Modular 4.6L Tech For all your 1996-2005+ 2V, 3V, and 4V modular motor needs.

Installing The GT Grille in your V6

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
  #1  
Old 03-03-2005, 09:21 AM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default Installing The GT Grille in your V6

I am not trying to advertise, but I need to address this issue. I have seen several people that have tried to jump on the GT Grille swap for the V6 including some Ford dealers. The GT Grille is taller and wider than the V6, as we all know. I have e-mailed the dealerships that I saw advertising this as a direct swap. One did not replay and the other said, "you may need to switch the bumper cover, it is a different part number, I am not really sure", end of replay. I e-mailed the guy and suggested that if that is what was needed that you should put that in your advertisement, I received no further reply, and no change was made in his advertisement. I would also like to say that Ford is not helpful when dealing with "parts swapers" as they call us. I also noticed here that posts on some forums suggesting that you cutt the V6 grille to allow the fog lights to be mounted in the stock grille. They go on to suggest that you install fog lights that can be found at Walmart. While this is a cheap way to get fog lights, these lights are smaller than the GT lights and in my opinion do not look stock. I am a BIG stock freak, so when I am changing stuff around, I don't want it to look obviously, "aftermarket". I would hate to have cut up my nice new mustang.

Saying all this, you can get the GT Grille to fit into the V6 bumper cover without modification to your bumper cover. The reason for my post is that I do sell a kit with all the parts, grille, lights, wiring harness, switch...the whole 9 yards, but you will have to find it if your are intersted, I am just giving our experience with the grille swap here for those that have an interest in doing this to their Mustang. I most importantly wanted to eliminate any of these false conceptions about the swap and I wanted everyone to know what was entailed.

The GT Grille can be fit into the V6 bumper cover, as I have said. You will need to unhook the bumper cover on both sides of the grille. Remove the V6 grille, starting at the top clips and working your way down. DO NOT DAMAGE THE RETAINER TABS on the bumper cover. Install your wiring harness and plug it into the fog lights. NOW HERE IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WHOLE DEAL.

Remove the bottom clips on the GT Grille, they don't line up, and they don't reach back far enough to clip into the bumper cover so you don't need them. Remove them with a pair of tin snips (JUST THE BOTTOM CLIPS ONLY). Clip the drivers side Grille clips into the bumper cover. NOW HERE IS WHERE YOU NEED TO DO SOME WORK AND HAVE SOME PATIENCE...Clip the passenger side in. This will require some muscling, perhaps some assistance with a flat screwdriver to line the slot and the grille clip. Do this carefully, but it can be done. You will clip the top clip in fairly easy. The bottom one, you will push and pull and push and pull and it will seem like it will never go in, and just when you are ready to give up…it just pops in. I don't know how else to describe it. Once both side clips are done, us a pair of pliers and position the retainer tabs on the bumper cover into position as much as possible to hold the grille in the bumper cover. Replace the bumper cover to the original position, clipping both sides back into place and replacing the retainer bolts on both sides of the grille. Then reinstall the engine compartment (fan shroud) cover with the original 6 plugs, in the top of the GT Grille and radiator cross member, these holes will line up or can be made to line up. You may also want to slightly bend forward your hood release so it is easier to get to…just slightly.

The final result is that the GT grille will sit slightly farther out on the bottom than the stock grille. Because of the lines of the bottom of the grille, the bumper cover and the hood, it looks all pretty stock. I have shown my car to a Ford Parts Manager and Service Manager at my local dealership and they thought it looked good. There is a slight gap between the bottom of the grille and the top of the bumper cover, again because of the lines, it all looks stock. Unless you had your car sitting next to a GT and pointed out the difference, it is unlikely that anyone will notice. Many, many people have seen my car and my buddy's car and no one has noticed that it is not stock or mentioned the gap. In fact, they rave about how much better it looks with the fog lights in the grille.

The lights issue. You cannot just change the in dash headlight switch and hope everything will work. The GT and the V6 have a different wiring harness under the hood. The switch in the dash is a low power switch that seems to operate relays to power the fog lights and head lights...so you can't just tap into the switch. If you look in your owners manual you won't even find a fuse or relay for the headlights, only the fog lights and the high beams (but fog lights aren't supported in the V6 Fuse box). Because of the relay system you don't have "old school" on/off power at the headlights and the wiring there is insufficient (we think) to run both the headlights and fog lights anyway. So the best route is to wire a separate harness that isolates the Fog lights in it's own circuit. Requires no splicing and if you do it right, no one even notices it under the hood. We use a 15 amp in-line fuse to protect your electrical system. The Fog Light bulbs are a new (of course, Ford has to switch things up all the time and use different plugs to keep things interesting) Sylvania #9145 or H10, and you can get the plug with pig tails, to plug right into the fog lights from your Ford Dealer to make the Fog Light end of your harness, if you are going to build it yourself. The motor craft part number for the plug with pigtails is 1U2Z-14S411-FA.

The bottom line is that this swap is possible, I know cause I have done it. It looks great! You don't need to start paying through the nose, cutting up your nice new Mustang...shop around. You can find a lot of the parts listed here and there on the Internet. Or you can get most of the stuff I talked about here from your local Ford Dealership. But that is probably the most expensive place to buy it.

Hope this helps
 
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
Drivers Side.jpg (138.1 KB, 113 views)
File Type: jpg
Side Shot Nose.jpg (152.7 KB, 94 views)
File Type: jpg
After Lights ON.jpg (119.4 KB, 96 views)
File Type: jpg
Underhood.jpg (138.3 KB, 97 views)
  #2  
Old 03-03-2005, 02:26 PM
Stevoneo's Avatar
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Posts: 598
Default

Dont Double Post.
 
  #3  
Old 03-03-2005, 06:33 PM
WaterDR's Avatar
Administrator
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 6,613
Default

He's OK. The other post was just pix's. This is more of a how to sort of thing.
 
  #4  
Old 03-04-2005, 09:23 AM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default GT Grille Kit

Sorry for the double post. Am new to posting on forums. Just trying to get the info out there.
 
  #5  
Old 03-12-2005, 06:44 AM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default See a converted V6 in person

Well I know this is a hot topic to a lot of people and it is difficult in understand from low res pictures just how the GT grille conversion works or looks. So for any of you out there that are in the Orlando area this weekend. There is a "yellow mustang registry" car show going on and Danny, with the yellow mustang V6 with the black stripes, will have his car at the show. If any of you are interested in getting an up close look, talking to Danny, or just enjoying a bunch of much of Mustangs in one spot, stop by!

Charlie
 
  #6  
Old 03-13-2005, 12:17 PM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default The Verdict is in...

Here is a post from another forum on the GT Grille swap issue that I thought you might find interesting...

I'm in Orlando, and I did get the chance to stop by the show this afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long, and wasn't able to meet Dan, but I did get a good look at his car. And it happened to be parked right next to a yellow 2005 GT, so I could make a real side-by-side comparison.
The verdict? This conversion looks good. I admit I had my doubts, as I've seen such grille swaps done badly, but Charlie's method really seems to work.
On the GT, the bumper is molded to accept the lower lip of the GT grille, which sort of nestles right in. The way Dan's car is done, the lip sticks out a fraction of an inch and sits above the the bumper. But you'd have to get down on your hands and knees and look at it *really* close to see this. From any normal view it looks perfectly fine.
So, my apologies to Charlie for an earlier post in which I lumped him in with others who have tried to do this grille swap without taking the time to get it right.
 
  #7  
Old 03-13-2005, 12:20 PM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default Pics of the comparision

Sorry didn't get it in my pervious post
 
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
GT.jpg (133.4 KB, 60 views)
File Type: jpg
Conversion.jpg (132.0 KB, 54 views)
  #8  
Old 03-14-2005, 10:07 PM
dannyb785's Avatar
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,176
Default

Just pay $5,000 more and get a real gt. Its less than a hundred more per month. go here and see for yourself.

http://www.dod.mil/mapsite/carpay.html
 
  #9  
Old 03-15-2005, 09:51 AM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default Just by a GT?

The pros and cons of that has been tossed around on most of the mustang forums out there. Yes, the payments are probably about a hundred a month more, but there are other considerations like insurance. Whether you think everyone that would like fog lights in their grille should just go buy a GT or not is really immaterial. If that is the only reason you would buy a GT over a V6, then I am sure you would realize that, based on your math from your post, it would be cheaper for the guy to buy a V6 and do the grille swap. That would save him about $8,700 plus interest and insurance near as I can figure.

Saying all that, there will be nearly 200,000 v6 mustangs built in the 05 production. And if those guys want driving lights, like I do, then so be it.
 
  #10  
Old 03-15-2005, 10:16 AM
dannyb785's Avatar
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,176
Default

That's not what I meant. It was part sarcasm, and part reality. People like the Gt grills with the fog lights. People also like to go fast. And contrary to popular belief, gt's insurance is not more than v6. If it is, it is only marginal. Do you think its one amount for a gt, more for a cobra, more for a vette, more for a viper, then more for a ferrari? No. if you do the research, you'll see that insurance companies file cars under "sport" "family car" etc. You got a v6 mustang? how bout a vette? theyre both sports cars and will have the same premiums. Check to see for yourself, you'll be surprised. Anyways..back to the foglights...If you like to go fast, like the gt look, like 2 extra cylinders, and can afford at most, 100 more a month than a comparable v6 w/ the same features, then go GT. It'll be more worth it in the long run if you want to add performance.
 
  #11  
Old 03-15-2005, 05:50 PM
charl1701's Avatar
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 13
Default Performance vs. Look

I am not sure about the insurance issue. I think insurance on a Ferrari is going to be higher than your GT, if for no other reason that a price difference/replacement value. The other reason insurance might be higher is that the GT begs to be driven at the higher end of the envelope and thus the insurance company knows that they will most likely be fixing them because of this. And owners driving record would then also play into the cost. But this all has very little to do with the topic, I was just using this as an example of other possible costs.

The bottom line is as you said it, if someone weighs the pros and cons of a V6, doesn't want the extra horses and the extra 2 cylinders, then they buy a V6. That leaves this with the visual issues, if they like the look of the fog lights, then they will either have to live with their absence, or do a grille swap to get the look. I am sure, as I said, just based on the numbers of V6's that will be produced this year, there are a lot of people that either can't find a GT, or have decided that the V6 is plenty of car for them. I am one of the ones that have made that decision. I found the V6 to be plenty of car for me...I couldn't justify the additional money for the GT, but I wanted the Fog Lights in my Grille. Not to fake anyone out, I just think they look GREAT!
 
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Steve@CJPP
Sponsors
0
11-27-2012 08:47 AM
acspony
AmericanMuscle
2
03-06-2005 11:07 AM
charl1701
The Reference Section
0
03-03-2005 09:18 AM
styles
V6 Tech Forums
10
01-25-2005 05:25 PM
njblackstang
AmericanMuscle
3
10-14-2004 01:58 PM



Quick Reply: Installing The GT Grille in your V6



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 11:14 PM.