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Martini87
04-19-2010, 04:19 PM
I call her the Phoenix because no matter what happens she comes out shining beautifully. I bought the car in December of 2008. It is a 2002 Mustang GT. It started out looking like this:

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/SpringFreedom.jpg


So All Below will tell you why I call it the Phoenix, if you really dont car just some basic facts:

2002 GT

44,500 miles

320 hp, 320 Torque

Built for auto cross, bbk suspension, eibach springs, etc.

I've actually learned how to drive a stick on this car, got that down in about 30 min. This was my first real car. I fell upon her in late November and fell in love with it. The whole summer prior I looked at jettas, scions, etc. and nothing could fit what I wanted until this baby came along. The name Phoenix comes from the string of events that happened as the next few months came on. The first day I bought the car I was so excited so I took it to work with me. I was supposed to only work a single shift, but they asked me to work a double so i said OK. That night the parking lot, not the road, iced over. I got the car out of the parking lot, only after the car tapped a set of stairs at 2 mph. It's what I get for just learning to drive a stick. It was a minor one though. Round two came around April 30th of 2009 when Some guy was impatient at a Tollbooth (New Stanton) and decided to back him and his trailer out of the toll line and into my front bumper.....This followed with him giving me fake insurance information and the insurance company decided to call it even since it was my front end in his trailer. Round 3 happened on the back roads of monroeville by ccac. I was driving along late at night and a deer jumped off the hill, ran next to my car, and as i was slowing down to let him go he turned into my driver side fender. The night concluded with me driving home with a smashed fender and a headlight that barely stayed in place. When the insurance person came, he knew it was all true because of the feces on the side of the car. yes, feces. Apparently dear literally scare the sh!t out of themselves when they get super scared. Now I decided I wanted the Saleen Kit on my car, so I figured while I need a new Front Bumper and Fender I will get the kit put on. I bought an after market kit because i didnt want it to say saleen on the back since i didnt really have one. We decided to have a family/friend work on the car since we dont have a paint booth. Bad idea. He can paint very well, but he knows nothing in the way of body kits. It took him a month and a half to finish the job. When he gave me the car back I was so excited, until I realized he never fitted the back bumper until he went to put it on permanently. It was too big. I am shortly taking it off but you can see at the top by the taillights that it doesn't fit due to waves it makes. Now all of this happened on top of losing my job because of a reson i dont know. This is for another time. Lets just say the person who fired me is now also fired.....I should still be working. Anyway, I had enough at this point and then.....BAM BAM. *sigh* I was driving home on route 28 one night two weeks after I got the car back and Penn Dot miss-marked the road. They had cones leading you off of one construction exit directly into the "under construction" lane. It was set up that day supposedly. There were no other cars on the road. I ended up hitting a 3-4 inch unmarked raise and destroyed all 4 rims and put a 2 and a half inch raise in both sides of my rear axle. The state trooper said he would back me, but then never did, he made up an excuse that it was an unlikely scenario the next day right after telling me he would take care of everything.
I thought the car was done, but after about 3 weeks debate me and my dad decided to fix it ourselves. Now this car has a bbk suspension, eibach springs, and is lowered with caster and camber plates, plus a bunch more. Its a complete autocross car with a stiff suspension. Needless to say it didn't take the bumps well, just the turns. So it ended up costing me 864.00 for 4 rims and 1 tire. We lucked out and found a rear end for 200.00 with 20,000mi on it. We put the new rear end in over one weekend. We also had to reshape the front strut towers because they ripped right through the body and smacked the hood......................................The story isn't all bad though. A lot of good came.

Since all this has happened me and my dad work on the car all the time together adding things here and there. I know the car inside and out now. Its been more fun than I can explain, even if it wasn't all planned. Now the car has a few more mods that some of you have seen and some you haven't. This car is a big part of me now, but that could be because I am such a gear head. You'll see her in some of the auto crosses this summer up at North Park. Unfortunately i don't have the money to run slicks, but I should have some ok street racing tires. My racing days will come more after college when I have the money.

Anyway, know you know why I call her the Phoenix. Here are some current pics. They aren't all great locations but good enough for now:

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTrooftopfrontright.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTrooftopbackright.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTrooftopsidewithlight.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTfrontloadingdock.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/DSC00264.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/Gauges1.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTIntDark6.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTIntDark4.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTIntDark3.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTIntDark1.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/GTIntDark2.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/HID1.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/Martini8629/HID4.jpg

Rodeheavers
04-19-2010, 04:50 PM
nice car, sorry to hear about all the silly stuff you went through together...

Martini87
04-19-2010, 05:16 PM
nice car, sorry to hear about all the silly stuff you went through together...

thanks bro, yea a lot happened but now i appreciate it even more. Plus i put a lot of blood and sweat into it now, which makes it mine even more.

Have to add, there was a lot of slop work done before i bought it, so while we fixed all this stuff we fixed all that too! she's way better than the day i bought her. And it should run even better in the auto crosses now too.

Martini87
04-19-2010, 10:52 PM
when do we pick next months? and by what rating?

Tom
04-19-2010, 11:33 PM
when do we pick next months? and by what rating?

hmm.. This is the first time we've had more than one enter... :faint:

Martini87
04-19-2010, 11:37 PM
hmm.. This is the first time we've had more than one enter... :faint:

haha well eventually it was bound to happen :nod:

Martini87
04-19-2010, 11:46 PM
hen you guys see the interior lights are carlisle they will look a lot better, hard to get it on camera. They are more ambient. I don't like F&F crap. haha

AdamantiumSilvr
04-27-2010, 08:25 PM
Sharp lookin 02'!

Martini87
04-28-2010, 04:01 PM
Sharp lookin 02'!

Thanks Bro!

somethingclever
04-29-2010, 07:33 AM
YOu hit a bump so hard that the struts pushed through the tower and the rear axles and tubes bent 2"?

Any pics?

Nice car BTW.....are the pics current or are you still fixing?

Martini87
04-29-2010, 10:58 PM
YOu hit a bump so hard that the struts pushed through the tower and the rear axles and tubes bent 2"?

Any pics?

Nice car BTW.....are the pics current or are you still fixing?

The Ones with the saleen kit are current and the car is running better than ever. The raise was over 3 inches and was pretty much like hitting a brick wall, no transition cause it was an unfinished half off the road that penn dot couldnt mark properly, i was doing about 35 cause i knew something didnt seem right. (meanwhile the speed limit was 55, thank God i didn't try that)

Let me see if i still have the axle picture.....

Update: I can't find that picture I had of the raise in the axle, but if i do i will post it.