My project - details from start to finish

[adrenalin]

I decided to create what could be considered a journal of my cars history. I will include all of my mods and as much information as I can.

Ordered the car on May 26, 2004, only because the dealer would not let me order it any sooner than that. After impatiently waiting my car finally arrived on Nov 21, 2004. This is what she looked like when I first brought her home.




of course I already installed the magnaflow exhaust before I took pics of the car



I was surprised by how many people just stopped and stared at the car. I just couldn't wait until I started to modify it.

So let the mods begin.

My first mod was the Magnaflow axle-back system. Unfortunately this turned out to be one of the biggest install pains I have ever had. The mufflers did not properly line up with the factory exhaust system. After numerous emails back and forth to Part Shopper and Magnaflow we finally got the problem sorted out. Ford had changed the exhaust system after magnaflow had received their test mules. Here are some pics of the factory muffler versus the magnaflow muffler.







Eventually the mufflers were shipped back after I received a new Magnaflow Magnapack cat-back system. Definately louder than the regular magnaflow mufflers. I also like the fact that you don't see the muffler, however, I prefer the tips that were on the regular magnaflows compared to these ones.

On my way home from work 1 day I stopped in at a tint shop and had the windows tinted. I put 5% on the rear window and quarter windows and had 35% installed on the doors. That is the legal limit in my area.

Next mod was my stripes. The stripes are 10 3/4" wide with a 1" gap. 3M automotive vinyl (2 mil). I cut them from stock. I had a sign shop cut the stock 15" vinyl down to 10 3/4". I then installed them and cut around the emblem and rear license plate recess with a razor blade (not fun). I used 1" masking tape for the gap. Finding the center of the vehicle was pretty tricky but installing the vinyl was a small nightmare. Since the stripe is not contoured to the curves of the vehicle I had to install it dry. Took close to 8 hours to do the entire thing. The reason I put GT350 on the side was I plan on doing some engine mods to get the HP up to that.





Next mod was the Eibach Pro-kit suspension. This dropped the car close to 1.5". First let me start by saying the weather is still crappy. Snow, salt, etc so the car is filthy.I don't know all the techie terms so bare with me. Easier if you have 2 people. You need 2 jack stands and at least 1 floor jack. I had 2 on hand so that makes it even easier. Lets start with the rear. Raise the car up and put it on jack stands. While on jack stands keep floor jack under differential and remove lower bolts from both passenger and drivers side shocks. Slowly lower the jack. Shocks should now be only connected at the top. Place Jack under passenger side A-pilar (if that is what it is even called, basically where the shock connected) and raise it up until the car is about to lift off the jack stand. Have a buddy push down on the driver side tire with his foot. You can now pull the spring out of the drivers side and pop in the new one. Lower the jack and repeat on the other side. Once done place jack back on differential and raise it up so you can easily reconnect the shocks. Remove jack stands and lower car. Rear springs are now installed.
Front - this will be harder to explain. Put the front of the car on jack stands. Remove both front tires (or one at a time, whatever you prefer) Place jack under A-arm on drivers side and raise it up slightly. Remove bolts that hold bottom strut in place. Lower jack. Bottom assembly should now be loose and the only thing holding the strut in place are the 4 bolts under the hood. When you remove them make sure you are holding the strut so you don't drop it. Remove the strut from the car. Now you just need to compress the spring and remove the top strut plate, remove the spring install the new one and put everything back together. repeat process on Passenger side. 1 trick I use is liquid paper. I mark area that I will be removing bolts from to make sure everything lines back up again when I am done.

Again, I am not a mechanic, I am a computer guy, or geek as my wife would say so I don't know the proper terminology for the parts. Also, I don't think I missed a step here but if I did I am sorry, regardless it is a fairly simple installation. You'll see what I mean when you get into it. It was pretty easy. If you are mechanically inclined than you should have no problem. Look at it this way, I know lots of people that tear apart front brakes all the time yet I have never touched them. The same guys that swap out the brakes are afraid to install a spring kit, while I am afraid to mess with the brakes. I didn't find it that hard at all.
I have now put about 300 miles on the car since I installed the springs. Overall I can definately tell they are stiffer especially on bumpy roads, which since I drive 15 miles to and from work daily on rural roads I know the feeling may not be enjoyable for most people. The car handles really good in corners. I have not gotten an alignment yet. I will get that done when my summer rims/tires are installed. Is it necessary to install bumpsteer kits or camber plates? I have no idea because I have never been in a lowered car with those installed so I can't compare. Hope this helps some of you guys out.




Just so everyone knows I needed an aligment but nobody would touch it but FORD. They tried to align it back to factory spec but can't do it because there is not enough camber adjustment. I had to get the strut holes notched and camber bolts installed in order fot it to be aligned properly. Is this a big deal? You bet it is. If I don't get this done the inside of both front tires will be bald before the summer even gets here. When you look at the front of the car you can tell that the tires are not aligned properly. From factory the car always slightly pulled to the right (just incase you fall asleep at the wheel it will pull you off the road). Now the car pulls slightly to the left. According to Ford the camber bolts need to be installed. I sent an email to Steeda asking them if the camber plates are necessary if I used their springs and their answer simply was "yes, in order for proper alignment you need to install camber plates". The tech at Ford even showed me in the 2005 manual how to install the camber bolts if the camber cannot be adjusted properly. They need to notch out the lower hole in the strut and install the plates and new bolts. The kit I am going with is just from FORD so they are covering it under warranty and a lot cheaper than steeda's kit. It gives +/- .75 degree which is all I need. My front tires are out -.7 degrees.

I know some of you say it should be "fine" because you rotated your tires but I can't rotate mine, different sizes. Ford does know I lowered it because I told them "I need an alignment because I lowered the car and put wider tires on it".
Remember, just because your car "feels" fine does not mean it is. You may want to bring your car into the FORD dealership and just ask them to check the alignment because you think it may be off a bit. I know at my dealer they don't care if it is lowered or not and would have inspected it for free.

Got my car back last night. Even after having the camber bolts installed the passenger side tire is out slightly, but not enough to cause tire wear. I would definately have had problems with uneven tire wear if the bolts were not installed. Also, I know some of you are saying you don't need camber plates, but, looks like you are also still using stock tires and rims. When you go to wider tires like I did it is very obvious that the tires are far from being properly aligned.

Looking at the rear of the car the drivers side rear tire is even with the fender whereas the passenger side is in by about 1/4. I had someone push down on the trunk so the wheels were closer to the fender so I could get a better measurement. Guess I will need to buy an adjustable panhard bar as well.

Next mod was the rims and tires. Well first lets start off with saying the car is dirty and I jumped the gun, good old spring fever. Here are pics with the 18" AR Torq Thrust customs. 18x10 rear, 18x8 front. BFG Gforce T/A KDW-NT - 285/40 rear 255/45 front.





3 spoke spinners have not arrive yet so they will be on in a few weeks.

Ride was not bad with the Eibach springs when the factory rims and winter tires were on it. Now with a lower profile tire is is a bit rougher, however, I also think that is because these tires are really stiff since it is still below 0 degrees here.
I have a feeling in the summer it will be a bit better. Handles really good now.

FYI - The 18x10's have a 7.25" backspacing and just fit perfectly. The front 18x8's do have the 5.5" backspace. It took us 3 different backspace sizes to get the right ones. With the rear rims and tires I only have 1/4" gap before the tire would rub on the inside of the fender :shock: I wanted to get wider tires but looks like this is as wide as I can go. Rims clear the brake calipers by about 1/8" so I won't be able to upgrade to bigger brakes in the future :angry:

Decided to paint the brake calipers. I used the Dupli-color kit. Works great. Followed the directions but only let my car sit for 8 hours since it was really hot outside.

Some updated pics of the car......





Car is definately getting more looks and thumbs up gestures.

Decided to install the webelectronics sequential taillight kit. Installation was pretty easy. I worked with the owner on a way to disable the burst brake function. If you want to remove this feature follow these simple steps.

Behind the passenger side kick panel is the Smart Juction Box (SJB). Remove the passenger side door sill plate.



Now locate the passenger side kick panel.


Remove the panel access cover. There are no screws on either of this, it simply pops off. You do NOT need to disconnect any wires.


Here is a pic of the Smart Juction Box (SJB)


Remove the bolt at the bottom of the SJB


Push up on the SJB. There are 2 clips at the top holding it in place. The SJB can now be pulled out a bit from the mounting location.


On the back of the SJB is a bunch of connectors.


The second one from the bottom is GREY. On that connect find a Grey wire with a black stripe and a Dark Blue wire with an Orange Stripe.



The drivers side signal lamp is the Grey wire with the black stripe. So obviously the Dark Blue with Orange Stripe is the Passenger side signal lamp. You need to run 2 wires from the SJB to the back of the car. Do not connect the wires to the SJB yet.
At the back of the car you you need to cut the green wires on both harnesses. For these instructions go to

http://www.webelectricproducts.com/products.htm
Click on "online Instructions" and then STS-1 Generic Installation Instructions

Scroll down to Installing the Control Wires.

Once you have the wires connected at the back, connect the wires behind the SJB using the Quick Splices that should have been provided in the kit. I know the kit says to use them at the back but that does not make sense. You do not want to cut the wires located behind the SJB.

Now turn on your hazzards and make sure they are all working properly. If they are not then you do not have the wires done properly. Then check your taillights, brakes and signals.

I must say I love em. I really like having 3 brake lights on each side rather than 2. It looks awesome and the speed is perfect. For each time your front signal flashes the back has gone through its sequence so the timing is great.

Good luck with your installs. I sent pics of the installation to webeproducts.

Time for a few performance mods. I order and installed the MMR Intake kit and also went with the SCT Xcalibrator.

Unfortunately I really didn't take any pics of these parts. I must say as soon as you install the kit and flash the ECM, what a difference in response this car has. Hard to believe such an easy mod can make such a big difference.

Today I was a little bored so I removed the antenna from the car and chopped it down to 14". I removed the ball at the end by using a pair of pliers to knock it off. I then used a hacksaw to cut it, rounded the end with a grinder and popped the ball back on. A little bit of paint and it looks like it was from the factory.

Well now it is time to clean my baby since the weather has finally warmed up. I have used almost every wax product I can get my hands on, however I have not used Zaino's. Instead of paying that much for wax I thought I would try the new NXT stuff from Meguiars.
I only have 2 coats of Meguiars NXT paste wax on the car. I used a clay bar before waxing the car. I only used the claybar on the stripes on the back of the car because they had brake dust or something on them and the claybar took them right off. The wax is easy to apply, however try avoiding getting wax only the black molding around the windows or the grille. I only use microfiber towels to remove the wax. Easiest way to remove it is to have one in each hand. Starting in one area, remove most of the wax with 1 towel and then use the other towel to remove any left over residue. If you did get wax on the molding, use Mothers Back to Black. It does a great job. Peanut butter also works but then you have to wash the car again and it isn't that easy to remove.
I think it turned out pretty good. Very reflective.


No those are not my legs, they belong to my wife and my little dog likes to look at his reflection as well For the price of the meguires stuff and the end result I think I will stick with it from now on. I went to a car show today that had over 500 cars, however, I didn't know about it until it was too late to register. A lot of people left the car show to go to the parking lot where my car was parked to take a look at it. I thought that was pretty cool.

Time for some more serious mods. I ordered the MRT louvers. Pretty good finish on them. Just need to adjust the window bracket so they sit flush. Here are a few picks.



For those who don't know or are just curious, they are made by CDC for MRT.
On each side they are off by about 3/8" at the top due to the metal bracket. Not a big deal. I found out the problem is the screw, when tightened too much, slips on the louver moving the bracket out of position. A new lock washer should solve that problem.
The mounting hardware that they currently provided does not allow them to be removed for cleaning, unless you want to remove all of the 3M tape. That doesn't bother me because I never planned on removing them. However, MRT is shipping out the proper hardware once they receive it from CDC. Anyway, the metal hardware does get attached to the window using 3M tape and you can access the screws to remove/install the louvers via the slots in the louvers. Kinda slick.

I should mention the guy at the body shop was pretty impressed with the finish on them. Needs some sanding around the cutouts but other than that, pretty darn good. I am having the inside of them painted satin black.

Now things get very interesting. I have always like the Street Scene body kit so I bit the bullet and ordered it. Kit arrived with no issues. Dropped everything off at the body shop. Well here are some shots from the body shop. I just stopped in to see how things were going and there was quite the crowd checking out the car . Unfortunately it looks like I won't have the car back until next weekend, just before the car show The good thing is they are doing one heck of a job. They did a real good job sanding down any imperfections in the parts. I can't believe how many bugs are already stuck in the rad. Gonna be alot worse after the new front fascia is installed. Darn country livin'.







Got the car back. Looks great. Louvers are not completely stuck in place and they didn't use the metal brackets because they said they couldn't get the louvers to sit flush with them. I'll take them off next week and redo them. Anyway, here are some pics. Not the greatest since it is dark out so I will get more tomorrow. I thought the factory bumper was a pain to install stripes on, this one was a nightmare.









Time to bring the car someone where I can take some better pictures.







I just ran out and measured. After lowering my car and putting that kit on it sits 4.5" off of the ground. If someone can measure a stock GT that would be great but I think the car sits a total of 3" lower than stock.

To get the SS kit and MRT louvers painted and installed was $2,000.00 (canadian). Parts were epoxy coated, primed and painted. As I said once before, I could have gotten a cheaper job but it would not have looked as good.

The High-flow intake tube for the MMR intake just arrived. I installed it and it looks pretty darn good. Unfortunately it just rests on the power steering fluid reservoir. Sorry for the bad pics. It was pretty late and dark outside.







The CDC shaker kit just arrived. I have had this on back order ever since CDC said they were going to make a kit. I was so excited I forgot to take pics of it before I installed it, however I did take pics of the installation........

CDC provides your with a template. You need to find the center of the hood, which was easy for me since I already did this for the stripes. I then covered the area in tape. I removed the liner from under the hood. Comes off easily, just a few clips.



Next step is to position the template and then tape it into place.



Using a razor blade you cut out the template. Make sure you press hard enough to cut the paint so it won't chip when cutting the hole in the hood.


This is where I started to sweat a bit.

No going back now


Neighbours came over to see what I was doing and this is what they saw....



I used a deburrer (spelling) and then primed the cut area to prevent oxidization (not that I really expected any). Then installed the trim ring which uses 2 sided tape on the hood side. The bottom section snaps into place and then you use 4 rivets to attach the top and bottom trim rings together.

[adrenalin]

I removed the MMR intake kit and installed the factory intake to make sure the shaker installed properly. Installing the kit was a pain. The shaker is held on at the front using 2 of the throttle body bolts. Problem is you can't see the holes where they go after you put the shaker in place. After dropping the bolts several times it was finally installed close to 1 hour later.



Lowered the hood to find it was not centered. Contacted CDC and they said Ford must have changed something. Ya right.



Anyway, I removed the shaker. I removed the cast aluminum cover and notched the plastic underneath so I could adjust the location of the shaker. It is still off by less than 1/8" but I will work on that this winter.

Took the car out for a spin. Works good but definately notice the loss in power since I don't have the MMR kit installed and the ECM flashed back to stock. Definately does not shake like the old shakers would. The motor does not move as much as the old ones. You can see it move a little even under idle. You can hear the air being pulled into it (I thought that was cool). When driving down the road every bump you hit the thing moves around. Shows you how much the motor moves when driving.

Spinners finally arrived for the rims (7 months after ordering them). Installed them and then took the car out for another photo shoot.





Decided to reinstall the MMR intake kit. Had to modify the shaker where it sits just above the intake. It wouldn't clear the intake tube. I painted all of the MMR parts Sonic Blue and then oversprayed them with black, so when you first look at them they look black but a closer look shows that there is a metallic blue in it. I still have to fab something up to house the air filter. Currently the shaker is not a true closed system. This will be another winter project for me.

Well that is it for my mods for now. I have the Street Scene custom grille on back order. Car is going into the body shop at the end of October for a complete paint job. Car had received some major stone damage when a dumptruck dumped a bunch of gravel onto the road in front of me while I was doing 80 km/h. :notnice:

:notnice: Issues I have had with the car :notnice:

When the car is started there is a ticking noise coming from the Passenger side. Sounds like it is from under the valve cover. However, if you turn the car off and then start it again there is no noise. You need to wait at least a 1/2 hour before you start it to hear the noise again. The colder it is the louder it is, but only lasts a few seconds. It sounds as though all of the oil is draining off of the parts and the rockers are starting dry.

Ford had my car for 2 days. It was, as a bunch of us thought, the hydraulic chain tensioner on the passenger side. It was bleeding off when the car was shut down. Looks like a seal went in it (or something). It would appear FORD is aware of the
problem and a TSB may be issued since several other people have had the same problem. Fortunately the noise on my car stops after a few seconds but some have the noise as long as the car is running. The replacement part will not be in for a few weeks so I will have to bring it back to the again.

That has been the only serious problem. Car has been in for some usual things, brake reservoir cap leaking (they just ordered my second replacement), door window felt replaced since it was scratching the tint, fog light had condensation in it.

Well that is about it for now. Nothing else is being done for a few weeks. Car goes into the shop at the end of the month and should have it back by the end of November. I'll take some pics before it is put away for the winter.

[G.T]

awesome writeup adrenalin!.. almost a "HOWTO mod for the ultimate mustang" IMO
your ride sure turned out great..

[adrenalin]

Thanks Louis. I put a lot of time and money (more money than time) into this thing. It is almost complete.

[THRUST_]

that's a great writeup John. Your car really does look great.

[Dan]

Great writeup John!

[adrenalin]

thanks guys

[Gnirod1]

I've always liked your car. Definately a prime example of good taste. Anyone seen that body kit on Mineral Grey?

[Louie]

Excellent write-up and beautiful ride! Very useful info for anybody planning to do any of those mods.

Originally posted by adrenalin@October 9, 2005, 4:59 PM
It is almost complete.

Quoted post

What's next?

[Scothew]

Awesome job John on the car and "blog"

[adrenalin]

Originally posted by Louie@October 10, 2005, 2:38 AM
Excellent write-up and beautiful ride! Very useful info for anybody planning to do any of those mods.
What's next?

Quoted post

Car is going to be repainted, same colours but stripes will be a bit wider and going to do something a bit different in the back. Waiting for the Street Scene custom grille. During the winter I will work on converting my MMR intake kit to work with the Shaker system. I plan on installing an adjustable panhard rod as well. Other than that, probably just some small things like putting vinyl lettering inside the aluminum door sill plates and since the shaker system has the same thing I'll probably put some there as well. I am going to work on cleaning up the engine bay and having this project finished by the time the snow melts next year.

[gt6974a]

Very, very, nice....

[adrenalin]

Well looks like I am going to try to get my hands on the CDC 3 piece ducktail since it will cover the factory spoiler holes. Spoke to the body shop today and my job has been bumped until January, which is not big deal but that unfortunately means I'll have to take her out in the snow at some point in time to get it to the shop

[Barricade]

John ....What a write up. Awesome job!!
I painted my stripes to look like yours...now I
just may do the shaker!!

Thanks again and keep up the Blog!!

[adrenalin]

Well today my car received a boo-boo. I pulled up to close to a curb and scratched the front bumper a bit I'll sand it down tonight and air brush the area. I finally placed an order for X-Pel paint protection. Once my car is repainted I will be covering the front section of the hood, areas in the wheelwells where stones can chip the body kit. I will also have to do a custom cutout for the front bumper. That won't be very fun.

[Hartman]

Beautiful car man, im generally not one for the body kit etc on the 05s, but yours pulls it off perfectly. And the shaker hood looks sick on it.

[adrenalin]

Update on wax: Well it has been close to 2 months since I waxed the car. It still beads pretty good but it has lost a lot of the shine and some areas you can start to see the "spider web" effect in the paint (swirls marks). Needless to say, this wax has definately outperformed anything I have used in the past. The only thing close to this shine (that I have used) was Turtle Wax Utlra Shine, but that stuff only lasts about 3 car washes. Here is a tip, stay away from Turtle Wax.

As for the Tires, I used Meguiars NXT Insane Shine tire spray. I am not as impressed with this stuff as I was with the was. The tire spray comes in a spray bottle that has 2 settings, wide and narrow. Both of which I have always found useless in tire products. The narrow spray is still to wide for my 40 series tires. I spray it onto an old sponge and apply it that way. If it doesn't rain, I find that after about 10 days it is due for another treatment. However, the product claims that it lasts a long time, even through car washes and rain. :notnice: I disagree. I find that if it rains a few days after applying it, most of it disappears and a few days after that the tires start to look a little brown. It lasts longer. I have also used Endurance Gel (why it's pink I have no idea). It clogs any grooves in the side of the tire and makes a real mess of things after a few applications. You basically need to use a tire cleaner and scrub brush inbetween applications. I give that one 2 thumbs down :notnice: :notnice:

I think I might give Mothers Reflections Advanced Tire care a try. It doesn't make the tires shiny. Just makes them look clean and a nice black satin finish.

[tom_vilsack]

Beauty car and a great read! Your gonna stay with same color eh...no thoughts on maybe making slightly different? Maybe something like sonic blue but with a different hue....

[Donna]

Excellent write up John. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[adrenalin]

Originally posted by tom_vilsack@October 23, 2005, 3:53 AM
Beauty car and a great read! Your gonna stay with same color eh...no thoughts on maybe making slightly different? Maybe something like sonic blue but with a different hue....

Quoted post

Well I did talk to the bodyshop about that a bit and I am keeping an eye out on different colours. Since the entire thing does have to get repainted I am sticking with blue because I don't want to go through the hassle of painting the engine bay. However, a different shade of blue I have no problem with. I have looked at a slightly darker shade than what I have now, even a true blue. I also like azure blue, but I have a while until I make a final decision.