Best and Worst Mods
- Thread starter 92LX302
- Start date
TrueBlue02058
Post King
Started going south a few weeks ago. RPMs would be erratic at times. Low RPM shifts caused a vibration in drive train (clutch and fly wheel), but when I came on to her shifting at 5, 6 grand, she went like Hell ! Last time I had it out, I limped home.
Discussed same with Brent Sheppard, owner of Shepp's Transmission.Said problem was a High Performance Clutch and flywheel with a stock engine, may have been better had I switched from Mechanical to Hydraulic System. My mistake, thinking that a High Performance Clutch would last. I ordered it online from Steeda.Ca and had my local shop install it.
He said he had a customer 3 years ago with same problem in his Mustang. He switched everything in that Department (Clutch and Flywheel) back to stock Specifications for him, and he has had no trouble since. Live and Learn.
He found me a Clutch Kit and Flywheel for $700 and will do the job for $600.
He is the best in town and I should have gone to him last year
He runs a busy shop and soonest he can do the job is August 14th.
Bullitt 02058 will be good to go for the Fall Run, but unfortunately I will be a mere Spectator for next Saturday's Mustang Show in Moncton, for the second year in a row.
Discussed same with Brent Sheppard, owner of Shepp's Transmission.Said problem was a High Performance Clutch and flywheel with a stock engine, may have been better had I switched from Mechanical to Hydraulic System. My mistake, thinking that a High Performance Clutch would last. I ordered it online from Steeda.Ca and had my local shop install it.
He said he had a customer 3 years ago with same problem in his Mustang. He switched everything in that Department (Clutch and Flywheel) back to stock Specifications for him, and he has had no trouble since. Live and Learn.
He found me a Clutch Kit and Flywheel for $700 and will do the job for $600.
He is the best in town and I should have gone to him last year
He runs a busy shop and soonest he can do the job is August 14th.
Bullitt 02058 will be good to go for the Fall Run, but unfortunately I will be a mere Spectator for next Saturday's Mustang Show in Moncton, for the second year in a row.
Well that sucks. Very strange how it would work fine for a while than just start acting up. You would think if it was no good it would have been like that from the get go.
05 gt 5spd
On the road again
Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Spec2 has been in mine now for about 110,000 Km , 4 years or so with no issues.
TrueBlue02058
Post King
I will never do business with them again.
bullitt2655
Active member
I've got an Exedy stage2 clutch, stock flywheel. It takes the abuse we give it, lol
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
Good thread. Just found it now.
I have an S-197 3 valve 4.6, stick, N/A, built for handling not the strip.
List of mods very long over the years.
Worse, due to NVH, was Steeda rear sway bar on previous car (2005 GT). You can't grease bushings on Steeda so it squeaked on the worst bumps. It delivered on tightening the rear end though. Bought from Steeda.ca, like Fred, circa 2006. They never said that was a possibility when I ordered, along with rear LCA's, PH bar and PH brace. When I called about it, they offered to take it back for refund, because they had not forewarned me. It is what it is.
Second worse was that Steeda PH bar ordered at same time. It was adjustable from the ends. Easy to do on driver side where lots of room for tools. Problem was passenger side where very tight space to get tools in there to adjust or tighten into place.
Note: Steeda PH brace is a nice piece though. Light and boxed welding on driver side for extra strength. Small diameter to give exhaust pipes that little extra clearance especially needed on driver side. One of the few Steeda pieces I still run on my 06.
Cure for both these on 2006 car. Eibach sway bars with grease-able bushings. No more squeaks. Doing the front at same time gave better balance too. Recommend to do both if thinking of this mod.
BMR PH bar with single adjustability in the middle part. More space to get in there and work with tools. Recommend avoid PH bars that adjust on the ends. Get one that adjusts in middle.
Best mods, the list is quite long. From P springs to Bilsteins. MM caster-camber plates to Brembo brakes with SS lines and Dot 4 fluid. From Recaro seats to FRPP Hot Rod Cams. From JLT series III CAI to Axle Exchange aluminium DS.
Maybe a bit late due to the 3 valve 4.6 beening retired since 2010, but in the event some of you are thinking of modding yours for N/A performance or you pick up a nice untouched used one and want to get under its skin. I will share my journey to pretty much the top of the N/A performance with the 3 valver and share the differences. Disclaimer, none of what I say here applies to FI cars, only N/A. N/A meaning Naturally Aspirated and FI meaning Forced Induction, such as Turbo or Super charging. I include a Dyno sheet to illustrate. All torque and power numbers here are measured at the wheels.
The last couple of years I had a very good N/A setup that delivered very good low end torque peaking at 335lbs at about 4300 rpm, and 349hp peaking at approx: 6100 rpm. This was achieved with GMS under-drive pulleys, JLT series III CAI, FRPP twin 62 mm throttle body, FRPP Hot Rod cams, Steeda CM delete plates, BBK long tubes with high flow catted X pipe (Yes, I remain emissions compliant as the MVI in NB is more stringent than NS), Magnaflow Magnapack exhaust.
This is what the engine bay looked like.
This setup gave very aggressive low end grunt. Mostly due to the stock long runner intake manifold which by design provides more low end torque but is not able to carry power as far up the rpm scale as a short runner intake. Second, with the FRPP cams I was able to retain the variable cam timing because those cams are manufactured by the same manufacturer that makes the stock cams and they are designed to work safely with the stock valve train up to 6800 rpm. My rev limiter was set at 6700 rpm but as you will see on the Dyno sheet, power was starting to drop fast after 6250 rpm. I was aiming to shift close to 6000, absolutely above 5500 rpm. Last detail, the Dyno shows the power curve was starting to flatten out as early as 5150 rpm. Conclusion, the fun of that setup was mostly in the lower end torque curve up to 5000 rpm. Very fun on the street. Short bursts of acceleration on highway on ramps and what have you.
But for about the last 10 years I've had an itch to scratch. I've always been wondering what ported heads, a big cam and a short runner intake would do to the car. Basically a high rpm screamer like the Boss 302 or the newer Voodoo 5.2 in the GT 350's. Since I occasionally take part in High Performance Events on closed circuits, I was willing to go explore the possibilities.
This spring I took the car to Dasilva's and we tore into it. We added the following parts; Heads ported by Livernois Motorsports of Detroit complete with new heavy duty vale train. We changed the rockers and lifters and added cam phasers. Comp Cams stage III cams and FRPP high flow, short runner intake manifold. We finished off with a higher capacity oil pan and high flow oil pump so the cams and valve train would not starve for oil.
The result pushed everything back and further up the rpm curve. Only a marginal torque gain of about 1.5 but at about 5800 rpm. The serious business was gained in the power department with nearly 40hp more peaking around 6000 rpm and remaining useable past 7000 rpm.
This totally changed the demeanor of the car and expectedly so because a similar result was achieved by Ford in the Boss. The 5.0 lost 10lbs of torque but gained 32hp when they played with exhaust ports, headers and added the Boss intake. I didn't lose peak torque but it all got pushed further up the curve that at some points between 3000 and 4500 rpm I'm down 25 to 30lbs. The power curve was affected similarly but as where before it started to moderate at around 5100rpm, now it's equal to before from about 4800 and does not stop its good climb until 6000, and then it holds steady and still useable past 7000 rpm. With the new oil pan and oil pump we bumped my rev limiter to 7500 rpm just like the Roadrunner engine. Now when I want to get into it, I aim for shifts well above 6000 and I can go as high as 7000 and the car is still pulling strong. From 5000 to 7000 it now feels like I have some sort of power adder or FI. The car has longer legs, able to carry gears for what seems much longer than before, giving longer pulls between shifts. It's changed the character of the car but it's a hell of a ride. No less fun than before, just quite different.
The change in torque is inherently due to the short runner intake as mentioned before. The loss of the variable cam timing also contributes a bit. An aggressive cam can't use variable cam timing. It was locked out by the tune and the cam phasers. The FRPP intake is designed to delete the CM plates so it replaces the stock intake and CM plates.
Now the engine bay looks like this.
I lost my strut tower brace because of a combination of the intake and hood. The FRPP GT brace no longer clears this taller intake. The FRPP grey V6 brace will just clear with a few washers for shims but does not clear my aftermarket hood in that configuration. I'm not sure it would clear the stock hood either once shimed. The best brace to clear this intake is the FRPP Boss brace. It clears with lots of room. I'll need a new higher hood for that. Carbon fiber, for weight reduction, it will be when I do it. I already have the brace in my basement. Next is hood. I noticed the brace missing. Although I'm well braced on the underside. I have a BMR K member brace. Ford started adding a similar brace in 2007 to the Shelby's and some GT's. It became standard fare in 2011 with the 5.0 liters. I also have a Whiteline A arm support. Basically another brace that ties the front of the K member with the rad support. It all helps. The car still takes curves and brakes like a champion. It's not where I've noticed the brace missing. I noticed a subtle difference in flex compared to what I felt before while going over uneven roads. If you recall, the FR500 factory race cars for road racing had no strut braces.
Concusion: For most people, I would say that the setup I had before was the better of the two for street/traffic driving and quick fun factor with the sound and low end torque. This new setup is a thrill ride but you need a bit more space/distance to travel through the gears to higher rpm's and velocity. It's a high rpm screamer for sure. Much like the Boss and the GT350, it'll put a smile on your face. It's a great setup for the track and wide open roads. Even though it's not a power monster, barely tickling 460hp at the crank according to some conversion formulas, once it reaches that 5000 rpm and you keep it in that sweet spot, it'll give more powerful cars a headache because it pulls on a gear for a longer period.
Dyno overlap ported heads.pdf
This is the Dyno sheet overlapping my previous setup with the new setup. The new setup is the blue one. This is one of the perks of having a relationship with your tuner and using the same one over. They have your old stuff saved and can do stuff like this. These are both 91 octane tunes using Maritime gas from the local Shell retailer in St-Leonard. As stated before, I have an emissions friendly X pipe with high flow cats, not an off road setup. Ho, and I have an AC delete which I had with the old setup too. It's probably only worth 2-3hp. The biggest reason to do it is weight reduction and balance because it's all front end weight, and better engine cooling by getting rid of the AC condenser from in front of your radiator.
Out of curiosity we tried another run with race gas additive and a 93 octane tune. It only made marginal gains of 2 peak hp and 1lb of torque to 389hp and 337 torque, so basically not worth it. Mat Dsilva's remark to that was that I had good gas and to keep using it. Car is back to 91 octane tune and gas.
Mat had this same setup on his race car several years ago and he cracked the 400hp mark to the rear wheels. From experience, he told me an off road X pipe is roughly worth an additional 5hp with this setup, which he ran along with a higher octane tune. He also ran an electric water pump worth 2-3hp more. He also told me my 2007 SVT wheels are heavy by performance wheel standards and that a lighter set of wheels, which he ran, can net you another 2-3hp. And I believe Mat had one extra mod in the form of a power steering bypass to reach his numbers.
I have an S-197 3 valve 4.6, stick, N/A, built for handling not the strip.
List of mods very long over the years.
Worse, due to NVH, was Steeda rear sway bar on previous car (2005 GT). You can't grease bushings on Steeda so it squeaked on the worst bumps. It delivered on tightening the rear end though. Bought from Steeda.ca, like Fred, circa 2006. They never said that was a possibility when I ordered, along with rear LCA's, PH bar and PH brace. When I called about it, they offered to take it back for refund, because they had not forewarned me. It is what it is.
Second worse was that Steeda PH bar ordered at same time. It was adjustable from the ends. Easy to do on driver side where lots of room for tools. Problem was passenger side where very tight space to get tools in there to adjust or tighten into place.
Note: Steeda PH brace is a nice piece though. Light and boxed welding on driver side for extra strength. Small diameter to give exhaust pipes that little extra clearance especially needed on driver side. One of the few Steeda pieces I still run on my 06.
Cure for both these on 2006 car. Eibach sway bars with grease-able bushings. No more squeaks. Doing the front at same time gave better balance too. Recommend to do both if thinking of this mod.
BMR PH bar with single adjustability in the middle part. More space to get in there and work with tools. Recommend avoid PH bars that adjust on the ends. Get one that adjusts in middle.
Best mods, the list is quite long. From P springs to Bilsteins. MM caster-camber plates to Brembo brakes with SS lines and Dot 4 fluid. From Recaro seats to FRPP Hot Rod Cams. From JLT series III CAI to Axle Exchange aluminium DS.
Maybe a bit late due to the 3 valve 4.6 beening retired since 2010, but in the event some of you are thinking of modding yours for N/A performance or you pick up a nice untouched used one and want to get under its skin. I will share my journey to pretty much the top of the N/A performance with the 3 valver and share the differences. Disclaimer, none of what I say here applies to FI cars, only N/A. N/A meaning Naturally Aspirated and FI meaning Forced Induction, such as Turbo or Super charging. I include a Dyno sheet to illustrate. All torque and power numbers here are measured at the wheels.
The last couple of years I had a very good N/A setup that delivered very good low end torque peaking at 335lbs at about 4300 rpm, and 349hp peaking at approx: 6100 rpm. This was achieved with GMS under-drive pulleys, JLT series III CAI, FRPP twin 62 mm throttle body, FRPP Hot Rod cams, Steeda CM delete plates, BBK long tubes with high flow catted X pipe (Yes, I remain emissions compliant as the MVI in NB is more stringent than NS), Magnaflow Magnapack exhaust.
This is what the engine bay looked like.
This setup gave very aggressive low end grunt. Mostly due to the stock long runner intake manifold which by design provides more low end torque but is not able to carry power as far up the rpm scale as a short runner intake. Second, with the FRPP cams I was able to retain the variable cam timing because those cams are manufactured by the same manufacturer that makes the stock cams and they are designed to work safely with the stock valve train up to 6800 rpm. My rev limiter was set at 6700 rpm but as you will see on the Dyno sheet, power was starting to drop fast after 6250 rpm. I was aiming to shift close to 6000, absolutely above 5500 rpm. Last detail, the Dyno shows the power curve was starting to flatten out as early as 5150 rpm. Conclusion, the fun of that setup was mostly in the lower end torque curve up to 5000 rpm. Very fun on the street. Short bursts of acceleration on highway on ramps and what have you.
But for about the last 10 years I've had an itch to scratch. I've always been wondering what ported heads, a big cam and a short runner intake would do to the car. Basically a high rpm screamer like the Boss 302 or the newer Voodoo 5.2 in the GT 350's. Since I occasionally take part in High Performance Events on closed circuits, I was willing to go explore the possibilities.
This spring I took the car to Dasilva's and we tore into it. We added the following parts; Heads ported by Livernois Motorsports of Detroit complete with new heavy duty vale train. We changed the rockers and lifters and added cam phasers. Comp Cams stage III cams and FRPP high flow, short runner intake manifold. We finished off with a higher capacity oil pan and high flow oil pump so the cams and valve train would not starve for oil.
The result pushed everything back and further up the rpm curve. Only a marginal torque gain of about 1.5 but at about 5800 rpm. The serious business was gained in the power department with nearly 40hp more peaking around 6000 rpm and remaining useable past 7000 rpm.
This totally changed the demeanor of the car and expectedly so because a similar result was achieved by Ford in the Boss. The 5.0 lost 10lbs of torque but gained 32hp when they played with exhaust ports, headers and added the Boss intake. I didn't lose peak torque but it all got pushed further up the curve that at some points between 3000 and 4500 rpm I'm down 25 to 30lbs. The power curve was affected similarly but as where before it started to moderate at around 5100rpm, now it's equal to before from about 4800 and does not stop its good climb until 6000, and then it holds steady and still useable past 7000 rpm. With the new oil pan and oil pump we bumped my rev limiter to 7500 rpm just like the Roadrunner engine. Now when I want to get into it, I aim for shifts well above 6000 and I can go as high as 7000 and the car is still pulling strong. From 5000 to 7000 it now feels like I have some sort of power adder or FI. The car has longer legs, able to carry gears for what seems much longer than before, giving longer pulls between shifts. It's changed the character of the car but it's a hell of a ride. No less fun than before, just quite different.
The change in torque is inherently due to the short runner intake as mentioned before. The loss of the variable cam timing also contributes a bit. An aggressive cam can't use variable cam timing. It was locked out by the tune and the cam phasers. The FRPP intake is designed to delete the CM plates so it replaces the stock intake and CM plates.
Now the engine bay looks like this.
I lost my strut tower brace because of a combination of the intake and hood. The FRPP GT brace no longer clears this taller intake. The FRPP grey V6 brace will just clear with a few washers for shims but does not clear my aftermarket hood in that configuration. I'm not sure it would clear the stock hood either once shimed. The best brace to clear this intake is the FRPP Boss brace. It clears with lots of room. I'll need a new higher hood for that. Carbon fiber, for weight reduction, it will be when I do it. I already have the brace in my basement. Next is hood. I noticed the brace missing. Although I'm well braced on the underside. I have a BMR K member brace. Ford started adding a similar brace in 2007 to the Shelby's and some GT's. It became standard fare in 2011 with the 5.0 liters. I also have a Whiteline A arm support. Basically another brace that ties the front of the K member with the rad support. It all helps. The car still takes curves and brakes like a champion. It's not where I've noticed the brace missing. I noticed a subtle difference in flex compared to what I felt before while going over uneven roads. If you recall, the FR500 factory race cars for road racing had no strut braces.
Concusion: For most people, I would say that the setup I had before was the better of the two for street/traffic driving and quick fun factor with the sound and low end torque. This new setup is a thrill ride but you need a bit more space/distance to travel through the gears to higher rpm's and velocity. It's a high rpm screamer for sure. Much like the Boss and the GT350, it'll put a smile on your face. It's a great setup for the track and wide open roads. Even though it's not a power monster, barely tickling 460hp at the crank according to some conversion formulas, once it reaches that 5000 rpm and you keep it in that sweet spot, it'll give more powerful cars a headache because it pulls on a gear for a longer period.
Dyno overlap ported heads.pdf
This is the Dyno sheet overlapping my previous setup with the new setup. The new setup is the blue one. This is one of the perks of having a relationship with your tuner and using the same one over. They have your old stuff saved and can do stuff like this. These are both 91 octane tunes using Maritime gas from the local Shell retailer in St-Leonard. As stated before, I have an emissions friendly X pipe with high flow cats, not an off road setup. Ho, and I have an AC delete which I had with the old setup too. It's probably only worth 2-3hp. The biggest reason to do it is weight reduction and balance because it's all front end weight, and better engine cooling by getting rid of the AC condenser from in front of your radiator.
Out of curiosity we tried another run with race gas additive and a 93 octane tune. It only made marginal gains of 2 peak hp and 1lb of torque to 389hp and 337 torque, so basically not worth it. Mat Dsilva's remark to that was that I had good gas and to keep using it. Car is back to 91 octane tune and gas.
Mat had this same setup on his race car several years ago and he cracked the 400hp mark to the rear wheels. From experience, he told me an off road X pipe is roughly worth an additional 5hp with this setup, which he ran along with a higher octane tune. He also ran an electric water pump worth 2-3hp more. He also told me my 2007 SVT wheels are heavy by performance wheel standards and that a lighter set of wheels, which he ran, can net you another 2-3hp. And I believe Mat had one extra mod in the form of a power steering bypass to reach his numbers.
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TrueBlue02058
Post King
Quite a Hot Rod you have there Marc, thanks for sharing.
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
Yah, I thought I read in the tuner thread that you had a GT500 blower on your 08 GT.
Interesting. I can see similarities in that the 5.4 is basically a stroker version of the 4.6.
Both are modular and would have same valley for the intake to sit in.
But one was 3 valve and the other 4 valve.
Did the intake ports all line up or was there some form of McGyver fabricating?
Interesting. I can see similarities in that the 5.4 is basically a stroker version of the 4.6.
Both are modular and would have same valley for the intake to sit in.
But one was 3 valve and the other 4 valve.
Did the intake ports all line up or was there some form of McGyver fabricating?
I bet we know someone who might be able to make that thread a reality Trevor?
I am not sure I can remember everything I did lol.
I will see what I can did up.
The most unusual thing I did was.
A guy in Detroit had designed a manifold ( DOB, department of boost)
That would mount on a 4.6 and accept any GT500 SC.
So thats the way I went. It was quite a process. a lot more work, but all in, including a
trip to the dyno was under 5k. Keep in mind the 4.6 block is really only rated for about 450 HP and
10lbs of boost. at the wheels, anymore your playing with fire.
First run on dyno was 484hp, we dialled it back, best drive ability was 435 with about 400 ft lbs of torq.
It work exceptionally well.
I will see what I can did up.
The most unusual thing I did was.
A guy in Detroit had designed a manifold ( DOB, department of boost)
That would mount on a 4.6 and accept any GT500 SC.
So thats the way I went. It was quite a process. a lot more work, but all in, including a
trip to the dyno was under 5k. Keep in mind the 4.6 block is really only rated for about 450 HP and
10lbs of boost. at the wheels, anymore your playing with fire.
First run on dyno was 484hp, we dialled it back, best drive ability was 435 with about 400 ft lbs of torq.
It work exceptionally well.
Last edited: