Story of modifying my first car / Mustang

[Kaleza]

I finally finished with all of the things i wanted to do with my car, and i decided to share some pictures and a short backstory with this great community. Growing up in Europe (Balkans) meant sharing one car with whole family, and that also meant not thinking a lot about the cars or knowing anything about them, except filling up the gas. Last car we shared was 2007 Opel Astra, with reliable 1,4 gas engine and 80ish horsepower. Thanks to movies and video games, somewhere in early high school i fell in love with mustang, and i knew that was my dream car. Almost 20 years later by chance or destiny, i met American girl we fell in love and 4 years ago i moved to US. She drives 2018 Fiat spider 124. I have to admit driving that car with top down was pure happiness, but it was her car so beside driving it i never touched it. Last year everything finally aligned and i decided its time for me to have my own car. I decided that new ecoboost made most sense for the first car, and that i also wanted a base model so i can learn stuff about the cars and do some modification on my own. So at 33 i bought my base model in shadow black. I spent last year learning how to do stuff, and car started changing. Car now has around 10000 miles and it came a long way. All of the work on the car i did on my own with the help of youtube, google and this forum. There were a couple of setbacks on the way. For example driver screen cracked so it had to be changed under the warranty. Tree fell on the car, so roof and hood had to be fixed and completely repainted. Dealership washed the car in automatic carwash, so car had to have paint correction treatment. Even though annoying all of that made this journey even more special. Besides the changes to exterior/interior i also added gt front brakes, made my own aftermarket active exhaust with help of ford performance and valvetronic and installed dark horse steering wheel (forscan made paddle shifters work). Now every time i take a look through the window i see all of the work and time i spent on the car and that rly makes me smile. Going forward i think I'm just going to enjoy driving it everyday, and maybe just maybe start saving for the GT. Enjoy!

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[Paul's stable]

I finally finished with all of the things i wanted to do with my car, and i decided to share some pictures and a short backstory with this great community. Growing up in Europe (Balkans) meant sharing one car with whole family, and that also meant not thinking a lot about the cars or knowing anything about them, except filling up the gas. Last car we shared was 2007 Opel Astra, with reliable 1,4 gas engine and 80ish horsepower. Thanks to movies and video games, somewhere in early high school i fell in love with mustang, and i knew that was my dream car. Almost 20 years later by chance or destiny, i met American girl we fell in love and 4 years ago i moved to US. She drives 2018 Fiat spider 124. I have to admit driving that car with top down was pure happiness, but it was her car so beside driving it i never touched it. Last year everything finally aligned and i decided its time for me have my own car. I decided that new ecoboost made most sense for the first car, and that i also wanted a base model so i can learn stuff about the cars and do some modification on my own. So at 33 i bought my base model in shadow black. I spent last year learning how to do stuff, and car started changing. Car now has around 10000 miles and it came a long way. All of the work on the car i did on my own with the help of youtube, google and this forum. There were a couple of setbacks on the way. For example driver screen cracked so it had to be changed under the warranty. Tree fell on the car, so roof and hood had to be fixed and completely repainted. Dealership washed the car in automatic washer, so car had to have paint correction treatment. Even though annoying all of that made this journey even more special. Besides changes to exterior/interior i also added gt front brakes, made my own aftermarket active exhaust with help of ford performance and valvetronic and installed dark horse steering wheel (forscan made paddle shifters work). Now every time i take a look through the window i see all of the work and time i spent on the car and that rly makes me smile. Going forward i think I'm just going to enjoy driving it everyday, and maybe just maybe start saving for the GT. Enjoy!

Looks great dude.

 

[Kaleza]

Looks great dude.

Thanks man!

 

[smurfslayer]

That’s great!

I hate to do this to you, but someone has to say it:

You’re not done.

You may think you’re done, you may type you’re done, you may even say it out loud, but there will be more more modifications and sooner than you think.

 

[Kaleza]

That’s great!

I hate to do this to you, but someone has to say it:

You’re not done.

You may think you’re done, you may type you’re done, you may even say it out loud, but there will be more more modifications and sooner than you think.

Yea, I believe you. My dad often tells me, you said this was the last thing… And somehow it never is

 

[smurfslayer]

Yea, I believe you. My dad often tells me, you said this was the last thing… And somehow it never is

The Old Man gets it. Sometimes it takes a few years of mods to understand this. I’m just trying to save you some frustration Accept now that there will be more updates and modifications, and it will go easier for you and your wallet. Well... easier-ish.

 

[Kaleza]

The Old Man gets it. Sometimes it takes a few years of mods to understand this. I’m just trying to save you some frustration Accept now that there will be more updates and modifications, and it will go easier for you and your wallet. Well... easier-ish.

Honestly im kinda looking forward to it. Also hopefully wallet will become bigger, so it won’t complain

 

[JAM486HP]

Nothing like the satisfaction of doing things yourself. Easily one of the best looking Eco 650's I've seen, nice work!

 

[Kaleza]

Nothing like the satisfaction of doing things yourself. Easily one of the best looking Eco 650's I've seen, nice work!

Exactly, thanks!!!

 

[Zig]

Honestly im kinda looking forward to it. Also hopefully wallet will become bigger, so it won’t complain

Take your time, don’t rush or you’ll end up redoing the do. Don’t forget to consider what’s impacted by the mod, both up and downstream.

 

[Kaleza]

Take your time, don’t rush or you’ll end up redoing the do. Don’t forget to consider what’s impacted by the mod, both up and downstream.

Good advice, when i did front brakes i was so excited, that i forgot to exit brake service mode, whole dash lit up, so i had to clean codes and redo the whole process next day.

 

[Cruisesader302]

Nice ride! You seem to be taking to the American car scene just fine! Unfortunately, our country has a segment of people who want our only automotive choices to be a vehicle similar to your past Opel or worse yet, a EV.

 

[Kaleza]

Nice ride! You seem to be taking to the American car scene just fine! Unfortunately, our country has a segment of people who want our only automotive choices to be a vehicle similar to your past Opel or worse yet, a EV.

True, but its still possible to buy fun cars with big engines and a lot of hp, that's one of the reasons why i really love it here. Back home your registration price would depend on the size of your engine. So for instance 2 liter car would be 200$ a year, 2.5 would be 400$, but for 3 liter u would have to spend 800 a year, and i think more then 4 liter would be 1400$ a year. And honestly i didn't even know anyone with more than 2.5 liter car. Its a completely different car culture there.

 

[Cruisesader302]

True, but its still possible to buy fun cars with big engines and a lot of hp, that's one of the reasons why i really love it here. Back home your registration price would depend on the size of your engine. So for instance 2 liter car would be 200$ a year, 2.5 would be 400$, but for 3 liter u would have to spend 800 a year, and i think more then 4 liter would be 1400$ a year. And honestly i didn't even know anyone with more than 2.5 liter car. Its a completely different car culture there.

Be careful….. don’t give our politicians any new ideas on taxing our American performance cars

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