Since I purchased my 2011 Grabber Blue GT I have been fighting the urge of throwing parts at it. What I mean is, every time I buy a vehicle I go through this phase of adding part after part trying to give it my own personal touch. This is not new information to most car nuts. It started when I put the Ford Racing Power Pak on it a week after I got it. I thought to myself “ok that is it, you're done, no need to add anymore parts”. When I bought the car I got the upgrades I wanted so maybe this one would be left stock and I would just be happy with driving it for a while. So I thought!!!

 A couple of months went by and I started to get the bug again. Once again I put my best effort forth to talk my self out of it. Of course all of this was after telling the guys around the shop all the changes I wanted to make. Well, the other day Justin comes into my office and tells me we just got a 2010-12 Mustang RTR Rear Spoiler in that got lightly damaged in shipping. It could be repaired but not sold as new. It was on my to do list, so I told him, “I’ll take it”. He also told me we got the 2010-12 Mustang GT Saleen S281Front Grille in stock and we want to blog an install. I said “let’s do it”. So, the plan was to bring the car to work on Friday to install the Mustang Saleen Grille and RTR Rear Spoiler . Who knew by the end of the day it would turn into a complete Mustang makeover!

 I brought the car in on Friday and we got started by installing the 2010-12 Mustang Saleen S281 Front Grille part #6-1101-C19520A. First thing you need to do is remove the radiator cover. It is held on by push pins which come out easily with a flat head screw driver. Pry up on the top tab and once it pops up the rest of the pin will come out.

Next go ahead and remove the to bolts on the top of the bumper cover. This allows you better access to the side tabs on the stock grille. 

You will have to push the tabs over and pull out at the same time. An extra set of hands can help with this process. 

Once you have released all the tabs and disconnect the fog lights the grille is removed as a complete assembly. 

Next, line up the 2010-12 Mustang GT Saleen S281Front Grille with the tab slots on the bumper cover and put into place. The Saleen Grille tabs are a little different than the factory grille. You slide the tab into place then install the metal clips supplied with the grille to hold it in place. 

It will look like this when you are done. 

The Saleen Grille comes with a push pin to hold the center in place. You have to drill a hole in the grille as well as the bumper cover. Yes! The bumper cover. I know what you are thinking but don't worry! The hole is drilled where you can replace the stock grille later if you decide to and you will never know the difference.

With the push pin installed.

Once this is done, reinstall your radiator cover and your 2010-12 Mustang GT Saleen S281 Front Grille install is complete.

Ok! Here is how the entire makeover started to take shape. I got the Saleen grille installed and I have to say it looks awesome. However, I felt like something was missing with the over all look of the front. My mind was racing and I got to thinking, it sure would look good with a 2010-12 Mustang California Special Front Valance Kit on it and I would get my foglights back. Well, lets go for it!!

Next we got busy installing a 2010-12 Mustang California Special Front Valance Kit Part # LRS-17626CS-K.

Yep! You have to take the radiator cover back off so you can access the foglight pig tails. The Mustang California Special Front Valance Kit comes with fog light extension wires.

You will need to plug the new pig tails into your stock fog light harness. The pig tails are different lengths for each side. Short one goes on the passenger side and long one on the drivers side. They also have clips to route them down the sides of the grille so they will not be seen. You will route the fog light wires through the holes in the bumper cover as demonstrated below.

Removal of the stock lower valance will give you this access. To remove the stock lower valance start by removing the bumper cover bolts in the wheel opening.

Also remove the end bolts on the lower air dam.

Let me stop here and give you some additional information. Since we had not previously planned on installing a Mustang California Special Front Valance Kit we only took out minimal hardware to cut down on time. The way we did it you have limited access to certain areas you are working on. The bumper covers are easy to remove on these cars so if you are making a day long project and want to take your time you can remove the entire bumper cover. If you are not comfortable with removing the bumper cover you can remove only the lower air dam. It is held on by eight(8) 7MM bolts and comes off easily. Once the lower air dam is off you have full access to the back of the bumper cover from underneath which helps. Moving on!

Once we got the stock valance off and had the fog light wires routed to the appropriate locations it is time to install the California Special Front Valance. It is installed using the same tabs and hardware as your stock lower. Don't forget to plug in the fog lights before installing.

Before before we were able to zip up the install on the 2010-12 Mustang California Special Front Valance Kit,  Brad, our Advertising Manager, mentioned we should install our 2010-12 Mustang Black Bumper Park Light Pair part # SDT-13200E. While we had access to them. They are very simple to replace. Simply remove the two retaining nuts on the back. 

Disconnect the wire and unplug the bulb.

Install the bulb back into the new park light and reconnect the wire. Install the new light using the factory hardware.

Brad also recommended a set of Black 5.0 Emblems. So, we decided that was an awesome idea and installed a set of those too. Removing the stock emblems can be a bit hard. I used a piece of dental floss to get mine loose.

I had to use some of our Quick N Easy Adhesive Remover to get the remaining adhesive off the fenders. The new emblems do not have alignment dowels so you will want to use one of our alignment sheets that can be printed from our instuctions and downloads on the web.

Now that we have all of this done, it is time to install the 2010-12 Mustang RTR Rear Spoiler. Pop the trunk and remove the cover panel. It is held on by the same type push pins as the radiator cover. Once removed, you will have access to the four bolts for the factory rear spoiler. Remove the bolts and you are ready to remove the spoiler. It is also held on with double sided tape. Some spoilers come of easily and some do not. Mine did not!!!

Make sure you get all the remaining adhesive off and clean.

Now you are ready to install the 2010-12 Mustang RTR Rear Spoiler. It is a simple install. Start by peeling the covering off the adhesive tape.

Line up the two bolts with the existing outer mounting holes and press your wing into place. Install the bolts and your done.

Now we are done with the make over right? Nope! The wheels started turning once more. It just does not look complete. Although I thought it was an amazing transformation I just was not happy yet.

I just added a lot of black accents to the car, which is ok, because all the trim was black before. Now the wheels just look a little out of place to me. I have to say, I love the Brembo package wheels but the silver just didn't quite match anymore. So I thought to myself, "it sure would look good with a set of our new 2005-12 Mustang Flat Black SVE Drift Wheel & Nitto Tire Kit-19X9.5". That ended up being the final piece of the makover.

For Friday any way!!! Before I left for the day, I bought a set of 2005-2012 Mustang GT Lowering Spring  part # SVE-5300SPK. I put them in over the weekend. Here is an after picture. This set of springs will lower your car approximately .75" in the front and 1.25" in the rear. The measurements were taken before the car had very much time to settle. By the time the springs have time to settle it may end up .25" lower all the way around. 

 The front view. 

Side view of the SVE Drift Wheels and Black 5.0 Emblems.

Last one!!