Ford Mustang 2013 GT Track Pack

Ford Mustang 2013 GT Track Pack

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5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Monday 24th October 2016
quotequote all
I drove the Mustang for the first time since the last upgrade. It seems to be more stiffer in the corners but still on heavily rutted corners the lateral movement of the axle is still noticeable. Really it will need upgraded upper and lower control arms to remove those issues.

A spirited drive through the mountains on the Cherohala Skyway and onto the Blue ridge Parkway to Asheville, North Carolina. I managed up to 36mpg (UK) hypermiling on a mountain highway which was really good considering the hilly roads. It settled at 33 UK mpg for the trip back.












5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Monday 30th January 2017
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I spotted a Focus RS in the wild. This is the first one I've seen close up.

It looks well put together but it seemed really small. As you can see from the pics how much longer the mustang is, still there were 3 inches sticking out from the rear.

It does not look like a maintenance friendly car.

The interior materials looks very similar to my mustang.

The nitrous blue in person is close to grabber blue except it has the glitter speckles.

I can't wait till the new type r gets here, hopefully it will be bigger than the focus.





5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Monday 30th January 2017
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Some interesting cars on my travels.




C4 vette, those wheels look very similar to Compomotive CX's.







The regular v6 grill (no fogs) and the roush splitter look classic, if I did not use the fogs, this is how I'd do it.



The perfect ride height.




Edited by 5ohmustang on Tuesday 31st January 05:36

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Wednesday 8th February 2017
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Spotted this nice Challenger, the Monster decal needs to go.




I am now going to replace the factory shocks and struts. The track pack had GT items but had been revalved. The springs were still too soft, allowed for some body roll and nose dive under heavy braking was pretty bad. The Boss 302 had adjustable Toxico's, the GT500 had adjustable Bilsteins (electronically adjustable button next to the launch control.)

The best shocks and struts I have found are Bilstein B12's. Which are the B6/HD Shocks combined with Eibach Springs. There's a pro kit and sportline. The difference are the spring's ride height and rate. The sportline being the lower drop, however some people have reported they are too harsh for the road. The kit I have ordered is the pro kit.

https://www.steeda.com/bilstein-b12-suspension-pro...

I believe these are the springs alone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64ta21YFkA&li...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN6BBhIumFA&in...

It should be a 1 inch drop, due to the drop not being aggressive, camber plates and a bumpsteer kit are not needed.

Easy installation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9LEV5CtMV8&in...

The best part of this is the kit costs $1k, frugality and patience netted them for $500.

It's been a long time since I last had Bilstein.



5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Wednesday 8th February 2017
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Today I came across 2 dudes at work with Mustangs. I've seen both cars around and they are pretty damn loud. I took a closer look.

These are the Eibach Sportline and they look great. It is actually on the bumpstops so they need replacing with shorter ones. It is only using the Eibach Camber bolts ($20) to correct it. It's not running an adjustable panhard bar as the axle is very slightly off center.



Kooks shorty headers, catless, BBK X pipe, resonators deleted, Roush axle backs, bigger injectors, boss 302 intake, bama tune, it runs on E85 Flexfuel.

On the boss intake the cavity is huge between the intake and the top of the engine.







GT500 Steering wheel.





Boss 302











Boss intakes on the Boss are serialized while the off the shelf boss intakes have the ford racing badge.



Boom!



Boss strut bar, the coil covers are blue, the trim pieces on either side of the intake hide the lines and a spacer cover to cap off the large cavity I mentioned to reduce heat being trapped there.






5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
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The Bilstein B12's arrived today.



Unpacked and inventoried all components and hardware, everything is present.

Eibach pro kit




No Nick's, gouges, scratches all struts and shocks are brand new.


This ripped packaging, patience and frugal shopping got me $500 off. Do your research, compare and buy wisely. There are bargains to be had, you just have to hunt the good stuff.




So for around 400 quid all in. I'll loan a free spring compressor from AutoZone tomorrow and get working on the stang.


Edited by 5ohmustang on Friday 10th February 12:01

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Friday 10th February 2017
quotequote all
The 13-14 GT500 electronically adjustable bilsteins was only on the SVT performance pack. They were known as Bilstein Damp-Tronic. I previously was looking into what it would take to have these installed to my GT. They will bolt up straight up and work, however they will not adjust. I believe it will stay in the mode it as selected in.





2 settings were available, normal and track.

However you need more than the shocks to adjust electronically. Some part of the wiring is required too as the shocks interact with the car. This suspension came with a control module.

Occasionally a cheap used set will pop up for sale as take off's on a car at Shelby American, all the take off parts are sold through the ebay store. New they are around $500 a corner, plus the control module is $500.





It changes the brake bias a little rearward to help turn in, re-tunes the ABS, reduces advance track stability control, turns off nibble control in the EPAS and defaults to the sport steering setting.

It's really cool and all that, but not worth the expense or hassle to have the luxury of electronic adjustability. I like the idea but it's just one more component to break.





Edited by 5ohmustang on Friday 10th February 11:57

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Tuesday 14th February 2017
quotequote all
There was no way to install the bilstein kit without an impact gun.

The rear shocks and struts were pretty easy to install. I had to drop the sway bar from the end links to access the lower shock bolts.

At this point I realized the track pack swaybar is actually the same size as the regular gt, 24mm. I did some research and the boss sway bar and gt500 svt performance pack use 25mm. Most aftermarket upgraded sway bars run 25mm.



It turns out the boss 302 Laguna secs used 26mm. These are available from Ford for like $80. Bargain of the century, combined with upgraded bushings and BMR end links this should provide a big improvement over stock.

Anyway when it came to the front strut, the strut mount separated in half. Dropping ball bearings on the floor. I spent half an hour finding them all and putting them back in the bearing race.

Unfortunately there is no way to connect the two halves properly again.

Most people use the gt500 strut mounts which also fits 05-10 GTs. 11-14 GTs use a thicker stem so the only option is to buy new crappy OEM strut mounts or go aftermarket.

I just ordered Steeda heavy duty caster camber plates, normally $330 but I found a set for $150.

To be continued.


5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
The steeda heavy duty caster camber plates arrived too late to install this weekend.

I also got the call from Ford to say the takata airbag parts for the recall had arrived. I have been waiting for 2 years.

Once the alignment is done I'll test out the new new shocks and struts on the Tail of the Dragon and adjust it from there. Interestingly no instructions came from bilstein on adjusting the units.

Meanwhile, watch this with the volume turned up.

https://youtu.be/45mFYpFRvtQ

Shadow R1

3,798 posts

175 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
5ohmustang said:
Meanwhile, watch this with the volume turned up.

https://youtu.be/45mFYpFRvtQ
Sure did. biggrin

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Tuesday 21st February 2017
quotequote all
From watching the in car camera, it's reassuring to know there was no high rpm lockout between gears on the mgw race spec shifter.

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2017
quotequote all
It looks like the msd 2 step and catless is the key. Hey Kappa, does your s550 come with launch control from the factory?

The msd 2step is $230.

Install https://youtu.be/WAC-kqY7JFg

Flames https://youtu.be/lY5yNcRIyPo.https://youtu.be/aWunB5kOsbI


5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
This thread needs a soundtrack.

Marshall Tucker Band-Cant you see

https://youtu.be/GZZ7cogovrY

After some more research on the springs. Ford Racing sell 2 types of springs K and P.

They are rebranded eibachs.

K being the sportline, the most aggressive drop.

P being the pro kit, the less aggressive drop.

Ford Racing recommend the P springs for optimum handing which are the ones I have.

Spring is here so I took the Vstrom to the auto parts store to borrow a compresser again.











Once I got
home I noticed one of the washers on the spring compressor was missing. So it took me a long time to get the steeda heavy duty strut mount on level so the 2 halves would not separate. The key is to compress the spring evenly a small amount at a time in increments.

The old strut mount.


The steeda items require the reuse of the spring perches so I cleaned them up.





The steeda HD strut mounts.


















Once installed I remember that when I installed the rear shocks and springs I did not check the position of the rear axle.

Now I did do this when I installed the white line adjustable panhard rod and support bar.

I used one of the guts from 550 cord, tried a small socket to it for weight and attached with painters tape at the top dead center position of the fender/wheel arch. Then measure from the center of the hub to the string.

Do this on both sides and compare the measurements. Both were dead on equal.




The mustang is at Firestone having the alignment done, I told them to set it to -0.9 camber, factory is -0.7.

So far it feels a lot more confidence inspiring in the corners. The acceleration squat is reduced, alot I have not yet checked the nose dive but overall I am impressed.



Edited by 5ohmustang on Tuesday 28th February 01:16

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
The Coyote 5.0 is what makes time travel possible.



The car has settled down a pic from this picture. Roughly it has dropped one inch.







5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
Still waiting. Just sat here doubting my existence.


5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Tuesday 28th February 2017
quotequote all
Punjab Black Mustang https://youtu.be/ui_eyoFTaog , no clue what he's singing but I like it. https://youtu.be/yt_GL-WG3oI


The alignment is now perfect, it feels like the turn in is more sharp. There is no more wallowing and it gives the confidence to push it harder and faster through the corners. Also when gunning it, the rear no longer squats and the hood raises, it"s pretty much level throughout each shift. My wife just drove it and she can tell there is a big difference in the dynamics of the handling.

Nose dive is also gone. No more of this during emergency braking.





Edited by 5ohmustang on Tuesday 28th February 03:49

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Thursday 2nd March 2017
quotequote all
This week I had Ford complete the Death Bag recall. I've been waiting 2 years. It didn't take them long to swap out the part.

I'm debating whether to keep the leather steering wheel or switch to the boss 302 alacantara item when I come to upgrading the interior. I don't feel too confident seeing a lot of nasty matted alacantara steering wheels. They look great and feel nice new but I seriously question their durability.

I was in a Boss 302 at a Porsche dealership and that too looked shagged.

I am very satisfied with the exterior now. Even dirty, she looks great.





Spotted this 3rd gen firebird.



Because, Murica'.


The final modification to the exterior will be the Ford Racing front brake ducts.

I am piecing the kit by each component instead of buying the kit as it's a bit cheaper. I already have the bezels, just need the bezel adapters for the hi temp tuning to the ported brake shields.

Then I need to repair and replace a few things before I start on the interior.

Meanwhile this makes me happy
https://youtu.be/kql9VETdAgI

Edited by 5ohmustang on Thursday 2nd March 06:05

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Wednesday 12th April 2017
quotequote all
No modifications to the Mustang of late. It will be coming out this weekend for a wash and wax.

Meanwhile a friend just bought this Mazda RX7 FC Turbo for $3500. I wanted to share it as it's very clean and unmodified.



























Then I just saw this (rare in the USA) R32 Skyline GTR.


5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Wednesday 12th April 2017
quotequote all
kapiteinlangzaam said:
That Mazda appeals. The amount of gauges satisfies me.

I guess that Skyline is just over the 25 yr rule. There will be more and more appearing over the coming years. Im waiting for my Alfa Spider to be 25 years old and then ill sell it to some lovely American for lots and lots of $$$$$$.

At least thats the plan smile
I like the red symbology everywhere on the switchgear and gauges. It's very similar to the Mitsubishi Station.

When I left England I recall R32 gtr's selling on the low end at 6k gbp's. They sell here around $25k.

I'd really like a pulsar gtir, they sell around $13k.

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Alfa spiders were sold on the US domestic market, so they should be dot approved exempting it from the 25 year rule. I have definitely seen them here before.

5ohmustang

Original Poster:

2,755 posts

114 months

Thursday 13th April 2017
quotequote all
Saw this thing of beauty this morning. Camaro SS with a manual box.