Project: Ghost

[m0.s550]

So welcome to my build thread. It's nothing fancy. Really, you're probably better off reading the 100's of other build threads out there. Although you're all welcome to join a novice on a journey of self-disco...err...glaring mistakes, alcohol-induced purchases and hopefully a tasteful/working/useful mod here or there.

• Starring: "Ghost" a 2019 Magnetic Metallic PP2 optioned with the 401A package & Active Exhaust
• Also starring: "Ulixes" Obviously, a nom de 'net because let's face it, which parent would ever spell their kid's name that way now-a-days? I am embarking on this odyssey (see what I did there?) although I can barely tell a wrench apart from a hammer.

So, let's start with a picture of what she looks like today:

Shiny ain't she? Keep your eye on that picture because I will continually update it with how Ghost looks like at the present moment.

Things I've tinkered with so far:

• 4/22/2019 Blacked-out emblems.
• 4/24/2019 Finalization of rear emblem.
• 4/24/2019 Door arm and check arm cover.
• 4/26/2019 MPS4S tires
• 4/26/2019 Tints and PPF

Upcoming changes:

• Transmission mount
• RTR side splitters (these are installed, but I never put up a post about them)
• Lots of Steeda goodies I got during Black Friday!
• CAI (and tune??)

And as a baseline, let's look at what she looked like the day I brought her home from the nursery with just 6 miles on her -- awwwww so adorable! Here she is drinking her first bottle of milk! More pics of that day are here.

View attachment 369560

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[m0.s550]

The PP2 package's exterior makes for a very nice looker of a car. Beautiful rims, low key rear spoiler, and a front splitter that will knock the shins out of anyone that gets in its way.

Painted in Magnetic Metallic, the overall package blends in very well. Except for the extremely shiny and gaudy chrome emblems. Now, for some colors, chrome works well. But it is the antithesis of the subtle, now-you-see-me-now-you-dont look I am going for.

Yeah, ok, so I get a package that screams for attention, but want to go subtle at the same time? I never promised my mods and options would make sense now, did I?!?

Anyhow, that brings me to my first mod: the blacked-out emblems.
Now, I have debadged plenty of cars, but I have never re-emblemed them. However, Ford has these lovely alignment holes that are there if you remove the shiny ones out. Which means I can replace with matte black emblems or I can cover and repaint holes. Yeah, matte black it is.

Now, the side emblems are easy to remove. Other than the alignment tabs eating thru the floss I was using at first (fishing line worked much better!). Prep the area with some painter's tape (this prevents finger nail scratches during next steps), heat the emblems up with a heat gun or hair dryer, then work your magic with floss or fishing line. I even had my daughter "help" out with removing them, so she can learn that cars aren't some mystical, magical things.

Just clean the area with Goo Gone and then rubbing alcohol before installing the new ones.

The front pony and rear GT ones were less entertaining though.
There are two ways to do the front emblem on 2018s / 2019s. The hard way is to remove entire front bumper in order to get to behind the grill. From there, break off a few tabs holding the pony in place and it comes off easily.

I took the "easy" approach and just removed the radiator cover, the brackets holding it in place and moved the radiator back to get my hands behind the grill to break off the tabs holding the pony in place. Sadly, I was only able to break off 1 tab doing it this way and ended up ripping the pony after I was able to lift that section off from the front afterwards

Please don't call the ASPCA on me, but the operation was fatal to the chrome pony

But I'm happy with the look of matte black. It gives just enough contrast with the grill, but still subtle.

The GT emblem in the rear has similar issues. Hard way is to remove half of the trunk parts in order to get to the tabs. The easy way is to a) protect the area around the emblem and b) pry it little by little using a plastic trim removal tool / spatula. The GT emblem surprisingly survived this ordeal. Although it's in a weaken state.

Once the old emblems are gone, it's just a matter of cleaning the area and applying the new ones that stick with 3M tape.

Having said that, I did notice today that the rear GT emblem is lifting a little bit from the top left portion and the pony is lifting from the tail. This means I probably didn't clean that part good enough and the tape is not sticking well.

Which means that at some future date, I will have to go thru the long way after all, so that I can get behind the emblems and install these little things to hold them in place better.

Lesson Learned: Don't take the easy route. Even if every other Youtube channel and manufacturer instruction video tells you to. I tell the minions that report to me at work that if you're going to do something, you do it right. I guess I should have taken my own advice

Overall though, I am extremely happy with how the new emblems look though as they gave it the exact look I was going for! See here for a picture of how they came out.

 

[Rash]

Nice ride - where did you buy the pny and 5.0 emblems. They look gray, which I like - are they for sure matte black?

 

[m0.s550]

Nice ride - where did you buy the pny and 5.0 emblems. They look gray, which I like - are they for sure matte black?

Thanks! Got them thru Amazon. They are matte black, but look grayish under certain conditions (like in the comparison pic above, with direct sunlight hitting it and contrasted against the glossy black grill). I'll try to take better pics over next few days that show it in different lights.

 

[Ghost50]

Following because the name caught my eye for obvious reasons lol

First time I’ve seen a Magnetic PP2 and it looks nice! I’ll be interested in following your build!

I changed my emblems out as well. I went with the matte black from UPR. Used a heat gun on the sides and then had my sanity tested on the front and back.

Front had me removing the air box, intake tube and pushing the radiator all the way back bc I couldn’t get my hand in there.

Back I ended up having to remove the deck lid. I was sure I was going to snap it. When I taped off the area around the GT and pried it snapped the G and left the T. I tried using a punch and hammer to clear the pins but no luck. So removed it and ended up drilling the holes out.

 

[m0.s550]

Thanks!

Be glad you removed the lid. I think what's happening is that the flat emblem is pulling up on the outside of itself because of the curvature of the rear lid. It's not a lot, but it bugs me enough that I will go thru what you did to fix it properly. Another reason is that when I open and close the trunk, I hear the broken off posts rattling in there.

The front is not bad though, but I will also drop the bumper and do it properly (or maybe move the other stuff like you did) at some future point in time.

 

[m0.s550]

So today's mod is the easiest thing you can ever do. I'm only listing it because
a) I want you all to see how easy it is(literally snap into place)
b) well, it looks nice, should hold up well and it's inexpensive. If I was writing this in español, I would say this mod hit the famous Triple B: bueno, bonito y barato

I got them off amazon for like $17 in total. I can look for the links if anyone wants them...

But anyhow, I'll let the pictures do the talking:


Door lock buckle cover

Door check arm cover

Edit: Added links to these (like I should have done from the get-go LOL)

 

[m0.s550]

"But Ulixes", you'll say, "that doesn't count, it is too easy to do and we see pics of those things all over this site!!". So, how about a double-header then? Yeah, ok, let's go....
The other thing I did is fix... nay, finalize! My rear GT emblem install.

To recap, I took the easy way and like usual, the easy way just means re-work to do. So I followed Ghost50's path and removed the rear deck.

Let's look at what was happening when I only used adhesive for the rear emblem:

So off the rear lid came. You want to hear something scary? Then listen in terror to the sounds the rear lid makes when you're taking it off. Your heart will be racing in anticipation of having to order a new lid because you broke the old one off!

Like Ghost50 said, leave your sanity at the door when you try this at home!

Want a good installation video? May I suggest this LMR one. You'll need the instructions up thru the 1:55 mark. Important: you do not need to remove the metal clips like they say in the video past that point! That's only if you're replacing the lid with a new/different one. Having said that, if a few come out when you're taking the lid off, that's fine, in my case, most stayed and 1 came off stuck to the plastic tab on the lid.

Btw, in case you're not sure where to press to remove the camera (I'm a novice, I had to rewind the videos I was using for reference like 5 times before I saw where So on right (passenger) side there's a little tab you'll have to press in. Kinda hard to see when you're working in the garage at midnight and the overhead lights suck. Just saying.

And I did all that why? So I can install these little guys to better hold the emblem in place

Reinstalling is easy, just watch out for these tabs, make sure the lid's side goes under the ones on the trunk

and make sure you're careful with these screws, both putting them on and taking them off. They seem like the dubious types that will want to fall off into the cavity of the trunk cover and never, ever come out.

Easter Egg surprise:
I am happy with the attention to little details that Ford has made with this car. Stupid little things, like this tiny Ford logo stamped into the trunk cover (or whatever that is called) only visible for those daring enough to take out the lid! .... Yes, I am easily amused.

Unfortunately, it is way past midnight here and turning on the car to see if I reconnected the backup camera correctly and test driving it to ensure the lid won't fall off is not possible right now. I will wake up everyone in my household, my neighbor's household, the feral roosters*** roaming around here, and every dog between here and Hialeah.

*** I wish I was joking about these. Freaking things wake up before the sun is out. Why couldn't they run on Cuban time like everything else around here?!?

So hopefully, none of ya spot a PP2 with a rear lid dangling off of it mañana

 

[lew]

Bravo Ulixes! Your build is coming along well, and I like the personal aspect of manipulating the unknown. Very down to earth. I can tell you enjoy what your doing. Keep up the good work, it may inspire others including myself. For now I want to just enjoy this new toy as is, and leave the mods for later. Good Luck!

 

[Ghost50]

Thanks!

Be glad you removed the lid. I think what's happening is that the flat emblem is pulling up on the outside of itself because of the curvature of the rear lid. It's not a lot, but it bugs me enough that I will go thru what you did to fix it properly. Another reason is that when I open and close the trunk, I hear the broken off posts rattling in there.

The front is not bad though, but I will also drop the bumper and do it properly (or maybe move the other stuff like you did) at some future point in time.

Oh man the rattling posts would bug me too. Prying that off is a challenge because as you know that thing is fragile. I bought some plastic trim pry tools off amazon and used the widest one and wrapped it in a microfiber towel. I focused on those ungodly tight clips that Ford uses (broke my map light housing trying to change the lights already) like I was a neurosurgeon lol

I’d be interested in the link you referenced. If you need the link for the pry tool set let me know. I also found some cups on amazon that slide into the interior door handles. I’m putting them on this weekend. Gives me a place to keep my phone or wallet.

Looking forward to your next mod!

Edit—I responded to your post before seeing that you did remove the deck lid! Good stuff. I chuckled and actually felt anxious for you as I was reading lol

 

[m0.s550]

Thanks Lewis!

It's a start I've only done basic things to previous cars I've owned and subsequently regretted not doing more. It's different with this car and I'm planning to tweak it much further from both an aesthetic and a performance perspective.

I'm using two main guiding ideals for this project...

Subtlety: At first glance, you'll get an impression that something is different. That it's not entirely OEM, but without side-by-side pictures, you may not even notice what has been changed. "Wait, is that an RTR side splitter complimenting the lines of the PP2's front splitter? Or is that how it comes from the factory?" ***

Self-reliance: I'm trying to install most of these things myself and I'm definitely having fun doing so (even when I'm puckered up during certain parts of an install ) Some things I can't do: E.g. I'm not about to start up a tire repair shop. And some things I know I am horrible with (like putting up tints that will last longer than the mortgage on my house). But where I can, I will. And I'll gladly post up my experience doing so for anyone to learn from what I did right, wrong, or could do better (I'm fairly stoic when it comes to criticism, so yeah, I am open to being corrected if I approached doing a mod badly).

*** be honest, how many of you went back to the previous pics 'cause you thought you missed the RTR side rocker splitter? FWIW it is an upcoming mod--- if American Muscle ever gets them back in stock

 

[m0.s550]

...
Edit—I responded to your post before seeing that you did remove the deck lid! Good stuff. I chuckled and actually felt anxious for you as I was reading lol

LOL, getting the first and the last clip to pop out were the most nerve wracking of the 5 or 6 that the lid uses. The first because you're not yet sure how much pressure to use and the last because the lid kept wanting to twist when it was the last one standing --- and I just kept having visions of it snapping off in a very unclean and visible manner

I ended up using a plastic spatula that I had previously done light wall-patching with and covered it with a small towel that was left-over from the days that my daughter was a baby. Neither item was optimal (the spatula was too flexible and the towel still smelled like talcum powder) so I'm definitely interested in the trim removal kit you're using

Same with the interior door handle storage. I had added them to my mod-list, although I'm still on the fence on those. I know I saw some threads about it here, but I didn't save the link to any of them lol.

btw, the two covers from above are:
Door lock buckle cover
Door check arm cover <--- this thing has more names than a Spaniard who can trace their ancestry back to the royalty of the kingdoms of Castile and León.

I went ahead and added those links to that post as well though

 

[Sivi70980]

Great car and great build thread thus far! So far you're doing all the things I will be doing in a month or 2. Great work and thank you!

 

[m0.s550]

Thanks Sivi, hopefully your car gets in soon! I know I had car parts coming in weeks before my car was actually delivered LOL

 

[LethalBlake]

Car looks great! If you need any parts for the new ride feel free to give us a shout we are here to help! www.lethalperformance.com

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