mustang book.indd

1994 - 2004 Mustang Styling Book
Lewis deSoto
1994 - 2004 Mustang Styling Book
Lewis deSoto
©2007
published by sotolux press
napa, california
new york, new york
www.desotodesign.net
INDEX
Dear Reader
This book is designed with three things in mind: to
give you a styling philosophy that you can pass onto
any customizing project, to show you how to put each
of the elements I have used on this 2002 Mustang
GT Convertible on your Mustang and to give you the
resources, part numbers and parts sources you
need to complete the styling project.
I am available for advice and comment at an hourly
rate. For more information, please contact me at
[email protected]
Lewis deSoto
Styling Analysis.................................page 1
Portfolio............................................page 10
Assembly.........................................page 17
Parts & Sources..........................page 59
Links...................................................page 62
The Ford Mustang
The New Edge designs took lead from the change from clay modeling
design to 3D computer modeling. Specifically, the ability to create intersecting masses that had their own separate geometry; planes could
meet at new angles forming a dramatic edge line. The Mustang was the
most popular iteration of this design.
I choose the 1999-2004 model because it is such an exceptional buy on
today’s market: many still have factory warranties and the power is up
on the previous generation. It is based
on the SN-95 platform, derived from
the Fox-body Mustang that appeared
originally in 1984.
The hiring of J Mays at Ford in 1997, the energy behind the New Beetle
at VW one sees a propensity for his retro-futurist leanings. Models like
the Bullitt Mustang and Mach 1 see his influence. The reproduction
“Torque-Thrust” style wheels are certainly a J Mays touch. In fact, they
don’t really look at home on the New Edge Mustangs; they look more appropriate on the 2005-present Mustangs which have a decidedly retro
look to them and under which Mr. Mays had the most direction.
may be most secretly famous for its incomplete nature. It has lent itself
to redesign and personalization since it first showed up as a 1964 ½
model.
Laid over the “New Edge” themes
are J Mays retro touches.
Though the marketers would play
up the retro themes of this model, the New Edge Mustangs did
little to represent the original except in its decidedly “fake” parts:
hood scoops, side scoops and
the reproduction Torque-Thrust
wheels. Maybe more glaring was
the reproduction of the pony symbol all over the car. On the exterior of
2002 Mustang convertible there are at least six ponies visible. Some
models have even more. It is as if the Mustang became a division of
Ford. The Ford symbol is seen only once on the car. Compare this to
earlier models where the Ford Oval appears in the grill area, wheels
hubs and tail end.
My purpose is not
to create a “personalized” car, but actually a factory car or a complete car from the
viewpoint of the designers. Whether this is what the stylists originally
intended, I do not know, but I try to put myself in their place.
The 1999-2004 Mustangs are
often called the “New-Edge” Mustangs, based on the direction of
Jack Telnak, Vice President of
Corporate Design at Ford Motor
Company. Telnak retired in 2007
after a career in the industry for
nearly forty years. In the early
1999 Mercury Cougar
1980’s Telnak championed the
“aero” look which was embodied
in the 1983 Ford Thunderbird. In 1999, Telnak’s new design thrust was
revealed in what was called “New Edge.” The Ford Mustang lead the
New Edge design front with more radical iterations demonstrated in the
Mercury Cougar and in Europe, the Ford Ka.
I like the design of the 2005 Mustang, but to my eye, the New Edge
Mustangs are more complex in their surfacing and visual structure.
Just look at the hood with its concave and convex surfaces intersecting
at strong character lines and flowing powerfully toward the windshield
from the NACA duct-like opening of the grill. Because of this complexity,
it makes it harder for them to look perfectly balanced. The 2005, out
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of simplicity looks balanced out the
box, but also more bland. This is
why duo-color paint schemes look
more at home on the 2005 retro
Mustang.
is described in the industry, it certainly needs some help in this area. The
V-6 Mustangs particularly suffer from the roller-skate look.
Because of the body to wheel relationship, the character line leading
from the fender to the side scoop is not parallel to the ground, it is higher
up at the front and de-emphasizes the strong triangular shape that is
But let’s look at the New Edge
created by the lines from the back fender to the top of the front fender;
Mustang and dial in its basic probcertainly the designers saw this as the most desirable feature of this
lems. Most of these don’t have to
side detail, but the stance ruins it. Because the front is higher, it sets
do with the design per se, but with
the rake of the windshield further back, making it look too flat, almost as
the fight between its New Edge/Retro themes and the realities of get- if the car had been pushed by a weight from the top, crushing the windting a car to market. One of the basic realities is that the Mustang looks shield. If one takes a photo of the car and simply drop the front forward,
cheap. That’s because it was a good value, but left the customer to the rake of the windshield looks more graceful.
complete the car, particularly in its interior.
Successful areas include the fender openings that look built out (comLooking at the stance of the V8 GT, one immediately notices that the car pare these to the aero1994-98 Mustangs, which look like holes cut into
sits too high over the wheels. In fact, it seems to be rearing backward, a fuselage). The hood with its slope upwards toward the middle of coneven though the hood slopes forward. It makes the car look like the wind cave and convex planes is very powerful and suggests bursting power
is pushing it back. The space between the wheel well and the tire is re- coming from the power plant. Also successful is the tuck under of the
car between the wheels; a plastic rocker panel comes down and creates
a taut line between the wheels.
The front overhang is too pronounced, much like a front-wheel drive car.
On the Ford FR500 race car, we see that the stylists move the wheels
forward five inches and cut the headlight penetration by three inches
(this also gets better
weight balance between the front and
rear wheels). In this
case, the headlights
try to hide the huge
ferred to as the “dead-cat hole.” This car feels like it is “on its toes.” One
overhang and their
of the first propensities is to slam the car to the ground, but this creates
shape creates an imdrivability problems. We will look at ways to get the stance right. The
plied scoop like the
other relation to the stance is the way the wheels come to the outside grill(s). Because of the retro pony and its corral pushing forward out
edge of the body. The car has wheels that are inboard of the outside of the grill, it makes the front end look even longer. Because the front
edges of the fender well, though not terribly buried or “over-bodied” as it bumper lifts up at the front, to narrow the face of the car, it shows the
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Wheels
underside of the bumper to the public at certain angles and looks unfinished.
I have a convertible, which has no B pillar to chunk up the top that has One can take the animal metaphor too far. After all the car is named afa pouncing quality to it, with the arc cutting back and arching forward. ter a kind of horse (or is it named after the kingdom in Nepal?). Wheels
The convertible is more of a simple arc and with the windows down alare not exactly the feet or shoes
lows the body to look much longer than the coupe. I should note that
of a car, but they are the motive
the hardtop design is based on a removable hardtop that was designed
contact point. Besides being jewfor the convertible and was available from Ford at the beginning of its
elry in some sense wheels are
model run.
also windows into the suspension
of the car. Have you noticed, most
At the rear end of the car are a set of large tall taillights that are unflat planar wheel designs hide the
relenting in their redness; export cars and certain Cobras had yellow
ordinary and barely adequate susturn signal lights. Converting to these is not impossible, but there are
pension that holds it to the car?
other ways to make the rear end
So this rumination about the
look wider than it does. The rear
choice of wheels also implies the
CTR WHEELS + Cobra 10th Anniverspoiler also looks pushed too far
subsequent decisions regarding
sary
brakes
forward on the deck; this is true
brakes and suspension.
for the early 1999 and 2000
models as well. Only the Cobra
The philosophical direction of the design is to create a Ford factory look,
spoiler actually is rear-ward of the
so that it does not stand out as a blatant exercise in outrageous puredge of the decklid. We shall look
chases at the speed shop. No exat this detail as a way of correctcessively chromed wheels or 22”
ing the chunk of the rear end and
rims with jewels spinning about.
increasing its visual velocity. What is successful on the V8 Mustangs is
The wheels that exercise Ford
the rear bumper exhaust cut outs, the look of a rear racing diffuser with
design characteristics are pretty
small vents between the exhaust cut outs. Also from the rear one can
dull, but strongly elegant. Cobra
see the flair of the fenders over the wheels which gives it a more muscufive spokes or FR500 wheels
lar look than the previous generation car.
made for the fantastic FR500 prototypes are natural choices. The
My approach is to finish the car from the stand point of a Ford designer.
“torque-thrust” styled wheels remiLet us think back to how the designers intended the car to look and take
niscent of the 1960’s that started
out the compromises that ensue when one is trying to meet manufacappearing in the 2001 models
turing cost goals. In this way we make a car that looks complete and FR500 WHEELS
seem really more appropriate for
expresses all the strengths that the design displays in analysis.
the retro designs of the 2005 Mustang. What other models do we have
to look at? The Ford GT. Based on the Ford GT-40 race car, the Ford GT
Let’s begin!
while being obviously retro, borrows from the original design and builds
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Fortunately, the Mustang is rear-wheel drive and we can indulge in a
deep dish, especially for the rear wheels. The offset of the CT-R wheels is
just perfect, placing the edge of the tire carefully under the wheel flares
and thus avoids the roller skate effect.
from that. The wheels are reminiscent of Halibrand racing wheels
with knock-off spinners. A small
company, CT-R based in Texas is
making Ford GT styled wheels in
three flavors: chrome, anthracite
(dark metallic grey) and black.
They are made especially for the
offsets of 99-04 Mustangs with
18” x 9” front wheels and 18” x
10” rear wheels. The angle of the
spokes echoes the angle of the
wheel flares and then dramatically
points inward, saying, “hey, look at
these brakes!”
Stock ride height of the 1999-2004 Mustang looks ridiculous. The circumstances of designing cars that look just perfect in the designers’ studio and then are pumped up to the
height of 4x4 trucks when they get
to the show room probably have
to do with bumper height safety
and insurance costs. At the same
time, lowering kits, especially those
with live rear axles is problematic:
drop them so the car looks totally
cool and then the rear end bangs
over every bump and grinds your
spine into the seat bottom. Also,
Wheels can describe the personthe travel for the coil springs is
ality of the machine more than
decreased which means that the
most other styling elements and
coil can bang on itself. I’ve tried to
are critically important. I have
mitigate this (somewhat successfound very few stock automobiles
fully) by using Ford Racing Springs
with “appropriate” wheels. One of
that do not drop the car into the
the worst offenders is Audi; eleweeds. Even with those installed,
gant bodies, taut lines and clunky,
the rear springs still crashed onto
inappropriate wheels for the most part. My Audi A6 has had three sets
their own coils and I had to wrap a
of different wheels; most of the problem has to do with wheel offset, the
couple of coils with rubber tubing
amount of stuff to squish into the wheel area, brakes, four wheel drive
to get rid of the noise. The next
axles, suspension pickup points allows for a very shallow “dish” which
step is to add an adjustable lower
helps describe and point to the mechanical inner works of the car. Cars
rear suspension arm (this is made
with a plane described by the outside edge of the wheel tend to make the
for drag racing); so that the ride
car look like a shell with nothing inside of it but air. Rear wheel drive cars
height can be changed by raising
have very little problem with this, the BMW 5 series had wonderful deep
or lowering the lower spring supdish wheels on its sport models.
ports. The adjustable arms allow for a further 1” drop from stock. The
Mustang now looks like it does in Ford advertisements, low to the ground
and ready to pounce.
4
Front Facia
Since the wheels are windows to the suspension, a look at the brakes
are in order. The 18” wheels create the illusion of smaller brakes, so
an upgrade to the brakes is important. The 10th Anniversary Cobra
brakes with red calipers front and rear as wheel as an increase in disc
size make for an excellent factory solution to this issue. While the fronts
were simple to change and attached to all the factory pick up points,
the rear brake upgrade consisted of many more parts included backing
plates for the disks and new caliper mounting brackets. This involved
pulling the axles as well. Kevin D’Adamo at B&G Tires in Napa, California
performed the wheel, spring and brake upgrade including a necessary
front end alignment.
Grill
The front intake on an automobile is part of the face of its personality.
Just as we see animals appear out of clumps of clothes on the floor at
night, we perceive that there is an animal soul inside the steel skin of
our cars. Sometimes these faces are comical or sad, but we are drawn
most to the implication of power. This is because one cannot deny that
an automobile in itself is an expression of power, enormous power for
an individual to wield. Hidden underneath the metal are exploding gases,
toxic heat, and dangerous electrical charges.
It is not my intent in this section that you mount your own tires or swap
out your springs, rather I want to show you some of the known issues The 99-04 Mustangs seem to be designed by two groups of people
with upgrading the brakes and springs for this Mustang.
schooled in two different design
philosophies. The “new edge” designers led by Jack Telnak at Ford
were drawn sharp, taut lines and
linked bezier planes, concave and
convex. Yet there seems to be
another design philosophy at odds
with it. Coming to Ford in 1997,
J Mays who is identified with “retrofuturism” who may have seen it
necessary to connect more directly to the lineage of the Mustang, back
when it sold millions of cars in the sixties. Pony images, the famed “corral” around the pony on the grill, the honeycomb grill pattern and other
styling nods are applied to the naked taut forms.
It wasn’t till the 2004 Mach 1 that stylists got to delete this grill and propose, what I believe was its original vision. Earlier versions of the Cobra
eschewed the busy full mouthed grill as well.
The grill, as it functions as an intake implies power when one can statically suggest the suction of atmosphere into the engine. The grill invokes the engine, hidden under the hood and behind the bumper, grill
5
and headlights. The original “new edge” Mustang grill bulges out from
the intake surface holding three different design elements: black plastic
honeycomb, a chrome rectangular frame around a chrome galloping
pony. It seems as though all the pressure is inside the engine compartment. It looks like a face gagging or holding in something unpleasant.
and see the bottom of the
bumper as well. It does not
look finished until this narrow
black edge of bumpy-surface
plastic finishes off the face.
Correcting this problem is easy. There is a “Mach 1 grill delete kit” available in two flavors, a two piece and a three piece kit. Buy the three
piece because the inner piece, a black plastic cowl that fits against the
bumper support has curved
edges and a nice bumpy surface that looks like it flows air
better.
Headlights
The second issue is the pony
and what to do with it. Standing in front of the car, one can
see five pony symbols (are we
that daft that we don’t know
what kind of car we own?): one in the grill, two on the windshield and
one on each seat. The old fox body mustangs from 1984-1993 had a
Ford oval in the grill: this is also emphasized in the 1999 FR500 Ford
Racing prototype, many of these track cars used the Ford Oval instead
of the pony. Perhaps this looks more like a racing symbol. Former commercials for Ford products emphasized the air flowing around this blue
oval, so I will perform some experiments about returning the oval to the
grill in future editions.
Headlights are the eyes of the soul of a machine, said some poet in the
20th century. And they do impart awareness. Cow-eyed Toyotas and
other grass eating branded cars imply a kind of dumb innocence, but a
Mustang? A determined look is demanded. The headlights are almost
successful, in particular with
the black plastic interior bits
(99-00 had chrome interiors). They have a mild confusing geometry, the plastic
has deep cuts and sweeps to
it that reflects light at confusing angles. As the light wraps
from the fender to the hood,
it swoops under the hood in
There is a secondary grill under the main bumper line. If you have a dark an aerodynamic arc, as if it is designed to pass air above and through
car, the wide slot looks appropriate, but with a light colored car, one can the slot. This is unique. Not many designs use the hood seam as an
see the bottom of the radiator support. Painting this area black would aero-design element. But because the headlight shape is not exactly
mitigate this problem.
eye-like, there is a lack of awareness in the front end of the car. There
are aftermarket headlight units that do have more circular openings for
the lamps; some even have the signature BMW “angel eye” look, with an
Not until 2003 do we see a spoiler on the front of “new edge” Mustangs, illuminated ring around the lamp, but many of these replacements look
part of the Mach 1 package. The lack of spoiler is an evident design ex- too busy and over-articulated. For now I will stick with the stock units.
clusion; one can only look at the front end and see all the rake upwards Polishing the headlights emphasizes the two character lines molded into
6
which on most Mustangs is slightly distorted as to look oval, this area
looks particularly cheap. UPR products makes a ring which attaches
with trim adhesive to the area. I
do not like most UPR products because they look too shiny and too
machined (not molded). This trim
ring is the same. To mitigate this
look, I used a 3M Scotch-brite pad
to knock down it’s shiny quality. On
very dark cars, I would go so far to
paint it silver or body color.
the clear plastic. I have changed the bulbs to higher temperature so
that they burn brighter with less yellow coloration.
If you have a GT model, then you
also have additional driving lamps.
These lamps have a series of vertical ribs molded into the lens to
spread the light. They do not have
the complex reflective qualities of
the headlights. I replaced these
with a lamp sold by American Musclecar which has a clear lens and
more of a faceted interior. When
facing the car, both headlights and foglights appear to be designed by
the same philosophy.
As I mentioned before, the big red chunky taillights of the 1999-2000
Mustangs can be relieved by use of the import taillight which has a yellow turn signal light installed in the lower third of the light. But these taillights require a lot of rewiring to work properly. The other way to get rid
of the sense of the vertical chunk of the lights is to visually connect them
together. California Concepts makes a Ford-designed part that links the
area between the taillights with a
honeycombed black panel of plastic which attaches with automotive
trim tape. This ties the taillights together in a single panel and allows
the visual verticality of the taillights
to be minimized.
Trunk and taillight area
Probably the most attractive spoilers for the trunk appeared on the
1999-2000 Mustangs. These consisted of an aerodynamic loop which
attached to the outer edges of the trunk. The 2001-2004 models used
a design that is more like a bench, with the supports inboard of the outer
edge of the trunk. Both designs
are oddly forward on the trunk so
that from the side, the edge of the
spoiler does not push pass the
top edge of the trunk. By removing the spoiler on my 2002 model,
one can see that there is room to
redrill the holes 8/10’s of an inch
further backward without revealing the original holes and thus allowing the spoiler to create a visual effect of a backward sweep that
further implies speed. The above picture shows the stock location of the
spoiler in the foreground, my adaptation behind.
The other way to create more of
horizontality is to use all three bulbs
when they are lit. Further, like early Shelby Mustangs, to add sequential
taillight sequencers so that they blink, 1, 2, 3. Webeclectronics builds a
factory looking harness which you can order and install by replacing the
original harness. One need to adjust any other electronic control, it is
all self contained. Additionally, when one steps on the brakes, the lamps
blink 1, 2, 3 in unison outward, thus enhancing safety.
While removing the interior trunk panels to get to the taillights, I re-
A small thing, the key hole in the trunk. Surrounded by a piece of rubber,
7
moved all the panels. This was to allow the installation of sound deadening material to enhance the sound
of the stereo and kill vibrations
created by the extra wide tires
and exhaust.
space in front of the driver and passenger.
Most Mustangs of the 99-04 era are monochrome in color, though
there were some two tone interiors offered with light grey/charcoal or
light tan/brown. My adjustments to the interior can work with monochrome or two-tone interiors.
With the trunk open, it doesn’t
take much to notice that the interior lid of the trunk is unfinished.
I created a pattern (enclosed)
which covers the area where the
reinforcement panels of this plastic trunk. Further, I placed a Roush tool kit in the trunk area, which is
made specifically for the 99-04 trunk lid. A relocation of the trunk light
is in order because the tool kit blocks the light.
One must first think about the tactile clues of an interior to guess which
areas have been most left to the accountants to decide what was going to maintain the profit point on each car. We can in contrast look at
the height of interior design and materials, the Audi to see what can be
done in comparison. The Audi creates a masterful environment where
different materials harmonize: plastic, wood, polished aluminum, anodized aluminum, leather and vinyl. If you look at the material choices in the
Mustang you see: leather and plastic. By simply adding a few materials,
one can greatly upgrade the interior, but still maintain a Ford factory
Interior
look. By studying Ford concept cars of the era, you can see that the stylists are aching to use many differThe interior of an automobile connotes many things. It is a cocoon. It is
ent materials within their interiors,
an operation center. It is an ergonomic nightmare or a sensual delight.
but that budgets in the real world
It is the stage of a music hall or a
are holding them back.
bucket of bolts. It is the part of the
car that you touch with your hands
Switch gear is upgraded where
and it gives us a sense of what the
possible. MGW Ltd., a company in
car is doing literally by the seat of
Georgia makes Mustang switchyour pants.
gear that looks most like factory
switchgear. While chromed switch
The aero/biomorphic look of Telgear is available, I have chosen
nak’s earlier design is maintained
silver anodized. Chrome will look
in the New Edge Mustang. Interbetter in lighter colored interiors,
estingly, it works because it creates a contrast between inside and outsuch as light grey or tan. I replaced
side. The interior design connotes the interior of the body, with lots of
the AC controls, the parking brake
curves and arches, while the interior looks hard and bulging, more like
pull, the headlight pull switch, the
a robot. While many have considered the interior to have some retro
radio knob, the transmission shift
features, particularly the dual-cowl look, comparing it to the earlier Musknob, the turn signal trim and the
tangs, this design harkens back more to the 1960’s Corvette and then
added trim around the cup holder
to the 1969 Mustang interiors with the two large arches defining the
holes with MGW Ltd. materials. I
8
have mentioned earlier the UPR
products are not very attractive
and do not look factory.
els? Rattling interior surfaces? These must be attended to. All panels
I removed where liberally applied with sticky felt tape and large panels
used eDead brand sound deadener. I also created patterns for applying
the felt tape to the interior of the glove box and inside door pockets (see
patterns in supplemental folder on this disk).
The silver instrument bezel surround is a Ford factory product I
have modified with the “281” Ford
block symbol between to the major gauges. These are available
for sale at www.desotodesign.net.
Pedals are upgraded to the Bullit Ford pedal set. Be sure and purchase
the entire accelerator unit with the arm attached. This has slightly different geometry which gives you more accelerator tip in and increases
the sense of power at the foot.
The steering wheel has been
changed to a Ford Racing FR500
wheel, which has a thicker, meatier grip coupled with perforated
leather at either side of the wheel.
I think it is interesting that FR500
parts, such as wheels and other
items are still available from Ford
Racing.
Within the interior to relieve the monochromatic nature of the interior,
I have chosen the seat belt positioner loops, center stack plastic, the
two outboard air conditioning vents, the door pull surround and the door
panel/window switch panels to paint a contrasting color. I chose a color
to link the interior with exterior. I use the anthracite color of the wheels,
which is a Ford wheel color M6280. There are a number of manufacturers that make stick on panels in aluminum, carbon fiber and other surfaces; I found them lacking a factory look and appear tacked on (which
they are).
Tactile clues also include sounds. Creaky plastic? Groaning door pan9
PORTFOLIO
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ASSEMBLY
SUSPENSION & WHEELS
4) Center caps from Ford
factory torque-thrust
wheels are slightly small. A
rubber O-ring or a piece of
tape around the mounting
tabs creates adequate tension.
1) Wheels from CTR
Wheels (ctrwheels.com).
5) Because the Pony logo
cap sticks up around the
face of the wheel, you can
see the white plastic base
from the side.
2) A pitch for my tire man,
Kevin D’Adamo at B&G
Tires in Napa, California his
assistant Mike performed
the suspension duties.
6) Use Scotchcal black
striping tape along the edge
to remove the visible white
stripe.
7) Push cap into wheel.
Suspension and brake
upgrades include Ford Motorsport lowering springs,
10th Anniversary Cobra
brake kit (this has the red
calipers). All work is done
by the experts at B&G tires.
This is not a do-it-yourself
job, unless you have the
right tools including a car lift
which I highly recommend.
3) Nitto 555 extremes
are mounted to 18” CTR
Wheels with anthracite
silver centers.
A stock tire width is on the
left side.
18
6) Stock rear brakes are
removed including dust
plates for disks. New rear
disk kit includes new dust
plate, plate bracket, caliper,
disk and pads.
1) Stock springs are removed.
2) The Ford Motorsport
spring kit (made by Eibach)
includes new bumpstop for
the differential.
3) Rear shocks are released and the differential
is dropped down to allow
removal of springs.
7) Emergency brake brackets and cables have to be
finessed. In this case we
turned brackets upside
down and shaved off a
mounting tab. Cables have
a mounting locator that
must be bent to allow for
longer movement of cable.
Because these rear tires
are much wider, care that
the cables do not touch the
tires is paramount.
4) Rear control arms are
replaced with adjustable
height control arms from
Granatelli. Steeda also
makes aluminum units.
5) Rear axles are removed
by draining the differential
and pulling the c-clips that
hold the axles in place. This
is a good time to check the
axle bearings for wear.
8) Front struts are released
and old springs go out, new
springs go in.
19
FRONT FACIA
1) The Mach 1 grill delete
kit comes in three pieces.
Don’t buy the two-piece kits
as there will be a visible
“hard edge” inside the grill.
9) New front Brembo disks
take place of the stock
units.
10) New front calipers use
the stock mounting brackets.
11) Car is moved to the
alignment stand.
2) Open the hood and
remove the plastic facia
that resides over the
radiator. It is fastened
with Ford two-piece plastic
connectors; you will have to
remove the center section
before you can take out the
sleeve-insert.
12) Set the rear suspension height while the car is
on the alignment stand with
a ½” socket wrench.
13) With the 18” wheels
and lowering springs, Ford
stock alignment specs are
realizable without caster/
camber plates.
20
3) Pull back the stock grill.
Use a piece of foam to keep
it away from your hand.
Danger! Sharp edges. Use
a 7mm wrench and remove
the 4 small bolt-headed
screws that attach the grill
to the bumper plastic.
6) Drop in and push down.
The two outer tabs take
the two piece plastic connectors.
Make sure the tape comes
into contact with the outer
u-shaped piece. Otherwise
there will be an unsightly
gap. Replace radiator
cover. Replace all the connectors to the facias.
4) Clean the area thoroughly.
Insert the inner section of
the grill surround. It will
attach later to the common
connectors for the upper
radiator cover.
7) Put the Pony it its slot
and put two bolts with
washers in the nylon
mounting holes. I found two
Ford-sources hex bolts with
integrated washers. I test
fit them (pictured), then
took them off and painted
them matching semi-gloss
black.
5) Place 3M auto trim tape
to the bottom edge of the
outer grill surround. Carefully peel the red cover tape
off.
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10) Be sure and tweak the
spoiler back and forth till it
is even on all sides. Remember that the spoiler
underhangs the bumper
slightly! Mark the holes
underneath the bumper
with a felt tip marker and
remove the spoiler. Also
mark the midway point on
the underside of bumper
and the spoiler so they can
be in alignment.
8) To mount the spoiler,
take some gaffer’s tape (or
similar non-residue cloth
tape: don’t use duct tape!)
and place it around the
leading edge of the bottom
of the bumper.
9) The spoiler does not
come out the edge but
under hangs slightly. Move
the tape and spoiler around
till it is even. Mark the midway point on the underside
of bumper and the spoiler
so they can be in alignment.
11) I use a multi-drill bit on
a right angled adapter to
drill the holes. Before you
do that, check the width
of the hole with your connector (a christmas tree
connector) by drilling into
another piece of plastic.
Not all spoiler kits may have
the same christmas tree
connector size!
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12) Because of the inner
narrowing of the ends of
the spoiler, cut the heads of
two of the christmas tree
connectors flat on one side.
Re-tape the spoiler in place
and push the connectors all
around.
15) Each headlight has two
tabs which you pull up and
out.
16) Push headlight forward
and reach around to take
out the connectors for the
headlight and turn signal.
14) The headlight bulbs
should be upgraded to a
brighter white bulb. I used
PIAA headlight bulbs.
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20) Reconnected the turn
signal and lamp, push
headlamp unit back into
position and push in the
long L-shaped connectors
and test.
17) Take out the outer
mounting ring and pull the
headlight out its socket. If it
has been in there a while, it
may stick to the o-ring seal.
21) The stock fog lamps
look to be not of the same
styling philosophy as the
headlamps. Custom units
from AmericanMuscle.com
are clear with a faceted
interior.
21) Jack up car and place
jack stands at the mounting
points.
18) Take care not to touch
the glass of the bulb. Insert
it into the headlamp unit
and place the outer mounting ring back on.
19) While you have it out,
replace the turn signal, too.
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23) Remove the three
screws with a Torx screwdriver or socket set. I’ve
magnetized my screw
driver to hold the screws
easier. One screw is on the
bottom of the bumper, but
the other two are on the
inside of the bumper area.
Note the red circles. Also
note how hard they are to
see!
25) The original lamp is
held in one side by a pin
and the other a screw with
a spring for adjusting the
height of the lamp. Mark
the back of your screwdriver with an arrow so you
can count how many turns
it takes to unscrew the
screw. Write it down.
24) Unplug the lamp and
pull out the entire housing.
26) Use a flat end screwdriver to gently expand the
housing and remove the old
bulb housing.
25
29) Test your new headlight
and fog lamps.
27) Push the new unit into
place and put the screw
and spring back counting
the turns as you screw the
new fog lamp into place on
the housing.
28) Attach the bottom Torx
screw first and then plug in
the lamp to keep the wire
from getting in your way.
You will have to put the Torx
screw on your magnetized
screwdriver and sit and look
up at the housing. Keep the
housing away from the bumper at first so you can guide
the screw through the hole
(you can’t do it with your
head in the bumper, you will
have to look up from the
outside). After a few tries,
you will find the holes.
26
REAR END TREATMENTS
Rear Spoiler, Trunk key surround,
sequential taillights and trunk lid
liner, tool kit and gas cap.
5) On the underside, you
will have to carefully grind a
seam down where the inner
trunk lid and the out trunk
surface mate.
1) Rear spoiler is too far
forward on the trunk. You
can move this backward
8/10’s of an inch so that
the lip of the spoiler is more
prominently behind the lip of
the trunk lid.
Remove the trunk lid from
inside the trunk. Lift the
spoiler straight off of the
trunk, be careful not to
scratch the trunk surface.
6) Seal the hole with a
christmas tree connector.
First you must sand the
top of the tree down till it
is as thin as possible without breaking through the
plastic. Put the connector
in the old hole and seal with
silicone. Push in the black
plastic hole blocker. Part
of your moved stud will be
showing. No matter, this
will be covered by a beauty
panel!
2) There will be a mark
where the trunk lid seal
and the body of the spoiler
wing sat on the trunk. Use
some car polish to carefully
remove any lines or marks
from this area.
3) Lay a piece of tape
across the trunk. Mark
where the current hole is
and 8/10’s of an inch using
an engineers metal ruler.
4) Measure the diameter
of the hole (hole width may
vary). Carefully drill a hole
through the plastic/composite trunk material.
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9) Cut it out with a sabre
saw.
7) Reattach the spoiler.
Silicone the old hole from
the bottom as well and
place the body gasket into
the angled hole area.
10) Sand down any roughness.
Note: the difference when
parked next to a similar
car. The car in the foreground has the spoiler in
the stock position.
11) If you are not installing
a tool box, skip to _____.
12) Take your Roush
toolbox and remove all the
tools and take the supplied
four “rubber nuts” and
place them in the predrilled holes in the trunk.
Trunk beauty panel
and tool box:
8) Take the attached pattern and trace it onto 1/8”
masonite panel.
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13) Drill out holes larger
than the outside flange of
the rubber nuts on the masonite panel (where marked
on the pattern. Mark these
with TB for toolbox. Mark
the outside surrounding
holes. These are for the
christmas tree fasteners.
Obtain these fasteners
from a parts store or your
FORD dealer. There a number of sizes, so measure
or take note of the recommended drill width. On the
masonite panel, drill these
out two sizes beyond the
recommended drill width so
the fasteners do not catch
on the masonite.
17) Findtape.com has 12”
wide duvetyne tape in black.
This will also serve as your
anti-squeek material for
other areas inside the car.
Place the panel on a hard
surface and cut a piece
of the duvetyne material
longer than the panel. The
tape is not wide enough for
your entire panel; you will
add a second strip on the
top where the seam is least
noticeable.
14) Place masonite panel
on trunk lid. Temporarily
bolt in the tool kit.
18) Cut the overhang into
strips and fold it over tightly.
15) Drill marker holes into
the inner trunk lid.
16) Remove the tool box
and panel. Drill the final hole
width for the christmas
tree fasteners.
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21) Remove the rear taillight with a deep socket
wrench and disconnect the
wire harness to the taillight.
19) Place on trunk and
align carefully. Push the
fasteners in place and then
install the tool box.
Trunk sound-proofing
and sequential taillights.
20) Remove the inner
panels of the trunk. First
to come out is the floor
of the trunk. Remove the
spare as well. Take out the
hard plastic piece near the
trunk latch. Use a trim tool
to take out the Christmas
tree fasteners without
destroying them. If you
have a convertible, remove
the inner forward panel
of the trunk, then take out
the side wheel well panels.
If you have a Mach 1000
sound system, all amplifiers, subwoofer boxes will
have to be removed and
disconnected.
22) Remove all the lamps
and replace the harness
with a webelectronics.com
unit. They will give you a
core deposit if you return
your old harness.
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The webelectric.com unit
contains all the circuitry
necessary. At this time replace all your old bulbs with
new ones. Note: do not
switch to LED lamps, the
circuits don’t like them!
24) Now that your trunk
is apart, use Dynamat or
eDead sound proofing
material to line your trunk.
This will greatly enhance
the sound of your stereo
and eliminate reverberations from your extrawide
rear tires.
Honeycomb rear panel
23) Reinstall the taillight
unit. Wire tie the circuit
sausages so they don’t
bank around. Make sure
the harness seal is good.
Test out your lamps in
emergency blinker mode. If
you want them to go slower,
there is a custom made
module that replaces your
blinker circuit, but I found
them to be just the right
speed. Also note that when
you step on the brakes, the
sequence outward together, which I think is safer.
25) To install the rear
honeycomb panel you
first must remove the GT
symbol and the Ford symbol. I use a “floss”, a piece
of white fiber packing strap
lubricated with some “Goofoff,” sawing downwards,
adding the liquid as I went
down. This melted the
adhesive but does not mar
the paint. Use a cloth with
more “Goof-off” to get rid of
the adhesive on the symbol
and the body paint.
26) Carefully remove the
FORD symbol in the same
manner. Note that the
FORD symbol has two
locating prongs.
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27) Clean the back of both
emblems and put them
aside. Also clean the panels where the rear facia will
adhere to.
30) Place 3M panel adhesive strips to the back
of each emblem and push
them in place.
28) Place the 3M panel
adhesive strips to the back
of the middle panel. Peel of
the red cover tape. Push
the middle panel in place.
(Note: I discovered too late
that if you are placing these
panels on a light colored
car, that light edges show
through. I used black pinstriping tape to repair this
oversight. You may want to
paint the edges or place the
trim tape before you put on
these panels.)
31) Pictures show the
difference between the revealed edge and the black
trimmed edge. You decide.
29) Place the 3M panel
adhesive strips to the back
of the right and left panels
peel off the red cover tape
and push them into place.
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Trunk Keyhole
32) The stock keyhole
area looks unfinished.
UPR Products makes
a keyhole trim ring that
comes with an adhesive
ring that simply pushes
in place. Depending on
the color of your car, the
UPR piece may appear too
shiny. I used a piece of 3M
fine scrubbing pad to knock
down the excessive shine.
Gas Door
33) The Bullitt Mustangs
have a nice gas door, which
is reminiscent of the Audi
TT styling, which in turn
hearkens back to racing
car fueling connectors. The
Ford Racing product has
just the right amount of machining. Remove your old
gas door with the Torx head
screwdriver or bit.
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34) Also Remove the Torx
screw heads with rubber
bumpers. The Ford Racing
Product has plastic on the
face of it from the factory.
Leave this protecting layer
on the gas door.
37) First connect the left
side loosely so they are
tight but loose enough to
move the gas door slightly.
37) Then connect the right
side with washer and nuts.
You will have to remove the
gas cap temporarily to get
your hand in with a small
wrench to hold the nuts.
Tighten these enough so
you can slightly move the
door to make sure it is centered in the opening.
35) The side where the
hinge will require small nuts
to attach to the door. For
some reason they do not
come with the product. The
right side has black nylon
nuts/spacers.
38) Tighten the fasteners
and remove the protective
covering.
36) Tape the new gas door
to the body with masking
tape.
34
INTERIOR TREATMENTS
Glove Box upgrade.
have the bottom in, peel
back the rest of the backing tape and stick it down.
Push down evenly.
1) The glove box has hard
plastic inside. Most higher
grade interiors have a felt
lining. Old 1960’s cars
used felt and cardboard.
If you put anything in this
plastic box, it slides around
and rattles.
4) Next, do the left side, using the same technique.
2) Supplied on this disk is a
pattern for your glove box.
Print these files out on any
laser or ink jet printer and
cut out with scissors. Use
these as the pattern to cut
out using the findtape.com’s
duvetyne tape.
5) Right side comes next.
Make sure that the tape
goes right to the crease of
the inside of the glove box
6) The inside front of the
glove box comes next.
Remove the screws that
hold on the latch before you
place this piece. This is a
large piece. I found aligning
the outer seemed easier
because of the tight crease
at the bottom.
3) Start with the largest
piece which is the back of
the glove box. Peel the bottom half away, but leave the
top half covered with the
backing tape. Get the corners aligned. Don’t worry,
this tape is very stretchable
and forgiving. When you
35
conditioner vents, the center stack and the seatbelt
guides. Along the way, I
placed MGW Ltd. trim pieces in silver anodized aluminum where necessary.
9) Remove the seatbelt
guides. The were hard to
remove because there is
not a lot of space between
the headrest and the fasteners. I used a torx head
bit on a ¼” ratchet wrench.
That did the trick.
7) Finally there are the small
pieces that go around the
latch mechanism. Push all
the tape firmly all around.
The first thing you will notice
is when you close the glove
box. It no longer clunks
shut, but clicks.
Paint Trim
10) Note the molding
marks on the seat belt
guides. Really looks cheap.
I sanded these with 100,
400 and 600 grit sandpaper, wet. I sanded till the
texture and molding marks
were gone.
8) The anthracite centers
for the CTR wheels are a
Ford Color Metallic Gray
M6280. I had this color
mixed up at my local car
paint shop. I also purchased
a reducer and some Duplicolor clear coat for these
parts. I painted the door
window switch panels, the
door lever bezel, the air
36
Center Stack
11) Mixing the paint with a
reducer (buy reducer based
on the outdoor temperature
you are shooting), I loaded
it into a Preval Sprayer.
Depending on the brand of
paint, make sure you have
the ratio of paint to reducer
correct.
14) The center stack
comes out in two places.
Simply pull the bottom
section out first. Use your
hands. Unhook the 12 volt
power plug. If you have an
auto transmission, put the
transmission into 1st gear.
12) Several light coats
yields a flat, metallic color.
Make sure it is even. I used
an old coathanger to hold
the piece, but noticed that
I had to be able to look at it
from all angles to get good
coverage because of its
complex shape.
15) Pull out the top section the same way, pulling
straight out. Remove the
connectors to the switches
and set them aside. The
upper section has air conditioner vents. I removed
these by breaking the
melted plastic seals over
the two sections and pulled
out the vents. I also pulled
off the white rubber anti
squeak bumpers (that don’t
actually work) and taped off
the metal clips.
13) Let the paint flash off
overnight. The next day,
take your clear coat and
give it at least three coats.
The finish will now have a
nice gloss to it. Reverse the
procedure to reattach. I
found that the belt near my
shoulder made a clicking
sound as it moved back and
forth while I was wearing
it. I added a small piece of
duvetyne tape to allow it to
glide more easily.
37
16) On the lower section
I had to carefully tape
around the lower section
that has the leather texture
on it. Push the tape carefully in with a fingernail or
piece of plastic and then
trim with a knife.
Then three coats of clear.
Let it dry overnight before
handling the parts.
18) Reassemble the center
stack. Use a strong industrial plastic adhesive to glue
back the air conditioning
vents.
17) I did not sand either of
these pieces, but cleaned
with a good wax and dirt
remover. Use light coats to
cover the two pieces. After
three or four coats, let dry
for a day or so.
19) Set aside the center
stack to allow the adhesive
to set on the air conditioning vents.
38
Shifter Area
23) The two wires are for
the O/D button. Cut those
wires as deep as you can
within the knob.
20) If you have a stick shift,
I recommend changing to
a MGW Ltd. shift knob. If
you have an automatic,
MGW also has some nice
choices. Changing the
automatic transmission
selector is more involved
then twisting off your old
knob and replacing it with
another.
21) Set the parking brake.
Put in the key and unlock
the steering wheel and push
on the brake. Push in the
automatic release knob and
put the transmission in the
lowest gear.
22) In the forward facing
area of the knob is an allen
fastener recessed. Find the
spot, undo the fastener and
pull out the knob.
24) Pull out the plastic
sleeve on the shaft.
39
27) Push the sleeve back
over the shaft. Keep the
O/D wires pulled out.
25) Note where the crease
line is on the shaft and cut it
with a sharp blade.
28) Place some heat shrink
tubing over the wires.
26) I noted that where
the plastic rubbed against
plastic on the shifter plate,
it was worn and squeaked.
I made a few tries to cover
this area with duvetyne
tape. Test fit it a few times
to make sure you have that
area covered. The compound curves are tricky.
29) Strip the sleeve off the
wires revealing the metal
wire.
30) MGW supplies a black
anodized aluminum O/D
button adapter with two
wires sticking out of it.
40
31) Connect the overdrive
button adapter to the
stripped wires and twist
them together.
34) Push that wire back
into the sleeve and put
the O/D adapter onto the
shaft. MGW recommends
to turn the O/D away from
you, to the back of the knob,
but I left it facing forward,
so I could toggle it with my
thumb while driving. Note
both positions.
32) Wrap a towel around
the console and solder
the two wires together.
Be careful! I accidentally
shrunk one of the pieces
of tubing, so I had to cut it
away.
33) Pull the tubing over the
solders and use a heat gun
or hair dryer to shrink the
tubing. You can use electrical tape if you wish, but it
tends to slip when it gets
too hot.
35) MTW provides a new
GT handgrip (they have
other designs) and a black
button with a spring.
41
36) Place the spring inside
the grip and then push
in the black knob. Keep
squeezing.
iPod adapter for FORD
Mach stereos
37) Place the knob on the
shaft and tighten down the
allen fastener on the shaft.
You may have to reposition
a couple of times to get the
angle just right.
Now is the time to tighten
down the O/D switch
adapter as well.
40) Free the radio by removing the two bolts at the
bottom of the radio flange.
39) While all of this is
apart, lets remove the
radio/CD player and put in
a USA Spec FORD1 (PA11
series) iPod adapter. I purchased mine from Crutchfield.
41) Pull out the radio and
unhook all the plugs and
antenna wire.
38) Be sure and test the
O/D switch by starting the
car and putting and trying
the switch. The “O/D OFF”
light should come on in the
dash.
42
42) The USA Spec unit has
two wire adapters. Find the
correct one (only one will
work for your radio) and
place it into the rear of the
radio. I recommend cleaning all the connections in
the plugs with a connector cleaner first. Plug and
un plug a couple of times
to ensure a good friction
connection. The USA Spec
adapter is a white box. Also
connect these together a
few times for good contact.
44) The same Scotchcal
tape I used on my Pony
wheel caps I used by running a piece over the top of
the radio. Voila! No holes.
45) On the box of the USA
Spec unit I places some
Velcro strips.
44) There is a dip switch
on the side of the unit. You
want to put the unit into
“manual” mode so that you
can access any play list you
want manually from your
iPod, so using the instruction manual as a guide,
push the dip switches into
manual mode. Because
specifications change, use
the instructions from the
unit you purchase for this
adjustment. The second
cable is the one that hooks
directly to your iPod.
43) An aside. I noted that
the top of the radio has two
bright silver metal “holes”
that you can see when the
radio is installed. Looks
cheap, doesn’t it?
43
45) Apply the second part
of the Velcro to the bottom
of the unit and then push it
inside of the console directly below the radio. There is
room there on the center
transmission hump.
box. It tells the radio that
there is another CD changer in the trunk. You can
go forward or backward
through the songs using
the controls on your radio.
If you push CD again, it reverts to the six-CD changer
in your head unit. If your
iPod is off, it may start your
iPod, but leave it in pause. If
the connection is bad, you
will see the “eject” message
come up and your unit will
tune to the radio. The entire unit stays on for 1 hour
past ignition turn-off, so you
can be assured that your
iPod is charging.
46) Attach the cables to
the radio/USA spec unit
and wrap any long wires
with duvetyne tape. Trail
the iPod wire into your glove
box or out into the console
area (my choice).
47) Put the radio back into
the radio well. Attach the
screws.
50) Let’s complete the
center stack, now that the
gear shift is in and the iPod
adapter is attached to the
radio. First place the white
rubber bumpers back on
the upper stack piece. Use
duvetyne tape to all the
obvious surfaces that might
squeak. You may have to
test fit the piece each piece
and push to find the squeakprone areas.
48) Plug your iPod into the
cable and start it playing a
song.
49) Start your ignition or
accessory switch and turn
on your radio. Toggle the
CD button. You will see a
“DJ” mode. This is what is
accessed by the adapter
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51) Be sure and return the
switches to their rightful
places. Push the center
stack into place. Now is
a good time to pull out old
HVAC knobs and put in
MGW replacements.
54) Use the given allen
wrench to tighten the unit in
place. Don’t tighten too tight
or the allen screws will simply pierce through the plastic
and disappear into the old
handle.
Instrument panel
52) Put the car in first gear
again and reattach the cigarette lighter wires. Push
into place and then put the
car back into park. Note
that I have used the MGW
radio knob instead of the
stock unit. Just pull the old
one off and push the new
one on.
55) I have designed a “281”
instrument panel that is
based on the block number
styling of engine designation
of Fords from the 1960
& 1970’s. This involves a
silver bezel with a laser-cut
number 281 in the center.
Other numbers are available depending on your
engine size.
53) To complete the center stack, install the MGW
emergency brake handle.
With the handle in the up
position slide the handle
cover over the top.
56) Remove the headlight
knob. We will replace this
later with a MGW knob.
Pull the headlight switch to
on and twist it so you can
see the slot at its base.
Place a small screwdriver
at the silver tab and pull the
tab outwards. You will have
to pull on the knob very
firmly before it comes off.
45
57) Unscrew the two
screws below the top lip of
the instrument surround.
60) Place a soft T-shirt or
cloth on top of the steering
column and tilt the panel so
the instruments are facing
upwards.
58) Pull the instrument surround forward and out. Be
careful not to scratch it.
61) Unplug the instrument
cluster.
59) There are two black
torx screws on each bottom side of the panel. Take
these off.
62) Unscrew the clear plastic bezel and screw in the
new desotodesign bezel.
Before assembling, however, blow out the instruments with some forced
air to get the dust off the
needles. Blow out the inside
of the new bezel as well to
remove any dust.
46
63) On the instrument
bezel, place duvetyne tape
around where the bezel
contacts the dash.
66) Push on the instrument
surround and check it for
creaks and squeaks.
64) Also on the dash area,
place duvetyne tape at critical contact areas.
67) Then turn on the headlight switch and turn the
instrument brightness to its
highest setting. Orient the
knob so the lightbulb bottom is down. Place the new
MGW headlight knob on the
shaft and tighten with the
provided allen wrench.
65) Plug cluster back into
wiring harness and screw in
the assembled cluster into
the dash.
Two outboard AC vents.
47
68) In order to paint the
driver’s side AC vent, one
must first remove the
lower valence. There is one
screw on the left hand side
of the valence. The rest unclips by pulling downward.
71) Pull the vent out.
69) Remove the metal
“knee deflector” via the two
bolts on either side.
72) To remove the passenger side vent, drop open the
glove box door and unscrew
the two screws that hold
the vent in place.
70) There are two screws
holding the vent in place.
Remove these.
73) Pull out the vent.
It has hard clips on the top,
so it may take some effort.
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77) Push the vents back in
place, reapply the mounting
screws.
74) It is too hard to disassemble, so careful mask
the front and back of the
vent. Use a thin piece of
plastic to push the tape
into the hard to fit spaces.
Place typing paper over
the foam part of the vent
so that the tape doesn’t rip
the foam off.
78) While the knee plate
is out. Replace the pedals
with the Bullitt pedal kit.
The dead pedal unbolts and
the Bullitt place takes its
place. The brake/clutch
pedals simply pull off and
are pushed on. The more
complicated piece is to
change out the gas pedal.
Order the complete pedal
assembly if possible. This
is because the angle of the
pedal is set more aggressively and feels better when
pushing down on it.
75) Carefully spray the
vents using the same
preparation and care that
you used when painting the
center stack.
76) Carefully pull off the
tape and then place duvetyne tape around the inside
edges of the flange around
the vent.
49
78) Reinstall the knee
plate. I also used duvetyne
tape to quiet any areas that
creaked by test fitting the
piece.
81) Unscrew the door
tweeters and unplug the
tweeter assembly.
Door Panels
82) Use a soft, flat tool
and remove the door pull
assembly. There are two
screws that hold the door
panel firmly in place. Remove these.
79) Unscrew the door lock
pins.
83) Unscrew the electric
window switches.
80) If you have a Mach
sound system, carefully pull
the cover off of the door
tweeters.
50
84) At the front of the door
is a christmas tree plug.
Pull this out. You probably
should replace this with a
new one.
87) Peel away the plastic/
foam inner door insulation
most of the way. I had to
cut a slot to allow the door
lock shaft to clear the panel.
85) Remove the two
sheet metal screws from
the door panel to the door.
88) Use eDead or Dynamat sound deadener in the
doors. I measured out how
wide a strip would fit into
the door.
86) Lift up on the door
panel and “open” the door
handle and carefully pull the
door panel away from the
door Turn the door panel
over and push out the door
handle bezel.
89) Cut the strips the appropriate size with a razor
blade, straight edge or pair
of scissors.
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90) Peel off the backing
part way.
93) Place the plastic/foam
inner door insulation back
into place.
91) Place in the door and
use a brayer to press in
place. Pull the backing off.
Press the rest of it on firmly.
94) Also install eDead
insulation on the inner door
panel. Cover the beige
foam inserts with duvetyne
tape.
92) Cover the door thoroughly on the inside and
then along the outer layer
as well.
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95) Use the supplied patterns for the inside of the
door pockets to cut shapes
out of the duvetyne tape.
There is a banana-shaped
piece that fits on the inside
of the panel and a rectangular shape that fits on the
bottom of the pocket.
97) The bottom layer in the
pocket will need a little finessing to line up correctly.
96) Apply these to the
inside of the pocket and the
bottom of the pocket.
98) Prep and paint the door
pull surround by removing
the electric window switches and cleaning with an anti
grease prep cleaner. I also
sanded the pieces lightly,
trying to remove any molding marks.
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99) If you haven’t already,
pop out the door handle
surround.
Prep and paint the door
handle surround.
102) Use a long hollow rod
(this from a hobby shop) to
help locate the lock button
in the door panel and line
up the bottom hooks of the
panel.
100). After the paint is dry,
apply duvetyne tape to the
inside edges where friction
against the door would occur to both pieces.
103) Pull the door handle
through the door panel and
push down on the panel.
Replace the xmas tree
fastener in the front. Also
screw in the two screws
that hold the panel to the
door.
101) Push the door pull surround into place.
104) Put the electric
window switches back in
the door pull surround and
push the surround into the
door panel. If there is any
creaking here, pull the panel
and apply duvetyne tape.
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105) Return the tweeters
to their original location.
Press on the cover.
108) Take the inner setscrew, screw it in till it hits
the top of the shaft and
locks it into place.
106) Use MGW door lock
pins. The pins come with
two set screws.
109) Take the outer finish
screw and screw it down till
it covers the hole.
Steering wheel area
110) I replaced the original
GT steering wheel with a
Ford Racing FR500 wheel.
It is thicker than the stock
wheel and has perforated
sections that match the
perforations on Ford GT
seat leather. This was
done through the Ford
dealer as to not disturb
the airbag. Please do the
same.
107) Screw the door pin
into the shaft. Hit the lock
button or push the lock pin
down. Screw it so that it
is seated all the way down
when locked.
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111) MGW makes two
pieces for the steering column. A turn signal stock
cover and a tilt wheel lever.
114) The original tilt lever
must be removed with a
small wrench. There is two
flat areas that allow this
small adjustable wrench
to fit. The lever is on very
tight. Turn slowly and deliberately.
112) The turn signal stock
cover is extremely simple.
It consists of a ring that is
smooth on the inside and a
series of o-rings. I placed
two o-rings on the stock
where there are grooves.
115) The new MGW tilt
lever has some locking
paint over the threads and
is also hard to turn tight.
Do this slowly until the knob
is secure.
113) After that, it is a
simple matter to push
the ring carefully over the
stock, compressing the ring
around the o-rings to make
a tight fit.
Addendum: You may want
to install eDead or Dynamat
under the back seat and
on the inside of the inner
panels near the passenger
seat. While not absolutely
necessary, this does enhance the sound of your
stereo.
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DESOTODESIGN EMBLEMS
Two DESOTODESIGN emblems have been included
with your design kit. These
are designed to blend in
with classic Ford 1969-73
fonts and “block” design.
They are made out of laser
cut plastic.
4) Carefully position the emblem over the taped corner
and the rotate the emblem
to line with the tape on the
rearward side of the emblem. Take a piece of clean
towel or cloth and use it to
push the emblem onto the
body.
1) Remove the red layer off
of the 3m trim adhesive.
2) Clean the forward area
of the doors above the bottom strake with an anti wax
agent.
Odds and Ends:
MGW Cupholder Rings
3) Use 1 ½ “ tape and
place a strip on the front
leading edge of the door
and above the bevel on the
strake.
1) Rather than just look at
dull holes in the console
area, I ordered two aluminum rings that surround
the cup-holder depressions.
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3) Line up the emblems
tabs and mark it with a
silver “sharpie.” Be sure
to check to see that marks
are in the middle of the wide
ridge.
The small one uses an oring for a compression fit,
the larger one simply pressfits into the large rubber
insert.
Powered by Ford
Sill plates
1) These are reproduction
fender emblems for the
289 AC Cobra available
from Finish Line Accessories. First, simply pull the sill
plates up off of the clipped
ridge of the interior.
4) Drill a 3/16” hole on
each mark. In the meantime use the 3M trim tape
on the back of the emblem.
5) Be sure the plastic
surface is clean, then push
the emblem down onto sill.
Reattach sill to the interior.
2) Measure 15” from the
front of the sill and mark it
with tape.
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PARTS & SOURCES
SUSPENSION, WHEELS & TIRES
NOTE: Sources attached when this is the primary or preferred source of these parts
or materials. All other parts should be shopped for best price. Part numbers may
change without prior notice.
Wheels:
CT-R GT-40 Style wheels 1999-2004 Mustang
2) 18” x 9” Gunmetal/Aluminum
2) 18” x 10” Gunmetal/Aluminum
Other colors: Chrome & Black
source: www.ctrwheels.com
Tires:
Nitto 555 Extreme ZR
Front: 245/40/ZR18
Rear: 235/40/ZR18
Springs:
Ford Racing Part# M-5300-G
Rear Lower Control Arms/Weight Jacker:
Granatelli Motor Sports
Part#GMCA998WJ
Brakes:
Ford Motorsports
Part# M2320A 10th Anniversary Cobra Brake kit, front calipers
Part# M2300M 10th Anniversary caliper/bracket kit, rear axle
Part# M2400C 94-04 Front Cobra Rotors with hoses
Striping Tape:
3M Scotchcal
Part# 73302
Not Shown:
Ford Racing Strut Tower Brace
M20201-M46
Ford Racing Strut Tower Covers
F4ZZ-118A179-A
FRONT FACIA
Mach 1 Grill Delete Kit:
Ford Part# XR3Z-AA224-AA Medallion Assembly-Rad GR
Ford Part# XR3Z-8C299-AAA Cover Assembly-Radiator
Ford Part# 3R3Z-17B814-AAA Aplq Grl
Mach 1 Chin Spoiler:
Ford Part# 3R3Z-17626-AAA
PIAA Headlights :
HB5-12V 65/55 watts
Part# 9007
Foglights:
Part# 14054-LFMST99CDP
source: www.americanmuscle.com
REAR TREATMENTS
Trunk mounted toolkit:
Roush Performance Products
Part# SM99-580-WR
Sequential Turn signal circuits:
Part# STS-1MPW Mustang Sequential Turn Signal System
source: www.webelectricproducts.com
Rear Honeycomb Panel:
Classic Design Concepts
Part# CDC-105050 (For GT)
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Duvetyne Felt Tape:
Pro-Tape Duve-Pro
source: www.findtape.com
iPod Radio Adapter
USA Spec PA11 (Ford)
source: www.crutchfield.com
Automotive Acrylic Attachment Tape
3M AA plus Attachment Tape
Part# 051131-06386 (Black)
iPod
source: www.apple.com
Instrument Panel/281
Part# DD-IS1-281
source: www.desotodesign.net
Aluminum Trunk Bezel Kit
UPR Products
Part# 1136-01
Bullit Pedal Set
Ford Pedal Cover (Automatic/2002-2004)
Part# 3R3Z-9G757-BA
Fuel Door
Ford Racing Products
Part# M-2301-E
Bullitt Footrest
Ford Pedal Cover/Footrest
Part# 1R3Z-6312024-AA
INTERIOR
Gray Metallic
Paint# Ford-M6280 (PPG# 301445)
Steering wheel
Ford Racing Leather Steering wheel
Part# M-3601-B
MGW Ltd Interior Pieces
1) Cupholder Bezel, Silver
2) Large Cupholder Bezel, Silver
3) Gripper Shift Knobs (for manual transmissions)
4) Mustang Coat Hanger set (for coupes), Silver
5) Deluxe 2-tone A/C Control Knobs (set of 3) Green/Silver
6) Headlight switch knob, Silver
7) Deluxe E-Brake handle, Silver
8) Door Lock Pins, Silver
9) Tilt Steering Knob, Silver
10) Turn Signal Knob, Silver
11) Radio Knob, SIlver
12) AOD Shift Knob (Silver/GT)
source: www.mgwltd.com
Sound Proofing Material
eDead
source: www.edesignaudio.com
Floor Mats
ACC Floor Mats (GT)
source: www.americanmuscle.com
Door Sill “Powered by Ford” Emblems
source: www.finishlineaccessories.com
61
LINKS
LINKS
DESOTODESIGN
www.desotodesign.net
Sound System Acoustics
www.edesignaudio.com
Classic Honeycomb Trim Panel
www.classicdesignconcepts.com
CT-R Wheels
www.ctrwheels.com/gunmetal.htm
Ford Racing Motorsport parts
www.thefordsource.com
Ford Racing Motorsports parts
www.performancepartsinc.com/main.htm
Ford Racing & Parts
www.americanmuscle.com
Photo Credits
Pages: 1, 2, 3 & 5: Ford Motor Company Industry Photographs
Page 4: copyright Michael Plitkins
See more of his motorsport images at
www.atspeedimages.com
All others photographs: copyright Lewis deSoto
Ford Racing Products
www.fordracingparts.com/home/home.asp
Interior Aluminum Trim
www.mgwltd.com
Mach 460 & 1000 system information
www.flemworld.com/Mach460/Mach.html
Trunk Key Surround
www.uprproducts.com
Sequential turn signals
www.webelectricproducts.com
This document is intended as an approximate guide to parts and assembly of said
parts. DESOTODESIGN is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company or its subsidiaries.
Your results in regard to quality of paint and assembly may vary. Note that is prudent
to take all safety precausions when using mechanics tools, and paint chemicals. The
author is not liable for accidents or the user’s bad judgement in relation to assembly
or paint coatings.
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