What have you done to your mustang today?

Got the Magnum installed this weekend! The separate bellhousing made everything a breeze compared to the 3650. Had to machine a sleeve to make the clutch alignment tool worth a damn, but it was worth it to get everything aligned.


Went with a sintered iron slipper clutch from Black Magic. Still getting it dialed in for street driving, but it should help launch the car at the drag strip immensely.



1st through 4th are faceplated, it's definitely taking some getting used to! It's hilarious to me how obnoxiously loud it is when shifting, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. Everybody said you just gotta jam it in gear, and now I really know what they meant! Going to break it in some before I really give it hell, but the few high rpm shifts I've done are as smooth as it gets. No resistance whatsoever, the shifter will move as fast as you can snatch it!

Finally ditched the 9 year old Goodyear F1s. Replaced with a set of Firestone Indy 500s I got from a guy who used them for one track day. Can't comment on handling yet but straight line traction is much better.

AHaze said:

Finally ditched the 9 year old Goodyear F1s. Replaced with a set of Firestone Indy 500s I got from a guy who used them for one track day. Can't comment on handling yet but straight line traction is much better.

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9 years? How many miles during that 9 years?

Washed her!

07 Boss said:

9 years? How many miles during that 9 years?

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I put roughly 15000 km on them and IIRC, the GT500 they came off of had done about the same so around 30000 km or a bit short of 20000 miles.

Drove the car last weekend and took it WOT in 2nd gear from a roll a couple times. First time wanted to go sideways, second time was better. Pavement was pretty warm, starting to think these M&H are showing some age since they've been driven on the street a lot and sat over the winter in the garage albeit it on top of carpet and not contacting the bare floor. Pressure was up a bit too though, and 22-24psi won't grab as well as 18. Might try again this weekend.

AHaze said:

I put roughly 15000 km on them and IIRC, the GT500 they came off of had done about the same so around 30000 km or a bit short of 20000 miles.

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Boy, you need to get that thing out of the garage and let her run around a bit. Cars are meant to be driven, not parked. Lol, I was saying to myself that I have to put tires on every year or two. Maybe three for the fronts.

AHaze said:

I put roughly 15000 km on them and IIRC, the GT500 they came off of had done about the same so around 30000 km or a bit short of 20000 miles.

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If in use, tires are technically unsafe once 6-7 years old.
9??? Surprised they didn't blow out on you

07 Boss said:

Boy, you need to get that thing out of the garage and let her run around a bit. Cars are meant to be driven, not parked. Lol, I was saying to myself that I have to put tires on every year or two. Maybe three for the fronts.

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I drive it all I can but I'm in Northern Alberta. The Mustang is in storage November through April, May and October are hit and miss weather-wise so I'm left with 4 months where I could drive it regularly. On top of that, my kids no longer fit in the back seat so family outings now occur in the wife's car.

Gabe said:

If in use, tires are technically unsafe once 6-7 years old.
9??? Surprised they didn't blow out on you

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Gabe! Believe it not, prior to replacing my goodyear eagle F1's, they were 13 years old, but were still in very excellent physical condition that were stored by the previous owner who ran them for less than one year before having the super snake customization done on his "08" GT500 by Tasca Ford.

Gabe said:

If in use, tires are technically unsafe once 6-7 years old.
9??? Surprised they didn't blow out on you

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Really?
Seems that number continues to shrink. Not long ago, the rule was 10 years. The tires on my '95 Impala SS are well over 15 years old and they're still round, hold air and aren't dry rotted. I'm sure they no longer offer the traction they did when new but I'd bet a few dollars they won't explode on the way to the tire shop after I get the car back together.

AHaze said:

I drive it all I can but I'm in Northern Alberta. The Mustang is in storage November through April, May and October are hit and miss weather-wise so I'm left with 4 months where I could drive it regularly. On top of that, my kids no longer fit in the back seat so family outings now occur in the wife's car.

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are your children the size of NFL linemen?

stkjock said:

are your children the size of NFL linemen?

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Not quite but one of them is a linebacker and the other a basketball forward. Also, I'm 6'5" so nobody with legs really fits behind me.

Silver'nStripes said:

sintered iron slipper clutch from Black Magic

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That seems like a very aggressive clutch for street use. How do you make adjustments with the bell house in place?

AHaze said:

Really?
Seems that number continues to shrink. Not long ago, the rule was 10 years. The tires on my '95 Impala SS are well over 15 years old and they're still round, hold air and aren't dry rotted. I'm sure they no longer offer the traction they did when new but I'd bet a few dollars they won't explode on the way to the tire shop after I get the car back together.

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Ford and other manufacturers have been saying for years that once tires get 7 years old they should be replaced.
If they're properly stored that's different, but if they're on a car, out in the elements, then yeah, 6-7 years

Midlife Crises said:

That seems like a very aggressive clutch for street use. How do you make adjustments with the bell house in place?

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We cut an access hole in the bellhousing to adjust the base pressure and change counterweights. 'Technically' this is supposed to be performed by company that makes the bellhousing, but I also don't see a tech inspector jacking the car up to take a look.

I heard from a few Drag Week guys that had run these clutches, racing and pulling a trailer all week. I wasn't getting anywhere with an RXT at the track, even tried a Clutch Tamer. It definitely has taken some extra consideration on the street, but hasn't been something I regret at this point. Need to make some adjustments for street driving this weekend, but I don't see why it can't be dialed in fairly well.

Small consolation, it's a single disc clutch and has the lightest pedal feel of ANY manual car I've driven by a mile.

AHaze said:

Not quite but one of them is a linebacker and the other a basketball forward. Also, I'm 6'5" so nobody with legs really fits behind me.

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ahh, big boys, i could see that being uncomfortable

Received valve spring compressors, one for my GT500 and one for my son's coyote.

Returned to stock.

Reinstalled stock airbox, loaded full emissions tune. Slight tweaks 0.83 lambda, few degrees timing added.

Why> Prep for Watkins Glen. Stock is baseline. I will compare a race tune (no emissions) and the Control pack strategy race tune. With and without the JLT CAI.
Results with videos will be up in my WGI thread.

Got the 4-30s and TrackLoc install wrapped up today and went for a short ride. Haven’t jumped on it yet but I think 4-30 final gears are going to work great with the 2-66 first. Also removed the adj. panhard bar and reinstalled the Fays 2 watts link. Just for fun, I connected the lower control arms to the middle hole instead of the top on the relocation brackets.