Major update!
After three and a half years and something like 11k in mods (thats not counting things that were removed and sold or consumables 😢) I have decided to trade the ST in for a 2019 Mustang GT performance pack.
Here it is in all its glory:
It is equipped with:
I got engaged the Saturday before then got a brand new mustang only a few days later! Those few days were a wild ride for sure.
I've really enjoyed my ST, but it was time for me to move onto a more adept and mature platform. My ST served me well through my first two jobs and first two apartments and I couldn't ask for more from the car. My ST also fully changed my perspective on Ford cars, I used to be a diehard Japanese or European car guy before I had my ST and now I'm ripping around in a American muscle car lol. Couldn't be happier!
This thread will remain for anyone wanting to learn from my mistakes in building my ST, please by all means read through and see where I messed up!
The mustang will remain stock for a good while, I have several large financial obligations on the horizon and I will be leaving the mustang as is and leaning on the 21 months of bumper to bumper warranty remaining on the car to reduce any anxiety associated with part failures. In the very long term I like the idea of a supercharger upgrade, but right now there are very few things that I feel need immediate addressing. For those that aren't aware this car comes equipped with dual injections (that's 16 injectors total!) and a twin disc clutch from the factory. This generation also has the slightly improved MT82-D4 transmission so hopefully it will hold together or explode during warranty lol. Factory shifter feels great, factory tires are nice and fat and always hook up, exhaust tone is amazing and fully adjustable.
This truly is a no-compromises car, and unlike the ST there is nothing that I feel the need to upgrade right away.
Thank you all for your support and comments through the years! Its been amazing to build this car with you all!
Hey all,
Decided to throw together a build thread for my car, for fun and archival purposes. The car is not stock, so the build will pick up with the transmission.
Goal:
Make the car as fast as possible, while not sacrificing drivability, reliability, or drawing extra attention to the car. I want the car to put down big numbers, consistently, and reliably. I don't care too much for exterior or appearance mods. I want this car to hook every time, and be well put together. Not looking at doingwater or ethanol, as E85 is practically rarer than gold near me, and filling a water tank is extra maintenance that I would like to avoid.
This will be a purely street build as its my daily driver. Perhaps in the future I'll do a few track days or similar, but right now the focus is on street driving.
Car is at 30k miles at the beginning of this thread, will update at 50k 100k etc...
power goal (subject to change of course):
380WHP 380TQ
Current dyno results:
347WHP 358TQ
Future mods:
Previous mods (since removed)
Notes/comments:
The best thing I've done to this car so far was taking the plunge on a fully dyno tune from Freektune, Justin is a really good tuner. I was standing next to the dyno while he worked on the car, he answered all of my questions and explained what he was doing. The old tune was very "unrefined" so to speak, felt rough, and unpredictable at times. Justin's tune is buttery smooth and extremely consistent, every pull feels exactly the same. I love it. Knock count is down a lot from the old tune as well.
After a lot of time on the freektune, I decided to make the switch to the Monster Tuned Stage X tune.
3/18/20
Had a pretty bad issue where the car was refusing to run, loping idle when it did run, CEL, and nasty exhaust smell. Pulled codes (P0015 and P0017) and towed it to the dealer, and apparently my exhaust VCT solenoid was stuck. A few manual actuations of the solenoid and some taps from a hammer and the solenoid was freed up and working again. I'll be keeping my eye on this in case it pops up again, I suspect this part will eventually completely fail.
- Follow on to this item, when the car was brought in, I had an oil change done and the car was down almost a quart of oil. A previous oil change was done with the wrong weight oil at the dealer, they had me take the car right back and put the right oil in, however I suspect they used the amount of oil for a regular focus, which may have starved the solenoids for oil and caused this condition.
11/02/21
Car went on the dyno at freektune, thereby finishing the "big turbo" saga for this built. It has been an incredible journey for me. When I first bought this car I had never done anything other than basic maintenance, repair jobs and some suspension work. I had never modified anything before, let alone my daily driver. But now here I am with a big turbo ST. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. The state that the car is in now is how it will stay for a little while, I really want to enjoy the car and have fun with the new setup. Updates will be slower now, but there are a few little things that I still want to do here and there. No more power mods for a little bit but the build isn't dead!
Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way, I seriously couldn't have done it without this forum, if it weren't for this community, I'd be driving a stock car.
After three and a half years and something like 11k in mods (thats not counting things that were removed and sold or consumables 😢) I have decided to trade the ST in for a 2019 Mustang GT performance pack.
Here it is in all its glory:
It is equipped with:
- GT performance pack
- the optional black rims you see in the image
- 6-speed manual
- active exhaust (which I love, I'm stunned that this is a factory option lol)
- B&O stereo upgrade
I got engaged the Saturday before then got a brand new mustang only a few days later! Those few days were a wild ride for sure.
I've really enjoyed my ST, but it was time for me to move onto a more adept and mature platform. My ST served me well through my first two jobs and first two apartments and I couldn't ask for more from the car. My ST also fully changed my perspective on Ford cars, I used to be a diehard Japanese or European car guy before I had my ST and now I'm ripping around in a American muscle car lol. Couldn't be happier!
This thread will remain for anyone wanting to learn from my mistakes in building my ST, please by all means read through and see where I messed up!
The mustang will remain stock for a good while, I have several large financial obligations on the horizon and I will be leaving the mustang as is and leaning on the 21 months of bumper to bumper warranty remaining on the car to reduce any anxiety associated with part failures. In the very long term I like the idea of a supercharger upgrade, but right now there are very few things that I feel need immediate addressing. For those that aren't aware this car comes equipped with dual injections (that's 16 injectors total!) and a twin disc clutch from the factory. This generation also has the slightly improved MT82-D4 transmission so hopefully it will hold together or explode during warranty lol. Factory shifter feels great, factory tires are nice and fat and always hook up, exhaust tone is amazing and fully adjustable.
This truly is a no-compromises car, and unlike the ST there is nothing that I feel the need to upgrade right away.
Thank you all for your support and comments through the years! Its been amazing to build this car with you all!
Hey all,
Decided to throw together a build thread for my car, for fun and archival purposes. The car is not stock, so the build will pick up with the transmission.
Goal:
Make the car as fast as possible, while not sacrificing drivability, reliability, or drawing extra attention to the car. I want the car to put down big numbers, consistently, and reliably. I don't care too much for exterior or appearance mods. I want this car to hook every time, and be well put together. Not looking at doing
This will be a purely street build as its my daily driver. Perhaps in the future I'll do a few track days or similar, but right now the focus is on street driving.
Car is at 30k miles at the beginning of this thread, will update at 50k 100k etc...
power goal (subject to change of course):
380WHP 380TQ
Current dyno results:
347WHP 358TQ
Future mods:
- e20 tune (to hit 400 baybee)
- built motor (rods and pistons)
- XDI HPFP
- 3" turboback
- rear sway bar and endlinks
- WMI
- ATP GTX 2867r Gen 2 turbo kit with custom turbo inlet elbow
- Freektune Dyno Tune
- Cobb 3" DP with GESi cat
- genuine Vibrant J Style non fouler
- Rebel Devil Customs DP bracket
- locally made custom catback exhaust ( 2.5" with one muffler and one res)
- Woosh intercooler
- COBB 3" intake wrinkle black
- Mountune high flow injector upgrade (V1)
- CPE Exhale kit with Tial.
- NGK Ruthenium plugs gapped to .026"
- CPE Rear motor mount
- Focus Electric LED tail lights
- Solid shifter cable bushings
- Solid transmission cable mount bushings
- Solid shifter mount bushings
- Raceng Slammer weighted shift knob, gloss red no markings
- Built transmission from Clarke Transmissions in FL
- Synchrotech carbon lined upgraded synchros
- Wavetrac LSD
- Motul DCTF
- AEM Dryflo filter (closed end)
- Boomba sound symposer delete
- Focus RS stock short throw shifter assembly
- Boomba PCV catch can
- Boomb CCV catch can
- Rally Armor Mudflaps
- Mountune PCV plate
- Redline Goods alcantara shift boot
- Bilstein B8 dampers
- Mountune sport springs
- Focus RS stock wheels w/ pilot sport 4s's
Previous mods (since removed)
- Mountune uprated recirculation valve
- Mountune high flow full intake
- AEM Progressive WMI injection system
- Devils own 370ml/min nozzle
- JBR Throttle body spacer
- JBR 3" intake
- Black anodized aluminum reverse lockout collar
- Ford Performance carbon fiber shift knob
- TB performance torque gusset
- Tinted tail lights
- LED light bar
- Mountune Roll Restrictor
- Freektune 93 octane dyno tune
- Monster Tuned 90+ Adapt-X tune
- Mountune MRX intercooler
- Nick Baldwin's custom DP bracket
- 3" catted CJPP DP
- 2.3L Mustang throttle body
Notes/comments:
The best thing I've done to this car so far was taking the plunge on a fully dyno tune from Freektune, Justin is a really good tuner. I was standing next to the dyno while he worked on the car, he answered all of my questions and explained what he was doing. The old tune was very "unrefined" so to speak, felt rough, and unpredictable at times. Justin's tune is buttery smooth and extremely consistent, every pull feels exactly the same. I love it. Knock count is down a lot from the old tune as well.
After a lot of time on the freektune, I decided to make the switch to the Monster Tuned Stage X tune.
3/18/20
Had a pretty bad issue where the car was refusing to run, loping idle when it did run, CEL, and nasty exhaust smell. Pulled codes (P0015 and P0017) and towed it to the dealer, and apparently my exhaust VCT solenoid was stuck. A few manual actuations of the solenoid and some taps from a hammer and the solenoid was freed up and working again. I'll be keeping my eye on this in case it pops up again, I suspect this part will eventually completely fail.
- Follow on to this item, when the car was brought in, I had an oil change done and the car was down almost a quart of oil. A previous oil change was done with the wrong weight oil at the dealer, they had me take the car right back and put the right oil in, however I suspect they used the amount of oil for a regular focus, which may have starved the solenoids for oil and caused this condition.
11/02/21
Car went on the dyno at freektune, thereby finishing the "big turbo" saga for this built. It has been an incredible journey for me. When I first bought this car I had never done anything other than basic maintenance, repair jobs and some suspension work. I had never modified anything before, let alone my daily driver. But now here I am with a big turbo ST. It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. The state that the car is in now is how it will stay for a little while, I really want to enjoy the car and have fun with the new setup. Updates will be slower now, but there are a few little things that I still want to do here and there. No more power mods for a little bit but the build isn't dead!
Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way, I seriously couldn't have done it without this forum, if it weren't for this community, I'd be driving a stock car.