The Saga of Me

Discussion in 'Member Journals & Project Build Stories' started by Deke, Mar 30, 2007.

  1. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    The Saga of Me v. My car is a BAMF

    UPDATE ON POST #34

    ----------------------

    Well this has been a long time coming and I'm currently rather bored, so here it goes.

    My love of cars started with my Dad. From the time I was but a tween we already started to discuss what kind of car I should get. He thought it would be great for me to get something pretty unique such as building a kit car or getting a classic (I'm pretty sure he was living vicariously though me). Well the kit car idea just seemed like too much trouble, so I started looking at muscle cars. As chance would have it I came across this beauty about a month after being 15.

    [​IMG]

    A 1968 Mustang GT Fastback with a 302 4-barrel. After putting a decent bit of time and money into it, by the time I was 16, it ran like a dream. It was seriously just about the coolest car I could ask for as a high school student. Unfortunately it couldn't last forever. January of my junior year, an F-150 took a left hand turn right in front of me through an intersection as I was traveling at a good 50 mph. I was alright, the car, however, was quite totalled. Lucky I had just had it appraised about a month before and I got a pretty penny for it.

    I started searching for my next car. My main criteria was it had to be black, and it had to be a manual. At first I was trying to find another classic, but college was looming and I wanted to have a newer, more reliable car. I looked at a lot of used cars such as the 300zx, rx-7, vr-4, Cobra, and Z-28 (ew I know). It ended up coming down to 2 new cars though. An RSX Type S or a Subaru WRX. Needless to say I opted for the suby. And never once have I regretted it :)

    In it's stock form:
    [​IMG]

    My modding process from there has been extremely slow. The first two things I did was get a short-throw shifter and have the windows tinted 20% on the sides and back.

    Post tint:
    [​IMG]

    I decided to give Auto-X a try my freshman year, I loved it but unfortunately haven't done it in over 2 years.

    [​IMG]

    I didn't really do anything else to it until Christmas two years ago when I got my AP, this past summer a magnaflow axleback, and then this past fall an ACT street clutch. Other than those everything has pretty much been minor cosmetic mods (STi hoodscoop, blinker covers, Momo shift knob, and painted headlights).

    Which brings us to now:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    Future mods (maybe one day when I have money):

    -Full exhaust (probably Turbo-XS)
    -Protune
    -Springs and sways
    -Omori Meter gauges with the center gauge pod

    Less likely but still things that might happen:

    -EDM lights (or retrofitted projectors :) )
    -STi grill
    -STi ver. 1 lip
    -painted skirts
    -Rota Torques in either hyper black or bronze.


    Damn, that was kind of long. I guess I was bored. Well there ya go everyone, that's the history of the automobile aspect of my life.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2011
  2. bluetwo

    bluetwo Active Member

    That's a beautiful bugeye man.

    But honestly the best part about this thread was the title. The Saga of Me!

    BRILLIANT!

    Keep on keeping it clean bro. Nice job. :D
     
  3. Strayen

    Strayen Active Member

    /threadjack

    who's sweet ride is that all the way to the left in the back? What? Mein? :p

    /end threadjack

    EDIT: That was a pretty bad ass mustang in HS. I was left driving my mom's Subaru GL10. Oh my god was that thing was slow! But it WAS manual. But this writeup is nice, I don't have the creative juices to write something up.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2007
  4. Cool_____

    Cool_____ Banned

    Your car is definately clean. I love it.
     
  5. cleanmachine

    cleanmachine Member

    What do you think of the clutch? I hav an ACT clutch in my GSR and wish i had one in my wrx.
     
  6. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    I like it a lot. It's a good deal stiffer than the stock clutch and the engagement point is lower. The combination of which makes for much more enjoyable shifting in my opinion :). It just kind of blows in heavy traffic (your leg gets tired).

    But yeah, I'd reccomend it to anyone needing a new clutch for a street car.
     
  7. Alex

    Alex Community Founder Staff Member

    Nice journal Dewey.
     
  8. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Well I took the plunge. I ordered a set of 17x8 matt black 5zigen's wrapped in Falken fk452 from Edge Racing. Unfortunately, the wheels are on backorder so it'll probably be at least a month or so until I get them. Regardless, I'm excited. :)

    [​IMG]
     
  9. SonicBoom

    SonicBoom Active Member

    Hearing about your mustang makes me sad :( Sweet bugeye though and I cant wait to see it with ur new wheels! I'd put an STI wing on the back, but thats just me........
     
  10. FACE

    FACE Active Member

    Nice wheel choice my friend!!!
     
  11. SUBY_RUE

    SUBY_RUE Member

    I had a acura rsx type-s before I got my sti... both are sweet, but the suby is the whole package.
     
  12. pEd

    pEd This ain't no Piccadilly!

    the car's going to look badass when you get those wheels on it.

    What size tire did you get, 225's??
     
  13. Eco Auto Clean

    Eco Auto Clean Active Member

    car looks great...!! I remember you were my first sighting i posted on wrxatl! keep it clean!
     
  14. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Yeah, I'm going to work up to a 235 for the next set of tires, 225 will do fine for now though :)

    Haha, I just really hope this backorder thing doesn't take too long. Also I hope I can make myself hold off on buying springs (because I know I'm going to want them after seeing the nice 17" wheels with the stock wheel gap).
     
  15. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    No pics to go along with it, but I installed whiteline steering rack bushings and the gp moto intake silencer delete. The intake delete went pretty smoothly as did the passenger side bushing. Oh my, the driver side was a turbo bitch though. But after about 45 minutes and lots of wiggling, I finally got it switched.

    Still waiting on the wheels :(
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2008
  16. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    And the wheels are on! (pics were just quickies, so please excuse me). I don't feel like these pics quite do its badassness justice, but they'll have to do :)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    Next step: Springs and painted side skirts (at my rate of modification, probably won't be until at least fall).
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2008
  17. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    A photoshop someone did for me on IA:

    [​IMG]

    Granted, whenever I break down and buy some springs, they'll more than likely be Prodrives and thus not be anywhere near this low. But it still looks sick :)
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2008
  18. dontcallitarex

    dontcallitarex Active Member

    That's damn sexy my friend. Did you go with Tire Rack?

    Edit: Nurrrrr. Nevermind. Those wheels are sick in any case.
     
  19. JEFFSTI

    JEFFSTI Member

    very nice.... i like
     
  20. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Woohoo!

    Springs (SPT blues), Struts (KYB AGX), and Sways (Whiteline, FSB: 27 adj, RSB: 24 adj) are all installed, and I got an alignment.

    First impressions: Wow, quite the difference. I haven't driven it that hard yet (wanted to get a feel for it before pushing it), but it's definitely more responsive and all around just feels more solid. I can feel the road a lot better, but not to the point where it's jarring or uncomfortable. Although I can imagine that a long trip might get a little rough (of course the struts are adjustable and currently they're set a little on the stiff side).

    I notice that there is considerably less body roll, and less diving/raising on braking/accelerating. I went to an empty parking, for a few minutes just for a little more turning fun. Turning while accelerating felt amazing. No more understeer, the car went where I wanted it to.

    It's kind of a long story how I ended up with the springs, but afterwards I dove into nasioc and found that they were thought to be rebadged eibachs. That was pretty much the caliber of spring I was looking for, so I figured I'd be happy. I figured correctly. There is a drop, but nothing extreme. Pics to come in the next few days. :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2009
  21. Mike@TTR

    Mike@TTR Active Member

    I have the Eibachs on mine and have been thinking about the KYB adjustables. Nice looking car man! I always liked the black bugeyes. I looked for one, but was unable to find one for a reasonable price back when I got mine.
     
  22. nicad

    nicad Yes I am a troll

    to be honest, I stopped reading as soon as you said "tween" :unamused:
     
  23. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Meh, your a year or two late on that part anyways :)

    Thanks man!
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2009
  24. nicad

    nicad Yes I am a troll


    LOL yeah. over 2 years. :rofl:
     
  25. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Mustang Fastback v2.0

    So, I decided I needed something classic back in my life. For the last few months I've been scouring craigslist and some of the classic car classified sites for a muscle car. I was looking at a number of models (Chargers, Cougars, Camaros, Cudas, GTOs), but I'm still a Mustang guy at heart. Then I came across an ebay ad for a 1968 Fastback. I was very reluctant to bid on a car (I don't think I've ever bought anything more expensive than an old NES game on ebay), but after contacting the seller and working out some terms, I put down my max bid. Wouldn't you know it, my max was the reserve price. A painful 5 minutes at work staring at a countdown clock later, I had won!

    The car was located in Tampa, and I immediately arranged for a specialist to inspect the car. He went over it with a fine-tooth comb and reported everything back to me. In summary, there were some minor cosmetic details, but I had found a "rock solid" car. Conveniently, my girlfriend is currently finishing up law school in the area, so I bought a ticket and flew down there to check it out in person, and take care of the business end.

    I decided to have it shipped back to Nashville (an 11 hour trip in a 40 year old car I had never driven was a tad daunting, not to mention getting registration and insurance sorted out beforehand). It should be arriving by the end of the week, and I am PSYCHED

    Most of these pics are from the ebay ad, hence the random tags that slipped in:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And lastly, me and my love...and my girlfriend :)

    [​IMG]

    I'll get it up here and take some of my own photos in the near future.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2010
  26. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Oh and I almost forgot: 302 4 barrel, Auto, power steering, power disc brakes, Air

    And I still have the bugeye :)
     
  27. Alex

    Alex Community Founder Staff Member

    Wow, what a great addition to your car port! :)
     
  28. b reel

    b reel Active Member

    I can't believe no comments referring to "Bullitt"
     
  29. Mike@TTR

    Mike@TTR Active Member

    Very nice. We are actually trying to talk my father in law into letting us do a complete restoration on a 68 fast back for him complete with a modern fuel set up and complete frame off restoration. He is just to frugal to spend money on himself, lol. Very cool though! What did you end up picking it up for?
     
  30. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    If talk your dad into that restoration, definitely keep me updated. I'm probably going to drive the car pretty much as is for the time, but down the road, I definitely would like to go to a fuel injected setup with a 5-speed, and I would love to see what you all might work out :)

    I picked it up for 20k. Unfortunately, it seems ever since "Eleanor" there's been a premium on the fastback. But honestly, out of all the ones I saw on craigslist, and random sites, anything in this condition was a good 5-10k higher. The car is just very well kept. It's not matching numbers or anything (I wouldn't want one of those), it was just taken care of and had quality work done when needed. I'm planning on driving this car regularly, so it's exactly what I was looking for.


    Haha, yeah the ebay ad actually referred to it as a Bullitt car. It needs a few minor cosmetic touches to get to full on Bullitt appearance wise, but it's pretty darn close.
     
  31. ScoobyMike

    ScoobyMike OG Mod

    nice ride man...
     
  32. Mike@TTR

    Mike@TTR Active Member

    We have done a couple of these in the past and already have what we want to do pretty much planned out. The cool part about my father in law's build will be making a high hp modern motor that is QUIET. He has hearing issues and can't deal with a lot of noise, so for him it will be quite a project. Just doing a fuel injected conversion is pretty easy :)
     
  33. Deke

    Deke Active Member

    Well me oh my, it's been awhile since I've posted on here. I hope everyone is doing splendidly!

    On such a beautiful afternoon I was FINALLY able to take some of my own pictures of the Mustang.

    1.
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    2.
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    3.
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    4.
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    5.
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    6.
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    7. (This deer didn't give a damn)
    [​IMG]
     

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