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S550 Bad Influence GT350 Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

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90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
Bit of an intro from me, Live in Auckland New Zealand and have owned several Mustangs over the years but all have been Convertibles and include
1995 SN95 GT Vert
1999 Cobra Vert
2005 GT Vert
2013 GT500 Vert
This S550 is my first track focused Mustang, bought it in the U.S late last year and is currently stuck there due to a paperwork issue, hope to resolve that in the coming weeks
and export it to New Zealand.
Ordered Ford Racing catch cans and Boundary pumps OPG to ship with the car which will be installed as soon as it arrives.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Check our FilzNZ and his post on the " Build Thread " as he is also from the Auckland area. He will be rebuilding a Boss 302 whereas you are in a position of getting your GT 350 approved under New Zealand's imported automotive rulings. I have to believe you two will become fast friends and I know members of TMO will be very interested to see how things progress for both of you. Videos from Hampton Downs would be quite appreciated as it is a really interesting road course and convenient for both of you. Great to have you as a new member and please feel free to request help or suggestions as you will find folks on this Forum are eager to assist. It may be partially because TrackRats are a passionate group or just because many of us have not forgotten the excitement we experienced when we got our first Mustang. Regardless, we are here to help and pics/videos of your track experiences , in the future, are always enjoyed.
 
1,163
2,121
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5-10 Years
SoCal
Check our FilzNZ and his post on the " Build Thread " as he is also from the Auckland area. He will be rebuilding a Boss 302 whereas you are in a position of getting your GT 350 approved under New Zealand's imported automotive rulings.

I was under the impression that his car name “Bad Influence” was earned when he talked @FilxNZ into the salvage Boss?!
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Ha, well, I have to admit to being called a " Bad Influence " by numerous friends and clients over the years ( too many to count ), as I saw no sense in promoting golfing or fishing when I could have a beer at the end of a day where I was running 130+ mph, ha! Seems more fun than having a beer next to a dead fish, or a little white ball, because in the Racer's Clubhouse you are still allowed to exaggerate on how fast you REALLY are !
 
90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
Thanks guys, about time Phil got a V8.
Happy to take some videos, both of us are actually working towards doing the Playday on Track South Island track tour (wow that's a mouth full) next year in our Mustangs.
This consists of about a 3K mile road trip with 4 full on track days over a 10 day time period in March of 22.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
You definitely need to document that , as few folks realize that New Zealand consists primarily of two large islands ( and tons of littler ones ) and the Country may not be very wide , but it is quite long!! Assume you will drive to the very tip of the South Island to the track located there and your trip will be a monumental one considering the length. Will there be any competition similar to the One Lap of America track/race tours , or is this just a fun HPDE type event with no trophies or classes?
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
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20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
The track tour is purely a fun event (HPDE type, not wheel to wheel) though there are certain bragging rights and with a bunch of competitive people attending it can get quite serious. It starts at Teretonga Park (southern most track at almost the southern most point in NZ) and works it's way north visiting Highlands (arguably the best circuit in NZ), Timaru and Ruapuna. A large part of the enjoyment though for people that love driving (and with cars that retain some suspension travel) is some of the road sections you drive between trackdays are mind blowing. The scenery is stunning, the roads off the beaten track are awesome and you can go long periods of time without even seeing another car!

You definitely need to document that , as few folks realize that New Zealand consists primarily of two large islands ( and tons of littler ones ) and the Country may not be very wide , but it is quite long!! Assume you will drive to the very tip of the South Island to the track located there and your trip will be a monumental one considering the length. Will there be any competition similar to the One Lap of America track/race tours , or is this just a fun HPDE type event with no trophies or classes?
 

Ludachris

Chris
Staff member
Moderator
1,658
1,962
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Newcastle, CA
I knew I saw another registration from New Zealand - thought it was the same one. Awesome to have both of you guys in here. It's going to be fun watching you guys share some track videos/photos. :)
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Pretty sure one of you needs an American co-driver , ha,ha! That has to be a riot and we will all be looking forward to the interesting pictures and videos you send back.
 
90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
Pretty amped about it actually, Phil and I did this last year for the first time. He in a GT86 Toyota and I in a 2018 Golf R stick.
I was fortunate enough to catch a full session in the passengers seat at full noise in one of the participants GT3 RS
No U.S cars last year but that's gonna change.
Lot of Porsches, Ferrari and McLaren.

IMG20200317185801.jpg

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90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
Some of my stuff out of the car arrived, had my brother in law in Arkansas take everything out for me.
The owner's manual, Shelby car cover, GT350 owners pack and spare keys etc.
I ordered some Boundary OPG, Ford Racing catch cans and spare oil filters as well.
Pity the damn car is still stuck in CA with a lost title which is slowly driving me absolutely crazy.

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90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
Totally forgotten about this thread going, here's where things are at with it
The car arrived a few months ago and I borrowed a dealer plate to go pick it up from the shipper.
It all looked like it was in order, stone dead flat battery but soon fired right up with their jump box.
Check engine light on and tire light on (tire light I knew about)
Hit the road back to my shop, not knowing what the check engine light was about I just took it easy and was pretty mindful about not stalling in traffic as I'd have no way to get going again.
Anyways got it back to work and just parked it, no enthusiasm left after 7 months of hassle getting it here.

Started thinking about getting it complied to put it on the road but that's been slow going as my main thoughts have been to just get rid of it and move on to something else as the enthusiasm for it just dried up....... however......
Phil managed to secure us a couple of spots on next year's Track tour which is awesome to have something to look forward to now.
Also, getting his Boss 302 underway has been a lot of fun and something I really enjoy doing.

Week before last I put it on the lift and gave it a good look over, nothing really out of the ordinary and other than needing a thorough clean and polish it looks good.
It has the saggy rear bumper gaps so the bumper is off now and I'll come up with a plan to sort that out.
Found a guy in Poland that via remote access got the Sync3 nav to work in New Zealand.
My Forscan arrived well before the car so used that to check the engine light that ended up being a starter code due to the dead battery.
I'd also ordered a TPS trainer that sorted the tire light.
Over the next week I'll try and sort the bumper and get that back on and go from there.
 
90
178
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Auckland New Zealand
New rear bumper brackets and additional screws under the tail lights seems to have fixed the bad saggy bumper gaps for now.
Utterly poor design of the brackets and hooks on the bumper, well done Ford. No wonder they sag, the bumper is actually quite heavy with the fake tail pipes attached to it.
The couple times I've driven it illegally I've been surprised with the amount of tramlining, not a feature I especially like as our roads are generally pretty
poor having quite deep traffic grooves in places.
Had it aligned to factory specs but that seems to have made it worse.

I'd read about a subframe brace that's supposed to at least help and the kit at 80 odd bucks is pretty cheap but by the time you ship it here it ain't so cheap anymore
so yesterday I decided to just make one. An hour of my time with some scrap steel, machined a couple spacers on the lathe rattle canned it black and
its on.
Unconvinced it will actually change anything but we'll see.
Tires seems to be another culprit as well, currently it runs the Michelin SS (factory tires I believe?)

thumbnail_IMG20210923093801.jpg its
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Unfortunately the tramlining is fairly common with many of the wide, aggressive tires, especially those deemed for competition. It can be a hassle if the roads are rutted/grooved , but if you are going to run the 200 TWR tires or even more aggressive ( Hoosiers, etc. ) you are likely going to be unable to completely get rid of it. I imagine some folks will post on here for your benefit about some of the tires they purchased that seemed to have the least amount of this effect. A skinnier tire will probably do it less , but who wants less grip when you hit the track.
 

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