My 2005 Mustang for $1,300

And just an hour ago I decided to move on to the shifter. Because of the ketchup packets and **** in there it was sticking and really hard to push it down into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or even back into drive from there.


So I got some pliers and went to work pulling the trash out.



Got to cleaning out the stickiness inside with a toothbrush and some all purpose.


And sprayed some WD-40 in there.


And in the end...
Shifter - YouTube

And that's it for now. Gonna try and post some more as I go.

It is starting to look much much better in the day light.


surprisingly, the oil was actually changed regularly and recently

So I had an idea on my door panels...

The fabric was ripped off. Instead of buying new fabric and fitting it on, what if I just ungoo'd the panel here and painted it black? If I don't like it I can always put fabric over it. And if I do like it, it could save me some money.



---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

Got a lot more work done on it yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't get that many pictures. Kinda got into working and forgot about snapping pics.

Started by pulling the seats out.


This is where the mold was growing under the passenger seat.


And I don't know wtf this is but it was under the rear seat. It wasn't as liquidy as it looks either. I stuck my gloved finger in it, and it felt like glue.


Then I had to move on to getting the center console out. Thank you savior Brice for having metric tools!


Turns out that cover for the shifter, straight up missing. It wasn't pushed up further in there or anything, it's just gone.

Weird stack of change that was stacked UNDER the center console. Weird.


After getting the center console out I spent a lot more time pulling random plastic covers out, and also was able to get to the shifter and clean it out better. Didn't really take any pictures though.


Got back to pulling the carpet up. Found out neither Brice nor myself had the right size Torix screwdriver to take the seat belts out, so I used a razor blade. Also wasn't about to start pulling the dash to get the carpet that runs behind the dash so I used a razor blade there too.


So I got to pulling it out, and groce!


I had actually already cleaned a bit here, but I just got to town with a scrub brush, tooth brush, and purple power.


It was so groce I literally scrubbed, then took a hose to the inside of the car.


And only AFTER taking the wet vac to get the water out did I find the drain plug.


But it was def looking much better. And the smell was gone. Hopefully when I go back next week it will smell like JDM Squash.



Then I got to the seats!



Hosed them down and took a tooth brush to them a couple times, left them in the sun to dry out.



That's pretty much where I left off. I peeled all the insulation out of the car and off the bottom of the carpet. I may either clean the carpet next week, or take it to get it pressure washed and steamed.

Well I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to yesterday, but I did make some progress.

Stopped to get some cleaning supplies on the way.


Got there, checked out the seats I cleaned last week to see how they turned out after they dried. Not too bad.


Time to mix up some chemicals. I did some research, and it turns out the white vinegar is really good for neutralizing and killing mold.

blacktoxicmold.com said:

Use white vinegar to kill and remove mold in your home.
1. Pour the vinegar into a spray bottle. Do not dilute the vinegar.
2. Apply the vinegar to the moldy surface. You might need to scrub the mold away to remove it totally.
3. Leave the vinegar to sit for about half an hour. Then rinse and wipe the surface with water.
4. The vinegar smell should go after a few hours.

Click to expand...

So I poured some vinegar in a spray bottle and pulled the carpet out.




First thing to do is Purple Power that carpet and let it sit.




While the Purple power is soaking into the carpet, I thought I'd go check under the hood. Not concerned with the dirty yet, just want to make sure it isn't leaking oil.





So I got some Deep Purple from my old boss and went to town on it. It still needs to be scrubbed with a small brush, but for now it isn't caked in dirt and I'll be able to see if it's leaking anything anywhere.




Now that the carpet has sat for a while, it's time to cover it in vinegar. Both front and back.




Now that's gotta sit for 30 - 60 minutes while it kills the mold spores, so in the mean time I decided to do some other stuff.

Mix up the Dawn & Peroxide to make a good carpet cleaner. FYI, this makes a great carpet cleaner for your home too.

Mixing peroxide and dawn - YouTube

So in the mean time I decided to get back to work on the inside. You may remember how there was something on under the stereo/climate control I couldn't get out. Looks like whatever it was, was superglued almost.
(previous pic for reference)


So I decided to take that whole piece out.


Since I needed to let the vinegar sit for a little longer I took a look at the shifter. Remember how it was super gross inside with ketchup packets and stuff? Well it was because the cover for the top of the shifter was broken.
(previous pic for reference)


Well it turns out that the cover piece was just stuck back up in the shifter. So with some needle nose pliers I was able to pull it out. Unfortunately you can see I nicked the silver plaster trim a little bit, but I think I can take some fine sand paper and sand it down softly so that it's not even noticeable.


The good news about that is that the top cover also controls the little red piece that tells you what gear you are in, so it won't be permanently stuck next to the P now. I think 2 tiny dabs of Krazy Glue and I can attach it back to where it goes.

Now that I'm done with that, I threw the carpet in the trunk of the Saturn and drove it up to my work.

Pulled out the pressure washer and a scrub brush. Soaked the carpet front and back in the "home made carpet cleaner" (dawn+peroxide) and used the scrub brush to go to town.


For some of the parts I had to break out the poly bristle brush and really scrub it good.


Pressure washed it all down.


Then laid it out to dry.


Pretty much done for the day.

Got home and pulled out the pieces I gotta sand down. That's the trim that goes around the stereo/climate control as well as the trim that goes around the shifter. Unfortunately I broke two tabs on the trim pieces, here's to hoping I can make do without them.

Gonna sand these down and paint them later this week. And what car project is complete without a good beer.


Will find out how the carpet turned out shortly when I got flip it over.

---------- Post added at 12:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------

5SpdH22 said:

I enjoy this thread. anxious to see how the carpet ends up looking clean & dry.

Click to expand...

Just flipped it, came out great!



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