John@VGMStudios: Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I am interested in the kit. I assume the EL panel is for the backlighting? If so, does the kit include that panel? And thanks also for the offer of repairing the cluster but I'd rather just replace it with a known working one. Please PM me with the "what's in the box", "how to buy" and cost for the kit in Miles Per Hour format. Thanks again, John, too!

 

I Just Want to Say I'm Glad We Have a Member Who Takes The Time To Do The Things You Do To Improve You Car So Boldly and With No Hesitation. The Results You Get Are Fantastic and I Love Your Car! For Whatever Reason it Reminds me of a Similar Color Boss 429 I Have Seen in it's Understated Beauty and Purposeful Looks it Has! I Keep thinking it Needs a Callout On the Fender To Seal the Deal!

Maybe I Be So Bold!

VGM
4.6L

VGM
281 In White Or Metallic Silver!

Thanks So Much For Your Continued Stories and Adventures!

It is Appreciated!

KC

 

I totally forgot about one thing to update you guys on. It's rather a cool story..
I have always liked the premium carbon fiber dash from my 07 V6 and wanted to add it to my 06 GT. So I bought some carbon fiber wrap and wrapped my dash. I was content with it for a while until I found the premium carbon fiber cluster cover in a junkyard one day and the airbag cover but that one was damaged. So I went on a hunt to find the rest of the dash panels online...
Now get this... I found some for a decent price and they were from my old 07 V6!!! I couldnt believe it! I was so excited that I found my old car. I have always wondered what happen to Beast I. An auto salvage yard, a province over, bought it last year and its been sitting there ever since!!!
So I bought the full dash and my GT500 steering wheel (which I was so upset for not keeping it before letting my V6 go) and drove there to pick it up. So now my GT has a part of my V6 in it and I couldn't be happier!!


As primosed here is a picture of what the car looks like now (he needs a wash but its been raining a lot lately) and the engine bay. I had to buy new collant hoses, that what those blue things are. The black ones were more expensive. I dont mind the blue, they look neat in there.
If you are wondering why there are no GT badges on the side of the car, it is because I have not added them yet because I will be cutting into the side fenders next year to add vents.


Finally I wanted to show you guys my custom turn signals. I had made these 2 years ago but never was able to get them working properly until this year. I was missing a load resistor. Didn't even know I needed it for the sequential part to work properly.
You can't buy them like this. They come with orange turn signal and white sold light. I had to take them apart and add transparent orange to each LED bulb to get the light orange effect x2.
What do you think?

Till nex time.

 

Thanks so very much KC. I truly appriciate your kind words. As you know I love to customize things.
That Boss 429 looks amazing. It truly is a beauty, now if only the colour were the same as my car. haha. j/k

@RedFire281 John, I will PM you details.

 

Here are some more kind words for you... I am so amazed and blown away how you transformed this car from being so neglected and practically worthless to even better than it was when built from the factory brand new.... Also, thank you for continuing to share your progress updates as well from start to completion and for sharing all the blood, sweat and tears you put into restoring your Mustang from practically the ground up... Needless to say, in my personal opinion, you would make a fine addition to the "B" is for build team as a fabricator.

 

If I may ask, where did you get the honeycomb material from?

 

@dirkpitt289 So sorry man for the late reply.
I bought the honeycomb material from Amazon.

Cheers!

 

Thank you for sharing your story and none of have a crystal ball, but if you could do it all over again would you have bought an 05-09 GT that was in better mechanical condition from the jump? And then address cosmetics?

Peace and blessings to you brother

 

Great story and posts on this car.

 

Update Aug 3rd 2025. i know its been a bit over 2 years since I have updated this thread. I bought a 2012 Chevy Cruze LT (dont hurt me) as a winter car / for my wife and the thing was a MESS. Been working on it mostly to get it up to my standards. The brakes and all suspension was shot, some rust holes I needed to fix and the whole underside was caked in mud when I bought it. I was told be the dealership that it only needed new brakes which is why I bought it. Anyways, it looks and runs great now but that is beside the point. You came here to read about my Mustang

Since the last update I have altered my headlight ****. I think I am the only one on this planet with this type of switch as I have not seen anyone else do this. I read online where guys with 2010s + were changing their headlight switch to the Lincoln one. Thought it looked really nice so I got to work to make it work in my car. This is the final result.



Not sure if I already mentioned this but I also was able to finish my custom turn signals. I didn't like version one so I make a version 2 and this is what it looks like:

Next I finally was able to buy the missing fuel rail covers and throttle cover to dress up the engine for a decent price. They were a bit beat up and didnt match the main cover, so I had to sand everything and paint them. Not sure what I was doing wrong but when using painters tape to cover up the parts already painted, so I could paint the lines silver, some of the paint would come off with the tape. This was so frustrating since I made sure to prep everything properly before painting and the paint itself isnt cheap!! It was odd...
Here is what it looked like when I got them:



And here are the final results:

Have always wanted this cover. To me it makes the engine look nice.

After this I started to work on the battery drain. I was tired of constantly charging the battery and the car dying. I took apart the fuse box to start working on it when I found this:


High speed fan issue! Great something else to fix. Had no idea what to do at the time and couldnt get a replacement since the junkyard here does not have any Mustangs. So one day I took a 2hr trip to some junkyards that had Mustangs only to find out that this part was either the same or missing. Bummed out, I went home, did some more research only to find out other cars use the same box! So I went back to the junkyard and got the same box out of a Pontiac and a Chevy Malibu!!! Got 2 just in case as well as the fan wires from the Malibu cause they are much thicker then the ones in the Mustang! Replaced the box and the pin and I also replaced the 2 fan wires. Hopefully it wont do this any more. I also bout the GT500 upgraded fan that has 7 blades instead of 6. Still need to put that in. So after fixing this issue, I started to work on my batter drain issue. Took a few days to figure it out but I finally managed to get rid of it!
I was SO HAPPY cause it has been over 3 years I have been dealing with this crap. Turned out that it was the EPAS. For whatever reason I connected the power wire from the data harness to fuse 42 (alternator). So I moved it to fuse 43 where when the car is off there is no power at that fuse. My car now sleeps at 0.045 amps which makes me happy!

So this summer I FINALLY have some time to do the side vents that I started 2 years ago. The idea here is to make these side fender vents flush with the car, since I do not like the look of it just sitting on top. Kinda looks cheap to me.
I bought 2 extra fenders to cut out some supports for the vents to sit in and then attach these supports to the fender itself. This way the vents will sit almost flush with the fender. Here are some pictures.


These are the extra fenders I bought to cut out the supports.

This is the cutout support so the fender vents will sit in after I attach it to the car.


I did not weld the supports. Instead I used some aluminum rods and a torch. Worked out pretty good. I then used something call Metal Glue to cover it for extra protection.


This is what it looks like after attaching the support.



Then glued the fender vent to the support and added body filler after a lot of sanding.


Test fitting it to the car to see what it will look like.

I am in the process of feathering out all the paint so when it is repainted it will look like its part of the car.
What bummed me out what the decal I put on the car got burnt (as well as the paint) due to the extreme heat needed to melt the rods. So I ordered new decals.
After I am done with this (ill update with pictures once the fenders are painted) I have to fix the wing. For whatever reason there is paint missing from both sides.

That's it for now. Till next time.

 

I Certainly Titled you Correctly!

Great Work and Congrats For The Success and Finding The Chevy Parts Fix!

KC

VGMStudios
Thread Starter
Tms Mustang Member ------ The Customizer!

 

Masterful work. What if when he's done making his S197 to his liking, VGM looks to increase power. I follow a young man from Arizona on YT whose S197 power mods are magnificent. His YT channel is : https://www.youtube.com/@Four_Eyes

 

Small update: I brought in my fenders to the body shop back in August to get them painted. Told them to take thier time cause the were very busy at the time. A few weeks go by and I finally get an estimate which wasn't to bad. Two months roll by and still no word from them so I start to call cause its almost November and I wanted to get them on the car before the snow hits.
OSo about 1st or 2nd week of Nov they gave me a call and said they are finally finished. I was so excited.
Got there the next day and they look beautiful. Though they told me to be careful with them cause of I tourque them to much (with speed) they MIGHT develop a hairline crack. Sucks but understandable. Now here is the awful part.
It was raining out that day. So when loading on the fenders into my Cruze (don't judge haha) I managed to scratch one of them cause I wasn't paying attention to the bar in the car that separates the back seats and the trunk. Man I was pissed at myself and the guy was upset too. Scratch was deep too. Just like me to mess it up.
Well got them home, and I filled in the scratch with paint. I'll sand and polish it up next Spring. Should be fine.
I put on the decals and everything else and put them on the car. They looks so good. Here are some pictures. Please ignore the wheels as they are my winters.


I'm now thinking of doing the same with the hood. Though I'm not sure right now. I do have the vents.

 

I'm Liking The Vents on The Fenders But Would Advise Some Pans if You Do The Hood!

Something along These Lines! Don't Need Any More S-197 Water Intrusion! You Could Find Low Spot After Fabricating and Then Put Some Nipples & Hoses on The Pan For Water Drain! Similar To Shaker Set Ups From Days of Old!


I Bet Your Itching To Spruce Up Your Winter Wheels as Well! a Good Bead Blast & Some Argent Wheel Paint Would Do Wonders! Not That you Need anymore Projects!

https://trufiber.com/collections/200...-tf10024-a53kr

KC

 

Thank you @05stangkc I've been thinking about what to do about water intrusion. It's the one thing that is stopping me from doing the hood vents. Didn't know that they made some kind of rain guards. As for the winter wheels, oh I don't care what they look like since they are for the winter lol.

 

Rain Gaurds Look Similar To Baking Pans! HINT HINT! Might Find Some High Tech, Certainly High Heat Alternatives Online!

mAY hELP THE cAR dO doughnuts!

KC