Winter storage

 The time is here for us in the snow belt, when we have to put our fun cars away for the winter.
Driving a supercharged 600+ horsepower Mustang that's equipped with drag-radial tires is fun on dry roads, but when the white stuff starts flying, that's the last kind of car you want to be piloting.


 So in storage it goes. We put them away, hug them one last time and wave bye-bye to them until the spring thaw

  At least that's what WE did before buying the current house, which has a perfect storage feature, a garage. A major feature it had to have when we were looking, a 2-Mustang garage.
  Batteries get hooked up to battery tenders, gas tanks get filled up, gas gets treated with some stabilizer so it doesn't go bad over the winter, and they sit.
  Winter time, as it turns out, is a great time to perform maintenance, modifications, repairs, or whatever else might need to be done.
  Do you have a car you store?

Luxury pick-up trucks?

Mercedes recently announced that they'll be building a pick-up truck soon.
Does the world really need a $100,000 pick-up truck?
Who's gonna buy it? Rich folks that want to look even fancier on the way to Home Depot to pick up a can of paint that they could use a small car for?
Pick-up trucks are already $70,000-80,000 when loaded out with all the options currently being offered.
And those numbers are already insane when you consider that it's a pick-em-up truck, for Pete's sake ... it's meant to carry dirty stuff in the bed, and maybe handle some rough terrain.
But trucks these days have heated steering wheels, cameras all over to help the driver see outside their huge truck, navigation systems, entertainment systems that sound better than some home units, air-conditioned seats, and a whole bunch of other doo-dads to make the rich part with their cash.
What are your thoughts? Comment below!

- Gabe

Road rage

Road rage.
It happens to all of us, in more or less-severe forms.
Maybe we'll just get upset over the way another driver cuts us off and slams on the brakes to make a sudden turn.
Maybe we'll get stuck behind the guy or gal that feels like driving 4 under the limit is perfect, and ignores the growing line of angry drivers behind them, keeping the pace for what feels like endless miles.
That last scenario happened to me just this morning.
I get stuck behind a small SUV for the last 3 miles or so of my commute, growing line of cars behind me, small SUV in front traveling at what feels like a snail's pace.
What makes these people do this?
Is it the need to "police" the world and keep other drivers from speeding?
Is it simply that they're in no rush to get anywhere and they are absolutely oblivious to the line of cars they're holding back?
Whatever it is, it is one of the many driver behaviors that incite road rage in others.
I simply wish that there were more considerate people in the world.
If you see a line of cars behind you, or even one car, pull over for 2 seconds, let them go by, and all your lives will be better for it.
No road rage, no feeling of "I'm running late because of this idiot!", no wishing them bodily harm.
Just everybody going on with their own life, doing their own thing, living happily ever after.
What are your thoughts?

- Gabe.

Manual transmissions ...

Manual transmissions used to be the norm.
These days they're almost impossible to find in most cars, and even trucks.
When my fiancee went shopping for a car back in 2002-2003 she wanted AWD, she wanted a small crossover/wagon-type vehicle, and she wanted one more thing which turned out to be the hardest part of the whole purchase: a manual transmission.
She decided on a 2003 Subaru Forester, a car the was checking off every box on her must-have list.
Her transmission choice ... well, that made it so the dealer had to locate a 5-speed car and have it transferred in, since all their inventory was automatic.
Thirteen years and over 180,000 miles later, she still owns the car, and still loves the fact it's a manual.
Meanwhile, manual transmissions have become even harder to find.
Myself, I blame all the manufacturers for the manual transmission's demise.
They have constantly been offering them only in models meant for fuel economy, taking out or not offering high-end options in the models with the third pedal.
Want navigation system? Sorry, you'll have to step up to the blah-blah-blah model which is auto-only.
Want a fancy stereo? Same thing.
Personally, I want all the toys, but I also want that all-important and fun-inducing third pedal.
Thoughts?
Comments?

- Gabe.

Miles or smiles?

Miles per gallon?
Yes, I care about that, somewhat.
After all, it can get expensive to run a car that is horribly inefficient.
But combining efficiency with excellent performance can be quite a balancing act.
My '13 Mustang, in its current state, gets 20 mpg when cruising on the highway, even more if I could keep myself from going faster than I should, and 20mpg is actually efficient when considering that the car's now producing approximately 700 horsepower.
Conversely, introducing the gas pedal to the floor under it produces rapid forward propulsion, leaving me with a huge smile on my face.
And that bring me to the "smiles per gallon" part.
A car's ability to produce lots of smiles per gallon ... now that's a rating that should be on every window sticker.

More Powah!

When is 650 horsepower not all that impressive?
When you can have 700+
And that's exactly what I did to my Mustang last week.
Wednesday morning I installed a new slightly smaller pulley on the supercharger.

I then went to a shop in Loudon NH to get the computer re-tuned:

 And re-tune they did!
I went from approximately 570 rear-wheel horsepower (about 655 crankshaft-horsepower) to over 600 at the wheels!
608 to be exact.
Which translates to 700-715 crank horsepower (the power the engine is producing at its crankshaft before driveline loss is taken into account)
And the car is now putting down over 500 ft-lbs of torque to the tires from 3800-5800 RPM.
That's quite a FLAT torque curve:

And that's some serious power increase, power that can be easily felt, especially in the off-the-line torque.
Torque increase over the previous set-up?
47 ft-lbs.
Yup, almost 50 ft-lbs more than the prior pulley/tune combo.
I'd say I'm happy with that!
Oh, and a video of the dyno run:

Brake fluid flushing

Most of us don't ever think about our car's brake fluid.
Even when we have a brake job done or if we happen to be handy enough to do it ourselves.
Replace pads and resurface or replace rotors, clean & lube caliper slides, slap it together and move on.
Meanwhile, the blood of the braking system gets ignored.
I just got done flushing 4-year old fluid in my '13 Mustang, and I was surprised how dark and cloudy it was.
The thought to flush it came after a recent autocross event where I overheated the fluid, and had smoke coming from the brakes.
During the course of those 4 years that the fluid has been working, it got hot, it got cold, it carried away dirt and other contaminants that might have entered the system, and it got water in it from the moisture in the air.
So over time it loses its efficiency, it gets dirt- and water-contaminated, and when pressed hard to perform, it fails.
So, out it went, a simple procedure.
New fluid going in, Motul RBF600:

Jacked up the car, removed the wheels, pumped out as much of the old fluid as I could out of the underhood reservoir, topped it off with the new fluid, and asked my lovely fiancee to be the pedal pusher inside the car while I was handling the bleeder screws at the calipers.
Roughly 1 hour including jacking up the car, and the brake fluid was fresh, nice and firm brake pedal, ready for a year of whatever I might throw at it.
This is some of the old fluid, cloudy and dark:

In the master cylinder, old then new fluids:

Also, a few months ago I installed a separate reservoir for the clutch fluid, and at the time I topped off that fluid using new Amsoil DOT4 fluid.
Yesterday I was shocked how dark that fluid looked, and since there's no easy way to flush that system, I sucked out the fluid out of the reservoir and topped it off with the same fresh Motul RBF600 fluid that I used for the brakes.
This is a picture of the clutch fluid reservoir showing the difference between the old dark fluid and the fresh stuff:

So next time you're having brake work done or scheduling some work for the car, remember your brake fluid, and if it's been more than 3 years since the last flush, or if you don't remember ever having it done, schedule it!

- Gabe.

Updates on my Mustang

I recently installed a BMR Watts Link in my '13 Mustang GT.
Well, a couple hundred miles and an autocross event later, I can honestly say that I love it.
It added traction when cornering/turning, even when accelerating from a stop and turning.
And it seems to have reduced body roll somewhat.
It also seems to have changed the rear-end feel of the car a bit over bumps, it's a bit cushier but firm.

Also, last Saturday my fiancee and I took part in an autocross event.

A couple of pictures of us in our cars during the event, me in my gray '13 GT and my fiancee in her '08 GT500:

During the last couple of runs, I managed to overheat the brake fluid, my blower belt decided to start melting onto the pulleys, the right rear brake started smoking, and with all that going on I decided to skip the last run of the day, let the car cool off and be able to drive it home instead of breaking something and having to tow it.
So, new belts were ordered and yesterday I started working on the car.
Got the blower belt replaced with the new belt I had already ordered a few weeks ago (a fun project since a large aluminum tensioner bracket has to be removed), and this was made much easier by the fact that I was replacing the coolant tanks with newly hydro-dipped ones.
Also got the thermostat replaced with a new 170-degree Reische unit that I've had for over a year.
Stopped about half-done since the shipment with the new main serpentine belt, its tensioner, and a new idler pulley, didn't show up yesterday like it was supposed to.
Finished yesterday's work by installing the new hydrodipped engine coolant tank, and today will hopefully button it up, top off the coolant systems, and re-start it.
Still need to flush the brake fluid, and I have Amsoil DOT4 brake fluid here for that service.

The new hydro-dipped coolant tanks I picked up yesterday from the dipper:

 Pictures from yesterday's work:

The alternator/front serpentine belt, original OEM part at the current 37k miles, being replaced mostly because it has to be removed anyway for the blower belt to be replaced:

The old and the new blower belts. The old blower belt was starting to show a really odd wear on half of it, and it was sticky, this was the half that was leaving gummy residue onto the pulleys:

The belts removed, the top silver idler pulley clearly shows the belt residue that the blower belt was leaving on it:

Pulleys cleaned and new blower belt routed, aluminum tensioner bracket reinstalled and torqued to 25 Nm (approx 222 in-lbs):

Thermostat-replacement. This caused a bunch of fluid to leak out, almost no way to have it not do that because of where the t-stat is located. I had a pan under the car that caught most of it.

The factory 180-degree thermostat:

And the factory t-stat next to the new 170-degree Reische t-stat:

The way it looked at the end of the day yesterday, with the engine coolant tank installed and connected, but not re-filled yet, just in case I have to take it apart again for some reason:

Shipment with the new main serpentine belt, the new tensioner for that belt, and a new OEM idler pulley should be here today, it's currently showing "out for delivery".
Can't wait to get it re-started!
Once I know she's running well again, I have a new smaller supercharger pulley waiting to be installed, in my quest to get closer to 600 rear-wheel horsepower.

Autocross

Autocross.
What is it? Well, it's a form of racing. It's usually set up on airport runways, usually at airports that are no longer actual airports, old military bases, whatever area with a large amount of pavement where a coned course can be laid out for cars to run on.
The one I've gone to several times now is an out-of-service military base in Ayer, MA, and it has autocross events almost every weekend, coordinated by several different car clubs.
My fiancee and I have done the last 3 events together, me running my '13 Mustang GT, and her running her '08 Mustang GT500.
This Saturday (2 days from now) we have our next event scheduled, and unlike most of our prior events, it's looking like it might actually not rain!
We're both looking forward to it, it's a great way to learn your car, what it can do, and what you can do with it before getting into trouble.
In the event of a spin-out, there are no walls or other obstacles to hit, you just spin, get off course immediately if you can or get back under way immediately if you can, whichever option prevents less risk to the course workers around or the next car coming up behind you.
Here's a video of me in my Mustang running the course. The video is from 2014, and the occasional whine you can hear is the supercharger screaming as I'm laying into the throttle.

Another video, this was taken by somebody on the course, my first autocross event, in the rain:

And last but certainly not least, my fiancee launching her Shelby at one of the events:

My first car

My first car.
It was a 1984 Ford LTD, one of the smaller midsize LTD's not the full-size cop-car LTD.
Eight years old when I got it, it had a 3.8L V6 and rear-wheel-drive, and on the test-drive it had 45,412 miles on it.
Yes, I still remember the exact mileage on it, even though that was about 25 years ago.
As a young new driver with a 400-lb right foot, I beat the living hell out of that car for the next 3 years, while at the same time improving things on it, doing some of my own repairs, putting bigger tires on the rear wheels, and changing out the radio and speakers.
At one point the car had a stereo in it that included a CD player (in 1992 CD players were high tech, lol), 3 amplifiers, 2 12" subwoofers, and other upgraded speakers, a system that could deliver peaks of almost 2,000 watts.
It was a sound system on wheels, it was a car with 3 different shades of gray on its body panels, it was the car that got me to love Ford cars and rear-wheel drive.
I owned it for 3 years and put almost 40,000 miles on it, trading it in with about 83,000 miles on it.
Some pictures of it:

There's a good chance I may have caused some of those marks in the sand:

 Hood up, this was checking the fluids on the way up to NH for a 2-day trip with a friend:

And yes, being a young kid I thought that bumper sticker would be funny:

 

The local Police didn't.

2017 Ford Super Duty trucks - 925 ft-lbs of torque!!

Ford recently announced that their 2017 line of Super Duty pick-up trucks will be available with a turbodiesel V8 engine that will deliver 440 horsepower and 925 ft-lbs of torque.
Nine Hundred and twenty five foot-pounds of torque.
Nine hundred.
And twenty five.
Just think about that for a second.
That's about THREE times what a heavy duty diesel pickup truck was offering about 15 years ago, including the highly-regarded 7.3L that International used to build for Ford up until about 2003 when it was replaced by the 6.0L
And with that huge new power comes upgraded frames, upgraded transmissions, and of course, upgraded tow ratings.
How much of a tow rating?
Well, how does 32,500 lbs sound?
Cuz it certainly sounds like a LOT to me.
And while that huge number will probably only be offered by the F-450 in one particular short-cab/whatever bed/axle configuration, it's gonna be THE number we'll hear a lot when Ford starts advertising the new truck.
The 2017 Super Duty also has a new aluminum body and improved passenger comfort and infotainment options.
Best heavy-duty truck ever?
Certainly looks like it.
Yes, I want one. With the diesel of course.

2015+ Mustang GT350 and GT350R

A factory-offered Mustang with 526 horsepower and a redline of 8,250 RPM?
Yes please, sign me up!
I've had the pleasure of seeing a few of these by now, and heard their sweet-sounding exhaust.
It's left me wanting one, something that unfortunately can't happen since I'm nowhere near able to afford the $60k+ price tag for one.
But that doesn't stop me from dreaming about one.
I mean, 526 horsepower with no turbos, superchargers, nitrous, or other power adder.
Just a healthy V8, the way God intended it!
And a V8 with a much talked about flat-plane crankshaft, something that certainly helps deliver that lofty engine redline, and something that also delivers that amazing engine sound.
The car has been tested over and over by every car magazine out there, they all love it.
It's a track machine, it eats up corners like no Mustang that's ever come before it, and especially so the "R" model, with it's light carbon-fiber wheels, tweaked suspension and aero.
So, I want one.
What are your thoughts on it?

Electric or gas?

Electric cars have now been around a while.
As a motorsports enthusiast, I don't think I'll ever own one.
Personally, I can't see how an electric car will ever be able to duplicate or replace the pure thrills a proper V8 gas (or turbodiesel) engine can deliver.
Electric can certainly have its use in more pedestrian vehicles, your local city commuter car or even some industrial/commercial uses.
But for me, I don't see how they'll ever deliver the sensations that a conventional powertrain provide.
What are your thoughts?

BMR Watts Link install

Latest improvement to my Mustang was one for the suspension.
Last year I bought two BMR Watts Links, one for my Mustang, one for my fiancee's.
A few days ago I finally installed one of them, in my car.
It's quite a beefy-looking and -feeling item, every part showing high quality in its construction:

 

It took me a few hours to get it done, but I did it, and I'm sure the second one will go smoother and quicker.
I've only had a chance to drive the car for about a mile after the install, so I don't have a lot to say about how it feels, but that mile left me looking forward to many more, and certainly looking forward to the autocross event at the end of the month.

Here it is all installed:

For those of you that don't know what a Watts Link does, it replaces the factory-installed Panhard bar and Panhard bar brace, and it provides a much better way to locate and center the rear axle, and it provides added traction at the back of the car during extreme cornering.

More than one Mustang in the stable

My '13 Mustang GT might be a fun car, but I'm happy to say it's not the only pony in the stable.
It has a sibling, a 2008 Mustang GT500.
It's not my car, but they do share a garage.
My lovely fiancee Lisa gets to call that one hers.
It's also modified, has suspension and powertrain improvements, its engine currently delivering 643 rear-wheel HP and 608 rear-wheel TQ, numbers which translate to approx 755-774 hp and 700-715 ft-lbs of torque produced by the engine, before driveline loss of 13-15%
It also sees autocross tracks, as we've both attended 3 events in the last 2 years, and have another one scheduled at the end of this month.
Here she is wearing its fancy-shmancy Shelby Alcoa wheels:

During autocross events those lovely wheels come off and I get to install its factory wheels, which are equipped with factory-size front Goodyear tires and Nitto NT555R 305/40/18 rear tires.

Gabe's Garage

Welcome to Gabe's Garage, a blog about car stuff, car talk, automotive news and reviews
Check back often as I will be updating this frequently, and you just never know what I might come up with!
For now, some info about the toy in my garage.
It's a 2013 Ford Mustang GT, a fun car that I work on myself, have done most of the work on it myself and a car that I drive whenever the weather agrees. A car that I have raced and that I autocross at least a couple of times a year, as life schedule permits.
This is how it currently looks, with the current set of wheels on it, along with numerous other appearance and functional modifications/improvements:

The car has a 2.3L Whipple supercharger on it, currently putting out about 570 hp to the rear tires, and about 470 rear-wheel torque.
Those rear-wheel numbers translate to about 655-670 hp and about 540-550 ft-lbs of torque that the engine is actually producing before the driveline loss is taken into account.
That loss is typically 13-15% on one of these cars, with the manual transmission that this one is equipped with.
Here is the current view under the hood, an always-changing look, especially since I started having parts hydro-dipped with the new fiery skull pattern:

The car has been down the 1/4-mile track several times, but all those runs were before the supercharger was installed.
At that time it was tuned by a well-known company, but a company that is known for its safe-but-not-super-strong tunes.
The only other performance modification the car had at the time was an aftermarket air intake system, an Airaid "Race" set-up.
The car was delivering 390 rear-wheel HP at the time, and the best 1/4-mile time I could do with it was a 12.8 sec @ 111mph.
These days the car is estimated to be good for low 11-second times.
I will hopefully find out, eventually.