What? No middle-ground option?

I like to do the work when I can, and when I can't *uck anything up. My 'Stang's my daily driver, so I can't have it in peices day after day. Plus I won't fool around with anything that could destroy my engine, screw up my warranty, or get me killed (like futzing with the airbags or ABS system). The car is only a year old, so I'm not interested in voiding my warranty yet, so whatever work on the car that Ford must do to keep the warranty intact I let them do. Besides, changing the spark-plugs is about the most complex engine job I've ever done.

 

What tools are really needed for this stuff. I am planning on putting on front and rear springs, shocks, and sway bars (Steeda) and GTA mufflers. I would like to make sure I have the right tools before hand.

 

^^^^ What he said...

I don't build shortblocks or transmissions, or do rear end work, but I'll tackle just about anything else. And I'm not afraid to tear things apart or cut stuff up. Here is some visual evidence of that...



Cutting hood for Shaker install (Aug 2005)





Dash torn apart to install center vent panel gauges (April 2006)







Installing new aluminum radiator and intercooler heat exchanger (Sept 2007)

 

I try to do most everything myself, only thing on my car had installed was my H-pipe (had a gift certificate to use) and my springs since it was getting re-alligned by the same place.

I also let somebody do the oil changes, it is just too convenient.

basically the thing that keeps me from doing somethings myself is limited time.

 

Little overboard with the masking tape. ...Although I can't say I wouldn't be paranoid about my paintjob either.


Okay, you've gotten a bit farther into the console than I have. Any idea how much you can take apart the AT shifter? I really want to take a day and tear that apart to see the mechanics of the lever...but if I can find an explosion or someone else's pics, that'd be better (because I'm lazy, right, okay???).



Wow, I had the same exact idea just the other day. Did you just do that on a whim? Or did you see something similar? I wanted to see if I could get some small gage holders that looked like the AC vents, so I could slash them and mount them such that they'd face me and not straight back. (I don't actually have a need for guages, but guages are cool and you just can't have to many! The cockpit of a muscle car should look like the cockpit of a WWII jet fighter, IMO).

 

I've never tried to take the shifter apart, and I haven't seen a schematic for it either.


I actually saw one other pic before I did mine. I like them there better than any center dash pod on the market, so I just tore into it.

 

I want to take the shifter handle apart so I can see what's behind the plastic. I'm hoping there's something there that I can mod to allow me to fit other kinds of handles to the stock AT shift mechanism. The T is nice and very retro, but it's not that comfortable, and if you power-shift a lot like I do, it's feels flimsy because of the plastic. If there was a metal shaft inside, I could thread that and put on a B&M T handle or a ball, or even a pistol grip.

Yeah, I never liked those either. Besides, I'm sure you could find a replacement center dash face if you screwed it up.

I actually like some of the Speed-of-Sound guage pods for the driver pillar. Little pricey, but I've seen them in person and they are very nice.

http://www.lethalperformance.com/pag...illar-pod.html

 

It depends....the cold air induction was relatively easy as was the Brenspeed Tune. Things like exhaust, brakes, tuneups I leave to the mechanical folks.

 

But I do tend to tear into things, (sorry, it is my '66, haven't done any major stuff to the '07 yet!!)

 

That's what I have... the SOS A-pillar pod. It is a very high quality unit!

 

Yeah, I want to get one of those sumday. Don't know what guages I'll put it it tho. I always wanted a sleek digital speedometer. I really like the FRPP Masterpiece guages. The chrome ones look great with the styling of the S197 dash, so I'll probably go with some of those.

 

Half the fun of owning a Mustang is doing your own work.