Bull's Jack-of-all-trades 2015 EB Premium PP

Those new antigravity restart batteries are legit! I’ve been using mine for a few weeks without any issues at all, highly recommend as a way to drop 30lbs quick!

Bull Run said:

Iridium friendly plug gapper came in, so I pulled the spark plugs to re-gap them. I was surprised to find out that existing gaps ranged from .033 to .036. No wonder why there were spark blowouts at high RPM. I re-grapped them to .024 to be on the safe side.

Once I verify that the car runs fine with the new gap setting, I'll go back to the dyno shop to see if fixing blowouts is good for 20 HP.

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I have a gapper like that. My problem was I could not get them to stay gapped at what I set them at.

GuardEcoBeast said:

I have a gapper like that. My problem was I could not get them to stay gapped at what I set them at.

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I had the same issue where I tightened the screw until both ground electrode and tip touched the feeler gauge, but the electrode widens a little bit when I back off on the screw. To get around this issue, I removed the feeler gauge, screwed down by a very small amount, backed off, and re-checked using the feeler gauge. I repeated until the feeler gauge barely fitted between the electrode and tip.

Permanent Mount for the Antigravity Battery

I've been running Antigravity ATX-20 RE-START Battery for almost a week now and it's been running great so far. Took some time today to come up with a more permanent mounting solution, as this battery's much smaller than the OEM one.

I went with a method similar to BlownOne's using two lashing straps (under $10 at local Home Depot). I took the battery box out and cut four slots for the straps using a Dremel with cutting wheel.



Three battery box mount bolt holes were accessible with the battery strapped in. I wedged some packing material that came with the battery on the front side to fill in the "bulge" present on that side of the box.



As mounted in the car.

Preventive Maintenance

I had a EVAP purge valve related code triggered a while back. It hasn't come back since I cleared the CEL but search showed that original purge valve is prone to failing and failed valve can mess up the AFR. Revised purge valve and hose can be found on eBay for less than $30, so I decided to proactively replace it before it completely fails.

Revised version comes with a white check valve, and the swap can be done within 5 to 10 minutes. I put the old purge valve above it for comparison.



I also installed an UPR crankcase breather. It has a check valve that only opens when there is excessive crankcase pressure that crappy stock PCV system can't vent.

Since stock PCV system's marginal even at the stock boost level, I ordered Radium PCV Baffle Plate and PCV valve. This setup has an extra baffle to reduce the amount of oil sludge that goes to the intake and/or catch can. Upgraded PCV valve doesn't leak under high boost environment like the stock one.

Preventive Maintenance Part II

There's been a large number of low-side fuel pressure sensor failures reported for EBs, which usually shows up as "P018C, Fuel Pressure Sensor B Circuit Low" or similar errors.

Adam discovered that in same cases, these sensors can send false data to the ECU without triggering CEL. It can lead to fuel starvation under boost, and may contribute to engine failure.

Since the revised sensor (BU5Z-9F972-B) can be found online for as low as $20, I swapped it for a peace of mind.

Old sensor came out easily using a 24mm deep well socket with 12mm open end wrench holding the line in place.



Old sensor's on the bottom.

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If old sensor doesn't come out easily, stop trying to prevent stripping the thread. Purchase and install new sensor on a new line instead (FR3Z-9J280-A).

Good info. I will check my low-side fuel pressure sensor on my 2017 EB just in case I don't have the upgraded one. Did you buy the revised sensor (BU5Z-9F972-B) on eBay? Can you post the link?

MakStang said:

Good info. I will check my low-side fuel pressure sensor on my 2017 EB just in case I don't have the upgraded one. Did you buy the revised sensor (BU5Z-9F972-B) on eBay? Can you post the link?

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This was the one I bought: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Motor...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Driveshaft Shop 3.25 in. Carbon Fiber One Piece Driveshaft

The next mod was the installation of the Driveshaft Shop 3.25 in. Carbon Fiber One Piece Driveshaft. DSS DS with adapters and all supplied bolts and nuts weighed in at 19 lbs.



I was able to weigh the stock DS by putting it into the cardboard box used to ship the DSS DS. Scale read 31.9 lbs, so stock DS itself is around 31 lbs, making the difference about 12 lbs.



I found a couple of videos online that showed installation of DSS aluminum DSes on manual GTs. Steps ended being identical for auto EB install, and flanges, adapters, blots, and nuts looked the same as in the video. Perhaps the only difference is the thickness of adapters to accommodate different lengths for various engine and transmission combos.

Can't see it in the picture below, but the flange and adapter for the transmission end both have a line painted on it. I made sure that they lined up during the install to avoid any chance of increased vibration.



End for the differential had a line on the adapter but not on the flange.



I installed it by myself on the garage floor. I'll get help if I have to do it again, since it was a PITA to drop and reinstall the exhaust by myself, not to mention having to get up and get back down repeatedly to set and unset the parking brake in order to to loosen, tighten, and turn the DS.

Here's a shot of the DSS CF DS with the exhaust reinstalled.



Driving impression:

1. First thing that I noticed is that there are no more annoying "clunks" when shifting into reverse or drive.

2. There is a noticeable reduction in driveline vibration while cruising and accelerating. I had to look at the tech to confirm high RPM operation while doing a WOT pull up the highway ramp during the initial test drive, as there was less vibration.

3. It felt like there is a small increase in throttle response, but not as much as lightweight wheel upgrade.

I did the CF driveshaft, exhaust, and short throw shifter all at once. No point in doing the same thing 3 times instead of once, right? I know that's bad scientific method, changing 3 conditions of the experiment at one time, and I didn't get a good idea of which mod did what for my performance, but minimizing the wrench bending is better for maintenance.

Blue Moon said:

minimizing the wrench bending is better for maintenance.

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100% agree but I originally planned on doing just the IC + tune and calling it good, which ended up being a lie. I really do enjoy seeing/feeling the affects of individual mods and I don't have a set path for planned mods.

For example, I have a staggered tire/wheel set up as I didn't know 285/40 19s fit up front, but tests showed that they do. So I ordered a matching wheels/tires for the front.

285/35ZR19 Tires Up Front

After getting used to various chassis and suspension mods, performance handling bug bit me and I started to search for a way to improve traction up front for high speed turns.

According to TireRack, where I ordered my wheel and tire combo, Advanti DST HY Hybris 19x9.5 wheels with 40mm offset with 285/35ZR19 tires only fit in the rear. However, there are members on this forum that managed to fit these wheels and tires up front without issues, so I decided to give it a shot by swapping my rears to front.

Compared to stock PP 19x9 wheels with 45mm offset, you only lose 1mm of clearance on the backside going with 19x9.5 with 40mm offset wheels. As expected, there were plenty of clearance between the wheels and struts, and the tires didn't rub, either. Only concern was tight clearance between the wheels and 4-piston calipers, but there wasn't any rubbing when I spun the wheels while the front was up in the air.



Wider tire looked fine up front and seemed pretty flush with the wheel well.



However, the test drive showed that while there weren't any issues with straight line driving, I can hear some rubbing during sharp turns. It turns out that wheels were rubbing against calipers just enough to take some paint off. Fortunately, they are not visible with the wheels are mounted.



I didn't want the wheels to stick out. So I ordered the thinnest hub centric spacers I could find, which are 3mm in width.



Spacers gave me just enough clearance I needed. There were no signs of rubbing, even on turns hard enough to start squealing the front tires.



As expected, having wider tires increased the steering response, and I can make high speed left turns (as in left turn on green arrow) without feeling like I'm going to understeer.

Continental ExtremeContact Sport SL 285ZR19s for the rear

It looked somewhat silly drive around with 285s up front with 255s in the rear, so I ordered matching 19x9.5 wheels for the rear. I decided to try Continental ExtremeContact Sport SL tires, as they were lightest max performance summer rated tires I can find for that size.

They are indeed light, as 19x9.5 wheels with ExtremeContact Sport 285/35ZR19 tires weigh 47.1 lbs each, whereas narrower Sumitomo HTR Z III XL 255/40R19 tires on 19.8.5 wheels weigh 48.6 lbs each.




How the car looks with the squared setup:




I'll try to take more pictures later in a better lighting after cleaning the wheels.

As I said in the “What things weigh” thread, these are great looking wheels. They look similar to the Niche Ascari ones, but I like them even more, because I couldn’t find the Ascaris in gloss or matte black. They are light weight too.

And I like your square setup

MakStang said:

As I said in the “What things weigh” thread, these are great looking wheels. They look similar to the Niche Ascari ones, but I like them even more, because I couldn’t find the Ascaris in gloss or matte black. They are light weight too.

And I like your square setup

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Thanks! I picked them off of TireRack based on their weight alone, but they ended up turning out great, especially with the rotor upgrade.