BuckeyeBOSS' Grabber Blue Dark Horse Build

[BuckeyeBOSS]

Brand new 2026 Mustang Dark Horse Premium. Received it with 9 miles. Grabber Blue. Equipment Group 700A, Premier trim with color accent. 10speed auto. Standard seats because I didn't want to lose the ventilation and I just fit in this car really well with the standard seats, being a bigger guy and 6'4".

What drew me to the Dark Horse was the aggressive front appearance. The standard magneride, 3.55 torsen, and active exhaust are a must, too. The extra cooling is nice. This car will be my nice weather daily (have a TRX for other duties) and sometimes drag strip car.

I'm going to keep track of my progress here. Just received the car last Saturday morning. Already put over 200 miles on it, trying to get to that 1,000 mile break-in. I'm STUNNED by how good this car sounds stock, WOW! I love it so far. The videos online do NOT do the stock exhaust justice.

Immediate plans are just some appearance/convenience mods and enjoy driving it. If all goes well, this winter, I plan on a Whipple, headers, driveshaft, axles, wider wheels/tires, and something unique/special that I hope to share here at the right time.

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[BuckeyeBOSS]

First mod that showed up and was installed are the RTR hood vents / heat extractors.

 

[BuckeyeBOSS]

Next were the MP Concepts Smoked LED Side Markers.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

Congrats on your beautiful new DH!

 

[Dark Sprite]

Congrats. Looking forward to the build log.

 

[24CTDH]

i would highly recommend the phazteck rockguards front and rear. they fit exceptionally well. keep those rocks off your quarter panels and door man

EOS Front & Rear Rock Guards, Un-Painted

they offer them in gloss or carbon fiber too. the unpainted matches the surrounding plastic bits pretty well though.

 

[BuckeyeBOSS]

i would highly recommend the phazteck rockguards front and rear. they fit exceptionally well. keep those rocks off your quarter panels and door man

EOS Front & Rear Rock Guards, Un-Painted

they offer them in gloss or carbon fiber too. the unpainted matches the surrounding plastic bits pretty well though.

Thank you! I actually have those on order already, LOL. I figured they might help a bit with kicking debris up onto the paint.

 

[24CTDH]

yeah good. absolutely essential in my opinion.

dont forget to use the tape they send with it. my first go around i thought the tape was going to be unnecessary but many miles later rocks would still get spit up and then settle into and get jammed between them and the fender. so i had to take them off and reinstall with the tape and its been a dream ever since. theyre a good close fit without the tape but it didnt matter lol

 

[24CTDH]

Why did you choose to remove the hood stripes may i ask. I know theyre polarizing here on the forums. I feel that they are an appealing and distinct contrast against the grabber blue background

 

[BuckeyeBOSS]

Why did you choose to remove the hood stripes may i ask. I know theyre polarizing here on the forums. I feel that they are an appealing and distinct contrast against the grabber blue background

Mine came from the factory with the stripe delete option. I feel like I need SOMETHING back on the hood behind the heat extractors, but that the factory stripes were a bit much for my taste. I'm thinking maybe the Anchor Room/RTR hood bulge stripes, just to add some contrast back there and highlight the hood bulge a bit. Not sure yet.

 

[24CTDH]

Really. i didnt know you could option away from the hood vinyl. well there ya go.

I agree. I wasnt crazy about the stripe design going over the roof or trunk

I really enjoy the hoods vinyl design they went with. I enjoy it much more than i thought i would. Ive actually wondered down the road what it would take to get this pattern painted on the hood VS re-vinyled should it ever become seriously damaged, or start peeling or whatever. probably a pretty penny.....but i think id consider it vs redoing the vinyl.

well keep us updated if ya put something on all that hood real estate youve got!

 

[BuckeyeBOSS]

Why did you choose to remove the hood stripes may i ask. I know theyre polarizing here on the forums. I feel that they are an appealing and distinct contrast against the grabber blue background

Also, I saw your front splitter thread. Did you end up choosing one? I decided to swallow the ~$750 price this morning for the Ford HP splitter, then saw the ~$225-250 shipping quote and decided it's not worth that much to me. I'm thinking I might go with the Ikon Motorsports HP splitter for ~$250 or LiquiVinyl?

 

[24CTDH]

Woof yeah i was moments away from making the same call a couple of times. I looked at absolutely every option and also decided fords oem looked the most appropriate. I definitely wanted it. Like you I had a hard time swallow the price tag for a big chunk of plastic. combined with the fact that knowing one day ill inevitably whack it into something and destroy the whole thing - and possibly damage other components of the front end that its attached to. maybe the front fascia will buckle against the front fenders or something? I donno. So I decided it just wasnt worth the impending misery. I hear the bottom of the stock non-hp plastic scrap on rare occasion so if thats happening already it could only get worse from there. If this was a vehicle i just trailered back and forth to the track or something id probably go for it......but I daily drive it in and out of the city and roads here in connecticut are pretty wretched. plenty of driveway lips to get over. plenty of potholes. plenty of speed humps/bumps.... and if im being honest i know one day ill simply misjudge the concrete barrier in front of a parking spot and crunch it.

The older i get the more ive come to emphasize making decisions that reduce stress, and reduce the possibility of future stress. The Fun to Possible-Stress ratio of a badass splitter just doesnt pan out for me lol

 

[tktrain]

You're in my color! My '25 Metallic Grabber Blue DH was in the dealer showroom. I bought it at invoice, under sticker. I immediately started studying the Coyote and being the horsepower junkie I am, I hooked up with a local performance and tuning shop. He has a chassis dyno and installed my Whipple 3 liter gen 6, a lethal performance high flow resonated double H pipe, a billet OPG and timing sprocket (for insurance) and a Steeda Stop-the-Hop kit. I'm thrilled with the outcome. 300+ HP gain at the rear wheels. Oh, and I got the Whipple 3-36 power train warranty as icing. We put it all on at 515 miles. I'm at 750 now and absolutely love the results. A rumble from the exhaust and the Coyote howl up top! BTW, you can't get the Whipple warranty with the headers. Mine's a fun time car and stoplight racer. I have no markings to give away the Whipple, but a sharp eared person can make out the blower whine, but it's not overwhelming.

I have a set of stainless works 1 7/8" primary tube headers that will go on along with a Stage 2 upgrade on the Whipple after the warranty is up.

 

[BuckeyeBOSS]

You're in my color! My '25 Metallic Grabber Blue DH was in the dealer showroom. I bought it at invoice, under sticker. I immediately started studying the Coyote and being the horsepower junkie I am, I hooked up with a local performance and tuning shop. He has a chassis dyno and installed my Whipple 3 liter gen 6, a lethal performance high flow resonated double H pipe, a billet OPG and timing sprocket (for insurance) and a Steeda Stop-the-Hop kit. I'm thrilled with the outcome. 300+ HP gain at the rear wheels. Oh, and I got the Whipple 3-36 power train warranty as icing. We put it all on at 515 miles. I'm at 750 now and absolutely love the results. A rumble from the exhaust and the Coyote howl up top! BTW, you can't get the Whipple warranty with the headers. Mine's a fun time car and stoplight racer. I have no markings to give away the Whipple, but a sharp eared person can make out the blower whine, but it's not overwhelming.

I have a set of stainless works 1 7/8" primary tube headers that will go on along with a Stage 2 upgrade on the Whipple after the warranty is up.

Beautiful! That's a lot like how I am planning for this winter. Sounds awesome!

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