I just recently reacquired a 2001 Bullitt Mustang, #265 in Dark Highland Green. She has accumulated 187K miles on her. This will be the build thread, to document its restoration/rebuild and turning it into an autoX/track toy.

Vehicle History

In 2004, we bought this exact Bullitt from El Cajon Ford in El Cajon, CA (outside of San Diego). It was a trade in from the original owner. We owned the car for two years, and sold it off to my dad. He had it as his daily driver for about 6 years in Albuquerque. He then sold it to my younger brother, who took it to Louisiana and it was his daily driver for most of the last 7 years. It has been sitting for the last year due to a miss above 35mph, and my brother was looking to get rid of it. I decided to buy it off of him and still keep it in the family. Here are some notable events in the cars history:

• Accidentally backed the car into a tree, denting the right rear quarter. Repaired before selling to my dad.
• Alternator caught fire on the freeway, was able to get the fire out before any significant damage. Paint blistered on the hood.
• Rear ended on the freeway by a driver too concerned with texting. Rear end damage fixed, hood repainted at same time.
• Catalytic converters have been removed.
• Head gaskets failed, causing car to sit for about a year until it could get repaired.
• Brother's ex-wife backed into it one morning, damaging left front fender.
• Scrape on the right side, dislodged right scoop delete.
• Scoop delete flew off on highway, never to be seen again.
• High winds blew over a basketball goal onto hood, creating large gouge/scape on scoop and hood.
• Has developed a miss above 35 mph, car has been parked for about a year.

Current Condition - Exterior

After a quick bath, here she is in her current condition. Paint has significant rock chips/missing on the hood. Hood scoop has deep gouge from basketball goal. Grille is peeling/faded. Clearcoat is flaking off and peeling on both rear quarter panels. Side scoop on right is missing. Scrape down right side rear quarter. Left front fender is partially black from previous repair. Bullitt gas cap is bubbling and has rusty screws. Rear badges are peeling/flaking chrome. The Bullitt specific side skirts are there and accounted for. Even in the current condition, that Dark Highland Green color really looks great, I love this color. The only exterior mods on it are the Mach 1 chin spoiler (old and faded) and the aftermarket headlights.

Current Condition - Interior

For 187K miles, the interior is actually in pretty decent condition. It is need of a good deep cleaning. The driver's seat outside bolster is torn to shreds. Even the seat cover (Pulled back in these photos) was worn through. The headliner is sagging towards the back window. There are a couple of broken vents on the driver's side. The trunk struts dont hold the trunk up and the weatherstripping in the trunk is broken/failing. The shift knob is misaligned, but it' been that way since we first purchased the car back in 2004. The Bullitt pedals are starting to wear thin. The Bullitt sill plates are in great condition. Radio works (haven't checked the tape deck or the CD player).

Current Condition - Mechanical

Right now it's hard to assess the current mechanical condition without a proper test drive. It runs, and it drives. I've only driven it in my neighborhood, from the delivery truck to my driveway. My brother said it developed a miss above 35 mph. He thinks it might be one of the coil packs going bad. The car currently doesn't have any catalytic converters, which means it won't pass the CA smog check which right now means I can't get it registered. Since it doesn't have any plates on it, it will sit until I am able to get it road worthy enough to get it to the smog place (and pass) and then to get it registered. Then I will be able to get a full assessment of it. The intake manifold and alternator both are pitted heavily, I think it is from the fire suppression that was used to put the alternator fire out. The exhaust dumps right before the rear axle, and the rear tips are the factory tips just not connected. This was done when we purchased the car in 2004. The tires have good tread on them, so that's good. Car is slow to start, but I think that the battery just needs a good charge.

Plans for the future

I've already got a lot of plans for the future of the car. I will be keeping the essence of the Bullitt, with some tweaks to make it better. Here are the mods that I have planned:

• 50-state shorty headers
• Full cats
• Borla cat-back exhaust with quad exhaust tips
• Suspension work, lowered. Not sure what yet, but I want to take the car autocrossing.
• 18x9/10.5" Bullitt rims
• 03/04 Cobra front bumper
• Smoothed 03/04 Cobra rear bumper
• Full repaint in Dark Highland Green
• Reupholstered front seats (TMI Seat kit)

Plan is to get it road worthy first, smogged and registered. Then i will work on the suspension so I can start running it on the autocross. Finally, I will do the exterior/interior work.

I had an artist on Instagram do up a couple renderings for me of the end goal.

Wow quite the history and story! Glad it’s back in your hands. I have a set of BBK shortys new in box with hardware. PM me if interested.

I will be watching for the updates. I really like these type of build (or should I say rebuild) threads.

Good story on the car.

Brain, do you know if anyone makes a smooth 03-04 rear Cobra bumper. I love the Cobra bumper.

Looks like your missing a lug nut or one of the studs broke on the front wheel.

Keep us posted on your progress.

best,

Wishing you the best on your project!

I love the look of the smoothed Cobra bumper as well. On my first Mustang, I did the smoothing myself and then had a body shop paint it up for me (along with my Mach 1 hood and Bullitt side scoop deletes).



I have found this company that sells a smoothed Cobra bumper. I have not purchased from them, so I can't speak to the quality. But this is where i am looking to get mine from.

https://fiberglassspecialtiesnv.com/...-2004-mustang/

I hadn't noticed the missing lug nut. Thanks for the catch.

Thanks for the info. Nice clean look, and the flexibility for a fiberglass piece is amazing.

Thanks for that link.... Question: what did you use to fill in the cobra lettering on the bumper?

Now I have to add this to my mod list plus paint

I had to go back digging through forums to remember what I used to fill the letters. It's Flexible Parts Repair kit by 3M.



I honestly can't remember if just one kit covered it or not, but that's what I used.

Thats great info... Thanks,

Have done just a little bit of work on the Bullitt over the past few weeks. Just some odds and ends to keep me busy until I can spend the $$ on exhaust to get her CA compliant.

Junkyard Odds & Ends

Went to the junkyard hunting for a factory catalytic converter H-pipe, but as I suspected they were cut out before becoming available in the yard. So here was my score. Two factory headlights, trunk weather stripping, a few wheel bolts, and a driver's dash vent.



Here is the weatherstripping in the trunk before...



...and here is the new(ish) weatherstripping in.



Stock Headlights

I wanted to replace the aftermarket halo headlights with some stock units. Before:



The headlights I snagged from the junkyard were well worn, but I've had good luck with a headlight restoration kit on my Magnum SRT8, so I figured I would give it a try. Stock headlights installed, pretty cloudy:





This is a shot during the restoration process. Sanded with 1000 grit, and then 3000 grit. This is before the polishing.



And here they are after they are polished. Loving that she's looking more like a Mustang. The stock headlights are so much better (IMHO).