Pit Stop for your High Performance Ambitions!

After just over a year and 14,000 miles, it was time for some new tires on the Pony. The car came with Pirelli P Zero tires which I liked as long as it was hot out or the tires were hot. In the PNW that isn’t very often for a daily driver. I recently put some Michelin PILOT SPORT A/S 3+ tires on a 2015 Mustang GT LE 50 Year that we had installed a Whipple Super Charger sporting 725 horsepower. I really liked the way they hook up even in the rain. So far I have not been disappointed! They have great traction wet or dry even when they are cold. They are less noisy even though a lot of the reviews claimed they were loud.

So, here is a mini tutorial on using Line Lock and Launch Control on the newer Mustangs that have the Performance Package. I have had people ask how to use this feature so I decided to slay the old tires in the process of making these videos. *

Here is a short video on selecting the Line Lock through the Track Apps.
A couple of things to note on the Line Lock that I have noticed and other people have mentioned. The first is when initializing the Line Lock it will sometimes fail and a message pops up and says to refer to the Owners Manual. I have found that it is usually from not pressing the brake pedal firmly enough. The second is you don’t have to wait the full 15 seconds before releasing the Line Lock. Just press the “OK” button and it will release.

Here is a short video on selecting the Launch Control through the Track Apps.
Something to note on the Launch Control is after setting it up, if you rev the engine without flooring it (quickly depressing the throttle) it will rev past the limit set. The programming is expecting a quick full throttle actuation.

* The main video was made using a DJI Mavic Pro, a GoPro Hero 4 and a GoPro Hero 5. I used Final Cut Pro to combine the footage. The in car videos were filmed using my iPhone 7 Plus.

Click for full size.

The 2005 Ford GT has proven itself to be a classic muscle car and an exotic sports car. Great handling, quick acceleration and great top speed just as delivered. One of the great things about this car is Ford designed it to be an easy car to personalize and work on for the car enthusiast. The first thing many owners like to do is modify the exhaust since this car is very quiet at idle and low RPMs. And, we are more than happy to oblige.

We had the pleasure of doing some service work and making a modification to the exhaust on this beautiful low mile Ford GT.
On this car we are going to take off the stock muffler and in it’s place install an ACCUFAB X-Pipe. The nice thing about this modification is we have found it to have a great sound at idle and the lower rpm range without being obnoxious. It will make some noise on a hard acceleration though! Also, it doesn’t drone or cause discomfort inside the cockpit while driving.

In the following photo you can see the stock tailpipes and through the lower mesh panel you can see the rear part of the stock muffler. This muffler is huge. It is also a fairly heavy muffler. It weighs in at 54 pounds!

Click for full size.

On these beautiful cars we always tape off the tail with blue painters tape and then remove the “Clam shell” as the Ford Engineers used to call it. This makes for easy access and less chance of any damage. We then remove the lower ground effects and set that out of the way.




With the Clam shell off and the air filter housing removed you can see just how big the stock muffler is.
Accufab really does nice work. They have lots of great products from Throttle Bodies to exhaust for lots of different brands of cars and trucks. Check out the detail on the following images.

Click for full size.

Now we prep the Cat outlets for some new gaskets and the Accufab X-Pipe.

Once it is on we center up the X-Pipe outlets and torque it down.

Now it’s time to install the Clam shell and ground effects.

Click for full size.

Not only does it sound great, but looks great. Below you will see the before and after sound levels from the stock muffler and X-Pipe. These readings are from the car being stationary and revving to 5,000 rpm. As you can see it is louder, but not obnoxious. Where you really notice the difference is at idle and when it accelerates away. It sounds awesome! I will upload the videos with the audio soon.

I would like to give a special thanks to Blake and his guys at Northwest Auto Salon in Alderwood/Lynwood for recommending us to do this work. They are very skilled at their craft and make these (or any vehicle) look fantastic. In fact, they make them so shiny that it is hard to take pictures without having your reflection in the shots! You can check them out at www.northwestautosalon.com
We have used Accufab Racing components on quite a few Ford GT cars and on Mustangs as well and have never been disappointed. Check them out at www.accufab.com !
Note: If you want to do modifications from mild to wild, we can do it. Roland “Buff” does just about any mod you’d like(he even let’s me help sometimes). Lower it, bag it, supercharge it, lift it, we do it!