2013 Cammed Coyote HPDE Build

[nsfw302]

Hello all. I've decided to share my 2013 5.0 with TMO and start a build thread to document my journey as well as share it with like minded individuals. Having owned the car for several years, a lot has already been done. However, I've only recently started going to track days. So I would also like to use this thread to track my progress and growth as a driver.

A quick run down. Bought the car in August of 2012. 401A, nice leather seats, 6r80 trans, etc. The car was meant to be a daily driver (still is) and eventually a turbo’d street car. A year later, my good friend purchased a 2013 1LE and everything changed from there. I found myself despising the auto for what I wanted it to do but wasn’t in the position to trade it in for a MT car.

Fortunately for me, the auto was highly sought after by boosted, MT grenadey2, owners. August of 2014, I found someone willing to swap trans (yes, MT82) completely free of charge to me and a couple goodies with it (McLeod RXT aka McLeod RDX). Of course, as I implied with “RDX”, the clutch committed suicide and took the trans with it. So a second MT82 went into the car. This time with a trusty Exedy clutch and SPEC aluminum flywheel. This is the combination that has survived 3 years and counting.

Over the next 1 - 2 years, I acquired some bits and pieces here and there. Nothing serious. Cloth Recaro seats, 6 piston Brembos, and all the other mods that every Mustang vendor tells you you need for that track day you have yet to do.

In early 2016, my life took a drastic turn. To keep my head straight I poured all of my time into the car. ST XTA coilovers went on as well as a CorteX Watts link. Later that year, I would do away with the VCT and cam the car (detailed below). All this pushed me to finally sign up for HPDE. I got tired of holding it off, doing the same silly dance of “My car isn’t ready for the track but I’ll mod it beyond my skill set.” So finally, I attended my first DE at Chuckwalla with NASA in February of 2017.

So what exactly is all done as of today, August 2, 2017?

Engine: 2013 Coyote.

· Ported Cobra Jet

· JLT CAI

· Stainless Works 1 7/8” and ORX

· Comp Cams (custom grind)

· Lund Tuned / Flex Fuel

Suspension/Brakes:

· ST XTA coils (single adj) (soon to be replaced by JRZ RS1)

· CorteX Watts

· Whiteline LCAs with BMR Brackets (soon to be replaced with CorteX units)

· Whiteline Front ARB

· 15” 6P Brembos / 13.8” rear (Hawk HPS/Stoptech/Russell SS Lines)

Driveline:

· Exedy “Mach 500”

· SPEC Aluminum flywheel

· DSS 1 piece

· MGW Race Spec Gen2

· McLeod SS Line

Misc:

· OE cloth Recaros

· Racepak IQ3S

· Apex EC-7 18 x 10 on street 285/35s

· Corbeau Bar (planning on Watson 4 pt)


There’s about 100 other minor things I haven’t bothered to detail here. Anyways, here’s some pics.

You can also find a bunch more pictures and video on my Instagram @nsfw302.

 

[nsfw302]

Let's get into what everyone is going to want to know about first.. the cams. They're are a custom grind from Comp. Specs are 236/246 @.050" and .565"/.512"

First off, for any off the shelf grind, I'd recommend retaining VCT. A popular choice are the baby Cobra Jet 290 exhaust cams or the L&M intake cams. These are more cost effective options that deliver good power, keep the coyote a clearanced motor and install much simpler. Unless you are unduly familiar with valve events and cam timing, you should retain VCT. Discuss with your tuner grind options and what they're willing to tune.



So why did I do away with VCT? Being custom ground, I was wary of any tuner being able to dial it in perfectly and prevent piston to valve contact on their first try. Of course, any competent tuner can do it but I wanted the peace of mind that the cam timing wasn't located by oil pressure.

Alongside the cams, I also addressed some weak points in the motor since I had full access to these components anyways. MMR OPG, Crank Sprocket, and Boss 302 Secondary Tensioners. At 80k miles, everything looked fine.


Since the cams have an aggressive profile, factory valve springs were a no go. Unfortunately, Boss 302 springs were also a no go with a rating for lift up to 13mm (.565" = 14.351mm). Would've been nice since they're only $60. The next step up were the 5x more expensive Livernois valve springs rated up to .580" so that's what I went with. Of course, all ARP hardware.



Once all the components were in, all the components had to be properly timed. Since the coyote has VCT, the cam card says to install with a 126 intake centerline and 126 exhaust c/l giving us a 126 LSA. This is where the cams sit at their widest when VCT is enabled and not where to find optimal power. After discussing with my tuner, we decided to go for a 110LSA with a 108 intake c/l and 112 exhaust c/l.



As of today, I still haven't taken the car to dyno. I will eventually but just haven't had time nor the willingness to go to dyno. Cars with the same setup make just around 500rwhp on pump gas.

The torque comes on at 3500 RPM and pulls hard to 8000. Of course, driveability has suffered but I've gotten used to it. As of now, I am getting an occassional, slight surge when off throttle at low rpm (mild highway traffic) and trying to go WOT under 3500 results in some light backfiring (aggressive part throttle is completely fine). I suspect these issues are due to the aggressive LSA and early intake c/l, respectively. On the track however, the car works all around with no issues whatsoever.

To address the driveability issues (since it is my daily), I plan on retarding the intake c/l to 112 BTDC. This will widen the LSA a tad as well. Will probably get around to it when the weather cools off here in Phoenix.

 

[VoodooBoss]

In for updates. Nice job on the engine mods!

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Welcome

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

There are only a few on here that have played around with non-factory cams / cam timing. Your experiences should be interesting to follow!

 

[Grant 302]

Great story so far, and thanks for sharing!

 

[50Deep]

Sick! Any videos of the car at idle and startup?

 

[nsfw302]

@50Deep

There's a quick one in #2. Here's another.

 

[M91196]

Sounds awesome

 

[Competition Orange]

Not many actual cam'd coyotes, just the poser cam tunes...

Sounds great, bet it rips on the track.

 

[smallblock]

Sounds awesome can't wait to hear video of it screaming. Keep posting videos as you get them!

 

[nsfw302]

Sounds awesome can't wait to hear video of it screaming. Keep posting videos as you get them!

I have some in car footage, just a matter of uploading to YouTube. I'll get around to it sometime this week.

 

[captdistraction]

Aw yiss


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[nsfw302]

So for the past month or two, I noticed a weird issue. The car would pull to the left under heavy throttle and return after I let off. The rear end of the car felt completely unsettled when I would let off and wasn't remotely acceptable. I figured it was the Whiteline bushings that were worn with age in the LCAs. So I got myself some CorteX bits to replace them.



Having installed LCAs and the relocation brackets countless times in friends cars, install was a breeze. Also took this opportunity to rotate the tires fore to aft before the next track day on Sept. 9th.



Glad to say, this is one of those few moments where what I suspected to be wrong with the car was what was wrong. The issue was rectified and the car tracks perfectly straight again.

As for the bumpsteer kit, I'll be putting that on at the same time as when the JRZ coilovers arrive from the Netherlands since I want to get the car's toe aligned. For now, I'll be eyeballing the angle of the tie rod for the bumpsteer. So long as it points towards the instant center somewhat, I'll call it good. When I have more time next year and the Boss 302S front LCAs, I'll actually dial in the bumpsteer.

 

[Starjammir]

Which ends are those on the lcas? Look completely different than mine .

 

[nsfw302]

Which ends are those on the lcas? Look completely different than mine .

They're the street LCAs.. I also noticed they were different than pictured but they're perfectly quiet and stiffer than my old Whiteline bushings.

 

[302BOB]

That bad boy sounds like it's ready to pounce on whatever is in it's way!.....Job well done!

 

[Tommy J]

@50Deep

There's a quick one in #2. Here's another.

Music that soothes the soul! Nice thread and looking forward to watching your thread! Be safe out there!

 

[nsfw302]

Finally some new dampers! Approximately a month ago, I received these JRZ RS Pro dampers from Stuart Maxcy at MaxcySpeedCo. Since then, I've done around a thousand street miles and 2 track events.

These are the double adjustable selection from JRZ paired with Vorshlag's track side adjustable plates and Hyperco springs. The compression is controlled on the remote reservoir and the rebound on the top of the damper.




Street Driving

Driving on the street, I find these to be very compliant and comfortable. Only over abnormally large road features do I get a jolt that reminds me that these are track ready dampers. I took the car on a short road trip from Phoenix to Sedona with my girlfriend and we were both comfortable for the duration of the ride (YMMV). I daily the car around 16 mi one way for work without issue. This is with the damping set at my track settings. I haven't found it necessary to dial it down for the street.

HPDE

On the weekend following Thanksgiving, Pro Autosports held a track day at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in their famous "Mondo Bondo" configuration two tracks are essentially combined to form a 2.6 mi 26 turn course. Unfortunately, I hadn't run this course before so there isn't any before and after data compared to the old ST XTA coilovers.

Throughout both days, I found the dampers did their jobs amazingly well. Brake dive was significantly mitigated compared to before and the car held an amazing balance. The most amazing thing was the difference that could be felt in fine tuning the dampers. After the first few sessions and getting a feel for the track, I felt as if the car had just a tad too much front bite. I bumped up the compression by two clicks and could feel the car had returned some of that balance. Currently, the car is well beyond my capabilities as a driver.
______________________________

Here's how I installed the remote reservoirs. I used some cable mounting clamps I picked up off Amazon for the reservoirs and lines. I used a two inch hole saw and made sure to avoid any areas where the body panels were layered over one another. For the passenger front, I cut from within the wheel well to have enough room to manipulate the hole saw. Be extremely careful not to end up cutting into all the cables! In retrospect, I would've liked to use a bigger hole saw that way I could keep the rubber grommets in place and still be able to fit the reservoirs through.



To fit the reservoirs through the passenger side strut tower, you will need to loosen the fuse box. I would advise disconnecting the battery as well. Everything comes loose with a 10mm socket.



The driver side is much easier. You will most likely need to cut the air box shield. This is a JLT intake for the Cobra Jet. and the fit is pretty close.



Passenger side rear. Driver side is symmetrical.



Per @captdistraction recommendation, I would actually mount the rears upside down. This gives you more tire clearance, easy under car access to the rebound, and the lines go straight into the body. I'll get around to it at some point. I've seen most setups with the reservoirs going to the spare wheel well but I still use the trunk on a common occasion. Also, I would recommend cutting the first nipple of the bumpstop. I'm actually considering switching the bumpstops back to the OE location and removing the damper bumpstops entirely.



Good tire clearance with Apex EC7 with a 285/35/18.



Vorshlag plates looking pretty. My only complaint is that the sway bar mounting tabs aren't large enough for the nuts. I had to tighten the end link from the back side with an open ended wrench.

 

[Track Pony]

Love everything you have done. Gives me hope that a daily can also be a capable track car with not too much compromise