Installing the 05 GT Grille in your 05 V6
#1
03-03-2005, 09:18 AM
Installing the 05 GT Grille in your 05 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
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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
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