With the release of the sixth-generation Mustang platform, earlier generations like the SN95 and S197 platforms have steadily begun to come down in price; making them highly desirable with many enthusiasts who are looking to get into the hobby, but are on a budget.

Jeramie Koogler is one of many enthusiasts who can relate to that situation, as he was able to build one of his dream cars for less than $20,000. We get the scoop from Koogler, a member of the S197 Mustang Forum regarding his badass GT500 swapped 2005 Mustang GT.

Sure, the Roush exterior may give a slight hint as to what’s going on with this ’05 GT. But it’s what’s inside that matters the most, right?

The original power-plant was a turbocharged version of the 4.6-liter 3-valve V8 engine found in the ’05-’09 Mustang GT

When Koogler told us the entire project took him a mere six months to complete, we were in disbelief. Even with the assistance of a lift in his home garage, Koogler finished the project by only dedicating a few hours per day, and the occasional weekend.

He says, “When I got the car, it had a turbo 3-valve in it. And it was basically a brand-new engine. I traded a ’03 SVT Cobra for it. I basically stripped the car, and at that point, I found the GT500 engine. I found the engine out of New Orleans. It was out of a completely totaled GT500, so I bought the engine and the transmission. I went to put the engine in, and I found that my ’05 GT harness wasn’t compatible with the GT500 engine. At that point, I began researching it. I found a complete wiring harness from front to back, and I went back down to New Orleans and bought the wiring harness from the same guy.

After I got the wiring harness, I started looking at it and realized it’s a one piece harness; which means you basically having to strip the entire car (wiring wise) to use the 2011 GT500 wiring harness. At that point, I gutted the entire car. The dash, the interior, everything. I basically put the harness in, and then found A/C box didn’t work, so I had to buy a 2011 A/C harness, change the gas pedal, change the power windows motors, and rewire the taillights to accept the ’05 taillight harnesses. It was one of those deals where, as you got into it, it was like, ‘oh, this is out of a 2011, that only works with this’ etc. So basically, I had to rewire and transfer everything from the 2011 into the ’05.”

The first iteration of the swap included a completely stock ’11 GT500 engine and 6-speed manual transmission.

During the swap, Koogler decided to take things a step further by incorporating the same 2011 GT500’s full interior, but that proved to have its own set of problems when it came to the wiring.

He says, “It’s a huge swap. I mean, basically, it’s taking your car and stripping it all the way down to bare metal, and in terms of all of the wiring aspects, it completely comes out of the car.” Rest assured, Koogler says it was all worth it for one reason; the price of the entire swap.

“I probably have $18,000-$19,000 into the car,” says Koogler. “I got a good deal (referring to the engine and transmission). I ended up getting the engine and the transmission for $7,500. It was a steal. It was one of those deals where the guy said ‘$7,500’, and I said I’ll be there tomorrow. I literally got in the van, my step dad met me, and we drove off – it was that quick. He said the price, and I took a leap of faith that the guy was being honest with me in terms of the engine bring straight and solid. Turns out the guy was legit.

I ended taking three trips to New Orleans, because I kept buying everything. It was kind of like a third party deal, where he ended up buying all the parts for me, from the same car, but it went to different people. But he ended up trying to get it back for me, and he actually did; he got me the dashboard, the GPS back, and everything piece by piece. I made a lot of trips to get all of it back, but it all worked out and it was a hell of a deal.”

The final iteration sports a powder-coated and ported OEM 2.3 TVS supercharger and throttle-body, and a JLT carbon fiber cold-air intake. The results? 660 horsepower at the rear-wheels.

The main question Koogler always gets is, ‘why do it in the first place?’

His response? “I wanted to do it,” says Koogler. “I basically was pushing myself. I’m the type of person where if someone says it’s impossible, I say bullshit. I will damn-near try to prove anybody wrong. I kinda threw the idea out there a couple of times, and people told me it’s too hard to do, or that it’s not feasible, or it’s too expensive. The engine came up at the right time, and I told myself I’m going to go for it.”

“At that time, I had no knowledge of how a GT500 and a ’05 GT would mate. I knew the engine would bolt-in, and that’s all I knew at that point. And the rest of it was just a ‘I’ll figure it out as I go’ plan, and that’s what I did. It was fun. I enjoy doing this; that’s what makes my mind tick. I’m not gonna lie, it was stressful. At the same time, whatever I got myself into, all the wiring has to be completely changed out of the car. But it worked out, and I’m more than happy. It was a pretty cool deal.”

Koogler has never been a stranger to building badass cars like this GT500 swapped ’05 GT. In the past, he’s done a complete ’96 Cobra to ’03 Cobra conversion, and even a few Fox body cars.

We can’t wait to see what’s next for this GT500 swapped Roush inspired Mustang GT. Rest assured, we’ll be updating you with Koogler’s next moves.