NEARLY 2 YEARS WAITING: New Mustang GT PP is finally mine!

[Gibbo]

Damn how long does that take ?

Although...

http://www.americanmuscle.com/2015-mustang-catback-exhaust.html#shop-by1

MW

I got my Corsa from Hypermotive:
http://www.hypermotive.com/cat-backs-7/

Simply because he did me $1100 and $168 shipping as a crazy Black Friday deal, landed, taxes paid it was like £930.

Exchange rate has weakened a lot since then, also shipping rates seem up, but if you want you can drop me an email and I shall introduce you to the guy who sorted me out to see what kind of deal he can do for you.

Remember volume and tone as follows:

Corsa Sport: 15db over stock and holds tone, see my videos.
Borla Atak: Holds tone and about 7db louder than sport.
Corsa Xtreme: Loudest and more exotic/raspy, 15db over sport.


Hypermotive sell them all, best place really for exhaust, quality of Corsa stuff is superb, fits easily and spot on and superb tips.

Took about a week to arrive.

American Muscle takes less than a week to arrive typically.
CJ Pony also around a week.

They are all pretty quick, only if customs decide to inspect it can take longer.

 

[Gibbo]

That Corsa Extreme sounds amazing

MW

Oh it does, but I did not want a raspy V8, I wanted to keep the muscle sound through and through, but the Xtreme is amazing for sure.

Also bear in mind if you add manifolds or high-flow cats or even de-cats at a later date, it all of a sudden gets a lot louder!

Check this video out:

It is insanely loud!

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo, I think it looks nicer with the Spaces on if I do say so myself good choice

Cheers the Eibach 15mm turned up today for the rear, as the 23mm were a trial fit and although fine for the front, they poked a little at the rear as shown in the images.

As always exceptional quality from Eibach only downside being I need to hammer old studs out and put these new slightly longer ones in place.


Also fitted the Velossa big mouth as its called:

If you look closely you can see how it works by forcing air directly into air box.

Fitment was poor, maybe a slight difference in UK/USA cars, but some modification to it and well got it to fit.

Previous intake temperatures would sit 6-9c above ambient once car has being driven for 30 minutes, with the device fitted they are now holding 2-4c above ambient. There is for sure a noticeable improve in throttle response which is welcomed and though it might be placebo the car feels faster than ever. This car accelerates incredible well for its weight and supposedly 415BHP, it feels much stronger, no doubt helped by there being nearly 400lb/ft stock.

Also roads were dry tonight, FINALLY, I got a real opportunity to try out the new suspension and as my initial thoughts, steering feedback and weighting is further improved, infact feedback on the front-end is really very good, can really drive the car in the dry right on its grip limits and oh my are those limits damn high! It really is way above expectations, its a big car but I was throwing it around like a go-kart tonight and the way the front-end bites and communicates is lovely and now rolling into throttle on corner exit you can take bigger liberities, the rear steps but now it feels planted, more grip, more progressive and the differential seems to be finding grip easier, no doubt due to better body control and less deflection from the rear. I am really quite surprised and how quick this car can corner, it is as if it makes its mass disappear, it is really quite agile for its size and weight, remarkably so, but you know the best thing of all it is absolute bucket loads of fun, said it before, I will say it again it is a true drivers car. I suspect on a track this thing would be incredible and no doubt even eat my M3 simply because it feels more planted and has more grip.

Very impressed will be interesting to see how the anti-roll bars effect things and the spacers, those are my only suspension modifications left.

Also I must note the transmission bracket I fitted, well I've not had a single issue since with a 2nd-3rd gear change at maximum acceleration at the rev limiter.

The car could do with a little more power as a handling car with a few more RPM, so I can only imagine how sorted Daves 350 feels as now the suspension is so as the Americans would say hooked up, 6500rpm peak power and 7000rpm limiter is not enough, I can imagine how much fun it must be winding the Shelby out to the 8000rpm and feeling peak power at 7500rpm. I am pretty much 100% set now on the Shelby intake setup in the interim to get the peak power at 7500rpm, but unlike the American owners/tuners who set 7800-8200rpm I shall leave it at 7500rpm. I don't care if its safe because my car runs the same engine/spec as BOSS 302 which had a much higher limiter, more rpm equals more wear, so I'd rather keep well within the realms of safety and might even get the uprated OPG/Billet gears done etc. even though the BOSS nor the Shelby run this, but at end of day I will at some point go super charged and well I'd like the peace of mind.

But the shelby intake and tuning can wait, UK tuners are now tuning these cars, already showing some great gains from just a remap, see for yourself:

I am happy to wait for them to perfect the maps and do mapping on some more different combinations or even when I get my Shelby parts instead of using a US email tune to just get the car custom mapped by someone like Dreamscience with all the bits on the car. But what I have planned should take car from Fords official 415@6500rpm too 475-490@7500rpm with around 30-40lb/ft more torque so very noticable, parts are around £1000 shipped, then tuning on top. I think that is good value for the gains.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there


OK I know its the older model car, S197 chassis, but same engine as mine and I really enjoyed watching this, hope you do as well:

That is the beauty of the new S550, it is the 5.0l from the 2012 BOSS 302 with forged rotating assembly and internals. What the S550 lost was the cobra jet intake manifolds, but now we know why, the engine was a little de-tuned to make way for more powerful 350 with higher rpm.

I won't fit cobra jet setup however, yes it does make more top-end power but it requires lowered engine mounts and it loses bottom end torque due to the runner design, plus you need a higher 8200rpm limiter to take full advantage.

The 350 intake is much better for a road car, there are no losses in power or torque anywhere and it shifts peak power nicely to 7500rpm with a good 30-40BHP gain over 6000rpm so with a tune should see power claim to 475-490BHP, the Cobra jet intake would take power well over 500 with rev limit around 8200rpm, but driveability and low down power/torque is sacrificed.

Gonna go the 350 route myself as it in my view is great value and well within running specification by Ford for the engine.

Couple of graphs of gains:

Tuned car with CAI VS same car with just 350 intake/TB added and tune re-vised to accomodate:

That is an owner who did the install themselves and dyno before and after, no company/marketing BS.


Here is what JDM tuning achieved from car with CAI and tune, to then changing to 350 intake and re-tuning:

To start, a Baseline Dyno Test was done with the Stock Intake Manifold, Airaid intake, Magnaflow Street Cat-Back and a JDM Engineering 93 Octane Street Tune.

They got 408WHP with stock intake manifold and a best quarter mile time of 11.9s at 117mph.

Changing to the 350 intake and TB, peak power was now 430WHP but with 60WHP gains at over 7000rpm.

Awaiting better weather for 1/4 mile but customers with the setup are running 11.6-11.9s at 124-126mph.


So great gains and using Ford parts. I cannot wait to do it, but I will have to wait until I have a few thousand miles on the engine, but it is good to see the great results others are having.

 

[Gibbo]

"It's still a huge car"

But its huge fun! Says it all really.

The woolyness and lack of dynamics, agreed, but what I've done has dialed them out nicely, it is now even more fun and charactful but with dynamics and handling. I could not have purchased any other new car sub 40k (mods included) and got anything like it.

I can't be alone either, Ford are selling plenty of them, speaks volumes.

 

[Gibbo]

You had it detailed at Autobrite today Gibbo?

Yup.
Were you one of the guys I was talking too, quite a few people kept coming over asking questions.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there


OK as it seems people stalk me, as pointed out above I was indeed at autobrite today, but not for a detail, because as already mentioned Ford did a great job of preparing the car and did not swirl or mar the paint work.

A week ago I spotted on Autobrite's facebook page a Range Rover done in Autograph car wax, £85 per small pot and I asked how much they would charge to essentially clean my car exterior and add a layer of this wax, they said it is around 2hr work and would be £60, absolute bargain I said. Perfect for me as I want my paint to stay swirl free so I want to avoid waxing myself.

I took the car today at lunch time, they got too work, bad news we have no Autograph, so instead for no extra charge we shall use our best highest quality shine and durable wax we have "Legacy" at over £200 per pot.


A quick couple of photos:

They did a full photoshoot and video of the car as well, the above are from Facebook so I shall re-post some proper full quality images when the owner from Autobrite emails them over to me.

In short the plan is to take it to them every 6 months for this treatments, because in short it makes perfect sense, so September for Abyss sealant (better for winter) and March for Legacy Wax. At £60 for a solid couple hours work by a professional using the best products is great value.

Love the way the car looks, they also said to bring the car back with the spacers fitted and wheels done in dark grey and they will do a new photoshoot, but on a sunny day.

They also confirmed it was one of the best paint finishes they have seen on a brand new car, really impressive stuff!

 

[Gibbo]

Sounds epic gibbo. Hope to hear it in person one day.

Have the Porsche + M3 gone now?

Just Porsche, am keeping the M3.

 

[Gibbo]

Here is a few more of the picture that Autobrite took of the car today.

They have agreed that once spacers are fitted and the alloys are re-coloured to gunmetal to take it back and they will take some more photos for me.

Am over the moon with it, can't wait to get the spacers on it, to finish it off!

 

[Gibbo]

Wow looking superb Gibbo

With the better quality pics I'm now liking the chrome trim and silver alloys...ties in very well with the rear lamps.

Be interesting too see the autobrite pics if you go ahead with anthracite wheels.

True, hence fitting spacers first and leaving for a few weeks before changing wheel colour just in case it grows on me.

Just had a guy come round to buy my spare set of spacers as he has got a yellow one, he gets out and I could swear I recognized him. Started talking old Mustangs and we I told him how I had a Saleen, he was like was it black, I was like yes, build 666, I am like yes, at that point we both clicked, he is the same guy I got my Saleen from all those years ago. Small world, or just Mustang friends, haha!

 

[Gibbo]

That is just superb.

I wonder how well these will hold value. Do want!

Their success will be their downfall, I think 2yr-3yr time they will be 20k used with around 30-40,000 miles on the clock. But if we all had crystal balls and could accurately predict the future, I'd be playing the lottery and down the local bookies placing a few bets.

Looks absolutely brilliant Gibbo!

I intended to pop into the shop yesterday to see if I could drag you out to show me the car but I got stuck it rubbish traffic so gave it a miss.

No problem, see the car outside, just ask for me at sales counter and let them know who you are and as long as I am at my desk and not in meetings I will come down for sure.

 

[Gibbo]

The fact that these will be affordable in a few years time makes me wish I worked closer to home so I didn't have to worry about eco...

How much have you spent on sorting out the handling dynamics? (suspension, bushes, reinforcements and whathaveyou)

I've spent about £3500, but that also got me exhaust, interior modifications, all LED exterior lights etc.

To sum up the suspension parts that have the biggest impact in order of their effectiveness:
1. FRPP Race/Handling Kit (dampers, springs, roll bars, bushes): £700
2. BMR Cradle lock out kit (Eliminates the rubberized feeling in rear): £150
3. Steeda Differential bushing inserts (eliminates floaty/rubberized in rear): £100
4. Steeda G-trac brace, tightens front-end up. £150


Those are all landed prices, yes I have a couple more suspension parts but their impact was less so, the above 4 transform the car and I did it for around £1000. These same parts now cost £1500 delivered, exchange rates, lack of Black Friday deals etc. But in 2 years the GBP could be vastly stronger and you might be buying these parts for even less.

In short £3000 can transform the car, suspension, exhaust, interior to give you a much better look, handling and sound.


The biggest expense on this car will always come in the form of new wheels/tyres and a super charger kit, but even then the value is incredible, you can't add 300-400BHP to a Mercedes AMG reliably for less than £5000, not even £10,000 and even hard to do at £20,000. On the Mustang the kits start from around $5500 and they are bolt-on design so do it yourself at home.

 

[Gibbo]

Some would say that's wasted power though- wheel spinning through most of your gears is fun but ultimately pointless.

The Mustang isn't exactly slow at stock, so i'd lean towards keeping it N/A and bumping the power slightly that way, rather than anything else.

It won't spin the wheels on a proper setup car. I've posted the video quite a few times on the forum of the guy with the Whipple setup running 10.5s quarter mile run after run on road legal tyres.

Having owned a 600BHP Mustang, I could put it in 2nd gear at any RPM and put every single horsepower to the road with zero wheelspin and that was wearing 275 section rear Pzero tyres.

New Mustang chassis has a lot more grip/traction, plus I will have much wider and stickier tyres being 305/315 section on the rear and something from Michelin, as long as I keep power to around 650BHP it will be fine for traction, over 750 there shall be issues.

But that is why I shall go with a Whipple setup as they come with the flight control software where you can customise the boost in each gear, so in 1st gear I could set the car to only 500BHP, 2nd 600BHP and 3rd gear 700BHP or whatever is required to prevent spin. Or I could just modulate the throttle control, but either way Whipple kits are the best, they PCM/Software is written by Ford engineer/programmers hence why they are best and safest kits.


However to begin with I shall just go with NA tuning like you suggest, because this car is actually surprisingly quite fast, its on parr with the 911 in a straight line, maybe a bit quicker in the 60-130mph range due to torque and not far of M3 pace. So an extra 60-75BHP NA might satisfy me and its cheap to get at about £1000 delivered for the parts, which for NA tuning is not bad.

Thing what I love about super chargers is they have no negative impact on drivability and on my old Mustang you can just smash the throttle in 2nd gear and induce whiplash it was so aggressive and punchy, or just floor the throttle in 4th or 5th at 50mph and within seconds be doing 150mph. It is great fun and the whole idea of this car was to go back to have such big power again, the fact it also happens to corner very well and be a nice place to sit is a bonus.

 

[Gibbo]

Some would say that's wasted power though- wheel spinning through most of your gears is fun but ultimately pointless.

The Mustang isn't exactly slow at stock, so i'd lean towards keeping it N/A and bumping the power slightly that way, rather than anything else.

Here ya go, this the phase 1 Roush kit:

Things to note, stock wheels, road legal tyres, consistently trapping in the 10s with 130+ terminals, 0-100mph in about 7s, traction is good. More impressive this is a manual with 3.73 gears and no rear-end suspension modifications to aid traction. This is also the first tune revision with 630HP!

He hopes to dip into 9s on the new 670HP tune and suspension modifications whilst still running road legal tyres.


You can get this 670HP kit for $6500 delivered (discount code required):
http://www.cjponyparts.com/roush-supercharger-kit-phase-1-670hp-5-0l-2015-2016/p/421823/


UK owners also have an advantage as UK cars have taller 3.55 gearing which helps with traction, also as and when I go this route, I will have 305/315 section rubber on the back and I plan on going with Whipple not Roush as Whipple is twin screw so the torque is not as big and created higher up rev band, which also helps aid traction as well. Plus as I mentioned Whipples come with flight control software so if you are having traction issues in certain gears you can simply reduce the power in lower gears.


As more time passes only more options will come to market, so I am happy to sit back, enjoy the car NA and see how things develop and how UK owners get on with Roush and Whipple kits.

 

[Gibbo]

What's the reason behind the gearing difference? Sounds quite odd. Is it to do with EU regs of some sort?

Don't know to be honest, but out of all the things the EU cars got deprived off compared to US cars, it is one of the things I am happy about, as the car does not need such short gearing, it is not like its lacking power/torque.

So the 3.55 makes me happy but I have no idea as to why they did it.

 

[Gibbo]

HI there


Today I fitted the Eibach 15mm hubcentric rear spacer. After trial fitting 23mm spacers on the rear there was too much poke for my liking and I feel 20mm would also be poking too much. As such I decided to give 15mm a go, here is a link to the spacers I purchased:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eibach-15...stang-S90-6-15-056-2015-WP-237-/172100752240?


These spacers are the best design I have come across as they weigh less and are in my view safer, not only that there is no issue with torquing the nuts to the full 148lb/ft as stated in the hand book.

However fitting this type of spacer is not the usual five minute job, give yourself an hour per side and take your time.


DIY Guide!

1. Start by jacking the car and removing the wheel (21mm socket)

2. Remove brake caliper, this is hardest part as it is hard to get a big wrench/socket in the wheel well, so patience needed. (18mm socket)

3. Remove the splash guard, by undoing the three 8mm bolts

4. With it removed be sure to support the calipers weight, I used some bricks!

5. Now remove the old studs one at a time by hitting with a small metal hammer, no need to go insane, just moderate force hits will do it, also put a 14mm nut on the bolts and hit that bolt with the hammer to preserve the threads on the stock studs.

6. Once the stud is out, put the new longer stud in place, note you will only get the studs in and out between the 11-12o'clock position and they will go in with gentle tapping, if they are not just rotate the hub a couple of mm and they will just tap into place.

7. Hammer the stud a little into the wheel hub, again using light force just to get the stud started.

8. Then with a tool I made, old wheel nut with top taken off and a larger washing, thread this onto the stud until tight to pull stud all the way through and then remove the hand made tool.

9. New spacer and new studs show time!

10. Nearly done!

11. Comparison old and new studs, 15mm spacer, so 15mm longer studs.

12. Finished!

13. Notes use blue loctite on splash shield and caliper bolts, splash shield bolts are just nipped up, caliper bolts give them everything you got. Put wheel back on, tighten, let car down, torque wheels, go for drive, re-torque wheels!













Results!


Pictures speak volumes:

The results are perfect, exactly what I wanted, there is no poke and the wheels are as flush to the body work your going to get without having poke. Car now looks higher in the rear and no longer looks like the suspension is collapsing in on it self, really please with the results and I far prefer this type of spacer that just comes with longer studs.

Unfortunately Eibach 20mm and 25mm design seem to go back to the design of attaching to the hub using current studs and having new studs in place, it is perfectly safe but I far prefer the idea of there only being one set of bolts to tighten (wheel to hub) rather than two sets (spacer to hub, wheel to spacer).

Once the mud flaps arrive I shall install the front 23mm spacers I have!


Driving impressions!
Car has not changed in anyway, all I would say is the car has a touch more understeer and more grip in the rear, which is what you would expect when just widening the rear track by 30mm. This car as standard has slight understeer towards limits, now the understeer is a little more noticable. Once I fit the 23mm (46mm track widening) the cars balance should be a bit better than factory, with just very slight understeer, we shall see.

But for me these 15mm spacers give the perfect no poke look, they weigh less and are safer. A perfect fit for GT PP cars, only downside being they take longer to install.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo your passion on this is great to see. We are all petrol heads and frankly a mans passion on a project like this outweighs logic, not that it's illogical. Keep us up to speed, I for one am enjoying the progress as you add bits and stuff and watching it progress, though to be fair I'd be driving more than polishing it you Herbert.

Now get those wheels off and get some more suspension stuff on it.

One month in, 1000 miles done, spacers were installed, followed by a good couple of hours drive, yes the smiles per mile are at maximum!

All I have left to fit is:
Anti-roll bars
Front spacers

Thats it, just leaving roll bars for now as car as it sits now is totally amazing to drive so wanna get a few weeks on it now, that gives me a good idea if and when I fit the roll bars the impact they have as they could make it ride far harsher. Fitting GT3 bars on 911 really improved its balance but it rode a lot more harsher. Yet on the M3 fitting CSL bars had no impact on ride quality but did improve handling/roll. We shall see!

 

[Gibbo]

So I'm guessing the warranty is now void

Yes and no, void on the parts changed, still stands on the parts left untouched.

For example, my shocks leak, my problem down to my wallet to pay and fix.
But say my stereo stops working, Ford will fix it.

I checked with my dealership in short warranty stands if that part of the car is not modified or they can prove the modification caused the failure.

All I want a warranty on is engine, drivetrain, electronics, infotainment etc. This is why I've left performance modifications alone, the dealership said a catback exhaust has no impact on power/performance and are fine with it. The moment I tune the engine, then its my problem.

 

[Gibbo]

That video from Autobrite

Here is that very video!

 

[Gibbo]

Were they really £60 quid mate? As I can't get near that quote?

Yes for what they call a valet.
Wheels purple rain
Wheels wheel cleaner
Snow foam
Snow foam gloss
Wash car
Sealant
Wax
Glass cleaner and repel added
Trim cleaner

£60 for valet and £14 for reaper drying towel. Maybe I got a good rate being repeat customer.