Real mods on their way
08-24-2015, 01:56 PM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: TX
Posts: 150
Real mods on their way
So it looks like I'll be the experimental lab rat with the Ford Racing Kit.
As things go there was a bit of a mix up with my order. I ordered the kit, it arrived. However despite the outside of the boxes being clearly labeled with X of 3 -I only got 2 boxes. No sway bars. Admittedly I didn't notice right away in all of my excitement. After getting AM's attention to the problem they had Ford drop ship a new kit to me and gave me an RMA to ship the messed up kit back. I'm disappointed I didn't get the car built last week but we'll get it done on Friday so I'll get to play around this weekend.
As is my nature to make the best of thing: I ordered the Steeda brake line kit and JLT brake ducts from Lethal Performance. The brake lines will arrive tomorrow. LP has asked JLT to send them the tracking# for the ducts. Hopefully everything will arrive tomorrow.
I'll provide some feedback as to whether the Ford handling kit is worth it or not.
BTW - anybody interested in a set of Eibach springs?
As things go there was a bit of a mix up with my order. I ordered the kit, it arrived. However despite the outside of the boxes being clearly labeled with X of 3 -I only got 2 boxes. No sway bars. Admittedly I didn't notice right away in all of my excitement. After getting AM's attention to the problem they had Ford drop ship a new kit to me and gave me an RMA to ship the messed up kit back. I'm disappointed I didn't get the car built last week but we'll get it done on Friday so I'll get to play around this weekend.
As is my nature to make the best of thing: I ordered the Steeda brake line kit and JLT brake ducts from Lethal Performance. The brake lines will arrive tomorrow. LP has asked JLT to send them the tracking# for the ducts. Hopefully everything will arrive tomorrow.
I'll provide some feedback as to whether the Ford handling kit is worth it or not.
BTW - anybody interested in a set of Eibach springs?
Last edited by squishbang; 08-26-2015 at 10:23 AM.
08-25-2015, 05:51 PM
#2
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: TX
Posts: 150
Those are some big friggin sway bars!
Brake lines too:
Install will happen on Friday. The shop happens to be at the track I go to so I'm going to get some laps in on my bike while the wizards do their thing.
Any bets on whether or not I do a few hot laps as soon as the car is returned to me?
Brake lines too:
Install will happen on Friday. The shop happens to be at the track I go to so I'm going to get some laps in on my bike while the wizards do their thing.
Any bets on whether or not I do a few hot laps as soon as the car is returned to me?
08-26-2015, 09:27 AM
#3
Hey Squish - I'm sorry to hear about the mixup here! I'm not sure how this managed to happen but can you please shoot me a PM with your order number so I can take a look at a few things?
First and foremost I'd like to get you some cash back on this order for the inconvenience and for missing track time.
First and foremost I'd like to get you some cash back on this order for the inconvenience and for missing track time.
08-26-2015, 11:21 AM
#5
Sorry about the mix-up again, I know what it's like waiting for parts like this.
I went ahead and shot you some cash back on this order due to the trouble.
Shoot me a PM if there's anything else I can help out with and thanks again for working with us on this.
Alex
08-29-2015, 09:52 AM
#6
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: TX
Posts: 150
I took the car to the shop yesterday and we did the first round of installation. The handling pack stuff got put on. We’ve not done the alignment yet. Before finishing the setup I’m going to drive the car around for a day or two and then leave the car with them next week.
While they get everything aligned to where we want it they’ll also install the brake lines and brake ducts.
While the mechanic was getting setup to do his work we talked about my plans. Based on how I’ll use the car and all the feedback was as follows:
1 – An oil cooler won’t really buy me anything in terms of protection. If I was going to do endurance racing with the car then an oil cooler would be worthwhile. But even sitting in stopped traffic in August when it’s 150F the oil cooler won’t make a difference.
2 – The radiator on most street cars is more than sufficient. Even on race cars the radiator isn’t that big of a deal. Fans are more important on street cars because that is what you need in stopped traffic. Again, modern cars are well equipped.
3 – Holding off on the headers. When I’m on track I tend not to turn off the traction control. I’m smooth and all, but I know this cars limits exceed my abilities. So for now a better investment will be a set of race wheels and tires so I can spend more time on track increasing my abilities.
Now the important stuff: the Ford Racing Handling Pack. What difference does it make?
A lot. First: if you have a performance pack mustang you can skip the Vertical Links (even the cool looking Steeda Billet Aluminum Vertical Links) because the car already has pretty beefy links. Odd piece is that the Handling Pack has another set of vertical links that aren’t needed for performance pack cars.
I should also mention that we added the Steeda IRS Subframe Braces as well. So this review covers the combination of the Handling Pack and the Subframe Braces because they all went on together.
The verdict: The car is flat. Before, taking off from a stop the car squatted a lot and the front end raised a lot. Under heaving braking there was a lot of nose dive going on too. I believe this is called Pitching. Regardless of what it is called my car doesn’t do that now. There wasn’t much body roll before but now there is none.
The ride is firmer than before but it feels better in an odd way. The car just feels more together now. Everything is immediate. When you mash on the gas the gar goes, there isn’t any wind up or anything.
For added hooligan hilarity I’m able to get nice scratches going from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and again 3rd to 4th. I realize we didn’t add any power but the car just flat out feels faster now.
There are two more tests I need to do: The Wife Test and a Track Test. The Wife Test takes advantage of the fact that my wife gets car sick at the drop of a clutch. She hated the STi and EVO, but liked the Mustang. The Test will consist of putting the wife in the passenger seat and driving her around and seeing if she pukes or gets uncomfortable. I think she’ll do fine. I really hope she does fine because we’re taking a road trip in a few weeks.
The Track Test is just more of the usual but we’ll see if my lap times drop any.
While they get everything aligned to where we want it they’ll also install the brake lines and brake ducts.
While the mechanic was getting setup to do his work we talked about my plans. Based on how I’ll use the car and all the feedback was as follows:
1 – An oil cooler won’t really buy me anything in terms of protection. If I was going to do endurance racing with the car then an oil cooler would be worthwhile. But even sitting in stopped traffic in August when it’s 150F the oil cooler won’t make a difference.
2 – The radiator on most street cars is more than sufficient. Even on race cars the radiator isn’t that big of a deal. Fans are more important on street cars because that is what you need in stopped traffic. Again, modern cars are well equipped.
3 – Holding off on the headers. When I’m on track I tend not to turn off the traction control. I’m smooth and all, but I know this cars limits exceed my abilities. So for now a better investment will be a set of race wheels and tires so I can spend more time on track increasing my abilities.
Now the important stuff: the Ford Racing Handling Pack. What difference does it make?
A lot. First: if you have a performance pack mustang you can skip the Vertical Links (even the cool looking Steeda Billet Aluminum Vertical Links) because the car already has pretty beefy links. Odd piece is that the Handling Pack has another set of vertical links that aren’t needed for performance pack cars.
I should also mention that we added the Steeda IRS Subframe Braces as well. So this review covers the combination of the Handling Pack and the Subframe Braces because they all went on together.
The verdict: The car is flat. Before, taking off from a stop the car squatted a lot and the front end raised a lot. Under heaving braking there was a lot of nose dive going on too. I believe this is called Pitching. Regardless of what it is called my car doesn’t do that now. There wasn’t much body roll before but now there is none.
The ride is firmer than before but it feels better in an odd way. The car just feels more together now. Everything is immediate. When you mash on the gas the gar goes, there isn’t any wind up or anything.
For added hooligan hilarity I’m able to get nice scratches going from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and again 3rd to 4th. I realize we didn’t add any power but the car just flat out feels faster now.
There are two more tests I need to do: The Wife Test and a Track Test. The Wife Test takes advantage of the fact that my wife gets car sick at the drop of a clutch. She hated the STi and EVO, but liked the Mustang. The Test will consist of putting the wife in the passenger seat and driving her around and seeing if she pukes or gets uncomfortable. I think she’ll do fine. I really hope she does fine because we’re taking a road trip in a few weeks.
The Track Test is just more of the usual but we’ll see if my lap times drop any.
09-03-2015, 03:06 AM
#7
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Anchorage, AK
Posts: 987
Nice write up thanks for sharing, and I think, your times will be better right off the bat, cause it sounds like the mods have made you feel more confident in the car, and that will allow your brain to let you push it a little more, that coupled with the actual handling improvements spell quicker lap times. 
09-07-2015, 07:31 PM
#9
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: TX
Posts: 150
@Roush05 - Give me about 4 weeks to get things sorted out and then PM me. I might be able to work out a trade with you (springs for springs). I don't see ever taking the kit off so I don't need to keep all the stuff I have left over.
09-07-2015, 07:37 PM
#10
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: TX
Posts: 150
For the Labor Day weekend we headed up to Arkansas and I got to play around all day Sunday. I did a roughly 350 mile loop from Bella Vista AR over to Harrison down to Clarksville then over to Ozark and back up to Huntsville and then Rogers via 23.
The original plan called for going up the Pig Trail but it is closed on the North side. This was good because I discovered 2 great roads I didn't know about (AR215 and AR21). I also ended up doing some dirt road which demonstrated how great the Ford Racing kit is. No trouble at all and the ride was nothing more than you would expect from a dirt road. That said: I'll skip that section next time
I'm still cutting up video but I wanted to get this one out right away:
(I give up, what is the secret tag for embedding youtube videos here?)
UPDATE - nevermind.....
The original plan called for going up the Pig Trail but it is closed on the North side. This was good because I discovered 2 great roads I didn't know about (AR215 and AR21). I also ended up doing some dirt road which demonstrated how great the Ford Racing kit is. No trouble at all and the ride was nothing more than you would expect from a dirt road. That said: I'll skip that section next time
I'm still cutting up video but I wanted to get this one out right away:
UPDATE - nevermind.....