings of deleting the backseat with putting in the roll cage is little to none -- if anything, they're almost the same weight. But I rather have safety vs a useless backseat. Plus, I don't like the idea of running a harness with just a harness bar. It was about a 4-6hr install with me and buds goofing around at the shop and switching back and forth from my mustang to my buddy's 2011 STI.






Sparco Evo2 Seats was as easy as changing an air filter. The only thing I had problems with were the seat rails, the way the seat is angled won't let you adjust the rails. I didn't have time to mess with it, so I ended up just pole positioning my seats to the seat mount and mounted it inside the car. I ended up pulling the seat harness and zip-tying it in a loop, then threw it under my bucket seat.

Always wanted a TAKATA harness, figured since I'm working a pretty good job now -- why not. So I went with the black Race-6 harness. Overall, it's a pretty good harness. I'm happy with it. You can use the factor seat belt with it, but it wasn't comfortable.






NOTE: You will need a 2.2ohm 1w resistor for the airbag sensor to turn off the airbag light and keep your seatbelt buckle sensor plugged in. Prior, I turned off the airbag beeping before I stripped the OEM seat down.

Truefiber Ducktail spoiler was a birthday present from my girlfriend, quality of it is great -- the only thing I have agaisnt it is that whoever buffed it, left swirls-galore in it. Easy fix though. Install was straight forward. They give you bolts, just used some red loctite on it.

Mickey Thomspon "Street Comp" tires, haven't really tested them yet. So far, they're okay being that it's been kind of cold in Texas and raining here and there. These were on sale at the same price for Nitto NT555 G2s for sizing of 255/45/18.

NOTE: OEM wheels on the 2017 are 18x9, NOT 18x8 -- meaning I could've gone 275/40 possibly.









Little Things I did to the car:
- Quick Bumper Release I got off Amazon, I broke the mounting tabs that clip into the retainer on the fender when I pulled the bumper off to make a template for a splitter. My bumper is in perfectly good shape, so I just bought these off Amazon and they work fine. I think they look like cheese-dick, but at least it used an alan head instead of phillips.



- Sound tube delete, I was hanging out at the shop and decided to spontaneously rip it out. Used a small radiator plug we had laying around the shop with foam tape around the tube, then put the plug over it, tightening it down with a worm clamp. Works fine and it was free. Still haven't plugged the hole on the firewall.



- Dremelled some of the honeycombs out of the grill, cause I was bored.



Nothing spectacular, just wanted to share with you guys since it's been awhile. Overall, I'm happy with it.