A Girly S550

[ck80]

As a surprise gift to the other half I'm going to surprise her (hopefully in a good way) with a facelift to a mustang for her.

To be realistic, I don't figure to be turning too many wrenches personally... health just isn't up for it. Instead i'll be the braintrust for what is to happen, lots of sourcing parts, creating custom touches, adapting things that weren't meant to be there, that sort of thing. Someone else will be brought in to bolt the prepared pieces on when the time comes.

Another mustang for the herd here, she did tell me she is 'o.k.' with modifications within reason as long as they're 'tasteful.'

So in this thread I'll be breaking two of my longstanding modus operandi: making a "build thread" and making a car something other than factory correct/stock.

There's some body damage to have addressed: front bumper cover, RH fender, RH mirror, RH rocker molding, RH quarter crease, decklid, taillamps, rear bumper, rear impact bar, tailpan.

It's going to be very clearly a girl's car, which means adding pink. She's asked for pink before, and now she's going to get it.

I've got some ideas for adding some electronic touches as well, but, that may need the help of others since I've never been a huge custom/aftermarket guy. It'll be a new experience.

I look forward to availability of take-off parts from the various factory conversions, so hopefully that will offset expenses some.

Here it is, complete with improvised plate mounting:

 

[fleming442]

This is tasteful:

Hellion 2016-2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Sleeper Hidden Twin Turbo System - Hellion Turbo

Kit comes standard with Hellion 62/62 T4 Cast Wheel Turbochargers.

www.hellionpowersystems.com

 

[ck80]

This is tasteful:

Hellion 2016-2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Sleeper Hidden Twin Turbo System - Hellion Turbo

Kit comes standard with Hellion 62/62 T4 Cast Wheel Turbochargers.

www.hellionpowersystems.com

I'd agree with you... that may be down the road. This car is only going to be a base 305hp v6 for now. Maybe a coyote engine swap down the road, although, I'd expect she will need adjusting even to the 300hp version.

Besides, this one only cost me about $6200. Going to the 5.0 would easily double that.

 

[ck80]

So first piece of the build acquired this morning.

Gt hood with heat extractors removed from a new car for a conversion, got boxed up, and been waiting for me to need it someday since. Grand price of $200 delivered today. Flawless paint, correct color code for easy blending down at the end.

Now with this in hand I need to order 3 more parts, then learn more.about sequential signal wiring for the next modification....

 

[ck80]

Been quiet lately. I tracked down a pair of new car takeoff 2016-only heat extractors, same j4 blue, that have the built in turn signals.

Like the hood, flawless paint and everything perfect.

Downside is, the lamp lens is very shallow height compared to how some aftermarket ones that id seen appeared. This leaves me with a dilemma with one of my planned mods.

On the one hand, the 2016 factory unit has a very clean appearance and the lens is surface mount with a mesh grille beneath.

On the other hand, the aftermarket units have a bit less clean appearance (you need to massage the housing to mount the lamp behind a mesh) but the benefit is a taller light up lamp face

My original plan was to convert to a sequential LED, then have a custom overlay made up like guys uses to get as 3rd brakelight cover.

Now?

 

[ck80]

So I've been slacking on both working on this, and, updating what I have done.

Got a take-off trunk lid assembly, and, a flat lay-down style spoiler for it.

Also picked up a second set of dash trim from a wrecked car, and, the door panels off the same.

Idea is to wrap the dash trim which will be a new experience for me. I've heard the anodized appearance wraps fade out from sun exposure... need to read up/ask around on that.

Also plan to remove the existing leather inserts from the door panels and either dye or recover them with a similar colored leather or vinyl depending what is available.

 

[ck80]

With all my time away this thread had been left to die... sort of. While I've been away from many things convalescing, I've help my better half hunt down many goodies... some of which had funny stories.

We now have a new set of 2020 take-off wheels and tires to go on the car... plus new lug nuts to to get around the "swelling" defect they all have, best part of all it cost me $50 plus a trade of leftover junk!

There was a great gentleman, and I mean a friendly "character" in real life but a serious car guy too. We ended up with a takeoff front grille from him for $25. He threw in yet another emblem for free, on top of the carbon fiber blackout one that usually goes for $50 that was already included. We was talking about all sorts of thiings, including his history as a pizza resturaunt owner/chef and how he was making pizza and wished we could come over because he would feed us.... well, conversation turns to what I planned to do with the grille. I even told him, laughing, how the car is getting modifications that are secret and will wind up being a surprise, so I cant really give the details. The grille is one piece of that, which will incorporate a briefly made by ford but now discontinued plug and play option.

picked up some wiring harness pieces needed for the master plan.

lined things up for the replacement fender and front bumper cover to get ordered and hopefully arrive soon. the bumper always seems to have issues with tabs and rock problems,... I'm gonna need to think that one over long term. bras dont usually look that great, and cause paint fade.

I need to get, and learn, the skill of vinyl wrapping in other news. or find someone nearby that can cheaply do some hot pink wrap on certain black parts.

It also is about due for its first ever brake job, 122k miles and counting on the original pads. works fine, just dont trust them for her driving it. front pads are actually down to near 2mm, rears around 3mm, and havent *yet* activated the wear/noise indicators...then again, original tires made it around 115k miles.

she got the idea to "clean the seats" which.... made a mess. Now they look chalky white and messy. I thought uncleaned soap but doesnt seem like it.

 

[gnvair]

Great cars. Friend of mine has one with a 5.0 and a Procharger. Minimal modifications are rims, converter, cat back exhaust and a tune. Best et was 9.63 @ 144 on an unopened original engine. He also drives it back and forth to work several days a week and it still retains all of its original accessories including a/c.