Back Story:
About two weeks ago, on my way to work I hit a doe on the Interstate going about 65 mph. She had actually jumped across 3 lanes of westbound traffic into the eastbound lane I was driving in. When I realized it was that a deer was coming in my direction, I did my best to slow down so that she could scurry across without incurring any damage. Unfortunately since it was afternoon rush hour traffic, I couldn't hit the brakes hard (without others piling into the back of me) so I did the best I could and she almost made it except the backside of her caught the front passenger side. No injuries thankfully but she did damage the front passenger side. Headlamp, fender, front fascia, parking lamp, washer hose and a whole host of other stuff would need to be replaced on the car. Originally I was going to have the car restored to stock specifications but then the insurance company came back with an estimate that just seemed unsatisfactory to me. When I asked them about this, they informed me it was their choice on what kind of parts would be used to repair my car and they made the decision to use a majority of refurbished (used) parts to repair my car. This really puzzled me since that at the time of accident the car was less than 6 months old in ownership and I thought they would use new parts for the most part.
At that moment, I decided that I would take the check that my insurance company was going to give me for the estimated repairs and go aftermarket as far as the comsetic end of the car was concerned. With a v6, my only options as far as body modifications are concerned was either doing a v6 Street Scene bodykit or the lip kits offered by 3D Carbon, Razzi, and the like. Not too fond of the lip kits for the v6 Mustangs and there are 3 - 4 Mustangs in my home town running the Street Scene Gen I bodykit, most predominately a Yellow GT. Getting any other bodykits would require a GT grille and in some cases the GT front bumper so I decided to do something a little different
A buddy of mine got me in contact with a friend of his out in California who for a while now has been selling parts and components from Shelby GT500 Mustangs to people who might be interested in doing some kind of conversion. Business has been going well for him and initially he was able to sell them at a low price due the fact that Ford had items such as brakes, fascias, .etc priced extremely lower than their GT counterparts, meaning that if someone wrecked the front end of their Mustang GT, a GT500 fascia would be cheaper to get than a GT fascia. Unfortunately over time Ford caught on to what was going on in the market and slowly started raising prices on these parts. I got in contact with the guy selling these "kits" for the conversion and told him what was going on. We talked for a few days and came together on a GT500 front end conversion that would be affordable for me and also he provided new parts to replace the damaged ones on my car for the same price that my insurance company wanted to buy used. In any case the parts came in last Wednesday/Thursday and the car went into the shop the following Monday for the make over and repairs. The shop only took 3 days to fixed the car and only charged me the rate per hour the insurance company dictated they would pay (since they have a working relationship with my insurance company) so I saved a little bit of coin as far as labor was concerned. The final product turned out great and there's no taletell sign (as far as I can discern) that the car was previously in an accident.
Without further ado here are the rest of the pics, and yes I know I need a dual exhaust set up and my Magnaflow Catback Exhaust is on order and should be here soon. Tell me what you think...good, bad or otherwise. I know there are going to be people here that are going to rattle my balls about putting a Shelby/Cobra front end on my car when it's not one but so be it. I don't see this as being any different that those who put Cadillac Grilles on the GMC trucks, or Z24 body kits on their non-Z24 Cavaliers. The idea here wasn't to be a poser or a clone (hence no Shelby badges or emblems) but to take a small bit of heritage from other cars and incorporate them into mine.
Reference Shots
After Shots
Sorry if this post was too long for some of you.
you should spray paint the white piece that shows through the grill (hood latch???) black and remove that emblem form your grill.
but looks good so far
Darkstars wrote:you should spray paint the white piece that shows through the grill (hood latch???) black and remove that emblem form your grill.
but looks good so far
Thanks for the comments, for some reason I was expecting something negative from you, lol.
The white/silver thing behind the grille would be the radiator support if I'm not mistaking. When the car goes back in the shop to get front and rear stabilizer bars installed I am going to have the shop paint it black.
The emblem is not permanent. It's a Tribar Running Horse emblem from the +2006 Pony Package Mustangs and I've been toying around the past day or so with if I want an emblem on the front grille or leave it clean, hence the blue square next to the emblem. I wanted it dead center but the grill curves outward so the emblem wouldn't have a good sticking point on the grille. Will I like the clean look I still think the grille needs something out there...just not sure what it is. Maybe it'll look better once that support gets painted black.
i think procharger (i think its procharger) makes a supercharger kit for the V6 mustang.... So he can always get one of those and come out getting awesome hp and get better gas mileage than the V8 counterpart.. I like the front end without the mustang emblem though, it looks cleaner.
Looks really great. The front end looks so mean without the emblem. I'd remove it.
As far as rims, I'm leaning toward 18" Mach 1 replicas that are two-tone silver and black combo. I'm also considering putting on some Ford GT replicas. The only way I would do Bullitts is if I can find them in an 18" black wheel, and they are hard to come by in that size. I'm doing my best not to get too sterotypical when it comes to styling the car. There was a site I found a while back that were selling Ford GT replica wheels for the new Mustang but I can't remember the link. I'd like to take a look at those one more time.
Kinda funny, I've been looking at the Procharger as well as the Single Turbo System from Powerhouse411. There's a strong chance that the v6 will either get turbo or supercharged in the future, especially if I can pick up a 2nd car as a daily driver (been toying around with getting a Cobalt or other low priced vehicle for that purpose).
Also thought about getting the car lowered to eliminate some of the wheel gap but with the way the front end sits pretty low due to the kit, I don't know if that will be possible. I'll have to see if the larger wheels and tires will do anything to make the wheel gap seem smaller.
Thanks for the comments and constructive criticism.
Car looks great. There was a red 02 Mustang that drove around at my last base. He had the stock Mustang GT Bullit style wheels, but they were black with a polished lip. I can picture those on that car in 18's. Would look very hot. I'm confused on what Ford GT wheels look like. So I googled it. Can you tell me which ones you're talking about?
First one
Second one
The car looks great. New front looks REALLY great. I heard the new mustang v6 isn't much slower than the older Mustang GT's. I think you're going in a really good direction with the stang. Keep us posted.
I'm going to concur on ditching the emblem in the middle, either the Mustang from the pony package, nothing, or a pair of Big-ass fogs in the middle.
I'd get rid of the Mustang stripes on the side, but that's just me.
Lash is right, I'm talking about the first set. There was a company I found on the net about a month after I had the Mustang that was producing Ford GT rims in 3 styles: chrome, gunmetal and black for the Mustang. I remember the black ones looking good and thinking they would look sharp on my car whenever I started modifying. I just didn't write down the link and now I can't find the site anywhere and can't remember what website I saw the wheels on.
Yeah some people don't give the new v6 some credit. Even if it's a truck engine (pulled from the Explorer), it's pretty peppy and while it won't beat everything on the road, it'll hold up it's end very well. It's pretty fast as the old 5.0s from what I've been reading. I still wished Ford put in the 3.5L v6 they were talking about doing before the car went into production but what can I do. There have been talks about a 3.xL 265hp v6 going into the next rebuid of the Mustang around 2010, but I'm sure that'll change as well. Just ashame that others (such as Nissan) are building a better v6 than Ford. Not a shame that other companies are doing it, just a shame that Ford is so behind the times. I want to work on building up the suspension and handling of the car before I get into adding some serious power via turbo or superchager. I might be in the position to do a front and rear end Shelby big brake conversion on the cheap sometime in the future but of course that goes the way of money so at the moment I'm just working on increasing the handling a little bit by adding a rear sway bar and a bigger front sway bar and getting the exhaust taken car of, which should be done by next week...provided if I get the system sometime this week. Of couse the new rims will follow soon after.
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Too bad it's a 6 banger though.
I love when people say that!! The 6cyl engines in the new Mustangs make close to the same power as some of the V8s that came out in the older models. V6 engines can put out a lot of power these days, and for most people using the car for a daily driver, it's more than enough.
Anyway... My 2 cents on the new front end: I think it looks GREAT. The fog lamps really set off the look of the car. And don't worry about people giving you crap about using the Shelby facia. It's not like you're trying to make your car a Shelby clone. As long as you don't start putting the emblems, etc. from the GT500 on your V6 model, there's no need to worry about it.
I'd also get rid of the emblem in the grille, but I'd keep the stripes on the side (I dig the old school feel they give the car). Also, if you're going to change the rims (shoot me, but I dig the stock ones), I'd stick with something closer to what's already on there than going for a GT replica type rim. Super car rims on a muscle car doesn't look too good, in my opinion.
Basically, what you want to do with a sweet ride like your Mustang (btw, I'm now actually digging them in silver thanks to you), is keep it CLEAN AND SIMPLE. Any way you decide to go, keep us updated -- especially once you get the dual exhaust on!!
-John
Thanks man, your comments mean alot and I'm glad that most of you are seeing where I'm going with this car. The idea is for the car not to be considered a poser of a clone. I've been on other Mustang sites where others have done similar conversion as mine and have tried to turn their v6s or v8s into Shelby clone look-a-likes. That's just not my style. While I originally wanted the dealership to paint the GT/CS fascia GT500 style, (which is the same as the GT500 rear fascia, just a $200 difference because the GT500 is prepainted black all the way around the lower fascia instead of just the diffuser) I'm glad they goofed and painted it GT/CS style as it gives me more of a chance to differentiate my car from the rest. I'll be picking up a set of silver rocker mouldings from a Mustang GT in a couple of days to enhance the side profile of the car.
The side tape is staying for now...matter of fact, I upgraded to the Pony Package side tape because I just didn't like the way the regular Mustang tape looked on the v6 Mustangs. If I ever decide to pull the trigger on striping sometime down the road, the side stripes will be removed and painted on. I think the hood enhanced the look of the Shelby front and is a perfect fit. I thought about getting an aftermarket hood but I'm just not sure anymore...that stock hood just looks too good with the Shelby front in my opinion.
I'm still on the fence about the Mustang emblem...I just think that front grille needs something but I don't know what. For now, I got that Tribar Pony Emblem off set on the grille. It's secure enough where it'll stay on the grille but not too stuck that it can be removed if I choose to. I actually removed it today when I was detailing the grille and then reattached it. I guess I'll go a week with it on and a week with it off and see how I like it.
As far as rims, seeing how most people in the new Mustangs are doing Bullitts or GT500 rims of different colors and variety I wanted to do something a little different. The Ford GT or Mach 1 replica rims would be something I haven't seem many Mustang owners do, online or in my town (where Bullitts apparently are the norm). While I like the stock rims, I just think the 16s are too small with the new front end, and as I'm not sure I'll ever be able to lower the car due to how low the front end sits now, I'm hoping the larger wheels will go a long way of giving the illusion that the car is lowered, when it's not.
The plan for the car to stay clean and simple. I like the way it looks as it's not over the top but still gets tons of attention for people wanting to know what kind of Mustang it is, as was the case tonight when I stopped at a gas station to grab a bottle of soda.
Sounds great. Some Mach 1 rims would be a good idea. I could see that working with what you've already done. You're also right about needing a bigger rim than the 16" if you want a good performance look. It's a shame no one's made that stock rim style in a larger piece. That would be prime!!
What about something like this? Also, the GT rockers will go a long way, too.
Like I said before, just keep us updated. I'm certainly interrested in seeing what it looks like when it all comes together.
-John
I know a guy w/ a GT w/ 19s in the front and 22s in back. You can tell its not lowered but it does feel the wells in better. He also has the "elanor" body kit on his.
I think you do need some dual exhaust tho.
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447 12.767@109.93
looks very nice.....and i hate mustangs
Looks nice.... I don't think you will get too much flack for it since you had a legitimate reason for upgrading to Cobra styling. You are obviously not trying to trick people.
Rob
Sold 2/2/05
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I don't think you will get too much flack for it since you had a legitimate reason for upgrading to Cobra styling. You are obviously not trying to trick people.
Exactly. Plus, I doubt most people would recognize that as the GT500 front end since the car isn't covered with Cobra emblems. I think most people will notice it's not quite stock, but not really know why... The true enthusiast will know, and appreciate the change.
-John
Oh wow, that's quite sad.
* Not the correct GT500 side tape.
* 17" wheels off a Mustang GT
* Not even lowered
* Sport Appearence Pack (Hell that's even new to me
* I like how the foglamp toggle switch is put well below the headlamp controls.
I guess I could go on and on. I don't have a problem with people putting on a Shelby body kit, hell I did it I just have a problem with other people trying to pass their Mustang off as a Shelby when it's not. It's one thing to just put on a body kit, but when one put on emblems to purposely deceive that's another thing. I can imagine some guy on the street lining up to the "clone" for a race and actually beating him. Then he goes back and tells his friends that the GT500 isn't fast and that he just spanked him in his own car.
Looking at the car and seeing how the interior is kinda "plain" I'm going to say the Mustang is a deluxe trim model (coming in at around $20 - $21K) and that the guy selling it hopes to make at least 8K - 10K profit on it since the current bid is at $25,000 and the reserve hasn't been met. The whole exterior conversion can be done for about $3500 (parts and labor) so it looks like they are wanting to rip people off which is quite sad.
On a side note, I did get my Magnaflow exhaust installed over the weekend. Ran into a slight problem however as the kit didn't include hangers so the exhaust shop didn't tell me when I went back to pick up my car. It looked great but then when I took her home to clean and detail her, I notice the exhaust got misaligned (one side higher than the other) so I will need to go back to the shop this Saturday to have them correct the exhaust, tighten the band clamps and check the alignment of the overaxel pipes as there's a distinct clanking nose whenver I go over a bump or dip in the road. Sounds pretty good and while it doesn't compare to the v8 rumble, it does sound more like a v6 on HGH.
I'll post a picture of the back later today if I can get my digi-camera to upload.
So where are the pics of the exhaust?
-John
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duals look alot better
A-freakin'-men. It doesn't look all that horrible, though it is not quite 100%. It still does look a LOT better than stock.
No worries about being busy, and all... Trust me, I can relate.
Keep us updated on any fixes, man!!
-John
