OLD CROW 3V Mustang: Tries on Slicks, Winter Wheels, Safety Washer and Car Show

 OLD CROW Mustang update time... 

I'll start off with the purchase of some winter wheels. I've been hunting on Facebook Marketplace locally here in Salt Lake for some 18" winter wheels for months. Due to installing the 14" 4 piston brake upgrade, my 17x8 stock wheels no longer fit up front. I sold those for $200 for the set. 

I ended up buying a set of Ford OEM GT500 wheels from the 2007-2009 Shelby GT500 which measure 18x9.5 +45mm. I definitely wanted to have a winter wheel that looks cool and wasn't narrow, like an 18x8, which would have looked just silly on the car. So, I'm happy I found a Mustang wheel that will look great but due to being used, wasn't going to break the bank. I bought these for $380 from a guy in Salt Lake who used them on his Foxbody Mustang. He bought them with a used set of 245/40/18 BFG G-Force R1 slicks and attempted to use them for an autox event and they ended up rubbing like crazy on the front fenders. 

The car looks really good with the GT500 polished wheels. They look pretty dang good in the photo here, but they're kinda rough up close. I did scrub them down good and tried to handle polish them. They definitely need a good polishing wheel. They're perfect for a winter wheel. I plan to put a 275/40/18 or a 285/35/18 on them. The 2009 GT500 ran a 285/40/18 rear tire on it from the factory and a 255/45/18 front tire on the same size wheel. 

I ran this wheel and tire setup for 1 week a couple weeks ago just for fun to see what the wheels looked like on the car and maybe more importantly, how the car handled with slicks. I did the ol' "slalom" back and forth swerving motions to warm up the tires on a back road and man, once the tires got nice and warm, were SUPER responsive on turn in and front grip. The 245/40/18 tires are too narrow and short for the car and looked a little funny. While they are marked as 245 wide, from the picture sitting next to a 295mm wide 200 treadwear tire, they probably measure more like a 265 or 275 wide street tire. 

Next up, I've had a set of Mezier brand "safety washers" that Corey picked up for me from Summit Racing. It took me a bit to understand how these actually worked. Here's a pic of the washer installed. So, the thought process is, if this Cortex bump steer tie rod joint fails, the hoop of the tie rod end could slide right off and the nut on the end would slip right through the hoop and you would not have any steering mechanism any longer. So, with this safety washer, it will keep the tie rod end at least attached so that you will have control of the car to get it off the road and to a safe spot. 

My friend who has autox'd a bunch of Mustangs actually had a bump steer tie rod end fail like this in his driveway. He installed the parts, went to back out of his driveway to go for a test drive and heard a noise and then no longer had steering. So, he highly recommended it.

Here's a quick view from under the car showing the clearance between the wheel and the tie rod end bolt and washer. 

I took advantage while I was under the front of the car to do a nut and bolt check and a general clean up of the hard parts. While there I noticed the passenger side inner fender liner plastic had some rubbing marks from the wide wheel and tire package. Honestly I'll take it. This isn't bad at all for running a 19x11 +50 with a 295/30/19 tire up front. These S197 Mustangs can soak up a lot of tire. Heck, Brent runs a 315/30/19 on his 2005 Mustang track car. He probably has a little bit more rubbing than I do, but still, its minimal and really doesn't need a lot to be able to run that much width up front.

I took the Mustang to the Utah State Layton Autocenter Annual Car Show last weekend. It was a small show, but was fun to get the car detailed the night before and go show it off. 

One of my favorite cars at the show was this 1930 Ford 5 Window Coupe in a 1959 Pontiac color. The car goes with the Pontiac 389 V8 with 3 deuce card set up. I talked to the owner, Joe, for a few minutes, talking cars and asking about the car. He said he built it with his dad who ha since passed away. He finished it about 5 years ago and said he's probably only into it about $6-7k. He had been collecting parts for years. It's an original Ford steel frame from 1930. I love the "traditional hot rod" style this was built in. Traditional means loosely that the car looks like it could have been built in the 40's - 50's using OEM parts from various manufacturers. This is my favorite style of hot rod and it would be so fun to build something like this in the future.

On the other end of the spectrum from that sweet 1930 Ford Coupe is this 2001 Honda S2000 owned by my friend Daniel. I met Daniel a few years ago when I had the 1999 red Honda Hatchback. Daniel had the silver EK Hatchback with Enkei RPF1 wheels. Anyway, that car got wrecked and luckily Daniel and his wife were not too seriously injured. Daniel decided to get something he really wanted instead of starting with another base trim economy car like the Civic. He found this 2001 AP1 Honda S2000 locally in Utah and then started to add his touches to it. The Front lip, side spats and trunk spoiler are Honda OEM parts, along with a cool Spoon inspired hardtop. The wheels are 17x8 front and 17x9 rear Regamaster EVO wheels with 225 and 255 wide sticky tires. It looks great!

Rear view of the S2000. I took this pic because just look at that really nice wheel and tire fitment. 

Check out who else came! Yep, Max, my neighbor who bought my 2002 WRX, brought it out to the Car Show too. I texted probably 8 of my neighbors who are into cars to come show off their cars. It's interesting to me to see the difference in the silver colors of the WRX and the Mustang. 

Here's a great photo of OLD CROW going for a canyon/mountain/touge run 2 weekends ago. I got up early and took the Mustang up to East Canyon Park Reservoir (the lake you see in the background here) and then up to the top of the mountain and back down into Salt Lake passing Little Dell Reservoir. It was a great drive up, the car handled great and the news were beautiful. I probably should have turned around at the top and gone back down the back side, because going down the mountain from the Salt Lake side meant waiting behind bicyclists for miles. Those guys and gals are crazy!!! It's very impressive that they are cycling up that mountain. I didn't see another cool car on the drive, so I think the cyclists have claimed this hill for now. 

OLD CROW 3V Mustang: Autox event!

 So far I've put about 500 miles on OLD CROW since modifying every aspect of the car. I haven't really been able to explore the limits of the car until I took it to UMC (Utah Motorsports Campus) for an Autox event with the Utah SCCA.

Thanks to Josh Tenny and Madison Caldron who photographed the event and shared their photos on the Utah SCCA Facebook page! Thank you!!!

I think these first 2 pics are my favorite. The rear of the car just looks great with spoiler and blacked out rear panel and the wide wheels and tires. This corner here is a sharp, more than 90 degree turn after downshifting back into 1st. The car is very flat as you can see! What a compliment to all the suspension modifications that Maximum Motorsports, Kenny Brown Performance and Cortex Racing provide. 

I will say, the Continental ECF tire, while its a 200 treadwear track/street tire, is really not optimal for autox. It doesn't heat up as fast as the other tires like the Falken RT660 or the Bridgestone RE-71RS, which is what most people were running. The Conti ECF is more a track day tire that is consistent over many laps more than sticky in the short term.

The cone worker running back to his station probably means I hit a cone! haha I believe I only hit one cone all day between the 7 runs I got.

Here's some side shots. Yep, I put the #8 on the passenger side upside down. It was cold (like 40F) and windy in the morning when I was applying the decals and spaced it. I didn't know it wasn't symmetrical and just got lucky on the Driver's side haha

Here's a cool shot and evidence of why I DNF'd 3 of the 4 DNFs. I totally went outside the west gate, 3 times in a row! So frustrating. Need more Driver Mod! The front view of the S197 05-09 is one of the best and most Mustang-looking views!

There was a East Loop Track Day Event going on, you can see some of the cars out there, including a cool C2 (?) Vette with dual carbs sticking out of the hood.

There goes that cone worker tipping my cone back over and radio'ing in "CAM-C 8 +1" hahahaha

So, here's my takeaways from the first autox event. The car did great! It handles and brakes very well! It looks great! It's totally fast enough, no need for more power right now! Body roll is very controlled! And I need to learn how to push harder and learn how to memorize and lock in my brain the course. I DNF'd 4 out of the 7 runs. I ended up 13 out of 14 in CAM-C. One of my DNFs was a 41.xx second run which would have moved me up like 3 spots or so in the order. Thank you to Meredith, driver of a 2013 Civic Si in H Street class who noticed I was DNF'ing a lot and walked over and asked if I wanted her to ride passenger and help point out the course. She helped me run a clean run on my final run and also my fastest run! That really helped me drive home not SUPER frustrated, just mildly frustrated. 

When my friend Dean and I walked up to the top of the Grandstand that overlooks the Big Track to the south or out the back it overlooks the autox lot, we watched other cars during our break, and it looked so simple from up above. It's more difficult when you're on a flat course and all you see is a sea of cones! haha I know with more experience, I'd be able to learn the course quicker. I should have gone on more rides to observe other drivers. I did ride with Kyle who drives a 2023 Civic Type-R, totally stock but with a set of 275/30/19 Falken RT660 tires and wow, he ran a 37.xx second run with me, which was like 5 seconds faster than my best run. What I noticed was how hard he was able to push his car. It was very noticable. Kyle also has probably 10+ years of autox experience in a few different cars.

It was a fun time and I do want to go back. It also made me want to do a track day event where the complexity of learning to navigate a sea of cones is less an issue and there is more time to be smooth and flow with the track. Autox is just so much easier on the car and on the wallet. 

OLD CROW 3V Mustang: Pypes X Pipe, MGW Short shifter and Billetworkz Shift Knob

 Ok, a few more mods to share. Last Friday I installed the Pypes after cat X pipe. This is a $190 piece that actually replaces the back half of the OEM cat pipe. It essentially replaces the H section with an X section. It's the same 2.5" diameter piping but has a better flowing X pipe connection which takes advantage of the exhaust pulses for improved flow. 

Measure twice, or 6 times and cut once. The marker lines were to tell me where the new X pipe will meet up with the cat pipe (the right line) and the other mark is where I was intending to cut the stock pipe. I gave myself 2" and really wanted some good overlap. This was the first pipe I cut. I missed the mark more than I wanted to. I blame the tight quarters under the car while trying to have a solid grip on the sawzall. haha

Here's the post cut comparison. The Pypes X pipe came with these exhaust hangers. I don't know what for as the stock car doesn't have anything to hang it to. I guess you could add hangers to the car somehow. These hangers are right near the transmission support bracket. 

Here's the X pipe installed and clamped in. LMR.com forgot to include a clamp with my SVE axle back mufflers. I told them about it and they shipped me 2 new clamps. That worked out well because the clamps that came with the Pypes X pipe were not very good at all. I didn't even try and use them. 

The MGW shifter arrived on Saturday while I was at 4 baseball games! LOL I was able to install it tonight (the following Monday). Here is a comparison of the OEM shifter vs the MGW Shifter for the 2005-10 Mustang GT.

First up was to remove the center console and gain access to the shifter boot and sound deadening material.

There were a few pain in the butt moments on this install. The biggest tip is to follow MGW's instruction to lower the transmission support bracket about an inch or so. If you don't do that step, I don't know how you remove or re-install the shifter unit. It's a tight fit in there and the shifter is an odd shape. 

I think the entire install took about 3 hours, including jacking up the car and putting everything away. Here's a picture of the front support bolt. This took some time but fairly simple step. Getting the bolt started with the tight squeeze for my hand took a few attempts.

Here's a view of the MGW shifter before I lowered the trans bracket. It was not going. I had to go under the car so I could better see how to maneuver it through the hole. 

Here's a view of the rear bracket and alignment pins. You can see the blue bracket has slots in the mounting holes. When I was inside the car, the shifter was wanting to sit toward the driver side more and I felt like it was going to be tight so I moved the shifter to the passenger side all the way. You can see the slot peeking through as I pushed the bracket/shifter to the one side for more clearance.

Once the shifter was all bolted in underneath, I moved back into the interior to reassemble the finishing touches. Here's the important boot which seals off the gaping hole in the trans tunnel. The earlier models don't have a sound deadening piece so MGW provides some dynamat and a NVH pad. Mine, being a 2008, did have the OEM sound deadening piece and I also installed the pad but not the dynamat. 

The finishing touch was the matt black "lightbulb" shaped Billetworkz shift knob and gloss black boot retainer. The instructions say to flip the shifter boot around 180 degrees since the shifter locates the shift knob further back than stock apparently.

I think it looks really sharp!

I put all the tools away and went for a test drive. The first time I went to shift into 2nd gear, I put it in 4th. The shifter is tighter and takes more effort to select the gears. It feels solid and the weighted knob feels good in the hand. I adjusted the throw about 5 turns out of the max of 10 turns allowed. If you put the shifter at its longest, its about 15% shorter than stock. So, its probably about 40-50% shorter than stock. 

I leave you with this photo at the parking lot at Viewmont High School from Saturday where I watched Josh play baseball. I can't help myself from taking pictures every time I get out of the car! It looks killer! I am loving the car! I have modified every aspect of the car so far, Interior, Exterior, Suspension, Wheels/tires, brakes and engine. It's been a very satisfying process! That's it for now! I need to find an autox event to sign up for!

OLD CROW 3V Mustang: JLT V3 CAI + SCT BDX Brenspeed customer 91oct Tune

 The fun continues! A week or 2 after getting the suspension installed, I ordered up the next round of parts for the Old Crow 3V Mustang Project!

Brenspeed is known for being one of the top 3V Mustang tuners and aftermarket providers. I ordered up their Intake + Tuner Combo kit. They have a few options and I chose to go for their most affordable set up, which includes the JLT Performance V3 Cold Air Kit and the SCT BDX programmer device. The out the door and shipped cost was $807 for the kit. After ordering, they send you an email and request some details about your car. I sent them all my mods along with rear gear ratio and tire diameter. 

If you didn't know, the 3V 4.6L Mustang GT absolutely requires a tune if you install a cold air kit on it. There are all kinds of warnings in the paperwork that came with the intake to ensure a tune is uploaded before running it. 

Here's a pic of the JLT intake installed along with some in-process pictures of the tune upload.

The intake install was fairly straight forward. The hardest part was mounting the heat shield bolt between the radiator and fan shroud. The PCV hose was easy as well. I took my time getting the intake mounted to the throttle body right. I wanted to make sure the seal was done well so there were no air leaks and so it won't move or fall off over time. Because the intake tube is plastic, the instructions said to not over tighten the clamps. The heat shield fits snug against the hood when you close the hood. I'll keep an eye on it over time to see if its wearing the underside of the hood at all. The overall look of the engine bay is much improved by installing the intake compared to the clunky and dirty/grungy stock airbox. I need to get those valve covers painted at some point in a nice bright Ford Blue!

So, I was a little nervous about the upload process. The instructions weren't actually very helpful. SCT provides a fold out map like page and it talks about like 6 different general processes. But, I followed the screen and clicked through and turned the key on and off when it told me and SUCCESS!!! Brent did instruct me to have a charger going on the car battery just in case. He said if the car battery doesn't have enough power during the upload and if something happens mid upload, you could brick the ECU or at least, put yourself in a difficult situation LOL. So I borrowed Corey's battery charge (again!) and the upload completed with no issues.

I went for a quick test drive when I finished at like 10pm. I could feel the car was snappier and more responsive and that it definitely had more power. The intake noise when you do a quick down shift blip or really dig into the throttle gives a sucking/whooshing sound now that wasn't there before.

So, here's the parts I bought, in addition to the Intake and tuner. I ordered up the LMR.com SVE branded axle back exhaust and the Pypes after cat X-pipe. This x pipe is clamped into place behind the factory cats. You have to cut the pipes behind the cats and clamp the x pipe on and connect it to the rest of the catback piping. So, its a hopped up version of the factory 2.5" exhaust system. 

I also picked up the MGW short shifter. It is supposed to arrive on Saturday. The shifter has adjustable throw. I've matched that up with a Billetworkz matte black weight shift knob in the "lightbulb" shape (Brent really wanted me to do the sphere shape but I felt it was too bulky). I also ordered the boot retainer piece, which comes in gloss black to help it look factory with the shift boot held in the proper position. It did cost $30 but hey, there's some showcar boi in me too! haha

Here's some pics of the SVE axle back mufflers from LMR.com. Here's a comparison of the 16 year old OEM mufflers. The SVE mufflers save 7 lbs each side. So far, the parts I've added have lost some weight overall. I need to find the weight of the GT500 arms because they are heavier than the OEM GT arms, but besides that, I've removed 60 lbs from the car but then added back in 8lbs of heavier wheel/tire combo (2lbs per corner).

I love the look of the new SVE mufflers. More aggressive, sporty look with the 4" tips and a nice shiny polished SS. 

You can see from these under car pictures that the smaller size of the mufflers give you more room underneath to work. 

While I was under the car, I took the time to wipe down with a soapy wash rag the underside. 

I also picked up this 8" short antenna. It only cost $15 and I think improves the look more than you'd think. That big tall antenna screamed 80's!

OLD CROW 3V Mustang: Suspension and Brake Upgrade and Test Drive!

 What a transformation!!! I'm so excited to share pictures of Old Crow all finished up! First, a beauty shot!

The car looks killerrrrrr!!!!! I just love it! It's exactly what I was hoping for and what I imagined in my head it could look like! The Vapor Silver is contrasted by the Gloss Graphite SVE R357 wheels and Gloss Black Front NuGeon (Brembo replacement calipers from Rockauto.com) 4 piston calipers with the 14" steel blank rotors (also from Rockauto). The brakes were fitted with PowerStop stainless steel brake lines which have a nice teflon outer layer that is a cool red textured color filled with Dot4 fluid and PowerStop "Track Day" pads up front. All of the brake parts were purchased from Rockauto.com, or as I like to call it, "Rockauto Speed Shop"! Ok, I'm getting ahead of ourselves...

Let's start by showing where we started with the front suspension.

So, we started with a 16 year old (2008) totally stock OEM front suspension and brake set up with 131,700 miles. The stock GT brakes are 2 piston calipers with 12.5" diameter rotors. 

Day #1 of the front end project was Wednesday March 6. We put in about 3 hours of work and we were able to essentially remove everything from both sides of the front end, including the front sway bar.

Day #2 was Thursday and again another 3 hours. We installed all the suspension, which included assembling the Koni single adjustable shocks to the Maximum Motorsports lowering springs from their "Road and Track Grip" kit to their MM caster/camber plates. We set the camber to the most negative setting that the OEM top strut opening would allow which ended being about -2.1 degrees. Caster was set towards the rear of the opening as far as we could go without affecting camber. We also installed the Eibach 36mm front sway bar with polyurethane bushings and GT500 lower control arms with poly bushing and upgraded (larger diameter) ball joint. 

Day #3 was Friday and we spent 4 hours installing new Ford Performance front hubs with ARP extended studs (which Corey painted with some black etching primer for rust protection during his lunch break), the full brake set up from Rockauto that I noted above in the intro. We installed the front SVE R357 wheels and Continental ECF tires for the first time and stood back and enjoyed the new view! To fit the 19x11 +50mm wheels upfront, I use a 19mm Cortex Racing black anodized wheel spacer. We then flushed/bled the brake system with the Dot4 fluid. We did a quick tape measure front toe alignment set at 0. 

Here are some great shots of the finished set up from behind the action and from the outside view. We set the bump steer kit so that the steering rod was parallel with the control arm. 

Here's the outside view of the set up. I do have to point out that the yellow and red parts go with the theme of P-51D "Old Crow" which had a yellow/red checkered nose livery. Perfect! I do have the idea to paint some lettering on the calipers that says "OLD CROW" but in "BREMBO" font, which you can download off the internet by the way. Future project haha

Here we are in the middle of bleeding brakes. Corey was in the car pushing the brake pedal, while I opened and closed the brake bleeder nut to allow brake fluid to empty into the collection baggy. 

Here was the first few minutes after we got the car all put together and on the ground. Corey's 2 post lift was incredibly valuable during the 4 day project. We had the car up and down many times, especially when dialing in the alignment.

Day #4 was on Saturday and we put another 2 hours in. In total we put in 12 hours each, or about 24 total hours between the 4 days. Corey and his brother bought a string alignment set up as Corey's brother is building a 1992 Chevy Camaro resto-mod and are doing much of the work themselves. While I was enjoying baseball games on Saturday, Corey was setting up the string equipment. Before doing the final alignment, stickaxlegang guru Ashley (Tribar Racing social media handle) pointed out to me that the passenger side flag bolt for the panhard bar was on the wrong side. After measuring, we need to move the rear end like 2-3mm toward the passenger side. So, we unbolted the panahard bar, moved it just a little. It needed one more round of adjustment and we had it centered up at ride height perfectly, within probably 1/2 a mm or less. It was almost perfect. We torqued up the mounting bolt, on the correct side this time and moved on to the front alignment.

The most tedious and time consuming part of the string alignment set up is getting the strings centered and level all around the car. Then you take measurements at the front and rear of the front wheels to check toe. We went through multiple iterations, lifting the car up and making minor toe adjustments. We got the toe to be right at 0, within less than 1/2 a mm or less. 

We went for a quick test drive and it drove straight and smooth. There was no rubbing at full lock (I'm really not low enough to be rubbing). The clearance between the inside of the wheels and the struts is very small, maybe 5-10mm or so. 

After confirming no weird noises or vibrations, we did some brake pad bedding. I should have taken a picture of the wheels after I got home. They were VERY dusty haha. The car stops great and the pedal feel was very solid. 

This morning, I couldn't help myself and went out for some beauty shots and a quick drive to Kaysville on the new highway. I felt like I was Lightning McQueen in the "Cars" movie driving on the brand new smooth road in my fully rebuilt Mustang. 

I'm just so happy with the results. The car looks incredible! The driving so far is proving to be very flat and the steering feels very sharp and responsive to inputs. It's going to be a blast at autox and track days! 

I'll wrap this post up with this Before and After. Or as the kids like to say "How it started...How it's going..." 

The difference is night and day visually and performance wise. The S197 Mustang was the last solid rear axle version of the car. After being the same basic suspension design from 1964.5 through 2014, I consider the S197 platform the "Modern Trans Am" Mustang. It has the same look and feel as the 67-70 Mustang Fastbacks but with modern improvements, such as: overhead cam/electronic fuel injected/variable valve timing V8 power and efficiency with a 5 speed (or 6 speed) overdrive transmission, bigger 4 wheel disc brakes (with ABS) and the modern crash safety structure (which improves chassis rigidity and thus handling). I think the 2005-09 Mustang was the best rendition of the late model Mustangs achieving that Retro-Futurism look. They nailed it! 

Stay tuned, because there's more to come. I have the "Hechtspeed Aero" front canards to install. I need to order up the next round of parts, which include Brenspeed JLT V3 Intake and SCT BDX tuner (about $780 total) along with an SVE axle back exhaust (about $300). I need to replace the 3ft long radio antenna with a short stubby version ($20). I want to do an MGW short shifter as well. Then down the road, I'm contemplating a Corbeau bucket seat. That means I'll have to ditch the heated leather seats. It will certainly help me take advantage of the improved grip and handling, but I'll lose the luxury haha.

Future future upgrades will include some kind of front splitter, heat extractor vents in the hood (need to decide if I want to keep the faux hood scoop or not). 1 piece aluminum driveshaft, maybe 3.73 gears (and paint the surface rusted rear axle and maybe get a nice aluminum diff cover). 

I still need to paint the replacement passenger fender and rear bumper I got as well. Corey and I will do that in his garage during warmer months (and after baseball season).