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Some random thoughts after the first few days

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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

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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.
 
Thanks for the nice write up. It will be interesting to see what the TracKey does for your track days. I'll see it I can get my friends at CARB to expedite the approval process. ;) 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.
 
Fanastic! I can't wait to hear about your first track event.

I've basically put my season on hold until I have something that resembles a build date.
 
5 DOT 0 said:
Thanks for the nice write up. It will be interesting to see what the TracKey does for your track days. I'll see it I can get my friends at CARB to expedite the approval process. ;) 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.
Good idea on the speakers. I'm open to suggestions on specific ones.
 
BossJockey said:
Gary,

How easy / hard is it to read the Aeroforce gauge while your driving. Is the vent mount aim-able? Does it move or change it position when you go over bumps?
It's pretty good actually. With the steering wheel where I like it, the speedo and Aeroforce gauge are completely unobstructed by the wheel. The gauge pod actually is designed to angle toward your eyes, but is not adjustable per se. It is aimed directly at you when seated though. I have the blue LED and it is a little difficult to read with sunglasses on, but perfectly clear without them. I don't wear sunglasses on the track so not a big deal for me. I'm not sure if any of the other LED colors would be better with sunglasses.
 
BossJockey said:
Where did you get the vent mount from again? Did you buy the gauge direct from AeroForce Tech or some other retailer?
http://www.lethalperformance.com/2011-mustang-gt-gauges-aeroforce-interceptor-gauges-c-8486_9197_9217/aeroforce-ford-cn-series-single-interceptor-scan-gauge-p-35291

http://www.lethalperformance.com/2011-mustang-gt-5-0l-gauges-mounting-solutions-c-8486_9197_10702/roush-2010-2011-mustang-vent-gauge-pod-p-35455
 
What does the AeroTech guage read and how hard was it to install? Does it plug n play ot do you have to run a bunch of new sensors? Nice write up....just make me want my caqr more now!
 
The cloth/faux suede on the seats is phenomenal actually. They are far more comfortable than leather, and you don't slide on it like leather. I have to say they are easily the best automotive seats I've ever tried.

The steering wheel is also superior to a leather wrapped one. It provides a much better feel and similarly not slippery like leather. The dash looks good, but is darker than I thought it was going to be. It's closer in color to my GT500.
 
rmmantel said:
Im up early today, today is may day :-X :-X

I'm so excited for you having a great car and for me getting one.

What color did you end up getting?
Welcome to the site! Congratulations! You should be having a great day by the sounds of it. I have competition orange with the R/T option. What color did you order?
 
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You can get a pretty good selection of audio gear at Best Buy. Alpine and Pioneer are often touted as being the cream of the crop. I thought it was an interesting idea to keep the factory head unit and replace all the speakers and adding an amp. The Boss will be noticeable all on its own, but if you add a high end head unit you open it up more enticingly to smash and grab theft than would be the case with a factory head unit. If you don't need satellite, USB ports etc., maybe the head unit is fine for routing the tunes to high end sound reproduction hardware. No one is going to try to smash and grab what appears to be a standard factory system. I'm thinking this might be the way to go. I'm interested in what you all are going to do as well. A bit of extra weight is not a problem for me as mine will be a street machine for the most part.
 
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One more thing I was wondering: When routinely cleaning the interior, how do you clean the Alcantra steering wheel? My '07 has leather wrapped wheel and its easy to clean up with leather cleaner. I'd imagine over time the suede might get sweat and grime infused and wouldn't the faux suede absorb whatever cleaning product is applied to it? I assume standard auto upholstery cleaners would be ok for the seats wouldn't they?
 
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GA
jimprw said:
One more thing I was wondering: When routinely cleaning the interior, how do you clean the Alcantra steering wheel? My '07 has leather wrapped wheel and its easy to clean up with leather cleaner. I'd imagine over time the suede might get sweat and grime infused and wouldn't the faux suede absorb whatever cleaning product is applied to it? I assume standard auto upholstery cleaners would be ok for the seats wouldn't they?

Check out the video in this thread for cleaning an Alcantara steering wheel:

https://trackmustangsonline.com/boss-302-technical-forum/cleaning-of-alcantara-steering-wheel/
 
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Gary, when you are able to comment on it, I'd appreciate knowing what kind of mileage you're getting right out of the chute. Besides overall cost and more balanced performance, one of the reasons I waited for a Boss rather than getting a GT500 was that when I am tooling around daily driving and heading out to the wide open spaces the Boss should be better on the gas - unless I've got my foot in the throttle, which for awhile I'm sure will be the case.
 
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What is the configuration of the "premium" sound system? Is it 6 speakers - 2 dash, 2 door and 2 rear deck?
 

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