VGMStudios

I guess I should update you all on my situation.
If anyone remembers, back in January I was involved in a hit and run and the insurance totalled my car. It was my first mustang and I had strong sentimental ties to it. Three months later and after fighting with my insurance I finally was able to get a proper settlement offer.
So I searched online and found and bought this car after speaking with the seller for over a month. Its a 2006 GT. So a year older than my last one.
My first Mustang was a V6 (I still miss it everyday) but this being a V8 I am not familiar with this engine (yet).
The car definitely needs A LOT of love and so I am planning on changing the brakes (new pads, steel brake lines, new rear calipers), the oil, the fule filter, the spark plugs (dredding doing this), do the Big 3 upgrade, wire brush any surface that has rust and paint, waterproof it and maybe a coolant flush.
What else should I do? Oh and I have already cleaned up the engine so it's not so filthy.
Later I will be getting this thing repainted. The body needs it as there are bubbles in the paint, flaking paint and whatnot. I will be repainting it Alloy G5 like my last car and replacing the decal on the bottom.
Will also be fixing up the interior like I did my last one.


This is how I got it!! So FILTHY!!!


This is after a good cleaning. The battery is missing because I am replacing the cheap battery it came with a good one!


Will keep updating this thread as I progress like I did the last time.
"I'm back baby!"

shaneyusa

Glad to see you back in a Mustang. Hope this one will be a positive replacement for your lost loved car. Looks like you are putting it in a much better condition. Engine clean-up is nice, lots of work there. Congrats on the new car. In Pictures it looks like it is in pretty good shape for a 16 year old car. Best wishes on your project!

NC14GT

I'm sure you are covering everything. I would replace every fluid to put the maintenance on your own schedule instead of guessing what may have been replaced.
Good job sticking it out with your insurance battle. May I ask how many offers they gave you before you finally agreed?

Mustang Freak

Glad you got another pony!

VGMStudios

Thanks guys. Really appreciate it.​​​​​​
That's actually a good idea. Better safe than sorry.
Oh man, the insurance gave me only one offer based on old data then I had to fight for more money. They didn't even bother to look at what the car was actually worth. So called almost every day asking.... Actually I posted my review of the company here: https://www.bbb.org/ca/on/toronto/pr...stomer-reviews
(scroll until you see John G 01/03/2022)
It was a nightmare.
Then when I went with another insurance company, the old one acted like I didn't even file a claim and that there was no settlement! I could not believe it.

m05fastbackGT

Yes! I do remember quite well about the hit'n'run accident and fighting with the insurance co over a fair settlement.. Anyhow, it's really good to know the insurance co finally came through with a proper settlement offer and finally able to get back behind the wheel in a S197 Mustang.. I have no doubt that once you perform all the maintenance steps the others and yourself plan on, you'll fully enjoy your "06" Mustang GT just as much as your previous "07" V6 and perhaps even more so once you get accustomed to the GT's 4.6L 3v V8..

Meanwhile, congrats and look forward to keeping us all up to date with your progress.. Also thanks for sharing some images of your new to you 2006 Windveil Blue GT

RedFire281

Congratulations on the new acquisition! I'm looking forward to your write-ups on the interior mods; especially how you will do the instrument cluster dress-up and lighting. It's going to be a busy and rewarding Spring/Summer for you. Good luck and Godspeed.

VGMStudios

Thank you very much. I do appreciate it.
Just so you know, I do sell kits for the cluster dress-up/illumination.
​​

BRD

Insurances are such a scam IMHO. Pay pay pay, then when you need them, you get treated like crap. Glad you finally were able to get the case resolved, albeit with a lot of your time that you shouldn't of had to go thru. I recently went thru kind of the same thing with some property damage caused by a guy that got arrested for DUI. He took out a subdivision sign, landscaping and lighting for the sign. He continued on, ran over a fire hydrant (not my problem), then came to rest against a light pole (knocked the light off the arm). All in a 2021 Silverado that he borrowed from his buddy to make a Taco Bell run. Truck was totaled. LOL Took me almost a month and a half to get them to cut me a check, and I had to get estimates for everything.

NC14GT

I read your review and am hopeful that you have helped many others. Nice job! Their response to the review is pathetic and cringeworthy. I believe many insurance company tactics include the 'waiting game' hoping for customers to give up and 'go away'. Insurance companies are regulated so imagine if they were not. They would not pay anyone, ever.

akdoggie

Very nice VGM. Glad to see you got a new ride. She looks good. You did a very nice engine bay clean up. What did you use to clean that up that nice with?

VGMStudios

Thank you so much man!
What I did was I removed the alt and the battery. Then covered up the electricals.
Then pressure washed it to get ride of the dirt.
Then I sprayed it with GUNK engine cleaner and sprayed all the plastic and rubber parts with Tire cleaner.
Let that soak for about 10 min and pressure washed it again.
Then I used a shop vac to suck up all the excess water and dried the rest with a shop towel.

I never thought of useing a pressure washer before but it seems to work nicely. But I did not use it full stream as I rotated the nozzle so it was wider stream.

VGMStudios

As promised here are some updates that I have working on the car over the past 2 months. And let me start by saying there is A LOT to do to get this car up and running. I am almost burnt out since I have been working on it almost everyday by myself.
I started with the ordering the parts that I needed and after they arrived I started working on the car. I have taken some screen shots but not of everything, because I either forgot to or...no thats it. I forgot to. Getting older sucks. lol.

So when I bought the car, I asked the owner if they ever changed the fuel filter & the spark plugs. He said yes, but I knew he didnt, mainly because he never upkept the car or did any maintenance to it.

This is what the fuel filter looked like and the fuel coming out of it. Easy change...


The spark plugs was one of the biggest things I was worried about changing. Since nothing has ever been done on the car, I was worried that they were the 2 piece plugs. So I bought the plug puller tool just in case but returned it becuase my brother who is a Master Mechanic, let me his set. I read online and most ppl where saying Hot?Warm engine and zip them out with a impact gun but the TSB says the opposite. Hand tools only and cold engine.
But someone mentioned to run Seafoam through the car to break up the carbon first and I am glad he did cause when I did that, I had a nice little smoke show!
So what I ended up doing was taking my time and followed the TSB alone with some PB Blaster. All came out without any issues. A HUGE relief. Installed new ones.


I discovered something called Krud Kutter The Must For Rust. Comes in a spray or a gel. I bought the gel. Stuff is amazing. This is just to show you that it really does work for rust! I sprayed it on the inner rim of the rotots and it cleaned it right up after waiting a while. RIght is before, Left is after (ignore the surface rust on the left).


Along the way while working on the under side of the car, I want to mentioned that I was wire brushing all the rust that I could see off and then spray paint it with Rust Check's Rust paint.

Next I tackeled the suspension. I think the front shocks were original. They looked warn and old so I replaced them with what I salvaged from my other Mustang since they were practically new. The only thing was that the passenger side shock was badly damaged, so I ordered a new one. I also ordered the Power Stop steel brake lines and install those as well. Though I must say they were NOT as easy to install as Russells. I originally wanted those but they were to expensive. And these did not come with instructions. WTF PS!! But I got them on and they work.

Not pictured - I also got new rear calipers for both sides and new brake pads for the whole car.
The calipers where some cheap garbage and there were rusted to crap and the brake pads, again cheap garbage. As I was taking them off the car, they were falling and chipping apart. I couldnt believe it!!
The front calipers were okay. One was acuallt brand new and the other was a but rusty, so I cleaned off all the rust and painted it with rust paint. Yes I know it wont last very long but it is just to protect it for a while.

Before: After:


New brake lines:


This is the state of the carpet that it came with. I am SO glad I kept my old carpets. WIll be replacing these with mine.


I next started to take off the panels of the car and I discovered how filthy, dusty everthing was not to mention there was hair EVERYWHERE.. Must be from a bloody dog.




I removed the rear bumper and the taillights. Gonna put on new stuff. I bought new CS Bumpers for my other Mustang but was never able to get them on. Actually I was planning on putting them on this summer but you know.. So I decied why not get them on the new car....then I started to work in the trunk. Pulled the carpet up, which had a hole in it because the previous owner did not install the spare tire correctly. The metal rod tore though the wood and the carpet and was poking out. I managed to plug the hole on the wood side and flatten down the hole on the carpet side. Looks a bit better.


So after pulling up the carpet I was greeted with this... you guess it, more rust! YAAY! The passenger side was much worse then the drivers. So I wire brushed it and also use my dremel tool to sand all that rust out. I was just going to spray it with rust paint when I then discovered....


THIS! A freaking hole! (red circle) Now what the hell am I going to do??? I do not have or know how to weld. Went online, researched some bit and discovered something called POR-15. I must say this stuff is AMAZING. Pair it up with some fiberglass cloth and you get a non-porous, hard like a rock surface that is just as good as welding in a new metal peice. I couldnt beleive how good this stuff is. I wish I knew about it earlier.


This is after I used POR-15 + fiberglass cloth. I put it on both sides, top and bottom... PHEW crisis adverted!!!


Installed the new bumper and taillights!



When I was planning to take out the seats I noticed that one of the covers was missing and the little leaver on the back of the seats where missing. I can understand if one was gone but both seats???
So after I took the seats out I saw this...rust...I knew exactly what I was going to see when pulling up the carpet and I was not very pleased.


Yippy!! What a lovely site!
Freaking disgusting if you ask me. Well I just wire brused everything, cleaned it up and Rust painted it. Found a few small holes so I plugged those with POR-15 and FB cloth.
The pads where soaking wet. I had to lay them in the house for a few days for them to dray completely. Where was all this water coming from??? From those small holes?






For the carpet pads like this. I dont know where to get these so I just painted them with Rust paint.


Fixed everythig is POR-15 and FB cloth


Then sprayed it with Rust Paint.


Then I layed down Sound deading matterial and the foam. Water will never touch the floor again! haha.
Putting this stuff down is SO much work. Im too old for this stuff!! haha., My body hates me for doing this.





When I took off the side panels I noticed that not only was the under pad missing but there was this black stuff all over it and 2 wholes. You can see the light shining through (red circles).
Just WTF did they do to this car? It seems they cut a whole out to access that portion of the car and then plastered it back together. No idea why, but I think maybe becase of the rear accident it had back in 2006 and this is what they needed to do to fix it.
So put sound deading matterial all over this and the foam pads.


Also did the roof. I must say it DOES make a difference. It was really hot that day and after I put this stuff in, the car felt a bit cooler.



When buying the car, I asked the owner what this was. Of course he had no clue. I had a hunch and I was right, the gasket was no good anymore. i looked online to see what it would cost to get a new one. $140 EACH!! (this is CND) WTF?!?!?
Are ppl insane?? Watching old YT videos, and they were complaining that the seal cost them $30! LOL. So I kept searching and found an alternative.


Bought this to replace the gasket seals on both sides of the car. Installed fine. Just hope it works. I know now where the water was coming from to get the carpets wet like that.
Previous owner probably didnt even realise that water was getting in since the bottom of the carpet is rubber.


New seal installed.


Finally I am also working on customising some extra parts for the car. I bought these side vents a few years ago. Was suppose to put them on my other Mustang but never got a chance.
I always wanted to add some kiond of honeycomb mesh to the vents so its not just a gapping black hole. Turned out pretty good! Did one vent. Now to do the rest.


Finally I am also customizing some smoked rear marker lights and ordered new decals for the car. I also installed new Scott Drake engine dress up pieces that I bought a few years ago. Looks pretty cool in the engine bay.
I still have a long ways to go. I snapped the phan bar bolt, so waiting for that to come in so I can finally finish the rear suspension. I changed everything back there and the new front Steeda bar came in so Ill be installing that as well. Then I will be installing 2014 heated side mirrors and
I still have to do all the electrical work to do and then clean the intior before I put back the seats. Oh and I installed the electric rails for the passenger side since my wife is so short. haha. All these things came from my old car as I removed everything I did to it before they took him away.

More updates to come....

RedFire281

Wow! This is inspiring me to re-visit all the mods I did early in the life of my '06. Thanks for the update and keep'em coming!

shaneyusa

wow! I am surprised by what you have found so far. So do you think the car was in a flood or just parked outside? You are having to put in a lot of work on this one. Guess you will know this car inside and out by the time you are done. Looking great! Impressed by your ingenuity and drive! Keep us updated on you project!

VGMStudios

Thank you kindly to the both of you!!
You know, I think I just might know this car inside out by now. Though I am still learning about the V8 engine.
The previous owner had it parked in a garage, but didnt know anything about the car, just drove it. Since he got it from his uncle, I am guess he is the one who did most of this damage.
TBH I just feel bad that the poor Mustang is in the condidtion it is in, so I am happy to restore it to the best of my ability.
Ill keep you guys posted as I go along.

m05fastbackGT

I'm also very impressed by all your dedication and hard work you've put in and yes, I'll go on record by saying that IMHO, I consider all the work you've put into your "06" GT as a mini restoration project..
I also fully agree with Shaney's post and can't help but wonder if this car was either in a flood or parked outside during the winter exposed to the elements/road salt, as I've never seen so much rust on a S197 Mustang until now. Meanwhile, congrats on all your hard work and dedication in returning your Mustang back to it's original conditional, as it appears more than obvious the previous owner totally neglected the car during his/her time of ownership.. Also thanks for following up and look forward to more updates

VGMStudios

Thanks man I appreciate it very much.
I agree, I am convinced that the original owner lived on a farm, was a heavy smoker and owned some kind of long haired dog. My guess is a sheep dog.
​​​​​​​You'll see why once I update the thread again.

VGMStudios

Update #2.
Continue with this mini restore, at night I work on the stuff I can't get to during the day. I sometime work till 3-4am!
This particular night I was working on cleaning the speakers causer the next day I was getting ready to put in the new ones. The images show just how filthy the sub were! I just dont get how this much dirt could get into the subs!
The speakers in the 2nd image is what I put on the doors and similar ones I put in the rear behind the seats. Getting back there next to the rear glass is such a tight fit!


I removed the back cover where the rear speakers were and this is to show how filthy it is. Even back here. Its crazy. As I was mentioning before, after cleaning up this and putting down some sound deadning, I was putting in the new speakers, when I realized that I forgot to add the foam bowls/dome things for the speakers!!! It is such a PITA to get these speakers in and out. I hate when I forget to do something, then have to redo it because of it. Guess my mind is elsewhere. haha.


Continuing the sound deadning. I put the stuff in the doors as well. I also put some transmission fluid down inside the doors so rust wouldn't form. Love how the doors now close so solidly now.


This is to show just how rusty and disgusting the seat rails where.


I took apare the seats completely and painted on some "The Must for Rust" everywhere and waited until it ate through all of it, I did this for both seats.


After the product did its job and washed it off! Not to bad I must say. Love this stuff.


After cleaning it up, I painted the rails with anti rust paint. Looks SO much better.


Sewing up the hole that was in the drivers seat. Its not perfect, but you can't really tell there was a hole. Ill show a pic of it once the seats are clean and back in the car.


More sound deadening. This took a long time to do. Being tall and crouching in such a small space for a long time really hurts! haha. A labour of love right?!?


A few days later the metal seat release covers came in. The quality of these things are really good. Its all metal and looks pretty good. I am glad I got them.


This is to show that I had to paint both mirror covers. One was blue the other was black. This is just primer. I will show the final result in my next update.


I finally got the bolt for the rear panhard bar, so I was able to finish up the rear suspension. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the rear end links wouldnt rearch the holes. I tried pushing up the bar, but it was too tough, then I thought maybe I installed it backwards, so I took it out flipped it and still couldn't get it in. Looked online and noticed that I had it in properly the first time!! After a couple of hours laying on my back under my car I was about to give up for the day when I realised that the rear was hanging. DUH!!! I forgot to use the jack to lift the rear so I could get the end links to line up with the holes. Wow getting old SUCKS! lol Fortunatly the front bar was a simple install and I painting everything there with anti rust paint before putting this bar in.


While looking in the front window I alway thought it was odd that I couldn't see the VIN #. I really didnt think much of it, until I looked closer and noticed that it was actually covered, so with tweezers and trying my best to push down the front of the dash, I managed to get these things out! There where all over the front of the dash tucked behind it. dam dude. Ever heard of cleaning out your car??? I know ppl can be lazy but come on. lol


Woking on customizing some rear side markers during the night. What do you think?


I installed 2014 side mirrors on the car. Had to drill new holes for the bolt. These mirror have the spot lights and heated mirrors. I took apart the mirrors so I could get enough room to install a connector. The spot lights are not showing the pony logo anymore, just a big white blob with black bits everywhere. So I ordered some other ones which I will be taking apart and fixing these ones. I am not going to buy new spot lights for the prices they are asking. Cant wait till they come in, so I can work my magic.


Routing the wires through the door.. Dam I forgot how much of a PITA this is. Getting those wires to go throught that rubber gromet so I could get them inside the car was such a hassle, but I managed to figure it out and get it done.



Up next, front wiring for the lights and halos! Oh boy this is going to be fun!!! I had no idea where I was going to stuff everything. The fuse box is a custom box I made for the halos, it houses 2 relays and a capacitor. Since I have DRL, the halos will function as such.
I was just going to follow what I did last time but....
After putting all this (plus more) in the engine bay and connecting everything up, the headlights wouldn't turn on and I couldn't figure out why. I tried taking things apart, using my multimeter. Nothing would work. Spending hours trouble shooting why the headlights wouldn't turn on. Only to figure out that it was the plug that goes into the passenger side headlight socket. The pins where dirty. So I cleaned them up and voila! Working again..man what a relief!
Now on the the halos. After conntecting everything up like I did with my last Mustang, of course it wouldn't work!!! This problem stumped me for like 3 days and I was so frustrated. I even asked my brother, who was the one who figured out how to do it in the first place, was even stumpted why it wouldn't work. The thing is I have a wire that is connected to the light swtich so when I turn on my headlights, the halos turn off. I tried connecting it to the parking lights, no go. System doesnt like it. Thinks the headlights are on. So I tried the headlights ON (pin 4). Same thing.
Asked my brother about it and he suggested to put it inline with pin 4. That didn't work either. I couldn't remember where I had power coming from the light switch, when it hit me. The illumination wire!!! That worked! I get 12v when the headlights are on and nothing when they are off and no DING DING DING DING, the system doesnt DING at me thinking that the headlights are on. Perfect!!!
So ran the wire and nothing. Didn't work! WTF!!! So I had enough and I removed the fuse box that I made from the car and took it apart. Tested everything individually and after hours and hours of troubleshooting, I figured out the capacitor that I had in there wasnt doing its job. Told my brother and he gave me a bigger one to try. Didn't work. So I ended up using a volt step up board which gives out a constant 12v and this was able to switch the relays in the box to turn on the halos when the car is running! Let there be light!
Man I was so happy to figure out the problem. Of course when I tested it again, it stopped working, only to figure out that one of the grounds broke. Its always something...Fixed that and works! Put everything back together.




At night I was working on this little project. I left my GT500 steering wheel in my last car. I was so upset about it cause it costs $500+ and I really liked it!!!
I didn't have to original wheel to swap it and I didn't think of putting any old steering wheel in there so I could get it back.
So I was looking to buy a new one, but being out of a job right now and little money, I couldn't justify buying one right now, so one day while browsing the Mustang FB group, someone posted about wanting to get a wheel cover! My brain lite up..IDEA!!! Asked him more about it and then shot an email off the to the company asking if they could copy the GT500 wheel cover! They said yes. So I was able to get the wheel I wanted at the fraction of the cost! haha! After getting the cover, I spent my nights, sometimes till 4am, working on sewing the cover onto the wheel.


This is the company if anyone is interested. I bought mine off their ebay store.


They give you everything you need and this is sticthing I ended up doing. I wanted a cross stitch pattern. Doesn't look to bad.


This is the final result. It is not perfect but it is close enough and I am happy with it!


So after finihsing up with the front lights, I went on to washing the carpets, and WOW I knew they were dirty but...


look at this! Yuck! Looks like coffee with milk. haha. I can't wait to get the seats clean, they must be as flithy as this.
The car smells SO much better now which is a bonus.


Thats it for this update. Will update more once I have pictures and whatnot. I still need to get the front seats in ( I just hope the passenger rails work properly) and wash them (the seats). Still need to put sound deadning stuff in the rear and clean that carpet.
Its getting there. I am trying to get it done by the end of the month so I can find a shop to fix the rust spots and paint the car...so I can, you know, FINALLY DRIVE IT!! LOL!
I have decided that I will put the side vents on maybe next year. I am really exhausted right now. Three months of non stop work, can really put a toll on you. Not that I am complaining or anything.

m05fastbackGT

WOW! I really give you credit for all the hard word and dedication you've put into your "06" GT mini restore project, but from your updated images, it appears this project is evolving more in the direction towards a full blown restoration lol... To say that I'm very impressed would just be an understatement on my part, to say the very least.. Meanwhile, thanks for keeping us all updated