TicTocTach's 2018 EB Premium PP "Build" Thread

[TicTocTach]

Backstory - As a life-long Mopar guy, my exposure to Ford products has been limited to helping my Dad on his projects after he retired from the Army. Although he mostly tinkered on the big cars from muscle-era, he had a couple Fox-body cars as well. I've always liked Mustangs, especially the 86 SVO and later Fox bodies, but never strayed from my Mopar roots.

With #2 Son on the way in 2007, it was time to replace my Shelby Daytona daily driver. The SRT-4 Neon was gone, and Mopar had nothing I was willing to spend money on. I bought a 2008 Honda Fit because it got great reviews as the most fun-to-drive small car made at the time, and it definitely delivered in that regard. Light, quick turning, functional, and I used every one of it's 109hp every day.

However, after 10 years of 109hp, I was ready for an upgrade. With the boys out of car seats, I wasn't locked in to a 4-door any longer. I had been interested in the S550 since the first time saw one, and the Ecoboost option seemed the best of all worlds - good power, lighter weight, and decent mileage. At this point, I was ready to give up a few MPG on the highway for 200% more power...

On May 25, 2018, I bought home my new Ecoboost Premium.

Right off the bat, this is my true DD, so there aren't going to be any mods that will take the car off the road for more than a weekend - at least until I get my toy cars running reliably. I bought this car with enough content to keep me happy for a while, and hopefully avoid the temptation to fiddle with much - Performance Package & Magneride to handle right out of the box, Premium package to make her sound and feel nice enough to live with for a long while, and Safe & Smart to get the most of out the last 10 years of safety technology. At almost 2 months of ownership now, this car is just fantastic. I haven't pushed her very hard yet, but I'm really happy with how she goes, turns, and stops.

Goals for the "build" are to emulate what a Level 2 PP might have been on an Ecoboost if Ford had put one together. For the near term, that's a square set of 19x10's with 285/35 all-season tires (daily driver, remember...), and a Ford Performance tune when/if it ever becomes available for the 2018+ cars. After that, I've got to refresh myself on the SCCA Street class rules to see where I want to fall. One of these days, I'll have time to make an autocross or two again.

And now the baseline pics...

Just after the 175 mile drive home from the dealership:

New 2018 Ecoboost Mustang by clair_davis, on Flickr

On the way to the tint shop - strange foggy morning in the park:

2018_Mustang_Baseline-02 by clair_davis, on Flickr

2018_Mustang_Baseline-07 by clair_davis, on Flickr

2018_Mustang_Baseline-17 by clair_davis, on Flickr

SunTek Ceramic 30% installed:

2018-07-21-01 by clair_davis, on Flickr

2018-07-21-04 by clair_davis, on Flickr

2018-07-21-08 by clair_davis, on Flickr

On the 350-mile roadtrip last weekend, I was able to squeak over 30mpg (indicated) out of the new girl, and that made me pretty happy...

2018-07-21-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr
...until I did the actual math and came up with ~25mpg.

This car is more than content to run 80mph all day long, and would gladly push 100+ a lot longer than I'm willing to push her. I think I can learn to get better mileage out of her, but that's my only gripe at this point. She's far and away the nicest car I've ever owned and I'm looking forward to learning everything she'll do. Stay tuned for eventual upgrades...

Clair

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[Blue Moon]

I like the red interior with the white body. It's bright and eye-catching without being obnoxious.

 

[TicTocTach]

Thanks - I do as well, although it wouldn't have been my first choice. This was an ordered car that the original buyer backed out on because it wasn't going to be delivered in time. I originally looking for a Premium EBPP with A200, Mag, Safe/Smart, and spoiler delete and the gray interior, but that combo doesn't exist in the real world. When i found this car on the internet, I was just about to place an order for a '19, and would have gone with Ingot Silver with the Showstopper interior - that combo reminded me of an old Mercedes 300SL gullwing coupe - sporty but classy. The S550's looks can totally back that up, but I ended up cancelling the order before my deposit because I wasn't sure it could have been delivered when I needed it. Picked up the white car a week later.

The white car also came with the Shaker and enhanced security options that I don't really care about, but I'm learning to live with them, too...

 

[Bull Run]

Welcome to the forum and looking forward to your '18 EB A10 build!

 

[TicTocTach]

I'm at almost exactly 5 months and 5,000 miles of ownership now, and the car has been pretty much fantastic. Mileage is a lot worse than I had anticipated, but I think that's mostly a function of how I drive the car, and well over 70mph on most highway trips. It's too bad that speed limits aren't lower here in TX... seriously... I don't have a problem driving 70mph all day rather than 75, but if the speed limit is 75, that's how fast I'm going. Maybe plus a couple. But I'm for sure not going to drive less than the limit. Oh, well. I can live with 28 mpg on a long highway trip, and Old Girl will do that if given enough time.

Beyond the tinted windows, there are a couple other minor mods to the car now. First, the super high-tech interior door handle inserts from Vesul on Amazon:

Vesul_Door_Handle_Storage-01 by clair_davis, on Flickr
Bonus points for the little red pony that I didn't even know about until I got them. They work great for tossing your phone or wallet into and keeping the cup holders open for cups...

I received my "personalized" license plates benefiting Big Bend National Park. There is also an open road race in the Big Bend area, and there may have been some other motorsports activities in the area, but that's a whole 'nother topic. I wanted the license plate to sit flush on the front bumper, so I decided to use some stout exterior rated double-sided tape to mount it. Turned out pretty well I think, and I put together a tutorial in this thread:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...le-sided-tape-for-front-license-plate.105285/

Mustang_License-12 by clair_davis, on Flickr

The next mod in the works is wheels/tires. Last week had a few days in the low-40's with rain, and the P-Zero's earned their name... zero traction. This car is garaged daily, but the tires were still so cold just pulling away from the driveway had traction control kicking in. Crossing the street? Spin. Accelerate? Fishtail. I was hoping I could make it through a winter without changing tires, but this won't cut it. So I've got a set of 285/35 Cooper Zeon RS3-G1's and a set of SVE GT7's in 19x10 on the way. Hopefully I'll have everything mounted and installed this weekend.

 

[50 Deep]

Car looks good man. Wish we could have built the wheels for you. keep up the good work and documentation.

 

[TicTocTach]

Car looks good man. Wish we could have built the wheels for you. keep up the good work and documentation.

Thanks! I awas looking at the SV104’s as a way to achieve the PP2 look and feel I was going for. Those wheels are beauties, and so many great finishes! At the end of the day, I had to stay real as this is my daily driver and I couldn’t risk a really nice wheel on my commute. Way too much highway construction going on around here!

 

[TicTocTach]

SVE_GT7-01 by clair_davis, on Flickr

 

[cvf-jason]

Lookin' good - congrats!

 

[TicTocTach]

Wheels are in and they look great:

SVE_GT7-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr

The finish is a nice satin with a very slight metal flake more than a texture:

SVE_GT7-11 by clair_davis, on Flickr

If I have a gripe, it's that the lug holes aren't painted all the way down. You can see it best here:

SVE_GT7-10 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Not a huge deal as I don't think it will be very visible, but it does keep these wheels from 10/10. I'll know more once I get them mounted.

A small perk is that the wheels weigh less than advertised on the LMR website. Advertised at 25 pounds, I measured all 4 to be between 23.5 and 24 pounds. Nice.

The Cooper Zeon RS3-G1's in 285/35-19 are waiting at Discount Tire, so hopefully I'll get everything knocked out on Saturday.

 

[cvf-jason]

Wheels are in and they look great:

SVE_GT7-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr

The finish is a nice satin with a very slight metal flake more than a texture:

SVE_GT7-11 by clair_davis, on Flickr

If I have a gripe, it's that the lug holes aren't painted all the way down. You can see it best here:

SVE_GT7-10 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Not a huge deal as I don't think it will be very visible, but it does keep these wheels from 10/10. I'll know more once I get them mounted.

A small perk is that the wheels weigh less than advertised on the LMR website. Advertised at 25 pounds, I measured all 4 to be between 23.5 and 24 pounds. Nice.

The Cooper Zeon RS3-G1's in 285/35-19 are waiting at Discount Tire, so hopefully I'll get everything knocked out on Saturday.

Make sure you give us some updated pics when they're on!

 

[TicTocTach]

A couple shots of the factory EBPP 19x9 wheels and 255/40 tires. They kind of grew on me a little over the last 5 months, but I've never been a fan of black wheels. Still, when the lighting is decent, they look OK:

2018-10-26 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Otherwise, they just.... disappear:

P-Zero_255-05 by clair_davis, on Flickr

I dropped the new wheels off at Discount Tire at 9:00 this morning, and they had everything mounted & balanced by 9:30. I brought the car down to have the wheels/tires installed on the car @ 10, and I was on my way by 11am.

From my old-car perspective, the EBPP wheels/tires were pretty flush - my old cars don't have round wheel well openings, or they overlap the top of the tire, so flush isn't an option. The EBPP wheels were still safely inside the body:

P-Zero_255-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr

P-Zero_255-01 by clair_davis, on Flickr

The new wheels (19x10+35) are flush in front with a dash of poke in back:

Zeon_285-01 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Zeon_285-05 by clair_davis, on Flickr

At first I was worried they might rub, but so far not a hint of anything touching in or out of driveways.

Zeon_285-07 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Zeon_285-08 by clair_davis, on Flickr

The additional 30mm of width really looks like a bunch more tire on this car:

Zeon_285-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Regarding the tires, my initial impression from about 40 miles of driving today is that the Zeon's are a little softer on the sidewall, but quieter over expansion joints in the road. I never really pounded on the P-Zero's hard enough to find their limits, but they did corner well. In a straight line, the Zeon's seem to equal the P-Zero's in grip, and I'm hoping that the greater width will make up for most or all of the all-season compromises. When temps drop this winter, I will be glad I made this change a little earlier than planned.

Looks like I managed to not take a good full-side view of the new wheels and tires, so I'll get one of those and post it tomorrow.

 

[TicTocTach]

A few more pics - with better lighting:

SVE_GT7-02 by clair_davis, on Flickr

SVE_GT7-04 by clair_davis, on Flickr

SVE_GT7-09 by clair_davis, on Flickr

SVE_GT7-13 by clair_davis, on Flickr

Recap:
Wheels = SVE GT7 in 19x10+35
Tires = Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 285/35-19

 

[TicTocTach]

First oil change over the weekend, and first oil analysis from Blackstone Labs. Oil is good these days, and the engine looks healthy.

 

[lostlocalhost]

You went kidding when you called me your evil twin.
You actually have the car I ordered three times (white) from different dealerships, but they all screwed me in different ways. The last was your exact car (down to the spoiler delete) and 2 months after ordering they informed me they actually didn't have any allocations. So I found the nearest one on lot with all the boxes checked EXCEPT for color. I like black when it's clean, but I hate owning a black car.

Hope to see you driving around. (Mine should be recognizable: flag decal on side, stripes, LLHOST plate). I'm usually on the east and north sides. Plano/Richardson/rowlett.
Also, I really need to make a build thread.

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