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Hmmm.... this gets more interesting everyday. I wonder how big the FS ranks are going to grow next year?

 

Screw you guys, Im buying a CHallenger. LOL       j/k       actually....I would be crazy enough to do it.

 

Either way, next year should be fun.
 

Now things are getting interesting, and I am more willing to consider the Bullitt better than I thought it might be.  But we'll see. 

 I'm not completely sold on the power thing vs. the octane.  I know my '07 GT runs markedly harder on 93 than is does on 87 with a stock tune.  Most car now are very knock sensitive and will be fairly aggressive on timing until they see knock.

 Could end up being that the Bullitt is faster in straight line, but not around sweepers.  I'm not worried, at least until I drive on that's faster than what we're running, or I get some solid spring and bar info.  And then I think in the end things will just wash out. 

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Sam Strano
Strano Performance Parts
814-849-3450

The soft limiter on the 07 Shelby and 07 GT are both set to 6375, but the hard electronic throttle limiter (the one that makes you drop 650 rpm before you get control back) is set to 6475 on the Shelby and 6250 on the GT.  I brought my tuning laptop to work today .

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Phil K.
2002 Camaro SS, #68 ESP

How in the heck does that work? You have a soft limiter on the GT, but you can't ever hit it since the hard limiter is 125 RPM lower?

-Mike

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Mike Shields
1993 BMW 325is | 92/192 DSP

Mike Shields:

How in the heck does that work? You have a soft limiter on the GT, but you can't ever hit it since the hard limiter is 125 RPM lower?

-Mike

You got it!

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Phil K.
2002 Camaro SS, #68 ESP

The tach in the Bullitt at the LA auto show has a 6500 rpm redline. No keys in the car, so I could not try it out. :)

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Jason Isley
2005-2006-2007-2008 B Stock National Champion

6500 redline...then what happens is...

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In slow, out fast.
In fast, out backwards.

I talked to the guy that has this Bullitt exhaust system for sale on ebay already.  He has confirmed that the Bullitt mufflers are 1-2 lbs heavier than the stock OEM GT mufflers.  The GT mufflers are already boat anchors!  Unfortunately this means that a Bullitt would need the exhaust swapped out to be fully prepped.  Such a shame after all the work that Ford put into tuning the sound.  :(

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-FORD-Mustang-BULLITT-Edition-Factory-Mufflers_W0QQitemZ110193674398QQihZ001QQcategoryZ33633QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

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2005 Mustang GT
F-Stock
www.wpg-autox.org

These will take off a few pounds.  Also I've never had a problem being under 96dB with them.  The only warning I ever got was when the sensor was in a bad position so it increased the sound levels received.

SLP Loudmouth 

Pic didn't work so here is a link

http://www.slponline.com/view_product.asp?P=M31014&BIG=M31014-1

 

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James Lambert

I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said that the city was not allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him that I had a wet one. He couldn't take that one either. I didn't bother asking about the frozen ones.

I sell SLP, and Jason Burns chose those for his car.  I prefer the MBRP version for about the same price, because it has 4" tips which I think look a lot better.  Either way I think it's a little high for what are basically tips.

 My two favorites are the MBRP axle-back (on my GT), or if you want to save some more weight and are worried about the non-mandrel bends the Magnapack system which we have on the Shelby (and Van Michael's car too).  I've got exhausts coming out my butt for Mustangs, the Magnaflow stuff is on my website (that'd be www.stranoparts.com ), I have most all of the others too.  Borla, FRPP, MBRP, Bassani, etc. etc. 

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Sam Strano
Strano Performance Parts
814-849-3450

Was wondering if anyone has any recent thoughts on the Shelby GT vs. Bullitt debate? Sam, you ran against one so far this season, any comparison to make?

Thanks for anyone's insight on this.

 

-Shane

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Shane

07 Shelby GT
FS

Completely unscientific, but I've seen a couple bullitts up close and they sure didn't look any lower than my '07 GT, and certainly not as low as a Shelby GT.

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Brian "Big Enos" Burdette

Might as well just buy a GT.... Nothing on the Bullitt is really anything special.  Pretty much just what they did in '01.  A lot of hype, not much real difference.  A 1mm bigger front bar (not what it needed and would at least go back to a GT's standard bar), a different tune a few more ponies.  Don't see one being really any better or worse than a normal GT. 

 

 

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Sam Strano
Strano Performance Parts
814-849-3450

01 FS Z28:

Might as well just buy a GT.... Nothing on the Bullitt is really anything special.  Pretty much just what they did in '01.  A lot of hype, not much real difference.  A 1mm bigger front bar (not what it needed and would at least go back to a GT's standard bar), a different tune a few more ponies.  Don't see one being really any better or worse than a normal GT or a Shelby GT.

 

 

 

There, I fixed that for you.

 

The Bullitt sits a whopping 1/4" lower than a regular GT, give or take an eye lash.  For us locally the 3.73 rear end is far from a disadvantage since we typically have to run shorter courses.  At Dixie I hit the limiter once on Saturday coming to the end of the slalom that I noticed, on stock tires that is a touch above 70mph and requires a few seconds of being at 6500rpm to notice anything.  It rolled across the scales at Dixie weighing in at 3444lbs with approx 3 gal of gas, stock exhaust, and a set of Kazera  KZ-A wheels and 285/18 Hoosiers.

As I discovered yesterday, it will indeed carry a front wheel through a sweeper with style.  I doubt we do much of anything else to it before Atlanta except find a way to keep me in the seat and add a bit of padding to the center console and/or our right knee.   

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Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

South Carolina Region

"Don't see one being really any better or worse than a normal GT or a Shelby GT."

 

Thanks for the info so far. The above quote is important. Trying to figure out which car is a better replacement for my current 96 GT, My brother and I picked up the 96 a year ago to use in our first season of Solo. We set it up with a Steeda front sway bar and Koni yellow sport struts. The car already had a magnaflow exhaust. We have ran it with new Falken Azenis tires and a well used set of Kumho V710s. Between the fact that it has 150K on the odometer, is a convertible, and is our first year out autocrossing, we didn't expect too much other than to learn all we could. This year we are considering trading up and have been looking at the 07s and 08s. 07 Shelby GTs and 08 Bullitts are available for the low-mid $30s. A regular GT is a lot cheaper, and from the looks of the rules, the 2 performance packs could be added to equal a Shelby GT for a lot less money? The other option is to go with a used 03/04 Mach 1.

 We still need to improve as drivers, so with a new car we don't expect to match Kevin Younger's times here in Colorado, but we do want to be competitive in FS. Thankfully Kevin runs in our pro "X" class.

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Shane

07 Shelby GT
FS

I think you are wrong about the 70mph on the Bullitt.  I was at Dixie with my ASP vette, and I think I saw 70mph one day on the logger, and 74 mph the other day.

I also have a 08 Shelby GT---------on the stock tires it does I think like 66 or so but nowhere near 70mph, and the Shelby has a 3.55------your 3.73 in the bullitt would have a shorter 2nd than the Shelby so your 70 mph estimate might be 5mph or so high.

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Trying to get faster

David Lehman:

I think you are wrong about the 70mph on the Bullitt.  I was at Dixie with my ASP vette, and I think I saw 70mph one day on the logger, and 74 mph the other day.

I also have a 08 Shelby GT---------on the stock tires it does I think like 66 or so but nowhere near 70mph, and the Shelby has a 3.55------your 3.73 in the bullitt would have a shorter 2nd than the Shelby so your 70 mph estimate might be 5mph or so high.

 

I just ran it out on Sat evening to find 1st and 2nd before our last event, while that 3.73 is 'shorter' the 6500 redline is higher than the Shelbys 6250 or whatever it is.  I held it there to get a good look at both speedo and tach.  

 

 Shane I would say if you dont care to have the Shelby name, pick up a California Special and run it.  That way you already have the main base to do a conversion later if you want.  Plus you can get some good baseline times from Youngers and see just how much extra those two packages are worth.  The only reason I added that 'or a Shelby GT' is because in theory it should have little advantage over a regular GT or so we have all been told.

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Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

South Carolina Region

We are still tweaking on the setup of the Shelby, but I'm also doing the same on my Mustang GT.  I think I found something that made the Shelby a bit better (don't ask I'm not telling anyone publicly, and it's reserved for customers only--I was bitten giving away everything I know for free and not getting the sale).  That said, in messing with front swaybars, I think I hit upon something that also improved my personal GT as well, and have yet to try what I found on the Shelby on my GT on top of it. 

 In the end, I can't deny that at this time the Shelby GT is the best car.  But what I feel that others don't is that a Mustang GT is pretty damned close.  That might not be enough for a National Championship, but certainly for a trophy and/or regional/divisional events. 

 The Bullitt is a cool car.  I don't see it as a better autox car per se out of the box.  Power isn't generally the problem, you can run the same wheels on a normal GT (and the same size as the Shelby GT too).  I sat down and calculated the gearing.  The higher rev-limiter would be nice, but shorter gearing in the Bullitt washes out top speed gain.  And how fast you can go will depend on tire choice.  285's are short, short, short.  The speedo is hard to read, and on non stock tires a guess at best.  I take my speeds from my MaxQData box.  I know that @ Nationals 61 and some change was smacking the rev-limiter on 285's. 

 In the end if you are looking to win a jacket.  Buy a Shelby.  If you are looking to win a trophy, buy a Bullitt or a GT.  If you like the Bullitt or think the resale will be great--go for it.  Otherwise a GT would be fine.  And I agree with Rob.  If you go for a standard GT, get a CA Special.  If you do convert to a Shelby, it's less hassle since most of the bodywork you need is already in place.   

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Sam Strano
Strano Performance Parts
814-849-3450

I am sure as time goes by there will be even more info collected since we now have all three cars available and being run to test out different setups which should only lead to faster times.  Sam what did the Shelby weigh in at last year at Nationals?  I am sure they are real close but since all the Ford figures seem to be different depending on who wrote the press release its hard to tell whats what.  They claimed the Bullitt comes in at 3450, that has to be dry weight since we shaved about 8.5lbs per corner in wheels/tires alone and came in 6lbs lighter than listed weight.  I would have to agree on the 285s being a little short, of course we are used to a much longer 1st gear too. 

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Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

South Carolina Region

Mike's car (the one I drive) was 3436 on the scale in the Tech building @ HPT. 

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Sam Strano
Strano Performance Parts
814-849-3450