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Unk's *Bagged* Magnetic Metal 2018 GT Convertible

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Less storage, more garage for working on a car! -
Boy it has been awhile! Darn winter! Plus COVID! Plus Garage clean-up project! I inherited this house from my parents, and my sisters were wanting me to hang on to stuff so the house and especially the garage are crazy full of crud. So I sold off my drum set, pulled about half the stuff out of the garage and sorted through it all, took a bunch a crapola to the dump, and donated lots and lots of stuff! I then bought some new shelving (the cool red and black shelf!) and started re-organizing! This took multiple days on weekends to get this far. At some point (hopefully soon!) I want to make more progress at getting rid of stuff and making more room, but at least for now, I have enough room in the garage to do some work on the Mustang, and have enough room all around it that I could even leave it up on jack stands if I need to (if an upcoming project takes more than 1 day to finish) and close the garage door. Plus today I got to hang more of my Mustang and Ford decorations.
IMG_2042 Garage Medium.png


Also got a start on a new project for the Mustang today. Any guesses as to what it might be? (No, I haven't added anything to my overview on the first page about this yet.)
IMG_2042.JPG
 
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Let there be light in the back!: (LED Light in the trunk)
Another odd thing they skimped on... the silly ONE LITTLE LIGHT in the trunk. If you have to get something out of the trunk (or God forbid have to try to find something in there) when it is dark outside... good luck! Sure, it is some nice romantically dim lighting, but really, how often does that really help out in a trunk?

Finally got around to wiring in new light!

Here's the spaghetti wire harness I made. I just tapped into the positive and negative on the trunk light. (I did add an inline fuse, just to be extra safe) If you look closely, you might notice there's an extra set of wires for another project that I'm starting, which will also have a cool light attached to it. :)
IMG_8706.JPG


It is times like these that I remember I ain't very good at soldering. lol

Anywho, I mounted the same LED light that I used for my lights I installed under my hood to light up the engine bay. (Link if you want to check that install out) It mounted up nicely behind the strip of trunk liner.
IMG_7851.JPG


Now it is waaaaay less romantic in the trunk, but certainly easier to see stuff.
IMG_5922.JPG
 
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Those gotta add what.... 10-15 hp? - Time for stripes!

Ok, actually, time to document the stripes, which were installed in the fall last year, but I never posted about them.

"Ew! Stripes!"
So I understand that there are some things that are a bit polarizing and that stripes are one of those things. (there are other polarizing things coming! :rockon:) Everyone has their own opinions, and personal tastes. I do want to clarify a couple of things about why-
  1. No, I'm not trying to fool anyone into thinking this is a Shelby GT350. lol I will say I was not all that sure about the look and design of the S550 when it first released. (Being a proud owner of a 2014 at the time), but once I saw the GT350 I started to see it's potential, and quickly became much more appreciative of the new body style.
  2. I really was on the hunt for a usedRuby Red 2018 GT Convertible somewhere within a 1 day drive from Idaho, but they were very few and far between and much more expensive. My second choice was Lightning Blue, but kind of the same issues as Ruby Red. Then I happened in to my usual Ford dealer to get the oil changed (yes, I can do it myself, but I also like having it given the full once over by a Ford dealer, and I like having the oil changes done by a Ford dealership for documentation purposes.), and went poking around the showroom. In there they had a Metal Metallic PP1 fastback with flat black stripes & white pinstripes. Really cool looking car.... BUT... I realized I would go a completely different route. 1) To me (and again, just my opinion!) the flat stripes looked out of place. What else on the car is flat black? All the major things are gloss black- the PP1 wheels, the front grill, the rear decklid and taillight surrounds, etc. I also love the taillights on the 18's! The red calipers on the PP1 tie in really well to those bad ass taillights... Instantly I knew what I would do with a Metal Metallic Mustang! Gloss black stripes, to tie into the look of the front grill and rear deck-lid, with red pinstripes as the accent to tie into the taillights, marker lights and red calipers. I literally did some searching on my phone for a used 2018 Metal Metallic GT Convertible Premium while standing there, and one of the cars I looked at was the one I ended up buying a couple months later.
You get what you pay for! (usually...)
There are lots of options out there for stripes. I'm a pretty big believer in the old adage of "you get what you pay for". I have found some exceptions though. (For instance, my US General toolbox from Harbor Freight is frickin awesome! I have a buddy that bought a more expensive version (the brand from Lowe's) and while helping him with a project at his house was shocked at how cheap his seems compared to my US General. I always try to find reviews, and it really is similar build and quality to the Snap-On.) I read reviews and found lots of people who recommended Big Worm Graphix, and after doing lots more research, I went with them. (and boy am I glad I did!)

I like the aggressiveness of wide stripes so I went with their Wide Dual Full Length Stripes in gloss black with gloss red pinstripes. More on the quality and customer service in a bit.

The install-
I used to do auto detailing for about 9 years decades ago, and also helped with installing some vinyl a few times. So I was wanting to actually do the install myself. Given the size, complexity and importance of the project I wanted to have one of my buddies help me out. He kept having issues come up and the install was delayed multiple times, and the more videos I watched on installing the stripes, the less confident I became. I eventually gave in and decided to look into having my stripes installed. That was a bit harder to do than I thought. Most places were not overly interested in installing stripes purchased elsewhere, however I did get a few quotes from places that were willing to do it. I landed on a place in Boise called DBO Graphics. They actually took the time to go to the Big Worm Graphix website and read up on them before they said yes or no. I booked the appointment and the day finally arrived to stripe my car!

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There were a couple of snags. :frown: First, I am not running a stock spoiler, so the trunk piece I received from Big Worm was short. The guy at DBO didn't want to butt seam the trunk piece and an extra piece together, since he felt it might lift up over time, so he left a pretty wide overlap of about an inch, which is pretty noticeable on the trunk. I decided to order a replacement piece and install it myself, which I'll be doing soon. Big Worm says on their site that if you ever need a replacement (due to damage or whatnot) they sell those at a discount. Just be prepared that the price is probably more than you would expect. However they were really good to work with and I received the replacement pieces pretty quickly.

Despite the snags, I'd say that overall it looks really good!
IMG_3584.JPG


They were kind enough to let me set up my work laptop in their waiting area so I could get work done (and stay out of their hair while they were working) but also fine with me walking back there to check on the progress. I happened to be back there while he was working on the spoiler and was amazed at how well he was able to manipulate the stripes over the spoiler. He then mentioned that one of the reasons he doesn't normally install stripes purchased online anymore is that there's such a variance in quality. He decided that he would be willing to install mine because of what he found out about Big Worm online. He said he was really impressed with the quality of the vinyl in the stripe kit.
IMG_6575.JPG

In this photo you can see the big ol seam :brokenheart: but you can also see just how well he did at forming the stripe to the complicated spoiler! :like:

The Verdict-
Man... I love how this turned out overall! Yes, I get not everyone will like it, but I 100% feel like it is my car! It is cool to see the car I envisioned while standing in the Ford dealership becoming a reality right before my eyes!
fullsizeoutput_39f.jpeg


Mustang along snake river April 2020 cropped.png


So, Rob... What's next?
I'll keep updating to try to document some projects that are already completed while I'm also working on a couple of pretty "polarizing" projects! More to come soon!!
 
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Living the Low Life (and the High Life (not that crappy beer), and the Medium Life)- (Air bag suspension install)
I did mention some "polarizing" things were coming, right? lol

Why I decided to do this:
I know air bags aren't for everyone. (especially a 50-something year old guy!) But man... I don't recall what car based reality show I was watching when I first saw them install an air bag system years ago, but I thought it was amazing looking when they laid the car out. I thought to my self, "some day... if I win the lottery, I'll have that installed on one of my cars!" More recently, I've seen shows like "Bitchin' Rides", "Iron Resurrection" and others install more modern air bag suspensions, and I was even more impressed, due to the improved technology on the control front.

Once I really started looking into it, I really was impressed with the history of Air Lift Performance and the overall design and functionality of their system. Not only can you air the system out, to set the car on the ground (or almost) for car shows and "Wow!", but I live in Idaho. As it turns out, "Idaho" must mean in some language somewhere, "Home of crappy roads, with no hope of fixing". So the ability to raise the car up for the pot holes, overly bumpy roads, and to get up the driveway, which we don't have normal driveway entrances here in Idaho. They just make all curbs round, so you essentially drive up and down the curb everytime you go in our out of your driveway. So the flexibility and wide variance of ride height available sounds great to me! I liked the look of my 2014 after installing the Eibach ProLine lowering springs, but the ride was certainly rougher, which in normal places wouldn't be too bad, but in the part of Idaho I live, the ride combined with the road conditions did a good job of testing the quality of my tooth fillings. (ie: rough enough to knock your fillings loose!) Air bags might be nice for that. :) Plus with Air Lift Performance, they now have their "3H" system which includes hight sensors, which I've read help control body control under hard cornering.

No, I didn't win the lottery, but did come into some good luck with some stocks. :clap: So one of my major "car dreams" is coming true!
IMG_1094.JPG


Design and Layout:
Of course, being a convertible, there just ain't a whole lot o' room in that there trunk! (As tradition requires, despite LOTS and LOTS of planning, measuring, mocking up, nothing is ever as easy as it seems and the lack of room bit me in many ways, causing multiple "Do-overs". :frown:

To start, I took my trunk mat and made a rough cut of the platform...
IMG_5673.JPG

... which once test fitted apparently was a tribute to Pizza Hut. LOL
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At this point I was still thinking I was going to carpet the platform and secure it to the to trunk mat. As some point I realized how hack that would look, and decided to use the mat to cover the platform. The side pieces were cut off so the platform would fit through the opening in the trunk. (and I could use those pieces as guides to make sure the platform is mounted in the proper position in the trunk.)

After playing around with a few different configurations, I decided to scrap my original idea of mounting the Air Lift Manifold to the actual side of the trunk, and instead build a stand I could angle back a bit and mount to the platform. I was looking for a fairly thin piece of wood, or maybe plexiglass that would be sturdy enough to support the manifold. I ended up using... a clipboard. LOL I cut off the top with the clippy thingy, and made the "clipboard" just a "board". I then laid out my plans to mount the manifold, including grommets for running the lines. Turns out, I made my own "Wilson!!!!!"
IMG_8410.JPG

(My inner Tom Hanks was really proud!)

Here it is carpeted and attached to its 15% angled stand/mount thingy.
IMG_0873.JPG


Also, despite multiple test fittings in the design stage making sure I didn't have too sharp of a turn for the air lines, and sure enough, as soon as I tried to run the lines through during the "final'" install, the first airline kinked. :curse:

Here's the "final" mock up of the trunk layout.
IMG_9220.JPG


At some point, "Wilson!!!" is going to need to be modified so the manifold is up higher, so less chance of kinking. (not that type of kink, Sicko!! LOL)

Next up- Probably will post the painting and swiping of the tank! (Thank god it is in a trunk! LOL There were some "challenges", as is tradition.) More to come soon!
 
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It's like my car's "Mini-Mini-Me"- (Painting of my Air Lift Performance air tank)
Looking at the videos I could find of other peoples' installs, I always wondered why people didn't do something more custom with the air tank. After my surprisingly good experiences using a rattle can of paint code matched paint while fixing my 2006 Lincoln Navigator that I bought with front end damage, I always pictured the theme I was planning for my 2018 GT Convertible carrying over to the tank.

Man, was my inner Bob Ross excited! Painting happy little tanks!

Did some good 'ol research on the YoubyTuby to see what was involved with painting an aluminum tank. Seemed pretty straight forward, so I headed off to my local paint shop. They mixed up some lovely J7 paint, got me set with some self etching primer, clear, mask and other prep stuff and I was ready to go!

Fast forward a couple of months (delay due to many things- garage project taking much MUCH longer than anticipated, waiting for the weather to warm up, plus lots of other stuff) and I was finally ready to do some spraying! Which of course means lots of other not actually painting activities like scuffing, sanding, wiping, cleaning, etc., then eventually spraying.
IMG_1712.JPG


Here it is after the first coat of primer. This is where the problems started. LOL

I thought it would be good to do a light sanding between coats. Yeah, that seemed to cause more of a mess and more harm than good. No matter what I tried to use while wax and grease removing before the second coat of primer, I just kept getting more crap on the tank. It definitely felt dry, and based on the temperature and wait times I saw between coats, I 100% should have been fine. I got it as good as I could, happily realizing that this was going to be inside my trunk, with most people seeing it from a good 4-6 feet away. If anyone was looking at it closer, they'd have to be in my trunk, which means I was on my way out to a secluded part of the desert, and that person wouldn't be telling any tales anyway. :crazy:

After 3 coats of primer, it was time for the color! I laid down that first coat and wow!
IMG_4136.JPG

It always feels a bit redneckish spraying paint to match the body of a car out of a rattle can, but dang, does it look good!

Three coats of color, then 3 coats of clear, and it is slicked in!!
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Man... those metallics look frickin awesome! DANG SON!

Then it was time for the stripy stripes! I didn't have enough spare of my quality vinyl from Big Worm Graphix, but again... going to be in the trunk, so I just used a couple of sheets of black vinyl that I had laying around. The pieces weren't big enough to go around the whole tank, so the back has hidden seams. Used some spare red pinstripes from Big Worm to match the outside.
IMG_0065.JPG


Done!
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I am super happy with how it turned out! Amazing what you can do with a dang rattle can these days! If you stick your head inside the trunk and get a foot or two away you can see some trash in the paint across the top, but anybody leans that far into the trunk, they're just asking for trouble. :punch:

Next up- the installation! Oh boy... history repeats itself on this one! LOL
 
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Well Poo. (Install of platform went poorly, then the fix!) -
Once I got the tank all looking purdy and mounted to the platform, along with the compressor and my stand for the manifold, time to fit things one last time before installing everything. I was a bit nervous since when sizing everything up, I thought the compressor connected to the center of the side of the tank, but there are different size fittings on the tank, so it had to go into the top connection. Nervousness was correct. There was no way I could get my platform into its designed location with that huge fitting for the compressor. I then started my search to find a solution- I figured a 90 degree fitting would do the trick. I packed up my tank and compressor and headed off to a hardware store. While sizing it up, me and the hardware store guy realized I cross -threaded the inlet on the tank. :headbang: Holly crapola! Reflecting back on the install of the fittings, I was surprised at how tight every connection was on the tank. And since I couldn’t connect the compressor to the inlet in the middle of the tank, it was definitely a bit of a stretch when trying to connect it. In hindsight, pretty easy to see how I farged that one up.


Then came the hunt. Trying to find a tap and die set for that size and thread was a joy. (Read into that some sarcasm please. Ie: not a joy at all!) I drove for hours going from place to place trying to find the right set. 2 different times I was trying to get to places before they closed and both times I arrived 2-3 minutes late, and was told “our computers shut down at closing”. Right.


Anyway, finally found the sets I needed (bought both sizes just in case the others that felt too tight were also goofed up by yours truly!) What you need are ¼” and 3/8” NPT fittings. Not “coarse”, NPT!! As it turns out, my neighbor is a machinist as a hobby, so he was able to help me get all the threads cleaned up, and all the fittings installed and sealed up nicely.

It was then time to actually install the platform into the trunk, hopefully for the final time.
IMG_6257.JPG


A couple of things- as I mentioned in my last post, despite test fitting the airlines, the turn I have for them to go through the grommets was too sever and the first line kinked. I'm going to (at some point) mount the manifold higher up to give more arching room, and see if I can run the lines through their grommets. Another "re-do" I think I'm going to take that sign out. It looks kinda cool, but you can't really see the custom paint job on the tank with it there very well. (And that little bastard took waaaay too much time to be hidden in the background!) I could build out the platform a bit more and move it a little more away from the tank, but then it would take up even more room in the trunk. Plus it is pretty precariously mounted, so I'm sure it would be murdered by rebellious groceries. Maybe I can find another home for it.


Ready to get the car up and put the actual suspension in! :fingerscrossed:
 
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Fun with Bags!- Air lift install post- Rear

Watching the install video on CJ Pony Parts about a dozen times, it seemed simple enough. Looking through the installation manual from Air Lift Performance, it seemed simple enough. This should be simple enough!! Wouldn’t ya think I’d have learned by now? :facepalm:


So… for me, this turned into many multiple days for the install. Some issues were self-caused, but quite a few were from poor directions. (some things that seem like they could have been engineered better too!)


My buddy came over early Sunday morning, and we started tearing into the rear end! (That sounded funny… Oh well… I’m leaving it! LOL)


From the videos and instructions, the rear of the car seemed to be the more challenging of the two, so we started there. The video from CJ Pony Parts is pretty awesome overall! Here’s the link:




Couple of notes when installing-

Be very leery anytime he is doing something, then they cut away just to come back to him finishing up the same thing. That means that whatever he was doing at that time was WAAAAAY more difficult than they made it look, and the swear words expenditure was probably pretty high. Great example- Removing the rear spring. Uggh. They make it look easy, but in the video there was a cut away, and that’s because it isn’t easy. Pulling down enough on the suspension to get that puppy out of there wasn't working, no matter how much pulling or the size of the pry bar. Maybe mine was worse, being a convertible, but I don't think so. Thankfully I had some manual spring compressor tools that we used to compress the spring enough to yard it out of there. (Yes, we did remove the extra convertible bracing before trying this, so that wasn’t the issue.)

Another example is the cut away when he is fidgeting with that stupid spinning top plate on that you have to install into the rear spring mount to hold the bag. He does say, “this part is a little tricky", but the cut away makes it look like he was able to do it quickly. Uhhh…. No. By the way- That is one horrible design! :headbang:I’m sure a driving design principle was “no cutting” installation, but Good luck getting that little bastard on there the way that he did it in the video, and good luck getting that little schmuck to tighten up if you are doing this by yourself!
IMG_2241.JPG


*TOP TIP!!*- Do not try to thread the spinny mount thingy after inserting it into the spring mount. Start threading it on the bolt in the bar mount then just angle the spinny mount thing to get it up into the shock mount. That alone will save time, and easily save you a dozen extra swear words. You will need those swear words later! Trust me! Once you get that little spinny bastard in there, have a buddy climb under the car with you and pull down on the air bag as you tighten it. That will stop the little ballerina from doing its annoying spinning dance and let you tighten it down. BUT DON’T GET IT VERY TIGHT YET! JUST MAKE SURE IT STARTS TO TIGHTEN!!! They don’t tell you this, but you are going to need some wiggle room for the battle that comes next.

BTW- when they say to have the nut facing upward, not downward (insert any nut joke you like here), they are not kidding. Unfortunately, my buddy reversed this by accident and we wasted a fair amount of time trying to figure out how to get things to work. Don't be like my buddy. :facepalm:

The Puck. Ugh… that pucking Puck. So there’s this puck thingy that you hold up through the bottom of the arm and then put a bolt in to the bottom of the bag. First of all, that pucky is pucking tapered, so it has to go in with the thinner side up. Secondly, if you don’t keep the top a bit loose, you will not have enough room to get the bolt started. We wasted easily an hour, and a pretty high swear word expenditure on this pucking thing.
IMG_3362.JPG


*TOP TIP!!*-Get the top threaded and started, but keep it loose until you get the bolt started into the pucky bastard. Once we re-loosened up the top, we had the play in the system and were able to get the bolt started.

The sway bar was also a bit tricky. You have to use an allen wrench to hold the bolts while you tighten the nuts. We stripped numerous bolts & nuts trying to get that thing tight. Also, due to the design, you can’t get a normal torque wrench on those mugs, so you just have to trust your arm torque wrench. :muscle: The front stock sway bar link didn’t use the stupid allen to hold, which was easier to pull off. The replacement sway bar used the allen, so… yeah. That was a pain too. (More on that in the next post about the front end build.)


Once all done, we ran the system and put some air in the rear bags, and all worked as planned! (Actually, thinking about it, we ran the air system and put air in the bags in the back to help try to get that bolt to reach the puck.) With some air in the bags, we got the car back on the ground. I started lowering it with my phone, and it looked like the rear tires were going to hit the fenders, but as the car got lower in the back the rear tires got more cambered in, and actually zero’d out without touching the fenders (just barely), and dropped down to almost the top of my 19” wheels! Looked crazy! (Dang. Wish I would have taken a photo of that!) Unfortunately, it will never look that cool again. My wider than stock wheels and tires was fine for the back of the car but caused big issues in the front. Ride height will have to be adjusted in the front, and since I want the car to sit somewhat level when aired out, I already raised the ride height in the back. Bummer. Yes, I can use the controller to keep air in the system so it doesn't mushroom the front fenders, but if something fails, and I lose all pressure, I don't want the suspension to collapse and farg up my fenders... Because of this I am going to set the static/mechanical ride height to a point where the tires are just shy of touching the fenders when the air pressure is at zero.

Unfortunately, to change the ride height on either the shocks in the back or the struts in the front, you have to take the suspension apart, since the lower mount is what you have to spin. In the back it was pretty easy, since you just have to take the shock out. The front might be a bit more complicated/time consuming. By the way- getting that spanner wrench in on the retaining nut is not easy. The retaining nut is pretty low down where the suspension is pretty cramped with stuff. It is possible but it is also pretty likely that the wrench will slip off and you’ll end up punching a piece of the suspension, :punch:which tends to hurt you more than the suspension. :angry: Due to more stripped bolts (this time on the bottom of the shock mount) I had to make a couple of runs to the hardware store, but if not for that, I probably could have adjusted each side on the rear of the car in 30-45 minutes.
IMG_3763.JPG


Front end is next!!
 
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As requested by Gary, here's a couple of shots to show how I had the stripes run down the back of the car.
IMG_4996.jpg
IMG_5307.JPG
 
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HUGE Investment!! Just kidding. High impact for a very low price! - Using fabric dye pen on seat stitching!

I saw a post by CMC#5 about using a fabric dye pen to change the color of your stitching. What a brilliant idea!

I decided to risk the huge investment (couldn't buy just the red pen and had to buy a set... so a whole $13. LOL)
https://www.markersupply.com/zigtemabase6.html

I tried an area low into the crease of the passenger side front seat, and it works just as easily as advertised! A couple of words of caution/suggestions-
  • I recommend wiping off the excess pretty quickly, like every 2-3 minutes. The fabric dye does wipe off of the leather fairly well but I tried doing a big section then going back to wipe after that (maybe 7-10 minutes) and I noticed some of the dye didn't want to come off. Downside of wiping it off so soon is you also dull the color on the threads a bit, so I ended up doing very light 2nd coats being careful not to touch the leather.
  • I have a convertible and doing this in direct sunlight, or really good lighting will help you see variations that you can fix to make it more uniformed.
  • For the main coat, I ended up using the pen back and forth about 4 times on a thread before moving on to the next one. My light second pass is really just 1 swipe of the pen barely touching the thread to darken it back up a bit after wiping it down.
I have to say I'm very impressed with how easy this is to do, and what an impact it makes for such a cheap mod!

Here's an in progress show, also showing the pen. The cap definitely looks orange, but the bar code shows it is red, and the dye is definitely red. :)
IMG_5141.JPG


Here's an in progress of the back of the seat and head rest-
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In progress of a door card-
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Door card done-
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Passenger seat done-
IMG_5146.JPG


Very cool what a difference there is between the before and after!

The passenger seat probably took about an hour. The door card probably about 30 minutes, so yeah... it is tedious! But I think it is worth it!

Down side- My Color now forever will be stuck on red. LOL And Now I want to buy a cover with red stitching for the arm rest, shifter boot and e-brake. The red dye doesn't really show up on black thread. Oh, and I really want to change out to red seatbelts. :)
 
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Rob
Vehicle(s)
2018 Mustang GT Convertible Premium
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It's been awhile since I posted any updates here! Partially due to the big red guy in this photo with my Mustang. LOL
Here's the latest photo, which is from my club's show on Saturday. As the President of the club last year, I got to have my Mustang and Raptor featured on our car show flyers and t-shirts, plus had featured parking right up front between the big seating area and our main sponsor's area at the show. Was a perfect day!!
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