by Chris Rose
American Muscle

If you’ve been following our 2012 Boss 302, you know that we’ve been doing what many Boss owners dare to do… use the car for what it was built for! Most Mustang junkies will know that one of the coolest features on the car was the fact that it came with factory side-exit exhaust. We loved the idea… and when we added over 60 horsepower and 69 torque to our stock Boss with some upgrades, we were really sad to see it go. We had to do something about this!

Originally we had added Kooks Long Tube Headers & Matching Off-Road X-Pipe, L&M Throttle Body, JLT Cold Air Intake and Bama Performance Custom Tuner. This woke the car up and we were really happy with the results at the track, on the dyno and on the street. The car sounded great, but we really missed our factory side-exit feature. Our friends over at Kooks Custom Headers were quick to respond with a brand new Off-Road H-Pipe that ties into the stock side-exit exhaust.

So what do you think? Does this sound insane? Or does it sound or what? Head over to the Forum and sound off!

by Ricardo Topete
amosauto.com

Mustangs, like many other sports cars, have rear seats that are mainly there for moral support. It’s cramped enough to give anybody a case of claustrophobia.

Kids can fare well back there, but in a few short years, they’ll rather ride in mom’s minivan where they can stretch their legs a bit.

So what to do with a futile rear seat? Simply omitting it isn’t a good option as it will leave a gaping hole that will make your ‘Stang look like it’s undergoing an interior renovation. K-Dezines, out of Arizona, offers a creative solution that deletes the rear seat and is as functional as it is aesthetically pleasing.

K-Dezines has gone the extra mile to ensure that their rear seat delete kit is superior to others on the market. Most rear seat delete kits available are made from very thin fiberboard that will buckle under their own weight and don’t fit well, yielding a final product that looks like an afterthought. Constructed from Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF), the K-Dezines kit is sturdy enough to carry a fair amount of weight. Going to the track? No problem; just load up your race wheels and toolbox on top of the rear seat delete.

Fit and finish is factory quality thanks to carefully contoured panels that are nicely upholstered in a variety of factory interior colors. As a pleasant bonus, all of K-Dezines’ kits feature a storage compartment in the area vacated by the rear seat cushions. This makes for a clever mounting spot for those cars with a battery relocation, nitrous bottles, stereo equipment, or simply storing your stuff within reach of the driver’s seat. Available for various Mustang platforms, from ’79 to the present day, K-Dezines has one for your pony.

We headed to GTR High Performance, in Southern California, and followed along as they made quick work of the rear seat delete on Phil Dore’s 2003 Cobra Mustang. In just a couple of hours with basic tools and an electric drill/driver, Phil’s Cobra was rear seat-less. Starting at a reasonable $325 for the ’94-’04 Mustangs, K-Dezines also offers more affordable “race version” rear seat delete kits that are constructed from 6mm thick plastic for maximum weight savings. The race version delete kits are a featherweight 15 pounds and consequently, sacrifice some strength in favor of weight.

Since Phil’s car is a 600-plus rwhp street-bruiser Cobra, he opted for the sturdier unit with the optional, removal pass-through door that allows access to the trunk from the rear seat area. At a bargain price of $30, the removable door allows larger items to be stored. For those Mustang enthusiasts that want to add a custom touch to their interior and simultaneously add something that proves very useful, K-Dezines has the solution.

What do you think about deleting your back seat? It’s cramped, but does that warrant a death sentence? Sound off on the Forum!

GTR HIGH PERFORMANCE

(909) 987-4352

www.gtrhipo.com

K-Dezines Audio

(520) 885-6275

www.kdezines.com

At the SEMA Show back in November Roush wowed us by unveiling the Stage 3 Premier Edition Mustang featuring unique Sherwin-Williams Planet Color paints. The limited edition pony car is perhaps the flashiest yet to come from Roush, with paint names Blue Bayou, Gold Rush, Liquid Copper and Red Blooded American. The prototype at the show featured a brilliant orange called Mat It Mango with Sin City Silver graphics, and it made us curious as to what the other colors would look like. We’re now getting a glimpse, as Roush has posted a few photos of the Premier Edition Mustangs being assembled at the factory showcasing colors like Mean Green, Performance Pearl, Black Diamond and Luminescent Lime.

Of course, the Premier Edition Mustangs aren’t just about paint. Roush’s TVS2300 supercharger is under the hood, boosting the 5.0-liter V8 to 540 horsepower, and the suspension and brakes have been upgraded to Stage 3 specification as well.

We’re still curious as to what the rest of the colors look like, but we’ll just have to wait for Roush to show us. Until then, check out the gallery of photos below, and see what members are saying about these trick Ponies over in the Forum!

See the original article and more at MustangsDaily.com

by John Coyle
Mustang Source

Drifting in a car is pretty tricky. But doing it on a motorcycle is an order of magnitude trickier. I’ve got plenty of experience on two-wheelers, and I think I’d rather give a crack-addled Pit Bull a bath than attempt to get sideways on a bike. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I still think it would be scary.

Of course, along with the bikes, there’s a Mustang wearing police livery in this clip, and it looks bad-ass. When I was a kid in Florida, some of the State Troopers drove Fox Body patrol cars, and I always thought they looked cool–but this New Edge in this clip looks way sick.

And since it’s such a classic combo, we can’t believe we didn’t post this sooner. But hey, we’re not perfect. Okay? I know this probably comes as somewhat of a shock to you, as all you’ve ever gotten from your trusty Mustang Source editors has been our utmost best, but every now and then something slips through the cracks. This just happens to be a very large crack.

We have no explanation as to why we waited a month to bring your attention to the AmericanMuscle.com 2012 AM Girls Calendar. For this we are eternally sorry. As an attempt to make it up to you, after the jump, we’re posting this highly informative behind the scenes video of the photo shoot.

Also, bear in mind, it’s not 2012 yet, so you and Miss January can still spend the entire month together if you act fast. Head on over to American Muscle to order yours now!

The NHTSA announced in August that they were launching an investigation into a variety of complaints over the 6-speed MT-82 manual transmission in the 2011/2012 Ford Mustang, with which Ford Motor Company replied that they would cooperate fully. Now, thanks in part to Ford’s response to the investigation, the NHTSA has ended their investigation.

In response to the investigation, Ford had issued their thoughts on the complaints about the 6-speed manual transmission found in the Mustang GT and Mustang Boss 302, addressing each of the major complaints with an explanation and their fix for the problem.

The NHTSA’s job is to protect the public from safety issues in vehicles sold in the US, so when 2011 and 2012 Ford Mustang owners began complaining that the 6-speed manual transmission in their Mustang GT or Boss 302 was shifting incorrectly, the investigation ensued. These complaints included cold shifting problems, clutch plate bolt issues, clutch stayout issues, and incidences of 5th gear making a grinding noise – all of which seem to fall short of being safety issues, but frustrating problems for new Mustang owners.

In their incredibly lengthy PDF issued to the NHTSA, Ford Motor Company addressed each of these issues and they even went so far as to elaborate as to more specific causes for these problems. This includes owners who are modifying and “abusing” their cars (read: racing), the influence of online forums that cause owners to read into things too much, a misunderstanding of the skip-shift feature and “driver effect” – which seems in layman’s terms to be Ford’s way of saying that the problem is due to the way that the driver drives.

Cold Shifting Problems:

Ford Motor Company found that 44% of the complaints about the 6-speed manual transmission in the 2011 and 2012 Mustang GT were related to cold shifting problems. When these transmissions were introduced, they were filled with a higher viscosity transmission lube that thickens in temperatures below 60 degrees, so on very cold days, the thickening of the transmission grease can cause increased effort in shifting. This problem will fade as the internal lubrication of the transmission heats up, but Ford addressed this issue with TSB 11-3-18, which instructed dealerships to replace the high viscosity fluid with a lower viscosity lube that does away with these harder shifts on cold days.

Clutch Plate Bolt Problems:

Some complaints on the Mustang’s 6-speed transmission were based around an increasing effort to shift over the life of the vehicle, along with a grinding noise. Ford found that this was due to the clutch plate bolts loosening over time and Ford began using a revised fastener system on October 19th, 2010.

Clutch Stayout Problems:

Some drivers complained about an issue where the clutch would not reengage at higher RPMs, but when the engine speed dropped below 4,000rpm, the clutch would engage. So this should not be classified as a safety issue. Also, Ford found that there was an issue with the spring rate on the clutch return spring, which the company fixed by going to a revised spring setup.

5th Gear Grinding:

Some of the 2011/2012 Mustang GT and Boss 302 owners complained about a grinding noise when in 5th gear. Ford found that there was a component quality issue with the synchronizers for the 5th gear assembly, which Ford Motor Company rectified with the problematic cars.

Now, based on Ford’s report and the NHTSA looking into 364 reports of shift quality issues, the NHTSA has officially ended their investigation. They believe that Ford has properly addressed the various Mustang problems, which do not pose a safety threat.

OK, I guess it’s only fair to say combining a deer and a Mustang could be worse. For example, the deer could be real, and the merger could have occurred on a dark road at highway speeds. That said, this is pretty bad.  via Autoholics

We’re not going to lie to you: SEMA happened. And it happened a while ago. But just cause a car show goes by more than a month ago, it doesn’t mean the cars stop being awesome, does it? Heck no! It is in that spirit of awesome that we felt compelled to share our list of Top 5 Mustangs at the all-industry SEMA show.

The Ford Mustang is very easily among the most widely featured models in and around the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, but we sorted through the masses (it took us a while, whatever) and have picked out five special Stangs that proved to be show-stoppers in their own right. Just click on the image to make it big n’ pretty.

The Ring Brothers 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback – while the modern Mustangs are one of the most popular show vehicles at SEMA, Royal Purple and the customization experts from the Ring Brothers brought out this incredible 1965 Mustang Fastback with the help of superstar wrestled and vintage car collector Bill Goldberg. This gorgeous ’65 Mustang was modified in literally every way, including widening the body by four inches and installing the ultra high performance V8 under the hood cranking out 740 horsepower.

The 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca – Featured in the Diablosport display, this 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca edition was the only track-purposed Boss in attendance at the 2011 SEMA Show. Packing a handful of go-fast goodies including a Nitrous Express system and a Diablosport tuning system, the best-handling Mustang in the history of the fabled performance car proved to be a popular attraction for show goers.

The 2012 Ford Mustang TKO V6 from MRT – MRT Performance took a different route from what most Mustang-builders did for the 2011 SEMA Show, beginning their build with the 3.7L V6 rather than the popular 5.0L V8. The new V6 engine in the 2012 Mustang is the most powerful base model engine ever offered in the Mustang, but MRT took it a step further, piling on a Procharger supercharger system, MRT high flow exhaust and a variety of other performance enhancing modifications to push the power past the 400hp mark. Like any good SEMA car, MRT then added a body kit with their own heat-extracting hood, high performance brakes, new wheels and tires and a flashy paint job to make for one great looking – and very fast – “base model” Mustang.

The 2012 Ford Mustang GT “Boy Racer” by Creations N Chrome – There are lots of cars at the SEMA Show that made people stop and say “wow” – but few did it as well as this incredible red-chrome 2012 Mustang GT offered by Creations N Chrome. The red mirrored finish is truly remarkable in person, with contrasting carbon fiber trim on the trunk, roof and hood making for a great looking Mustang GT. Under the hood, the 5.0L V8 has been equipped with the intake manifold from the new Boss 302, a Vortech supercharger, a Nitrous Express plate system and intercooler sprayer and Mishimoto cooling goodies – all of which combine to increase the output of this red chrome Mustang GT to over 700 horsepower. With power like that and such a remarkable exterior design, Creations N Chrome’s 2012 Mustang GT was easily one of the hottest Mustangs at this year’s SEMA Show.

The 2012 Ford Mustang GT modified by the Petty Garage – Richard Petty’s modification division known as the Petty Garage has previously offered a handful of high performance Dodge Challengers, but with Petty’s NASCAR move to Ford, The King’s custom car division turned their attention to the 2012 Mustang GT. The Petty Garage adds a handful of items from the Ford Racing catalog including the front fascia and the supercharger that helps churn out 624 horsepower, along with unique striping, badging and a Petty Blue paint scheme with black, red and white trim. These limited edition muscle cars look great and run great. But with very limited build numbers and a high price tag, this isn’t a model that you should expect to see at your local racing spot anytime soon. However, it is still one amazing Mustang.

by John Coyle

The Swiss might be all precise when they make watches and stuff, but apparently not so much when they drive American muscle cars.

Our buddies at BangShift are speculating the 24-year-old driver of this 5.0 Stang mixed up first and reverse–but I honestly have no clue what happened here. Regardless of the cause, the dude crashed through a parking garage wall and plummeted three stories to the street, hitting a tree on the way down. A falling section of concrete also took out a row of parked scooters, but somehow the driver, and everyone else, escaped without serious injury.

I’m really at a loss to explain this… I mean, how fast do you have to be going to totally Kool Aid Man through a wall like that? Or do the Swiss just make super-flimsy walls? We may never know.

Click “More” for more photos…

The expected downtime is scheduled for 2 hours, but with anything technology wise, there is the possibility of it being longer.

What does this mean for you the user, well, not much other than the TMS forums, home page, app, and other resources available here will be unavailable. All previous data and other aspects of the site will be stored though so nothing will be lost.

For more information and or questions please see: http://forums.themustangsource.com/f655/tms-downtime-12-6-11-a-502756/

Thanks for your patience, its only growing pains!

Scott & Staff