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Yeah I guess if I was in the market now I would have a tough decision. I would have hated myself if I bought a '10 and then the '11s came out. I almost bought an 08 or 09 Bullitt or a 370z. I'm really glad I waited for the '11 GT. It's still an incredible car for the money. As soon as I read about the Coyote engine I knew I had to get one. I ordered one from Ford without having even driven it!
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Jan 15, 2014 17:40
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bowling 4 buttcoins posted:Changed oil after 7500 miles with a Royal Purple kit, 8 liters. Installed the Steeda upper arm and mount, learning how to remove the rear seat in 10 seconds. Took about 3 hours to remove and install the arm, recenter the rear end (pan hard bar was off by 2cm at full droop?), and torque everything down. The centering of the rear wheels should be checked at ride height, not full droop. As the rear end is moved up toward the chassis, the panhard bar arrangement will make it move toward the driver's side. I used a piece of string with a nut on the end(plumb bob) and a small $2 machinists ruler to measure the difference side to side with the car on the ground. Measured from the string taped to the wheel arch to the wheel lip on both sides and had to shift it about 1/4" to the right to get it centered with the new coilovers. You have to take the weight off the rear end to adjust it anyways, so you may as well measure it on the ground, then jack it up, support it by the chassis, and adjust the bar. I think I did 2 turns or so. You'll have to set it down or I guess jack and support the rear end to check it, but I got it close enough the 1st time. BMR says to get it within 1/8" side to side, and that's where I'm at. Some people never even bother with it after lowering, but after all that work an extra $150 or so for an adjustable bar and some time to install and set it up must be worthwhile. You may want to drive it a little, park it on a flat surface, and check again. I also learned that you can check your front camber(if you have CC plates that aren't marked, and even if you do.....) by using the same plumb bob, machinist's ruler, and some simple arithmetic. Mine came out to 1.7 degrees, so I'm going to go back in and adjust it to about 1.2 since the car is only used on the street and I'd like to keep some tread on the inside of my tires. I went with coilovers because I didn't want to lower it much, wanted to keep good ride quality, and knew that doing the springs without the proper dampers was pretty much a waste of time if you actually want the car to handle better. In the end it all came out good, and I can lower it another ~1.5" front and rear if I ever really want to. Once I added everything up it was only a few hundred more dollars to just get coilovers with Koni Yellow's and be done with it.
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Jan 15, 2014 23:01
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Meathole posted:The centering of the rear wheels should be checked at ride height, not full droop. As the rear end is moved up toward the chassis, the panhard bar arrangement will make it move toward the driver's side. I used a piece of string with a nut on the end(plumb bob) and a small $2 machinists ruler to measure the difference side to side with the car on the ground. Measured from the string taped to the wheel arch to the wheel lip on both sides and had to shift it about 1/4" to the right to get it centered with the new coilovers. You have to take the weight off the rear end to adjust it anyways, so you may as well measure it on the ground, then jack it up, support it by the chassis, and adjust the bar. I think I did 2 turns or so. You'll have to set it down or I guess jack and support the rear end to check it, but I got it close enough the 1st time. BMR says to get it within 1/8" side to side, and that's where I'm at. Some people never even bother with it after lowering, but after all that work an extra $150 or so for an adjustable bar and some time to install and set it up must be worthwhile. You may want to drive it a little, park it on a flat surface, and check again. I adjusted everything after lowering the car back down, I was just very shocked no one mentioned how the pan hard bar would effect the 3rd link dropping onto the differential. At this point I'm thinking going watt's link + coils would have been the better option, but way more expensive. I still have to figure out if I want to install the balljoint/bumpsteer kit myself or let AED handle that due to the adjustment procedure. Shopping around for a set of 3.31s right now, can only imagine how much labor will cost to swap the gears.
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Jan 16, 2014 19:34
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bowling 4 buttcoins posted:Shopping around for a set of 3.31s right now, can only imagine how much labor will cost to swap the gears. Not that bad. And if you have the skills to do the suspension work you're doing right now, you can probably swap the gears out. Will be a good learning experience either way!  But are you sure yours doesn't already have 3.31s? All 6sp that don't have the track pack (3.55s) came with 3.31s as far as I know. And 3.73s were an option. There should be a sticker on your dif that well tell you what you have.
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Jan 16, 2014 20:58
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bowling 4 buttcoins posted:Shopping around for a set of 3.31s right now, can only imagine how much labor will cost to swap the gears. you are doing all that suspension work, you may as well go all out so you can plant that power to the ground. instead of gears, why dont you look at upgraded the entire rear end? When you do the gears, everything has to come out anyways. why not replace the axles, gears, and differential? its only gonna be a few hundred dollars more for the parts and install. I plan on doing that and it will only cost about $1000 bucks for all the parts and accessories. if a gear install will cost you say $400, it will only be a little bit more expensive to slide in the new axles and pop in the new diff because of the extra 30 min to get the new stuff out of the box. kalvick fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Jan 17, 2014 |
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Jan 17, 2014 15:52
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bowling 4 buttcoins posted:I adjusted everything after lowering the car back down, I was just very shocked no one mentioned how the pan hard bar would effect the 3rd link dropping onto the differential. At this point I'm thinking going watt's link + coils would have been the better option, but way more expensive. I still have to figure out if I want to install the balljoint/bumpsteer kit myself or let AED handle that due to the adjustment procedure. That's good to hear! I figured you did it right, but the comment about being at full droop threw me off. I don't know much about swapping gears other than the fact hat I am very happy with the 3.15's I have now. I know with the lower 1st gear in the automatic it equates to something like having 4.88's in the M6, but I've always liked having tall gears. It may take longer to get out of the hole, but once you're moving it's nice being able to pull a relatively long gear. I believe my E55 had 2.65's and they were great with the ~600 lb-ft of torque because they would tame down 1st gear enough to make it actually usable on the street, and the track(it cut a 1.73 60-foot on street tires). I do wish the Mustang had more torque below ~3,500 RPM, but the Coyote is a fantastic engine and the gobs of power up top only makes the low-end FEEL weak in comparison. The one thing I will say about gears that most people don't realize is this...........Hypothetically if you have 4.10's and the guy next to you in the same car has 3.15's, you shift into 3rd gear at say 60 MPH, but they can take 2nd gear to 80 MPH, they are effectively running a shorter overall ratio from 60-80 MPH. Once they shift into third you have the advantage until you shift into 4th, and then they have the advantage. Obviously for accelerating from a dead stop(with adequate traction) the car with the deeper gears will probably be quicker, depending on whether an extra shift is required to reach the desired speed(say 112 MPH at the end of the 1/4 mile). I would personally keep the stock gears in my car and put in a Circle D converter to get the engine into the powerband almost immediately, and let that torque pull the tall gear. With an M6 you don't have that option, but if 1st gear is already traction-challenged with the stock gears, changing to a deeper ratio will only slow you down. I know much of this is common knowledge and I am not talking to you or anyone in particular, but I wanted to throw it out there and maybe generate some discussion.
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Jan 17, 2014 23:15
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Tide posted:Not that bad. And if you have the skills to do the suspension work you're doing right now, you can probably swap the gears out. Will be a good learning experience either way! Found a place locally that will do the swap for 200 if I remove the diff myself. Now to find the gears! The car was a 55D originally (3.73s dealership installed), but the only OEM parts left now are the GT500 lower control arms and driveshaft. I can hear the OEM driveshaft when starting slowly with the new UCA/mount installed but it feels that much better that I don't even care. I'd love to try a T56 XL or TR6060 swapped car to compare it to but you can't easily remove the truck like shifts transmission of a Mustang without dumping 6k into a swap. kalvick posted:you are doing all that suspension work, you may as well go all out so you can plant that power to the ground. If I didn't go with Tokico D specs I would have picked a QA1/Strange/BMR spring combo. They're suppose to be great for launching, but this car is a DD and it would probably do too harsh. If the stock diff went out I'd move to a Eaton Truetrac or something of that nature but for now it will hold. Meathole posted:...I believe my E55 had 2.65's and they were great with the ~600 lb-ft of torque because they would tame down 1st gear enough to make it actually usable on the street, and the track(it cut a 1.73 60-foot on street tires). I do wish the Mustang had more torque below ~3,500 RPM, but the Coyote is a fantastic engine and the gobs of power up top only makes the low-end FEEL weak in comparison. This is why I didn't go with a TVS/VMP system. Slamming the rear end with 550ftlbs @ 3.5K jut seems like a bad idea for anyone who likes to keep tires around for longer than 7500 miles. The 305 NT555Rs should dead hook on 3.31 in first gear for and hold while the boost kicks in. I'll try the 3.73s out for awhile before jumping to 3.31s but they seem to be the gears to get for FI. Paxton install might start next weekend!
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Jan 19, 2014 03:58
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I did new spark plugs and plug boots with my oil change yesterday... holy crap it was down on power. Now it really does have all the earth-stopping power of a Camry
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Jan 23, 2014 18:39
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clutchpuck posted:I did new spark plugs and plug boots with my oil change yesterday... holy crap it was down on power. Now it really does have all the earth-stopping power of a Camry
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Jan 23, 2014 19:41
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It was fine, sort of tedious with 8 of them to do. I've heard about people breaking spark plugs while removing them or the engine blowing them out with the threads after replacing them. I didn't break any, time will tell if any blow out. I was careful and used a dab of anti-seize on each so here's hoping for no drama. I changed them out because I noticed my idle was getting a little rough. Used the Motorcraft platinum plugs.
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Jan 23, 2014 20:07
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Pretty sure there's a tool specifically made for spark plug changes on Ford's mod V8 family. But if you managed with just an extension, no real need now. The only one I had issue with was no. 4 cylinder (closest to firewall, pax side)
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Jan 23, 2014 20:54
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I'm at a crossroads and have to choose between a 2012 v6 mustang with 39k miles or a '11 challenger with 27k and an aftermarket lcd (who needs google maps?). They're both autos and pretty comparable overall so I guess I'll probably go with the mustang
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Jan 28, 2014 21:31
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Doesn't the V6 Challenger come with that awful, ancient 4-speed auto like the base-model Charger does/did?
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Jan 28, 2014 21:50
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It's a 5 speed, I believe 2011 was the first year of the current gens?
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Jan 28, 2014 21:59
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Dick Burglar posted:Doesn't the V6 Challenger come with that awful, ancient 4-speed auto like the base-model Charger does/did? It's a 5 speed auto. Combined with a "300hp" engine that's only making 150whp at 3700 RPM and a 4000lb chassis, and you get an absolute dog.
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Jan 28, 2014 22:00
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Powershift posted:It's a 5 speed auto. Combined with a "300hp" engine that's only making 150whp at 3700 RPM and a 4000lb chassis, and you get an absolute dog. Yep, I was leaning towards the mustang anyway I just needed some reinforcement before I blow my load.
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Jan 28, 2014 22:11
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Since I'm going to wait until next year to pick up an S550, I decided to pick something up to keep me happy and track-going this year. For a pittance, I managed to get this:  95 GT, all stock save for the Eibach lowering springs which are probably coming out in favor of Steeda springs. The beauty of this car is the simplicity. No ABS, no traction control. 302 (which will probably get a 351 dropped in its place) that runs very well for being 212k miles along in its life. Right now I'm getting all the small crap buying a car for a pittance costs you (brakes, shocks/struts, electrical gremlins) taken care of, after which I'll move on to the fun bits like figuring out how much power to put under the hood. I'm not going to go crazy and try to build a 9-second SN95 (I'm more of a road-course guy to be honest), but I'd like something that has plenty of everything to get me into trouble.
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Jan 31, 2014 08:28
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Anyone familiar with X-Plan able to help me understand this pricing? 26k for a GT doesn't seem right, unless I'm reading this wrong:
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Feb 7, 2014 23:53
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blargle posted:Anyone familiar with X-Plan able to help me understand this pricing? 26k for a GT doesn't seem right, unless I'm reading this wrong: That's completely correct. There's a ton of incentives going on right now, so you can probably negotiate a better deal yourself. I was able to beat X-plan by about $600 when I bought my car, so go in and do the best you can on your own before you mention X-plan, because if you bring up X-plan that will be the lowest price you get.
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Feb 7, 2014 23:56
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blargle posted:Anyone familiar with X-Plan able to help me understand this pricing? 26k for a GT doesn't seem right, unless I'm reading this wrong: I got my GT premium for $26K 
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Feb 8, 2014 03:24
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Twerk from Home posted:That's completely correct. There's a ton of incentives going on right now, so you can probably negotiate a better deal yourself. I was able to beat X-plan by about $600 when I bought my car, so go in and do the best you can on your own before you mention X-plan, because if you bring up X-plan that will be the lowest price you get. I'm not sure that negotiating it down a few hundred down would be worth the hassle if you could get it for that price. That price doesn't include bonus cash if you finance with FMC. I got my 12 premium gt for 28k and thought I got a good deal 
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Feb 8, 2014 03:31
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Honest question here. Other than styling, what are the big reasons to wait for a '15 GT? I've thought about waiting or trying to get a good deal on a 2014 GT. This would be my first foray into sport cars.
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Feb 8, 2014 08:55
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Hughmoris posted:Honest question here. Other than styling, what are the big reasons to wait for a '15 GT? I've thought about waiting or trying to get a good deal on a 2014 GT. This would be my first foray into sport cars. It's got an independent suspension in the back.
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Feb 8, 2014 10:50
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It's also lost weight and the 5.0 is supposed to be getting a power bump, but Ford is playing coy with actual numbers.
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Feb 8, 2014 15:16
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Sexier body style (subjective), more power (supposedly has boss intake, among other goodies), independent rear suspension, lower weight, plus other refinements. Thing is, buying the new gen is going to a fight against dealer mark up and new gen bugs. IF you can wait, go for '16 model. If you can't wait that long, wait for the '15 to cause the resale value of the '14 and older models to drop even more. And if you can't wait that long, pick up a current gen
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Feb 8, 2014 17:20
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I'm trying to track down a used set of 18" wheels, and a mustang (up to 2004) would be a perfect source (5x4.5 bolt pattern). I only need them temporarily (a couple months, while other wheels are being made,) so something used with 4 tires that hold air would be perfect. Any mustang specific forums to check?
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Feb 11, 2014 00:05
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Has the weight loss been confirmed yet? I don't think so. Many people were saying recently that the car will be the same weight or heavier. I read somewhere where the IRS is heavier than the old solid axle.
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Feb 11, 2014 01:09
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jhcain posted:I'm trying to track down a used set of 18" wheels, and a mustang (up to 2004) would be a perfect source (5x4.5 bolt pattern). I only need them temporarily (a couple months, while other wheels are being made,) so something used with 4 tires that hold air would be perfect. Any mustang specific forums to check? Honestly any wheels bought off a Mustang forum is probably going to be really over priced. Obvious place to look is Craigslist, but that may take a while. You could try corral.net or s197.com but don't stick around any longer than you have to. I think those two are the biggest. Honest to God, I would love to build a mustang site with forums and whatnot, but don't have the time to moderate it or produce content. I have yet to find a really good site that doesn't make me want to shoot someone.
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Feb 11, 2014 03:38
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Tide posted:
You'd think that a model as iconic and widespread as the Mustang would have a killer online community, but it's really fragmented. The last Pontiac GTO model only sold about 12,000-14,000 units a year but had a pretty strong forum in it's prime (IMHO). And when I had F-bodies in the '90s, I also found those forums more to my liking than what I see now for Mustangs.
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Feb 11, 2014 08:00
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Number_6 posted:You'd think that a model as iconic and widespread as the Mustang would have a killer online community, but it's really fragmented. The last Pontiac GTO model only sold about 12,000-14,000 units a year but had a pretty strong forum in it's prime (IMHO). And when I had F-bodies in the '90s, I also found those forums more to my liking than what I see now for Mustangs. Yeah, this is what I remember. I think it's because there are so many (Mustangs) - it means that anyone and everyone has one, and people come in all flavors... There are several BIG forums for the cars, but they're a mess. Then you have the forums that cater to the low production cars (like a 66-67 Charger, for instance), where there are probably 4 different forums that cater, which spreads the participants over too wide an area to really get any momentum. Meanwhile, I'll go browse the suggested forums, probably learn that things are indeed overpriced (I've seen some of that already) and probably end up with a set of $149/ea wheels from Discount Tire and some kind of cheap/used tires for now. Thanks!
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Feb 11, 2014 13:39
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Tide posted:Sexier body style (subjective), more power (supposedly has boss intake, among other goodies), independent rear suspension, lower weight, plus other refinements. I think the only boss carry over parts reenforce the weak points of the current 13-14 5.0 block, including the boss cams (with lockouts), boss rods, boss crank, boss valve springs, oil pump cooler, and a completely revised intake manifold. For all intensive purposes you're getting a completely refreshed coyote that will probably perform much better in the aftermarket than the current 5.0. Worth the wait? I think so. 
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Feb 11, 2014 19:08
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bowling 4 buttcoins posted:For all intensive purposes For all intents and purposes. I still don't like the headlights on the redesigned Mustang, I'm hoping they'll grow on me. Then again I'm broke as hell so it's not like I'll be buying one anytime soon, so why do I even care?
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Feb 11, 2014 20:03
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jhcain posted:Meanwhile, I'll go browse the suggested forums, probably learn that things are indeed overpriced (I've seen some of that already) and probably end up with a set of $149/ea wheels from Discount Tire and some kind of cheap/used tires for now. Thanks! How married are you to the 18" wheels? Is it a brake/caliper issue? If you can use 17", you can pick up a set of wheels+tires from mpsautosalvage.com for 649 bucks http://www.mpsautosalvage.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=4547 Speaking of salvage, I can't imagine there's a shortage of wrecked mustangs. I would honestly just start there.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:40
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blargle posted:Anyone familiar with X-Plan able to help me understand this pricing? 26k for a GT doesn't seem right, unless I'm reading this wrong: It's right. I purchased a base V6 for 18,500, no X-Plan. I also noticed a dealer advertising a base V8 for 27k, though that one appears to be sold now. The real challenge with finding that deal on the V8 will be finding a base model, though. They're less common the base V6 models, which are use as ad specials to get people in the door. The Ford dealers are running at over 100 days of inventory now, and it's winter, and a new model is on the way, so the deck is stacked in your favor...if you can find what you want on a dealer's lot.
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Feb 12, 2014 23:22
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How stout are these new Ecoboost engines? I recall the old GM Ecotec 4-cylinders being able to produce ridiculous power without self-destructing, if the new Ecoboost Mustang is significantly lighter than the V8 and able to handle a similar level of power reliably I think it'd be the most desirable model.
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Feb 13, 2014 07:59
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Wheeee posted:How stout are these new Ecoboost engines? I recall the old GM Ecotec 4-cylinders being able to produce ridiculous power without self-destructing, if the new Ecoboost Mustang is significantly lighter than the V8 and able to handle a similar level of power reliably I think it'd be the most desirable model. Actually, pretty stout. I'd expect a safe output level around 450hp with moderate upgrades, judging from past ecoboost efforts in the SHO and Focus ST.
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Feb 13, 2014 08:51
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I didn't see it mentioned in the first 10 pages, anyone here have anything bad to say about short throw shifters for an 04 GT? I don't want to get one just because, I do feel 1-2 is a long throw and could be improved. I think Ive narrowed it down to the Steeda or MGW, unless you guys have a better suggestion. I only narrowed those two down via mustang message boards, which as you guys know are mostly pretty terrible.
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Feb 15, 2014 21:13
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Back in 1999 to 2004, the Steeda short throw shifter was the "Mandatory First Mod" if you bought a stick Mustang!
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Feb 15, 2014 21:43
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Would any of you who have a newer 5.0 happen to have a sound tube you were thinking of throwing out? My girlfriend would love to have more intake sound on her car so Id like to get my hands on one.
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Feb 16, 2014 04:05
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Cage posted:I didn't see it mentioned in the first 10 pages, anyone here have anything bad to say about short throw shifters for an 04 GT? I don't want to get one just because, I do feel 1-2 is a long throw and could be improved. I think Ive narrowed it down to the Steeda or MGW, unless you guys have a better suggestion. I only narrowed those two down via mustang message boards, which as you guys know are mostly pretty terrible. MGW all the way. It's unreal how much better this shifter was for MT82, but it could be a bit different for T5 trans. Sadi posted:Would any of you who have a newer 5.0 happen to have a sound tube you were thinking of throwing out? My girlfriend would love to have more intake sound on her car so Id like to get my hands on one. Why not just get her an intake?
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Feb 16, 2014 07:12
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