Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Pony Car Project: Changing The Fairings

When I bought the Mustang a couple of months ago, one thing was immediately apparent. The ground effect fairings between the wheel wells were not the correct ones for a Mustang GT. The ones installed were after market items. Furthermore, the short side moldings that someone had screwed to the body(they are supposed to be attached with double backed tape) were from a LX model and did not match the other moldings. Some might question, "what difference does it make? It is just a car and this does not effect the operation." And that would be correct, but, this is "The Pony Car Project" to make something great from a project vehicle and it is not intended to make any sense at all!
 
 Here is what I am talking about, the ground effect fairing is the part that fastens between the wheel wells and below the door. The short moldings between the wheel wells and the door are from a Mustang LX model and are narrower than the ones for a GT model. The door molding is missing in this picture.
 One of the first things I bought for the Pony car was a set of OEM ground effect fairings for a Mustang GT. I found the ones that fit between the fender wells and under the door on Ebay and bought them from a company in Pennsylvania. A couple of weeks ago, I cleaned them up, sanded them smooth and painted them to match the Mustang.

 Here is the right side with the fairings installed. These fairings have a "fake" brake cooling scoop(there is also a matching one in front of the front wheels), a "MUSTANG GT" logo on the rocker panel area and the size matches the existing door molding. Furthermore, there are no unsightly screws holding parts on, they fairings are attached from behind. I think this gives the car a slightly wider, lower and tougher appearance than the old fairings.
Here is the left side. I still have not installed the rubber door molding. I am still cleaning it and will need to paint it to match before I install it. Even without the door molding installed, I think this looks much better. The short sections of LX moldings were screwed on and hanging loose at odd angles. It was very distracting.

Here are the old fairings posing for a picture that is now posted on Craigslist. Hopefully they will find a new home.

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