New Front Bilstein Shocks

I purchased a set of Bilstein shocks for the front of the Mustang from Street or Track.  They are a special set which are custom tuned for a Mustang with stiffer front springs.  They are quite expensive so I did not buy an entire set.  I felt like I could judge the improvement from the front shocks and determine if I want to buy a matching set for the rear.

The first set I ordered arrived with the upper mounting points rusted.  I returned them and Street or Track sent me a new set.  The new set are in better shape without any rust.

The shocks are quite easy to install.  The only catch is that the top mounts to a metal piece in the Mustang.  The mounts for the original shocks were larger.  These larger mounts messed up the paint so I had to repaint the shock tower caps.  I did that Tuesday evening and finished up the install on Wednesday.

You can tell from the picture above the Bilstein shocks (black) are much larger.  They have a larger cylinder and piston which allows for better control of the stiffer coil spring.  They also have a lifetime warranty which is nice.

My wife and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner in the Mustang and they ride quite smooth.  They are certainly better than the ones which I had.  I think I'm going to upgrade the rear in the next month of two.

Temporary Fender & Valence Repaint (Part 1)

Four years ago, I grew tired of looking at the paint damage to the driver fender.  There was a section where the paint was simply flaking away near the front of the wheel arch.  Additionally, there was a section a little higher on the fender which looked to be Bondo.  After a little exploratory work with an angle grinder, I found most of the back half of the fender was Bondo!

I could not put the hacked up original fender back on so I picked up a new one at Mustang Mania in Houston.  I installed it and painted the replacement headlight bucket to match (it was formerly primer gray).  This is the way it has been for the four years since.  I really hate the black fender as it takes the car from a decent 10 footer to a 100 footer.

When I purchased the car, I was told it was painted a stock GM blue color from the 90's.  I found a 1993 PPG paint book for a few dollars on eBay and decided I'd see if I could match the color.  If they produce the color in an aerosol can, I could then paint the fender to better match the rest of the car.  It then would not look so bad while I save money to get the entire car painted.

At first glance, the color appeared to be Bahama Blue Metallic (B22).  As luck would have it, the local O'Reilly had some in a Duplicolor aerosol for $7.99.  I purchased a can and tried it out on a piece of spare metal and compared it to the current color on the car.  Ends up, it has a bit more of a teal color to it but it is really close.  Its actually a nice color and close to what I might end up painting the car later.

I went back to the color panel and checked everything again.  The color was also really close to Banzai Blue Metallic (PC3) which is a Dodge color.  I decided to buy an aerosol can of this paint of eBay.  Once it arrived, I performed the same test and found it was a little darker than the sample in the paint book.  It is actually very thin so I used it to top coat the Bahama Blue Metallic and surprisingly it matches fairly well.

I realize it is rather crazy to take two stock metallic colors and then put them together and expect it to match the current car color.  Additionally, the faded, oxidized look of the rest of the car can't be matched anyway.  I decided I'm just going to do it anyway and see how close I can get it.  If it doesn't match perfectly, that is fine as it at least will look better than the black fender which stands out from a mile away.

Mustang Trip to Goodguys Cancelled..... Again

Unfortunately, I had to decide against driving the Mustang to the Goodguys show again this year.  The chance of rain here is only 30% tonight and on Saturday with is questionable.  

However, the chance of rain this evening, overnight, and tomorrow morning in Keller where the show is located is much greater.  The chance this evening is between 80% and 50% so it is just not worth it.

Update: I made it back from the trip to Goodguys (without the Mustang) and the weather was great for the show.  However, it did rain really hard on Friday evening.  While I really wanted to take the Mustang, it was the best decision to not drive the Mustang this year.  I'm a bit disappointed this has happened two years in a row.  I should not worry as much about the rain but with the rust on the car, I don't want it to cause more damage or get road grime on everything.

Rear Suspension Height Issues

Last Saturday, the entire family hopped into the Mustang for a trip to Chili's for lunch.  The rear suspension height is really low to start with but with the trunk fully weighed down and everyone in the car, the back end was really low.  So low, that when I hit a bump, I could hear the tire drag.

I checked the car after it happened the first time and found no damage.  I decided it take it easy and finish out the trip.  However, on the way back, we hit a big bump and it sounded quite bad.  When I made it home, I checked the tire to find something damaged the side a little.

I checked the fenderwell and found an uneven piece of metal which must have caught the tire.  I took out the air grinder and made it smooth so that it would not happen again.  However, it was clear the rear of the Mustang was going to need to be raised up some.  I found the best option was a set of extended shackles for the rear leaf springs.  A few days later and Summit had them on my doorstep.

My understanding is that these 1" extended shackles should raise the back end by 5/8".  That is not a ton but it is better than nothing and seems to one of the only options.  Just to check for myself, I started off the process by measuring the rear height and found I'm at 25".  This is with stock shackles and Grab-A-Trak 4.5 mid eye leaf springs.

The actual part is made by Scott Drake.  The part number is C5ZZ-5776-GTL.  

I measured them and compared them to the stock size shackles.  They are 1" longer at 5.5" from bolt center to bolt center.

It took a while to install them over the last two nights.  The bushings just did not want to come out and the new ones were just as hard to get in.  However, I was able to get the job done.

Update: After driving around some, I checked the height of the rear and it seems it was raised by about 3/4".  I drove to Buffalo Wild Wings a few days ago with my wife and the raised height seemed to keep it from rubbing.  The real test will be putting the kids in the back seat and driving around.

Instrument Cluster Project

As I drove around last night, I noticed two problems with the instrument cluster I'd forgotten about.

The first problem is related to how I installed the Autometer gauges.  When I installed the gauges, I had to remove the bezels to fit them behind the stock panel.   The difficulty is that there is nothing to hold the glass face on each gauge without the bezel.  I'd read a few people had luck with super gluing them on so I took that approach.

The approach worked great until the glass face was back light by the instrument cluster lights.  Then it was apparent there was a residual or haze caused by the super glue.  In order to fix it, I used some super glue remover to take the glass faces off.  I then used some clear epoxy to attach them back on.  I tested the new solution out and it looks much better.

The second issue issue is with the headlights and the instrument cluster lights.  They seem to pulse in intensity.  Additionally, when I turn the dimmer for the instrument cluster lights, they will just turn off.  This was related to the new headlight switch I purchased.  I was replacing the factory one which worked fine because I was afraid it would go out and leave me without headlights.  Luckily, I kept the original and reinstalled it which corrected this problem.