What have you done to your mustang today?

[08TorchRedShelbyGT500]

I was sitting at a red light yesterday, and while waiting, I heard an air compressor-type pop/noise from a tractor-trailer sitting to the left of me at the red light. Just after that, while sitting there, I saw some strange, nasty fluid on my hood. I drove to the lake near my house, and fortunately, I had some cleaner and polish in the trunk and cleaned up the hood. No telling what the fluid was, but it was concerning for a while. Now the car is all better (I hope).

 

[Gabe]

Wife is thinking it's time to sell her Shelby ... Last few years she's driven it like 2-3 times a year, I drive it more than her but even then we're always under 1k miles per year ...

 

[golkhl]

New tires to replace the 10 year old Nittos on my Bullitt.

 

[rocknrod]

Installed the new brake reservoir.

 

[2008_ScarlettGT]

I’ve been busy trying to wrap up loose ends with the coyote swap. I took it in and had the exhaust done so that’s finally taken care of. I got it aligned this week as well since I did the EPAS rack with the swap. My father in law and I hard wired a relay in for my reverse lights since they weren’t working after the swap. Lastly, I got it inspected for the year so now I can enjoy it.

I took some time today to polish the car after a long winter of being torn apart. Still have to do tires, trim, and glass. Currently I am waiting on a coolant reservoir so I can ditch the JLT and put the PMAS cobra jet intake on it. I’m hoping to do that sometime this week.

 

[graybeard]

What about today?

Typed up a document listing what has been done to the 2005 GT, and what may be done in the future. Now, at a glance I know where I've been and where I'm going

All the major stuff is done.
The things-to-do is a short list.
****************
While out on some errands, I decided to stop by a thrift store for a work shirt or two.

There on the 50% off rack was a t-shirt for a buck.
See photos.

 

[ghunt81]

I WAS working on a seat swap....

My driver's side leather was in terrible shape. I had already replaced the bottom seat skin and then the seat back got a hole in one of the lumbar supports and started to split.

Well, I decided, instead of just fixing the seat why not swap in some better seats? I found some from a WRX, bought them along with racing seat mounts and universal sliders. Did a bunch of work adapting the seats to the universal sliders (had to cut off the tracks, make brackets, etc), then put them in the car and they just don't work. They don't fit right, they sit me up too high, and I didn't do the brackets right so the seats aren't centered on the wheel. Sigh.

SO...just prior to buying those seats I had bought a manual driver's seat track from a '10-14 GT, and decided to just go ahead and do that, along with recovering the seat with vinyl covers (leather is too much). Not sure if anyone here knew but the lower seat inner frame on a power seat car is different from the one on a manual seat car because it has to accommodate the height adjustment ratchet mechanism. I had to cut a piece out of my original seat frame, but it actually looks like it will need less work than I originally thought. I'll have to take some pics, I always forget to do that.

 

[kazman59]

I put 13 manual Recaros in my 07 GT500. Swapped the whole tracks from the 07 on to the 13 seats. Two holes in the seat pans lined up, drilled the second set to match the tracks. Now I have the adjustable drivers and manual passenger.

 

[ghunt81]

Ok after a couple hours of trimming and test fitting I got it done tonight.

So this is the piece you have to cut out, and you have to bend up the piece inside a bit to clear the back of the ratcheting mechanism.



After a little more grinding and clearancing, the finished product. This was actually easier to do than I originally thought it was going to be. I actually cleaned it up a bit more after I took this picture. Tough area to work in due to the little steel bar that the side trim attaches to.




I found out after putting the seat foam back on, you also have to trim the seat foam to clear the ratcheting mechanism. Not a direct drop in but otherwise pretty easy! Of course you also have to get the correct side trim piece (I happened to find one on ebay last week) and handle for the mechanism.

 

[GlassTop09]

Also yesterday, I fabbed up a couple of exhaust hanger bushing brackets to use to mount my Pypes Universal SS Dual Exhaust Hanger system to my Kooks midpipe & trans crossmember mount so that it functions exactly like the 05-06 MY OEM exhaust hanger system did...........but w\o the issues the 05-06 setup had thus should stay very solid but also very quiet thus shouldn't interfere w\ the ECU's knock detection at all due to the much better designed Pypes SS hanger bushing mounts, then remassaged the adjustable 5\16" SS hanger rods into a 45* angle design so that these clamp on hangers will fit very close to the trans crossmember once mounted on the midpipe thus won't need a lot of rod thus should stiffen this up quite a bit but stay quiet & frequency free.

Picture provided below...............

Once fully installed, will then cut off the excess rod to maintain a cleaner look but full function & cut off the old hangers that I had a muffler shop do some 8 yrs back to finish cleanup of the midpipe.

Waiting on some M8 x 1.25 x 20mm SS bulge bolts (bolt heads designed for countersunk holes in brackets so brackets will fit flush to trans crossmember surface) to arrive before doing this work

Went w\ these Pypes hangers as all this is made from good ole 409 SS thus no rusting or corroding but got enough ferrous metal in them to facilitate easier cutting.

View attachment 114765

Got car in the air today & cut out\removed the rest of the old midpipe exhaust hangers I had a muffler shop install some 8 yrs ago (1 side's bracket had broken off at the crossover mount already.......) & installed this Pypes universal clamp on exhaust hanger kit on my Kooks midpipe to assist w\ off-loading the headers of some of the weight of the exhaust hanging in air (1 thing for the stock exhaust to hang free off the OEM cast iron manifolds\shorty headers due to their design.......too much flexing thru the header tubes towards the header mounting flanges observed thru my Kooks exhaust for my liking thus why I had exhaust hangers installed on midpipe to relieve the headers of this flexing due to the weight over the length to the rear hangers at rear bumper area).

Had to reshape & trim both hanger rods to fit thru the exhaust clamps & hanger snubber mounts under the same 2 rear crossover mount bolts so that they work just like the 05-06 OEM Ford midpipe exhaust hangers were designed to operate (muffler shop didn't do this when they installed their hangers.......why 1 of them ended up breaking a bracket off at a crossover mount from the heat expansion\retraction of exhaust over time.....) but shouldn't have any of the issues TSB'd for them. Got all torqued down after alignment done & tested for movement..........could physically move the midpipe a max of 1\8" flex thus was satisfied w\ the setup.........rods are much stiffer than I thought they'd be once I got all tightened up so thumbs up for this Pypes exhaust hanger kit.

Put her on the ground & test drove car.................on initial startup & test drive, it was obvious that this work should resolve the random B1\B2 KS mic spike issues that I observed thru datalogging as the exhaust sound was noticeably cleaner.........now I know what I was hearing was these old exhaust hangers rattling inside of the worn out rubber bumpers & the 1 broke hanger rattling against the crossover itself thru the exhaust note. Test datalog coming soon to record\confirm results............

Heater hose repair\replacement is coming up next.............while currently suffering thru a repeat diagnosis\treatment of this lower leg tendonitis flaring back up--this time in my right calf\ankle & foot (last time was in the left leg occurring last yr..............found this was coming from me doing a LOT of sitting in my computer chair--that had a bad height adjustment cylinder that leaked off to lowest height causing my lower legs to tighten up while at the same time my veinous insufficiency caused further aggravation until the tendons got overstressed.........have replaced the chair w\ a HD office version......adjusts much higher height so legs can straighten out more thus relieve some tension on lower legs while sitting.....) while reading\evaluating recorded datalogs on my desktop computer's monitor, making\saving calibration changes on my laptop for reflash & recently started going thru the calibration coding\VID block coding using some hex\ASCII\binary editors to ID the fuel octane AKI level & Octane Plug Function flag setting control in calibration so that I can get these imported into VCM Editor to modify in calibration (1 item that the folks @ HPTuners didn't do back in the day..........have discovered that my 09 GT ECU strategy's VID block coding is identical to a 08-09 Bullitt ECU strategy's VID block coding thus my GT's ECU should also be able to function as a Bullitt's ECU can--exact same ECU hardware.........adaptive spark control is available in current calibration.......just need to find the scalar addressing & mapping to then use HPTuners Defined Parameters add-on w\ Tuner Pro to create the XDF files w\ this addressing\mapping then import all into VCM Editor software to then setup in calibration to execute the octane settings........should enable adaptive spark control once fuel octane AKI is set at 91 oct or higher--highest is 93 oct & Octane Plug Function flag is set to "true" in calibration..........believe w\ this set @ 87 oct--lowest fuel AKI setting threshold in calibration code--disables this adaptive spark control function in GT calibrations.......which is the default fuel octane AKI setting in all 05-10 MY Ford GT calibrations except 08-09 Ford Bullitt calibrations........everything else is already setup\available in VCM Editor software thus access in calibrations except the fuel octane AKI level & Octane Plug Function flag.........why HPTuners didn't set this up thru VCM Editor software back in the day......don't know. I DO know SCT has all this set up in their tuning software thus can enable these functions in any 05-10 GT calibration......even though most tuners disable the adaptive spark control function by zeroing out the BKT\BKT Corrections\VID Octane Adjust mapping & BKT\BKT Corrections\Load Increase Corrections mapping--giving up some extra throttle acceleration performance above .30 load--to allow using only the higher fuel octane AKI settings--believe these also allow setting the detected KS algorithm frequency band range higher in ECU's KS DSP coding thus allowing more spark timing to be used when the actual fuel's octane AKI matches the calibration AKI setting w\o having to make any adjustments to set KS sensitivity\weighing factor settings in Spanish Oaks calibrations to properly use higher octane fuels in these Modular engines......).

Provided below is a snippet of an article that a Ford Racing SVT lead engineer named Paul Randle gave info during article interview on these 08-09 Bullitt components\features\calibration tuning that set a 08-09 Ford Bullitt 4.6L apart from a 08-09 Ford GT 4.6L engine-wise...........even though the engines themselves are totally identical in every aspect of design...........so far, I have the CAI & 1 of the 2 calibration features mentioned (BKT Load Increase Corrections) fully set up & operational in my current 09 GT strategy...........work in progress on the 2nd one, believe I've figured out how Ford coded the BKT VID Octane Adjust function to work--triggered off same KS Retard Control that triggers the Load Increase Correction function, just in reverse (Load Increase Correction function is applied in addition to base BKT spark advance timing when the KS Retard Control applies max KS spark advance timing set in Max Advance mapping according to load% & RPM to base BKT spark advance timing due to no cyl knock detected\reported during initial TPS advance sweep thus transient throttle application--improves low RPM acceleration response between 1,000-4,000 RPM range--emulates distributor mechanical spark advance--vs VID Octane Adjust function is applied when the same KS Retard Control retards spark timing from detected cyl knock activity that goes BELOW the base BKT spark timing map settings regardless of transient throttle or steady state throttle.....AND the BKT\BKT Corrections\IAT & ECT Spark Corrections are within their perspective deadbands--the 0* spark timing sections which signifies to ECU that the knock is "octane related" & not IAT or ECT hi-temp related or excessively advanced IAT or ECT spark timing from cooler denser IAT or cooler ECT due to environmental changes......thus will pull the VID Octane Adjust map's set amount of spark timing according to engine load% & RPM the cyl knock was detected at from the base BKT Spark Advance timing map due to "lowered fuel octane" to stop the knock, set this in KAM & will hold this setting until the ECU detects that the knock has stopped & the KS Retard Control has recovered all of the retarded spark advance timing back to the max KS spark advance timing map settings, then ECU will remove the KAM set base BKT retarded spark advance timing & allow the normal base BKT spark advance map timing to resume being used along w\ all BKT Corrections......this is why I believe the fuel octane AKI level needs to be set higher than 87 oct in GT calibrations for this function to work properly.........as is done in the Bullitt calibrations & Ford alludes to in the FWM.

The following maps under Spark Advance that pertain to the functions posted above are linked (they use the exact same map X-Y scaling & if any 1 scaling setting is changed in 1 of these maps, the same changed setting is also made automatically in the other scaling maps under VCM Editor software........thus 1 can find out which maps are linked together in calibration thus NEED to be scaled IDENTICALLY to prevent potential code threshold violations.....or leave the stock map scaling\settings as set by Ford to prevent underlying code contention violations............) as found in picture below (linked maps are in red)..........

These shown aren't the only ones linked under this section either, FYI..............


Posted for informational purposes...............

 

[Gabe]

Wife's Shelby. Did an oil change, emptied the catch can, and cleaned it up a bit.

Waiting on new pinion seal parts to have that done before we start driving it this season.

 

[graybeard]

What about today?

Typed up a document listing what has been done to the 2005 GT, and what may be done in the future. Now, at a glance I know where I've been and where I'm going

All the major stuff is done.
The things-to-do is a short list.
****************
While out on some errands, I decided to stop by a thrift store for a work shirt or two.

There on the 50% off rack was a t-shirt for a buck.
See photos.

View attachment 114899

View attachment 114900

And today.......

Went to a parts store and priced out and looked at car covers and the price tags.

Did some searches here and elsewhere on car covers to see if I could find some recommendations.

 

[ghunt81]

Woo I finally got HUBCENTRIC wheel spacers for my car (I had to run spacers with the S550 wheels, had a highway vibration, realized I didn't have hubcentric spacers) so now I can get those S650 performance pack wheels on there finally.

 

[2008_ScarlettGT]

I recently watched a YouTube video on a 500+ whp Boss302 that was running the PMAS intake and used another coolant tank to make room. I reached out to him and he provided me details on the tank so I bought one. PMAS was my original intake choice but when I couldn’t make it fit I ended up with JLT.

Anyways, the coolant tank arrived and I installed it. Everything fits well, unfortunately the tank has a bad weld on it. I’ve reached out to the company and I am waiting to hear back. The car idles smoother with the PMAS, but due to the leaking coolant tank, I can’t drive it to see if the drivability has improved.

 

[ghunt81]

Got the last two pieces I needed for my manual track swap.

You may be asking, why did I get a camel lever for the seat raising/lowering mechanism? Well, because it was 1/5 the price of a black one (which are going for $60+!). I just painted it black with vinyl & fabric paint.

 

[graybeard]

2005 Mustang GT, 4.6L
Vortech V2 SC
5-Speed Automatic
Tires aired to 36 psi

Complete first evaluation of manually checking number of gallons used -vs- instrument monitor, and mpg, manual -vs- digital monitor.

Manually checked: 10.9 gals.
Digital monitor: 11.0 gals.

Manually checked mpg: 16.8
Digital monitor: 16.8

Instrument monitor: 27 mph.

I plan on repeating this test.

I used 93 octane in the 2005 GT 4.6L.
Driving was in town, various conditions.

 

[graybeard]

Here is a photo of the instrument panel in the 2005 GT to go with the fuel economy check in the above post

 

[Gabe]

Got the rear pinion seal replaced today in the wife's Shelby.
New pinion seal, new pinion nut, and almost 1 quart of fresh Amsoil 75W140 diff fluid.
We also decided we'll be swapping the 3.73 gears for 3.55s very soon.
Gonna have the same tech do them that did the pinion seal today.

 

[MasterofDisaster]

first evaluation of manually checking number of gallons used -vs- instrument monitor, and mpg

Why is it so close? The mpg estimate in my 08 is usually 1.5 > reality?

 

[crjackson]

Gonna have the same tech do them that did the pinion seal today.

Since you live relatively close to me, what shop are you using? I’m considering some work, and my usual guy doesn’t do differential or gearbox work.