roadking05

This made me feel good getting my pony package. I thought it was waste of money.

mate76

@illin

Thanx for great story.
Unfortunately the problem is that 99% of cars imported by "professional importers" to Poland from US are with "Salvage" or "Total Loss" in history so it's extremely tough to find something good connected with reasonable price. That's why it's hard to find Pony Package especially when it's almost not possible to find any car that wasn't destroyed earlier...
Today USD costs 3PLN, not 2PLN like few weeks ago so personal import makes no sense because cars imported earlier are much cheaper.

We just didn't know that you can buy such a great car like Mustang without ABS because even cheapest cars in Poland like Fiat Panda 1.1 for $8500 is equipped with that.

I understand that you can learn how to drive a car without ABS/TC but it should give you lot of joy not stress during daily driving.

What else we can do to improve handling if there's no option to install ABS/TC and makes no sense to change to Pony Package?
As I understand only GT sway bars, limited slip differential and good tires can fix the problem? I feel that lower springs can spoil the comfort so I don't know if it's an option.

@157db

I hope that's a big difference between best winter tires on the market (proven by many tests) and OEM all-weather tires. I have such thing like OEM all-weather Goodyears in my Jeep Liberty and I know that's a real disaster when you compare it with good winter or summer tires. Even ABS in Jeep gives nothing or at least not much. Anyway... we will see...
My pal wants to buy second set of rims for summer tires. Probably it will be GT 17" set with 235/55/17.

After this winter we are going to install powerhouse411 turbo kit to beat every single M3, Cayenne Turbo etc. on the horizon
One question for this. How is it possible that turbo kits @9psi make ca.325 lbs-ft when Tremec T-5 transmission in V6 is rated at only 300? Nobody says that you have to swap to TR-3650 from GT.

Ken04

it's not impossible to install ABS. It work require some work on your part, but there isn't all that much to it. It COULD be done.

But, a good driver can make faster times around a track without ABS and TC than in a car equipped with them. If you think about ABS, all it does it unlocks the skidding wheel long enough to get it rolling again. Unfortuantely for all the soccer moms in the world we have to have ABS for them. Otherwise they'd skid, crash and die alot more often. A couple sessions in a good driving course would be alot cheaper than installing ABS and would be alot more fun. You'd also learn weight transfer, trail braking, how to avoid a push, a loose condition, on and on.

28HopUp

In 2006, the Pony Package came with TCS/ABS standard. In 2007, the TSC/ABS became a separate option from the Pony Package. So not all Pony Package S197's have TCS/ABS.

mate76

@Ken04

I understand all this about faster tracks. Unfortunately Mustang is GT class car what means Grand Tourismo so it's not only for tracks. It's also for driving around towns and between them.
I have a 2yrs old daughter and because of this I don't want to see any car without ABS on my street. I'm afraid that every single parent in the world has the same feeling.
It's not for your safety but for other's. Mustang is 3300lbs of metal with 175 of real HP.
It means that should stop as quick as possible. That's the first point of view.

Second one is that without TC you can have problems with starting on wet road.
Once I drove 300C SRT8 and this one had a problem even with starting backwards on wet.

Third one is that when you step on a pedal while cornering your back doesn't want to stay on its place. It's not a problem on track. It even makes driving more fun but it's not OK when you have to drive 500 miles in the middle of the night and it starts to snow.
You just can't be focused all the time and your car (because we are in XXI century) should fix your errors.

Because Mustang V6 is a cheap car I understand that it doesn't have all gadgets. You also have to understand that it doesn't have ABS/TC because of accountants, not because it's such a sporty car. My colegue had a possibility to buy V6 for low price so now we want to upgrade it to GT level as close as possible for reasonable amount of money.
That's why I'm asking you what to do to make this car as safe as possible and fun to drive also. If you know it just tell me.

I started this thread for others too. You have to know that Mustang is worldwide legend and guys all over the world want to have it and sometimes they do. What means that they have a problem when unfortunately they don't live in CA or FL when sun shines all the time.
But still they want to drive their Mustangs every day even if it's cold, rainy and snow can start to fall any day...

crazyassracer

Good job on switching to winter only tires. I run the Dunlop M3 winter tires from November to April and it makes a big difference. I have no ABS or Traction Control either. I drive all year round through snow and the occasional ice storm. I also put 100 pounds of sand bags in the spare tire wheel well and move the tire up to the trunk proper.

mate76

That's really cool idea I know that guys with pick-ups do this when trunk is not loaded.
How about acceleration and mileage?

Ken04

here's a place to start; http://members.lycos.co.uk/s197manual/ I didn't spend too much time looking around, but I saw some schematics for ABS among other things. Good luck w/your quest. I agree w/ABS. I have it on my Mustang along with traction control. I'm just wondering how much $$$ it would cost to convert an existing platform. But there isn't all that much to it. A few sensors, the accumulator, the toothed gear on the rotors, etc.

mate76

@Ken04

Thanx a lot. It's really great link. Maybe together we can find out how to make it and prepare specific guide then. I hope that's possible to use "take offs" for this what could lower the cost.

dmhines

ABS and TC was an option on any 4.0 Mustang ... you don't need to have a Pony Package to have factory ABS ....

Oh ... and my car does not have ABS ...