Upgrades That Should Have Been OEM…

[TentacleKitty]

I have picked up a wealth of information on this site, some of it interesting that does not and will not pertain to me, but some very important, valuable information that will protect my investment!
I am referring to aftermarket upgrade parts that should have probably been part of the factory build…such as the two plastic clutch fluid lines, the plastic reverse lockout collar on the manual shifter, the stiff clutch pedal spring (this may be more of a preference than a necessity), the yellow plastic oil drain plug that can break.
Are there any that I am not aware of existing? I am familiar with the body-mounted shifter, I don’t plan on driving it hard so I should be okay, but if the situation presents itself I will likely have an MGW shifter installed.
Any suggestions of parts upgrades to avoid catastrophic failure would be appreciated. Thank you.

With my recent oil change I installed a UPR oil plug. Felt better about this than the yellow plastic factory plug.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z6SDC1S

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[Bullittproof]

With my recent oil change I installed a UPR oil plug. Felt better about this than the yellow plastic factory plug.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z6SDC1S

I ordered this one, my fear is that even if the yellow OEM plug re-installs after an oil change, was it damaged and subject to fail before it is removed for the next oil change? For $50 it is not worth taking the chance.

 

[Tib]

For me there are a few;

Clutch Assist Spring and Perch Upgrade to the 35 lb/in Spring
Hydraulic Hood Struts
Truck Pop Struts
Shifter Base Bushing / Support
Interior LED Lights

Pick your favorite brand but those would be the quick list of 5.

 

[s2ms]

Rev matching on the GT350....

 

[DougS550]

The lower K Brace and the Upper Cowl Bracing really seemed to firm up the front of my 2020. Considering ordering the same for the 2022….

Hell, I would have been happy if Ford Didn't Delete the Glove Box and A10 Shifter Plate lights lol

 

[Angrey]

1) Hood struts. Even much cheaper vehicles have them. Shame on Ford.

2) "Base" level speakers are honestly the worse speakers Ford could purchase and install. I'm not exaggerating. If someone said "go find me some cheaper speakers than these" it's impossible. Ford should have left them out and simply discounted the vehicle $21.85 and told the owner to apply it toward a decent set of aftermarket speakers at retail.

3) OE lugnuts are garbage. Do your own search. Toss them in the trash and buy decent.

4) Traction control. MOTEC is making a pretty penny right now offering sophisticated traction control that replicates what the other OE's are offering (on things like the Tesla) and guess what, it doesn't involve any additional physical sensory inputs. It's pure tune/management. The Ford traction control system is downright terrible and in some ways unsafe. It's so bad, most people turn it off (making it indirectly unsafe). It's reactive (rather than proactive) so it's harsh and drastic and reacts improperly in certain situations. Instead of reacting with a sledge hammer, the MOTEC system anticipates where you are in the load/torque/rpm/gear/throttle matrix and uses a graduated response (cut timing, then throttle angle, then cylinder fire) that makes for a true traction control strategy rather than a simple binary (on/off) when sensing wheel slip. It's pretty sad that MOTEC's programmers and engineer's can use the same set of senor inputs and physical features and come out with a TC system that's light years apart from Ford.

5) Remote oil filter. Woulda cost them less than $50 per vehicle if they did it wholesale from the factory. Cost goes down even further if you eliminate the trap door assembly. Imagine having mess free filter changes in a conveniently accessible location. I bet most people would have gladly paid $50 more to spare themselves the typical headaches of methods/schemes to reduce oil drip from the canted filter orientation beneath the motor. Ford isn't alone here.

6) Better pinch points (or jacking rails). The underside of the car and the factory points for lifting are pretty minimal. Anyone who's going under their car often would benefit from better factory provisions for jacking the car.

7) Rear seat delete. Why on EARTH is this an additive/cost UPGRADE? Wouldn't you think that ditching the woeful rear seats would be at least a cost neutral option for Mustang owners? Instead you get to trash or sell a bunch of useless components at a steep discount. For many Mustang owners, the rear seats are useless. After the US government determined Gitmo and Abu Ghraib were a no no, putting a normal sized human in the rear seat area should be viewed as the same level of torture.

8) The Grenade. Seriously? I realize under hood aesthetics aren't high on many car owner's priorities, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Ford would have simply spent the $0.65 per car and either painted the overflow tank (providing a sight strip) or added a simple molded poly cover? Again, very simple and extremely low cost.

 

[Blufc3s]

As mentioned above, jacking rails

 

[kellyreno]

1) Hood struts. Even much cheaper vehicles have them. Shame on Ford.

2) "Base" level speakers are honestly the worse speakers Ford could purchase and install. I'm not exaggerating. If someone said "go find me some cheaper speakers than these" it's impossible. Ford should have left them out and simply discounted the vehicle $21.85 and told the owner to apply it toward a decent set of aftermarket speakers at retail.

3) OE lugnuts are garbage. Do your own search. Toss them in the trash and buy decent.

4) Traction control. MOTEC is making a pretty penny right now offering sophisticated traction control that replicates what the other OE's are offering (on things like the Tesla) and guess what, it doesn't involve any additional physical sensory inputs. It's pure tune/management. The Ford traction control system is downright terrible and in some ways unsafe. It's so bad, most people turn it off (making it indirectly unsafe). It's reactive (rather than proactive) so it's harsh and drastic and reacts improperly in certain situations. Instead of reacting with a sledge hammer, the MOTEC system anticipates where you are in the load/torque/rpm/gear/throttle matrix and uses a graduated response (cut timing, then throttle angle, then cylinder fire) that makes for a true traction control strategy rather than a simple binary (on/off) when sensing wheel slip. It's pretty sad that MOTEC's programmers and engineer's can use the same set of senor inputs and physical features and come out with a TC system that's light years apart from Ford.

5) Remote oil filter. Woulda cost them less than $50 per vehicle if they did it wholesale from the factory. Cost goes down even further if you eliminate the trap door assembly. Imagine having mess free filter changes in a conveniently accessible location. I bet most people would have gladly paid $50 more to spare themselves the typical headaches of methods/schemes to reduce oil drip from the canted filter orientation beneath the motor. Ford isn't alone here.

6) Better pinch points (or jacking rails). The underside of the car and the factory points for lifting are pretty minimal. Anyone who's going under their car often would benefit from better factory provisions for jacking the car.

7) Rear seat delete. Why on EARTH is this an additive/cost UPGRADE? Wouldn't you think that ditching the woeful rear seats would be at least a cost neutral option for Mustang owners? Instead you get to trash or sell a bunch of useless components at a steep discount. For many Mustang owners, the rear seats are useless. After the US government determined Gitmo and Abu Ghraib were a no no, putting a normal sized human in the rear seat area should be viewed as the same level of torture.

8) The Grenade. Seriously? I realize under hood aesthetics aren't high on many car owner's priorities, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Ford would have simply spent the $0.65 per car and either painted the overflow tank (providing a sight strip) or added a simple molded poly cover? Again, very simple and extremely low cost.

Agree on struts,speakers,oil filter(keeps me from doing it myself)and rear seat. What up with the lug nuts? How can Ford screw up lug nuts?

 

[Angrey]

Agree on struts,speakers,oil filter(keeps me from doing it myself)and rear seat. What up with the lug nuts? How can Ford screw up lug nuts?

2 piece lug nut = some engineer who never picked up a wrench in their life thought it would be a good idea but in reality it's just dumb. It provides no solution to a problem that never existed.

Ford Lug Nuts From Dismissed Lawsuit Still Pose Problems (fordauthority.com)

 

[speedknot]

2 piece lug nut = some engineer who never picked up a wrench in their life thought it would be a good idea but in reality it's just dumb. It provides no solution to a problem that never existed.

Ford Lug Nuts From Dismissed Lawsuit Still Pose Problems (fordauthority.com)

They said the lugs were used up to 2015, but my 2019 had the 2 piece lug nuts. They’re gone now. I didn’t know they existed till I had to do a roadside tire swap on my daughters Camry. The factory wrench didn’t fit. I thought the previous owner put different lug nuts on it,, but it turned out that the OEM nuts swelled. I bought Gorilla lug nuts for her car and mine. Deez nuts are solid.

 

[Phakdat]

The lug nuts need to be replaced ASAP with ones that wont strip from the wrench.

And I thought I was to be blamed on not being careful when swapping out wheels. Half of my lug nuts now have to use 22mm socket other than 21mm, lol.
Can anyone recommend a good quality replacement of those crap?

 

[Robottrainer]

I have picked up a wealth of information on this site, some of it interesting that does not and will not pertain to me, but some very important, valuable information that will protect my investment!
I am referring to aftermarket upgrade parts that should have probably been part of the factory build…such as the two plastic clutch fluid lines, the plastic reverse lockout collar on the manual shifter, the stiff clutch pedal spring (this may be more of a preference than a necessity), the yellow plastic oil drain plug that can break.
Are there any that I am not aware of existing? I am familiar with the body-mounted shifter, I don’t plan on driving it hard so I should be okay, but if the situation presents itself I will likely have an MGW shifter installed.
Any suggestions of parts upgrades to avoid catastrophic failure would be appreciated. Thank you.

Forged internals, billet oil pump and timing gears, get rid of the cheesy rubber suspension bushings, lock the rear cradle, one piece drive shaft, proper rear brembo caliper

 

[StangTime]

And I thought I was to be blamed on not being careful when swapping out wheels. Half of my lug nuts now have to use 22mm socket other than 21mm, lol.
Can anyone recommend a good quality replacement of those crap?

I just got a set of Gorilla lug nuts from fleabay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/400490952507
The same set everybody recommends.

 

[Angrey]

Forged internals, billet oil pump and timing gears, get rid of the cheesy rubber suspension bushings, lock the rear cradle, one piece drive shaft, proper rear brembo caliper

I read somewhere that the cost difference between cast and forged rods and pistons for OEM's was pretty trivial when considering wholesale. It came out to like $8/cylinder difference, which I'm quite certain most people would gladly pay $64 extra (with whatever markups Ford wants to tack on) to have forged components from the get go.

 

[Arknsawchuck]

Regarding the rear suspension, are these issues while launching or ‘taking a Sunday drive’?

Not that I’ve ever experienced. The only time I’ve had wheel hop was on a prepared drag strip. I’ve never had issues on a road course, auto cross or on the street.

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