Scott Drake is very well known in the Mustang community as a manufacturer of high quality restoration parts for your classic Mustang. They’re adding to that reputation with a line of styling and performance parts for the 2005 through current sold under the Drake Muscle Cars name. All Drake Muscle Car parts have the same quality and attention to detail that you’ve come to expect from Scott Drake.

Today we’re going to install a convertible styling bar kit on this 2011 Mustang GT. The styling bar kit is going to fit 2005-13 Mustangs includes a textured vinyl wrap styling bar, detailed instructions, side specific stamped brackets, and stainless steel mounting hardware. For this installation you’ll need a trim panel removal tool, 13 mm wrench, 3/8-inch ratchet, 10 mm socket, 13 mm socket, T50 Torx bit, 5 mm Allen wrench, a punch, scissors, a drill, 1/8-inch pilot bit, 5/16-inch drill bit, 2-inch hole saw, flashlight, and safety glasses.

The first part of the installation is going to be to remove your backseat followed by the quarter trim panels. You’ll want to push the front seats as far forward as possible to give you room to get back there. The bottom seat cushion is held in by these two tabs in the front. Put your hand underneath and push in on the tab to lift it up. Now we are going to remove the two 13 mm bolts that hold the seat back in place.

Now we’re going to remove our seat back. You want to be careful here. There’s a well liner that’s connected to the back of the seat and when you pull the seat up, if you pull it out, you’re going to rip the liner. You’ll want to, as you disengage the seat, hold it up at an angle so you can disconnect the well liner. What we’ll do is squeeze this together and then slide it down and it’ll come out. Work your way across until you have this disconnected and then you can remove your seat.

The interior quarter panels are going to be three pieces. We only have to remove two of them to install our brackets. Let’s start with the top. Just put your hand in the seatbelt opening and pull straight up. For the middle piece we’re going to start at the pinch weld. Simply snap it off. On the very back there’s going to be a Christmas tree clip there. You’ll need the trim removal tool to get that one off.

Now we’re ready to install our brackets. They bolt right in place on top here so first we have to remove the bolt for the seatbelt, as well as the retaining bolt right here. Now the bracket installs using your original hardware. Now we need to drill two additional attachment points, which are going to be down here and there. I’m going to stuff a rag in here just to keep any debris from getting down to the quarter panel.

Now we’re going to install the supplied hardware in the holes we just drilled. We got the metal shavings off our rag and we put it back down there just in case you drop a nut it won’t fall all the way down your quarter panel. If you’re having trouble getting to the front bolt, once you have the first two in you can remove the seatbelt again and it gives a little more room to get up in there.

Next we’re going to reinstall our lower quarter trim panels. We’re not going to put the tops on yet because they have to be modified for the bar. These are going to go in the same way we pulled them out. Now we’re ready to modify the tops of our quarter trim panel so our styling bar can go through. Scott Drake provides these templates. I’m going to lay it over where it goes, make sure all the edges are tight like they’re supposed to be. I’m going to punch this center and we’re going to drill a pilot hole before using our hole saw.

Once you drill your hole you’re going to reinstall the piece with the same process on the other side and we’re ready to fit our styling bar. Now we’re ready to fit our styling bar. Line up the holes on both sides, slide down, and press it into place. The last step for the installation is to tighten down the bolts with the supplied Allen key. Once you tightened down the styling bar, your last step is to reinstall your back seat. Now our installation is complete.

Keep in mind these styling bars are purely cosmetic. They don’t offer any rollover protection whatsoever. No matter what year Mustang you have, they give your convertible a timeless look. Installation will take you no more than two hours. You’ll be back on the road in no time.

Overall Rating: 5/5

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Overall Rating: 5/5

• 5 Stars
• 1 Reviews
• Write A Review