[Shawnski]

Jacob, you work fast! It might be too late to warn you, but if you haven’t already, you might want to delete or trim the snorkel and airflow management flaps that contact the now-much-larger UP intercooler. Take it from me, it’s shocking how fast plastic and EPDM can grind through aluminum.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Jacob, you work fast! It might be too late to warn you, but if you haven’t already, you might want to delete or trim the snorkel and airflow management flaps that contact the now-much-larger UP intercooler. Take it from me, it’s shocking how fast plastic and EPDM can grind through aluminum.

I guess I just got lucky because I didn’t like the look of it and just cut all of that plastic off below the crash bar to keep the intercooler unobstructed. I just left the piece that covers the line going to the radiator as protection. I’ll have the bumper off again next weekend so I’ll make sure nothing is loose that could rub it over time.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Strange thing I noticed today, the accident may have fixed the tail lights because now the sequential turn signals work haha, big win there

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Another weekend at the good ole mom and pop workshop, another weekend of progress. Got ambitious and tried to tackle some things by myself that I either had no experience with or just really should have waited for a second set of hands. Started off with a valiant attempt at vinyl wrapping my roof. After my dad and I learned doing a wrap outside in the sun keeps the whole sheet hot, I thought I could tackle this one myself, which ended miserably after a large gust of wind midway through decided the car looked better with a white top.

However, the failures stop there (just for a bit). I switched out the headlights with some HID mustang style lights. Working on figuring out a proper ballast/canbus/decoder setup so that they actually fully function on auto lights rather than just manually, and so that they don’t give the turn signal out warning.

Replaced the top grill with a carbon fiber slatted one. Also took out the lower grill in advance for when I put in my matching bottom that was delayed in shipping :/ Then I fixed the paint job I was left with on the bottom of the bumper and painted the Ford badge to match the rear.

That unfortunate atrocity on the floor was my attempt at fiberglassing my own custom splitter. Turns out the resin I had dissolves insulation board. I salvaged half of it, and plan to 3D model and 3D print a prototype, but I’ll make a thread for that if people are interested. Lastly for this weekend, I put on a Ford Edge Sport engine cover and painted the sport lettering to match the Ford badges. I would not recommend it for the faint of heart, I had to cut the absolute hell out of it and make my own mounts to make it fit. I personally think it looks incredible so it was definitely worth it in my mind.

As a wrap up of the weekend, here are some before and after pics:

 

[Fozzy]

Great job. Really like the lights and cover. Looking mean. You may have to consider the flares to give it a wide body look too.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Great job. Really like the lights and cover. Looking mean. You may have to consider the flares to give it a wide body look too.

Definitely want to do flares down the road, I think it’ll probably be post graduation when I have real job money since I’d probably get rims with the flares for looks/fitment. I might go crazy though with some of the accident money and do the work myself since Ford estimated to replace a bunch of stuff that I’m fine leaving damaged and just getting the money for (ie. $2000 OEM exhaust replacement).

 

[Shawnski]

I recommend getting some hood struts. Mine are Steeda but there’s other quality units out there. It’s a small thing but the convenience is great and it cleans up the look eliminating the hood prop when you’ve got the hood up.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

I recommend getting some hood struts. Mine are Steeda but there’s other quality units out there. It’s a small thing but the convenience is great and it cleans up the look eliminating the hood prop when you’ve got the hood up.

I had hood struts on my last fusion and liked them. I’d probably go that route when I do the carbon fiber hood

 

[Hootushead]

Did you have issues with the Edge engine cover touching your hood when closed?

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Did you have issues with the Edge engine cover touching your hood when closed?

At first it wouldn’t even close. I used your video and thread to start which is where I got the idea for it. I also had to cutout the corner for my BOV setup, cut part of the intake side to fit the steeda intake, and cut a ton off the bottom. In the end I don’t think it touches the hood anymore since I can drop the hood and it closes easily.

 

[Hootushead]

At first it wouldn’t even close. I used your video and thread to start which is where I got the idea for it. I also had to cutout the corner for my BOV setup, cut part of the intake side to fit the steeda intake, and cut a ton off the bottom. In the end I don’t think it touches the hood anymore since I can drop the hood and it closes easily.

Thx for the info! Any chance you could post some pics of where you cut and how you made a mount? Thx!

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Thx for the info! Any chance you could post some pics of where you cut and how you made a mount? Thx!

Sure. I just cut up and epoxied on a piece from the scrap and drilled a hole through it. I could only get my mount to work on the center hole, the one I made for the nut by the oil cap kept breaking but probably because my cut there was really jagged. For almost all of the front where it really extends down I cut flush with the rest and removed the part where the oil cap and nut are located. I cut all the standoffs flush with the underside of the cover, and where the screw goes I just flush to the padding.

 

[Hootushead]

Sure. I just cut up and epoxied on a piece from the scrap and drilled a hole through it. I could only get my mount to work on the center hole, the one I made for the nut by the oil cap kept breaking but probably because my cut there was really jagged. For almost all of the front where it really extends down I cut flush with the rest and removed the part where the oil cap and nut are located. I cut all the standoffs flush with the underside of the cover, and where the screw goes I just flush to the padding.
View attachment 28563
View attachment 28564 View attachment 28565 View attachment 28566

Yup… you cut a lot more than me. I’m gonna trying trimming it a bit more like yours and see if I can get it drop down some more. Thanks!

 

[OX1]

I like it, but it would be hard to dust around it. Everyone keeps a dust rag in their car too, right? Right?

Of course, anti-scratch cloth (the type that comes with new prescrip eyewear) for the screens, paper towels
to set in/under cup holders/cups (just in case), black towels over both front seats, upper and lower (since new),
trunk has bag with old bed comforter, old bedsheet, and thick towel in case anything put in, FS needs protection from,
steering wheel cover, to protect leather from my "who the heck knows what I was just messing with" hands.

lightly sorry for the mini-hijack

 

[Shawnski]

I guess the OX1 stands for “Obsessive? Xtremely! One”?

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Well I’m definitely having some fun issues with the headlights. The DRL’s randomly shutoff and won’t automatically turn on with the auto lights. I’ve got “turn signal out” errors as well even though the turn signals work. Ordered a ForScan tool but if anyone has ever gone this route any advice would be sweet. I’ve checked out this forum page that didn’t seem to end up going anywhere: Ebay/Amazon Aftermarket Mustang Style Headlights, Any Good?. Other than that I’ve got wiring diagrams and whatnot but I feel like the ForScan is my last option before I have to pull them out and tear them open to try and make up my own wiring.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Someone backed into my car parallel parking and put a nice crack in the new grill and spiderwebbed the bumper paint last week, so I'm deciding to stick to interior mods for a while... Speaking of, the final pieces of my trim kit arrived:

I've learned the hard way to always leave my steering wheel straight or I pop off the back of the paddle shifter extensions every time I try and get out of the car. I also finally got my title to prove I didn't steal it, so I got a plate CF cover on it since I simp hardcore for carbon fiber.

Once I finally figure out the last couple tweaks on ForScan for the headlights I'll update some of those changes. I get my insurance payout Tuesday so I'm just hoping I have enough time to get the rear end fixed and that the final parts to arrive before the Fusion Flood meetup, but that's all for now.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Didn’t end up getting the car fixed before Fusion Flood, but the meet was still a great time. Got a lot of ideas for some stuff down the road, but I figured I’d update with some last minute changes before the show. Put on the Borla axle-back, a carbon fiber spoiler, and removed the trashed lower valence piece. Got a little creative with some leftover carbon fiber trim pieces I didn’t use to cover spoiler holes I didn’t anticipate. Cars in the shop getting fixed now, so it’s just waiting on that to get fixed and for more parts to show up. Still no progress on the ForScan front so an update on that later.

 

[Jacob McCutcheon]

Finally had some free time to get back into things, and have some progress to show from the past couple of days. Put on the lower matching carbon fiber grill, and wrapped the black painted part in vinyl. Also failed to wrap my roof again so I may just have it done by a shop.

Next up were tinted sequential mirror signals:

My new diffuser finally came in so I can put my car back together from the wreck. The Borla kit didn’t fit so I’m running a muffler delete until I can get it into a shop to install my new electronic valves so I can switch between the axle-back and a quiet muffler:

The piece came with an integrated center brake light and I added two of the sequential led smoked reflectors. Wired them all into the harness and it turned out pretty good:

Last little bit was playing around with the wide body kit and side skirts. Not sure what I want to do with colors yet but I’m leaning towards black side skirt to match the diffuser and paint the fenders white, but I’m curious to hear peoples’ thoughts:

 

[Wojtas]

Finally had some free time to get back into things, and have some progress to show from the past couple of days. Put on the lower matching carbon fiber grill, and wrapped the black painted part in vinyl. Also failed to wrap my roof again so I may just have it done by a shop. View attachment 29464
View attachment 29465 Next up were tinted sequential mirror signals:
View attachment 29466
View attachment 29467 My new diffuser finally came in so I can put my car back together from the wreck. The Borla kit didn’t fit so I’m running a muffler delete until I can get it into a shop to install my new electronic valves so I can switch between the axle-back and a quiet muffler:
View attachment 29469
View attachment 29468 The piece came with an integrated center brake light and I added two of the sequential led smoked reflectors. Wired them all into the harness and it turned out pretty good:
View attachment 29471
View attachment 29472 Last little bit was playing around with the wide body kit and side skirts. Not sure what I want to do with colors yet but I’m leaning towards black side skirt to match the diffuser and paint the fenders white, but I’m curious to hear peoples’ thoughts:
View attachment 29473 View attachment 29474

Hi @Jacob McCutcheon - I really miss one thing with your project - dechroming (and black vinyl wrap around your windows)