00R/T’s 2000 Mustang GT Convertible

[00R/T]

After I sold my Camaro last year, I’ve been itching for something with a V8 and 3 pedals again. I’ve been casually browsing auctions and local adds for the past 6 months or so trying to find one of the cars I wanted back when I was in high school. This Mustang popped up around 35 minutes away sometime in December, and it checked all the boxes. I made plans to look at it around Christmas week, but ended up being too busy. The seller and I then went back and forth for literally months trying to align our schedules and I was going to go see it 3 weeks ago before I left for a work trip. That morning he called and said the car wouldn’t start and he couldn’t show it. It turned out to be the fuel pump, and he had a local shop replace it while I was gone. As soon as I got back home on Friday I went over, checked it out, and brought it home Saturday morning. I’ve been away all weekend so I haven’t had a chance to play with it at all, but hopefully I’ll have some time to get it registered and mess with it this week.

I’ve looked at a decent number of these and it is by far the cleanest example I’ve seen, so I had to buy it. It spent most of its life in CA, then 2 years in TX, and finally 3 years here in LA with the guy I bought it from. The top was replaced in 2019 and last year it got a new clutch, alternator, battery, and all new A/C (evap, condenser, compressor). It’s stock other than flowmaster mufflers, a k&n intake, and eibach 2” drop springs (which have to go because the ride is downright painful).

The first projects are to get the top working reliably and figure out why the key fob doesn’t work.

[Sneke_Eyez]

Very cool and it looks very clean. Just going to have to call you JoeKD now!
Interested in seeing your progress!

[FIREM]

Enjoy ! Should be fun now that you are out of "Snow" country

[M-Pressive]

I keep talking about picking up a convertible.

Been eyeing an srt crossfire at a local dealer.

[00R/T]

I keep talking about picking up a convertible.

Been eyeing an srt crossfire at a local dealer.

I had an ecoboost convertible as a rental in CA and when I came home I decided I wanted one. I think it’s a natural reaction to no longer being in New England. lol

I seriously considered a couple German options, but since I also wanted a “muscle car” I figured I could just kill two birds with one stone.

[00R/T]

The top system was very low on fluid and topping it off got the top working properly. It’s hard to say if it’s just 23 years of normal seepage around the seals or a leak, so I’m just going to have to watch it. The good news is the motor seems fine, so worst case it should be just cylinder replacement(s) (the pair cost less than the motor).

The key fob wasn’t an issue on the car side. The unlock button was worn out and killing the battery and also preventing the doors from staying locked. So, I desoldered it and swapped it with the panic button and everything was good. I ordered two new replacement fobs so once they arrive that should all be good.

The cassette deck and cd changer combo is really not cutting it. So I’m going to convert to the 01+ double-DIN setup and an aftermarket radio. I didn’t want to spend much right now because I’m eventually going to put in a whole system. I ended up buying the cheapest no-name CarPlay-compatible radio I could find and will just pair that up with the existing Mach 460 system so I have something for now.

The stock shifter is awful. Aside from being sloppy and clunky the reach is way too far. I’m going to replace it with a Pro-5.0 Power Tower and a longer Hurst handle. I found a used Power Tower locally so that’ll save me some money. The car has what appear to be Ford Racing aluminum pedal pads from the Bullitt/Cobra/Mach 1 and the clutch one has the nubs completely worn down, which causes my foot to slip off constantly. I ordered a replacement pad which should remedy that problem. I also find the clutch pedal to be way too high (a common complaint) so I ordered a pedal heigh adjustment kit and the new billet quadrant and firewall adjuster it requires. Finally, the throttle cable is stretched and it causes the accelerator to flop around. It can be “fixed” with zip ties and that’s what most people do, but a cable with that much stretch is on borrowed time and I’d rather replace it than have it snap on me when I’m away from home. After I get these things done I’m going to relocate the seat further back so my knees stop hitting the dash and it should be a much more comfortable car to drive.

[Sneke_Eyez]

Sounds like the kind of basic stuff that someone else was "ok" with, but you're going to fix right.

You can easily own a convertible in New England, my mom has a 200 Limited Hardtop she adores. The difference is that you guys just get more opportunity to drive with the top down in those snow-less states!

[In-trepid]

I can truly appreciate the wanting to get everything right. I bought one of my 300m Special cars sight unseen as being in excellent condition. While in pretty good condition, there were a few things that just weren't up to my standards that needed to be fixed.

While I grew up "hating" Fords, the Mustangs (except in the Mustang ll years) have always seemed to be nice rides. I hope you enjoy the car and good luck with all of the little things to get it to your standards.

[00R/T]

Well, I had a productive weekend. I found a great deal on a used shifter locally. A guy got it in a box of parts with a fox bo chassis he bought. It was pretty cruddy, but I completely disassembled it, cleaned everything, bought new hardware, and put it back together with fresh grease

That cheap $50 Amazon no-name radio I mentioned worked OK, but the size and mounting holes were off a bit from DIN standard so it wouldn’t work with out a lot of fab work I didn’t feel like dealing with. So, back it went in favor of a Pioneer unit with wireless CarPlay and Sirius support.

Both the GPS and Sirius antennas were magnetic, so rather than use double sided tape I decided to epoxy a metal plate to the top of the dash vents to mount them. That worked well and now they’ll be easy to pull out if needed.


Because I’m a psychopath and like creating extra work for myself, I took the Sirius unit apart, desoldered the cable from the board, and shortened it.




I then double-sided taped it to the back of the radio.


Next I built my harness for the radio. I disassembled a USB-C charger, soldered wires to the board, and hardwired it to switched power (more on that later). I also made a little “T” connector for the parking brake switch so I wouldn’t need to splice anything in the car.


Here is the new dash kit installed with the radio, the new shifter, and the Hurst lever/knob. To the right of the climate controls is an aluminum ball that threads onto a stud I attached t

[00R/T]

Well, I had a productive weekend. I found a great deal on a used shifter locally. A guy got it in a box of parts with a fox bo chassis he bought. It was pretty cruddy, but I completely disassembled it, cleaned everything, bought new hardware, and put it back together with fresh grease

That cheap $50 Amazon no-name radio I mentioned worked OK, but the size and mounting holes were off a bit from DIN standard so it wouldn’t work with out a lot of fab work I didn’t feel like dealing with. So, back it went in favor of a Pioneer unit with wireless CarPlay and Sirius support.

Both the GPS and Sirius antennas were magnetic, so rather than use double sided tape I decided to epoxy a metal plate to the top of the dash vents to mount them. That worked well and now they’ll be easy to pull out if needed.


Because I’m a psychopath and like creating extra work for myself, I took the Sirius unit apart, desoldered the cable from the board, and shortened it.




I then double-sided taped it to the back of the radio.


Next I built my harness for the radio. I disassembled a USB-C charger, soldered wires to the board, and hardwired it to switched power (more on that later). I also made a little “T” connector for the parking brake switch so I wouldn’t need to splice anything in the car.


Here is the new dash kit installed with the radio, the new shifter, and the Hurst lever/knob. To the right of the climate controls is an aluminum ball that threads onto a stud I attached to the dash support so it’s good and sturdy. That will combine with the USB-C cable and charger I mentioned earlier for a MagSafe phone mount/charger. Unfortunately I damaged the charger trying to get the stupid name off the front, so I’m waiting on a new one from Amazon.



I couldn’t get the new aluminum clutch pad on so I picked up a stock rubber one for now and will try again when I pull the pedal out to replace the other parts. That combined with the shifter make it like a whole different car. I discovered that the car had a cheap aftermarket shifter installer already, and in addition to being clunky and rough, it was adjusted improperly. The aftermarket shifters for these cars have stops you can set so if you slam it into gear you’ll hit them instead of putting all that force on the shift forks. You’re supposed to adjust them so you have around 10/1000” gap when pushing on the shifter in gear. This one was adjusted all the way out, and it explains why I would sometimes grind second gear. Each gear fully engaged now, and I can to it without having to lean forward in an uncomfortable position. Night and day!