FACTORY SPEED SHOP
Everyone knows how tuneable the Mustang is, with so many great upgrade parts available. Turns out, you can even get some of them from your main dealer…
If you’ve been kind enough to follow this project from the start, first, thank you, and second, you’ll know that one of my main purchase motivators for the Mustang, other than its great looks and brilliant value, was its out-and-out tweakability. It’s a brilliant car off the showroom floor, but with a few choice mods and changes, it’s an extraordinary one.
That’s why, so far, it’s had uprated subframe mods, Bilstein suspension, a Milltek exhaust and several details to make it feel like mine. Indeed, I’ve been trawling the wonderful sea of aftermarket goodies to make the Mustang into the dream V8 coupé I’ve always wanted.
But that did leave me wondering what might be available from the Ford genuine parts counter. Over in the USA, Ford main dealers offer a plethora of mods, upgrades and options for the pony car, to a level of modification that would give most warranty departments sleepless nights.
Over here, things are understandably a little more reserved, but that doesn’t mean you can’t walk into your local Ford store, order some pretty sweet upgrades and have them fitted under the warm, fuzzy blanket of Uncle Henry covering anything that happens afterwards. Fitting genuine is always such a joy on that front, huh?
My local dealer, Sandicliffe, is a home of true petrolheads. As well as several of the sales team owning some pretty covetable RS stuff, the dealership itself recently put its modding money where its mouth is, building the insane, 702bhp Bullitt Steeda Mustang. Find me a main dealer fitting Whipple superchargers to the showroom stock, and I’ll show you a place that deserves my custom.
Ford offers some really nice upgrades for the ‘Stang on the official accessories site, but the rather fetching strut brace, quickshift and bonnet struts were what most caught my eye. And with winter well and truly on the way, and the car sitting outside from time to time, the tailored car cover also looked like a canny buy.
Parts ordered and the car booked in, I joined master tech Paul once again to have them all fitted up. Paul fitted my Steeda
subframe lock-out kit and hugely impressed me, both with his encyclopaedic knowledge of all Fords, but also his neat, measured working style and care for the patient on the ramp.
The bonnet struts were an easy fix – and solved the rather archaic issue of having to use a stay. The neat brackets simply bolted in, with just a few alterations to the surrounding plastic needed to make everything sit perfectly. It also meant that the bonnet would keep itself up for the rest of the session.
Next was the beautiful strut brace. Again, a very simple fit onto the factory mount points, but one that adds a little visual lift under the bonnet with its smart branding, as well as doubtless bringing dynamic benefits to frontend rigidity. It was all shaping up nicely.
The last mod was one I didn’t want to tackle myself: the quickshift. The factory shift action is pretty nice, but the throw is a little long when you’re really on it and motoring through the back lanes. The Ford part is noticeably shorter and beautifully made, but does involve some fairly dexterous handling and fitting to get it all hooked up. It looked like a pretty painful experience for poor old Paul as he did his best impression of a surgeon, posting and fitting the parts through a tiny gap. Rather him than me, that’s for sure.
As always, he did an amazing job, with the test-drive home proving this was all very sensible modding that made the drive feel much more positive, particularly with each gear change.
As it’s a ‘car for life’ I’m probably going to keep the GT out of the salt during the coming months, so I expect the cover to get some use. Maybe have a look at what your dealer can do next time you’re making a few changes. You could be very pleasantly surprised.