We've been hoping for the opportunity to work on 2008 Mustang
Bullitt. Bullitt owners tend to limit the number of aftermarket
accessories that they install on their Mustang, so when we got the call
that we would do some customizing on a Bullitt, needless to say we were
pretty excited.
The Mustang Bullitt is a tribute car to the classic movie "Bullitt" that starred the late movie icon Steve McQueen. In 2001 the Ford Motor Company released the first Bullitt Mustangs and then again
in 2008-2009. Limited in production and color selection Bullitts were
only available in black, True Blue and Highland Green with the latter
being the most popular.
We received a phone call from
Bret D. owner of a 2008 Mustang Bullitt, Bret explained to us that his
Bullitt was a daily driver with 70,000 miles and also a show car, which
is some what rare for a car with 70K miles. After talking with Bret, I
realized that he was very meticulous about his Bullitt. We knew from
day one we wanted to do something special and classy for his '08
Bullitt. Bangastang doesn't believe in ruining a Mustang, just
enhancing it. Bret told us the ideas that he had for his Bullitt and
after a few conversations we came up with a game plan. With some
Mustang accessories from Bangastang and the painting skills of Pat's Custom Cars and Bret's input we started "Project Bullitt".
When we first saw Bret's Bullitt it was obvious he had taken very good care of his car. Already outfitted with Silverhorse Racing Louvers , Bassini exhaust, Ford Racing headers, MAG FuelRail Covers and Plenum Cover, Bret's motor was clean something that we don't see enough of inshow
cars.You've heard the expression "if it's not broke don't fix it",
Bret's Bullitt was not broke it just needed a little freshening up and a
few Mustang accessories
to enhance Bullitt #2978. Bret has won his share of trophies for his
Bullitt and wanted to make sure he continued to win more trophies. Bret
had a good idea what he wanted for his car so an initial parts list was
put together that included a California Special Front Fascia, Trufiber SVT fiberglass hood and one of our Bangastang Radiator Covers
One thing to remember when customizing any car your initial parts list
may grow and setbacks can happen like it did with "Project Bullitt".
Pat's
and his crew starting to dismantle the Bullitt in preparation for
paint, this was not going to be a scuff and mask paint job like most or
your collision shops. Pat's Custom Cars does ground-up restorations, rotisserie work and custom paint.
Within
a few days the parts started to arrive, first up was the California
Special Front Fascia, remember what I said earlier about setback? The
CS Front Fascia was damaged in the shipping...OUCH!
With
any car build there is always a delay and this was our first. Two days
later the Trufiber SVT Hood arrived with the corner broken off. I was
starting to think the courier must have been Camaro owners and didn't
want to see "Project Bullitt" finished.
We
had already waited five days for freight delivery of the hood and we
didn't want any more delays or damaged shipments so I decided to make
the four hour roundtrip drive to Trufiber in Corona California to pick up the hood. A few days later another California Special Front Fascia was delivered safe and sound.
Let
me briefly discuss fiberglass hoods and some of the debate regarding
them, for the record all fiberglass hoods require some level of filler
and block sanding during the prep stage. I've not seen one fiberglass
hood that was perfect and didn't need block sanding. Don't buy a
fiberglass hood for $700 and pay $300 for painting and expect it to be
show worthy.....won't happen. Too many times body shops are not
experienced in fiberglass prep and don't take the time to prepare the
hood for painting only to rush into paint, once the hood dries every
imperfection shows, you're not happy with the paint, the body shop
tells you the hood is defective and you should get your money back from
the manufacturer. The bottom line is you get what you pay for and cheap
is not cheap.
Bangastang carries Trufiber, Suncoast, RK Sport Mustang Hoods and we find all of them to be good quality Mustang Hoods.
Once
the Trufiber Hood and California special Front Fascia was prepped the
painting started, only top quality PPG paint was used and we stayed with
the original Highland Green hue.
Next
on our list was to come up with a Radiator Cover for the Bullitt, we've
been making our one piece Radiator Covers for the Mustangs and GT500
for three years and have shipped out almost 300 but we've never done one
for the Bullitt. The Bullitt has a Ford Racing Cold Air Intake that is
specific to the 2008-2009 Bullitt and different from all the other CAI
on the market. We knew we would have to modify our Bangastang GT/V6
Radiator Cover to fit around the Heat Shield for the Bullitt. Using poster
board we made a template that outlined the CAI once the template was
fine tuned we cut a Radiator Cover and test fitted it on the Bullitt.
After a few modifications we were ready for the final cut, remember
measure twice and cut once.
One of the first things
that I noticed on Bret's Bullitt was the Midwest Auto Gears' Plenum
Cover and Fuel Rail Covers, unfortunatly Midwest Auto Gear is no longer
in business. There were a few more pieces to the engine bay that we
could add to bring more color and continuity to the Bullitt. Our good
friends with Cal Pony Cars make a Mustang Fuse Box Cover, Shock Tower Covers and Battery and Master Cylinder Cover that would top off the 4.6 V8 engine nicely with some Highland Green paint.
We
were starting to get down to the final stages of "Project Bullitt" and
we needed a little extra bling for the engine bay. After talking with
Bret we decided to change out all of the stock screws in his engine bay
and add billet screw and washers to add a more custom look. All total
there is about 26 fasteners that we changed. Can Christmas come any
faster?
The
Bullitt is painted, clearcoated with four coats of PPG clear, wet
sanded and buffed now it's time for the Trufiber SVT Hood to go on. The
Trufiber SVT Hood gives the Bullitt that retro look of the original '68
Bullitt. The hood fits fine with no issues.
Instead of using the Redline Tuning Hood struts that Bret had on his stock hood we opted to us a set of Cal Pony Cars Mustang Hood Struts
these hood struts don't require drilling for installation and come
color matched in most of the popular OEM Ford Mustang colors.
Time to check and double check everything before Bret picks up his Bullitt. Bret has a smile on his face so I guess he's happy.
ACCESSORIES AND MODIFICATIONS ON "PROJECT BULLITT"
- Complete repaint using PPG Highland Green paint with four coats of clear.
- Cowl painted in Hot Rod Black
- Side Mirrors painted in Hot Rod Black
- Rear Taillight Panel painted in Hot Rod Black
- Trufiber SVT fiberglass Hood
- California Special Front Fascia
- Cal Pony Cars Hood Struts
- Cal Pony Cars Battery and Master Cylinder Cover painted in Highland Green
- Cal Pony Cars Shock Tower Covers
- Cal Pony Fuse Box Cover painted in Highland Green with Satin Silver ribs
- Painted OEM Overflow Tank in Highland Green
- Bangastang custom made Radiator Cover
- Custom smoked headlights, taillights and turn signals
- Billet aluminum satin finish fasteners
All parts and accessories are available from www.bangastang.com
If you own a 2005-2012 Ford Mustang and need some help in accessorizing your Mustang check out our website www.bangastang.com or give us a call 866-477-1073. For top notch painting contact Pat's Custom Cars in Romona California 760-445-7345.
Please let us know what you think about "Project Bullitt" and leave us a comment on our blog.
Mr. Bangastang
