2015 Ecoboost "Swordfish" Build

[Swordfish]

Howdy! Long time lurker, first time poster. I watched this forum before the S550 reveal, waiting in anticipation as better renders and spy photos came out. Thank you all for providing such great work and coverage of this car! This seems like a really great community and I feel a bit bad it's taken me this long to participate!

I ordered my Race Red 2015 Mustang Ecoboost Premium 6AT in early 2015 and it was built in May. I ordered with X-plan and selected every option except for the performance pack that was available for the ecoboost, since at the time I was looking for a daily driver that was comfortable and preferred the look of the 20" wheels. The car is named "Swordfish" after the similarly colored spacecraft in the anime Cowboy Bebop.

Here is a picture of Swordfish in its first month.

It now has over 40k miles and I have begun a campaign of modifying it to be a little bit more to my taste. Swordfish replaced a DEW98-based Lincoln LS V8 and I was excited for the opportunity to have more power and better mpg in a potentially similarly handling platform. I appreciate the improved reliability (minus the A/C evap :/) but do miss the sound of a V8.

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[Swordfish]

Stage 1: Lap 1: Sound and Feel
After a few years of driving Swordfish I began to feel that it was time to move on. The car was very appealing to me when I first got it, but I grew tired of the lack of upper-rpm power, the lack of character to the acoustics, the small interior and the lack of power. I had originally hoped the ecoboost engine would go on to be a legend like many turbocharged engines before it, even the 2.0 ecoboost. I was disappointed to hear that the block really can't take much more than what a stock GT offers in terms of power. But, then I noticed how inexpensive parts are for these cars and I was looking for a hobby so I thought it'd be fun to at least modify Swordfish to be more to my liking before looking for a new adventure.

I took issue with a couple of design details on the 2015 ecoboost interior - the 6AT gear selector seemed odd and I didn't like the speaker grilles in the A pillar (despite their carrying the theme of the front grille). Also, as soon as I saw you can get the GT350 alcantara wheel, I was enthralled. My first round of updates involved addressing these interior issues with an SR gear selector knob, some amazon speaker covers and the Ford GT350 wheel. This was a way for me to dip my toes into the water of modding on my own. I really like the wheel. I had hoped it'd be a bit thicker, but the texture and the flat bottom are amazing! Swapping the wheel was intimidating, especially removing the airbag, but really wasn't that bad once I got into it! While it didn't make the car feel like a whole new car, combined with the gear selector it did offer a new interface that made the car more fun to engage with. Ok, I thought, I can do this, this could be fun!

When I installed the gear selector and put the panel back together, though, the car wouldn't start! I panicked for a bit, thinking this is just a trim piece, how could I possibly mess up the car?? But then I thought about it. I had dropped a screw into the gear selector well and spent like 30min fishing it out. With the door open. And the interior lights on. And the exterior lights on. The battery was dead. Easy fix.

Most importantly, though, was the sound of the ecoboost. For a turbo, it seemed to me like it was screaming into a pillow. I went for the Mishimoto CAI for its style and hoping it would really open up the sound. The Mishimoto seemed to be the only CAI with a polished tube that seemed to be parallel to the hood - others seemed to be at an odd angle away from it in pics. And since it fully replaces the stock air box with a less closed one I was hoping it would have more turbo sound. And yes it does! For the first time I felt like I was actually driving a turbo car! Would highly recommend! I did not notice any improvement in performance. When I installed the CAI, I started the car and got a weird warning about the parking brake. And the front radar wouldn't work. I thought that was odd... I drove it a bit, super excited for the sound. Then a few more warnings popped up, like stability control. And I noticed the driver side headlight wasn't working. I thought this wasn't a good sign since a CAI is a purely mechanical change...and I didn't think I damaged the sensor. Looking through it I realized that I had not scraped away any of the paint on the Mishimoto box where it mounts to a grounding point on one of the wiring harnesses. Adjusting that to ensure grounded caused all the warnings to go away!

 

[Swordfish]

Stage 1: Lap 2: Visual Updates
I wanted to make the car look a little bit more aggressive. I got an Anderson Composites GT350 style spoiler with gurney flap. I really like the look of the gurney flap! The Anderson Composites part is very nicely made, looks high quality. I feel it really adds to the look of the car.

I also added some pinstriped hash strakes, but only on the driver's side. I feel this is more of a 'scar' than a proclamation of performance, which I think fits better with its aesthetic.

 

[Swordfish]

Stage 1: Lap 3: Hearth Shine
I found this cool 2.3 TURBO badging on amazon I think but didn't think it would look good on the exterior. I never liked the "ecoboost" logo on the engine cover and wasn't sure why that wasn't pressed with the actual Ford Ecoboost branded logo that predated this car. I thought the the badging could overlap the weird Ecoboost font choice on the engine cover and give it a nice look! Plus I thought the front of the cover looked weirdly void and lonely.

Also went for an SR strut tower brace. I liked the Steeda design, but the SR one seemed to look sufficiently good for much less. I was going for style more than performance. I wanted the engine bay to look fuller. I wasn't planning on Swordfish being some epic build - my goal wasn't to make it the best car I can get (it's certainly not going to become a GT500). I just wanted it to feel more fun. This is about learning and having fun, and looks are part of the passion of a car.

I also found that CPE offered a cover for the engine block's transverse mounting bracket (when used in the MKC for example). Once I saw that transverse mount, I couldn't unsee it. It just seemed so open and ugly. So in the spirit of having fun, I picked up the CPE cover.

I wasn't sure what to do with the Mishimoto's CARB plate that came with the CAI, but I noticed it fits perfectly in the engine cover, so I stuck it there!

 

[Swordfish]

Stage 1: Lap 4: Cleanup
I really liked these GT350 style Ecboost badges I found from MF Auto. I wasn't sure where to put them. Maybe update the front bumper to be GT350 styled, or GT500 styled! I decided just to stick them on the sides.

While I was at it, I decided to update the Stable. These are flowwall panels and shelving.

After a few years of driving the car I really just didn't like the front end. I didn't sit well and I wasn't sure what the problem was. The GT500 looked amazing, and the GT350 was an improvement. I really didn't like the 2018+ design, but I think thats more about the hood shape than the bumper shape. I spotted another mustang that had blacked out part of the bumper and was amazed how good it looked! I tried my hand at vinyl wrapping myself, and while its not perfect, I really feel it holds the light and shadow better with a blacked out front bumper. At first I put the vinyl all the way to the edge where it begins to curve back, but it didn't look right. I realized that the first inch or so needs to catch the light to follow the lines of the hood and side of the grille, so I peeled back an inch on either side and it looked much better imo.

 

[Swordfish]

Stage 2: Lap 5: Sound and Fury
I wanted to actually hear Swordfish as if it had an engine. The CAI was great, it was so cool to feel like I have a turbo. But it really didn't make up for not having any engine sound. I unplugged the audio synth mic from above the rear seats and installed a Solo Performance catback. I obsessively listened to every clip I could find of exhausts for the ecoboost. Thank you all for posting your own videos here, I really appreciated them! I was looking for a more Japanese sound, a Honda or a Toyota whir at the upper end, moreso than low end bass or rumble. It's not a V8, I wanted it to sound like a turbo 4. I feel like a lot of exhausts try to work against the engine. The solo Performance seemed to have a cool stumble at idle and a really nice high pitched roar at throttle. I also like that reviewers claimed it gets louder with the right foot and isn't just loud all the time. I also admire the cool 55 degree angle bends in the mufflers as a novel way to address drone problems, and I like the cool resonators they offer for other models like the GT.

Installing an exhaust on my own was intimidating, especially since aligning the tips sounds like a pain everyone has suffered with on this car. But I took my time and it went well. The solo performance exhaust looked nice. The welds weren't perfect, but they weren't poor. The material seemed fine. Given that its on the lower end of price, it seemed to be better looking than it cost. I like the way the interior of the mufflers and resonator look.

I went with black tips since the stock tips were mostly black with soot and I didn't want to fight them. The tips are gorgeous on these exhausts!

As far as sound goes, there definitely is no drone at idle, at a stop light, or cruising on the highway. However, around 1300rpm and around 2k there is really loud drone, that is brief when accelerating unless you're cruising around 40mph. I'm hoping that will soften somewhat as the exhaust wears and fills up a bit with carbon soot. The upper end has a nice sound to it, but I get the feeling it just sounds a lot better from outside the car rather than in it. I didn't notice any performance difference with the new exhaust installed.

 

[Swordfish]

Stage 2: Lap 6: Airbending
So I know many of you have said the first mod to do is the intercooler. But I really didn't want to take off the front end till I decided what to do it - get a GT500 bumper or whatnot, so I waited. I went through a few brands of intercoolers but I couldn't pass up CVF's Race intercooler. Its massive. Its inexpensive. Its stupidly massive. And that's just cool. Now an oversize intercooler can increase turbo lag, and I'm not sure if I really want to seriously race this thing. But I was kinda hoping the additional size might actually soften up early throttle response and that the additional lag, if any, would make the engine's response a little more to my liking. Boy, was I in for a surprise. (Keep in mind this is with the stock ECU tune thus far...)

Comparison to stock:

Technically you don't have to take the wheels off but I found it was easier:

While I was in the air system I upgraded with SR Performance charge pipes. I didn't think this was a necessary upgrade, but I wanted the polished look to match the Mishimoto CAI and I liked the hook shape of the SR parts (and their price) better than others.

I think this is a good looking combination

Also while under the hood, I wanted to replace the blinkers with LEDs. I hated that while Ford did such a brilliant job on the taillight and front shark gill LED accents it left the blinkers looking like the last century. I went with MP Concepts tri-bar LEDs.

I was surprised I needed to modify the harness to install these but it makes sense since they turn from white to orange to blink. They also do a sequential blink which is cool. The included wire adapters seemed to be too small for the gauge of wire in the harness they sent me so I just soldered the blinker harness in myself. I like the way they look, but be warned that when the blinker is activated they do make the sound as if one of the blinker lights is out - that extra little tick for each blink. But they work fine. Maybe an extra resistor or something would've taken care of that. Not sure I really care.

I think Swordfish is looking pretty sharp with these mods. I also changed the oil while I had it up in the air.

I didn't expect the intercooler to do anything to the performance of the car. I thought if anything, I would lose some power or the turbo would lag more on the stock tune. I thought that the intercooler just wouldn't heatsoak. I noticed the stock one heatsoaking fairly easily, especially in an autocross I did once. That is not what happened. Once the car was back together I went for a drive. Well I turned the first corner and heard a pffftt as the charge pipe blew off the turbo housing haha. Looks like I caught the clamp on the lip and didn't have it seated behind the lip. I'd guess a higher quality brand would be easier to install than the SR pipes, but I seated the clamp lower and maybe tighter and went off. And oh boy, finally this car is starting to feel more like what I want.

Firstly, the car seems to rev more freely at the upper rpm range. As soon as it shifts into second though, there is an immediate and noticeable change in behavior. Before the engine would lug or trawl in this shift and now the wheels squirm and power courses through! With a whole new air system and exhaust, even on the stock tune, it is definitely making some more midrange rpm power! And it feels great! But moreso, it just feels like the engine can breathe! Like I never noticed how constricted it was, but now that its unblocked its like its free to gallop! Its amazing!! Even better, while the Solo performance was okish at high rpm, now it really screams in just the right way. Finally I have that sound I really want out of this engine!! I should probably find a way to record it and share, I really don't think I've heard this sound out of a lot of ecoboost videos online.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed my journey thus far. I'm having a lot of fun learning how to adjust this car to my style. I've appreciated reading all the wisdom and adventures you've all shared on this site and I'm glad to now be able to show my own work.

 

[Cruizer]

Nice build, I'm a sucker for red.

I'm debating on wrapping part of the bumper like you did. But I really want to pull the trigger on a GT500 replica front end. I should have bought one before they went up in price with the economy changes. If I do the bumper it will be next year when I do the intercooler at the same time.

 

[BabyDoc1012]

Nice build! Love the front end update. The 15-17 front end looks great by itself and the blacked out center stripe looks great.

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