2000 GT: More Cobra stuff

[Mustang5L5]

I’ve had a thing for 99-04 cars ever since (regretfully) selling my 2003 GT. Always said I would get back into one of the price is right.

Well, neighbor had once sitting in his driveway for 9 months. Finally I asked him about it. Was a family members who passed away and was looking to just get rid of it.

Long story short, $1k later and it’s in my driveway.

2000 GT premium vert. 68k miles. Runs and drives but has a few issues I can sort through:

-AC clutch failing and rattling hard
-brakes spongy (prob need to be bled)
- mystery current draw drains battery fast.
- needs tires. Front drivers is bald on outside while others are ok. Might need to check for play on that tie rod.


Other than that, needs a good buff and interior cleaning. It’s sat for 9 months and is dirty. Seats are ripped and a few misc weatherstrip broken. All minor stuff.

Anyway, here’s the car

 

[Mustang5L5]

More pics. Haven’t touched a thing yet. Just assessing.

Here's my list of mechanical/electrical issues so far:
A/C clutch (bushings gone in this one)
A/C recharge (need to see if it works after clutch change. There is some refrigerant but i haven't checked pressure yet)
Something drains the battery (needs to be jumped each time)
Mach 460 won't turn on
needs tires (going to put a set on my bullitt wheels)

Possibly an issue with the ABS/TC. The ABS amd TC light are off, but when i hit the TC button it doesn't illuminate the light on the cluster. It's possible the bulbs are burned out? Since i have to jump start the car for now, It's a PITA to check the warning lights and such. I'll try later. There may be no issue here either.

Asthetic stuff:
Paint correction and overall exterior cleaning
clean the top
interior detailing.
Front seats are torn
drivers seat track is messed up (i have a spare in my parts pile)

Strut towers are pristine, which was the first thing I looked at. This car really wasn't driven at all in the winter. I might....


Overall, i'm still happy with it for $1K. Engine and trans and everything felt great. It's been a while since i drove a stock Mustang so not sure if the shocks are gone, or the ride has always been so soft. My fox with Max Motorsports suspension parts is not a good reference. For a cruiser, it's comfortable though.

Possible mods:
Mach 1 lip (already have it)
03/04 bullitt wheels (already have)
01+ smoked headlights
01+ hood scoop
I hate the 99/00 rear spoiler. I'd like to see if i can find an entire 01+ trunk locally with the newer spoiler.
Cobra front brakes (already have them)
MGW shifter...because you need a shifter\

Mechanically, i plan to leave the car pretty close to stock. No performance mods. I like the 3.27's. I even like the growl of the stock exhaust. i'm not touching a thing other than maintenance and repairs. I'll change the shifter, but that's about it.

I might tint the windows to help with the sun beating up the interior. I also might ditch the tan top. I can live with tan interior, but not a fan of the tan top.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Pulled the battery. It’s dead. Dead as a door nail. I’ll need to grab a new one before I can proceed.

Tested the ac pressure and it’s full of refrigerant. So I’ll address the clutch and then try to troubleshoot why it doesn’t turn on.

Did some quick vacuum and started pulling interior parts out to clean up.

Picked up the loose dirt.

Test cleaning a door cup.

Before

After a few mins. I’ll give it some more elbow grease. But I’m thinking I might want to pull some of this interior out and really dig at it with nylon brushes and soap/water. It’s nasty grime.

I'm not going to show every step of the cleaning process, but just wanted to show what i'm up against. It looks like every panel will need scrubbing with soap/water and a very deep cleaning.

I may actually strip everything but the dash and powerwash it. Just a lot of dirt/grime on every panel.

 

[SMOKEDYA]

looking good!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok. Dig around a bit.

Bought a new battery. Hooked it up and measured a 0.35amp draw on it.

Traced it to fuse #6 which apparently is very common. Haven’t dug into it much more yet. Gonna do some reading.

Started pulling interior out.

 

[Mustang5L5]

unplugged drivers side mach amp. Current draw went from .35a to .16a.

No change if I unplug the other side. So add an amp to the list of parts to track down on eBay.

Also, found the 10a fuse for the radio was blown. I plugged the head unit into my test stand and found it would work for 5-10 seconds and then all audio would cut out. So head unit is bad. Fortunately I have another in my parts pile.

.16amps is 160 milliamps. The GEM is active for 40 min until dropping current, so I need to rig it up to have my meter hooked up for 40 mins to see what it drops to.


Pretty much this thread sums up my issue. One of the Mach amps was the cause. Found this in 10 mins of troubleshooting.

https://www.moddedmustangs.com/threads/parasitic-battery-drain-mach-460-amplifier.266108/

 

[Mustang5L5]

I only have 1 key, so saving this until I can pick up another to program.

How to program PATS using FORScan v2.3.* - FORScan forum

 

[TIGGER]

Awesome score sir My wife had a black 00 GT coupe when we first started dating. She bought it in 02 with 21K on the clock. It had the hood scoop on it already but was stock otherwise. She immediately went down and had 2 chamber flowmasters put on it literally the next day. She named it Shnuke. I modded it slowly throughout the next 5-6 years. We sold it in 08 with 40K on the clock after my mother in law passed to pay off some of her debt. We still know where it is but it has a LOT of miles on it now and it has been wrecked hard and fixed since my wife owned it. The person who owns it now loves it so I doubt it will be for sale any time soon.

Anyway back to your vert, nice choice on the Bullitts. I am not a big fan of the stock 17" wheels nor the 96-98 GT wheels for that matter. I wanted to get a set of Bullitt's for Shunke but never did. You planning on lowering the vert? That is about the only thing I would add to your mod list for appearance sake. I can't get over the 4x4 look on the SN95's. Foxbodies don't look too bad stock height. SN95 no....

I will be following your progress on this one....

 

[Mustang5L5]

Springs will come later. Right now I just want to focus on cleaning it up and getting it fully driveable.

I’m trying to avoid soaking too much money into it, but I also want to enjoy it and I might need a drop.

Tires might have to wait a bit so I’ll just get this thing safe and replace the one bald one.

 

[Mustang5L5]

figured out the draw issue.

0.35amp draw when sitting. I went right to common source and pulled the Mach 460 amps and one dropped the current to 0.16 amps.

Also found the head unit had issues. I tested out of car and it would turn on for 5 seconds and then cut out. Also, the 10a fuse was blown.

So with the amp removed, and head unit removed, I set up my meter to see current at rest.

160 milliamps, which is about what the GeM pulls at rest.

Set a timer for 40 min and walked away. When I came back I was glad to see the GeM in standby.

19 milliamps, without a radio. That should go up a tad when I put a good radio back in.

One thing off the list. Next up….a/c clutch. Waiting on parts still.


Yes…still need a good day to powerwash everything.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Pulled some more out. Need to stop here

Cleaning what I can off the car. I intend to pull the carpet out.

But soap and scrub brush and hot water is just more effective than wipes

But these sill plates cleaned up nicely.

Need to find something for this. Gonna take a little work to get this clean.

I need the interior to be as clean as possible. Lots of grime. I suspect previous owner never touched the interior with a wipe. Gross.

Door panels and center console will come out shortly as well.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Got back from vacation, stripped a few more parts out. Seats and carpet next.

Found this behind the radio. This a buy here, pay here type of tracker? Was hooked to power and ground.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I have a set of nice Dark Charcoal front seats, but not sure how they will look in parchment interior. Also, not sure this is the right car for these seats.

I think I’ll permanently run the bullitt wheels

 

[Noobz347]

I bet those seats will be right at home.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I bet those seats will be right at home.

Not sure how they will look but lets toss one in and see.



Actually. I have a junk set i can try first. First off i gotta get this carpet and front seats out as well as the door panels. Everything is getting a deep scrub to get all this grime off.


WHat i lack is time. Hoping i can take care a good chunk of this this week and upcoming weekend and register the car next week.

 

[Noobz347]

I think at worst, you'll have to find a set of dark-colored floor mats to tie them in.

 

[Noobz347]

Hey, what are the available top color options? Have you picked one out yet?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Hey, what are the available top color options? Have you picked one out yet?

White, black or tan.

If i change the top it will be to black. This top is a recent replacement with the glass window, so it wasn't cheap. Gonna clean it up and run it for now rather than change it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The rear interior quarter panels need a redye job as well. I'll do that later as I don't know what color paint to pick up to best match just yet. Right now I just want to do general cleaning first. Trying to avoid this turning into a multi-thousand dollar resto like on my Fox. Goal here is "cheap beater", not full resto.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Interior stripped. No surprises. Couple bucks in loose change.

Starting to go to town on the carpet. Gonna need a bit of work with the Bissell