General Information
Year
1968
Make
Shelby
Model
GT 350
Color
Candy Apple Red
Packages
Real Shelby Cobra GT 350
History
Found the car in 1982. Pretty rough Ohio car with 100K+ miles on it. Typical rusty fenders, quarters and floors. I replaced all those parts. It's been long term restoration project. Currently I have replaced and upgraded the front and rear suspension. Dropped the car an inch in the process. New parts in the Top Loader 4 speed. New Wilwood 4 piston front discs and Porterfield rear shoes. Summer of 2019 I had to fix two bad head gaskets. The block and crank were fine so I had the engine blue printed and balanced. It dyno'd at 310 HP. Edelbrock Aluminum heads, McLeod clutch and PP.
1968 Shelby GT 350 (Candy Apple Red)
Modifications
Drivetrain
1968 Ford 302 4V. Ford Toploader 4 speed with Hurst shifter and T-Handle. 3.89 rear end.
Summer 2019 engine rebuild. The car came from Shelby American with a Cobra hi-rise aluminum intake. I have a dual feed, mechanical secondaries 600 cfm Holley 4 BBL setting on top. Tri-Y headers. Petronix ignition in the distributor. Petronix coil. Ford plug wires.
Car came with an export brace. I added a Curve Monte Carlo brace. (Curved to fit the large oval Cobra air cleaner.)
In 2019 I had to fix a couple of bad head gaskets. You know how that goes, if I am taking the engine apart I might as well.... Ended up with a balanced and blue printed engine, forged dished pistons, flat tappet Comp Cam with a .509 intake lift, Edelbrock aluminum heads with matching valve train, roller tipped rockers & screw in studs, new Holley Brawler 600 CFM 4 bbl. New oil & fuel pumps and aluminum hi volume water pump. Increased the Horsepower about 30% adding 80 HP to it. Huge difference. I wanted a performance engine in my street car and that is what I got. Replaced the clutch and pressure plate with a McLeod diaphragm performance set up.
Summer 2019 engine rebuild. The car came from Shelby American with a Cobra hi-rise aluminum intake. I have a dual feed, mechanical secondaries 600 cfm Holley 4 BBL setting on top. Tri-Y headers. Petronix ignition in the distributor. Petronix coil. Ford plug wires.
Car came with an export brace. I added a Curve Monte Carlo brace. (Curved to fit the large oval Cobra air cleaner.)
In 2019 I had to fix a couple of bad head gaskets. You know how that goes, if I am taking the engine apart I might as well.... Ended up with a balanced and blue printed engine, forged dished pistons, flat tappet Comp Cam with a .509 intake lift, Edelbrock aluminum heads with matching valve train, roller tipped rockers & screw in studs, new Holley Brawler 600 CFM 4 bbl. New oil & fuel pumps and aluminum hi volume water pump. Increased the Horsepower about 30% adding 80 HP to it. Huge difference. I wanted a performance engine in my street car and that is what I got. Replaced the clutch and pressure plate with a McLeod diaphragm performance set up.
Interior
Stock Shelby GT 350 with a Hurst T shifter. John Chung, the designer of these cars at Shelby American, signed the dash.
Exterior
Stock Shelby GT 350. Fiberglass hood and front end. Upper and lower side scoops. Fiberglass trunk lid and end caps. Fiberglass rear panel with 65 T-Brid sequential taillights. (John told me it was his idea to pick those taillights off the Ford shelf.) I added rear window louvers and a front spoiler, other than that it is mostly stock.
Audio
?? The car still has the first owner's 8 track in the dash. The car is almost too loud to listen to the radio.
Lighting
stock with Lucas Running lights in the front grille area.
Exhaust
Custom dual exhaust with H pipe
Suspension
The entire front end has been replaced. All new OpenTrackerRacing upper and lower control arms, Bilstein shocks, roller spring shock perch, adjustable strut rods, performance springs (with one coil cut off to lower the front end.)
The rear end has new 4.5 leaf springs with a mid eye shackle. New Bilstein shocks
The changes I made to the suspension lowered the height about an inch on both ends. Now the car drives like you would expect it to.
The rear end has new 4.5 leaf springs with a mid eye shackle. New Bilstein shocks
The changes I made to the suspension lowered the height about an inch on both ends. Now the car drives like you would expect it to.
Wheel and Tire
I replaced the stock 15" steel rims & wheel covers with 15" Shelby ten spoke aluminum wheels.
It has Goodrich TA radials on it. The front tires are 215/65R15's the rear tires are P245/60R15's A bit wider than stock. The front tires are about an inch narrower to eliminate the tires rubbing the fender lip.
I replaced the original single piston Kelsey Hayes discs with a set of Wilwood's classic front 4 piston disc kit. Perfect fit. Rear brakes are drum with Porterfield shoes.
It has Goodrich TA radials on it. The front tires are 215/65R15's the rear tires are P245/60R15's A bit wider than stock. The front tires are about an inch narrower to eliminate the tires rubbing the fender lip.
I replaced the original single piston Kelsey Hayes discs with a set of Wilwood's classic front 4 piston disc kit. Perfect fit. Rear brakes are drum with Porterfield shoes.
