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G.T. 500 E Performance Model CSE 034
It is a common thread in the life of nearly all of these continuation Shelby Muscle cars that they end up in the hands of a shops that are not equipped to handle their high end mixture of race car parts, modern technology, and street driving intent. Vintage Car specialists have a hard time dealing with the modern EFI systems, Racecar shops do well on that front but often fall short of the mark with regards to street drivability and durability, OEM dealerships appreciate the technology and the visual beauty but rarely have the experience to properly address a vehicle comprised of aftermarket parts without a shop manual for guidance.
The owner of CSE 034 bought his dream continuation muscle car with the intent of driving it. In its life, CSE 034 has seen plenty of road time in regular driving use, charity car ralleys, countless car shows, and has even clocked miles on the road course. Through his driving, the owner experienced many of the chronic issues we’ve identified with the G.T. 500 E series and had attempted to correct them using local automotive facilities. The issues with CSE 034 began compounding as this trail of shops attempted to address individual symptoms while not fully understanding the extent of the causes, eventually leaving the vehicle undriveable.
Once we restored CSE 034 to running condition to determine that we were not dealing with any type of engine damage we began our line of upgrades. CSE 034 received a completely new fuel system from the tank internals forward with new lines bent up to run the fuel to the engine and back properly and insulated to reduce heat transfer from the exhaust system.
The non functional parking brake system was found to have been causing the rear brake calipers to drag, wearing out the rear brake pads prematurely and cracking the rotors from excessive heat. The rear brake rotors and pads were replaced and the calipers overhauled. The parking brake system was made functional with a dual cable system, correct equalizer lever, and proper return springs. We further augmented the brake system by installing one of our power brake assist system.
We installed our combination Engine Oil/ Power Steering cooler system to correct chronic power steering overheating issues plus add additional insurance by keeping our engine oil cool under any driving conditions. Chronic oil leaks from the power steering pump required us to install a replacement billet pump from Concept 1 Pulley Systems.
Due to the drag racing heritage of these engines it is common for us to address oil leaks while in for service. We have identified premium seals and gaskets that help us limit the recurrence of oil leaks. We resealed the intake manifold, engine oil pan, valve covers, and rear main seal on CSE 034.
To improve drivability and durability under street use, CSE 034 received our high performance street clutch and upgraded hydraulic kit and now has the clutch pedal effort of a late model performance vehicle with plenty of bite to put the power of its 410ci stroker small block to the ground. Since CSE 034 is equipped with a Ford style 6 T56 transmission we perform custom machine work to mount our OE quality clutch slave to the front of the 6 speed transmission. Clutch pedal geometry is also modified to provide a late model clutch pedal effort.
As with all of the vehicles built with the Unique Performance suspension this area required significant attention. After we finished correcting the front suspension geometry issues and installing an upgraded stabilizer bar we turned out attention to the rear suspension. The rear suspension geometry was reworked by relocating the shock and rocker brackets for proper alignment and to match the suspension travel set by our new updated dual adjustable coil-over shocks. The driveline was finished out with a high quality aluminum driveshaft to resolve chronic driveline vibrations.
One of the most important upgrades we performed to make CSE 034 a capable street driver was the installation of a new FAST EZ EFI self programming fuel injection system. The system is designed to be an easy fuel injection upgrade for carbureted vehicles and operates independently of the ignition system. It is designed for vehicles up to 550 hp without forced induction or nitrous. Perfect for our application where the owner wants an easy driving vehicle without the complexity of a full FAST XFI programmable EFI system. As you will see in the pictures the EZ EFI system only comes with a pre-fabricated wiring harness so for our needs we tailor the harness to fit our custom vehicle. We fabricated a mounting bracket under the dash to centrally locate all of our relays, fuses, and our EZ EFI module. Our wiring harness was dissected and custom fit to our 410ci stroker Windsor engine with the DC&O individual throttle body manifold. The throttle bodies were then topped off with our “High Performance Air Filter Option” which consists of a set of billet throttle body adaptors and KN filters for increased air flow over the highly restrictive pancake filters that come with the original trumpets. The result is a great running and driving vehicle that self adjusts to changes in the environment, altitude, temperature and engine modifications; plus some free horsepower due to the higher flowing air filters.
The owner of CSE 034 bought his dream continuation muscle car with the intent of driving it. In its life, CSE 034 has seen plenty of road time in regular driving use, charity car ralleys, countless car shows, and has even clocked miles on the road course. Through his driving, the owner experienced many of the chronic issues we’ve identified with the G.T. 500 E series and had attempted to correct them using local automotive facilities. The issues with CSE 034 began compounding as this trail of shops attempted to address individual symptoms while not fully understanding the extent of the causes, eventually leaving the vehicle undriveable.
Once we restored CSE 034 to running condition to determine that we were not dealing with any type of engine damage we began our line of upgrades. CSE 034 received a completely new fuel system from the tank internals forward with new lines bent up to run the fuel to the engine and back properly and insulated to reduce heat transfer from the exhaust system. The non functional parking brake system was found to have been causing the rear brake calipers to drag, wearing out the rear brake pads prematurely and cracking the rotors from excessive heat. The rear brake rotors and pads were replaced and the calipers overhauled. The parking brake system was made functional with a dual cable system, correct equalizer lever, and proper return springs. We further augmented the brake system by installing one of our power brake assist system.
We installed our combination Engine Oil/ Power Steering cooler system to correct chronic power steering overheating issues plus add additional insurance by keeping our engine oil cool under any driving conditions. Chronic oil leaks from the power steering pump required us to install a replacement billet pump from Concept 1 Pulley Systems.
Due to the drag racing heritage of these engines it is common for us to address oil leaks while in for service. We have identified premium seals and gaskets that help us limit the recurrence of oil leaks. We resealed the intake manifold, engine oil pan, valve covers, and rear main seal on CSE 034.
To improve drivability and durability under street use, CSE 034 received our high performance street clutch and upgraded hydraulic kit and now has the clutch pedal effort of a late model performance vehicle with plenty of bite to put the power of its 410ci stroker small block to the ground. Since CSE 034 is equipped with a Ford style 6 T56 transmission we perform custom machine work to mount our OE quality clutch slave to the front of the 6 speed transmission. Clutch pedal geometry is also modified to provide a late model clutch pedal effort.As with all of the vehicles built with the Unique Performance suspension this area required significant attention. After we finished correcting the front suspension geometry issues and installing an upgraded stabilizer bar we turned out attention to the rear suspension. The rear suspension geometry was reworked by relocating the shock and rocker brackets for proper alignment and to match the suspension travel set by our new updated dual adjustable coil-over shocks. The driveline was finished out with a high quality aluminum driveshaft to resolve chronic driveline vibrations.One of the most important upgrades we performed to make CSE 034 a capable street driver was the installation of a new FAST EZ EFI self programming fuel injection system. The system is designed to be an easy fuel injection upgrade for carbureted vehicles and operates independently of the ignition system. It is designed for vehicles up to 550 hp without forced induction or nitrous. Perfect for our application where the owner wants an easy driving vehicle without the complexity of a full FAST XFI programmable EFI system. As you will see in the pictures the EZ EFI system only comes with a pre-fabricated wiring harness so for our needs we tailor the harness to fit our custom vehicle. We fabricated a mounting bracket under the dash to centrally locate all of our relays, fuses, and our EZ EFI module. Our wiring harness was dissected and custom fit to our 410ci stroker Windsor engine with the DC&O individual throttle body manifold. The throttle bodies were then topped off with our “High Performance Air Filter Option” which consists of a set of billet throttle body adaptors and KN filters for increased air flow over the highly restrictive pancake filters that come with the original trumpets. The result is a great running and driving vehicle that self adjusts to changes in the environment, altitude, temperature and engine modifications; plus some free horsepower due to the higher flowing air filters.