Shelby GT350 Build..."HAN SOLO"

[Darth Boss]

Re: Shelby GT350 Build..."HAN SOLO"

Love the ride...have to ask, how did you color your 350 emblems blue? Since I can't buy new ones that I can convert to yellow, I don't want to mess up. Any close ups of the emblems?

 

[50Deep]

Re: Shelby GT350 Build..."HAN SOLO"

Love the ride...have to ask, how did you color your 350 emblems blue? Since I can't buy new ones that I can convert to yellow, I don't want to mess up. Any close ups of the emblems?

Your best bet will be either vinyl wrap or plastidip and an exacto knife. Be very delicate with the knife. It will be time consuming to get right, but worth the effort.

I will get some more pics of the emblems up

 

[50Deep]

Well I just got schooled on how to edit photographs, and learned how good of a program Lightroom is. @Zemedici had his wife edit a couple of photos for me to show what can be done. The coloring is way better than what I had on mine. @Tob also gave me a lesson in how good Lightroom can be at clearing up bad photography.

One of them is a re-edit of my favorite photograph. The other is one I had not posted yet. For any of you guys looking to start taking more photos like I am it looks like Lightroom is one program to get.

Thanks again for all the advice guys







Here are a couple more of the Apex Predators as well



I will have some more photos up and going to try my hand at a video when a few new carbon fiber goodies arrive

 

[Sydewaysix]

Wow, the colors really pop after editing! Good job T! Makes me want to take some pictures and start editing again lol. I haven't touched photoshop or any other editor in years.

 

[50Deep]

Things have been super busy lately. Work, family, and car. I had the good fortune of getting in contact with Dan from S550 Carbon through Instagram. They are a mustang enthusiast company out of Ohio with a focus on carbon fiber components for S550 Mustang platform. The company actually ended up sponsoring my car as they are looking to move into the GT350 market. I am working with them on developing a rear diffuser and some other products. From time to time I will be testing out some of their components and reviewing them on material quality, ease of install, design, and fitment.

The product I just installed from them is their carbon fiber side mirror covers. Initial impressions out of the box are great. The carbon fiber weaving is flawless, great luster, and very light. Much better than the dull carbon fiber wrap I had on the mirrors, and comparable in price.










Installation was very straight forward. Double sided tape to attach them over the factory gloss black mirrors. Several strategically placed pieces of tape for the most contact and to prevent them from ripping off if you brush past the mirror with your clothing. S550 Carbon sends you all the components you need for install, but no instructions since there isn't a "wrong" way to do this per se. Below are some pics of what I did.




Be sure to wipe everything with the alcohol wipe before placing any tape and let it air dry. I recommend seating the bottom of the mirror cap first and then rotating it on to the top portion. Going to want to ensure the mirror is fully recessed into the pocket of the cap before you engage all the tape. Once they are all mated up keep even pressure on the taped areas with both hands for at least 60 seconds.








Install altogether took me 30 minutes, and that includes me explaining to the wife why I was in the garage at 10pm. The fitment is SPOT ON. Retail on these is $169 and worth the cost in my opinion. S550 Carbon is still building its web page but If anyone is interested in ordering let me know and I will get you in contact with Dan, as well as 5% off your order. S550 Carbon has several other offerings for the GT350 interior/exterior as well. R style wing, GT350 CF steering wheel, CF tail light bezels, CF decklid panel, CF trunk, CF interior kit, and CF gas cap. I will be reviewing some of their other items shortly as I decide what will look good on the car.

:cheers:

 

[50Deep]

All right boys. Here it is. The @Carbon2Carbon GT350R spoiler install. First off I will say that the spoiler is a very well made piece. exact copy of the 350R mold and the exposed carbon fiber is a nice touch. This setup includes the newly designed carbon fiber center piece to cover the holes left by the track/tech spoiler. The part is shipped to you very well packaged with all the required hardware. I will explain the install as best I can and what worked for me. The pictures were taken in my driveway with a ton of bushes, shadows, and its trash day so forgive them. I am planning a shoot with a Ford GT when I get the time.

Overall the job itself took about 3 hours total. This includes removing the old spoiler, cleaning, prep, drilling, and installing the new piece. I completed it at home in my garage without any help. Removal of the spoiler is explained earlier in my build thread so i won’t really go into it here. I will add that removal of the old double sided tape is made much easier with a heat gun.

Once your surface is clean the next step is to drill the holes. The spoiler comes with a foam based gasket that will ultimately be your template to drill with. For the Tech/Track pack cars the initial placement of the gasket is easy because the inner bolt hole matches the location on the factory spoiler. Your best bet is place the template centered on the factory hole, then make it as even as possible on the edges of the trunk. Once that is done place several pieces of tape and then take measurements. Pick a location on each hole and measure the distance from there to the edge of the trunk. Adjust as necessary to replicate that on the other side and your done



The hardest part of this whole operation is having the balls to drill into your stock trunk. I had to put the drill down and walk away for a night before i could man up and get it done. In all honesty the drilling will only take 10 minutes. I left the template in place and simply drilled straight down using my iPhone as a level. Once done i sprayed some white rust preventer into a cap and then brushed it on with a small paint brush. The two holes on the left are what you drill. The three holes on the bottom are there from the factory



After about an hour it was time to install the spoiler. It is a little tricky to maneuver without help, so I loosely installed one bolt in each side to hold it in place. The spoiler comes with a M6 metric bolt that is a little short in my opinion. I went down to my local mom/pop hardware store and got 6 M6x16 bolts with a few extra threads. You may have a total pucker moment when you go to line up the holes and they didn’t match dead perfect. What I quickly realized is the spoiler has some flex. I recommend getting all three bolts started on one side, then you can pull the spoiler to match the holes on the other side. The bolts then lined up perfect and I was done. Be sure to use some blue loctite on all the heads and DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN. You run those bolts down too hard and crack something and your world will end












So far I am loving the spoiler. The center piece is sleek and low profile. Easily painted if you have a solid colored car, and it blends pretty well with the stripes. It may not be “The” option for you, but it is “an” option that is available. Outside of the aesthetics and aerodynamics, my side view mirror has an awesome view. Another unexpected benefit is the spoiler also blocks the headlights from cars behind me.



Overall I am pleased. Chris @Carbon2Carbon will continue to get my money in the future and their service and parts are top notch. I would recommend some sealant and wax on all the exposed carbon fiber pieces, I applied some to the spoiler and S550 Carbon mirror caps for a nice shine.




Feel free to share your thoughts an opinions. Good, bad, or indifferent.

 

[Sydewaysix]

Looks great! Love all the CF pieces you've added to the car! What is that square block in the center (sitting on the stripes)? I assume that's the piece that covers the factory holes? If so, what have other people done to cover their stock holes when replacing their spoiler with the R spec piece? @VoodooBOSS

 

[VoodooBoss]

Looking good T! I look forward to seeing it in person. Will you be at EuroSunday this Sunday?

 

[Berol]

That wing (and the whole car) looks great!

I've probably missed it somewhere in your thread so apologies in advance - just curious what the dark colored box is on top of your decklid.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Looks great! Love all the CF pieces you've added to the car! What is that square block in the center (sitting on the stripes)? I assume that's the piece that covers the factory holes? If so, what have other people done to cover their stock holes when replacing their spoiler with the R spec piece? @VoodooBOSS

New decklid.

 

[7500RPM_Ben]

The spoiler looks awesome! I love the build .

 

[50Deep]

The spoiler looks awesome! I love the build .

Thanks brother!

That wing (and the whole car) looks great!

I've probably missed it somewhere in your thread so apologies in advance - just curious what the dark colored box is on top of your decklid.

This is an option from Carbon2Carbon that covers the factory holes on the trunk.

Looks great! Love all the CF pieces you've added to the car! What is that square block in the center (sitting on the stripes)? I assume that's the piece that covers the factory holes? If so, what have other people done to cover their stock holes when replacing their spoiler with the R spec piece? @VoodooBOSS

As rick stated you can buy a new trunk, but it may prove more difficult for cars with stripes. Or do body colored plugs which is something I might look into also

Looking good T! I look forward to seeing it in person. Will you be at EuroSunday this Sunday?

That is the plan. Hopefully the wife and kid go along with it lol

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Looks killer.

 

[50Deep]

Looks killer.

Thanks man

Had the car out in the wild. Snapped a cell phone pic

 

[50Deep]

So I had the opportunity to start playing around with my video equipment and software. This is no steven Spielberg work, but check it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDzafdGtPz8&app=desktop

 

[50Deep]

Well its official. I have a total man crush on Tob. He has taken the time to develop these stainless steel brake caliper studs. As many of us know the current brake caliper setup is a bolt through caliper type that can wear the aluminum threads after repeated changes. Tob has developed these in stainless steel and some other 4340 scientific space age stuff. If you have more questions about getting a set or his CAD/Solidworks design definitely send him a PM. At the moment I have more parts than time, so for now I will leave these tease shots.

I recently got to know Tob better and the package showed up like a brick of cocaine . What was inside was much better. These come with instructions written by Epiphany and everything you need to get them on.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Looking good. I now have the time to install mine but now I'm waiting on the new front wheels studs so I can do both at the same time. Should be any day now. @Tob @tim

 

[50Deep]

On with the updates. Along the lines of not having enough time I have been sitting on these carbon fiber tail light overlays from S550 Carbon for over a week. Initial impressions is that they look killer. I am happy to report that fitment is spot on once again. I would like to pair these with the full carbon fiber decklid panel, but i am not ready to give up the GT350 emblem since they are expensive.

Similar to the mirror caps they install with double sided tape. The parts come with the necessary tape and adhesion promoter. As with all doubled sided tape applications the prep is whats most important. Install is pretty straight forward on these. Prep your surfaces by wiping them down with alcohol and be sure not to put your oily fingers on the surface after. This goes for the back of the overlays and the tail lights themselves. I might recommend wearing latex gloves if you can.




Here is a shot of how I placed the tape. Again there is not really a wrong way to do this, but I placed it in all places that might make contact with the light. I would add that there are some pluses and minuses to this and will discuss below



In regard to the installation I discovered a few things. The best way to install the lights is from the outside in. Meaning get the outside edges of the overlay mated up at the quarter panel, then work your way to the center of the car. Also make your best effort to seat the bottom of the overlay first. These take a little more finesse to install due to the angle of the protruding tail lights. Take your time with the install or you will install them crooked and have to start over. The tape is quite strong, ask me how I know... I mentioned that adding a lot of tape has costs and benefits. On the good side you will get a nice strong bond and no worries about them coming loose. On the down side adding a lot of tape means that the overlay can contact the surface if your hands are unsteady.

Here a few pictures of the final installation. Overall I am very pleased with the product and will work if you are going for a full carbon fiber look, or just want a nice subtle accent. Feel free to post up or shoot me a PM if you are interested in a set.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

I am not in love with that, but if you did a similar applique on your decklid panel it would probably tie that all together nicely.

 

[50Deep]

I am not in love with that, but if you did a similar applique on your decklid panel it would probably tie that all together nicely.

I share some of the same sentiment. It doesn't look bad, but would look way better with the decklid panel to tie it all together. Once they have a way to get an extra badge I can put on the carbon panel I will make the switch.

Looking good. I now have the time to install mine but now I'm waiting on the new front wheels studs so I can do both at the same time. Should be any day now. @Tob @tim

Sweet. I am looking forward to the install on the longer studs