first 300 miles in the car.

robiferretti

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Splitter broke apart from the car and I ran out of gas in 270 miles when the gauge read 1/4 full. Terrible first experience. The car feel down right dangerous with the front splitter flapping away at speed. Very annoyed right now.
 

DAVESVT2000

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Splitter broke apart from the car and I ran out of gas in 270 miles when the gauge read 1/4 full. Terrible first experience. The car feel down right dangerous with the front splitter flapping away at speed. Very annoyed right now.

BTW, DONT EVER run with the splitter in place, it will crack and break off.

ALSO, don't trust the fuel gauge, the fuel cell is never completely full.

In all seriousness, both these issues have been discussed at great length here, surprised you didnt see any of the posts regarding these issues :shrug:
 

flattrack53

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BTW, DONT EVER run with the splitter in place, it will crack and break off.

ALSO, don't trust the fuel gauge, the fuel cell is never completely full.

In all seriousness, both these issues have been discussed at great length here, surprised you didnt see any of the posts regarding these issues :shrug:

I sent him links to the carbon fiber splitter before he bought the car. I was hoping he had bought one. The gas guage topic is on the first page along with many others regarding the fuel cell. To be honest... I am surprised you got 270 miles out of the fuel tank. Hope your trip gets better for you buddy
 

Powershift03

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How did the splitter brake apart? You have to have hit something. They don't just tear off, especially since I know the splitter on that car had been reinforced for high speed use. If you drive Lambos, and your Vette is lowered, I'd be shocked to hear you couldn't deal with the low front splitter of an 00R. ??
 

mrmustang

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Splitter broke apart from the car and I ran out of gas in 270 miles when the gauge read 1/4 full. Terrible first experience. The car feel down right dangerous with the front splitter flapping away at speed. Very annoyed right now.

Universal Automotive Translator comes up with the following:


Damn it's hot and there is no AC in this thing :burn:
Only 270 miles per tank, I should have taken my Turbo Corvette :D
 

BOOSTD5.4

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What U talking bout Willis? Why can't you run with the splitter on????

R u kidding, or serious?

I am in the market for a driver 2000 Cobra R if you want to sell it? As long as it is not #6......

Mike

BTW, DONT EVER run with the splitter in place, it will crack and break off.

ALSO, don't trust the fuel gauge, the fuel cell is never completely full.

In all seriousness, both these issues have been discussed at great length here, surprised you didnt see any of the posts regarding these issues :shrug:
 

Andy M

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Splitter broke apart from the car and I ran out of gas in 270 miles when the gauge read 1/4 full. Terrible first experience. The car feel down right dangerous with the front splitter flapping away at speed. Very annoyed right now.
Send me a PM if you want to replace the POS stock splitter with a good one made of carbon fiber/carbon kevlar.
 

prez1967

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we new this trip wasnt gonna go well for this car :( i am looking forward to hearing the review for the rest of the trip and how well the car holds up...
 

robiferretti

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Getting 15 mpg romping on it keeping 115-120 content, 20 mpg keeping the speeds around 90-110. As far as the fuel issue goes I was aware that it was something to watch, had no idea it was THAT inaccurate.

The splitter has already been reenforced before I bought it. tore in half but we got creative and bolted it back together with aluminum brackets. The front splitter is pulling the front bumper off the car, I'll need clarification I was not aware that the front lip was not supposed to be used unless parked, I thought it was to create high speed stability?

I am getting a ridiculous uncontrollable bouncing of the front end above 110, the real kicker is it is intermittent. only happens 80% of the time.

Also I have a lot of play in the steering wheel is that normal?

Other then that the car is holding up alright, i've driven about 1500 miles in the past 3 days and the only other issue is a fuel smell in the cabin after running for a few hundred miles.

That is all for now.
 

riche

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Nice talking with you at Vivid Racing. Good luck with the rest of the race.
 

Powershift03

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First.... you have to keep in mind this is a Mustang, not a Lambo or some other uber high dollar exotic car you seem to be used to driving. But, it's one of the better Mustangs made, and is about the best platform you could have for an awesome NA car.

The issue of the splitter trying to pull the front bumper cover off isn't exactly breaking news for 2000 Cobra R cars. It's been covered on this site many times before. Andy M offers a CF splitter for sale, and can guide you on how to reinforce the front bumper cover to withstand the forces generated by high speed runs with the splitter in place. My old R (R155) was built by Andy, and had his CF splitter, and cover mods, in place. It was amazing how solid it was, and a few others on the site also have this done to their Rs.

BTW, you still never mentioned how you managed to rip the splitter in half?? If you struck something in the road... probably any splitter, CF or not, would get damaged. I suspect your damaged splitter is causing your intermittent high speed front end issue too.
 

robiferretti

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First.... you have to keep in mind this is a Mustang, not a Lambo or some other uber high dollar exotic car you seem to be used to driving. But, it's one of the better Mustangs made, and is about the best platform you could have for an awesome NA car.

The issue of the splitter trying to pull the front bumper cover off isn't exactly breaking news for 2000 Cobra R cars. It's been covered on this site many times before. Andy M offers a CF splitter for sale, and can guide you on how to reinforce the front bumper cover to withstand the forces generated by high speed runs with the splitter in place. My old R (R155) was built by Andy, and had his CF splitter, and cover mods, in place. It was amazing how solid it was, and a few others on the site also have this done to their Rs.

BTW, you still never mentioned how you managed to rip the splitter in half?? If you struck something in the road... probably any splitter, CF or not, would get damaged. I suspect your damaged splitter is causing your intermittent high speed front end issue too.

Whether or not its "just a mustang" I expect it to at least handle 140-150 mph speeds in stock trim. It seems to handle speed ok when the front end is not violently bouncing, but whatever is happening to the front end is not supposed to happen.

The splitter is reenforced already, I did not hit anything, the splitter cracked on both corners due to stress from moderate speeds, I don't know if its just because of its age or what. I can post pictures next week when I compress them.
 

mrmustang

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I am getting a ridiculous uncontrollable bouncing of the front end above 110, the real kicker is it is intermittent. only happens 80% of the time.

Also I have a lot of play in the steering wheel is that normal?

Robert,

What rubber do you have on the car and what pressures are you running?


Bill S.
 

Andy M

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Whether or not its "just a mustang" I expect it to at least handle 140-150 mph speeds in stock trim. It seems to handle speed ok when the front end is not violently bouncing, but whatever is happening to the front end is not supposed to happen.

The splitter is reenforced already, I did not hit anything, the splitter cracked on both corners due to stress from moderate speeds, I don't know if its just because of its age or what. I can post pictures next week when I compress them.
Rob,

let's address each item independently...

1) the splitter - do yourself a favor and get a good carbon fiber splitter and be done with it. Trust me, Joe Johnson and I went through many stock splitters (we were racing our R's and they were not holding up under the abuse). The cf splitter I have made is only 6.5 pounds without hardware and it is light years stronger than that piece of crap thing Ford sent with the R.

2) what type of bouncing are you having in the front end? sounds like there is definiltely something wrong with the car as this is not normal. as for the slack in the steering wheel, it is likely the steering column bushing which is worn. THe stock one comes with a rubber bushing which wears out over time. Get yourself a machined one from Flaming River (solid joints) and be done with it.

I owned R155 for 6 years and ran over 10K miles on track with it. It was not stock any more as a stock R is really not well suited for constant abuse at the track. The engine however IS rock solid, even in stock trim. The only thing I did to mine was a computer tune and open exhaust. Otherwise it was in stock trim making 370RWHP.

These are great cars! They just need a little help in a few areas if you want to really romp on them, especially at the track. One more thing, not only is the stock splitter crap, the mounting points on the bumper cover are also crap. We can help you fix that too. You will need to remove the bumper cover, build a custom support structure underneath, then use rivets to re-attach it to the car. The problem is at high speeds the stock splitter moves up and down with the turbulence and it ends up cracking the mount points, which are plastic. Ford did a great job with the engine and drive train, but they stopped short on a few finish items. It does not take a ton of money to fix what I have just listed. Trust me, once you fix these things, you will have a whole new appreciation for your R.

I have done 170 in my R and it felt absolutely planted with no vibrations! It was scary how good it felt at that speed!
 

robiferretti

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2200 miles in, the car is parked on Burbon St across from the Hustler club in New Orleans.

The vibration issue is a tough on, its incredibly violent and is intermittent which is the real kicker. We have a track day tomorrow and we are going to see if we can address it, has anyone had problems with the drive shafts not being balanced?

BTW, I tried taking the splitter off this AM, it has custom bracketry underneath that prevented me from removing it for today.

I am running a new set of Michelin pilot Super Sports @35 lbs
 

BOOSTD5.4

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What number is your car? Some of these cars have been wrecked and rebuilt, or raced and rebuilt, or just plain rebuilt.......

Mike

2200 miles in, the car is parked on Burbon St across from the Hustler club in New Orleans.

The vibration issue is a tough on, its incredibly violent and is intermittent which is the real kicker. We have a track day tomorrow and we are going to see if we can address it, has anyone had problems with the drive shafts not being balanced?

BTW, I tried taking the splitter off this AM, it has custom bracketry underneath that prevented me from removing it for today.

I am running a new set of Michelin pilot Super Sports @35 lbs
 

Powershift03

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What number is your car? Some of these cars have been wrecked and rebuilt, or raced and rebuilt, or just plain rebuilt.......

Mike

It's R160, and it hasn't been wrecked. It's a very nice car.

Whether or not its "just a mustang" I expect it to at least handle 140-150 mph speeds in stock trim. It seems to handle speed ok when the front end is not violently bouncing, but whatever is happening to the front end is not supposed to happen.

The splitter is reenforced already, I did not hit anything, the splitter cracked on both corners due to stress from moderate speeds, I don't know if its just because of its age or what. I can post pictures next week when I compress them.

Not trying to be a jerk, but 140-150 isn't moderate speeds for any Mustang. Listen to Andy, and perform the mods he is suggesting if you plan to keep the car after this event.
 
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robiferretti

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took the splitter off today, fixed the bouncing front end problem. Car feels much better at speed, just doesn't look as cool. Still trying to get the gas gauge figured out.
 

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