89Trooper's Garage - Modification Journal

89Trooper said:

None at all!

When the hood is lower, the struts no longer offer any resistance, so closing the hood is the same as if they weren't there at all.

When you raise the hood, you have to lift it up maybe half way... then the struts will take over and lift it all the way up.

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Sweet! Thanks! (My sales guy put the fear of god in me about leaning on the aluminum hood to close it…)

Strut Tower Brace

*Click on a picture for a larger image*

Date completed: 12/26/14

Cost: $340 (Strut Tower Brace, black brace, two additional nuts)

Unless you ordered your Mustang GT with a Performance Pack, or the 20" wheel option, your engine bay looks like this:



At first, I was perplexed as to why I only had half of a black "brace" going from the firewall to the passenger side strut tower. It turns out that it really isn't a brace at all. It is plastic and is only used to support the battery cover and the cowl.

The plastic part uses the exact same hardware as the full black brace. If you want to swap it out, you'll need to remove two nuts, four bolts, three battery cover clips (only two in the pic since I lost one), and six cowl clips:



I purchased the full black brace from the dealer, and here is the comparison between the half "brace" and the full brace:



Unfortunately it ships as seen above (no packaging) and needed to be painted:



It then slips right into place, exactly where the plastic piece was, but of course now goes to both strut towers (removing the positive battery cable makes it much easier to install):



I also purchased the stock Strut Tower Brace that comes on the Performance Pack and LE. Installing it is as easy as placing it across the strut towers, and installing the four nuts (torque = 41 ft-lbs).

Here is the finished product!



Here are the part numbers that you'll need if you would also like to do this easy swap. You can order from your dealer, or Tasca has very good prices (click on the part numbers):

Full Black Brace: FR3Z-16K038-A

Strut Tower Brace: FR3Z-16A200-A

Two Additional Nuts: -W712334-S442 (it says "rotor nuts", but they are the same)

89Trooper said:

Date completed: 12/26/14

Cost: $340 (Strut Tower Brace, black brace, two additional nuts)

Unless you ordered your Mustang GT with a Performance Pack, or the 20" wheel option, your engine bay looks like this:



At first, I was perplexed as to why I only had half of a black "brace" going from the firewall to the passenger side strut tower. It turns out that it really isn't a brace at all. It is plastic and is only used to support the battery cover and the cowl.

The plastic part uses the exact same hardware as the full black brace. If you want to swap it out, you'll need to remove two nuts, four bolts, three battery cover clips (only two in the pic since I lost one), and six cowl clips:



I purchased the full black brace from the dealer, and here is the comparison between the half "brace" and the full brace:



Unfortunately it ships as seen above (no packaging) and needed to be painted:



It then slips right into place, exactly where the plastic piece was, but of course now goes to both strut towers (removing the positive battery cable makes it much easier to install):



I also purchased the stock Strut Tower Brace that comes on the Performance Pack and LE. Installing it is as easy as placing it across the strut towers, and installing the four nuts.

Here is the finished product!



Here are the part numbers that you'll need if you would also like to do this easy swap. You can order from your dealer, or Tasca has very good prices (click on the part numbers):

Full Black Brace: FR3Z-16K038-A

Strut Tower Brace: FR3Z-16A200-A

Two Additional Nuts: -W712334-S442 (it says "rotor nuts", but they are the same)

Click to expand...

Looks great! Thanks for the update and part numbers.

Sc00ter said:

Looks great! Thanks for the update and part numbers.

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You're welcome! Post pics when you add yours!

Will do - just ordered my Bob's Auto Sports oil separator, so that'll probably make it onto the car first.

First Oil Change

*Click on a picture for a larger image*

Date: 1/1/2015

Miles: 1605.5

Cost: $35.57 (8 quarts Motorcraft 5W-20 Synthetic blend oil, Motorcraft FL-500S oil filter)

I purchased two 5-quart jugs of oil. Buying one 5-quart jug plus three additional quarts separately was much more expensive. And now I'll have two more quarts toward my next oil change. I just had to measure out 1 quart (4 cups) to add each additional quart.



I wanted to do the first oil change around 1500 miles. I got pretty close at 1605.5, and the percent of oil life remaining was showing at 87%. I did not reset it - I am curious to see how long it takes the car to tell me that it's time to change the oil.



Using Rhino Ramps, it's very easy to get under the car. And there is plenty of room under the nose to drive up onto them since it isn't lowered.



The oil filter can be reached without removing the plastic plate under the engine compartment, but when oil drains out, it will get all over the plate, so it has to be removed. The Performance Pack cars have an access door to remove the filter. Non-PP cars, unfortunately, don't have this access panel. Click HERE to see the access panel on the PP.



Here is the non-PP panel installed and removed. Bolts needing to be removed are 7mm (4) and 10mm (2). The oil pan drain plug is 15mm.



Non-Performance Pack cars also do not have a gauge showing actual oil pressure, so I couldn't check the pressure before and after. Mine was "normal" before... and "normal" after. That's as good as I get.



Others had mentioned additional noise after their first oil change. I didn't hear anything different or louder coming from the engine compartment after the change.

Here is a pic of the used oil after 1600 miles. I tried to slosh some up onto the side of the glass bowl to see the true color.

Thank you for being capable of changing your own oil.

Covercraft Block-It 380 Car Cover

*Click on any picture for a larger image*

Date received: 1/2/2015

Cost: $192.18 (Cover and Storage Bag from CJ Pony Parts during their 10% sale).

Here are some pictures of the Covercraft Block-It 380 Car Cover.

Cons: It doesn't have the logo on the hood (as is shown in the link above) and the material is not as soft as it appears in that picture.

Pros: It fits like a glove and has elastic along the bottom that holds it nicely in place. It's very easy to put on the car and can be put on, or taken off, in about two minutes.

Trooper thanks for the oil change write up. Should be smooth sailing for me when I decide to do the first change. I thought 3000 miles but I may bump that down. What did you think of the used oil quality drained out? Really dirty or still acceptable? I would assume it wouldn't be too bad at 1600 miles. Just 6 bolts as you state too?

Free Agent said:

Trooper thanks for the oil change write up. Should be smooth sailing for me when I decide to do the first change. I thought 3000 miles but I may bump that down. What did you think of the used oil quality drained out? Really dirty or still acceptable? I would assume it wouldn't be too bad at 1600 miles. Just 6 bolts as you state too?

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You're welcome!

The oil that drained out was of course darker than the new oil, but definitely not black or really dirty.

Yep, 6 bolts. But I'm checking on the panel that comes on the PP cars with the access hole for the oil filter to see if it fits on the non-PP cars. Then there is only 1 bolt to take out for the access door.

89Trooper said:

You're welcome!

The oil that drained out was of course darker than the new oil, but definitely not black or really dirty.

Yep, 6 bolts. But I'm checking on the panel that comes on the PP cars with the access hole for the oil filter to see if it fits on the non-PP cars. Then there is only 1 bolt to take out for the access door.

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Thanks. That would be awesome if it would fit non PP GT's. Being plastic you wouldn't think it would cost that much but knowing part prices it probably is over a hundred bucks. Go figure. Let us know what you find out.

Did the garage suggest changing the oil early? With the oil blends today and quality filters I wonder why the need unless the car is operating in extreme temp. or dusty roads. Your thoughts?

BrotherJack said:

Did the garage suggest changing the oil early? With the oil blends today and quality filters I wonder why the need unless the car is operating in extreme temp. or dusty roads. Your thoughts?

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Probably isn't necessary to do early. But $35 is cheap for piece of mind.

Just ordered 20% computer-cut tint today... I'm going to do it myself.

Where did you order from?