Black Thunder - Interior Project

BLACK THUNDER

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Interior color change

As usual, once a body style has remained in service for a few years, Ford looks for ways to save money. One such way was to go from the two toned color doors and rear quarter trim to one solid color. If Ford had changed the dashboard and rear deck to match, that change would have been fine. But by keeping the black dashboard and rear deck, the single color door and rear quarter trim didn't seem to flow with the rest of the color scheme. The two toned trim was produced in 1994-1996 (possibly into 1997) Mustangs. I set out to rectify this blunder. I contacted Dave's Mustang Parts and ordered the door panels and quarter trim panels from a 1996 Mustang. The Mustang had the optional Mach 460 sound system, so I got the tweeter pods to go with it. While I was spending money, I ordered some 1997 Cobra wheels too. Shipping was extremely reasonable, as were the prices for the parts.

This is what the interior looked before the project.

From this view it doesn't look too bad

But as you can see here, the rear deck is black.

This is the finished product. The door panels came off very easily. Just remember to pull up on the door panles, not out. Just 2 screws and the rest were hooks.

As you can see here, the interior now flows from front to back. The rear quarter trim panels were a pain to get out. The running board and rear seat had to be removed. The panel then had to be unfastened and then eased out through the seat belts (didn't have the Torx T-50 bit to remove the seat belt guide).

Not only do I have the great looking panels, I have the Mach 460 pods too. I removed the stock tweeters and put in some Alpine tweeters and then spliced them to the door speakers.

All in all, the project went smoothly. Some set backs were encountered when I found I did not get the mounting screws for the Mach 460 pods, but fortunately, I had some self tapping screws that were the right size.

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FR500 Wheel

Side Marker

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Interior

Wheels/Tires