The first generation Mustangs, 1964-1973, are still just as popular. They are the original pony cars, featuring long hoods and short rear decks. Many of them, especially the classics, are convertibles, and each generation has rivaled the Chevrolet Camaro.
One of the biggest contributors to preserving a classic Mustang is properly storing it through the winter in cold climates. Not only will it add to the life of your car, it will help prevent problems that may occur when sitting through the winter.

To properly store a Mustang for the winter, consider following these steps:

• Change, fill, and flush. Start out by getting an oil change. Then, make sure the gas tank is full. Next, you will need to flush out the brake fluid and replace it with new. Also, make sure that the cooling system has the proper amount of antifreeze.
• Clean inside and out. You should make sure that the car is completely cleaned inside and out. Give it a good wash and wax on the outside and on the inside, vacuum and detail.
• Remove and store. The battery will need to be removed while the vehicle is being stored. After removing it, clean and store it in a safe place, preferably at room temperature and on cardboard. (J-do you think you should say why the cardboard and not, say, plastic?)
• Avoid smells and more. If you don’t take steps to address odor or critter issues, in the spring you could open up your vehicle and find a host of problems. To keep out critters, add some moth balls and to combat odors include a couple of open boxes of baking soda.
• Before covering. You will want to get a nice protective cloth cover, but before putting it on, make sure you have completed all steps and put the roof up if it’s a convertible. You may also want to place some cardboard under the transmission area to catch any leaks.
• Other considerations. Some people also opt to remove the wheels and tires, or even jack the vehicle up off the ground. If you remove the wheels and tires it is important to make sure they are properly stored for optimal preservation.

The most important step is to confirm that you are properly covered with car insurance. You may think you only need it for car accidents, but stored classic cars need it, too. While it’s being stored it is still susceptible to vandalism, theft, or even an act of nature. Let the insurance company know you are storing for the winter and there will be no driving, which help you save on the rate.

You should have the aftermarket wiring harness, a Scosche one from Wally world works just as good as ordering one from a site. The picture above is what your wiring harness should look like. You should have one male 6 pin connector and one female 8 pin connector. The 6 pin connector is for your power/illumination/ground for your new head unit. The 8 pin in strictly for speakers.

A removal tool is required to take out the factory head unit. You can go to Auto Zone, Advance, or any other local parts store. They’re very cheap, I think 3 dollars, and they should look like the above picture. A cheaper way to do it is to take a wire hanger and cut appx. 6-8” from the bottom of it and bend it. Remember that you need two of them.

You’re also going to need either wire connectors or black electrical tape. A set of wire crimpers are quite handy too, unless you like using a cigarette lighter or your teeth.

While you’re preparing for the install, go ahead and connect your wiring harness with the plug that came with your aftermarket head unit. This makes things a lot easier later on.

Before you do anything inside your car, pop the hood and disconnect your negative terminal on your battery. If you don’t, you’ll pay for it later.

After disconnecting your terminal, move to the inside of your car and be prepared for the removal of the factory head unit. Mine took me about 15 minutes overall.

• There should be two small holes on each side of your radio; this is where the U-shaped tool comes in handy.
• When inserting the tool, only push until you hear a click. You don’t have to shove the tool all the way into the radio. As a matter of fact, if you do, it will make it harder on you when you try to remove it.
• After you have all four prongs inserted into the radio, pull outward (towards your mirrors) and away from each other. This should disengage the homosexual anti-theft device that ford came up with. I used a coat hanger as seen above.
• The last step is easy, pull out your factory head unit.

Remember that your deck is like a drawer in a chest, and it only slides one way. Don’t try to pull one side and then the other, pull the whole unit as one. It should slide out quite easy.

After you pull the head unit out, you’ll need to unplug four cables/wires from the back of it. This is what it should look like:

After unplugging the wires, which should take you a pretty good while, especially if you haven’t removed the deck before as they’re stuck in there pretty good, you’ll have a mess of wires protruding from the hole where your head unit used to be.

Now, since you’ve already got your wiring harness and plug for your new deck connected, plug up the 6 and 8 pin connectors to the wiring harness. I had a mess to deal with, as you can see from above. When connecting and/or running your RCA and Remote wire, there’s a hole beside of the cd player at the bottom that you can run them out of. After connecting the wiring harness and wires, check for any loose connections in your wiring. Now, before you slide your new head unit back into the empty slot, re-connect your battery terminal and make sure everything works because it’s really annoying to put the deck in and realize you’ve forgot something and have to take it back out. After making sure you didn’t cross wire anything by checking out the fade and balance, slide your new c.d. player in. Viola, there you have a new c.d. player.

The only issue you will run into is if you have a 1999-2000 hood. These are not pre-marked for holes. This does not mean that the scoop will not work, it just means that it wont be as easy to install. I am currently working on getting measurements for placement of the scoop. I will go over how to get around this in the installation steps, but you will need to obtain some measurements from a friend to locate the scoop on the hood correctly. You will need side measurements, front to back, and angled measurements. Then you can proceed. You can find these online and I will post them when I do… but please double check them for accuracy before you drill. Don’t fear drilling into your hood, its not that bad. If you take your time and prepare the items to prevent scratches or what not everything will work out fine.

So with all that out of the way lets get started

Step 1. Inspect the items, make sure the scoop has all bolts and you have washers and nuts that fit and will hold the scoop on. You will also need the following items.

1. Painters tape or Paper tape
2. Card board to make a template with, it should be a bit bigger than the base of the scoop. The box the scoop comes in works for this.
3. A drill with drill bits. The size to drill is a size up from the size of the bolt. If the hole is the same size as the bolt you will have binding as the scoop will probably not sit flat. Drill it a little bigger.
4. A center punch to mark where holes are to be drilled. This keeps the drill bit from sliding off and scratching the vehicle.
5. A marker to outline the scoop location on the template
6. Basic tools to tighten the nuts onto the hood scoop bolts
7. Thread lock to ensure the bolts on the scoop do not come off
8. A tape measure if you are installing the scoop on a 1999 or 2000 model hood

Step 2.
The first thing you need to do is take the hood lining from the underside of your hood off being careful not to mess it up, just easily pop off the push pins. Lay the lining on top of the engine to catch the mess when drilling so it doesn’t get on your engine.

Hood Mat Pictures

Step 3
You will notice at the back middle of the underside of your hood two silver circle indentations that are rather close together. If you flip the hood scoop upside down the back two bolts on the back of the hood scoop should line up in the middle of these holes. This is where the back two bolts go. If you have questions you can take a picture and I can confirm what I am talking about. Before you start handling the scoop it would be a very wise move to tape it up to protect the paint finish. You would be amazed at how easy it is to scratch while moving it around. Tape it up now to save yourself issues later.

Back Guide Holes

Step 4
You need to remove the guide pins on the hood scoop. There should be one at the front middle and the back middle. Cut them off (plastic not actual metal bolts, leave all bolts.. the guides are plastic). You can cut them off and smooth them off so they wont keep the scoop from sitting flat. The reason I cut them off as why drill another hole… its not needed. If you choose not to remove the guide pins you will have to include them in the template that we will make.

Guide Pins to Remove

Step 5
You need to make a template with card board. Get a single piece that the entire hood scoop will sit on with a little overlap for taping down (the box that the scoop comes in from Ford works good.) Sit the cardboard on a flat surface. Take the scoop and make sure its nice and flat, it is nice and centered on the card board, and the bolts are straight down not crooked. Push them into the card board gently to make indentations. Now push a little harder to pop holes though the card board. Make sure the scoop sits flat on the card board. You may can take out the front of the scoop cover so the scoop sits flat. Its been a while and I cant remember if you can do this when making the template. If you can note you will have to cut an area around this to manuver the scoop to sit flat. Either way finish up so you have a template with holes in the card board where the scoop will sit and the scoop is flush and the bolts are not binded or crooked, but straight through. You can use a pen to outline the scoop to keep an idea of where its at, mark front and back on it. The side angled bolts on the front grill are a pain. Just do the best here as no real template can tell you where they will go.

Template Pictures

Step 6
Drill the back two holes using the position found in the step one above. Use a center punch to make the drill location so the bit wont slide. Like I said make sure you use the correct silver dollar indentations, as I remember those are the only marks that you can see back there. Once you ensure that’s right, drill them from the VERY center of the silver dollar indentations. Use a drill bit a little bit bigger to ensure the metal bolts on the scoop from binding up. Test fit and make sure the bolts on the scoop slide through.

You can see the back two holes drilled here

Step 7
Take the template and sit it on the hood after making sure all the holes are punched through fully. Use some nails or something to slide in the back two holes that you have drilled. Tape down the template so its flat. Sit the scoop on the hood and make sure it still lines up with all the holes and that it is centered on the hood so its correctly placed.

Step 8
Drill the side holes and such test fitting as you go. Continue drilling leaving the front three bolts for last. The angled funny bolts on the front are the WORST of this all. Use a center punch to mark the holes so the drill wont slide, be very careful here… don’t let it slide and scratch the paint!

Hood scoop bolts for reference

Step 9
Those angle bolts use a little though to see how the scoop will fall down and where the base off those will be. Mark them then remove the scoop and drill. All is not lost if you have to widen the hole. Just do your best here to get them right. It may be hard to see if the bolts are binding here. Basically, if the scoop is not sitting flush at the front its probably due to these angle bolts are binding.

Front center bolt

Angled bolts

Step 10
After you drill all the holes test fit the scoop, if it doesn’t sit flush the bolts are binding somewhere. You can make the holes a little bigger as needed. You will use a washer and nut so it can be bigger than the bolt hole without issue.

Flat fitting is the key

Step 11
The scoop should have some weather stripping around the scoop to keep water out, if not you can add some if you want.

Step 12
Put the scoop on once happy with fitment. Put a washer and nut on it. Go to some hardware store or something and get a set of washers and nuts and some thread lock. Put a little thread lock on the threads, not much. Tighten down snug, dont over tighten just nice and snug.

That is it. Put the under hood lining back on after cleaning up the dust. When you drill the holes on top of the hood as you about get thought he hood drilling make sure the drill doesn’t fall though and puncture something, be ready to catch it.

The final product!

So what are you waiting for? Get to modding!

Wheel and Tire Sections
1. What the Numbers on Tires Mean
2. Tire Maintenance Information
3. Suggestions for Lowered Cars
4. Rim Fitment Overview Information
5. Rim Backspacing Information
6. Rim Offset Information
8. 1999-2004 Fitment Information
7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Well first lets pick a tire size for an example. A 245/45-17 tire is the OEM GT mustang tire size for their 17 by 8 inch rims.

The 245 number represents the width of the tire in millimeters, every 24.5 millimeters is equal to 1 inch for reference.

The 45 number represents the sidewall height of the tire. The actual height is not 45 millimeters, rather it is found by taking the width and multiplying it by the sidewall number * .01. You see the 45 is a percentage not a size, that being said a 245/45/17’s sidewall height is 45% of its width, and the width in this case is 245mm.

Calculation Examples:

45% * 245 = the sidewall height for this given tire, or .45 * 245 = 110.25mm, The final number, in this case 17, is the size rim that the tire will fit.

Rotate your tires EVERY 6 thousand miles, but if you run a 275mm or wider tire or experience a lot of noise from your tires you should defiantly rotate the tires every 3 thousand miles. Make sure to maintain the correct air pressure in your tires at all times, this can increase your gas millage and life of the tires along with ride quality. A 275/40-17 wears good at 32-34psi from my personal experience. Most tires probably wear pretty good in this range.

Have your wheels/tires balanced if you experience shaking in your steering wheel, for example you may experience shaking only in a given mph range. You only need to have this done if you experience problems. Don’t let some business try to get you to pay for this if you don’t have a problem.

Have your car checked for Alignment every 6 to 12 thousand miles. If your car stays in alignment you can go longer but you should defiantly consider keeping the car in a good alignment state. Keep track of previous alignments with print outs so that you can alter specifications or just see how far out the specifications change from one alignment to the next. Just because they are the factory specifications does not mean they are the best for your car, in your area, under your driving habits.

If you car is lower than stock make sure the shop that aligns your car can get it to stock specifications or what ever specifications you like to use.. If they can’t they may not tell you so be sure to ask for a print out and how far the car is from stock specs. The print outs can be used for future reference to alter alignment specifications for better tire wear.

Ask for a print out of the alignment specs since afterwords you may forget what they did possibly and you can use the print outs as a reference to change some settings for better tire wear. This being said date the print out or you may not know which was the last one you had done.

When you clean your car take a bit to look over your tires and make sure everything is good with them such as no nails in them, they do not look deflated, or anything out of the ordinary.

When you get your car aligned after you let your springs settle for 250-500 miles~ see if they can set the car back to the stock specifications, if they can not invest in some caster/camber plates so you can correct the adjustment. Generally speaking you will need Caster/Camber plates after a drop that is more than one inch. This varies car to car so there is no exact rule. When you lower your car the strut and shock shaft will be pushed into the strut/shock body more overall. This can cause them to wear out earlier than you expect.

If you have a set of Caster/Camber plates that allows you to raise the strut shaft upwards to offset the lowering of the car pushing them inwards this will help if not solve this problem. With most lowering springs the spring rate will be stiffer. This means less pressure on your struts and shocks. This alone can make them last longer as they will not be working quite as hard. There comes a point though when the spring is to stiff or to soft for the struts/shocks. Make sure you know of this so you can purchase a correctly valved set of shocks and struts with you springs if you wish.

Maximum Motorsport’s 4 bolt Caster Camber Plates raise the strut travel up a bit so you can run stock struts and shocks on a lowered vehicle (around 1.5 inches of drop) and they also have great quality of CC plates.

Try the install of springs and caster/camber plates your self as it is very easy. If you like working on cars and have a good assortment of tools and a hydrolic jack you should be able to have the swap done in a day or less with the help from a friend. A good set of Caster/Camber plates may be needed to fix alignment issues, so don’t drive around to long out of stock spec. Also don’t buy cheap items as you get what you pay for.

Backspacing = Rim Width + Wheel Offset
Frontspacing = Rim Width – Backspacing
Offset = Wheel Centerline – Backspacing * -1
25.4mm = 1 inch

Backspacing is the distance from the back edge of the wheel’s back lip to the mounting surface such that the measurement is perpendicular to the mounting surface back side where the rim meets the rotor.

To determine the wheel backspace:
1. Position the wheel with the back side facing upwards.
2. Lay something flat across the back of the wheel. Try to make the item go across the middle of the rim.
3. Measure the distance from the flat item you have sitting across the rim to the wheel’s mounting surface (where the rim meets the rotor). This will be the backspacing for your given rim.

Backspacing helps to determine how much of the rim will be under the car. If you have an eight inch wide rim and five inches is the given rims backspacing then five of the total eight inches will be from the mounting surface back into your fender well. Backspacing can increase or decrease how far in or out your rims sit on your car. Increasing or decreasing your rim’s backspacing can make your wheels/tires less likely or more likely to rub on something.

A wheel’s offset is calculated by the distance from the rim’s mounting surface to the center line of the wheel. There are three potential offset types.

Zero offset – The rim’s mounting surface is even with the center line of the wheel.

Positive offset – The rim mounting surface is toward the front of the wheel (the front being the side of the rim that faces outward). Positive offset wheels are almost always found on front wheel drive vehicles.

Negative offset – The rim’s mounting surface is toward the back of the rim’s center line. Wheels that are large in size are typically a negative offset rim.

How to calculate your rim’s offset – A rim’s offset can be found by measuring the rims width. Next, find the rims backspacing and subtract it from the width of the rim. Finally, divide the answer you got from above by two.

Front Wheel Fitment:
Your frontspacing should be around 3.00 inches. Ford’s OEM rims seem to range mostly between 3.07-2.89 frontspacing. As you lower your car your front wheels tuck in more and more due to the McPherson strut design they use. Keep this in mind. The widest wheels you should use on the front of your vehicle should be 9 inches. You may still experience some rubbing. The 2003/2004 Cobra use rack limiters to prevent rubbing. This is not a major issue though.

Rear Wheel Fitment:
If you want the maximum frontspacing of your rims without having to roll your rear fenders then you should have 3.5 inches of frontspacing. If you want fender flush then you want to have 4.0 inches of frontspacing. You will probably have to roll your fenders for this.

If you have an IRS (Independent Rear) equipped vehicle you may can get by with a little more as the tire tuck in as they come up much like the front wheels will. The rim will not be flush with the fenders, but after you install tires they should be very close to flush. Some need 4.25 to become perfectly flush, but most want a little but under the fender for appearance. So 4.25 is the maximum unless for a normal sidewall tire.

An 11 inch rear rim with a 7 inch backspacing is about the limit for the size of rims you can run on the rear. You may have to either flip or eliminate your quad shocks if you have them for this. A seven inch backspacing is pretty much all you can get out of it. If you have an IRS (Independent Rear) vehicle then you will need to look into shaving your IRS rear frame bolts or installing button head bolts to clear over a 6 inch backspacing rim. Having your car lower than stock or larger than 17 inch rims may gain you a little extra room here.

Q. Will a 17 by 9 rim fit on the front and rear of my 94-04 mustang?
A. Yes, a 17 by 9 rim will fit perfectly fine as long as its backspacing and offset are set correctly, the backspacing for a Ford 17 by 9 mustang rim is 5.95-6.11 inches.

Q.Can I run a more narrow tire on my rims than suggested?
A. Yes, but you must realize that if you stray to much from the sizes listed you will not have enough tire to protect your rims from curb damage. One curbing will usually ruin a rim and can be very costly to even consider repairing a rim if it not ruined. It is much better to spend a little extra money and save your rims from being messed up. Also, the correct size tire looks MUCH better on a rim, a narrow tire looks very tacky and stretched out.

Q. Is it ok to stagger rim and tire sizes, such as run a 17 by 9 up front and a 17 by 10 out back?
A. Yes, this will work great but you must remember you wont be able to rotate your tires and this will cause the front to get more bad wear if your alignment specs are not kept in specified tolerances. If you do this I recommend keeping a close eye on the front tires for bad wear and adjust with your alignment shop accordingly. Finally, check the tire maintenance section for tips on getting the most from your tires.

Q. Will upgrading from a smaller size rim, such as a 15 inch rim, to a larger size rim, such as a 17 inch rim, cause my speedometer to register to fast or to slow?
A. No, as long as you use the correct size tire there will be no difference in the over all diamter of your wheels and your speedometer will register correctly.

Q. What can I do to correct my speedometer if I want to run other than the correct size tire?
A. You can possibly get a speed calibration unit from Mustang Parts Online Restoration and Performance Superstore – Catalogs, Steeda Autosports | Mustang Performance Parts | Official High End Performance Parts, and other such sources. If a speed calibration unit will not work for your given year/transmission combination you will have to buy a chip to alter the speedometer to read correctly. Defiantly check to determine if your year vehicle can benefit from a speed calibration unit, which alters the transmission’s VSS sensor input/output to the computer.

Q. Will rims or tires from a 2005+ Mustang work on my 94-04 Mustang?
A. They will bolt up but the issue with this is the backspacing. The rims sit deeper in
the fender well so when you place them on a pre 2005 Mustang they will set to far in. They will work, but
expect some rubbing. You will need a spacer to correct this. If you go the opposite from a 99-04 to a 05+ the wheels will also work but they will sit out to far. There is no easy cure for this one other than having the mounting surface taken down. This may or may not be possible based on the rims design.

Q. Where do I need to place wheel weights at when balancing?
A. I personally would not place them on the outside of the rim due to it looks bad and scratches your rim. I would either place them on the back lip or use stick on weights inside the rim. The problem with weights on the rim lip is that they can catch on things and be pulled off. If you have the correct size tire for your application this should not be an issue as the edge of the tire will protect the rim lip.

Q. How wide of a rim/tire can I fit on the back of my Mustang?
A. Every year change may differ a bit. On 79-93 Fox Mustangs an 8 inch wide rim fits fine with the standard offset (94-04 offset). If you wish to go with a 9 inch wide rim it will work but expect some rubbing and depending on the fender gap and the lowering of the vehicle you may rub on your fender lip. For 94-04 with a live rear axle you can fit up to 11 inch rims with out to much of an issue on the rear and 9 inch wide rims on the front. If you have an IRS equipped car you may have to modify the IRS lower frame bolts or run spacers to clear a wider tire. It varies vehicle to vehicle since Ford’s tolerances vary. Sometimes it comes down to trying things to see what works.

Q. Whats the big deal with C/C plates, what do they even do?
A. If you take a moment to look at the suspension setup on your Mustang you will notice that as the tire comes closer to the fender (the spring compresses) the tip of the tire tips inward and the bottom of the tire tips outward. This is due to the pivot of the front A Arm’s mounting type and the top mounting type for the strut shaft. The same thing happens when you lower the car, its in a constant lower state. You need to pull the strut shaft mounting location outwards to offset the tip in that the tire has. This is the function of Caster/Camber plates. You may also adjust your Caster (front to back) with most good aftermarket C/C plates. Once again with Ford’s specifications some vehicles may need C/C plates and some may not. No one alignment specification is best for all vehicles as driving habbits and the roads you drive on can vary greatly.

Q. Will wheels/tires effect my gas mileage?
A. Yes, they can. Rotational mass is about 10 times greater than dead weight. That means that every pound of dead weight is equal to ten pounds of rotating weight or close to it. Its not a super drastic change but it is noticeable. Overall do not expect a huge decrease overall, maybe a half to one mile per gallon depending on what you upgrade from and to.

Q. Should I upgrade my stock brake system with new wheels/tires?
A. It is always a good idea if you can, its not needed though. The best upgrades for the money would be a set of Cobra brakes and rotors for your GT or V6. If you already have a Cobra then you should be ok unless you have a good bit of power. Then consider some Brembo brake calipers from a 00 Cobra R.

Q. I have bad road noise, what is the problem?
A. Loud road noise or vibrations from your tires can be cause by tire thread separation. This can be due to many factors. Generally speaking, unless the tire itself is known to have these issues, this is caused from poor upkeep and lack of rotating. The only real thing you can do here is rotate the tires to the back from the front as generally the vibration is much less noticeable if the tires are on the rear of the vehicle. If this fails or the tires wont wear normally when placed on the rear of the vehicle you can have the tires cut down to smooth them again. Make sure this is the problem first as tires being out of balance can cause many problems, the same with warped rims or tires that have internal issues.

Q. When I turn my wheels I hear rubbing, what is the problem?
A. The problem is the tire is hitting something of course. There are a few things you can do. If the backspacing is not right you can use spacers to increase it. You can use rack limiters to keep the tire from turning to far if it only happens at a full wheel turn. The 2003 and 2004 cobra for example had to have a place on the chassis notched for its 17×9 rims as well as a steering rack limiter to keep the tire from turning quite as far as it would cause some slight rubbing. All 03-04 Mustangs have the chassis modification so fear not if you have a GT or V6 in this year set.

Q. Can a tire be plugged to fix a leak from a nail or screw?
A. Generally yes, it all depends on where the leak is at. I have had great success with tire plugs or patches. They are usually cheap to have done as well.

Level of Difficulty
On a 1-10 this job gets a 1. This is very easy and doesn’t take long to do.

Maintenance Schedule
Ford recommended a change the stock fill fluid at 100,000 miles but I would strongly suggest every 20,000 for a normal daily driven vehicle. If you race your car perhaps more often so you can catch issues before they leave you stranded.

Items Needed

• Transmission Fluid
• Check your manual for factory recommendations, This is what I would use. Some like different types. I highly recommend you do your homework here as transmissions vary car type to car type, not just model to model. In my case its Mercon/Dextron III from Ford.
• The T-5 / T-45 / T-56 Transmissions all use about 3 quarts of fluid. Check the manual for exact specifications. You may wish to buy one extra quart for flushing the transmission and the pump you will use to fill the fluid into the transmission.
• A fluid pump for refilling the transmission fluid, or you can remove the shifter to add fluid. These are cheap, 10 bucks or so, from your local auto parts store.
• A container to hold the old fluid
• A jack and jack stands to raise the car or ramps
• A socket to remove the bolt to gain access to the oil. Some use just the ratchet, no socket. See images below to see what I mean.

Transmission Side Shots – May vary but this is a general idea

Pump to Put Fluid back in the transmission

Step 1 – Jack up the vehicle / Drive up on some ramps
This is a must to gain access to the transmission. If you can get the car level its best, but not a requirement. I would let the car cool off as well before starting the fluid change. Make sure if you use a jack that you use jack stands and you place them correctly.

Step 2 – Place Item to catch fluid under transmission
The plus is not that long so be ready when you remove it to catch the fluid.

Step 3 – Remove The plugs from the transmission.
Use a ratchet to remove the fill plug and then the drain plug and let the transmission fluid drain. It may be hot if you did not let your car cool down so be careful not to burn yourself.

Transmission Fill Plug and Drain Plug Location

Step 4 – Let it Drain fully
Relax for a few and let all that can drain out, you can pump some extra in to do a final flush if you wish.

Step 5 – Fill the Transmission with Fluid
Put the drain plug back in and snug it down, no need to over tighten. Then take the pump and clean it good. If its new perhaps rinse it out with some extra transmission fluid you have. Either way make sure its clean and wont have anything bad that could get into the transmission inside of it. Take the pump and use that to fill the fluid back into the transmission. Keep track of how much you are putting in and you should see fluid run out of the fill plug once you reach the manufacturer’s recommended fluid levels. Once its full and running out put the fill plug back in. If you don’t have a pump you just poor fluid into the top of the transmission after removing the shifter. You will see the fluid run out of the fill plug once it gets full just like with the pump.

Step 6 – Drive the car off the ramps
Thats about it, just take it for an easy drive and when you get back check for leaks. Might even be a good idea to let it sit for a bit and check for leaks before you drive it. That’s about all there is two it.

Step 7 – First time driving after change
Listen for any odd noises and take it easy on it for a little bit. After a small drive check the bolt to make sure its still tight if you wish (let the engine warm/cool).

Article Credits

If you own a 2003 or 2004 Mustang Cobra I hope you know that is supercharged from the factory. With this information you obviously know it has some upkeep that is needed from time to time. The 2003/2004 Cobra is equipped with a Eaton M112 Roots Supercharger that has its own self contained oil. Ford recommends servicing by changing the oil at 100,000 miles. I personally would rather do it more regularly to keep an eye on any issues that may arise.

Level of Difficulty
On a 1-10 this job gets a 1. This is very easy and doesn’t take long to do.

Maintenance Schedule
Ford recommended a change at 100,000 miles but I would strongly suggest every 50,000. If the supercharger has a smaller pulley on it I would recommend at least every 30,000 if not 15,000. It is a very easy and quick thing to do and you can see any coming signs of issues if the oil is burnt or what have you.

Items Needed

• Supercharger Oil (about 8-10 ounces) – Ford is most expensive, the GM is said to be identical.
• Fords Part number E9SZ-19577-A
• GM Part number 1234-5982
• Some supercharger porting businesses recommend Mobile 1 full synthetic 10w30
• Syringe for sucking out and refilling the oil
• A clear plastic flexible tube for attaching to the end of the syringe
• A container to hold the old supercharger oil
• A rag to keep any oil dripped from getting on anything
• A jack to raise the rear of the car or ramps, not needed but helps to get more oil out
• A bit to remove the bolt to gain access to the oil

Syringe (I found mine at WalMart)

Plastic Tubing (WalMart Automotive)

Step 1 – Jack up the vehicle
You do not have to do this, I recommended it. I wouldn’t use ramps since you need to lower the car back to fill the oil back up. You don’t need to crank the car with no oil in the supercharger.

Step 2 – Place a rag under the supercharger bolt hold you will remove
This keeps any oil that may come out from getting on your engine.

Step 3 – Remove supercharger bolt, some oil may come out but not much.
Slowly break it loose and remove it, Be careful not to drop it.

Supercharger Oil Fill Plug Location

Step 4 – Suck out the old oil
Use the plastic tube and attach it to the end of the syringe. Slowly push the plastic tube (you can cut it to about 8-10 inches long if you wish) into the supercharger where the fill plug was. It should go downward. You don’t have to go all the way down yet. Slowly suck out the oil, it will take a while. Once you are done to make sure you have all of the oil that you can get you can try to push the tube to the very bottom of the fill area to get any remaining oil.

Step 5 – Lower the car back down
Do not crank the vehicle to do this. Once on the ground you will be ready to fill the supercharger oil back up.

Step 6 -Fill the supercharger oil
Clean out the syringe and plastic tube with a bit of the oil you have to remove any old oil. Make sure you keep the syringe free from debris. Slowly fill the supercharger back up with oil. It will be hard to know when you have put enough oil in it as it cant run out of the fill plug hole with the plastic tube in it. After you remove the plastic tube be ready to catch any oil that may run out. Once the supercharger is full (oil coming out of the supercharger fill plug while car is level, there should be 8-10 ounces of oil in it) recap the fill plug.

Step 7 -First time driving after change
Listen for any odd noises and take it easy on it for a little bit. After a small drive check the bolt to make sure its still tight (let the engine warm/cool) and wipe any oil away that may have came out.

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I have a Borla cat back and I polished the exhaust from where it bolts on right behind the pumpkin. Its all that you can see of the exhaust. Mine separated at that point so it made my life easier. Yours may not depending on what you have. Also different metals may polish faster/slower too keep this in mind.

Before

Items Needed (Total cost should be around 20 dollars)

• A set of rubber gloves (good flexibility) as the sanding residue is a pain to wash off.
• 300 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 400 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 600 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 800 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 1000 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 1500 Grit Sand Paper 1 package
• 2000 Grit Sand Paper 2 packages
• A bottle of water (spray bottle if you can) to keep the pipe wet for wet sanding
• Something to wrap your tips in to keep them from becoming scratched.
• Metal Polish
• If possible some sort of electric buffer for the final shine
• Tools to remove and reinstall your catback (each is different so look to see what you need here)
• You can also pick up an extra pack of each sand paper just to be safe as you may need it. In a normal 6 sheet pack from 3M I used 3 sheets (torn in half so 6 parts) for each pipe.

Sand paper I Used

Level of Difficulty
On a 1-10 this job gets a 2. The hardest part is taking the exhaust off. Expect to take around 7 hours to be done. I started at 1pm and finished at 8pm.

Step 1 – Remove Exhaust
Use ramps or jack stands, what ever you want to get the exhaust off. I would highly recommend wrapping the exhaust tips in something to keep them from becoming scratched, it is very easy to scratch them. The stock rubber hangers are the hardest part of this. If you can get them started you can wiggle them off, it just takes a good bit of time. Try to pull down on the exhaust and pull put and shift the hanger back and forth. This little spawn of Satan can be tricky. Don’t throw things if you can help it. After you have the exhaust removed its time to clean them up and sand!

Step 2 – Clean up the exhaust
Clean up the exhaust pipes good to remove nasty road grim

Step 3 – Sand with each level of sand paper
Before you start make sure the tips of your exhaust are protected, as you move the pipe around they may become scratched as mine did. Don;t repeat my mistake. Keep the pipe wet and wiped off as you sand. It makes a mess either way and the stuff that you sand off does not come off easy on what ever it gets on. Be careful where you sand your exhaust at. Take the sand paper pieces and tear them in half and use half of in about 6 inch increments down the pipe keeping an eye on the paper to see when it is used up, Keep it flat for the best results. Use a up and down and side to side motion (circular). Take your time as this is the base of it all and keep the area you are working on clean and wet. Pay attention to how the metal looks after its sanded, you want a uniform pattern all the way. Clean the parts up good before going on and regularly while sanding. Once you are done going in small circular motions go back over the pipe in a straight direction to remove the swirls before moving on to the next level. Make sure you take your time here and don’t hurry through this step. This needs to be the final thing you do between each sanding level.

400 Grit Sand vs Stock Pipe cleaned up

Step 4 – Sand with 1000 grit
Do just like 300/400/600/800 grit, take your time and sand the entire part. It wont be as easy to see where you have been so keep tabs on to what part on the pipe you are going in each 6 inch increment. Clean the parts up good before going on. You can start to see the shine that’s slowly coming out by this step.

1000 Grit vs Stock Pipe just cleaned up

Step 5 – Sand with 1500 grit
Do just like 1000 grit. Start taking a little more time here to bring out the sine good. Clean the parts up good before going on.

1500 grit vs 1000 Grit

Step 6 – Sand with 2000 grit
REALLY take your time here spend twice as much time as you did with the 1500 grit. Make extra efforts to sand the areas that will be seen the most when installed back on the car.Clean the parts up good before going on. If you did like I said and removed all the swirls at the end of each step and took your time you should really start to see a nice shine, the foundation is key here.

2000 Grit (Dirty tough looks better cleaned)

Step 7
Use some really good metal polish and apply some by hand. Do a couple good coats and let it sit for a couple of minutes and buff it off. I do not have an electric buffer or drill so the images below are before this step.

The end results of all the hard work!

Step 9
Reinstall the exhaust and align as needed, finish off by wiping down the exhaust pipes. Make sure your tips are covered. Mine were not and became scratched here. Don’t repeat my mistake.

That is all it takes, the finished results:

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This procedure can be used to either change a broken thermostat, or change your stock 190° to a lower temperature thermostat. You will know to suspect a broken thermostat if your car throws a P0125 Service Engine Soon light. I got mine scanned at Auto Zone for free. I also ordered the Motorcraft replacement thermostat from O’Reilly Auto Parts. Be sure to also get a new O Ring.

Things you will need:

• 10 mm socket for removing thermostat housing and alternator bracket bolts
• 8 mm socket for removing battery terminal cable
• 6” extension
• Ratchet
• Torque Wrench for re-installing thermostat housing bolts (18 ft/lbs)
• Replacement Thermostat
• New O-ring
• Coolant
• Bucket for catching coolant
• Vice Grips (not required, only if you want/need to remove the coolant hose)
• Stove with pan and distilled water for checking the new thermostat
• Screwdriver for popping out the old thermostat
• Funnel

Step 1
Boil distilled water on stove top deep enough to cover thermostat. This checks your thermostat before installing it to make sure it will open. There is no point in installing a bad thermostat as it can damage your engine, and it will make you do the work twice.

When you see the gap as in the picture above, you know that your thermostat has opened. It is now ready to go in your car. You may want to check your o-ring at this point to make sure it is clean.

Step 2
Now you are ready to set the car up to be worked on. Depending on the size of bucket, you will need to jack the car up. My bucket was too tall, so I set the front end on jack stands. You can now get under the car on the passenger side. Be very careful before opening the radiator drain plug as coolant is dangerous and toxic. You will need to be sure to catch all of the coolant and dispose of it properly. Place your bucket under the car and slowly open the drain plug until a stream of coolant is coming out. This is a great time to flush your coolant system.

Step 3
You will need to undo the coolant reservoir cap or the coolant will stop flowing from the drain.

Step 4
You need to wait until the reservoir has emptied. If you take off the thermostat housing before this coolant level has dropped, coolant will fall all over your engine. A lot of coolant will come out, so make sure your bucket is large enough.

Step 5
Here, you should get your 10 mm socket, a 6” extension and your ratchet. Undo the alternator bracket bolts. Remove the bracket.

You will probably notice that I removed my belt for this. I have omitted that step because it isn’t required.

Step 6
Now remove the thermostat housing bolts. They are also 10 mm bolts. For my engine, they were stuck on a little. Some good effort should break these bolts off without too many difficulties. I did this in a little different order. I removed the driver’s side bolt before the passenger side bolt. I would recommend taking off the alternator bracket first.

Step 7
Now pull off the thermostat housing and hose. Some methods say to remove the hose from the housing, but I didn’t find it necessary. If you feel like doing this, use Vice Grips on the wing tabs on the hose to relieve the pressure it applies. You should then be able to pull the hose off the thermostat housing. This step will show you the thermostat.

Step 8
Now use a screwdriver to carefully pull the old thermostat out. You don’t want to indent the housing. Vice Grips may also work well here.

Step 9
Place new thermostat and o-ring into where the old thermostat was. Make sure it is properly seated. If you push down on the thermostat, it will pop into place. Be warned that it will not stay exactly where it was because the spring will push it back up. Try to make sure the o-ring is seated correctly also for a proper seal.

Step 10
Now get your torque wrench. Set it to 18 ft/lbs or 25 Nm. You may want to start the bolts with a ratchet but make sure you switch over to your torque wrench before the bolts are even snug. When you hit 18 ft/lbs on both bolts, the housing is done. Sorry for the blurry picture here (I may take another one later).

Step 11
Reattach your alternator bracket. There weren’t any torque specs that I could find for these bolts, so just snug them on with your ratchet. Don’t over tighten them, remember you’re dealing with aluminum and you don’t want to strip these bolt holes. I don’t have a picture of this, it just goes on like it came off.

Step 12
Now close your radiator drain plug.

Step 13
Refill your coolant. You can use pre-mix, or concentrated as long as you dilute it with distilled water. If you wanted to do a coolant flush, this is where you would deviate from these instructions. Because I have done a coolant flush in the last month, I only needed to fill.

Step 14
When you have refilled the coolant reservoir completely or while you are starting this process, you need to unhook the positive battery terminal wire. This will require an 8 mm socket.

Step 15
After waiting several minutes, to reset your ECU, reattach your battery terminal. After this, you can restart your car and drive it around to thoroughly mix the coolant and to work out the air bubbles and pockets. You will most likely have a fair amount of air that works its way out so remember to check your coolant frequently during this time. You are now done.

What is needed for this install:

• Non Mach Wiring Harness
• Mach 460 Wiring Harness
• Mach 1000 Wiring Harness
• Dash Kit Installation Package

Your dash should look like this:

First thing you wanna do is pull off the shifter bezel. This is best accomplished by using your hands. If you will push outward slightly at these blue marks and pull towards you, the bezel will pull right off. If you have an automatic, you will need to put the car into neutral or lower to get the shifter bezel off. Simply turn your key to accessory setting, set the parking brake, and put the gear shift into neutral or lower.

Once you get it off, you will see one wire with connector. This is your accessory plug. As you will see in the next picture, you use something like a small screwdriver and push the little plastic pin inward and pull the wire out. It looks like this:

Ok, once you get that wire diconnected, put the shifter bezel off to the side out of the way so it will not get damaged.

The next thing you want to do is look at your center bezel (the part around the radio). This also just pops off. If you will, start at the bottom where the blue marks are, and pull outward and toward yourself. The bottom will pop out, next move to center. Push outward and toward yourself on these blue marks and the center will pop out. The last part is working the top out. Don’t be scared to be a little rough with it, it’s pretty hard to break. Here’s a pic of what you will be looking at:

The other pins are shown here, from the backside, to show where you need to be pulling at.

Once you have it off, you will see there are a few wires on the bottom holding it in place. You will disconnect these the same way you disconnected the accessory plug from the shifter bezel. Once these are removed, you can place the bezel somewhere out of the way to keep it from harm.

What you will see now is this:

If you look, at the bottom of the cd player, there are 2 bolts that hold the cd player in place. Take these two bolts out and the cd player will slide right out. Disconnect the two connectors on the back of the cd player. These are your speaker/power connector, and the antenna connector. Once these are disconnected, you can set the factory unit aside and start on the aftermarket unit.

Your aftermarket unit comes with a harness similar to your factory one. You also need one of the three wiring harnesses listed in the Introduction depending on what type of stock audio setup you have.

Once you wire the connector together, plug it into the factory harness, plug the other end into your new cd player. You basically match colors when wiring them up. I recommend you use electrical connectors which you can buy at a local autoparts store such as Advanced Auto Parts. Others have used just electrical tape to tie the wires together and have had no problems. (this may lead to a future short appearing in the wiring however and I would recommend using connectors. I use the blue crimp connectors when doing stereos, they’re not very expensive at all)

Here is where you will need the Installation Dash Kit noted in the introduction.

Once you get your install kit, take the sleeve off your new stereo. Put it in the hole in the kit, and use some sort of small screwdriver to bend the tabs over. This is what will hold your stereo in place. Using the two screws you removed from the bottom of your factory stereo, install your new install piece.

Connect your radio harness and antenna plug into the new radio, push it into the hole, and it will snap itself into place.

Your dash should now look similar to this:

Once here, put the dash back together in the opposite order of the steps listed above, making sure to connect all the wires to their proper places.

Now…sit back and enjoy your new stereo. Job well done.

Here’s what I started with. Everyone’s got them… sad, hazy and yellow:

Here are the new headlights:

Here are the bulbs (I put the stock 9007’s back in the box):

The first thing is to remove this clip:

The headlight is then held in by two more plastic locking tabs. Usually, you can push these in while gently pulling on the headlight assembly. If you have the right tool, you really want to squeeze both sides in while pulling on the headlight. Remember to not pull hard, it’s only held in by plastic parts. Lube helps…

There was one tab facing downwards as well. I used an old distributor wrench to pull up on the tab.

I should have done this before, but remove the one nut holding the side marker light on, and move the sidemarker out of the way

Now, unplug the bulb, and pull the headlight straight out

Install in reverse order, but make very sure that the adjuster assemblies are lined up on their tracks

Lastly, put the sidemarker back on, and the clip on the upper headlight stud

Now the right side was a little less cooperative than the left! Try to have patience, and avoid breaking out the 5 LB. sledge!

A little WD-40 goes a long way when doing this job.