Grabber Lime 2020 GT Build Thread

[WD Pro]

Looks like possibly uneven tire wear on the inside of this tire? Sorry if mistaken, just thought I should mention it just incase...

I will check but I think it’s good - I suspect it’s just the angle (although an alignment is coming to the top of the jobs list now)

Thanks for the heads up

WD

Sponsored

 

[2021 Mach 1]

Loaded up the boot trunk :

Then finally bolted the Steeda IRS braces on :

Passenger side went straight on with no issue.

The drivers side seemed way off (like half bolt hole covered on the rear mounting), but complete slackening of the IRS mounting plate (the middle mount of the Steeda bracket) gave plenty of adjustment.

• Loosen up the IRS mount plate (so you can move it by hand).
• Position the IRS bracket and secure the middle mount (but not tight).
• Adjust the position or the IRS plate and bracket so it all lines up nicely.
• Nip up the two small bolts.
• Remove the IRS brace.
• Torque up the two small bolts.
• Torque up the main IRS bolt.
• Refit the IRS brace.

All mounts ended up like this :

i.e. the clearance holes in the IRS brackets could be a lot smaller, if time is taken to align everything OK (older versions of the IRS brackets have smaller holes so I can only guess Steeda made them bigger to stop complaints of them not aligning correctly / being made wrong …).

Ford bolts on the front, Steeda boots on the back, large stainless washers on all to cover the large clearance holes :

A little more visible than I expected when back on the ground (although the camera doesn’t capture it or focus well) :

Bigger, more open wheels would show them off a lot more.

I did think about fitting these lay on my back but I’m glad I didn’t, especially having to move one of the IRS plates, I ended up on a friends ramp which was a good decision.

Quite a quick job - he opened at 8:00, we chatted, he did a tyre for a customers car before I could get on the ramp, I was back home at 10:30.

I take all my own tools and just use his ramp with my labour, he never wants anything in return, but I pay him back with beer

WD

Your stuff always looks show car quality perfection! How do you keep the underside of your car so clean?

 

[Gregs24]

I will check but I think it’s good - I suspect it’s just the angle (although an alignment is coming to the top of the jobs list now)

Thanks for the heads up

WD

Could be starting to cup on the inner tread block. My rears are OK but fronts were horrible at 18k miles and really noisy. PS4S prone to it on the Mustang it seems.

Easy enough to feel if you run your hand around the tread just inside the inner tread blocks - feels like gentle undulations of the surface

 

[WD Pro]

I’ve got a day off work today, so I called in to see a friend and paid off my ramp time debt :

Looks like possibly uneven tire wear on the inside of this tire? Sorry if mistaken, just thought I should mention it just incase...

I will check but I think it’s good - I suspect it’s just the angle (although an alignment is coming to the top of the jobs list now)

Thanks for the heads up

WD

Could be starting to cup on the inner tread block. My rears are OK but fronts were horrible at 18k miles and really noisy. PS4S prone to it on the Mustang it seems.

Easy enough to feel if you run your hand around the tread just inside the inner tread blocks - feels like gentle undulations of the surface

I think we are good, same tyre as highlighted above, but from a few different angles :

Your stuff always looks show car quality perfection! How do you keep the underside of your car so clean?

Thank you !

Keeping it off salty roads is probably the biggest factor.

Keeping it off wet roads probably comes in second (although I have been caught a few times).

A right angled power washer nozzle helps (unless he omitted it from your video, Tino had an angled one, but not 90 degrees and he only shot your arches with it on the parts you typically see). A true 90 degree nozzle allows you to get right under the floor pan and even hit the back of the wheels etc.

Following the above, it doesn’t really require much more work - but it helps if you work on your own car.

When I fitted the GoPro mount I just spent an extra 10 mins on the boot floor.

When I did the vertical links I just spent an extra 10 mins per side under each arch.

After I fitted the IRS braces and it was up on the ramp, I spent an extra 20 mins under the main floor pan.

Not many consumables needed. A pot of liquified Waxoyl (or Lanoguard), a can of GT85 (or WD40) and some retired microfibres.

Daub Waxoyl where needed (bolt heads, threads and holes etc), spray GT85 pretty much everywhere and rub it in / wipe of the excess.

I think a little time spent frequently is much better for the car and much more time efficient in the long run than letting it get bad and then playing catch up.

I will be putting new pads on at the end of the season and you guessed it, I will also be allowing an extra 30 mins a corner for a clean up and a bit of winter protection

WD

 

[tuf50L]

From this :

To this :

Amazing thread and I've got 3 questions for you.

1. What was the easiest way you came up with to attack the underside of the car and clean up the tar spray properly? I'm still hoping to find a "spray on and hose off" solution rather than laying on my back for days with a toothbrush solution.

2. Ever looked into changing the reverse light lens to a clear US version to clean the look up even more? I think I will see if there's a US part number rather than go aftermarket.

3. I've been looking for this exact shift knob with the colored logo without the shifting pattern. Having played with filling colors, what do you think the odds of being able to fill and smooth the shift pattern in black to remove it?

Thanks

 

[WD Pro]

Thank you !

1. What was the easiest way you came up with to attack the underside of the car and clean up the tar spray properly? I'm still hoping to find a "spray on and hose off" solution rather than laying on my back for days with a toothbrush solution.

I think you will be lucky to find a spray on / hose off type solution ...

In my experience / on my car the only thing that has really been successful is thinners, and even that needs some time to soak in and soften (especially on the exhaust bits that have been baked / heat cycled).

I've found a rag soaked in the stuff and then laid on, or wrapped around the component I'm working on, then left for a few minutes works reasonably well - but wear gloves and work in a well ventilated place.

Other things I tried :

• White spirit (mineral spirit) - wouldn't touch it.
• Isopropanol - wouldn't touch it.
• Paint stripper - works, but slow and expensive (we don't get 'good' paint stripper in the UK anymore).

In all honesty and for removable components it's less hassle to replace them, or blast and repaint if they are metal ... lol

From memory :

• Wheel backs - thinners / rag - easiest things I cleaned, but still a pain.
• Tailpipes - thinners / rag - slow.
• Active exhaust valves - thinners / rag / brush - slow.
• Active exhaust loom - thinners / rag / brush - easy.
• Diff temp sensor loom - thinners / rag / brush - easy.
• Mufflers / midpipes - blasted and coated.
• Exhaust Hangers - blasted and painted.
• Resonator - replaced.
• Diff cover - replaced.

Regrets - not doing the subframe hardware when it was out.

I'm just doing bits as and when I am working on an area of the car, it would be a neverending nightmare to try and get it all done in one go.

I know of two other users who claim to have had success, one with acetone and the other with Swarfega black box wipes. I've not tried either, but I have my doubts that they would be good on the hardened / baked on stuff.

2. Ever looked into changing the reverse light lens to a clear US version to clean the look up even more? I think I will see if there's a US part number rather than go aftermarket.

Yeah, but I've not found one I really like or trust yet ...

Ideally I need to keep the fog and reverse function, but I would like an all white lens.

I think that limits me to aftermarket stuff and to be honest, for wet environments I haven't heard anything good about any of the aftermarket manufacturers.

If I could find clear, good quality matching side markers and reverse light, I would be adding them to my Christmas / birthday lists

Or should that all be in red, damn, more things to procrastinate about ...

3. I've been looking for this exact shift knob with the colored logo without the shifting pattern. Having played with filling colors, what do you think the odds of being able to fill and smooth the shift pattern in black to remove it?

If you could match the exact shade of black you might be able to hide it initially, but I think it would still show up again with age.

The problem you will have is the paint shrinks back a little so even if you have time to leave it for 'weeks' before you flat it back perfectly level, it will still shrink back a little more after a few months in the car / seeing the sun / going through a few heat cycles etc.

That's just my opinion though so it may be worth trying. Worst case is you need to top it up every so often or you strip it all out and end up doing it again with a contrasting colour

Hope that helps ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I am updating this thread, I will also add this info from this thread :

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/dummies-guide-to-camber-bolts.182618/

As a temporary measure until springs, sways and camber plates go on, I ended up getting some Steeda camber bolts

Just a wild guess, but I'd bet BMR is the only company that actually designed theirs and have them manufactured to their design and specifications, where the others mentioned most likely resell them from companies like SPC etc.

Yeah that's real interesting, as my Steeda bolts actually turned out to be Eibach (direct from Eibach UK and in Eibach packaging), The packaging was a little overkill :

I questioned the supply route and got this response from the seller (a big UK retailer) :

"The steeda parts are Eibach parts.

You would get exactly the same item we just saved time by sending from Eibach rather than waiting for Steeda."

So that made me do a little digging and here is the Steeda website photo :

And here is an advert on here for some genuine Steeda's that were for sale (note the labeling) :

And here are my Eibach's :

Which is not a bad thing. SPC arguably has the best designed camber and toe arms available today for our cars!

Yeah, well guess what ...

So Steeda = Eibach = SPC

My advice for others who choose to go with camber bolts = cross shop Steeda, Eibach & SPC and buy whoever's you can find cheapest

Now I know what I know, I could have saved myself £10 / 33% ...

WD

 

[MarkM]

After a bit of research and shared part numbers etc, I bought these last year, perfect fitment and no issues, cheapest I could find

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17272468...J0yzjSZTy2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[snake bite]

After a bit of research and shared part numbers etc, I bought these last year, perfect fitment and no issues, cheapest I could find

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17272468...J0yzjSZTy2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I've been looking at front camber bolts also. Did they make a difference once fitted. My car is lowered and I feel I need these.

 

[MarkM]

I've been looking at front camber bolts also. Did they make a difference once fitted. My car is lowered and I feel I need these.

Yes, they allowed me to get the camber back into spec, there was way too much -ve after lowering.

 

[WD Pro]

I’m long overdue an update, but I thought the below was worth posting, just so it’s out there, on line, with all the info

I had mentioned before (multiple times) about the 2” ‘restriction’ in the standard resonator :

• Standard pipe diameter = 2.5"
• Diameter at front manifold clamps = 2.25" (same for standard resonator and resonator deletes).
• Diameter at resonator outlet joint = 2.00" (removed with resonator delete).

Most just seem to accept that it’s a 2.5” system with a 2.25” restriction at the front clamp, ignoring the 2.0” restriction at the back of the resonator ?

Interestingly, someone (thanks @GregO ) questioned me on it, so I went to double check.

Just for those on the other side of the pond :

• 2.00” = 50.80mm
• 2.25” = 57.15mm
• 2.50” = 63.50mm

Inlet :

Outlet :

Outlet, right next to the resonator :

Note that on one of the pipes in particular, the reduced section is quite oval and ranges from 48mm ish to 54mm ish.

You can see the severity of the neck down quite well on this photo:

Now mines a 2020 euro spec, so we wondered if the USDM was any different ?

Then by chance, I came across this in the classifieds from @Ballistica - removed from his USDM 2021 GT PP1 :

This is the 2.0” pipe section (same as my 2020 euro GT) :

Then we wondered about the Mach 1, so after a little search and courtesy of @WCRookie99 :

So they all get it …

I can’t photo it very well, but it’s obvious to see - if you look internally down the length of the resonator the way the gas flows, you can see the step where the tubing necks down and the end of the small section protrudes into the resonator.

I suspect the resonator is made and then placed in a jig, the rear sections inserted, positioned for rotation and overall length, and then welded around the outside.

So the standard resonator is straight through, but don’t be fooled into thinking it doesn’t add a restriction - now how much difference it makes is probably a topic for another thread, and probably also heavily influenced by what other mods you have got going on …

WD

 

[raptor17GT]

wonder if they have a massive stock of these resonators lying about from previous iterations of cars and thought about using them up on anything and everything with a V engine. Looking at some pics of my XForce Varex I think it's 3inch all the wall from the CAT back but tbh i got it fitted and never bothered afterwards lol. Good work finding the above
PS - some of your pics are not showing..

 

[WD Pro]

Random selection of mini updates :

I’ve not got time to do a full detail at the moment, so I decided to split it up into parts and do it on a rota with its regular wash.

First up was the roof, A and C pillars, and the trunk lid and rear fenders :

Then I got the hood, bumper top, headlights, front fenders and wing mirrors clayed, and polished.

I started by hand with the tricky bits first - some staining had started around the hood vents and badges (before on left, after on right) :

Same camera, say day, no editing and only about 20 mins between pictures - the iPhone really struggles with grabber lime …

Very happy with how it turned out, even though the sun disappeared just before the shot, the paints very good for three years old with zero correction :

This bite size process has fitted into my life much better and battery power has helped tremendously. These two items have been a god send :

Allowing me to target and work on ‘small’ areas (i.e. one door at once) without :

• Having to get all the car clean before starting.
• Having to drag all the stuff out of the garage and run cables and hoses around the car (I even run the power washer on soda bottles to save on the hose).
• Having to worry about the weather (doing both the above and then getting rained off).

And yes, it was bad before :

The clay mitt is another great timesaver, especially doing it as part of / on the end of a wash with an extra soapy solution.

Clay still has its place though, you can knife edge the putty to get into these kinds of places :

Which IMHO, just isn’t possible with a clay mitt or cloth with the same precision or without using a lot of force etc

For the guys who’s cars are kept outdoors, have a good look at the edges where the paint meets the seal at the bottom of the door glass and the gaps around the edges of the handles etc - bright colours don’t hide anything

More bits to fit over winter, toe link bearings :

£159 plus postage from a major U.K. supplier.

Or £92.66 from Amazon :

Delivered in less than a week, with no additional fees …

Service, health check & MOT done :

All good, after a last min addition which I added on the forecourt :

Which also fell off on the forecourt just before the journey home

Joking aside Ford were really good with me again, assigning me the (excellent) tech that I built a relationship with on my first visit, and then did all the warranty work / back end rebuild for me. In fact other than me, he's the only person that's worked on the car since I took delivery.

They even left the new / boxed air filter in the trunk (I forgot to tell them this time about the AEM filter).

Snapped a picture that's probably worth adding in here, must try to get a better one (in daylight, in focus) :

Caught a sand / dust storm ...

I acquired a diff cover (note to cover my arse : of a cover that I found on ebay with an identical failure mode to mine i.e. nothing to do with my warranty claim).

A little investigation seems to back up the theory I had behind my failure i.e. poor assembly rather than abuse, but I haven't sorted all the pictures out yet so I will save that for another post.

Here's the magnets though (at the same mileage as my failure -circa 2.5K of reasonably enthusiastic road miles) :

The old cover is going to get cleaned up and prepped for the M16 bolt conversion :

The machining work will hopefully take place over the Christmas period, and it will include the hole required to run a cooler - but initially that will just be plugged :

OK, so I tried it ...

I didn't suffer from the tick and I'm not easily influenced by placebo, but it defo quietened it down a little, especially noticeable with the bonnet up (my normal routine after a wash is a cold start, lift the bonnet, dry the shuts, close it and drive off).

Defo a long slow burner, but the first piece of my front end project is done.

I didn't like the finish and logo on the big mouth, so it got some sanding work and it's just come back from fresh paint :

Old finish on top, fresh paint on the bottom (same area) :

Next bit, but technically I can't start on this until the 25th as its a Christmas present from Mum & Dad (I will take another photo if they wrap it ) ...

• Strip the powder coat.
• Towing eye mount.
• Active cruise radar mount.
• Threaded holes for loom mounts.
• Maybe, a hidden grill badge mount ...
• Fresh powder.

Then the front can come off so those parts can go in, along with the Ford Performance lower Bullitt grill, and hopefully the PP2 splitter (although I think I can add the PP2 splitter later / without removing the front end ?)

WD

 

[2021 Mach 1]

Random selection of mini updates :

I’ve not got time to do a full detail at the moment, so I decided to split it up into parts and do it on a rota with its regular wash.

First up was the roof, A and C pillars, and the trunk lid and rear fenders :

Then I got the hood, bumper top, headlights, front fenders and wing mirrors clayed, and polished.

I started by hand with the tricky bits first - some staining had started around the hood vents and badges (before on left, after on right) :

Same camera, say day, no editing and only about 20 mins between pictures - the iPhone really struggles with grabber lime …

Very happy with how it turned out, even though the sun disappeared just before the shot, the paints very good for three years old with zero correction :

This bite size process has fitted into my life much better and battery power has helped tremendously. These two items have been a god send :

Allowing me to target and work on ‘small’ areas (i.e. one door at once) without :

• Having to get all the car clean before starting.
• Having to drag all the stuff out of the garage and run cables and hoses around the car (I even run the power washer on soda bottles to save on the hose).
• Having to worry about the weather (doing both the above and then getting rained off).

And yes, it was bad before :

The clay mitt is another great timesaver, especially doing it as part of / on the end of a wash with an extra soapy solution.

Clay still has its place though, you can knife edge the putty to get into these kinds of places :

Which IMHO, just isn’t possible with a clay mitt or cloth with the same precision or without using a lot of force etc

For the guys who’s cars are kept outdoors, have a good look at the edges where the paint meets the seal at the bottom of the door glass and the gaps around the edges of the handles etc - bright colours don’t hide anything

More bits to fit over winter, toe link bearings :

£159 plus postage from a major U.K. supplier.

Or £92.66 from Amazon :

Delivered in less than a week, with no additional fees …

Service, health check & MOT done :

All good, after a last min addition which I added on the forecourt :

Which also fell off on the forecourt just before the journey home

Joking aside Ford were really good with me again, assigning me the (excellent) tech that I built a relationship with on my first visit, and then did all the warranty work / back end rebuild for me. In fact other than me, he's the only person that's worked on the car since I took delivery.

They even left the new / boxed air filter in the trunk (I forgot to tell them this time about the AEM filter).

Snapped a picture that's probably worth adding in here, must try to get a better one (in daylight, in focus) :

Caught a sand / dust storm ...

I acquired a diff cover (note to cover my arse : of a cover that I found on ebay with an identical failure mode to mine i.e. nothing to do with my warranty claim).

A little investigation seems to back up the theory I had behind my failure i.e. poor assembly rather than abuse, but I haven't sorted all the pictures out yet so I will save that for another post.

Here's the magnets though (at the same mileage as my failure -circa 2.5K of reasonably enthusiastic road miles) :

The old cover is going to get cleaned up and prepped for the M16 bolt conversion :

The machining work will hopefully take place over the Christmas period, and it will include the hole required to run a cooler - but initially that will just be plugged :

OK, so I tried it ...

I didn't suffer from the tick and I'm not easily influenced by placebo, but it defo quietened it down a little, especially noticeable with the bonnet up (my normal routine after a wash is a cold start, lift the bonnet, dry the shuts, close it and drive off).

Defo a long slow burner, but the first piece of my front end project is done.

I didn't like the finish and logo on the big mouth, so it got some sanding work and it's just come back from fresh paint :

Old finish on top, fresh paint on the bottom (same area) :

Next bit, but technically I can't start on this until the 25th as its a Christmas present from Mum & Dad (I will take another photo if they wrap it ) ...

• Strip the powder coat.
• Towing eye mount.
• Active cruise radar mount.
• Threaded holes for loom mounts.
• Maybe, a hidden grill badge mount ...
• Fresh powder.

Then the front can come off so those parts can go in, along with the Ford Performance lower Bullitt grill, and hopefully the PP2 splitter (although I think I can add the PP2 splitter later / without removing the front end ?)

WD

The colour really pops, so nice

 

[WD Pro]

I acquired a diff cover (note to cover my arse : of a cover that I found on ebay with an identical failure mode to mine i.e. nothing to do with my warranty claim).

A little investigation seems to back up the theory I had behind my failure i.e. poor assembly rather than abuse, but I haven't sorted all the pictures out yet so I will save that for another post.

Here's the magnets though (at the same mileage as my failure -circa 2.5K of reasonably enthusiastic road miles) :

The old cover is going to get cleaned up and prepped for the M16 bolt conversion :

The machining work will hopefully take place over the Christmas period, and it will include the hole required to run a cooler - but initially that will just be plugged :

WD

Following on from the above, here are some more pictures, and my theory on the failure mode.

The witness in the euro underseal is the first thing that drew my attention (left mount / missing bolt head) :

A closer look, note the vertical wear pattern from the bolt head :

On the picture above, also note the wear on the bush from the bolt shank (bottom edge, closest to the camera).

Here are some more photos of the bush wear from the shank of the bolt :

Now the Ford tech said that the remaining right hand bolt was really tight to remove, and he feared breaking that during the strip down.

This is the right hand thread in the diff cover, remembering that this thread has only had a bolt inserted and removed once, it clearly has a damaged / cross threaded thread form :

Which is really difficult to photo, but very apparent from the other side of the mount :

What I can’t capture on photo, is that the first 2/3rds of the thread, appear to run at a slightly different angle to the last 1/3rd.

Again not easy to capture on a photo, but the broken bolt looks offset in the bore, almost like it’s really being driven skewed into one side of the thread :

To me, these next two are the most telling photos …

Here is the mounting face on the ‘good’ side (even though we know this side still had a suspect thread), note the witness mark where it’s been clamped tight against the subframe bush :

Now compare that to the failed side, that has zero witness to being clamped, AND even has euro underseal overspray on the mating face, even though the underseal is applied after assembly :

It’s very obvious on this comparison :

So my unprofessional armchair conclusion :

• Neither right or left threads were good from the factory.
• The right thread allowed for some clamping force to the mating faces.
• The left thread provided no clamping force to the mating faces.
• No clamping force = all the stress through the shank of the bolt = bolt failure due to fatigue.

I’m open to, and interested in other opinions / theories, so please feel free to chime in with any alternatives

WD

Edit : to fix picture links.

 

[WD Pro]

The next piece of the long term front end project is done

As supplied by Santa (with my other car related Christmas presents) :

I wanted this piece as in order of priority :

• My front crash bar is corroding which is A) visible through the grill on the 2018 facelift and B) is highlighted by the light paint colour.
• Remove a bit of color / add a bit of blackness behind the grill.
• Save a little weight.

The textured powder coat on this item was actually pretty good (way better than the grey on the IRS braces and the black on the front 2 point brace), but it was being stripped anyway as I didn't want to simply cable tie the front wiring loom onto it.

The front loom secures to the standard crash bar with four clips, so I used that spacing and drilled some holes (assisted by my eldest daughter) :

The holes will have stainless threaded inserts added :

It then went off for fresh powder, but I interrupted the process after the acid bath so we (with my daughter assisting) could do some brazing :

After dressing up the braze :

Smoothing all the sharp edges (to help the new powder flow and avoid thin edges) :

We also drilled a 20mm hole in the back to get debris out of it, so it can be hung from the hole for processing, and so I can easily shoot some cavity wax in there before fitting :

I'm not sure yet if I should let the hole vent (it's protected once fitted) or if I should plug it after adding the wax ?

Ref my comment above about this being the best powder coat I have had on any of my Steeda's parts - well it's still a little lacking a little with regards to surface prep ...

There is just the occasional track mark from where the grinder / sander has been run up and down it :

Ready for aqua blasting and coating :

Back from the powdercoaters :

As it will be fitted, with stainless hardware (left over from the rear diff cover) - loom dimension / P clip size courtesy of @Biggsy :

I actually owe a real big thank you, and a favour (or two) to @Biggsy from across the pond

After I provided some high quality (not … ) hand sketches, Warren provided some missing dimensions that I requested, then using them and the Steeda crash bar, I came up with this paper design :

Folded template :

Plan view of the target bolt locations :

Brace in position (ignore the perspective and strange shadows) :

Then with the paper template in position, the outermost / rearmost mounting target sits right in the middle of the adjustment slot :

As does the innermost / forward most target :

I’ve slotted the mount holes so I can allow for a little tolerance with :

• Bolt hole centres of the radar box mount.
• Vertical alignment / rotation (relative to the floor) of the new bracket.
• Rotation (relative to the axles)

Rotation relative to the horizon is adjusted by the standard radar box mount.

So I’m hoping I can consider this side of the crash bar mount finished, and I can now move onto the towing eye mount.

The towing eye mount (if I bother with it at all … ?) should be an easier / quicker design - if I can find someone with a euro / M1 with a bumper cover off the car ...

WD

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