Boston23's Ingot Silver GT Journal

[Boston23]

I was a big fan of the S550 design styling when it debuted at the end of 2013. This forum is a wealth of information when I was doing my research prior to buying my 17 GT and since when it comes to modding. I think I was a forum member for 2 years before I made my first post. I guess I should have started this journal back in May when I picked up the car. Thanks to Members American, GT_Tommy and Nathanbrummer as I borrowed styling cues from their builds.

I picked up the car on Memorial Day weekend from Koons Ford in Sterling, VA. They had the best price on the east coast. Their Wow price was $8K under MSRP and I couldn't find a dealer within 100 miles of the greater Charlotte area to match the price. My wife and I fly for free so we flew up to IAD and our sales person picked us up at the airport and drove us to the dealership. 90 minutes later we were driving back home to SC.

This was the car when we picked it up and the when we got it home.

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[Boston23]

When we got home, there were already parts boxes at the side door. The track pack rear spoiler from Levittown Ford was the first mod. There was a look of disbelief on my wife's face as she watched me drilling into a car that we only had less than 48 hours.

 

[Boston23]

The track pack. The GT PP looks very clean without a spoiler. If it wasn’t the Track Pack, I’m not sure I would have added a spoiler.

 

[Boston23]

CJPP had the GT350 shift knob with the correct thread for the GT. I got 13 full revolutions when installing the knob. Beyond that, the reverse lockout won’t fully engage. The original OEM knob has some heft to it and so does the 350 knob.

I swapped out the start button at the same time. I used the pick method and the button was installed in less than a minute.

 

[Boston23]

I picked up the dash plaque and trunk strap from SCS. Most people think they were OEM.

 

[Boston23]

The truly inexpensive mods under $5

 

[Boston23]

I ran the Garageline 25mm wheel spacers for about 5 months before I bought new wheels. There was a lot of discussion about there being tire poke on the rear with the 25 mm but I think the fitment was fine.

 

[Boston23]

The Steeda clutch spring might have been the easiest and quickest mod.

 

[Boston23]

The front grill delete mod took a little while to complete. I just purchased a new upper grill to gut so I didn’t have my front bumper off the car the entire time. The new mesh came from Custom Car Grills.

I received a couple of PM's on this project so I'll try to detail as much of it as possible as that's what is great about this forum. I'd like to thank member Nathan Brummer as I got the idea for this project from his previous grill project. I'll start with the parts list first and where I got them but you may be able to source them elsewhere cheaper.

Grill - FR3Z-8200-BA $42.00. This is the OEM Upper Grill for the 2015-2017 Mustang GT. You can obviously use the grills currently on the car but given the time involved and it was my first time doing this, I decided to get a spare grill. I gutted the grill using a cutting wheel on a Dremel tool. you can visit customcargrills.com and watch the video and follow the same procedure. After the rough cut, you'll need a file and sandpaper to clean it up.

Grill Mesh - Honeycomb Mesh Grill Kit for 2015-2017 Ford Mustang GT $84.99. I bought the mesh kit from customcargrills.com. The mesh kit comes with 6 pieces of preformed mesh that will cover the 6 openings in the grills after you gut them (3 upper, 3 lower). While they are preformed, you'll need to massage them to get the sides flat against your grill for bonding. Take your time and work the metal. I used diagonal cutters to snip some of the corners to get a better fit. Once you're happy with the fit, zip tie the pieces in place and use Amazing Goop Automotive adhesive to bond the mesh to the grill. I went through two and a half tubes to complete the upper and lower grill. The adhesive truly is amazing and takes about 24 hours to cure. The adhesive will settle into the honeycomb so you'll likely make a couple of applications. This adhesive will run if you apply to much to quickly so take your time and you'll have less to clean up. Be careful not to let it run on the face of the grill. Once everything is cured, you can cut the zip ties.

Adhesive - Amazing Goop Automotive Adhesive $6.90 on Amazon. I bought three tubes and used two and a half. Some local hardware stores may have this but it was cheaper and easier to get it from Amazon. customcargrills.com also sells this and you can add it to your cart when you buy the mesh.

ABS Sheet - 1/16" x 24" x 48" (haircell textured) $11.30 on Amazon. I purchased from vendor Sibe Automation. It was very well packed in heavy cardboard and shipped flat. I only used have the sheet but I couldn't find a smaller piece. (if someone is in the Lake Wylie or Charlotte area that wants the remaining half, you can have it). Getting the rough cut on the ABS is a bit tricky as the grill itself is contoured so take your time getting it right. I actually did my measuring and sizing before I glued the mesh on. You need to leave an overhang of ABS material to tie the ABS to the grill. When it got it centered, I left an overhang of a .5" all the way around. I used a small drill bit to create an opening just large enough to slide a zip tie through. Drill your holes side by side to create that opening. Keep in mind where your tangs are on the grill and drill your holes in between the tangs on the ABS. I used 1" cable tie mounting tabs that have self adhesive to anchor the cable ties. Once you have the location for the mounting tabs, use the Amazing Goop adhesive around the outside of the mount to make sure it's not coming off. The large opening in the ABS sheet measured 22" x 3.75". This opening has more material up top than on the bottom. Google pictures of the GT350 grill to give yourself some ideas. On the upper grill, I used 14 cable ties, 5 top, 5 bottom and 2 on each side.

Howler Badge - $43.00 which included the grill mount from MF_Autodesigns. I went with the black and chrome but there are multiple colors to choose from. I got this on Ebay before they became a vendor on this site. I will say this badge is a heavy hunk of metal. As I don't have any chrome on the car, I dulled down the finish but spraying it with clear matte. There are two mounting bolts that go through the base, the mesh and the ABS plastic sheet. I tried to follow the GT350 design but where you place it is up to you. Adding the base mount adds rigidity to the finished grill. The base is smaller than the badge so you will have some ability to get your badge centered up the way you want it. The badge affixes with 3M double sided tape that comes on the back of the badge.

I used the lower grill from the car as it's $80 new. Not sure why Ford has it priced almost double what the upper is. I think that about covers it but happy to answer any questions. I know Nathan used a different style mesh as did Labradog but this gives you an idea. Pulling the bumper and removing the grills is another story in itself but there are plenty of youtube videos online available to walk you through that process. Happy modding!

 

[Boston23]

I had looked for mirror covers but decided to go the paint route.

 

[Nomadic]

Nice car. Like the spoiler. I have the same color.
You are mod maniac!

There was a look of disbelief on my wife's face as she watched me drilling into a car that we only had less than 48 hours.

LOL

 

[Boston23]

The Redline Hood Struts should have been my first mod. The JLT master cylinder cover and strut tower covers. The paint match was excellent.

View attachment 151085

 

[Boston23]

At some point, I installed Steeda jacking rails. Don’t they look great? I said the hood struts should have been the first mod, the jacking rails should have happened even before that.

 

[Boston23]

Zombie Mike’s Ford Logo vinyl. Precision cut and came with the blackout backing.

 

[Boston23]

And the visor blackout from Zombie Mike

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