[ST1LE]

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

I haven't read all the verbiage from Ford, but calling a trim level "Carbon fiber track pack", and then clarifying it's not warrantied for track use is false advertising. I can understand not warrantying for competition use (they can't warranty an actual race car), but not for an amateur track event that is strictly for fun? Lame.

I think that is putting it nicely. IMO, this is a HUGE red flag, as is their insane increase in warranty costs. Does not inspire confidence for anyone considering buying one of these very expensive Mustangs.

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

Originally Posted by RobbyBeefcake87

Yea it's a pretty highly modified gt500, at the time it was the only cammed gt500. I know Lund has claimed how strong the gt500 block is, so I doubt it'll be a super common issue but obviously every time you have a car making close to 1000rwhp you're playing with fire.

I think its legit, in his video from yesterday they showed the lower parts of the engine and it was covered in oil and the mechanic gave him chunks of the block. Plus Stangmode is a huge Ford guy and I doubt he would intentionally do anything that would harm their image. The 18 Gt's tranny just went again and now this, doubt he would get any more special press invites from Ford if he was staging stuff like this.

You're probably right that it may not have been staged because of the reasons you mention, however, I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to click baity Youtubers; they could easily have picked up any old cast scrap metal and filmed it being put in his hands.

Also - I wonder why the supercharged GT350 he was attempting to race DIDN'T race at all. She didn't go. It just seems sort of convenient that the person filming in that car "happened" to get the GT500 smoking out the rear. I don't believe in coincidences, and I don't take anything at face value from these Youtubers.

[ST1LE]

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

You're probably right that it may not have been staged because of the reasons you mention, however, I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to click baity Youtubers; they could easily have picked up any old cast scrap metal and filmed it being put in his hands.

Also - I wonder why the supercharged GT350 he was attempting to race DIDN'T race at all. She didn't go. It just seems sort of convenient that the person filming in that car "happened" to get the GT500 smoking out the rear. I don't believe in coincidences, and I don't take anything at face value from these Youtubers.

Agreed. Very little credibility.

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

Well, on a GT in purely highway driving, the tank size is fine. It's once when you get in town that you might get in trouble. On a GT350 and GT500, however, it definitely becomes an issue as their highway mileage isn't nearly as good.

Again, no one drives to 100% empty, so realistically I think you would get 350 miles on highways before fueling. On a track, you probably also don't want to go too low on gas as fuel starvation can happen as it sloshes around when it gets too low and lean spikes are deadly, especially on an engine with forced induction. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with the needle below 1/8 of a tank on a track. 1/4 would get my attention already.

As for the weight reduction argument, can't say I agree with that. These pony cars are already a little front heavy and so a little fuel in the back is a good thing. And 50 pounds, which is how much half a tank weighs on a Mustang, isn't all that much in a car of that kind of power, and it's not to mention that's sprung mass. I don't even believe fuel weight played much role in acceleration in my RX-8, which is a lighter car(so the fuel amount would have much relative impact on the weight) with a slightly bigger tank(about 5 litre/1.3 gallon more) on the Mustang, and that thing has a lot less power and torque compared to the V8 ponies.

Sent from toaster or something

A late follow up to this post...these are all good points but I believe in the little things adding up. 50 lbs by itself isn't that significant (it is worth approx. 6 hp assuming 8 lbs/hp). But regarding weight savings: I've also done some weight reduction in the form of lighter flow formed wheels (saves 36 lbs total), Borla catback exhaust (saves 19 lbs), removed engine cover (4.5 lbs), aluminum Ford performance GT350R strut tower brace replacing the steel GT PP1 brace (saves ~3 lbs), and several other smaller 1-2 lbs items to total 70 lbs; half from front, half from rear. And, ~10 lbs is removed from above the engine head level: strut tower brace, engine cover, sound tube, lightweight water pump pulley (maybe slightly below the heads centerline, +/-). I can also remove the rear seat lower pad in about a minute if I really want to and save another 12 lbs (obviously not if I have a passenger back there). In total, 50 lbs of fuel weight saved + 70 (or 82 lbs) of other weight reduction is 120-132 lbs lighter than a factory curb weight (since they report weight w/ full tank of fuel - as does the magazines). Compared to a full weight car w/ a full or nearly full tank of gas, that's equivalent to adding ~15-16 hp to the car (assuming ~8 lbs/hp) for acceleration. However, I don't factor in fuel level in weight reduction when claiming how much I've reduced because any car on any given day could be at 1/4 tank of fuel. I know it's a lot of minute items, but enough of those things start to add up.

Regarding balance - I almost always have a kid in the back seat when I go on a drive through the mountains or twisty back roads, so the balance is completely fine, esp. considering of my nearly 200 lbs, ~60-65% of it is over the rear tires (looking at where my center of mass is located between the front and rear wheels based on my seat position).

I'll probably go a little further with the lightening in the future (as wear items need to be replaced) and possibly go with an antigravity battery (only weighs 6 lbs, but more research is needed on that), and potentially lightweight two piece front rotors. Practically all of that weight will be removed from the front axles (maybe 2 pounds from the rear considering the battery sits about 1.5 feet or so behind the front axles). Also looking into DSS aluminum 1-piece driveshafts (saves 9 lbs over the stock A10 drivshaft)... These are all only potentials at this point as more research is needed.

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by shaffe

Seems like the S197 tank was also 16 gallons, so probably just didn't have any more room to put a bigger tank since the S550 is from what I a reworked S197.

The S550 was supposed to be a completely different platform. Hence the term "S550" as opposed to "S197". Going back, there were small changes from the Fox to the SN-95 to the New Edge. They all were on the Fox4 platform even tho the New Edge looked much different...it was just an upgraded version with a completely reworked body. The S197 was not on the Fox4 platform. And from what I remember the S550 is not the same platform as the S197. I could be wrong. Point is, they tank from the S197 should not have carried over. Maybe Ford was just lazy or maybe they completely overlooked it. WHo knows at this point.

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

I would think all these modern factory supercharged engines are pretty strong, but I don't think any manufacturer purposely builds their ~600-700 rwhp engines to contain 1000+ rwhp for permanent, hard repeated use. They can probably handle it for a while, but as a case study: look at what Dodge did for the Redeye version of the Hellcat: Dodge beefed up all of the engine internals just to go from 707 hp to 797 crank hp. Now imagine going up by 300 rwhp how much stronger the internals would need to be to handle that power reliably, in the long term. That's 350 crank hp with no internal changes! Obviously, the stock internals would not be strong enough long term, otherwise, engineers wouldn't have the need to beef up the Hellcat just to go up a "measly" 90 crank hp for the Redeye.

A lot of that is also to justify the cost or to make people feel like they're getting more and so they'll be willing to pay more. Remember, the RE was in the $90K range vs low $70K for the HC. So how do you get people to pay more? Tell them it has stronger internals, larger displacement blower, etc. I doubt they did that because they felt they had to.

And trust me, the HC and ZL1 engines both can handle 1000 RWHP easily. In fact, the HC can get there on the stock blower, stock cam, stock heads. The ZL1 needs an upgraded blower, cam swap, and ported heads. But both are pretty safe at those numbers. There were plenty of the HCs out there making those numbers even before I got mine 3 years ago. And several ZL1s are in that range as well before I got mine. I feel completely comfortable modding both of my cars into the quadruple digits and will probably have it done before the end of next year. If the GT500s are having issues at that level then that will be a severe disadvantage.

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

Can these blocks and internals handle high hp? For a while, but really at that power level it's only a matter of time before something bad happens.

Again, not necessarily with the LT4 and HC engines. They are pretty stable at 1000 RWHP.

Originally Posted by Idaho2018GTPremium

Yeah, his GT500 has a ported blower and TB, LTs, intake, cams, E85, etc. I don't recall what he did with the fuel system. Stangmode has followers on YT, but not enough to make him rich off his views IMO. Maybe he's trying to take it to the next level with this. He may have enough views to fund some of his high hp desires, though. Certainly not enough to replace the GT500 long block on his dime without it hurting a bit. Another theory I just thought of is maybe he already had a built short block ready to go and is using this stunt to get more clicks.

You'd be surprised at how much some of these YTers make. I saw a video of one such fella who simply plays a stupid kid's video game on YT and talks and this dude has a 10 million dollar house or some shit. I would not be surprised if by now SM is making a pretty decent penny. Enough to cover a blown block. Gotta figure there are lots of endorsements and such out there. It could even be completely sponsored by Ford since he has such a strong following.

Even if he didn't intentionally grenade it there still might be some staged nonsense going on to keep his viewers attached. This might be him jumping the shark. You never know with these guys. Maybe it might even be enough to get people sending him donations on GFM.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

The S550 was supposed to be a completely different platform. Hence the term "S550" as opposed to "S197". Going back, there were small changes from the Fox to the SN-95 to the New Edge. They all were on the Fox4 platform even tho the New Edge looked much different...it was just an upgraded version with a completely reworked body. The S197 was not on the Fox4 platform. And from what I remember the S550 is not the same platform as the S197. I could be wrong. Point is, they tank from the S197 should not have carried over. Maybe Ford was just lazy or maybe they completely overlooked it. WHo knows at this point.

Actually, S197, S550, and S650 are Program Codes. They all were / are / will be built on the same D2C Platform. Just like A1BC (Camaro) A1SL (ATS) and A1LL (CTS) are Program Codes for vehicles built on Alpha Platform. Platforms are basic architectural elements and they tend to get modified once or twice over their lifecycle. Programs are specific runs / generations of vehicles. Typically there are multiple Programs on any one Platform. T1XCF (Silverado), T1UCF (Tahoe), T1ULF (Escalade SWB), and T1YGF (Yukon XL) are Program Codes all built of GM T1 Platform.

At one point in time, Ford was going to build S550 on a different platform but changed their mind. They got even closer to doing S650 off of a modified CD6 (Explorer / Aviator) platform, but again changed their mind.

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Actually, S197, S550, and S650 are Program Codes. They all were / are / will be built on the same D2C Platform. Just like A1BC (Camaro) A1SL (ATS) and A1LL (CTS) are Program Codes for vehicles built on Alpha Platform. Platforms are basic architectural elements and they tend to get modified once or twice over their lifecycle. Programs are specific runs / generations of vehicles. Typically there are multiple Programs on any one Platform. T1XCF (Silverado), T1UCF (Tahoe), T1ULF (Escalade SWB), and T1YGF (Yukon XL) are Program Codes all built of GM T1 Platform.

At one point in time, Ford was going to build S550 on a different platform but changed their mind. They got even closer to doing S650 off of a modified CD6 (Explorer / Aviator) platform, but again changed their mind.

All that and at no point in 10 years did they think they might need to upgrade the fuel tank.

[lt4camaro]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

The S550 was supposed to be a completely different platform. Hence the term "S550" as opposed to "S197". Going back, there were small changes from the Fox to the SN-95 to the New Edge. They all were on the Fox4 platform even tho the New Edge looked much different...it was just an upgraded version with a completely reworked body. The S197 was not on the Fox4 platform. And from what I remember the S550 is not the same platform as the S197. I could be wrong. Point is, they tank from the S197 should not have carried over. Maybe Ford was just lazy or maybe they completely overlooked it. WHo knows at this point.

A lot of that is also to justify the cost or to make people feel like they're getting more and so they'll be willing to pay more. Remember, the RE was in the $90K range vs low $70K for the HC. So how do you get people to pay more? Tell them it has stronger internals, larger displacement blower, etc. I doubt they did that because they felt they had to.

And trust me, the HC and ZL1 engines both can handle 1000 RWHP easily. In fact, the HC can get there on the stock blower, stock cam, stock heads. The ZL1 needs an upgraded blower, cam swap, and ported heads. But both are pretty safe at those numbers. There were plenty of the HCs out there making those numbers even before I got mine 3 years ago. And several ZL1s are in that range as well before I got mine. I feel completely comfortable modding both of my cars into the quadruple digits and will probably have it done before the end of next year. If the GT500s are having issues at that level then that will be a severe disadvantage.


Again, not necessarily with the LT4 and HC engines. They are pretty stable at 1000 RWHP.



You'd be surprised at how much some of these YTers make. I saw a video of one such fella who simply plays a stupid kid's video game on YT and talks and this dude has a 10 million dollar house or some shit. I would not be surprised if by now SM is making a pretty decent penny. Enough to cover a blown block. Gotta figure there are lots of endorsements and such out there. It could even be completely sponsored by Ford since he has such a strong following.

Even if he didn't intentionally grenade it there still might be some staged nonsense going on to keep his viewers attached. This might be him jumping the shark. You never know with these guys. Maybe it might even be enough to get people sending him donations on GFM.

Stangmode is a snake imo, he has the salesman, conman BS, does everything to get more clicks. I have watched many of his roll races and 1/4 mile races, he picks only the targets he can outdrive and beat. He underates his power constantly and never tells you all of what he does for mods. I havent watched his stuff for months now and never subscribed or liked. Am kind of glad his precious 100k 2020 GT500 blew up. A decent person I would feel bad for.

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by lt4camaro

Stangmode is a snake imo, he has the salesman, conman BS, does everything to get more clicks. I have watched many of his roll races and 1/4 mile races, he picks only the targets he can outdrive and beat. He underates his power constantly and never tells you all of what he does for mods. I havent watched his stuff for months now and never subscribed or liked. Am kind of glad his precious 100k 2020 GT500 blew up. A decent person I would feel bad for.

These people do things under the guise of "entertainment" so that they won't be labeled as liars or whatever. Like when SP made an entire video straight up lying about the MSRP of the GT500. He never owned up to it. He simply removed the video. I guess he figures at some point it'll be forgotten. Or like when Stangmode claimed he and his wife lost their jobs and put his car up for sale. Again, manipulating people and exploiting a terrible situation. Meanwhile people actually have lost their jobs, lost their cars, had to get rid of their precious belongings just to put food on the table for their families...and many have died. Yet here he is using this as a show to get clicks and even more money. It is shameful to say the least. I wouldn't say I'm glad to see his GT500 blow up because it's just something he'll profit off of. He'll use it to get more likes and clicks and sponsors and probably even get sympathy money from his fans. Or, again, he did it on purpose for that specific reason...or it didn't blow up and he staged it all for his benefit without any risk.

Anyway, the GT500 is riddled with issues it seems. I doubt I would get one and feel completely 100% comfortable modding it. And not just that but the quality issues and the issues with how it is coming off the assembly line...it's almost like Ford put no pride into this car. It is just a 760 HP supercharged up-badged Mustang that people are paying a lot of money for. I can't see myself getting a car that would have to stay stock in order to be completely reliable. Now maybe it'll be fine with just LTs, intake, a pulley, and tune. I'm waiting to see if anyone is doing simple mods like that and what results they can get from it. But it is still very risky considering the cost of potential repairs.

[BlaqWhole]

And not to be outdone, SP somehow manages to destroy a CF rim thru methods unknown as I did not watch the video. I swear these guys are clowns. I'm just glad they're doing this in Mustang world and making them look bad instead of us. Again, I think it is staged. He probably intentionally rammed a curb or dropped the rim off a roof or something. It's a shame that this is the kind of content that gets people rich and famous these days.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

And not to be outdone, SP somehow manages to destroy a CF rim thru methods unknown as I did not watch the video. I swear these guys are clowns. I'm just glad they're doing this in Mustang world and making them look bad instead of us. Again, I think it is staged. He probably intentionally rammed a curb or dropped the rim off a roof or something. It's a shame that this is the kind of content that gets people rich and famous these days.

Just for the sake of accuracy, it wasn’t his car and he didn’t destroy it. It was someone he knows but did not identify. The car was a lime green GT500. His was blue with white stripes. He simply filmed and reported on the aftermath. It actually was pretty interesting to see what happened when the wheel failed hard. The front face and the spokes looked absolutely fine. The barrel looked like a grenade went off in there.

[NW-99SS]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Just for the sake of accuracy, it wasn’t his car and he didn’t destroy it. It was someone he knows but did not identify. The car was a lime green GT500. His was blue with white stripes. He simply filmed and reported on the aftermath. It actually was pretty interesting to see what happened when the wheel failed hard. The front face and the spokes looked absolutely fine. The barrel looked like a grenade went off in there.

This makes perfect sense as the most strength of any wheel is at the spokes/face. It's the barrels that have no support and are weakest. What I want to know is what the tire pressure was, and what the wheel contacted on the road - debris/pothole etc. Koenigsegg has had CF wheels much longer than Ford and I have never heard of a failure from theirs.

[RobbyBeefcake87]

Originally Posted by lt4camaro

Stangmode is a snake imo, he has the salesman, conman BS, does everything to get more clicks. I have watched many of his roll races and 1/4 mile races, he picks only the targets he can outdrive and beat. He underates his power constantly and never tells you all of what he does for mods. I havent watched his stuff for months now and never subscribed or liked. Am kind of glad his precious 100k 2020 GT500 blew up. A decent person I would feel bad for.

100%, right now he's probably using this to get some sympathy merch sales out of it. He always underrates his stuff and claims the races are close/hard to call when he's losing, and if he barely wins he celebrates and gloats.

The worst is when he claims xyz car is almost stock/lightly modded, citing after market wheels or tires as a mod, then claimed his gt500 with a cai, secondary cat delete mid pipes, and a tire as bone stock lol. Guts the car and fails to mention it as well.

He's probably a nice guy, but his excuse making Ford nuthugger "on screen" persona gets annoying. I get being a brand loyalist, but the other big Youtubers with an obvious brand bias expand their horizons to keep things interesting, StangMode seems like he's sponsored by Ford or something.

[lt4camaro]

Originally Posted by RobbyBeefcake87

100%, right now he's probably using this to get some sympathy merch sales out of it. He always underrates his stuff and claims the races are close/hard to call when he's losing, and if he barely wins he celebrates and gloats.

The worst is when he claims xyz car is almost stock/lightly modded, citing after market wheels or tires as a mod, then claimed his gt500 with a cai, secondary cat delete mid pipes, and a tire as bone stock lol. Guts the car and fails to mention it as well.

He's probably a nice guy, but his excuse making Ford nuthugger "on screen" persona gets annoying. I get being a brand loyalist, but the other big Youtubers with an obvious brand bias expand their horizons to keep things interesting, StangMode seems like he's sponsored by Ford or something.

Amen brother.