68 Shelby GT-500 Convertible Project and Retrospective

[427Fastback]

Looks great Jay...Are you going to leave the woodgrain dash stuff in it..

[jayb]

Yes, I plan to keep the interior all stock, except that I will be replacing all the gauges with Autometer Phantom II gauges.  Will also be re-wiring the whole car, and upgrading the lighting.  Last night I installed the taillight panel with the new LED taillights, and they look great, nice and bright.  Trying to make sure that some idiot looking at his/her phone sees the brake lights and avoids crashing into the back of my car

[gdaddy01]

good luck with that , the wife and I went and got tested for the virus , in one of those drive though stations , some women runs into the back of my truck as I was sitting in line , messing with her cell phone . the front of her SUV did like the trailer ball on the back of my truck

[jayb]

Finally got all the trim on the car.  Again, the photos do not do it justice, the color really pops in person:












The last photo shows the brake lights on.  I wired in some dummy wiring to get this shot, and also to check to make sure that the emergency flasher relay would blink the LED lights.  Obviously they are much, much brighter than stock with the LED bulbs, but as gdaddy01 says, sometimes there's no preventing stupid people from doing stupid things...

I took the left front spring out for these pictures, and also to check clearance between the front tire and the fender.  Once I had it jacked up to ride height, I checked the camber, and it is currently set exactly at zero.  Clearance is very tight.  There is no interference when the suspension is up against the bump stop and the wheel is straight, but I do start to get some interference when the suspension is up against the bump stop and the tire is turned about 15 degrees in either direction.  I plan to run a half degree of negative camber on the front suspension, so that will help a little, but only about a tenth of an inch if my trig calculations are correct.  I have already trimmed the fender lip and the wheelwell trim as much as I can, so no help there.  I may look at thinning down the brake rotor hat (which is really thick at over 1/2") to get more clearance, but I think I will drive the car cautiously at the start, and see if there are any obvious problems.  Outside of thinning down the brake rotor hat I don't know what else I can do, and I'm kind of married to the tire/wheel combination, so hopefully it will be good, or very close to good, as is. 

Next step is to get the interior black painted, the firewall blanket and heater assembly installed, and the steering column back in the car, just to get that out of the way.  Then I'm going to wire the lights.  I've decided to re-wire the car mostly from scratch, rather than trying to use the old wire harness (which is hacked up beyond belief), or buy a new harness and hack that one up to make it work with the EFI system, new instruments, electric fans, electric fuel pump, electric water pump, etc.  I've been able to acquire all the connectors I need for the factory switches, except for the one for the factory light switch, which is listed at National Parts Depot but out of stock.  So, I'll be able to plug in to all the factory equipment to keep the car looking mostly stock in the interior, and to use all the connectors that come with the replacement turn signal lights, running lights, headlights, etc.  I'm really looking forward to getting a battery in the car and all the lighting sorted out.  Then it's just interior, convertible top, and engine/trans.  I'll try to post an update when I have some more significant progress.

[WConley]

Jay -  Looks great with all of the exterior trim!  I can really see all of those hours getting the gaps right on the body.  Paint looks super!

[Keith Stevens]

I also went with the WCCC tail Plasma LEDS in my Shelby. It has mechanical sequentials in it with these bulbs. Too many idiots just have their head in their backside. Next is hiding a set of obnoxious train horns that function off a switch under the dash and relays so I can make idiots jump out of their skins.
The car looks great, Jay.  It took me about three years to assemble my car post returning from paint.

The local Friday night cruise and park.

[winr1]

Wow !!   .. nice



Ricky.

[cjshaker]

Very nice!
If there's room, you could try milling a bit off the rear of the rim mounting pad also, to gain a little. As long as it doesn't get into the transition to the ribs, it shouldn't lose any strength.

[Keith Stevens]

Here is how bright the running lights are with Plasma LEDs.

[gdaddy01]

Keith , where did you get those lights ? thanks , ronnie

[70tp]

Incredible is all I can say

[Keith Stevens]

Keith , where did you get those lights ? thanks , ronnie

Ronnie:
Vic was instrumental in helping me make come up with ideas when I made a factory style harness that allowed me to incorporate OE sequential lighting in my Shelby. He also developed the tower LED with directional lighting.  Here is Vic's link.
They are also available from Don at West Coast Classic Cougar.

http://www.thuntek.net/cougars_unlimited/

https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/store/Search.aspx?CatID=15901&SearchTerms=Plasma%20led&Type=AND

[cjshaker]

I also went with the WCCC tail Plasma LEDS in my Shelby.

Not to split hairs, but the term "Plasma LED" annoys me. There is no such thing as a "Plasma LED". You can have a LEP (light emitting plasma), or you can have an LED (light emitting diode), but you can not have the 2 together, especially in the confines of a small automotive bulb. It's nothing more than a selling gimmick aimed at misleading the buyer (in other words, a blatant lie). Those lights are nothing more than a high output LED, with controlled directional light by the use of a lens.

[Keith Stevens]

I won't split hairs with you, as Vic Yarberry is the engineer of the product and a retired electrical engineer and they are somehow a hybrid of both.   
I didn't bother to retain information provided when we discussed them.
What I can tell you is they function like no other directional led bulb I've seen.  Which is quite a few. 
If you want to satisfy your curiosity give him a call. I wouldn't mine a forensic breakdown.

[badcatt]

I also went with the WCCC tail Plasma LEDS in my Shelby.

Not to split hairs, but the term "Plasma LED" annoys me. There is no such thing as a "Plasma LED". You can have a LEP (light emitting plasma), or you can have an LED (light emitting diode), but you can not have the 2 together, especially in the confines of a small automotive bulb. It's nothing more than a selling gimmick aimed at misleading the buyer (in other words, a blatant lie). Those lights are nothing more than a high output LED, with controlled directional light by the use of a lens.

Regardless of correctness of the  name, They are a fine product. I have them in my White 70 XR-7. Much brighter then the original 1157's and have not had a bulb fail in 5 years. I use to have to replace an 1157 about once a year.