Five Oh Brian

This has likely been done and documented elsewhere in these forums, but since I'm new here (and too lazy to search) I thought I'd share my grille swap.

I want my 07 GT to look like a total sleeper of a V6, while a good friend has an 06 V6 Pony that he is making to look like a GT. So we swapped grilles and foglamps.

Fairly easy swap, and here's how mine looks now. I also replaced the GT fender emblems with V6 Pony emblems and I had ordered my car without the rear wing originally, so it's quite the sleeper at the track and on the road.

pegasusphototx

Now see... everyone states this can't be done, yet you show it can. The biggest concern has been that they're of different size. Can you show how much gap there is around the grille and do a brief write-up of the modifications you had to make in order for it to work on the GT?

Thanks,
-danny

ptlm4life

+1...I thought that conversion couldn't be done on earlier models...but it looks great , love the sleeper concept...now you have to hide an exhaust tip and change the rear fascia...real nice 1/4 mile time too..did you do that on stock tires?

ShowGT

I couldn't deal with the gaps, not on a new car. It was the look I was after as well, but sold everything and moved on.

DarkFireGT

Yeah, I thought it couldn't be done, either. I always see that Sutton Performance (I think that's the shop) red Mustang with the Steeda splitter and it has the pony package grill. I would love that look. Can you get pictures of the gaps?

06StangSC

Someone here in New Mexico took off the silver corral and outline. It looks like a GT grille but with smaller fogs. Looked good in my rearview mirror at least.

wallace

yea...... there was a time when i loved the large fog lamps, back when the S197 first came out, now i know it was because it was all we knew or had (large lamps). but since the shelby's and saleen's have been around w/out the large fog lamps, i see a more clean look on the S197. so.... i've opted for the grill on the shelby CS6 w/ the small piaa lights, they make it for the GT, gotta have it!!! ordered last week, im also gonna use the shelby lettering in the grill. whatcha think??

Five Oh Brian

I do like the CS6 grill, but the V6 Pony grill looks almost as good, IMO. Trading straight across for free made the deal a no brainer for me.

unnoticedtrails

that is sick!!!!!

Five Oh Brian

I see a lot of V6's with GT rear bumper covers and dual exhaust, so I think I'll leave that alone, but I have considered it.

The 13.280 @ 102.92 1/4 mile run was on 275/40/17 BFG drag radials. It super consistently pulls sixty foot times in the mid 1.80's. Worst sixty foot time with the d/r's has be 1.899, so they work great.

Best 1/4 mile run on the factory tires was 13.319 @ 102.13 with a 1.862 sixty foot time, but I melted the factory tires awfully bad in the burn out box to get that time. The factory tires are very inconsistent with sixty foot times ranging from the high 1.80's to the 2.20's.

I just installed a JLT CAI and tune, and Steeda UDP's go on soon, so I'm itchin' to get back to the track to see if 12.90's are in my reach.

Five Oh Brian

I'll take that as high praise! I really like the V6 look, so I imagine your car looks awesome. And it's gray, too - even better!

Five Oh Brian

Danny, here's a close up pic of the grill area. Before sliding the grill into place, I added a strip of heavy duty black marine quality weatherstrip down the sides and the bottom to take up some of the gap. As the weatherstrip I chose is rubber - not foam - it looks shiny black just like the grill itself. People only notice it when I point it out, and even then they have to look really hard to see it.

Also, worth noting, is that I swapped straight across with a V6 owner, he and I also swapped the styrofoam pad that is on top in the middle of the bumper under the bumper cover. The V6 cars have a taller piece of styrofoam to take up the gap. Each piece is embossed with "V6" or "GT" so the assembly line guys/gals grab the right piece, depending on the car.

All in all, I've shown the Pony grill to a lot of people in person in the local Mustang community, and they all tell me that it looks 100% factory. No gap in their minds, even though I know that the lower corners have a tiny bit of gap (you can see it if you squint enough).

Five Oh Brian

I had heard from a lot of people before the swap that it wouldn't work as the grills are different sizes (and slightly different shape at the lower corners), but anyone who is comfortable with basic hand tools can do this swap in under an hour with a minimum of fabrication.

As noted above, it's helpful to get good, thick black rubber weatherstripping (3/8" or 1/2" thick) and the V6 styrofoam pad insert to minimize the gap to nearly nothing.

As the mounting tabs are very different for the GT and Pony grill, I chose to cut off all the Pony grill mounting tabs (kept the GT tabs intact, should I ever choose to go back to the GT grill). Instead of using factory tabs to attach the grill into the bumper, I made my own mounting brackets (above each fog lamp - each about 2" x 6") from aluminized steel mending plates (got them at the local hardware store for less than $1 each). Used tin snips to cut them to custom fit around all mounting screws for the radiator cover so they would fit and hide nicely under the cover for a factory look. Had to bend them 90 degrees to step them down then 90 degree again to lay on top of the grill (there's a height difference between the radiator brace and top of grill).

To secure the custom brackets to the top of grill, I ran two bolts/nuts down through the top of grille, but tucked out of sight as best I can (you can only see them if you're kneeling down on the ground around license plate level (where nobody is, excepts pets and toddlers). You can see the left ones above the left foglamp in the pic below, but not the right ones due to the angle of the pic). Then to secure the bottom of the grill, I ran a pair of tiny black screws through the bottom edge of the grill honeycomb (you can see the right ones on the bottom right of the corral in the pic below, but not the left ones as there is a bit of shadow in the pic hiding them).

The wiring harness for the lights are identical for GT and Pony, so it was just plug and play for both cars. The factory headlight switch works 100% perfect for both cars. The Pony lamps are deeper than the GT lamps, so I had to settle for having the grill rest about 1/4" to 1/2" further out than the original grill, but nobody sees the difference, and the grill still lines up nicely with the trim that seperates the grill from the headlights.

Total cost for the swap? About $3 for the mending plates and a couple screws, bolts, nuts, and lock washers.

Sorry for no how-to pics from the actual conversion. I had no idea that anyone would be interested in the swap with my buddy's car so I took no pics. I was actually spending most of my efforts installing all the GT stuff on his V6 Pony (he's not mechanically inclined), so I didn't bring a camera. I put a GT front bumper cover (with my GT foglights and grill) on his car that he had bought from someone else who did an aftermarket body kit, along with the GT painted rocker panels (to replace the V6 black plastic ones). He's already done the GT rear bumper cover with true dual exhaust. I also installed a new Roush hood scoop, painted mirror covers, and side window louvers for him recently. He also has 20" wheels and monster tires. His V6 looks so much more sinister than my sleeper, but that's exactly what he and I wanted.

sound wave

i love the look of the pony grille. i dont know why they didnt put that one on the gt instead. i would love to do the conversion, but i am not good at fabricating brackets and stuff.

n00bstang

looks good

Five Oh Brian

Drive on over to my place with your GT and a V6 grill assembly and I'll install it for free.

Five Oh Brian

Thanks!

sound wave

thanks for the offer, i would really love to take you up on it but my car isnt too good at floating. lol.

Five Oh Brian

Oops! You're in Hawaii! Wait, there's no "oops" about being in beautiful Hawaii - you're in one of the nicest place on Earth.