Our brake fluid resembled Dr. Pepper. Time to get to work.

As the sunshine swept across the sky, our GRM shop bustled with action. Someone was moving our other projects around, another was cleaning up the shop and our Mustang was waiting for its turn on the lift.

The goal? Get the car back to stock for our first autocross.

The plan? Bleed brakes, rotate tires, change oil and transmission fluids. And while we had the car on the lift, we’d reattach the dislodged front turn signal.

As the Mustang rose into the air, fellow GRM employee Chris Tropea and I snapped on our gloves, standing ready like a race pit crew.

First on the list: bleeding the brakes.

During our time at the official GRM test track, the Florida International Rally & Motorsport Park, our brakes were less than ideal–becoming soft after only a few laps–and as soon as we loosened the bleed screw on the first caliper, we could see why.

[Our Mustang GT project: What does pro driver Randy Pobst think?]

Dr Pepper seemed to fill the catch, confirming our suspicion that it had been a hot minute since the brakes were serviced before we bought the Mustang. We flushed the system until we saw clear fluid at each caliper.

Next up: changing the oil and filter.

Now, we had checked the oil before, but this was our first time fully changing it. So, of course, we were a bit worried about what we would find.

As the oil poured out and we cut open the old filter, everything looked good to the naked eye. But we weren’t going to bet solely on that.

We grabbed a sample for SpeedDiagnostix, labeled it, packed it and mailed it out for a detailed oil diagnostic.

Something deeply amiss? We’d know soon enough.

With the oil and brakes changed, it was time to change the transmission fluid–after all, we weren’t sure when, if ever, the fluid was last changed–and check for any debris. As Chris tackled that, I swapped out the fuel filter and got to work on the front turn signal with Tom Suddard, our GRM publisher.

What happened to the Mustang’s turn signal? Just a broken mounting tab from the previous owner. With a bit of sanding and high-strength epoxy, it was good as new.

As the day ended, Chris and I did one last check–no leaks or missing bolts–and rotated the tires before settling the Mustang back on the ground.

Our TLC workday? An utter success. What’s next? Our very first SCCA autocross on April 26 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

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