I prefer the silver wheels over the black. When we bought our last vehicle, it had black wheels and I told the salesman if they would swap the wheels I would buy the vehicle. He went to his boss and he said okay so I bought the vehicle.
I'm of the old school and will make this a threesome - I love the look bright wheels give to the overall appearance of a car. Now, OK, I understand the younger generation and the new way of thinking is for the black wheels/carbon fiber wheels etc. But I can't see them and it bothers me.
The cars, model and real, look 'today' with them but I so much more admire the cars with the previous bit of bling.
The wheels on the 1/1 are Gloss Graphite but they are hard to get to show up because of the white color it throws off the white balance in the photos.
Here is a better photo of the wheels. Also going with these forged wheels the wheels and tires saved a total of 20 pounds of unsprung rotating weight, the brakes saved another 35 pounds of unsprung weight some of that rotating.
This post was modified 8 months ago 3 times by john3976
Here is a photo of the new Ford Performance, Performance Pack 2 splitter on the front. This is the 2.3 High Performance Package and as modified today makes 416 HP and 541 LBFT TQ at the crankshaft, stock it makes 330 HP and 350 LBFT TQ at the crank Shaft, the current build makes 341 HP and 443 LBFT TQ at the rear wheels. This is with an 18% driveline loss from the torque converter, automatic transmission, two piece driveshaft, rear end, two half shafts for the independent suspension rear axles. That is an increase of 86 HP and 191 LBFT TQ at the crankshaft.
These are the safe limits for the 2.3 ecoboost engine, you can go much higher power but reliability becomes an issue. These engines have been modified up to 1000 HP but that is a racing application and short lived. The 2.3 uses an open deck block design.
Mine is putting out 26 pounds of boost with the current tune and parts installed.
The first photo was during the install of the new splitter and second photo is the completed splitter install. I have a rear defuser tray from Verus Engineering to install as well.
This post was modified 8 months ago 3 times by john3976
Here is a photo of the new Ford Performance, Performance Pack 2 splitter on the front. This is the 2.3 High Performance Package and as modified today makes 416 HP and 541 LBFT TQ at the crankshaft, stock it makes 330 HP and 350 LBFT TQ at the crank Shaft, the current build makes 341 HP and 443 LBFT TQ at the rear wheels. This is with an 18% driveline loss from the torque converter, automatic transmission, two piece driveshaft, rear end, two half shafts for the independent suspension rear axles. That is an increase of 86 HP and 191 LBFT TQ at the crankshaft.
These are the safe limits for the 2.3 ecoboost engine, you can go much higher power but reliability becomes an issue. These engines have been modified up to 1000 HP but that is a racing application and short lived. The 2.3 uses an open deck block design.
Mine is putting out 26 pounds of boost with the current tune and parts installed.
The first photo was during the install of the new splitter and second photo is the completed splitter install. I have a rear defuser tray from Verus Engineering to install as well.
Oh MAN, John; that splitter is wicked cool! Talk about racy, it looks like something you see on a Formula 1 rocket!
@perrone1 Installed a rear defuser on it yesterday, Verus Engineering out of India designed it and it creates more downforce on the rear of the car while also reducing the drag.
...John, you're about maxed out - not sure how many more Dealer upgrades/aftermarket performance-goodies you can add. You have any interior plans or paint ideas?
Here is a couple of photos of the Hurst pistol grip shifter I installed and a pony residing on the inside of the trunk lid and a video of the Ford Performance rear seat delete kit.
One last set of photos of my Mustang created to mimic the 2020 Shelby GT500 1/18 scale, I won't do the stripes because the sun after a few years would cause them to crack and shrink requiring replacement and I rather like the white with black accents of the hood louvers and the rear spoiler along with the other black trim. It would have been fun to have 1/18 scale with the 2.3 turbo engine Mustang but that one is not made.
Here are four photos under the hood:
Power output after all the work vs stock comes out to:
Stock at the crankshaft 330 HP 350 lbft of torque.
Modified at the crankshaft 416 HP 541 lbft of torque.
These cars average 18% driveline loss:
Dyno at the rear wheels: 341 HP 443 lbft of torque.
This is a pick up of 86 horse power at the crankshaft and 191 pound foot of torque at the crankshaft.
The 416 HP and 541 lbft of torque at the crankshaft are right at the limit for reliability, you can go much farther power wise but you will get into reliability issues due to the open deck design of the 2.3L engine. This car is already about 300 pounds lighter in the front end than the 5.0 Mustangs so it handles better. It came with 255/40/R19 tires with 19x9 rims on each corner, it now has 19x10 rims with 285/35/R19 tires on the front and 19x11 rims with 325/30/R19 tires on the rear for much more grip.
This post was modified 8 months ago 2 times by john3976
...you're really squeezing power out of that 2.3 and everything looks cool, neat & tidy, but I must ask the somewhat obvious question: Why didn't you just go with the V8?
@chris Two reasons, one it was during tail end of covid so inventory was next to nothing, two it was time to trade in the Honda Civic Touring we had and the MACH 1 the dealer had on their show room floor was marked up and I refuses to pay markups. They had the MACH 1 priced right at $78,000 dollars, way over priced.
The 2.3 High Performance Package mustangs have a different engine block with stronger alloy and high strength cylinder liners, better piston rings to go with the forged rods and crankshaft, Cosworth helped Ford develop the cylinder head which is also made out of a stronger alloy and flows better than the standard head. This engine actually came out of the Ford Focus RS and in the Focus RS made 350 HP and 350 lbft of torque, but the block was configured in a front wheel drive transverse position so Ford went to the Valencia Spain engine plant where the Focus RS engine was made and asked them to reconfigure the block to fit the rear wheel drive mustang.
Ford detuned the engine dropping it to 330 HP and 350 lbft of torque because of the lighter front end weight it was getting to close to the Mustang GT 5.0 in performance.
As it is Car & Driver took the 2020 model year the first year of the 2.3 High Performance Package to Virginia International Raceway and ran a faster lap time than the 2015 Mustang GT 5.0 they tested at the same track just 5 years earlier, while the Mustang 5.0 was 10 MPH faster down the long front straight than the 2.3 High Performance Package it could not make up all the time it lost in the twisty sections of the road course due to the superior handling of the 2.3 High Performance Package.
Add in the fact everyone has a Mustang 5.0 it was just more fun to buy this car and play with it turning it into a one of a kind. There is actually a good size community of Mustang Ecoboost owners who tune the 2.3, there are 2.3 Ecoboost Mustangs putting out 600 HP drag racing and there is one that was built that reached 1000 HP.
My 1988 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 FHP patrol car put out 225 HP and 300 lbft of torque. How far performance has come.
