2000 GT: Steering

[Mustang5L5]

Out with the old.

You can see how faded it is

Used up some remaining kilmat and foam insulation. Figured I’d toss some in the tunnel to knock down heat intrustuon

 

[Mustang5L5]

And NOS carpet in!

You can see a teaser of where I’m going with the pedals next.

 

[Noobz347]

It should look like a 68K Garage Queen by the time you get it all done.

The seat carnage still amazes me for such low miles.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The seat carnage still amazes me for such low miles.

It's all sun damage. Previous owner would just leave the top down all day long in the summer I guess. I found lots of UV damage hence having to redye a number of things. Both the trim around the gauges and the radio trim broke from being too brittle. They have been replaced.

The seats were extremely dry and the threads were cracking and failing. I managed to slow that with some conditioner and use, but they are toast. They are in my basement and waiting for me to order covers.

But the interior is starting to look like it should for the mileage it has.


I think next up, i'm going to install the hood scoop. It's getting in my way.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ford racing pedals in. Forgot what a PiTA the clutch and brake were to do. Last time I did this was 15 years ago in my 2003 GT

Gonna start on the hood scoop. Need to concentrate on that since I only have one shot to drill correctly

 

[Mustang5L5]

I left out 'them he sells the car'

Not yet. I can see myself selling this one. But not yet. One more summer season with it all refreshed.




BTW: Stopped at a boneyard this AM. No center consoles . There was one 99-04 V6 and it was trashed and the wrong color anyway. Got a few pigtails I needed and a fog light switch, but I resorted to hoping on Ebay and buying a console. So that's on the way.

I'll need to modify the wiring for the various switches, but this should be easy.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Prepping for next stage.

Gotta hack this out a tad to mount a double din setup. No going back.

Anyone want to talk me out of it?

Normally I hate such “permanent mods” but I don’t think it’s gonna matter on this car. This ain’t a collector car.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I agree. I think a DD touchscreen with CarPlay will increase the ability to enjoy the car as a daily.

Losing no sleep on moving forward with this.

 

[Mustang5L5]

New mats have arrived

 

[Mustang5L5]

‘01 console has arrived. Not a bad one either. Only negative is the clips for the parking brake boot are busted, but I was going to run a Redlinegoods boot anyway so I’ll come up with alternative mounting

Added bonus is that it came with a Ford OE convertible top button that has the lettering on it still. These usually wear off so the button is blank.

Need to disassemble it, give it a spray with dye, install the 99-04 wiring harness in place and figure out the parking boot.

Fun project. This gives me a bit of nostalgia from when I owned my 2003 GT. I daily drive drove that car 6 years in my early 20s. I still remember plopping my cell phone in the rubber cupholder and my coffee in the front holder.

Really this whole build has been a trip down memory lane for me in terms of these cars. I think the 99-04 is more of my coming of age car even more than Fox bodies are.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Cleaned up, painted and ready to go. Just need to wait on the new shifter boot

 

[Mustang5L5]

So for the DD radio install, i ended up picking up a Metra 95-5703B kit, and didn't like it. Initially I wanted to use the mounting brackets with the OE ford radio bezel, but i quickly found this was not going to work.

Metra kit on left puts radio in a slightly lower position

The unique mounting bracket only works with the metra radio bezel.

The metra kit uses two brackets which locate on existing holes in the dash to mount the radio.

So i decided to make my own. Stay tuned

 

[Mustang5L5]

No going back now.

Gotta work on my radio mounts and rewire everything for the new buttons. Easy.

 

[WhiteCobra95]

This is good stuff.

Michigan passed a big ban this summer on touching your cell phone in any way while you drive. Technically, you can't even press buttons if it's held by a dash mount or a weather tech holder to simply answer a call or switch to speaker phone mode. Touching the phone could mean an instant ticket if a cop sees you. A solution for old(er) cars is needed.

It's always been a pain to hold any cell phone and drive stick, and I don't normally spend much time or make a point of being on the phone while driving my Cobra, but the necessity does occur in the real world. I've been considering updating my head unit to something with features similar to the Ford Sync where you can answer and talk through the radio. Most of the head units that support these features are double DIN, so your upgrade is really interesting and will help shape my direction. I've already been thinking about wire routing and such for a mic in the A_pillar or headliner, and the METRA kit has been in my Amazon cart for months.

That kit isn't cheap for just a replacement bezel / adapter. What in particular do you not like about it? Is there anything in additional to lowering the radio position like poor plastic quality? It doesn't looks like the Ford OEM plastic finish, but maybe it can or needs to be painted to get closer.

Regarding your install, do they provide any provisions to open up holes for the lower buttons? It would be disappointing if they missed that critical detail from the New Edge'ers.

Thanks!

 

[Mustang5L5]

That’s really the only thing I don’t like about it. Lack of buttons. Really it’s for the 94-00 cars that lack the buttons anyway. I’m just pairing it with the 01+ console swap (and defrost relocate) so I need to use the buttons.

The metra kit works well. Some matching SEM paint and It would be a good fit. The install is easy. You trim off the two ears with a small coping saw and bolt the brackets up. The trim panel clips to the bracket.

I’m just doing this as a sort of nostalgia build in tribute to my old ‘03 GT, hence the selection of specific parts. That’s why I’ve added a lot of 01+ parts to the car and stuff like Ford Racing pedals, and the silver radio trim (you can see bezel on pass floor in above post). So because of this, I need to do the OE radio bezel and not the metra kit.

 

[85GTStangGuy]

Ford racing pedals in. Forgot what a PiTA the clutch and brake were to do.

What exactly is the pita part of it? And is it applicable to the 79-93 Foxes?

Any hints and/or look-out-for's? I saw one site said to immerse them in near-boiling water to ease installation.... any comments on that?

 

[Mustang5L5]

What exactly is the pita part of it? And is it applicable to the 79-93 Foxes?

Any hints and/or look-out-for's? I saw one site said to immerse them in near-boiling water to ease installation.... any comments on that?

Dead pedal and gas pedal are easy, and also direct swaps onto the Fox. Takes maybe 10 min combined to install those. It's the brake and clutch pedal. I boiled them, and then it was a process to use a tool to pry the rubber folds up and over the pedals to install them. Just an awkward position to work in too. Those took maybe 15 mins each pedal to install.

You can put them in the fox, but the brake and clutch pedal are not the same shape. I got the clutch pedal to work, but my brake pedal is the MM hydroboost pedal. I actually bought a spare pedal that I was going to hit with a grinder to make it the right shape and install the pedal. I seemed to have misplaced it so i'm currently looking for it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

moved rhe defrost button. The 99-00 button has an internal relay, so I had to reuse that portion. I dissected the switch and soldered some wires on and extended them to the new button.

Here’s the write-up I followed

DIY: Converting 94-00 Style Defroster/Fog Switches to 01+ Style

If you have done, or are considering doing a double DIN swap from an 01+ mustang into your 94-00 mustang and want to complete the transformation, you're probably like me and dig the smooth look of the cluster bezel without the eyesore of the rectangular defrost button. Not to mention, having blan...

www.sn95source.com

Used an early SN95 defrost delete plate for now. Clean 01–04 bezels are hard to find

 

[Mustang5L5]

Console in. Just waiting on my parking brake boot.

I’ll revisit the lighting later. 99-00 use blue lighting for guages, hvac and buttons. While 01+ use green.

Not sure I can move the T/C button over yet. The 99-00 button is a latching switch, while the 01-04 button is a momentary that triggers a module. I may have to get fancy in my wiring to move it.

Or I leave it where is and use the empty spot for something else, like a seat heater on/off

 

[Noobz347]

You should switch from missiles to guns.