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2018 Mustang GT Redline - 7400 or 7500?

Jimmy G

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Definition of Redline - the maximum safe speed, power, etc. of an engine, usually indicated by a red line or mark on a gauge, as a tachometer.

- a recommended safety limit : the fastest, farthest, or highest point or degree considered safe; also : the red line which marks this point on a gauge.

Ford say the redline of the 5.0 engine is 7500rpm....evidence in pics suggest otherwise. Wadda we reckon??





2018gtspeedo.jpg

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whalesalad

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100 rpm difference either way... does it really matter?

That being said the motor is capable of more with a tune. Pretty sure it runs out of air up there anyway.
 

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Easy way to tell is to just rev it and see where it stops.


But as the other guy said, does 100rpm either way matter?
 
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Jimmy G

Jimmy G

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It matters when there's an argument at the bar over what the redline is :).

Every single Ford document I've seen says they upped the limit of the 2018 GT by 500rpm to 7500. Except they didn't.
 

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Norm Peterson

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Give the other guy 100 cc of beer to stop worrying about 100 rpm. No matter which way.




You don't suppose that the gauge could be intentionally marked "low" for a reason, do you?


Norm
 
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Jimmy G

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You don't suppose that the gauge could be intentionally marked "low" for a reason, do you?
The redline is clearly right, the 7500 talk is clearly weird.

Doing what they've done just makes Ford look stupid. Makes them look like they're numerically challenged. I can't explain what they think they gain from it.
 

Norm Peterson

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I can't explain what they think they gain from it.
Fewer people over-revving it?

I don't think there's any hard rule about where to set a redline indication. Eventually it comes back to however much margin the mfr is comfortable with, relative to any number of things.

It could be that 7500 is fuel cut and 7400 on the gauge is just enough lower to help people use as much of that as possible without actually having fuel get cut on them when they're running hard.


Norm
 

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Here in my head I was thinking of the rev-limiter has been used by Ford to tell me where redline is. Then I got to thinking about my last/previous V8, was a '79 Capri with a transplanted 302 from similar make and model. It had an auto, so I just spent lots of my time delivering pizzas riding 2nd gear as high as it would take me. I want to say I don't remember a rev limiter, but cannot recall. Was I just taking it to a point that my ears were telling me it's safe?
Did the older mustangs and other sports cars have a factory rev limiter?



I googled images "1979 Mustang dash" and the two photos I see one has a red portion of the tach and one doesn't. Wondering how prevalent it is for the tachs to show a red portion, is it a newer trend??


To the OP, sorry for the sidetrack.
 
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Jimmy G

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Maximum power is reached at 7000rpm, 400rpm of headroom over that is reasonable. Manufacturers set the redline based on engine performance, for durability reasons and with warranty considerations in mind.

Seventy four hundred is fine. Why claim it's 7500? Do they think we can't deal with a number that's not easily divisible by 500??!!

Maybe that's why they put a ten speed automatic in the car. A nine or eleven speed transmission is just too weird to consider :).
 

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Its similar to 15-17's. The advertised 'redline' is actually the fuel cut so 7000/7500. But the actual redline where the engine shifts in an auto as well as visually seen is like 6800/7400. In my case for a Power Pack 2 automatic, the 'redline' was marketed as 7200 but I see it shift a 7000.
 
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Jimmy G

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Its similar to 15-17's. The advertised 'redline' is actually the fuel cut so 7000/7500. But the actual redline where the engine shifts in an auto as well as visually seen is like 6800/7400. In my case for a Power Pack 2 automatic, the 'redline' was marketed as 7200 but I see it shift a 7000.
The redline (the start of the red zone on the tacho....refer definition in the first post) on the earlier S550 GT's is positioned at 6500rpm. Since Ford claim they've increased the redline on the 2018 car by five hundred rpm, that would indicate the 2018 car has a 7000rpm redline.

So does the 2018 GT have a 7000, 7400 or 7500rpm redline? Sheesh :).


2016-ford-mustang-2-door-convertible-gt-premium-instrument-cluster_100529666_l.jpg
 

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The redline (the start of the red zone on the tacho....refer definition in the first post) on the earlier S550 GT's is positioned at 6500rpm. Since Ford claim they've increased the redline on the 2018 car by five hundred rpm, that would indicate the 2018 car has a 7000rpm redline.

So does the 2018 GT have a 7000, 7400 or 7500rpm redline? Sheesh :).


2016-ford-mustang-2-door-convertible-gt-premium-instrument-cluster_100529666_l.jpg
I explained it poorly. In my car 2016 auto, it shifts at around 6800 but if you force it you can get it 7000 rpm which is where fuel cut occurs which leads to believe the realistic redline is 6800. In my pp2, they marketed the redline as 7200 but I see it shift at 7000 but I can force it at 7200 if I dont let it shift. So for the 2018 it means that itll go up to 7400 during normal driving but you should be able to make it go to 7500 if you dont shift. All of this is in an auto of course.


The 2015-17 has a marketing redline of 7000 and the 18+ is marketed at 7500.


In the 15-17 gauge you posted, you can see how theres a different coloration of the black next to the "7" which kinda shows that the fuel cut is there.


new-2018-ford-mustang-gt-9557-17135517-16-640.jpg



This is the 300/301A version of the 2018 gauges and u can see it does the same thing around 7500 rpm.


Hope that was a better explanation.
 

gixxersixxerman

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Mine shows 7400 also, no matter which gauge configuration is selected. I haven’t seen the “needle” go above it, but it may, I’m usually not looking at the tach at that point lol
 
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Jimmy G

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I explained it poorly. In my car 2016 auto, it shifts at around 6800 but if you force it you can get it 7000 rpm which is where fuel cut occurs which leads to believe the realistic redline is 6800. In my pp2, they marketed the redline as 7200 but I see it shift at 7000 but I can force it at 7200 if I dont let it shift. So for the 2018 it means that it'll go up to 7400 during normal driving but you should be able to make it go to 7500 if you dont shift. All of this is in an auto of course.

The 2015-17 has a marketing redline of 7000 and the 18+ is marketed at 7500.

In the 15-17 gauge you posted, you can see how there's a different coloration of the black next to the "7" which kinda shows that the fuel cut is there.

This is the 300/301A version of the 2018 gauges and u can see it does the same thing around 7500 rpm.

Hope that was a better explanation.

You explained it well enough the first time :). I hadn't paid any attention to the analog 2018 cluster earlier....thanks for that pic. It appears that the redline on that cluster is at 7400 as well.


You mention a "marketing redline". We have "shaded areas" and we'll have a fuel cut rpm somewhere above 7500rpm....but redline is redline. It's the red line on the gauge. The start of the red zone.....or where the original Bullitt engine builder Max Balchowsky put the "little pieces" bit of masking tape on the tacho as a warning to Steve not to over-rev the car during the chase scene.


littlepieces.jpg
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