You may recall that in last week’s post about our day trip to Edmonton, we showed that one of the many pieces returning via the Suburban Shipping Co. was a carbon fiber hatch garnish for Yolanda. A few companies have made pieces like it for the Mk3 platform over the years, with this one specifically being from Seibon. She decided to grab it from Brayden’s part out since it was a good deal and would match her numerous other carbon accents already on the ST.
The original plan had been for her and a few others to come over to the MacKenCo Garage for a good old-fashioned garage day (albeit with a bit more space between us), so that her and some others could get some installs carried out while I grabbed photos of everything for the site. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans on the date we’d picked so Yolanda instead fit the garnish at her house afterwards. However, she very kindly took some photos and notes during the process and sent them all my way so that we could still share a proper install/how-to for the piece here on the site!
With a different schedule this last little while I’ve been able to stick to a pretty consistent Wednesday/Weekend posting routine, but this week I held off a day so that I could grab some photos at last night’s meet to go along with what she had taken.
So, a big thanks to Yolanda for grabbing the photos (apparently Colin was wondering why she kept stopping to do so – haha) and helping out big time with this one. On to the install!
With the hatch open, the first step is to pry off the plastic covers on the interior handles which will reveal four bolts that have to be undone – two per handle.
With them removed the entire panel can then be unclipped and set aside.
This reveals the nuts that secure the garnish itself. There are six in total, located in these circular openings. Be careful to not drop any inside the hatch as you undo them! They will be reused with the new garnish so set them aside for now.
The garnish is also secured with a few clips, but with a bit of care they’ll all pop out of the hatch. You can see them here on either end and also just above the release in the middle.
Speaking of the release (slash light) it too has to come out, to be fitted to the new carbon garnish. Unplug the harness and pop the unit out. The old garnish can now go into the stock parts pile!
*One special note here is that since Yolanda’s garnish was used, it already came with the Ford oval fitted. If you were to install a brand new piece you’d have to transfer your existing oval over to it.
Fitting the Seibon garnish in place is naturally just a matter of reversing the steps above, with the only exception being the CF panel doesn’t have the same clips as the OEM part and only bolts into place on the hatch instead. Yolanda recommended having a second set of hands to assist, to ensure the CF garnish stays perfectly aligned as the nuts are tightened down.
Refit the interior panel, bolt it down, pop the handle covers on, and you’re done!
Here you can see the difference the new piece makes, being especially pronounced on Yolanda’s white ST. With all of the other CF on the car already this was a no-brainer.
And so there it is! For the pre-facelift owners out there, there are a few options for rear garnishes to choose from based on what look you’re going for; you can swap to carbon fiber, delete your rear oval, or even both. In this case Yolanda got to retain one of her custom rear decals while adding a bit more weave to the ST, and with her help we were still able to put together an install post for it. Hopefully this helps any other 12-14 owners wanting to do something similar!
-Bill