cloud9
Gary
First off - I love this car! Congratulations to the Ford team for really nailing it! I hope you all get a bonus or promotion as you've earned it.
I went out for about an hour. Mostly, I was out on country highways with little traffic. The temps were about 31F and there's still a fair amount of sand/gravel on many roads, so not ideal for pushing the car too hard. I dialed the shock settings to 5 for the first time today as well.
1) The transmission is like butta. It took me a couple days to get used to the gear pattern being fairly tight. Now it feels as comfortable in my hand as _____
2) I can't believe how well it puts the power to the ground. When I saw the control arms and they looked similar to the 07 GT500s I was really skeptical. Not to mention, in cold temps it typically exaggerates the wheel hop issue. I've had virtually zero wheel hop and I've driven it aggressively, but smoothly. It just bites. Let me just say again, great job Ford.
3) The power is mostly up top with the street tune. I'm a little bummed my first track event will be without TracKey. I'm concerned I'll be lugging out of the corners occasionally, but I guess that just puts the onus on me to drive better. I think with TracKey, there'll be a lot more room for error, and less shifting required. I might put it on the dyno soon to get a look at the torque curve. I was hoping to do it with both tunes.
4) So far there is little body roll, but like I said the conditions aren't ideal to test the limits without putting it in the flooded ditches and going for a swim. I do notice the front end lifts in first, but after that it stays sucked down under hard throttle. I haven't braked hard enough to know how much dive there is, but so far I really think it all feels good. On good to decent roads, setting 5 is totally comfortable. On our interstate loop the roads are really getting bad and it was a little rough, but tolerable. I noticed the same thing on a city street that was in rough shape. But for the most part, I think you could just leave them on 5 if you like a firm suspension.
5) I installled a HomeLink mirror with temp. The sensor is just below the hood in the grille. The factory sensor is directly below it in the lower grille. It was really interesting as I wondered how well the closed cold air intake would bring in fresh air. It does a very good job based on what I saw today. I had three readings:
Factory temp displayed by stereo 34F
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Homelink mirror reading 31F
IAT from OBDII 33F
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
That means IAT is within 2 degrees of ambient. On my GT500 IATwas normally 10 degrees higher than ambient with a FRPP CAI sealed to the hood!
6) The only thing I think it needs for me is a better stereo if I can pull it off without spending much $ and not adding any significant weight. I am running Sirius off my Droid and am a bit of a hair band junkie.
I went out for about an hour. Mostly, I was out on country highways with little traffic. The temps were about 31F and there's still a fair amount of sand/gravel on many roads, so not ideal for pushing the car too hard. I dialed the shock settings to 5 for the first time today as well.
1) The transmission is like butta. It took me a couple days to get used to the gear pattern being fairly tight. Now it feels as comfortable in my hand as _____
2) I can't believe how well it puts the power to the ground. When I saw the control arms and they looked similar to the 07 GT500s I was really skeptical. Not to mention, in cold temps it typically exaggerates the wheel hop issue. I've had virtually zero wheel hop and I've driven it aggressively, but smoothly. It just bites. Let me just say again, great job Ford.
3) The power is mostly up top with the street tune. I'm a little bummed my first track event will be without TracKey. I'm concerned I'll be lugging out of the corners occasionally, but I guess that just puts the onus on me to drive better. I think with TracKey, there'll be a lot more room for error, and less shifting required. I might put it on the dyno soon to get a look at the torque curve. I was hoping to do it with both tunes.
4) So far there is little body roll, but like I said the conditions aren't ideal to test the limits without putting it in the flooded ditches and going for a swim. I do notice the front end lifts in first, but after that it stays sucked down under hard throttle. I haven't braked hard enough to know how much dive there is, but so far I really think it all feels good. On good to decent roads, setting 5 is totally comfortable. On our interstate loop the roads are really getting bad and it was a little rough, but tolerable. I noticed the same thing on a city street that was in rough shape. But for the most part, I think you could just leave them on 5 if you like a firm suspension.
5) I installled a HomeLink mirror with temp. The sensor is just below the hood in the grille. The factory sensor is directly below it in the lower grille. It was really interesting as I wondered how well the closed cold air intake would bring in fresh air. It does a very good job based on what I saw today. I had three readings:
Factory temp displayed by stereo 34F
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Homelink mirror reading 31F
IAT from OBDII 33F
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
That means IAT is within 2 degrees of ambient. On my GT500 IATwas normally 10 degrees higher than ambient with a FRPP CAI sealed to the hood!
6) The only thing I think it needs for me is a better stereo if I can pull it off without spending much $ and not adding any significant weight. I am running Sirius off my Droid and am a bit of a hair band junkie.
Regarding the stereo if you are not interested in replacing the head unit I'd start with replacing the speakers in the doors. Then move to the speakers in the package shelf and then maybe add an amp. I think for less than $200 you can buy some good quality front speakers and have a noticeable improvement in sound quality.
