What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Used my off road turtle to torture a veloster n driver, smelled like oil when he caught up.

 

@finethreads it was our pleasure! Thank you for allowing us to be a part up upgrading your Taco.

 

Is it a paved road to the point in your pic or is it a trail ride?

 

For the youngsters. 442 = 4 Barrel, 4 speed manual and Dual exhaust. Very cool cars!

 

Threw on these blacked out turn signals a few minutes ago…

 

I looked at a bunch of different TRD PRO rear knockoffs. Probably okay but when it comes to electrical I play it safe and stick with OEM.

 

Between 3 other families during my youth ... the vintage gives away my age ... one family had a GTO, another a 442 and a third one of those 450-ish CuIn 50-ft-long station wagons (carried 20 school children for field trips and police did not even blink! ). The GTO probably got better MPG than the station wagon on its best day.

Drivers killed the wagon and the 442, do not know the fate of the GTO.

 

Installed the KTJO grab handle.

Shipping: Good. Received within a week of my order.

Packaging: Parts, in a box, in a bag. The shipper did they're worst, but everything arrived OK. (Internal packaging could be better / more secure.)

Initial Reaction: Decent, OEM-looking, OEM-feel plastic parts. Hardware was OK, but I'm a bit picky.

I didn't care for the small-ish expanding bolt for the lower mounting point. It just doesn't look like something I want to be pulling on, on a daily basis. I bought an M6 nutsert, but it was too big for the factory hole, and I didn't want to drill. So, I went with an M6 flange nut, attached with double-sided mounting tape.



Removing the side cover was very straight-forward. Disconnect the battery. Pop out the oval plug and remove one bolt. Pull the cover out.



Next is the fun part. Carefully feed the nut behind the bracket and press in place. I didn't make the hole in the tape (for the bolt) big enough, which I found out later. The bolt did not want to thread in. Tip: Test-fit the bolt before installing the nut.



The color-match on the cover was pretty close, but not exact. Luckily, it doesn't butt up against any other matching trim, just the dash and the headliner. The stock trim piece had a small felt patch in one corner and a foam seal on the back side. The KTJO piece did not. The glue holding the felt and foam strip were too strong to remove those pieces, so I left it alone. Hopefully, no rubbing or squeaking down the road.





It took a few tries to get the front end of the trim piece to fit in and lined up with the dash, but I finally got it.



The handle hardware included two aluminum bushings. On one side of the handle, the opening is 'wavy' and the bushing fits snugly. On the other side of the handle, the open is larger. I got new, matching bolts, and a larger washer for the 'other' side.



The top bolt went in fine, but the excess tape on the bottom nut didn't play nice with the bolt. Removed everything, trimmed the tape, tried again. Success. Add the two trim covers in the handle and you're done.



The installation was not difficult at all. As mentioned, the color match is not exact, but it's pretty darn close. I don't think anyone else is going to notice. The fit and finish are OK/acceptable. The finish is very similar to factory. You would be hard-pressed to see the difference unless the two sides were right next to each other. The fit, however, is not quite as good as factory. The handle on the factory side fits snugly down in the side trim. The KTJO handle has a visible gap. On the factory handle, the two plugs fit nicely into the handle. The KTJO plugs are slightly exposed. Minor details, but FYI. Overall, I would give it an A-/B+. I'm glad KTJO has this available, I'm happy with my purchase, and I know I'll be using it every day!

 

Sister’s boyfriend had one of these in high school. Brand new. Father was a Ford exec. 429 Cobra Jet.
Edit: For those that don't know this is a Mercury Cougar Eliminator. Records show most of the big block cars were 428CJs, but I distinctly remember '429' on the hood scoop.

 

Today I had some unauthorized spontaneous bodywork done to both bumpers. Car in front of me stops suddenly on the interstate. I was able to stop in time but got rear ended and pushed into the car in front.
Could have been a lot worse. No one was injured. I'm just a bit sore. Overall, it's just property. Insurance will fix it.

 

Diode Dynamics stealth light bar and ditch lights came today.

 

spark plugs and serpentine belt at 125k.

 

Yellow worked for me to on
My Supercharged O3 Mustang Cobra AKA 03Yellow Venom

 

I've got an orange 02 Camaro SS. I should have kept the red one though.

 

Looks great!

 

Sorry OP!’

 

Installed my OEM rack. Got it on a Labor Day sale for $239. Planned use is paddle boards and similar lightweight loads.

 

Nice!

 

Excellant write up!