Off to a rough start with 2016 GT

[Kabayo]

No, probably not.

Of all the things with this car, I'd really, really love to know how the cold air nozzle (if that's what it is) ended up on top of the valves for cylinder number three. That's not exactly what one expects to see upon removing the intake manifold.

I continue to find small things that make me wonder. Like why did the previous owner cut out a small section at the bottom front of the fender liner on the passenger side (red area)? Dunno.

And despite CarFax saying it's an accident-free car (which more-so means insurance-claim free or damage not professionally repaired), I know it had at least one reasonably minor adventure at the front end. A few small brackets are broken including at the back of the passenger side fog lamp retainer that doubles as a fender liner mounting point (blue area). Maybe the red area was a result of addressing front end damage too. Who knows. And I don't think the headlights are OEM either. And wow are OEM replacements pricey! The ones on there now are just fine. I rarely drive it at night and I picked up a Sylvania headlight restore kit to polish them up a bit.

Well like others here have suggested, bring it back even if you need to pay towing. What if it has internal damage like a cracked rod or something else? Good luck, but I believe it will be nothing but a money pit.

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[Canuckican]

Well like others here have suggested, bring it back even if you need to pay towing. What if it has internal damage like a cracked rod or something else? Good luck, but I believe it will be nothing but a money pit.

I wish I had been able to make that happen but I had no way to do it without involving lawyers ($$$) and my mental well-being.

I moved on to making it right. But there are still times when I either have to step away from it or else I will have at it with many different destructive objects.

 

[Canuckican]

Don't even worry about paying.

We will do it for free.

Use that money elsewhere on your build.

Link to us on tdn and we will add it.

JGXF-9175

Well that's just fantastic! Now to dig back through my notes to see how I went about doing this with Lund. I will be in touch.

 

[Kabayo]

I wish I had been able to make that happen but I had no way to do it without involving lawyers ($$$) and my mental well-being.

I moved on to making it right. But there are still times when I either have to step away from it or else I will have at it with many different destructive objects.

I feel for you, I hope you get through this mess ok.

 

[Canuckican]

Well that's just fantastic! Now to dig back through my notes to see how I went about doing this with Lund. I will be in touch.

And I decided to go with his (Wengerd) 2015-17 Mustang tune at the same time. I want something to be straightforward for me with this Race Red bundle of joy.

 

[RowdyRam]

Don't even worry about paying.

We will do it for free.

Use that money elsewhere on your build.

Link to us on tdn and we will add it.

JGXF-9175

This is awesome! I, too, wish more companies has this attitude of helping fellow enthusiasts instead of just taking their money.

 

[Canuckican]

The replacement MP Concepts decklid panel went on today without a hitch. Fun way to spend a lunch break. Better than HR-mandated training videos. It looks so much better than the worn out one that was there. So far I am liking it with no GT emblem.

Remaining general to-do items are put the stock tune back on it so Ford can program my spare key fob. Also have them cut the two manual keys that hide in the key fob. Right now I have none. Then put my new Wengerd 91 octane tune on it. It's a bit easier to find 91 octane vs 93 around here so I figured I'd stick with that. I can't imagine there's a big performance difference between a 91 and 93 tune, but I don't know that as a fact.

Oh yes, new tires.

The only other remaining items on my list for rear end of the car right now are:

1. Fix the ugly paint wart on the bumper cover with the Dr. Colorchip kit.
2. Try to track down a black MMD by Foose blade spoiler. They have been discontinued so it'll probably be from someone who has one stashed away in there garage after using it for a while then moving on to a different look.

Let's see, on the front end:

1. At the front end I am going to try polishing the headlights to remove some of the ugly from them. I have the Sylvania headlight restore kit to try out,.
2. Remove the front bumper cover and see what surprises lurk behind it. I can already tell several support brackets are not as supportive as they should be.
3. I still need to use Forscan to disable the equalizer after I replaced the blown speakers with ones that actually work.

At this point I think it will need a good buff/polish to remove the swirls, smudges, etc it has collected. I may hire that out, we'll see. I am not a very patient person doing detailing.

Then hopefully just enjoy driving it without the frequent drumbeat of issues.

 

[Canuckican]

I now have the stock tune and 91 octane tune from Wengerd. Nice! Now I can restore the stock tune so (hopefully) Ford's computers can connect to whatever it is the tune on there now is preventing them from accessing.

Round 2...

I called the local Ford dealership and made an appointment for first thing Friday AM to try again to get the spare key fob programmed and the physical key inside each key fob cut. The physical key inside the one working key fob I got from "Mint" Auto Sales in Orlando, Florida was never cut. Of course not. So it's not as simple as just making a copy of this key.

The service advisor called me back after I booked the appointment and said they're trying to sort out what they/I need to do to be able to physically cut the two keys when they don't have a physical key to copy. They said I may have to get the key code from a lockmaster (locksmith?) and provide that to them. Can't say I know any off the top of my head. You'd think Ford service would be somewhere/somehow be able to access this information about a car they manufactured but who knows. The SA also said they are still working this issue on their end too, which is nice.

In the meantime, since I already have to contact a locksmith about the key code, I am going to ask them if they can program the second remote too. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I sure hope everyone out there has a working physical key in their key fob. And you have a second programmed key fob, or at least the stock tune to restore so Ford can program the second key fob.

 

[Canuckican]

Not off to a flying start with pushing the stock Wengerd tune using the HP RTD+ device I got when I bought the 91 octane tune from Lund. The RTD firmware updated fine, bluetooth connects fine and there is a strong wifi signal. I've logged out/back into the HP Tuner account.

This error is from going into Flash, then Read Vehicle. Serenity now.

I'll take this issue to the tuning forum.

 

[Kabayo]

The replacement MP Concepts decklid panel went on today without a hitch. Fun way to spend a lunch break. Better than HR-mandated training videos. It looks so much better than the worn out one that was there. So far I am liking it with no GT emblem.

Remaining general to-do items are put the stock tune back on it so Ford can program my spare key fob. Also have them cut the two manual keys that hide in the key fob. Right now I have none. Then put my new Wengerd 91 octane tune on it. It's a bit easier to find 91 octane vs 93 around here so I figured I'd stick with that. I can't imagine there's a big performance difference between a 91 and 93 tune, but I don't know that as a fact.

Oh yes, new tires.

The only other remaining items on my list for rear end of the car right now are:

1. Fix the ugly paint wart on the bumper cover with the Dr. Colorchip kit.
2. Try to track down a black MMD by Foose blade spoiler. They have been discontinued so it'll probably be from someone who has one stashed away in there garage after using it for a while then moving on to a different look.

Let's see, on the front end:

1. At the front end I am going to try polishing the headlights to remove some of the ugly from them. I have the Sylvania headlight restore kit to try out,.
2. Remove the front bumper cover and see what surprises lurk behind it. I can already tell several support brackets are not as supportive as they should be.
3. I still need to use Forscan to disable the equalizer after I replaced the blown speakers with ones that actually work.

At this point I think it will need a good buff/polish to remove the swirls, smudges, etc it has collected. I may hire that out, we'll see. I am not a very patient person doing detailing.

Then hopefully just enjoy driving it without the frequent drumbeat of issues.

For cleaning up your paint smudges, etc. try using a clay bar. Very effective and was easy to use without hurting the clear coat. I used a clay bar kit I bought at Walmart for $22 and it did an amazing job on my wife’s C6.

 

[Canuckican]

Some progress. I was able to use the RTD Flasher app on my laptop to write the stock tune. This enabled Ford tech to successfully program my second key fob. They were also able to sort out the issues they were having cutting the keys. Come to think of it, they said the keys work but I did not try them out yet. One thing at a time. Then I was able to use the RTD Flasher app again to write the Wengerd 91 octane tune with no problems at all.

Then I thought I should do data logging just like I did when I install the 91 octane tune from another tuner last fall. No joy there. The TDN app still steadfastly refuses to read the vehicle, sync files, sync credits, or more importantly right now, do any data logging. Before it starts logging it wants to send the same files it keeps choking on in other places. Anyway, I won't duplicate that stuff here. It's in the tuning forum.

I feel a bit of relief knowing I finally have a backup fob and way to get into Oliver, so to speak.

This weekend's goals are to polish the headlights with the Sylvania kit and try out the Dr. Colorchip kit on the rear bumper cover.

 

[Canuckican]

After unsuccessfully trying to locate an MMD Foose rear spoiler, I decided to pull the trigger on a performance pack style one from American Muscle.

Getting the OEM blade spoiler and related adhesive off was about as much fun as I expected, maybe a bit more. About one square inch of paint pulled up under the passenger end of the blade right where one of the threaded studs is. This area is covered by the end of the PP1 style spoiler so I just taped off the bare spot, prepped it, then sprayed it with primer and a red that's reasonably close to Race Red. Good enough, considering it's covered by the replacement spoiler.

There was still the fun of having to drill the end plate for the posts on the cover plates and drill a hole on each end large enough to fit a 10 mm socket. I did touch up the bare metal where I drilled.

Overall, the finish on the spoiler is fine with just a few minor swirls. My biggest remaining beef is with how insecurely fastened the cover plates are on the end plates. On the driver side the two tabs do not do a damn thing to hold the cover plate in place. For now I resorted to strong Velcro to hold it in place. This is only until I can find one of the several roles of good quality two-sided tape I know I have in the workshop somewhere. Or maybe in the basement. But then I was over at my daughter's place working on some things for her. And just how long has it really been since I've seen these rolls of tape? The years and projects tend to blend together.

Overall, for now, I'm just giving this mod a 6 out of 10. Visually it's a meh and quality wise it's just adequate.

Maybe I'll try prepping and spraying the blade spoiler I took off gloss black and see how I like that look. Or not, time to just drive it again for awhile.

 

[Canuckican]

It's a beautiful Saturday morning, time to remove the bumper cover and see the extent of damage being hidden. CarFax reported no accidents before purchase but the best it can really claim is no reported accidents. I can tell that at some point Oliver had a run-in with something on the front end passenger side. The main symptom is the passenger side fender clip does not securely hold the fender in place. There are also a few mounting tabs missing on the passenger side, including one on the fog lamp bracket and another on the passenger side wheel well liner.

Knowing this, I ordered a replacement fender wheel well liner, fog lamp bracket and fender support brackets for both sides so I'd have these parts on hand when I got time to remove the bumper cover.

And away I went.

The first thing I saw when removing the passenger side wheel well liner is the manufacturer date on it of January 13, 2023 . Unless Ford was stamping parts in 2016 with a 2023 date, I do believe this wheel well liner is not original. So the previous owner removed the original wheel well liner and replaced it with the one on it now, and also hacked it up in places for some reason. Interesting.

Second, the fender support bracket is a mess. It had a bunch of stuff that hardened like concrete slathered on it. I also noticed Race Red over-spray on the support bracket, meaning to me at least that the passenger side fender was re-sprayed. Spotted some messy repairs made to the passenger side headlight bracket.

Ah, and this might explain the spiders, other insects and moisture inside the headlight. Not sure if this will buff out or not.

And a missing mounting tab on the fog lamp bracket on the passenger side that the wheel well liner is supposed to connect to.

I did not see any obvious damage on the driver side but both the fog lamp and turn signal light have been replaced.

I won't guess if this is fiberglass or screen door remnants in this repair.

The headlight is the one thing I don't know what to do about. I can't see leaving this as is. OEM headlights are crazy expensive and it sounds like every aftermarket headlight that is not OEM price is junk. I will decide what to do about this part before putting all this stuff back together. Headlight suggestions are most welcome.

Once again, this 2016 Mustang GT is an example of one of the fine automobiles sold by "Mint" Auto Sales in Orlando, Florida. Please, do not let this happen to you. Be smarter and less trusting than me, although in this case I did set the bar pretty low. At least with all the work I have done to this car since last October, it is getting ever-closer to being the mint car I wanted.

 

[Canuckican]

Well, this sucks. The aftermarket wheel well liner doesn't fit worth a darn. I'm not sure even a lengthy session with a heat gun would get this thing into the proper shape. At least the other pieces fit fine.

I've never tried Rock Auto's return policy but I have bought a whole bunch of stuff there over the years. Hopefully we'll get this sorted out. I knew I should have just ponied up for the OEM version from the dealership.

 

[Sevensixteen]

It's a beautiful Saturday morning, time to remove the bumper cover and see the extent of damage being hidden. CarFax reported no accidents before purchase but the best it can really claim is no reported accidents. I can tell that at some point Oliver had a run-in with something on the front end passenger side. The main symptom is the passenger side fender clip does not securely hold the fender in place. There are also a few mounting tabs missing on the passenger side, including one on the fog lamp bracket and another on the passenger side wheel well liner.

Knowing this, I ordered a replacement fender wheel well liner, fog lamp bracket and fender support brackets for both sides so I'd have these parts on hand when I got time to remove the bumper cover.

And away I went.

The first thing I saw when removing the passenger side wheel well liner is the manufacturer date on it of January 13, 2023 . Unless Ford was stamping parts in 2016 with a 2023 date, I do believe this wheel well liner is not original. So the previous owner removed the original wheel well liner and replaced it with the one on it now, and also hacked it up in places for some reason. Interesting.

Second, the fender support bracket is a mess. It had a bunch of stuff that hardened like concrete slathered on it. I also noticed Race Red over-spray on the support bracket, meaning to me at least that the passenger side fender was re-sprayed. Spotted some messy repairs made to the passenger side headlight bracket.

Ah, and this might explain the spiders, other insects and moisture inside the headlight. Not sure if this will buff out or not.

And a missing mounting tab on the fog lamp bracket on the passenger side that the wheel well liner is supposed to connect to.

I did not see any obvious damage on the driver side but both the fog lamp and turn signal light have been replaced.

I won't guess if this is fiberglass or screen door remnants in this repair.

The headlight is the one thing I don't know what to do about. I can't see leaving this as is. OEM headlights are crazy expensive and it sounds like every aftermarket headlight that is not OEM price is junk. I will decide what to do about this part before putting all this stuff back together. Headlight suggestions are most welcome.

As far as the headlight, try looking & see what parts farm has available, I’ve ordered some interior parts from them. The parts were just as advertised, no complaints from me

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