Hey. Kinda new here. I signed up a few weeks ago. Picked up a 2006 Vert Mustang V6 5 speed with a broken timing chain(s?). It needs a new top because it’s leaking. So I’m going to go with a Twill Cloth top for ride comfort as I hear it’s better for sound deadening than Sailcloth. I had to order 2 new hydraulic cylinders because the passenger side was leaking and the top is not going back up.





I’ve got a few things in mind for the future of this car. For the interior, I’m going to change all the lights in the dash and center console to red LEDs as it’s easier on the eyes at night. I’m going to swap the radio out for a Dynavin 8 Pro because it seems like a good option and installed it looks really clean. Someone here swapped out the 12V plug above the radio for a C7 Corvette microphone for Bluetooth, I’m going to copy that and get that done. I’ll eventually have the seats redone. I’m going to wrap or change out the silver interior parts for black as I prefer the blacked out look over the black/chrome/silver/gray. I want to update the interior with more modern conveniences.

For the exterior, I’m not sure if I want to do a body kit or just keep it the way it is. Definitely going to put coilovers on it and a set of Stance SF10 wheels in the bronze color. I’ll probably customize the headlights to look more modern as well with LED tubing and an LED headlight conversion. I want to change the tail lights as well. I know I want to change the grill to a blank one because I’d like to put “MUSTANG” across the grill like the Raptors have “FORD” across the grill. I opted for Mustang because Ford went out of the way to not have any Ford badging on the car. This is a project I already started. I tried to look for anyone that has done this and it appears I’m the first that has even considered it. I don’t know how it’ll look but I hope it looks good. If not I’ll put something else in there, like V6TT in the Mustang font. I 3D printed the letters and I’m going to try 2 methods, one is copper electrolysis to copper plate the letters and the other is just simply vacuum forming ABS plastic over the 3D printed letters. Here’s a pic of the letters that I modeled on Fusion 360 after the last generation of Mustangs…don’t mind the 2 colors, I ran out of the gray color.



As far as performance, I’m looking to hit 400 hp on the V6. I plan to twin turbo the motor using the sequential twin turbo set up since this motor only revs to about 5500 RPM before it hits redline. There is hardly any aftermarket support for this engine unfortunately so I’m going to have to weld up quite a bit of stuff and figure out how to shoehorn 2 turbos into the engine bay. The passenger side seems to have more room in it than the drivers side so I suppose the bigger turbo will go on that side and the smaller one on the drivers side. Anyway, that’s what I’m planning so far. I’m sure there will be more. I just need to sit in it and think for a while.

 

Welcome. My favorite Mustang - the one I never should have sold - was a 2006 triple black convertible with the Pony package. I put the Xcharger Xtreme surpercharger on it and it was a lot of fun. I had a white Shelby superstripe on mine, and I know that there are pictures of it here on the forum.

The turbo system will require all of your own fabrication and design. Have you sorted out where to get it tuned afterwards?

 

Yeah that’s what this car is. Black with black convertible top and black leather interior. Not sure how to tell if it’s the Pony package or not. I’m used to JDM cars. Never thought I’d own a Mustang but it seemed like an interesting project car so I went with it.

There’s a tuning shop in Charlotte that I was considering. I don’t know if they offer tuning but there’s a retired NASCAR driver that has a racing shop in town, I know they have a machine shop so that’ll help with lapping the heads and block and other stuff along those lines.

 

Based on the picture, that isn't a Pony. The Pony cars had the grille with the small foglights, a tri-bar on the fender, and the side stripe under the door. A few pictures of my 2006

Stock side stripe for the Pony package



Pony grille with the small foglights, and aftermarket Shelby superstripe






This is what it looked like the day it was loaded up to be transported to the new owner. Different hood with shaker scoop mounted on top of the Xcharger



Had a custom 6 point roll bar for drag racing. Once a convertible is quicker than 13.49 in the quarter-mile a roll bar is required.

 

That’s a purty car. I guess with the power I’m wanting to make, I’ll need a cage if I want to track it.

In other news, I did a leak down test on all 6 cylinders. They all tested great with no pressure loss except for cylinder 5. Wouldn’t hold pressure and I got a hissing sound coming from the throttle body. I was hoping for the best but I guess I have an intake valve to replace. Dang it.

 

Where in North Carolina are you located? I lived in Winston Salem for 4 years, up until I returned to Michigan in June 2021. And will be down there in Concord this Thursday for a couple of days - wife drove down Sunday and then I will drive us back on Saturday after we have dinner with some friends at Jolo Winery at Pilot Mountain.

With turning shops it can be tough to find one that first is familiar with the 4.0, and second has the equipment and program to tune a 4.0. Most of them stopped doing the 4.0 because of the licensing cost and the small market.

 

I live near Tryon. I’ve got a buddy that lives in Winston Salem. I had never really thought about tuning shops not being able to tune the 4.0. I may have to preemptively call around and see who can tune a 4.0.

 

In one of the Facebook groups for the 4.0 there is someone who does online/remote tuning. I know that he has done some supercharged cars.

 

I’m going to have to look into that.

In other news, I put the top down on the car a few days ago and heard some spitting and sputtering from the passenger side. The top would not go back up. Cool, the seals on the hydraulic cylinder are bad. Ordered some new cylinders from a vendor and installed them earlier. Just have to fill the pump with ATF and it should be good to go.

For those that have not had to do it, it’s fairly easy. Remove rear plastics, 3 6mm bolts are holding in the speakers. 13 mm bolts are holding the rear back rests in, we need to remove the rear back rests because the pump is behind them. If your cylinders were leaking, you’re going to have to refill the reservoir. Remove those and then you have 4 T40 bolts holding in the cylinders. One is a holding a cover on and underneath the cover is another that goes through the piston part of the hydraulic cylinder. Then the flare nut fittings are 7/16. I used electrical tape to secure the hydraulic hoses to the cylinder so that they don’t rattle. Remember to wipe everything down real good afterward to clean up your workspace.



New hydraulic cylinder goodness.