KinLM's 2012 5.0 Mustang

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I've got one on my Mini and my Mazda; and I'm putting one on the DeLorean. It's amazing what cold air intakes can do. It's a big difference.
Oh, no no no. Not the cold air :) that's simple stuff. I'm talking about the massive intake manifold with "Boss 302" written across the top, which may or may not be a direct part off of the limited run Boss 302 ;)
 
Okay, so since its a slow day at school, I finally have some time to post a bit of a proper update.


And first thing's first.. Man a lot has happened.

Last I was in this thread, I was talking with @Hayden about switching to an off-road exhaust.

Well, I made the leap, with bad consequences.

No, I'm not talking about being too loud (though it definitely bumped up the volume to levels not friendly to ears!) but in order to install the cat delete pipes, a small amount had to be cut off of the x pipe. This made the exhaust too short overall, resulting in the x pipe hitting against some sharp parts of the chassis when driving along.

Besides the annoying factor of it sending a vibration through the whole car, this also was not particularly safe. Unfortunately, those cuts couldn't be undone. The only "fix" was to go to Longtubes and a new x pipe.

This was a planned mod anyways, although I definitely didn't want to do this so soon. Very expensive change. Switched to roush axlebacks while I was at it.

Good news is, besides the power bump, the car now sounds like Zeus, and nothing is hitting.



After this followed a much-needed suspension overhaul; Bilstein shocks/struts, along with Eibach Pro Springs. Along with it, I installed Whiteline lower control arms/control arm relocation brackets, a Steeda panhard bar and upper control arm, and some Eibach camber bolts.

After an alignment, the car handled like a dream.

To extend this even more, I switched out the 19" Cali special rims with some 20 inch MMD 551C rims. 10 inches wide front and back, and with Mickey Thompson street comp summer tires on (275 front, 305 back) the car really grips the road like an angry bear.

Next came a small bit of a Boss 302 overhaul. Suspension wise, I got a Boss 302 strut tower brace. Having installed one on the V6 my parents own, I didn't expect it to do much to my car (did almost nothing for the v6)

However, I was wrong. The bar actually tightened up the front a LOT! Took me completely by surprise and put a huge smile on my face.

However, more power was in order.
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Same part found on the Boss 302, this intake manifold increases HP +61 @ 7000 RPM and increases the rev range beyond 7500 (I set mine to 7400 to be cautious though). Hooked up with the Steeda cold air intake I got a while back, the car really really pulls now!


I'll try to get some photos of it all soon. Having been as busy as I have been, I haven't had much time. However I hope to get some good photos over the next few days. Sorry for such a late update!
 
Hello friends!

I should have a proper update to post by tomorrow, but long story short, after a myriad of other upgrades which I will discuss tomorrow, I am going to boost my car!

I will be installing a VMP Gen II Stage 2 2.3 TVS supercharger. This is expected to put the car above 600 rear wheel horsepower.

As I said, more details tomorrow when I can put together a proper breakdown of all that has happened the last few months.
 
looks really nice man. Whats the full exhaust setup you are running now?
I am running JBA Long Tube headers with a catted x-pipe, other than that the exhaust is a straight pipe exiting out of Magnaflow muffler delete Axleback exhausts.
 
I am running JBA Long Tube headers with a catted x-pipe, other than that the exhaust is a straight pipe exiting out of Magnaflow muffler delete Axleback exhausts.
Nice. I used to own a 2008 Mustang GT. I had Pypes Long Tube Headers, Off-Road x-pipe, Pypes Pype Bomb Axle back, and a K&N CAI.
 
I remember seeing this thread when it first opened up. Lovely car, and one of my favorite of the recent generations of the Mustang!
 
Got a nice photo the other night before dropping my car off for a dyno tune the next day.

Hoping to be above 600 wheel on pump gas, and I switched the supercharger pulley out for a smaller one to hopefully help achieve that.

I’ll report back with numbers!
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Phew. FINALLY got around to updating the opening post a little bit.

I kept all the older stuff below it, but from now on I’ll try and keep the opening post relevant with info on the car’s current state, since it changes pretty much every day depending on what’s decided to break on the car on any given day.
 
Took the car to my local track (MSR Cresson) for a track day last weekend.

Unfortunately, the day was filled with monsoon levels of rain; not ideal for a RWD, 700WHP Mustang on semi-slick tires.

Even when the track began to try, there was only one short stretch on the whole track where I could get the throttle all the way down.

Regardless, I had a blast! Didn’t get passed/caught by anybody all day. Not sure if that’s down to the car, or me just being far more reckless and carefree in the rain than everybody else there :lol:

Have another track day at a different layout at MSR Cresson in a week. This track should suit the car much better, as it has a long straight that should let me max out fourth gear/~135MPH. And no rain forecasted (yet).

Will report back with how it goes.
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Issues in the cold; parked the car for an hour, watched a bowl game, came back outside and the fuel pumps/system wouldn’t prime.

Was running fine all day beforehand.

Checked the battery, fuses, relays, the FC2 controller for the pumps, everything. Couldn’t find anything wrong.

Ended up tearing pretty much the whole back out of the car in order to get to everything! Wasn’t able to solve the issue, so I had my friend (who owns a shop) pick it up on a trailer and we’re going to take a better look over the weekend hopefully.

I thought about getting a test light and going through all the wires, but because it has an aftermarket fuel system, there is just way too much going on for me to come to any real conclusions regardless.

Hopefully I’ll learn some stuff over the weekend and have it running sometime soon!
 
Another day, another weak link identified and replaced.
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No wonder the fuel system wasn’t working :lol:

Now, to determine what actually caused this to fail in the first place. The bad terminal was from the controller to the chassis (ground).

Mostly just happy that it didn’t set fire to anything, considering this was mounted underneath the rear passenger seats.
 
Melty melty. That's not a good sign.

Why is the aftermarket fuel system some complex? What is it doing over the stock system?
 
Melty melty. That's not a good sign.

Why is the aftermarket fuel system some complex? What is it doing over the stock system?
Its a return-style, dual pump system (so as to be E85 capable) with a pressure regulator and all that good stuff.

In reality, nothing that complex or new (the melted controller simply dishes out the electrical power to each of the two pumps safely) but with how advanced these cars are from the factory these days, altering the way the fuel system works so drastically just starts to upset some of the systems set up for the stock fuel system.

For instance, the MPG estimation seems a little bit off sometimes (compared to the past) and the fuel gauge won’t read below about 1/4 of a tank.

This issue that caused this melted controller is likely a simple fixed caused by one minor thing, but that’s the downside (and joy, in my opinion) of working on, and modifying a car.

A few years ago, I didn’t even know how to change an air filter. Now, Im casually taking apart half the interior and tracing wires around in order to diagnose what went wrong.

Another example of this is the launch control system I finally wired up to the steering wheel; a short while back, I didn’t know anything ahout wiring, much less soldering. But by working on this car, I was able to wire up/solder a really nice solution to the inherent problem of connecting wires to something that turns a lot :lol: I’ll post photos soon.
 
Took some notes from real life racecars (plus what I’ve seen in GTSport) and fashioned this up for my launch control.

Now the buttons on the steering wheel actually have a purpose!
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the end of the spring cable wraps around the quick release mechanism a bit (zip-tied on) before finally connecting to the Sparco wires that lead to the buttons.

I did this so that, when turning the wheel heavily, there won’t be any “tugging” on the soldering and connections; all that force will be going through the spring cable and zip ties.

The spring cable goes through a small slot near the mechanism to adjust the steering column, where I attached a ground wire to part of the chassis hidden beneath all the plastic crap. Meanwhile, the launch control wire goes through a small hole in the firewall up above the clutch pedal.

Had it on for a few months now and haven’t had any issues as of yet. It may not be factory clean, but it works like a charm, and doesn’t look too bad in my opinion.

Now to wire in a horn button.. :lol:

EDIT: Couple more photos of the wheel itself.
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Had some free time after class today, and decided to go to Granger, TX.

This is roughly where the 2003 and 2006 versions of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” were shot, and I can see why; it has a very eerie, ‘abandoned’ feel to it.

I only had my phone on me, so no DSLR shot, but I snapped this as the light was fading a bit.
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