Possible Crash Cover Up: SHELBY GT350

[04Terminator]

See my gaps on ruby red. Seems to be the status quo.

Geezus! That's awful! I'm glad mine wasn't delivered this way.

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[thehygienist]

It looks worse in the pics than it looks otherwise, but the driver's side is obvious without the flash. I joked to my wife that maybe I should just buy some black silicone caulk and press it down in there.

 

[Zombo]

I am an engineer and I take care of production too.
Sometimes, it's whoever designed the part's fault. If its hard to install correctly every time, doesn't matter how you fit it, there will be differences.
Also, production line workers are paid per piece not by hour. They also can only spend so much time on each car before causing delays in the production line.

As a Mechanical Design Engineer with over 31 years design experience, my take is it's a engineering/design problem. Assembly workers should not have to fiddle around with things to get them to fit properly, if they're engineered properly.

Now, Engineering may be aware of the problem and would like to fix it, but Management may be preventing them from implementing their proposed fix. Who knows?

 

[Zombo]

Definitely a design problem , not an assembly problem. I just removed my rear lights and saw the issue. I'm working on fixing it and will post my results.

 

[torque124]

I looked at the S197 Mustangs and most of them don't have any body fitment issues.
I think Ford dropped the ball on the S550's.

I think you might be right... My previous car, GT500, had no such gaps issues, was pretty solid and even built.

 

[Colleton]

I think you might be right... My previous car, GT500, had no such gaps issues, was pretty solid and even built.

Same here. I owned several and none of them had the cosmetic issues the S550 does. I've really been disappointed with the issues people (incl. myself) have had with their new Mustangs.

 

[thehygienist]

I met with my dealership's body department just now. He said there is no Ford fix or recognition of the underlying problem, it's something he's had to deal with for a couple of years. He said he'd take it off, apply glue where necessary, let it set for 10 minutes and that will get the job done. I also have that front fender vent separation problem he's going fix with his own method. Not much choice than to just trust him. Will let you all know how it goes.

 

[Eric0w]

I have the same gaps

 

[xt6wagon]

As a Mechanical Design Engineer with over 31 years design experience, my take is it's a engineering/design problem. Assembly workers should not have to fiddle around with things to get them to fit properly, if they're engineered properly.

Now, Engineering may be aware of the problem and would like to fix it, but Management may be preventing them from implementing their proposed fix. Who knows?

part of the problem seems to be the corner where it transitions from horizontal to the angle on the side. Mine from the factory was extremely tight there, and as time as gone on, its pulled the bumper cover back more and sagged away from next to the tail lights. Its still tight there. My guess is that someone blew matching that radius with the different materials and thus doesn't fit exactly right. Given the relative low production of the mustang its likely been written off as "good enough" to not justify new tooling and the issues associated with it.

 

[8WOOD]

Is anyone willing to remove their tail lights and see if they have the plastic soldering that mine has in the OP photos? Originally, I was going to remove the entire bumper and adjust the mounting clips , but when I saw what look like to be a cover up, I stopped and put the lights back in. I dont' even thing my bumper will come off without damaging the clips because they are literally welded to the bumper.

Anyways if anyone has the lights out could you snap a pictures and post them? Thanks

 

[Zombo]

Is anyone willing to remove their tail lights and see if they have the plastic soldering that mine has in the OP photos? Originally, I was going to remove the entire bumper and adjust the mounting clips , but when I saw what look like to be a cover up, I stopped and put the lights back in. I dont' even thing my bumper will come off without damaging the clips because they are literally welded to the bumper.

Anyways if anyone has the lights out could you snap a pictures and post them? Thanks

I removed my tail lights in an attempt to fix the problem. I took a lot of pics to document my fix, but my fix didn't work as well as I hoped, so I wont bother.

As I stated earlier, it is a design problem, not an assembly problem. The top of the bumper cover is supported by a tab on the bumper cover sliding into a slot on the black plastic component. Not a very secure connection. I don't think there is much more to be done unless you disassemble the whole back end and try to realign it, in which case other gaps will most likely increase. I'm done and am going to live with it.

My fix:
1) Raised both bumper sides with jacks to get the gap where I wanted it (it looked good - too bad we can't drive around on jacks!)
2) Applied some 3M 2216 2 part Epoxy adhesive to both sides where the tab goes thru the slot. Let it cure overnight with the jacks in place.

Very slight improvement. The Adhesive held fine, but the black plastic piece itself is not stiff enough to support the weight and must have deflected a bit. I suppose what I did will at least stop it from moving further.

Tips on removing the tail lights:
1) The hardest part was removing the 2 button slide in fasteners that hold up the luggage compartment lining. You have to work them out as best you can - Once I got them started, I had a thin open end wrench that I got under the head and pried them off. I did not put them back in after I was finished.
2) Disconnect the gray tail light connector first, before removing the 3 nuts holding on the tail light - a 10mm wrench is required.

 

[MCarsFan]

A lot of good info here. Honestly even I am ready to live with this. Nothing to do to fix this. I dont understand how some cars dont have this issue though, the way the rear end is designed, it should be a problem for all cars.

 

[Scoobs]

I can live with mine. I'm not spending my time looking at the ass end of my car.

Went over to local dealer who has a bunch of 350s and other Mustangs on his lot. I noticed a couple of things from looking at them.

1) all the convertibles seemed to have much tighter rear panel gaps than the coupes

2) on almost all of them regardless of model the rear passenger side gaps were tighter than the rear driver side gaps

3) the gaps were tighter on the Mustangs compared to the 350s ( as others have already mentioned due to the rear valance weight )

 

[Aurelius]

I'm planning on going the whole nine with my bumper and taking it off today, shouldn't take long, I'll take pics and see what the deal is. I know you guys have done some things already and I've read this thread up and down and appreciate the input, but I want the bumper fully detached and want to see how to get the top snug first and then worry about the bottom. I'll take pictures. Good work Zombo, don't think I'm just trying to one up ya, I just have to see it for myself. I paid good money for this car and I expect a car that is more capable than my Boss 302 to be good on QC too. No issues with my Boss, None. Everything looked great, come along the GT350, vent stuck on with double sided tape, pfft, rear bumper gaps, pfft, my driver side door when closed doesn't line up with my driver side fender. I mean who did the QC? Helen Keller?

Ok, that was mean, but still, if the QC guy saw it who in management was like just push it through? Ford needs to take some responsibility and own up to shoddy work.

 

[Aurelius]

Quick update, I'm off to lunch but the job isn't completed yet. Will continue when I get back. So many push pins.

The tabs aren't pushed in at the top, this we already knew. But Zombo was correct in saying that there's not enough material up top to do this. If you were to take off the bumper and push in the tabs up top the top of the bumper would lay flat with the black bracket behind the bumper. This would crazy increase your bumper gap. I'm theorizing here because I'm not done looking at everything but a wild guess of mine is that the black bracket is secured lower than it needs to be at the back and is up slightly on the sides. Which is why our lower rear sides look pinched and gaps are being produced up top. Still, not done, just an update and a theory. Will post pics and everything later.

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