Deposit May 2014 and today I took delivery, oh my, what a...

Deposit May 2014 and today I took delivery, oh my, what a...

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Discussion

benny.c

3,473 posts

206 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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The difference you feel is probably due to new tech plus the IRS giving you better traction than the old live axle on anything but a smooth surface?

Good review anyway, thanks for taking the time to write it.

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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benny.c said:
The difference you feel is probably due to new tech plus the IRS giving you better traction than the old live axle on anything but a smooth surface?

Good review anyway, thanks for taking the time to write it.
Most likely and I will admit when I owned the S197 I was not as technically minded, though it was that car that got me a lot more into cars and learning how to work on them myself. But it was many years ago now, I was 26 when I first owned it, 36 now, haha. biggrin

Yes the S197 was brilliant on smooth road, but I did try to improve my S197 a lot, I did the Steeda lower billet arms, did the panhard rod, I even tried a links wattage on the rear or whatever they were called and though they improved it, the IRS on the S550 is miles ahead and the LSD is a lot more noticeable in a positive way on the S550. smile

SpydieNut

5,794 posts

222 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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Gibbo205 said:






smokin - very very nice mate. i want of of these so badly now it hurts biggrin

LukeSi

5,753 posts

160 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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Car looks lovely, got a massive soft spot for the yank stuff and these have really piequed my interest. No chance of affording one any time soon but eventually maybe. Noticed your very local to me, one of the pictures is XJK in Newcastle isn't it?

Don't suppose there is any chance of a cheeky ride / nose at it at some point? Lovely lovely cars haha.

benny.c

3,473 posts

206 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
quotequote all
Gibbo205 said:
….but I did try to improve my S197 a lot, I did the Steeda lower billet arms, did the panhard rod, I even tried a links wattage on the rear or whatever they were called and though they improved it...
I remember, you did loads to it! That's the beauty of the Mustang, there's so many mods available to get the car just how you want it.

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
quotequote all
LukeSi said:
Car looks lovely, got a massive soft spot for the yank stuff and these have really piequed my interest. No chance of affording one any time soon but eventually maybe. Noticed your very local to me, one of the pictures is XJK in Newcastle isn't it?

Don't suppose there is any chance of a cheeky ride / nose at it at some point? Lovely lovely cars haha.
Yes XJK are superb guys!

I work at www.overclockers.co.uk feel free to visit any time, pop in our shop and ask for me and I shall show you around the car no problem. smile

Demon Hill

368 posts

239 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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Gibbo205 said:
Nice one, I use them they are very good.

Cheers

Steve (Wobs on Mustang6g)

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
quotequote all
Demon Hill said:
Nice one, I use them they are very good.

Cheers

Steve (Wobs on Mustang6g)
Thanks buddy, in the last five years a huge amount of work has gone into making OcUK one of the best resellers for service/support and we can say were finally there, top ranking on google, trust pilot and other review sites now for service.

Likewise to you guys feel free to pop by anytime, you see the Mustang or M3 outside, pop in and just ask for Gibbo. smile

Aphex

2,160 posts

199 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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You've addressed every detail that jumped out at me as being out of place with modifications that look great thumbup

The only thing left is that it looks a little under-wheeled but you're on top of that too, great stuff thumbupthumbup

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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Changed the colour of my puddle lights. smile





Before they were white, I've changed them to blue to match the interior and sill lighting as I've set all the RGB lighting in the car to blue so wanted these to match. Cost like £3 to do and is reversible in seconds and you can pretty much do any colour you wish. smile

cardigankid

8,849 posts

211 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

fellatthefirst

579 posts

154 months

Saturday 30th January 2016
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Gibbo205 said:
Haha, guess what I've done tonight:



LED sidelight bulb and more powerful LED foglights. So the front lights are now all white.

The above image shows you the difference, left side is LED's and right side is halogens. smile
I would like to make this mod. Can i ask where you got the LED's from? Looking good!

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Saturday 30th January 2016
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HI there


So today I made a start on improving the rear-end of the car. Though the car drives great as I already mentioned in my more detailed review it can get floaty and when you do power oversteer from a corner, though it is progressive and controllable, there is a floaty sensation coming from the rear.

So today I started by installing BMR Vertical Delrin/Spherical links, these are advertised as helping reduce deflection and wheel hop with no added NVH.

Removing the old ones is very easy, wheel off, undo the 18mm bolt and undo the 15mm bolt, they comes right off. To make my life easier I had a jack under neath the rear hubs to support it so once I removed the vertical links all remained in place.


[size=4]Stock vertical link VS BMR vertical link[/size]



The first thing you can see is the BMR looks a far more solid and stronger item compared to stock. Yet it weighs less due to being made from billet and is vastly stronger and uses much larger bushes that fill the entire space.

I used energy suspension lube everywhere as I had heard of some people getting knocks/clunks after vertical link installations, but those were delrin/delrin version and I had gone with spherical/delrin to help eliminate any noise/NVH.

The instructions say put the supplied top bolt in first and then the original stock bottom bolt. Doing it this way round meant I could not line up the bottom bolt to go all the way through and instead of using pry bars and going wild. I removed the top bolt to give me some more wiggle room for the bottom bolt, worked and the top bolt went straight in. Top bolt tightened to 81lb/ft and bottom bolt to 129lb/ft and used blue loctite on bottom bolt for safety, no need on top bolt due it using a nylock nut.


[size=5]Test Drive[/size]

First thing, no knocks, clunks and zero added NVH, to drive the car feels hardly any different. But putting power down in 1st gear, wheel hop is reduced, the wheels just spin instead with less hop/judder, but have to say grip seems improved. Power oversteer feels more direct and the car feels more planted in the rear. Were talking all minor improvements in here, but a change for the better indeed and again at £100 cost they are well worth the price.

Picture of one installed:



Set aside 1-2hr for install! smile













So then it was time for the Steeda differential bushing insert kit. When accelerating hard, especially if you get wheel spin the whole differential bounces around in its housing and typically give a bit of a sloppy feeling, it also no doubt contributes to the rear end bounce a little as well and wheel hop.

These are very easy to install, first just support the differential with a jack, then undo the two rear subframe bolts by about 2-3 full turns. Now undo the bolts in the rear differential, one at a time. Put the bushing insert into the void, it will only fit one way and then re-tighten, getting a socket on is hard due to lack of room, so a 22mm and 18mm spanner is very handy. Re-tighten to 129lb/ft and also re-tighten rear subframe bolts also to 129lb/ft.

The front differential bushes are a little harder, you need to support the rear subframe with a jack and remove the front differential bolt on one side at a time. Then remove the bolt and replace with a shorter bolt. Then insert the bushing insert on the opposite side using the short bolt.

As this is a fiddly job it will take you anywhere from 2-4hr in driveway.

These bushes fill the void and help prevent the differential having excess movement, keeping it under far more control. The kit comes with red and black bushes, black being firmer, I went with red ones as again they claim no added NVH.


Picture of an insert installed and one not:



You can see that the stock rubber bushing allows the differential to have a lot of movement, no doubt for comfort, but it does no favours for control and wheel hop. These kits cost around £70 so are great value for money!












[size=5]Test drive with BMR Vertical Links & Steeda differential bushing insert system[/size]


Now things become more noticeable, but not in a bad way, ride comfort is practically as it was and again there is no added NVH, something I am very sensitive too. smile

These two combined together and really got rid of a lot of the rear-end slop and rubberized feeling the car had. To be frank the car feels bloody awesome now in the rear with just these simple modifications, it is far more direct, the car just feels a lot more sharper whilst still also being the great tourer as comfort and ride quality is un-changed. If anything for me it feels better as the car feels a lot more connected, it bounces less, wheel hop is practically all but gone and power oversteer now the rear-end no longer feels like it is floating and if anything the car is more controllable on the throttle.

These pair of modifications together are superb, if you also feel your Mustang feels a bit rubberized and sloppy/bouncy in the rear and you have wheel hop and/or traction issues. Well give these parts a try because they reduce all of those symptoms.

This car just keeps getting better and better!

Monday I am going local garage to get the springs and dampers fitted, plus an alignment. smile

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
quotequote all
Hi there


So tonight I fitted, the BMR CB005 cradle lock out kit which performs several functions as one kit such as:
- Rear cradle allignment, perfectly centre's rear cradle.
- Helps stop deflection in all directions of the IRS subframe bolting to factory locations.
- Vastly reduces / eliminates wheel hop.

So a little like the differential bushes, this kit uses solid aluminum pieces to fill the voids around the rubbers on the IRS subframe/cradle to the body and then helps prevent excess movement. It is very hard for me to explain, so let this video do the talking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeB1RZdlIr0



Hope that explains it better. smile


So what are my findings:
- There is added NVH, but it is slight and not in the form of buzzing or annoying harmonics, just a little more tyre noise I'd say that shows itself generally at motorway speeds or on rougher roads, but it is slight, so if your on the motorway turn the radio up a further notch. wink
- The driveling thud that these cars experience when taking clutch up has gone from a thud to a light clunk which I believe others found.

Those are the slight negatives, onto the positives:
- Way more feel for the car in the rear where grip levels are, communication in the butt dyno are improved for sure inspiring a lot more confidence to really push hard.
- Wheel hope is GONE!
- More traction!


So the car has more feel, more traction and the rear-end floatyness is even less so now, of course dampers should impact the this the most, but all these rear-end modifications have all helped reduce it and the rubberized feeling in the rear is now completely gone.

Car still rides really well, but response is vastly improved, when I steer the rear end is not catching up, it is now in complete sync, like I say the rubberized feeling/sensation is now completely gone in the car. So yes there is a little more NVH but it is the welcomed variety like the 911 had, feel and communication of grip. I shall report more on tyre roar at higher speeds in more normal driving when I am not driving with radio off trying to hear the slightest of noises, so yes I have to try to hear noise. wink

So if you too feel the rear of the car is rubberized, suffers wheel hop and deflection and well feels a bit disconnected from inputs, the BMR vertical links, BMR cradle lockout and Steeda differential bushing inserts make a great transformation. Even better that all these parts combined cost less than £300 !!

Also to note the BMR CB005 cradle lockout does the job of three Steeda seperate parts that come to more than double the price and the jury is still out on those parts, yet CB005 is proven to work and for half the price! smile

Really hope to get dampers and springs on later this week and anti-roll bars following week, then that is it, POWER is next and with all this grip I now have I need more power for sure! biggrinbiggrinbiggrinbiggrinbiggrin



P.S. Picture of them installed, a fried has a 4 poster in his unit, made this job a lot easier!


As you can see I just put the energy lube everywhere, I do have an entire tub of the stuff though! biggrin

fellatthefirst

579 posts

154 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
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Gibbo where did you get the LED lights and spotlights from? I'm looking to make that mod, any advice would be great.

TheNewGuy

43 posts

223 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
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Gibbo205 said:
I work at www.overclockers.co.uk feel free to visit any time, pop in our shop and ask for me and I shall show you around the car no problem. smile
Ah was wondering if you were the same Gibbo from OCUK, good to see all my money spent in your sales going towards such a great car smile

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
quotequote all
fellatthefirst said:
Gibbo where did you get the LED lights and spotlights from? I'm looking to make that mod, any advice would be great.
Here is the fog light kit:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-headlig...

Centurion07

10,381 posts

246 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
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Since I found out our fogs contain both a fog AND a DRL bulb I've been meaning to ask how those^ function?

Gibbo205

Original Poster:

3,528 posts

206 months

Tuesday 2nd February 2016
quotequote all
Centurion07 said:
Since I found out our fogs contain both a fog AND a DRL bulb I've been meaning to ask how those^ function?
I just left DRL disconnected and I simply drive with my sidelights or mainlights on.

At somepoint in the future I might convert the wiring so DRL's essentially power park lights or actually put the true DRL's back in the car as per USA spec and connect it using the wiring in place.

sumpoil

431 posts

163 months

Wednesday 3rd February 2016
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fellatthefirst said:
Gibbo where did you get the LED lights and spotlights from? I'm looking to make that mod, any advice would be great.
The bulb types are listed in the owners manual. I just ordered the equivalent CREE LED Canbus bulbs (there seem to be quite a few different designs for essentially the same thing) for front DRL/fog/side/indicators from a variety of sources, e.g.;

eBay
http://www.xenonbulbs.co.uk/
http://www.auto-lighting.co.uk/
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/
http://www.horizonleds.co.uk/

One of the things you need to pay attention to is the length of the bulb, especially the DRL's as there is not a lot of room in the fog light. I'm no expert but the CREE bulbs seem to be a bit more compact because of their extra power, but I'll leave it to someone a bit more knowledgeable than me to confirm that.