What to look for on test drive?
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I Bleed Ford Blue
5 Year Member
A manual convertible will be hard to find, they do exist, but are not very common, even more rare if it has the performance pack. I know, I have one. Out of 165,000 mustangs built in 2017, only 606 were convertibles with the performance pack, and only 24 were in grabber blue. Avoid an 18, if at all possible. That was the first year of the gen 3 coyote engine, the 10R80 ten speed automatic, and the revised manual known as the MT-82/D4. The revised manual had shift fork breakage issues.
Also, if you get a manual equipped car, either get a shifter support bracket or replace the entire shifter with an aftermarket one that has a built in support bracket. Blowfish racing makes a bracket that works with the factory shifter.
BTW, all GT convertibles are premium cars. On the 15-17's you could get a standard or deluxe vert only on the v-6 model. In 18 the v6 was discontinued, so the plain jane vert could now be had on an ecoboost, but the GT vert remained premium only.
Also, if you get a manual equipped car, either get a shifter support bracket or replace the entire shifter with an aftermarket one that has a built in support bracket. Blowfish racing makes a bracket that works with the factory shifter.
BTW, all GT convertibles are premium cars. On the 15-17's you could get a standard or deluxe vert only on the v-6 model. In 18 the v6 was discontinued, so the plain jane vert could now be had on an ecoboost, but the GT vert remained premium only.
The MT-82/D4 in the 19-20's is much improved over the earlier transmissions when it comes to shift quality. I personally find the gear ratios to be a little long legged, but the gen3 coyote had a very flat power curve and makes use of it well. The gen3 coyote is also a great engine.
I Bleed Ford Blue
5 Year Member
The typewriter tick can be found on any year gen 3 coyote but are more common on the 18's. Also as Hoytster has mentioned, the early MT-82's (11-17) were close ratio single overdrive with 5th gear being a 1:1 ratio and 6th being O.D. the MT-82/D4 (18+) is a wide ratio double overdrive with now 4th gear as 1:1 and 5th and 6th are overdrives. The early close ratio version was better suited to the high revving powerband of the coyote and despite the 25 hp and 20 tq increase with the gen 3 engine the 0 to 60 time remained the same with a manual GT.
Also if performance is a concern to you, look for a GT with the performance pack. They got 15" front brakes with 6 piston brembo calipers, heavy duty radiator, better suspension with thicker sway bars, 2 extra gauges mounted above the radio for vacuum and oil pressure, staggered wheels and tires with 19x9 with 255/40/19 F and 19x9.5 with 275/40/19 R, and a torsen
View: https://youtu.be/JEiSTzK-A2A
rear diff with either 3.55 (auto) or 3.73 (manual) gears.
If you plan to boost your coyote at some point, the two extra gauges can be swapped for the gauge pod from an ecoboost with the performance pack, it came with a factory vac/boost gauge and the whole pod is plug n play
https://lmr.com/item/M10849A/ford-performance-mustang-ecoboost-perf-pack-cluster-15-17
No tuning or modification needed to make it work, just install and go thats it. It's not as accurate as a real boost gauge but for a boosted street car it's good enough. And you get a factory boost guage that matches the other guages in the car and the my color feature (if your car has it) works as well.
Also if performance is a concern to you, look for a GT with the performance pack. They got 15" front brakes with 6 piston brembo calipers, heavy duty radiator, better suspension with thicker sway bars, 2 extra gauges mounted above the radio for vacuum and oil pressure, staggered wheels and tires with 19x9 with 255/40/19 F and 19x9.5 with 275/40/19 R, and a torsen
View: https://youtu.be/JEiSTzK-A2A
rear diff with either 3.55 (auto) or 3.73 (manual) gears.
If you plan to boost your coyote at some point, the two extra gauges can be swapped for the gauge pod from an ecoboost with the performance pack, it came with a factory vac/boost gauge and the whole pod is plug n play
https://lmr.com/item/M10849A/ford-performance-mustang-ecoboost-perf-pack-cluster-15-17
No tuning or modification needed to make it work, just install and go thats it. It's not as accurate as a real boost gauge but for a boosted street car it's good enough. And you get a factory boost guage that matches the other guages in the car and the my color feature (if your car has it) works as well.
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I Bleed Ford Blue
5 Year Member
I personally recommend a tune from ford racing. I have the stage 2 power pack from ford racing on my 17 and it comes with an 87 mm throttle body, the airbox, filter and cold air intake tube from the GT 350 and a tune to make it all work. The tune is flawless and is written by the same engineers who designed the car in the first place. It only gains 23 whp on a 15 to 17 but it also gains 40 lb ft of tq at 1500 rpm. It's like driving a different car. Ford also has the equivalent for the 18-21 GT's. There are those who will say you can get more from an aftermarket tuner but then you are just chasing a number. In the real world on the street you will never notice the extra 5-10 hp and most tuners can't seem to get that extra tq down low like ford can.
BTW, the gen 2 coyotes normally put down 375-380 to the tire and after adding the stage 2 pack, an x-pipe/resonator delete, ford racing sport mufflers, and long tube headers, my car put down 425 hp to the tires. Not bad for a car that only put out 435 hp at the flywheel when it left the factory. If I use the standard rule of thumb, that a manual trans gives a 15% driveline loss, the 425 at the tire equates to 500 hp at the flywheel. So I gained approx 65 hp. Those same mods on an 18+ gen 3 could get roughly 450-455 at the tire and around 525 at the flywheel.
Don't listen to the keyboard mechanics when they say long tubes are worthless on an N/A engine, that is a flat out lie. The show engine masters on motortrend and Richard Holdener on youtube have proven it to be false. LTH's make power across the board from idle to redline, the more power the engine makes the bigger the gains, and that's the truth. A 400-500 hp engine will gain around 20-30 hp just with LTH's, depending on how restrictive the stock exhaust was.
BTW, the gen 2 coyotes normally put down 375-380 to the tire and after adding the stage 2 pack, an x-pipe/resonator delete, ford racing sport mufflers, and long tube headers, my car put down 425 hp to the tires. Not bad for a car that only put out 435 hp at the flywheel when it left the factory. If I use the standard rule of thumb, that a manual trans gives a 15% driveline loss, the 425 at the tire equates to 500 hp at the flywheel. So I gained approx 65 hp. Those same mods on an 18+ gen 3 could get roughly 450-455 at the tire and around 525 at the flywheel.
Don't listen to the keyboard mechanics when they say long tubes are worthless on an N/A engine, that is a flat out lie. The show engine masters on motortrend and Richard Holdener on youtube have proven it to be false. LTH's make power across the board from idle to redline, the more power the engine makes the bigger the gains, and that's the truth. A 400-500 hp engine will gain around 20-30 hp just with LTH's, depending on how restrictive the stock exhaust was.
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I watch those engine masters as well. Great show for when you don't have a dyno for testing and they really seem to be honest without all the vendor crap all the other shows have now. They are all bought and paid for now. Did you ever do a 1/4 mile run? Either the track or or something like https://dragymotorsports.com/
Your setup sounds great. Something that will not break the bank but you can take to the track and feel it coming on. Just what I hope to go for and why I am looking. I have a 19 Raptor and that is fun as hell but not the same as a mustang.
Your setup sounds great. Something that will not break the bank but you can take to the track and feel it coming on. Just what I hope to go for and why I am looking. I have a 19 Raptor and that is fun as hell but not the same as a mustang.
Long tubes FTW on the coyote, they are definitely worth the upgrade. They are a PITA to install though, especially on the 18+ because of the AC lines. Long tubes and gears are the next mod's on my list for my Bullitt. I already have the "power pack" on the car from the factory with the PP1 suspension and magneride. As said above, if you like cornering a little then definitely find a car with the PP1, and if you can, the magneride. A steeda front brace does wonders to tighten the front end up and reduce tramlining with the wider tires. The torsen rear is just fun to play with in the corners, night and day between that unit and a trac-lok. The PP2 cars are fun as well, but hard to find, and they tramline like a mofo with the wider fronts.
I know on my car, with the power pack, long tubes, resonator delete, and a lund or steeda tune to take full advantage of the long tubes, guys have been touching 500+rwhp with the Gen3's. With an E85 tune they are over 500. If you want to go really fast, look at an A10 auto with a Gen3. I personally like to shift gears though. The gains on the Gen3 with just a resonator delete are real also, surprisingly real considering how easy a mod it is to do.
I've been looking at either the 4.11 gears or HOPING someone comes out with a 4.30 set to help with the long legs of the MT-82/D4. I'd like to use a little more of the coyotes high reving nature without breaking speeds limits in 2nd gear.....
Both the Gen2 and Gen3 are great engines, I'm just speaking from my Gen3 experience.
I know on my car, with the power pack, long tubes, resonator delete, and a lund or steeda tune to take full advantage of the long tubes, guys have been touching 500+rwhp with the Gen3's. With an E85 tune they are over 500. If you want to go really fast, look at an A10 auto with a Gen3. I personally like to shift gears though. The gains on the Gen3 with just a resonator delete are real also, surprisingly real considering how easy a mod it is to do.
I've been looking at either the 4.11 gears or HOPING someone comes out with a 4.30 set to help with the long legs of the MT-82/D4. I'd like to use a little more of the coyotes high reving nature without breaking speeds limits in 2nd gear.....
Both the Gen2 and Gen3 are great engines, I'm just speaking from my Gen3 experience.
I Bleed Ford Blue
5 Year Member
My car is a convertible, they don't really approve of them at the track without a certified roll bar. I'm not cutting up my interior for a one time 1/4 mile pass. I use it as a fun street car. My other car is my daily driver, a 21 Explorer ST that is tuned to run on E-85
