DFB's Garage

I've been waiting for these videos, S650 Mustang GT let loose on the autobahn.


This is why I love the Mustang! Pure, rich and indulgent sound, and the 10-speed makes full use of the Coyote's rev happy nature. This being a convertible means you have full access to the sound, its sounded amazing in that tunnel.

Not that it makes a difference here, but its a shame the speed limiter calls quits so early, the thing had the legs to go faster.

Also notice how the 10-speed is best left to its own devises when straight line accelerating, the manual mode is too delayed for that.
 
It was the XR6's turn to appear on camera today. I'm still learning here, both in camera location and editing, so excuse the quality.


The main thing I wanted to convey here is the sound of the naturally aspirated 4.0 inline 6. Most videos on YouTube are of modified examples, which are generally louder but not necessarily better sounding. The Ford inline 6 was never designed for high rpm running, it was always about low to mid range grunt. I say this because even though its smooth, she's pretty harsh sounding up top, that raspiness is something I actually like. I also love that tone change as it pauses and then gets back on it for upshifts. You will also note the lack of rev-matching for manual downshifts, something Ford never did on the Falcon despite the ZF gearbox being capable of this feature, Aston Martin DB9's for example. The 6R80 ZF clone, which was made by Ford under license from ZF, manages rev-matching too, so I don't know if it was a limitation of the Falcon platform or just Ford being cheap.
 
The XR6 sounds great, leads me to think most that I see, and hear, around my area are modified, poorly.

The Mustang sounds awesome, of course, if I was driving it with the top down, you'd hear me giggling like an idiot all the way through.
 
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The XR6 sounds great, leads me to think most that I see, and hear, around my area are modified, poorly.

The Mustang sounds awesome, of course, if I was driving it with the top down, you'd hear me giggling like an idiot all the way through.
These cars have been in the hands of young drives for a long time now. I mean at that age, most car guys think more noise is better. And while there is some truth to that, not all noises are good. Cutting holes in the airbox and removing mufflers certainly makes more noise, but it doesn't make a better noise. Doing that to a large capacity 6-cylinder engine like the 3.8 Ecotec and 3.6 Alloytec V6 Holden's, or the SOHC and DOHC 4.0 Falcon's, the result is a lot of drone at all engine speeds. Personally, I'd always leave a 6-cylinder exhaust alone, they are super hard to get right, and most buying these cars now probably can't afford to mess around swapping mufflers and pipes to find that sweet spot.
 
Ok, so I went for a little drive today and wow, Magneride paid for itself today!

Previous to today, my assessment of Magneride centered around how much it improves the ride quality in normal driving conditions. Sure, its still got an edge to it, but its much more refined than what I'm used to.

There is a short, sharp little road that I know of, different to what I have previously described and shown in the above videos. It was clearly designed by someone who likes to drive, the larger sweeping bends are connected to a series of tight lower speed corners that really test the steering response and chassis composure. This sort of road is not normal for this area, I live in a flat valley, winding mounting roads are few and far between.
The first run I did in with my Custom Mode 1, which uses the Normal base drive mode, meaning Normal Dampers, I then have the steering set to Comfort, the DSC on and the auto-stop-start turned off. Oh, and Track exhaust. ;) With the gearbox in manual, I attacked the road and came away impressed, throttle response from this engine is superb, the steering kept up and the brakes brilliant.

I then decided to turn around and do the same run in Track mode. This puts everything to STUN, so the firmest dampers, firmest steering, sharpest throttle response, track exhaust. This does impact the ride, but WOW, the car felt tight and confidence inspiring, basically removing the body movement present in normal mode. This includes when accelerating, braking and cornering. I can't say that my previous Mustang could be described as confidence inspiring, it was more a case of hanging on.

I then went again in the tamer Sport mode, which is generally designed for on-road performance driving. This reverts to the quieter sport exhaust and dials the dampers down a notch to account for typical lumpy public roads. It keeps the heavier sport steering though. Important to note that Sport does not illuminate the DSC-off light on the dash like Track does, which is probably smart. In Sport mode, the car felt impressive, but not as tight as the Track mode damper setting, didn't have the same rev-match punch and the quieter exhaust was certainly noticed.

So, for driving like this, I have gone and made a separate Custom Mode. Track for the base drive mode, mainly for the damper selection, but also for the killer exhaust mode, sharper throttle response, sharper downshift blips. I then disable the stupid auto-stop-start. Ideally, I'd want comfort steering, but that is not changeable in this mode.

Take aways? Magneride rocks! If you are on the fence, just get order it. It has a two-fold benefit, superior ride for when cruising, but a much sharper feeling car when the red mist descends. So happy I chose this option. 😁

 
My routine of late has been to get a few things done in the morning, then jump in a car and go for a drive in the afternoon. Yesterday I picked up a GoPro head mount strap and was keen to get some footage of the new Mustang, nothing crazy, just a cruise and maybe a little squirt to showcase the sound of the engine.

I took several small videos, inspected the footage of the one I thought was the best and came home satisfied. After I uploaded the videos, non are them are usable. :cautious: The camera was angled too high as I rested against the headrest, so the view of the gauges is limited to a slither at the bottom of the shot, the rest a view out the window and the headliner. :( With how the camera sits on your head, despite checking in the vanity mirror, it's hard to see the viewing screen to check your angles.

But that's video, for me anyway as I fumble my way around this new medium. I will reshoot the videos tomorrow, with a repositioned camera. If there is some consolation, the car looked and sounded great on camera.
 
My routine of late has been to get a few things done in the morning, then jump in a car and go for a drive in the afternoon. Yesterday I picked up a GoPro head mount strap and was keen to get some footage of the new Mustang, nothing crazy, just a cruise and maybe a little squirt to showcase the sound of the engine.

I took several small videos, inspected the footage of the one I thought was the best and came home satisfied. After I uploaded the videos, non are them are usable. :cautious: The camera was angled too high as I rested against the headrest, so the view of the gauges is limited to a slither at the bottom of the shot, the rest a view out the window and the headliner. :( With how the camera sits on your head, despite checking in the vanity mirror, it's hard to see the viewing screen to check your angles.

But that's video, for me anyway as I fumble my way around this new medium. I will reshoot the videos tomorrow, with a repositioned camera. If there is some consolation, the car looked and sounded great on camera.
But you do get to drive the Mustang again, it's a legitimate reason. Not that you need one.
 
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I have been trying to get back on the forums forever. I got a new phone and my old password didn't work. I downloaded Tapatalk and used the Gmail log in thing and it logged me in. Oh well

Congratulations on your Mustang, DFB. Looks sick. I liked it so much I ran out to trade my F250 in for a race red. Took some time but I found a F350 that I liked.

Your mustang looks better but I'm to old to fit in a mustang. Lol
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I have been trying to get back on the forums forever. I got a new phone and my old password didn't work. I downloaded Tapatalk and used the Gmail log in thing and it logged me in. Oh well

Congratulations on your Mustang, DFB. Looks sick. I liked it so much I ran out to trade my F250 in for a race red. Took some time but I found a F350 that I liked.

Your mustang looks better but I'm to old to fit in a mustang. Lol
1657e2d4bd466d8143c00263f15806d0.jpg


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That looks brilliant in Race Red.

If I could spec a replacement for my Ranger, I would love to have a F-150 with the 5.0 Coyote. I actually built one on the Ford US website in Atlas Blue, Race Red is not available on the base model XL Single Cab.















Only the double cab F-150 in XLT and Lariat trims are sold here. Ford Australia imports them, then has an outside company convert them to right-hand-drive. The only engine offered is the 3.5 EcoBoost, but I think they would have strong demand for the 5.0 V8 as RAM has discontinued the Hemi V8, and those have been very popular here with cashed up tradies.
 
That looks brilliant in Race Red.

If I could spec a replacement for my Ranger, I would love to have a F-150 with the 5.0 Coyote. I actually built one on the Ford US website in Atlas Blue, Race Red is not available on the base model XL Single Cab.















Only the double cab F-150 in XLT and Lariat trims are sold here. Ford Australia imports them, then has an outside company convert them to right-hand-drive. The only engine offered is the 3.5 EcoBoost, but I think they would have strong demand for the 5.0 V8 as RAM has discontinued the Hemi V8, and those have been very popular here with cashed up tradies.
My father in law was looking to get a F250 in Atlas Blue to replace his 2020 F250 Iconic silver. He retires next year and his 20 model has been worked to death, unfortunately they don't do Atlas blue in the new model super duty, which is a shock. I loved the look of mine! It was a bit of a unicorn. They don't do the Atlas blue anymore, and it was an XL with the STX appearance package with 7.3 gas motor. They don't offer the 7.3 gas motor on XL packages anymore either!

I got rid of the godzilla truck because fuel economy was 10.8 mpg around town and 13 on the highway. It had 4.10 rear end and for some reason the torque convertor was getting hung up causing a clunking noise when pressing the accelerator after coasting. Ford never could fix it.

I also had a '21 model F150 (in my avatar) with the 5.0 coyote. I don't know if they changed it, but it seemed like it wasn't sure what gear it wanted to be in on normal mode. Always changing gears, I'm unsure of the axle ratio in it, but with a muffle delete it was annoying.

My wife was showing me that chevy now has an electric Silverado at our local dealership for $102k. Would make a nice grocery hauler i guess, but I don't think those EV trucks will be able to be considered a truck until they can go over 100 miles while hauling a trailer. Needs to be more like 350-400 miles on a full charge.

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My father in law was looking to get a F250 in Atlas Blue to replace his 2020 F250 Iconic silver. He retires next year and his 20 model has been worked to death, unfortunately they don't do Atlas blue in the new model super duty, which is a shock. I loved the look of mine! It was a bit of a unicorn. They don't do the Atlas blue anymore, and it was an XL with the STX appearance package with 7.3 gas motor. They don't offer the 7.3 gas motor on XL packages anymore either!

I got rid of the godzilla truck because fuel economy was 10.8 mpg around town and 13 on the highway. It had 4.10 rear end and for some reason the torque convertor was getting hung up causing a clunking noise when pressing the accelerator after coasting. Ford never could fix it.

I also had a '21 model F150 (in my avatar) with the 5.0 coyote. I don't know if they changed it, but it seemed like it wasn't sure what gear it wanted to be in on normal mode. Always changing gears, I'm unsure of the axle ratio in it, but with a muffle delete it was annoying.

My wife was showing me that chevy now has an electric Silverado at our local dealership for $102k. Would make a nice grocery hauler i guess, but I don't think those EV trucks will be able to be considered a truck until they can go over 100 miles while hauling a trailer. Needs to be more like 350-400 miles on a full charge.

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I briefly considered Atlas Blue for the Mustang, they have since deleted it for the MY25 production. I've only seen Atlas in person once, it was a S550 Mach 1 and it looked so deep and rich.





The above CGI images don't do Atlas justice.



 
The CGI pictures never do. When I was looking at trucks that were 'In Transit to Dealer' it showed the CGI picture (one was a Rapid Red) and it looked like crap. It was much better in person, but not my flavor.

Here's my old Atlas blue. The salesman delivered the new one to my house and drove this one back to the lot. My wife said she almost started crying when it left because it felt like family.
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Take Two! Or is that Take Six? ;)


Not perfect by any means, but I'm enjoying the challenge.
I wanted to give this the viewing, or listening, that it deserves, so I was going to wait till I had my good headphones on, but then I had a better idea. I played it in the car connected to my head unit and new speakers. It sounds awesome, it sounded like you had side pipes, because of where the speakers are. That acceleration looked and sounded so effortless.
 
I wanted to give this the viewing, or listening, that it deserves, so I was going to wait till I had my good headphones on, but then I had a better idea. I played it in the car connected to my head unit and new speakers. It sounds awesome, it sounded like you had side pipes, because of where the speakers are. That acceleration looked and sounded so effortless.
Had the exhaust in Track for that video, which is not necessarily legal for street use. Considering the town is crawling with cops this weekend for the pointless Spring Car Nats, it was somewhat risky.

With 10-gears and short gaps between each, that tends to make it sound and feel very effortless. I'm trying to show some restraint while the engine is still tight, but I'm happy to let it spin up to about 5000 rpm on part throttle. I'm looking forward to taking it out to the 7500 rpm limiter.
 
Why are the Spring Car Nats pointless

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Changing gears today..........................



I have been planning this project for nearly a year, and I've had the parts sitting in the cabinet for months. This engine is off my very first lawn mower, one that made me a fortune over the years. It's been a smoker for a while now, so I thought I would have a go at re-ringing it. Not going to lie though, I've been apprehensive doing this.

First up, I disconnected the throttle cable. On this era of Victa, the Briggs & Stratton engines had an alloy adaptor ring that sits between the deck and sump. This helps space the crankshaft to the correct height and accounts for the different mounting points between Briggs and the Victa engine. Removing the blade carrier first, you then remove the three bolts that secure the engine and adaptor ring to the chassis.



I then drained the oil and fuel from the engine.

I have to admit, the next step nearly had me backtracking and putting the project on ice. That next step being the blade disk boss that is press-fit onto the crankshaft. There are two ways to remove these, by hammer or puller. However, I don't have a vice or anvil to support the crankshaft to "shock" it off via hammer. So, I needed a puller. I had actually planned on buying a puller, but for some reason didn't bother. So, off I went to Total Tools to buy a puller.


Then, after a little bit of stuffing around, I was ready to quit. But, after consulting Youtube and a change in technique, the blade boss slid off the crankshaft as easy-peasy! I have said this before, but Youtube is such a brilliant resource for learning. At one point, I thought I was going to have to introduce heat, but not something I wanted to do for obvious reasons.


From here, things went relatively smooth. After cleaning off the 23 years' worth of crud from the underside of the engine, I then cracked the sump bolts loose. I then lightly tapped on the sump, which slid easily down and stopped. So, I tapped the sump back in place and lightly scuffed the crankshaft where the blade boss had been, the sump then slid off with ease. I then removed the cylinder head, making sure to keep track of the bolt locations as there are longer versions for around the valves. I then removed the oil slinger, cracked the conrod bolts, tapped off the cap, then pushed the piston out of the cylinder.

It was then clean, clean, clean. Starting with the piston, I removed the old rings, then started removing the buildup of carbon on the crown. Because of the oil consumption, there was also significant carbon deposits on the cylinder head and valves, the crankcase and sump were surprisingly clean, a testament to frequent oil changes. I then removed the old gasket material off the head and sump mating surfaces, followed by cleaning everything with kerosene and set aside ready for reassembly tomorrow.

The piston has some very mild scoring, but they are smooth and won't catch a fingernail, the cylinder likewise. There was plenty of blowby on the piston though. To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything more than that, the engine always had plenty of fresh oil in it, so the wear on the piston and cylinder is from use, not abuse.

Having done all that, I'm still apprehensive about the end result. At the very least, I'll be happy to have the engine back together and running, but ideally, I hope to have cured its smoking habit.
 
Why are the Spring Car Nats pointless

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Because its just a bunch of bogans doing burnouts for three days. It was fine when the event was held on the outskirts of town, but since they moved it to the showgrounds in the middle of town, its just a nuisance to residents. The noise and smoke can be heard and smelt from my home. And because of the nature of the event, and the sort who are attracted to it, it means there is a huge influx of police to the town to keep things in check.

The idea of this event is to provide a safe, legal place to do that sort of thing off public roads. However, some were ignoring that and were still doing it on the public roads and in built up areas to show off. Going back 20 years, a young child was killed on the Saturday night after being hit by a car doing a burnout on the main street of town. That was the breaking point for the event, from then onwards, the police presence in town over the weekend became extreme, to the point where it nearly killed the event as attendees decided not to come for fear of being fined.

The defense of the event being that it brings a lot of tourism and money into the town. Apart from that, its just a public nuisance for residents.

Sunday is the last day of the event and when an overall burnout winner is chosen. Have to laugh though, its been raining all day, which is not conducive for big smokey burnouts.

 
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