New Gt Lacking Performance - Any Ideas ?


JOHN DISALVATORE

GT Owner
Mar 13, 2006
12
POTOMAC MARYLAND
WOULD YOUR CAR LIGHT THE TIRES IN ANY GEAR OUTHR THAN FIRST. I REALLY DON'T WANT THOSE MONKEYS MESSIN WITH IT.




NASTYGT said:
Sounds Like There Is A Problem . I Wiped Out My First Set Of Rears In Only 3000 Miles . My Car New Had 15psi Maybe Air Intake Problem Like A Bad Filter Or Two. Back To The Dealer If You Can Find One Willing To Work On It.
 

JOHN DISALVATORE

GT Owner
Mar 13, 2006
12
POTOMAC MARYLAND
IT WAS A 2.23 60'. WAS MY FIRST TIME IN THIS CAR. STILL EVEN IF I CAN GET IT TO 2.0 NEXT TIME THAT WILL PUT ME AT 12.32 ET - STILL NOT GOOD. THE MPH WAS 122 AND THAT SHOWS THE HP THE ENGINE IS PUTTING OUT. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IMPROVEMENTS (CHANGES) ARE PROVEN TO INCREASE PERFORMANCE.




DBK said:
Do you have your timeslip? Look at the 60 ft and that will tell you alot. If it's anything above 2.2 you have your answer immediately on the poor performance.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
John, I am not very good at performance driving, but hope to improve someday. I just got my GT on Sunday.

In the past I went to the track an old Vette. I drag race once in my area at Sears Point. But the wait turned me off. I was there for 3 hours to get one run down the 1/4. I prefer road racing track days. There I get more track time, about two or three 15-20 mins session per day. I have done road courses at Laguna Seca, Sear Point and Thunder Hill all in CA.

My limited experience leads me to believe the stock suspension and tires are not good. I sticky set of tires makes all of the difference in the world to a high powered cars for both drag racing and cornering on a road course. Of course the type of tire is different for the two types of racing. The suspension setup with differ too. For drag racing you want to minimize rolling resistance and maximize rear wheel traction. So you want about 0 camber and 0 toe when the wheels are under power. For road course the settings will have to be tuned for the track and your style of driving. One would trade off rolling resistance for bettering cornering and braking for example.

BlackICE
 

JOHN DISALVATORE

GT Owner
Mar 13, 2006
12
POTOMAC MARYLAND
I AM REALISTIC - 12.52 @ 122 IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS CAR. SOMETHING I THINK IS NOT RIGHT. I'M A PERFECTIONIST WITH PERFORMANCE. THE CAR IS GREAT. GOOD TO SEE AMERICANS CAN DO IT IF THEY WANT TO. I CALLED THE GT HELP LINE. WHAT A JOKE. ANY 10 YEAR OLD COULD HAVE BEEN MORE HELP. I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEE IF THEY COULD FIND ME A FORD DEALER THAT HAD ANY KIND OF CLUE ON WHERE THE ENGINE IS LOCATED. NO LUCK WHATSOEVER. I RACED AN ALCOHOL DRAGSTER FOR TEN YEARS THAT HAD A 60' TIME AROUND 1 SECOND. IT WAS NICE BUT A LOT OF WORK.




barondw said:
John

The car is quick but not the fastest car made. Thus are your expectations too high? The car is approximately a 11.8-12.0 second quarter mile car. Is this what you expected or did you believe it would beat just about anything. The Carrera GT and Saleen are substantially quicker for example but much more money.

Dave
 

satx

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2005
197
Dana Point
JOHN DISALVATORE said:
I AM REALISTIC - 12.52 @ 122 IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS CAR. SOMETHING I THINK IS NOT RIGHT. I'M A PERFECTIONIST WITH PERFORMANCE. THE CAR IS GREAT. GOOD TO SEE AMERICANS CAN DO IT IF THEY WANT TO. I CALLED THE GT HELP LINE. WHAT A JOKE. ANY 10 YEAR OLD COULD HAVE BEEN MORE HELP. I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEE IF THEY COULD FIND ME A FORD DEALER THAT HAD ANY KIND OF CLUE ON WHERE THE ENGINE IS LOCATED. NO LUCK WHATSOEVER. I RACED AN ALCOHOL DRAGSTER FOR TEN YEARS THAT HAD A 60' TIME AROUND 1 SECOND. IT WAS NICE BUT A LOT OF WORK.

two things

#1. TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK!!! :thumbsup

#2. A mid engined car with fat meats out back shoud 60' very well. Knocking your '60 down to say 1.8 will reduce your ET by about .75 which will be ~ 11.75.

From your post it sounds as if you are bogging the car at the line. This is probably why your trap is off so much. Try being more aggressive at the launch. Even if you completely blow the tires off at the start, you should at least see what kind of power your car is making by looking at the trap.

So my recipe is.....

Dump the clutch at ~3000 RPM and floor it immediately. Shift the car as close to red-line and as quickly as you can. If this does not produce trap speeds of 125+ you are down on power.
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Every reduction of .1 in your 60ft is generally worth at least .2 for your ET. Get a 1.9 or 1.8, which is completley plausible and has been done by several people on here, and your 12.5 could be an 11.8. The 122 could be a number of things. What was the DA? If the DA is high, you could lose a number of mph.



JOHN DISALVATORE said:
IT WAS A 2.23 60'. WAS MY FIRST TIME IN THIS CAR. STILL EVEN IF I CAN GET IT TO 2.0 NEXT TIME THAT WILL PUT ME AT 12.32 ET - STILL NOT GOOD. THE MPH WAS 122 AND THAT SHOWS THE HP THE ENGINE IS PUTTING OUT. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IMPROVEMENTS (CHANGES) ARE PROVEN TO INCREASE PERFORMANCE.
 

saber

GT Owner
Sep 25, 2005
153
NYC
satx said:
two things

#1. TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK!!! :thumbsup

#2. A mid engined car with fat meats out back shoud 60' very well. Knocking your '60 down to say 1.8 will reduce your ET by about .75 which will be ~ 11.75.

From your post it sounds as if you are bogging the car at the line. This is probably why your trap is off so much. Try being more aggressive at the launch. Even if you completely blow the tires off at the start, you should at least see what kind of power your car is making by looking at the trap.

So my recipe is.....

Dump the clutch at ~3000 RPM and floor it immediately. Shift the car as close to red-line and as quickly as you can. If this does not produce trap speeds of 125+ you are down on power.

I have been at the track twice and I could not floor it immediately even after only a rpm 2,500 launch. You need to easy into it to avoid traction problems, at least I did. Even with the easy launches and shifts I never went above 11.8 at 128. I think you need to have your GT serviced.
 

SLF360

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
John,

I have an idea here. Check the bumper ! Maybe they delivered you a 'for Canada' car ? :biggrin
Advantage is you can tow a caravan with it in that case... To Florida ! :biggrin :biggrin
 

FrankBarba

Permanent Vacation
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 16, 2005
544
Harrisburg, PA
John D....See the post under GT Racing....GT 10.44
 

JOHN DISALVATORE

GT Owner
Mar 13, 2006
12
POTOMAC MARYLAND
BlackICE,I hear what you are saying. I like the road courses also. Went to the BMW Performance driving School last summer in S.C. and it was great. We drove all the M Series for 2 full days as hard as we could on a dozen different tracks including a day at Michelin's tracks. Back to the GT. Several suggestions have come in that are small changes that may make a very small difference but I think my problen is bigger than that. I guess I was looking to see if there was a common problem others had similar to mine. Hopeing it would get me to the fix a little quicker. Before I hit the road courses I just want the performance as close to 100% as possible going on a straight line. Will work on the turns after I get that fixed. I have a performance Benz and that car came alive after 2,000 miles. That really surprised me. Maybe I have to be patient. Congrats on your new GT. It really is a fun car too. What color did you get? Also what options? I'm thinking about the new HP Exhaust System. Keep in touch.









BlackICE said:
John, I am not very good at performance driving, but hope to improve someday. I just got my GT on Sunday.

In the past I went to the track an old Vette. I drag race once in my area at Sears Point. But the wait turned me off. I was there for 3 hours to get one run down the 1/4. I prefer road racing track days. There I get more track time, about two or three 15-20 mins session per day. I have done road courses at Laguna Seca, Sear Point and Thunder Hill all in CA.

My limited experience leads me to believe the stock suspension and tires are not good. I sticky set of tires makes all of the difference in the world to a high powered cars for both drag racing and cornering on a road course. Of course the type of tire is different for the two types of racing. The suspension setup with differ too. For drag racing you want to minimize rolling resistance and maximize rear wheel traction. So you want about 0 camber and 0 toe when the wheels are under power. For road course the settings will have to be tuned for the track and your style of driving. One would trade off rolling resistance for bettering cornering and braking for example.

BlackICE
 

JOHN DISALVATORE

GT Owner
Mar 13, 2006
12
POTOMAC MARYLAND
Thanks,I think the dyno is what I will do. I will first put a few more miles on it. There is a dyno here that will do a power tune at the same time. Will get you the results. THANKS







Topendunlimited said:
Take it to a chassis dyno and see what it lays down. Should be 500+ I heard 532 from one source. If not find a good dealer and start whining.

One of the guys at Dallas Mustang said that there is a lot of timing pulled out at low rpm. They have a tune that fixes that, but your warranty might get pulled if you load the tune.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Well I was right, John, you are a pro racer! The ground has been wet around since I got the car and I haven't broken it in yet. I have a fully optioned Midnight blue with red calipers. I would have preferred a car like Centerpunch's, Blue no strips, but with the side stripe. Anyway I will rip out the sub woofer it just adds unnecessary weight and it also looks bad and takes up space. I may also repaint the calipers either black or silver/gray.

Can anyone tell me if the car can, on good dry pavement, do burnouts without slipping the clutch in 1st and 2nd? If so I might not do any engine mods.

If I do change things, dumping the cats and mufflers for something lighter and that won't dissipate as much heat, changing the pulley or blower if CARB approved and getting the cpu reflash are things I am considering.

I am in CA and anything I do may have to be undone and done again every 2 years for the smog inspection. I heard rumors of roadside checks by the CHP but I haven't seen any myself. Do they exist?

BlackICE
 

B O N Y

MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 5, 2005
12,110
Fresno, Ca.
BlackICE said:
Well I was right, John, you are a pro racer! The ground has been wet around since I got the car and I haven't broken it in yet. I have a fully optioned Midnight blue with red calipers. I would have preferred a car like Centerpunch's, Blue no strips, but with the side stripe. Anyway I will rip out the sub woofer it just adds unnecessary weight and it also looks bad and takes up space. I may also repaint the calipers either black or silver/gray.

Can anyone tell me if the car can, on good dry pavement, do burnouts without slipping the clutch in 1st and 2nd? If so I might not do any engine mods.

If I do change things, dumping the cats and mufflers for something lighter and that won't dissipate as much heat, changing the pulley or blower if CARB approved and getting the cpu reflash are things I am considering.

I am in CA and anything I do may have to be undone and done again every 2 years for the smog inspection. I heard rumors of roadside checks by the CHP but I haven't seen any myself. Do they exist?

BlackICE


Roadside dyno checks exist in Fresno....
 

KenBMD

Well-known member
Feb 22, 2006
80
JOHN DISALVATORE said:
Thanks,I think the dyno is what I will do. I will first put a few more miles on it. There is a dyno here that will do a power tune at the same time. Will get you the results. THANKS

Be sure not to waste you time and just go to a dyno that will give you numbers only. You need to go to someone who specializes in high performance Fords so they can do proper datalogging.

If you just go to a dyno and the numbers are low, then what? You have no info. Data is priceless.

Ken
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,196
I am in CA and anything I do may have to be undone and done again every 2 years for the smog inspection. I heard rumors of roadside checks by the CHP but I haven't seen any myself. Do they exist?

Roadside checks notwithstanding, you won't have to do your first pre-registration smog test until 6 years on a new car. Every other year after that.
 

californiacuda

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 21, 2005
919
It is not uncommon to pay a few extra benjamins when getting the test done and get a clean smog cert.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Not in my case. I bought the car out of state, so it must get smogged every 2 years!

BlackICE
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,196
That's weird. I wonder if that's just a mistake as there is no logic behind it (which is par for the course for the DMV). The GT is a 50-state car. I wonder if somehow by purchasing out of state you get into a "registering a used car" class as opposed to registering a new car. Strange. I wonder if the registration could have been done differently....
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Don't get me started about the insane laws of CA. I was born and always have lived here, but I know I won't "retire" here. The laws and taxes are not rational, or fair. As soon as the kids are in college a move to TX, FL, NV or WA is the wise thing to do.

Regardless of the 50 state emissionon the GT, CA considers any new car purchased out of the state as a non-resident vehicle. If it wasn't a 50 state car I couldn't register it at all until the ordometer was > 7500 miles.


BlackICE


http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2535

NOTE: Upon initial registration, nonresident and specially constructed vehicles 1976 and newer require smog certification. The six or less model years old rule does not apply to these vehicles
 

SteveA

GT Owner/B.O.D
Mark IV Lifetime
Dec 13, 2005
3,694
Sandpoint Id
BlackICE said:
Don't get me started about the insane laws of CA. I was born and always have lived here, but I know I won't "retire" here. The laws and taxes are not rational, or fair. As soon as the kids are in college a move to TX, FL, NV or WA is the wise thing to do.

BlackICE


http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/smogfaq.htm#BM2535

I have land in both ID & TX. Probably will leave CA in the next 3 to 5 yrs and do the summer/winter thing between those two states. It is so sad what is happening to the most beautifull state in the US. By the way, WA is kinda wacked too! :frown