14 GTCS project...

[redfirepearlgt]

sold my 17gt 11 months ago without hesitation and have never missed it. looked for months and after a very bad experience with an online car buying experience and finally getting my money back...the only thing about them that was honest...i found this 14 gtcs premium at a dealer in tulsa, ok. its a 1 owner dib setup with 18.6k on it. unmolested and garage kept. i have spent evenings and weekends getting it buffed out as it was clearly subjected to automatic washes over the years and in need of clay bar, 2 stage buff and wax. finished this last night.
b4 and after shot.

final product

i replaced the ugly factory wheels with forgestar cf5's. 20s rear and 19s front. running a 305.35.20 rII nitto drags on rear because of upgrades on order through beefcakeracing.

upgrades include:
paxton2200 novi with 3.33 pulley with id 1050x injectors and lund 93 oct custom tune
BCR torque booster kit set at 10 psi max boost
boundary opg and crank timing sprocket upgrade
bmr suspension mods including 1.5" drop, adj panhard, lcas, uca, relo brackets, drag springs
strange front and rear single adjustable struts
AWE axle back exhaust

will post upated photos when mods completed hopefully by early june.

 

[_E85]

Very nice. Any photos of the supercharger setup?

 

[byblazed]

Nice! I just got done doing a Vortech V3 setup on my 2014 GT/CS. Go to fordshowparts . com and get your certificate of authenticity if you don't have on already. Cool to know all the numbers and such!

 

[byblazed]

Here's some pics on my baby!

 

[Iceman62]

Very nice - great job w/ the shine-up!

 

[redfirepearlgt]

the paxton kit ships next week. that will complete the parts list and the build can begin. i puled the tb last evening and cleaned it real good with tb cleaner and rags. also put an afe dry filter in the factory box as i will rsuse that. filled the tank with shell 93 and a can of ocaneboost just so the tuner can rule outbad gas if they start seeing false knock in the tuning process. will hopefully be complete by early june and will post pics then. i cant wait to get the 4x4 look removed with the 1.5inch drop.

thanks for all the feedback.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Here's some pics on my baby!

View attachment 82715

View attachment 82716

looks great. not much into certificates. i plan to remove the bulky looking front chin spoiler and put a standard gt replacement on. i also cant wait to remove the 90s looking hood stripes and may also pull the vents anc have them paint matched back to dib. the rsar spoiler may stayas well as the rocker stripes. i bought it because itwas a 1 owner andlow miles, not because it is a gtcs.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Grabbed a couple of plastic razor blades and my wifes hair dryer and went at the GTCS hood stripes yesterday. Even after being on the car for 8 years they came right off with no apparent remaining residue. The car IMO looks so much cleaner. Now to pull the vents and get them paint matched to the hood.

Look forward to getting the suspension and SC kit on it. Kit finally shipping Memorial Day week.

 

[LikeabossTM]

Grabbed a couple of plastic razor blades and my wifes hair dryer and went at the GTCS hood stripes yesterday. Even after being on the car for 8 years they came right off with no apparent remaining residue. The car IMO looks so much cleaner. Now to pull the vents and get them paint matched to the hood.

Look forward to getting the suspension and SC kit on it. Kit finally shipping Memorial Day week.

'wifes hair dryer' - riiiight...

[emoji16]

Looks much better. I can relate, bought a year one Hemi charger back in 06, and the look of the rub rails on the doors bugged me. Three weeks old and first 30° (C) day at work I grabbed my pass-card and pulled them off in the parking lot at lunch. Looked so much better and nary a bit of residue to even clean up.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

^^^ I don't have a hair dryer need any more......I wear what's left of my hair shorter than when I was in the Navy. But there was a time I needed not only teh hair dryer, but a good vent brush and hairspray as well. It was an 80's to early 90's time.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

A few pic updates: The blower unit is on and belted up as well as the intercooler mounted. The water pump was weeping a little bit so replaced that with a new Motorcraft. Finishline Performance is doing the mod work. They are in tight with beefcake Racing and do excellent work.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Rear suspension is done. BMR rear drag springs (1.5" drop), LCA's, adj. UCA, relo brackets for upper and lowers, Strange single adjustable rear shocks, and adjustable panhard.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Ran into a snag today. The struts I bought locally from a friend ended up being for a GT500 application and not for the 11-14GT. Turned out the upper strut mount holes for the strut shaft are larger on the GT. So the strut shaft pushed through but was caught before they caused damage to the hood. Same guy has a pair of Maxim motorsport camber/caster plates slightly used I got at a good price (should have just bought the whole package from him when he sold them to me) just did a coil over swap so just have to pay to redo the struts again. Thankfully the alignment had not yet been performed. Car is sitting very nicely. The 20x11's (+56mm offset) with the 305/35/20's on the back just barely fit with enough clearance not to rub. Fronts (19x9's+35mm offset) fill in nicely as well with just a little more room.

Hint: If you ever find yourself wanting to swap to the GT500 factory upper strut mounts on your 11-14GT you will also need to purchase the 05-10/07-14GT500 front struts as well. The only fitment difference is the cylinder shaft size. The shafts will not clear through the GT500 upper mounts as the strut cylinder shaft is slightly smaller on the 07-14 GT500s and 05-10 GT models strut application at least on the factory and Strange performance struts. In my case it was just the opposite. The 11-14 stock strut mounts had to large a hole for the struts I bought taht I thought were 11-14 when they were GT500 spec'd. Minor setback

Got so excited seeing the car and getting to hear it start on the baseline tune I forgot to take photos. Plenty to come once i get it back and wash it.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

The final product is complete. Here area few snap shots. Its dirty as a 2-bit hoe but aside from that I think it all turned out pretty good. Made 589RWHP/495RWT on 10.5# boost and 17.5degrees of timing on 93 octane with the inlet tube off of it. The air temps were in the 90's that day as well. Keep in mind this is a stock gen 1 coyote block aside from the OPG and crank timing sprocket upgrades and factory exhaust with factory cats aside from the AWE touring axle backs which have a great sound btw, and a little less drone than even the Solo exhaust system I had on my 17 GT. Extremely happy with everything. I do wish the centri setup was a bit more stealthy like the 4 previous PD setups I had. Other than cruising on the interstate there is no hiding that the car is FI on the street even with the quieter blow off valve.

Before the drop:

AFTER:

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Haven't updated this so will post the final photos of this project...for 2022. Final setup made 575RWHP/489RWT,; a drop from the original numbers. Had to pull a little boost out after the initial tune due to some knock on the local 93. So the car is now making 9.8psi @ 7500rpm. The torque curve thanks to the torque booster looks more like a PD setup torque curve and less like a centri. Love how it comes in earlier than a typical centri setup. We have the car shifting between 7300-7400 WOT while staying in the peak torque curve at shifts. Car is currently on the stock converter and rattly 2piece DS. Plan on upgrading those items for 2023 if the economy doesn't completely go third world before then.

Below are some final exterior photo shots. deleted all of the stupid GTCS decals on the car. Plan on losing the front splitter for the stock chin strap as well in 2023. May also look into a wheel swap. Not sure if the Forgestars are doing it for me. I'd like them if they were more concave like a Vosson 5 spoke. Wish that they still made that wheel.

Woke up the next morning to this...3 inches of unforeseen snow. Was 65 the day before. Thankfully the roads cleared for the return 3 hour drive on drag radials. IT wasn't suppose to even rain.

 

[Shotokan1509]

One of the best later style s197 I've seen, nice and clean

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Thanks man. I like to keep them mostly stock looking with just a bit of a twist.