Thelma - 2018 GT Premium convert into a PP1

[shawn.m]

Walked by my pile of parts waiting to put on on car - no time yet.
Just finished putting on a wedding for only daughter. Right after the house remodel to get ready for wedding.

my wife asked me why I was bummed - told her straight faced - no time to modify the car.

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[shawn.m]

Another drive in mountains - so much fun

 

[shawn.m]

About to go down!
going to replace front springs and struts first, then sway bar, then k brace. Once that is all done - rear will get new rear springs, new sway bar, links, center bolt supports, cradle lock outs
hope is 4-6 hours in front - then 6-10 hours in rear. All to get ready for our driving vacation to Knab, UT

 

[BEERCHAMP]

Pic of rims ready to go on

Much better than the stock ones!

 

[shawn.m]

Much better than the stock ones!

OH YES ! The day we bought the car - my wife remarked that the stock 17" rims didn't fit the car.

 

[shawn.m]

Fronts done.
Turns out front was already a 32mm bar. Rear is a 20 and rear rear bar I have is 22, picture is what happens when you forget that strut bolts to knuckle are splined push in. Bent this wrench, then my 3/4 to 1/2 adapter. torque wrench snapped when i was tighten to 185ft. broke internals.

 

[shawn.m]

Fronts all together
struts and springs swapped - those splined struts bolts were a PITA. finally got a couple good swings with 5lb hammer to pop them out.
the BMR K brace was interesting - i had to bend one of the transmission lines a little bit. gap is only like 3/16 from brace and 3/16 from motor. it will have to be on my list of things to check on every oil change for any rubbing.

- doing rear today -
swap shocks, springs - PP1 springs are like .70 rod thickness and convertible are .670 , cradle lock outs, cradle poly stabilizers. the convertible brace makes this job just a little more interesting.

rear bar is currently a 20mm - pp1 is a 22mm - going to stick with the current 20 mm rear sway bar. I can easily switch it if want later on.

 

[shawn.m]

k 5 hours to put rear of car togther. only small issue was getting the BMR links bolt in. The lower bolt was a bugger. other than that.
BMR rear links in, cradle lock out, 2 front cradle bushing sleeve - rears just would not go in. Didn't
have the bolt. when i go to replace the exhaust will put them in.
rear springs and shocks.

I don't like the looks of the rear bushings in the lower arms so might order those at some point.

rides much better! rear axle wiggle is gone along with the front tire shake i was getting every once in a while.
doesn't look like it lowered much - will drive it and measure it in week or so when i check all torque values.
pretty darn happy.

 

[shawn.m]

didn't do a full sport alignment - just a nice accurate. tracks very well on free way. Little bit of tramlining with the wide 275 tires but not bad.
Next week driving to Knab UT and back. so about 1500 miles. Will be thinking about replacing tires later this summer.

 

[shawn.m]

28mpg cruise on 80mph Sacramento to Vegas. So amazing. Forgot to hand calculate.

 

[shawn.m]

Lost a tire yesterday to a bouncing rock hitting sidewall.
Friend of mine was a Goodyear employee and used his discount to buy some Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate 275/40/19. Scheduled install for next week Tuesday. Pretty good reviews on them. Should be interesting to see how it drive with 4 matching tires =) .

only bummer is cant take car up to Reno for Hot August nights - taking daughters Volt instead.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle Exhilarate&partnum=74YR9EEX

 

[shawn.m]

Driving with the Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate is very nice. Touch stiffer side wall. Need to play with air pressure to see if dropping to 32 from 36 would help.

Today found a full active exhaust for $100 locally. Tips are in great shape. Some polish is needed- fixable. No blow through on mufflers like i have seen on other used ones. I have two of the three wire harness just need main one. Plus need to find the motors. It's actually harder than I thought to find just the motors.

 

[shawn.m]

About to leave on a three week vacation. So I washed the car in the rain to get all the bug goo off. Then put it in the garage. My wife laughed at me.

 

[shawn.m]

ordered Roush intake restrictor for intake, EO carb sticker and the sound tube plug. Hopefully be here next week. This will let me install the intake with no tune. Then if i do a tune just remove the MAF intake tube. Still searching for a good deal on the muffler actuator motors.

Plus put a new battery in car - was on vacation for three weeks and battery died. The negative battery post actually separated from case. The outgas actually welded the negative battery terminal to the post. New battery and terminal fixed it.

then car popped a P0305 - cylinder 5 mis-fire. Bought NGK plugs as car is at 63k and will put those in this next week.

 

[shawn.m]

found a Borla switch fire x pipe with some FLowtech Mufflers locally. Guy swore that the Flowtech mufflers were quieter than the Roush. Might have to cut up the exhaust that I already bought. Pull my stock muffler system and put it in the rafters of my shop.

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