Jmeo's 2020 Shelby American GT500 SE Wide Body Build (+ "Phase 2")

[Jmeo]

Congrats on the wins Jaime. It was great meeting you and seeing your amazing Shelby in the sheet metal. Pictures do not come close to letting folks see the work that was put into your car. It is truly a work of art.

It was great to meet you as well. You are so right about pictures not doing this car justice. I am glad you got to see it in person

Great pics and Congrats on the awards Jaime, well deserved!

Much appreciated, thanks!

Congrats on the wins Jaime. Well deserved.
Have a safe trip home brother.

12 hours down today, 4 more tomorrow

Thanks Tony!

 

[Jmeo]

I spent the last two days raising the car. It was so low that it hit everything, but the lottery.

The instructions for the suspension states a 40mm gap between the two pieces of adjuster is +/- 5mm the same height as stock, a 20mm gap is +/- 5mm a 7/8" drop form stock, and no gap is +/- 5mm a 1.75" drop. The car came from Shelby with no gap (1.75" drop) in the front, and a 20mm gap (7/8" drop) in the rear. WAY too low for off the race track driving.

I adjusted the fronts +20mm (0 to 20mm), and the rear +10mm (20mm to 30mm) to give me some clearance, while still keeping a rake.

Here are the results:

The camber was also too aggressive for grocery getting. The fronts were at -2, and the rears were at -3! The tires woulda been junk in no time. I set the front to -1, and the rear to -1.7, which is pretty much a street alignment. I tried to get a picture of how much better the rear looks with the tires sitting mostly flat on the ground, but the image proved hard to capture.

Lastly, a shameless pose with the two awards she picked up at Mustang week

Edited to add:

Now that the camber is perfect, I need to decide if I want to get 8mm, 10mm, or 12mm spacers to push the wheels out a bit. I’m leaning towards 12mm in the front, and 8mm in the rear……

 

[shogun32]

looks WAY better. 0.75-1.25" should be the goal IMO. If the adjuster is awkward, your neighborhood machinist can turn a chunk of AL to mate with the spring and the adjuster and give you back some of your adjustment range. About 20mm thick should do it.

 

[Jmeo]

looks WAY better. 0.75-1.25" should be the goal IMO. If the adjuster is awkward, your neighborhood machinist can turn a chunk of AL to mate with the spring and the adjuster and give you back some of your adjustment range. About 20mm thick should do it.

Are we talking rear camber? The street Setting for a CFTP car is -1.70 in the rear. My car is pretty much the snack pack height in the rear, and a smidge lower in the front. That’s why I went with the CFTP camber settings.

Secondly, you lost me on what you were describing. There is plenty of adjustment (up & down) left in the adjusters as they sit now.

 

[shogun32]

Secondly, you lost me on what you were describing. There is plenty of adjustment (up & down) left in the adjusters as they sit now.

I'm talking about ride height. The spacer idea is only if you end up having to use more of the adjuster in the future and you don't want it sitting at the top of it's range.

 

[Jmeo]

I'm talking about ride height. The spacer idea is only if you end up having to use more of the adjuster in the future and you don't want it sitting at the top of it's range.

Got ya, makes sense now. The front adjuster is as 1/2 way, and the rear at 3/4 of the way, so I’m good

 

[Stage_3]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Jmeo]

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but I met up with a photographer while at Mustang Week for a photo......

 

[kilobravo]

..but the image proved hard to capture.

Jaime: Personally...I think she looks PERFECT now rear to front. I honestly wouldn't mind having mine up a bit in the rear like the earlier 500's. :-) DAMN she looks good and the ONLY thing I think that could improve her further is window tint. <smiling> Get those side windows looking like the 5-piece rear, dark and sinister. <chuckling> But that's a SMALL thing compared to everything else. Those folks really have serious "attention to detail," enough to make any Marine Drill Instructor proud.

So I thought to ask the other day when I popped Sarah's deck lid...did you keep the same two deck struts after the mod? I am still of the opinion that two Steeda struts on the big wing lids would be too difficult to close easily, at least it would be for me. Heck, it's a pain with just one. :-) And the question for me is always, where is the best place to grab it when closing? Don't touch the back plate, don't touch the deck lid paint..etc.

 

[Jmeo]

Jaime: Personally...I think she looks PERFECT now rear to front. I honestly wouldn't mind having mine up a bit in the rear like the earlier 500's. :-) DAMN she looks good and the ONLY thing I think that could improve her further is window tint. <smiling> Get those side windows looking like the 5-piece rear, dark and sinister. <chuckling> But that's a SMALL thing compared to everything else. Those folks really have serious "attention to detail," enough to make any Marine Drill Instructor proud.

So I thought to ask the other day when I popped Sarah's deck lid...did you keep the same two deck struts after the mod? I am still of the opinion that two Steeda struts on the big wing lids would be too difficult to close easily, at least it would be for me. Heck, it's a pain with just one. :-) And the question for me is always, where is the best place to grab it when closing? Don't touch the back plate, don't touch the deck lid paint..etc.

Morning buddy! I had the side windows dark, but just 3 weeks a go had all the windows changed to XPel ceramic 35%. I used to think it looked better really dark, but honestly I like the way it looks better now. I like how inside details can be seen through the tint, especially being able to see a bit through the quarter windows. Otherwise they blend in and just look like the regular windows.

The main reason I did this at first is because I had my entire windshield 50% tinted, and i didn't want it to look too dark, due to all the other windows being dark. Then once I saw it in person, I realized that I like the subtle details of the lighter tint better. That and the windshield is my favorite part now, and i can never not have a tinted windshield now. Anywho, just a personal preference, and we all have ours. Thanks for the kind words!


I am using the Steeda lift strut you sent me on the drivers side (thanks again buddy). What I do is, place my finger tips between the bumper and the deck panel to open it, and put my fingers on the trunk itself (between wing and trunk lid) to close it. This way I am not pulling on the wing, and nor marring up the very scrunchable deck lid. Very easy to wipe finger prints off the paint

 

[WD Pro]

Another option to help it on its way :

WD

 

[Bikeman315]

Very easy to wipe finger prints off the paint

On no you don't!

 

[Jmeo]

Another option to help it on its way :

WD

I have seen these before, but forgot where. Any links to buy them would be greatly appreciated

 

[Jmeo]

On no you don't!

I have my wife carry one in her pocket book for that very reason, lol. Mine's too full.....

 

[WD Pro]

I have seen these before, but forgot where. Any links to buy them would be greatly appreciated

I made them, check these posts :

Done the legwork for easy fitting of a boot pull.

Boot trim off, rivnut (threaded insert) and a stainless washer for the back. The strings so I can get them to mate without loosing the washer inside the boot :

For anyone that doesn’t know what a rivnut setting tool looks like :

Fitted with a bit of red loctite under the head of the rivnut :

Replaces the push pins :

For anyone that’s interested, an M5 rivnut fits the factory push pin holes perfectly. The washer was an M6 repair washer drilled out to 8mm to provide a snug fit on the rivnut

WD

More eBay bits arrived today to make the trunk pulls :

Nothing to rattle, nothing to get trapped :

One on each side for good measure :

I couldn’t have the sub box missing out ...

Look a bit nicer than the originals :

Not sure why the originals needed grade 10.9 to hold a sub in place ... ?

Considering one part was painted in America and the other was anodised in China, the colour match didn’t work out to bad :

WD

On another note I’ve been asked about a shopping list for the boot pulls, bearing in mind I’m U.K. based, here it is :

2 x M5 rivnuts (these will fit into the push pin holes without modification to the boot skin). I had these in the garage so didn’t need to order.

2 x M6 stainless steel repair washers. Drill the holes out to 8mm to suit the outer diameter of the M5 rivnut. Don’t get M8 washers - the hole is larger than 8mm and it won’t be a snug fit on the rivnut which isn’t ideal. I had these in the garage so didn’t need to order.

2 x M5 x 20 (I think, they might have been a bit shorter, maybe 15 ?) stainless steel countersunk screws. I had these in the garage so didn’t need to order.

16mm webbing (eBay part number for what I ordered = 141829977842). Chop this to a length that suits you. Melt holes in it. Seal the ends with heat to stop fraying. Squash the melts flat before they cool. Make sure they fit neatly under the next item.

2 x M5 x 16 countersunk ally washers in a colour of your choice (eBay part number for what I ordered = 274342448458). I bought a pack of five.

So a bit of messing around sorting bits from different places but cheap and with what I believe to be a nice look. Less than £10 for enough to make multiple pull straps

If anyone is interested in the matching sub box mounts :

2 x M8 x 30 stainless steel countersunk screws.

2 x M8 x 25 countersunk ally washers in a colour of your choice (eBay part number for what I ordered = 274342430924). I bought a pack of five. Note that this size of washer is larger than the Ford fitted item so it will give you a bit of tolerance to line the box up a little better if Ford fitted it on the piss and hide the indentations left in the plastic mounts from the original washers.

Hope that helps

WD

WD