NEARLY 2 YEARS WAITING: New Mustang GT PP is finally mine!
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
Hi there
Done more highway driving upto high speeds, I would now say there is no added tyre/road noise or if there is it is absolute minimal.
Diff whine is only audible in traffic when gently acceleration between 1000-1200rpm which is no doubt transmitted via the steeda diff bushes to CB005, but again it is a humm at just that rpm.
The thud we all have is gone and is now a gentle clunk which I would say is less noticeable than the thud, so those who hate the thud might want to try CB005.
Again the handling and traction benefits are there for sure, accelerating through a turn with a dip full throttle in 2nd would before generate a lot of wheelspin and hop, now there is a minor bit of spin but not enough to over power the differential which is able to now do its thing and more power to the wheel with more grip.
Great product and when combined with vertical links and differential bushing inserts the sloppyness and rubberized feeling is gone, car is way more direct and communicating in a great way!
Rear-end sloppyness all sorted and the parts cost in the region of £300 !
Tomorrow off to Ford to get the recall for wiring loom done and the bodyshop.
Then Thursday dampers and springs. Then maybe at weekend if weather is good I shall fit the anti-roll bars, meaning all parts on the car.
Done more highway driving upto high speeds, I would now say there is no added tyre/road noise or if there is it is absolute minimal.
Diff whine is only audible in traffic when gently acceleration between 1000-1200rpm which is no doubt transmitted via the steeda diff bushes to CB005, but again it is a humm at just that rpm.
The thud we all have is gone and is now a gentle clunk which I would say is less noticeable than the thud, so those who hate the thud might want to try CB005.
Again the handling and traction benefits are there for sure, accelerating through a turn with a dip full throttle in 2nd would before generate a lot of wheelspin and hop, now there is a minor bit of spin but not enough to over power the differential which is able to now do its thing and more power to the wheel with more grip.
Great product and when combined with vertical links and differential bushing inserts the sloppyness and rubberized feeling is gone, car is way more direct and communicating in a great way!
Rear-end sloppyness all sorted and the parts cost in the region of £300 !
Tomorrow off to Ford to get the recall for wiring loom done and the bodyshop.
Then Thursday dampers and springs. Then maybe at weekend if weather is good I shall fit the anti-roll bars, meaning all parts on the car.
Finally watched it, totally brilliant video.
Ford know how to make great engines, I mean its being compared to Ferrari's and its lighter, a fantastic achievement, especially as it is so affordable.
Something I never really mentioned about mine, but he is spot on the standard seats are so good it is untrue, they are the comfiest car seats I have ever sat in and yet they hold you in place, then the fact they are heated and cooled, well got your cake and eaten it.
Looks like I am going for GT 350 intake setup also on my car, there is now over 100 US guys running the 350 setup on GT's with great results of 480-510BHP on dyno and quarter mile times going sub 12s with over 120mph terminals. Even better as the parts come direct from Ford Performance, the 350 intake manifold, 350 throttle body and 350 CAI is a direct fit as Voodoo is based on the coyote engine, just the voodoo got flat plane crank, cylinder heads and the intake setup. The entire kit tuned is a little over 1k, not bad for a 60-80BHP increase NA.
But the guy got it spot on, I wake in the morning excited to drive it, I go out at lunch time in it just to drive it, I look forward to the drive home. The car is completely intoxicating. Out of the box I was a little shocked how good every area of the car was, above expectation at everything, the whole package. The little tweaks I am doing, I say little because so far my spend on the car is $4000 total, for which I have got exhaust system which in my view sounds better than 350 system, I prefer proper V8 muscle sound track which is what I wanted, Shelby 350 wheel, Ford Racing full suspension setup (dampers, springs, anti-roll bars, up-rated bushes), many shift knobs and of course as documented in previous post lots of Steeda and BMR suspension parts which eliminate the weak areas found in the GT model. Still without these parts its a joy to drive and as in the video the Mustang has one real thing going for it, MY GOD ITS A TRUE DRIVERS CAR! The fact this is a V8 American muscle car I just said that about it, yeah out the box it lacks dynamics of an M car and though it can hustle and handle its more GT than out and out sports car, but its got a real charm, something that most cars are now missing.
Great news is the little extras I am adding are maintaining the GT car but vastly improving the sports car within the Mustang.
Its just a fantastic piece of kit, if I'd paid 50k I'd still be happy, but the fact I paid 35k, the value really is ridiculous for people looking for such a car.
P.S. Though I am going no doubt Shelby 350 NA setup in short term, the Whipple shall still be coming as 500BHP won't be enough. Even more crazier Kenny Belle have released their SC kit now, 900HP on stock engine, or 1400-1600HP on built motor, crazy!
Finally got another test, this time it was in the auto (eeew) and set to race mode
He's drawing up the paperwork later, he already had another test drive booked in straight after mine because he had to squeeze me in after not reading my emails again.
It appears they have also discontinued to blue.
MW
Competition Orange, Guard and Deep Impact Blue is EOL.
Grabber blue
is back and some new lightning blue for future years.The Auto will learn and improve, but its an old fashion auto but once it learns to your driving suits the car. If you are modding then remaps transform the auto shift points and firm them up lovely so they are more sporty.
But the manual is brilliant in this car once you pull that sodding clutch assist spring.
The sales are a roaring success, cancelled cars or cars being sold for small profits are being snapped up as well.
The most surprising is the thread on Pistonheads where so many Focus RS customers (deposits paid) have cancelled/transferred their orders and moved over to the Mustang, simply on the grounds that when they saw the Mustang in the flesh it put the Focus to shame on looks, quality, sound.
Ford wanted to go global and boy what a decision, whoever suggested it in Ford is now probably on their super-sized yacht full of hot women throwing one insane party.
Hi there
OK so some might remember Iceman mentioned a week or so ago about having a titanium gear knob and raving about the quality.
Well mine arrived today, install very easier and it has a grub screw and comes with supplied key, makes installing easier, no need for a jam nut or loctite.
First thing, I was hoping it would be a bit shinier as its a bit dull, of course being brushed titanium and made by hand in a lathe works. But colour aside it is twice the weight of the stock item and believe it or not this makes changing gear even nicer. It also has a lovely texture/feel to it and does not suffer from being freezing cold when you first get in the car. The quality is outstanding, I am not going to attempt polishing it as it could spoil it, lovely bit of kit. Thanks Dave aka Iceman!
Today my air-oil-seperator arrived, an official Ford Performance part to help with engine health, power etc.
As expected OEM kit, fantastic quality and for £125 well worth it as it will help keep engine healthy, clean and ensure maximum horsepower. Fitment is very easy as it uses OEM quick release hoses! Shall fit it tomorrow in daylight!
In short performs same task as an oil catch can, but this part was specifically designed for the Coyote/Voodoo engine so should be one of best designs on market and of course it maintains that o.e. look.
Today I had my decals/stripes fitted along with the wiring loom recall performed by Ford, but no photos sorry, will try to grab some tomorrow.
OK so some might remember Iceman mentioned a week or so ago about having a titanium gear knob and raving about the quality.
Well mine arrived today, install very easier and it has a grub screw and comes with supplied key, makes installing easier, no need for a jam nut or loctite.
First thing, I was hoping it would be a bit shinier as its a bit dull, of course being brushed titanium and made by hand in a lathe works. But colour aside it is twice the weight of the stock item and believe it or not this makes changing gear even nicer. It also has a lovely texture/feel to it and does not suffer from being freezing cold when you first get in the car. The quality is outstanding, I am not going to attempt polishing it as it could spoil it, lovely bit of kit. Thanks Dave aka Iceman!
Today my air-oil-seperator arrived, an official Ford Performance part to help with engine health, power etc.
As expected OEM kit, fantastic quality and for £125 well worth it as it will help keep engine healthy, clean and ensure maximum horsepower. Fitment is very easy as it uses OEM quick release hoses! Shall fit it tomorrow in daylight!
In short performs same task as an oil catch can, but this part was specifically designed for the Coyote/Voodoo engine so should be one of best designs on market and of course it maintains that o.e. look.
Today I had my decals/stripes fitted along with the wiring loom recall performed by Ford, but no photos sorry, will try to grab some tomorrow.
Gibbo makes You think why they would not have this on the car in standard if its only 125
Because it's an optional extra that's how business work.
People are so shocked when I tell them how much it cost
MW
At this rate there will be enough of us to have an OcUK Mustang meet, haha!
Exactly and Ford know every enthusiast will buy one, something like this they will sell thousands of them.
I have a full tint kit, I have only used the rear fog and rear side reflector tints. The rear lights, fogs, headlights blah blah are all still there, if you want it?
Tints not red! They are smoked medium tint kit.
Left in kit is:
Headlight tints
foglight tints
front parking/front indicator tints
Rear top brake light tint
Rear reflector tints
Rear light tints
Kit does not seem to just have front headlight indicator tints. If it is of use to you let me know, say £20 posted or something.
Hi there
So today was a very early start, the plan was to fit:
FRPP Dampers
Steeda Ultralite linear springs
FRPP toe knuckle bushes
FRPP air-oil seperator
Set car allignment up to my own settings.
So I arrived at XJK Jaguar early morning to crack on, put the Steeda Ultralite springs on the FRPP front dampers which look a little wonkey but was advised by Steeda and others this is indeed correct. The install went quite smoothly for the front being a typical McPherson setup, took around 1hr and with the cars weight on the front the springs/dampers as adviced by Steeda and other users did indeed straighten.
Next we moved onto rear, removing rear dampers is so easy, talking 5 minutes per side, but getting the rear springs out what an absolute nightmare, most of the rear suspension needed to be dismantled and giant pri-bar to give the clearance required to get those springs out, achieving it in my driveway would have bring near impossible. This took at least 2hr.
The FRPP bushes although simple in practice, the original ones were a little stubborn to get out and the new ones always wanted to go in at an angle so took several attempts, so again more time taken because we were being perfectionist and ensuring everything was done carefully and nothing just cowboyed in with force. Eventually it all went together.
Then put the car back together and tighten and torque all bolts to specification with the suspension loaded.
Next stop the allignment, the next nightmare was about to begin.
Ford factory specification is:
Front camber: -1.03
Front total toe: 0.00
Rear camber: -1.50
Rear total toe: +0.23
Ford Racing/Handling specification for circuit / auto X is:
Front camber: -1.55
Front total toe: 0.00
Rear camber: -1.98
Rear total toe: +0.23
As most of you know I've being researching parts for a year and settings so I knew the Ford Racing specification was truly only for track and not ideal for road as a few users had reports using such settings on the road impeded the cars performance, did not improve it.
So I went with following settings:
To translate that into American it reads as following:
Gibbo's recommended settings for UK roads:
Front camber: -1.33
Front total toe: +0.05
Rear camber: -1.55to1.65
Rear total toe: +0.26
So a little more aggressive than the Ford Performance Pack settings from the factory, this will give a great balance of wet handling on roads along with good sporty driving in the dry.
Now onto what the stock suspension adjustments offer:
Toe front and rear, you can dial in easily with stock components.
Rear camber: IT IS ADJUSTABLE, once lowered you can get -1.00 upto -2.50, just undo the upper camber arm bolt, it is slotted, and has a good 2-3 degrees of adjustment available.
Front camber: Camber bolts are an absolute must, there is practically zero adjustment available for front camber, so bolts or top mounts an absolute must. I used BMR camber bolts, they work very well and cost £20.
Some pictures from the install, starting with the giant Brembo brakes, my are they a work of art and the calipers for how big they are are so light.
The stock toe knucle bushing on the left and on the right is the FRPP bushing a clear difference and a spherical bearing.
Ride height before we started, with nearly 80-100kg of suspension and tools in the boot:
Now the results with no tools/suspension in the boot:
Here is a picture of the decals I fitted, sorry the car is so dirty, but oh well snow, grit and rain with daily usage makes it hard to keep clean always:
I also fitted the FRPP air-oil separator, an incredibly easy install taking about two minutes and looks completely stock because it is an OEM part:
I cannot give you any driving feedback until maybe later or a few days, that will follow!
So what is left?
1. Fit spacers & mud flaps to prevent paint from stone rash.
2. Fit tubular FRPP anti-roll bars.
3. Change colour of wheels to a shade of grey, un-decided.
4. Maybe de-chrome car.
5. POWER!
6. New wheels/tyres once these tyres are shot.
So what I had planned is very nearly completed.
P.S. Car has 6" ground clearance to front splitter.
P.S.1 I trial fitted the 23mm rear spacers, they took the rear of wheels meaning about 1-2mm needs removing from studs, 25mm fit fine.
So today was a very early start, the plan was to fit:
FRPP Dampers
Steeda Ultralite linear springs
FRPP toe knuckle bushes
FRPP air-oil seperator
Set car allignment up to my own settings.
So I arrived at XJK Jaguar early morning to crack on, put the Steeda Ultralite springs on the FRPP front dampers which look a little wonkey but was advised by Steeda and others this is indeed correct. The install went quite smoothly for the front being a typical McPherson setup, took around 1hr and with the cars weight on the front the springs/dampers as adviced by Steeda and other users did indeed straighten.
Next we moved onto rear, removing rear dampers is so easy, talking 5 minutes per side, but getting the rear springs out what an absolute nightmare, most of the rear suspension needed to be dismantled and giant pri-bar to give the clearance required to get those springs out, achieving it in my driveway would have bring near impossible. This took at least 2hr.
The FRPP bushes although simple in practice, the original ones were a little stubborn to get out and the new ones always wanted to go in at an angle so took several attempts, so again more time taken because we were being perfectionist and ensuring everything was done carefully and nothing just cowboyed in with force. Eventually it all went together.
Then put the car back together and tighten and torque all bolts to specification with the suspension loaded.
Next stop the allignment, the next nightmare was about to begin.
Ford factory specification is:
Front camber: -1.03
Front total toe: 0.00
Rear camber: -1.50
Rear total toe: +0.23
Ford Racing/Handling specification for circuit / auto X is:
Front camber: -1.55
Front total toe: 0.00
Rear camber: -1.98
Rear total toe: +0.23
As most of you know I've being researching parts for a year and settings so I knew the Ford Racing specification was truly only for track and not ideal for road as a few users had reports using such settings on the road impeded the cars performance, did not improve it.
So I went with following settings:
To translate that into American it reads as following:
Gibbo's recommended settings for UK roads:
Front camber: -1.33
Front total toe: +0.05
Rear camber: -1.55to1.65
Rear total toe: +0.26
So a little more aggressive than the Ford Performance Pack settings from the factory, this will give a great balance of wet handling on roads along with good sporty driving in the dry.
Now onto what the stock suspension adjustments offer:
Toe front and rear, you can dial in easily with stock components.
Rear camber: IT IS ADJUSTABLE, once lowered you can get -1.00 upto -2.50, just undo the upper camber arm bolt, it is slotted, and has a good 2-3 degrees of adjustment available.
Front camber: Camber bolts are an absolute must, there is practically zero adjustment available for front camber, so bolts or top mounts an absolute must. I used BMR camber bolts, they work very well and cost £20.
Some pictures from the install, starting with the giant Brembo brakes, my are they a work of art and the calipers for how big they are are so light.
The stock toe knucle bushing on the left and on the right is the FRPP bushing a clear difference and a spherical bearing.
Ride height before we started, with nearly 80-100kg of suspension and tools in the boot:
Now the results with no tools/suspension in the boot:
Here is a picture of the decals I fitted, sorry the car is so dirty, but oh well snow, grit and rain with daily usage makes it hard to keep clean always:
I also fitted the FRPP air-oil separator, an incredibly easy install taking about two minutes and looks completely stock because it is an OEM part:
I cannot give you any driving feedback until maybe later or a few days, that will follow!
So what is left?
1. Fit spacers & mud flaps to prevent paint from stone rash.
2. Fit tubular FRPP anti-roll bars.
3. Change colour of wheels to a shade of grey, un-decided.
4. Maybe de-chrome car.
5. POWER!
6. New wheels/tyres once these tyres are shot.
So what I had planned is very nearly completed.
P.S. Car has 6" ground clearance to front splitter.
P.S.1 I trial fitted the 23mm rear spacers, they took the rear of wheels meaning about 1-2mm needs removing from studs, 25mm fit fine.
Thanks research paid off, the new ride height is exactly what I wanted, there is still an arch gap but its spot on just like what you'd see on a GT3/GT4, any lower would have being too low, aka slammed like this:
FRPP/Steeda with body in boot and park on slope for added effect:
Stock with body in boot:
Just so I don't get arrested tonight there is no body in the boot, I took it out now and the body was a set of 4 dampers, 8 sets of springs, wheel spacers and a couple of tool kits, so very heavy, hence why the rear looks slammed in the two above pictures. With nothing in the boot the ride height looks spot on with a slight gap between tyre and arch.
Again no update on handling, blah blah however the miracle is the car seems to ride better, driving home, admittedly with the weight in the boot what I can notice just driving at normal pace is ride quality/control is better, hitting holes or harsh dips are a tad firmer, broken dual carriage ways and dual carriage ways in general the car rides far better, no bounce/floatyness at all and when braking front-end dive is eliminated.
I am really quite shock how if anything lowering the car has actually improved its comfort, very happy indeed!
When time/weather permits I shall get some better photos taken.
Oh and I recorded when the car was taken for road test, unfortunately he never gave it any so the exhaust volume/tune your hearing is only moderate throttle upto around 3000rpm, but its still loud in a good way.
Looking forward to my drive to work tomorrow without having to worry about destroying my subwoofer or boot, now its all empty. I would go for a drive tonight but I am so tired, sleep is required.
[ui]ICEMAN;29137885 said:
Depends where you measure from, if I measure from the actual belly pan that was close to 5" of the ground, be good to know where Ford actually take the measurement from as I shall go measure it and let you know. Of they take it from the splitter which I am guessing they do then that is why as the splitter artificially gives the front-end a look like it is much lower than it is, like a 911 Carrera with aero-kit, as front splitter is so much closer to actual ground.
Looks too low to me. I honestly think it looked better before!
I shall reserve judgement until you have fitted the spacers and painted the wheels, but even then I think it will look too low.
It would be perfect about 1cm higher, with wheels an inch larger in diameter!
If your looking at slammed photos then agreed but with empty boot it's spot on as there is arch gap.
OK for now, wait until car is clean and better weather.
Like I said parked on a ramp with 4 dampers, 8 springs, spacers and tool kits give the impressive the tyres are in the arches.
On level ground, nothing in the boot there is a GT3/GT4 gap, looks spot on.
Hi there
Tyre is no longer partially hidden in the rear arch now car is at normal load.
As you can clearly see the desired gap between tyre and arch is now present. Car artificially still looks lower in back than front, I say artificial as front is actually sitting lower, 1" drop in rear and 1.25" in front. The illusion is due to lack of spacers, the front can easily accomodate upto a 25mm spacer without poking. The rear however only needs a marginal spacer, I'd say as low as 12mm to be honest, as such I believe my 25/23mm spacers I will not use as they will give to much poke with my allignment settings. So I shall try a 8-10mm in the rear and look at a 15-18mm for the front.
If anyone is interested in the 25/23mm spacers let me know, probably best quality spacers out there.
So I can confirm ride comfort is improved, road noise even seems less and I have no idea how to explain that, but nonetheless is improved. Steering weight is increased so normal mode now feels like sport mode with the added benefit are increased feel, steering really is now super spot on, its got great feel and superb weighting in comfort and normal mode, sport mode is now pretty damn heavy.
All bounce, jiggle is eliminated and the car feels glued to the road at higher speeds, I've not really tried pushing the handling yet but in short more grip everywhere, car is more responsive to inputs, feels lighter on its feet, it feels like a proper sports car now it really does. But I just can't get over how well it rides, I have never lowered a car and had improved comfort, now it just glides over bumps and at higher speeds it is like they are not there. Hitting bigger holes/dips in the road have a slightly more firmer feel, not really a negative but maybe to some.
But hard to test in rush traffic but wet roads and car is simply turning in better, has way more traction on corner exit and feels faster (its not) but being closer to ground no doubt helps with that, though it is still super refined. Of course all of this may not be simply down to fitting of new parts, the alignment could be playing a big role and I spent a long time experimenting with camber, caster and toe on the M3 to see how they impact road and track driving. Hence to some my alignment settings for the Mustang might look a little tame, but that is because I want the car super capable on the road, even in the wet. This is not a track setup but is setup purely for maximum road performance and it seems to be working well, but like I say I cannot let you know how much is down to my alignment settings and how much is down to new parts.
In short the car has improved in every area from what I did yesterday, no negatives at all, will be interesting to see how the lighter and larger anti-roll bars impact handling and ride comfort. Because the stock roll bars do seem to be working very well with the lower suspension as body roll is vastly reduced and braking dive is all but gone.
Super impressed!
Tyre is no longer partially hidden in the rear arch now car is at normal load.
As you can clearly see the desired gap between tyre and arch is now present. Car artificially still looks lower in back than front, I say artificial as front is actually sitting lower, 1" drop in rear and 1.25" in front. The illusion is due to lack of spacers, the front can easily accomodate upto a 25mm spacer without poking. The rear however only needs a marginal spacer, I'd say as low as 12mm to be honest, as such I believe my 25/23mm spacers I will not use as they will give to much poke with my allignment settings. So I shall try a 8-10mm in the rear and look at a 15-18mm for the front.
If anyone is interested in the 25/23mm spacers let me know, probably best quality spacers out there.
So I can confirm ride comfort is improved, road noise even seems less and I have no idea how to explain that, but nonetheless is improved. Steering weight is increased so normal mode now feels like sport mode with the added benefit are increased feel, steering really is now super spot on, its got great feel and superb weighting in comfort and normal mode, sport mode is now pretty damn heavy.
All bounce, jiggle is eliminated and the car feels glued to the road at higher speeds, I've not really tried pushing the handling yet but in short more grip everywhere, car is more responsive to inputs, feels lighter on its feet, it feels like a proper sports car now it really does. But I just can't get over how well it rides, I have never lowered a car and had improved comfort, now it just glides over bumps and at higher speeds it is like they are not there. Hitting bigger holes/dips in the road have a slightly more firmer feel, not really a negative but maybe to some.
But hard to test in rush traffic but wet roads and car is simply turning in better, has way more traction on corner exit and feels faster (its not) but being closer to ground no doubt helps with that, though it is still super refined. Of course all of this may not be simply down to fitting of new parts, the alignment could be playing a big role and I spent a long time experimenting with camber, caster and toe on the M3 to see how they impact road and track driving. Hence to some my alignment settings for the Mustang might look a little tame, but that is because I want the car super capable on the road, even in the wet. This is not a track setup but is setup purely for maximum road performance and it seems to be working well, but like I say I cannot let you know how much is down to my alignment settings and how much is down to new parts.
In short the car has improved in every area from what I did yesterday, no negatives at all, will be interesting to see how the lighter and larger anti-roll bars impact handling and ride comfort. Because the stock roll bars do seem to be working very well with the lower suspension as body roll is vastly reduced and braking dive is all but gone.
Super impressed!