Hi all,

I'm considering purchasing a Whipple, and installing it myself. The HO kit, my car currently has 11,800km's on her.

Can I safely drive the car with the Whipple with the stock 17" bullitts & suspension, or is the car going to be all over the road.. Obiviously I realize the stock rims don't have that much grip even off the line with the JLT intake they do not stick very well.

If I were to go with a handling package it would be the FRPP one.

Are both required? Or is one more important then the other?... I posted a topic about the tire sizes:
http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=466316

I read the entire Whipple install manual - and it looks pretty straight forward but I'm confused about the Rim size go figure

Thanks,

 

Personally, I'd go with the suspension 1st, then upgrade to wider rubber in the future.

Everything I've done thus far to my car was in preparation of a Whipple kit. Some folks just slap on a S/C kit with everything bone stock and some folks take time to do everything else first.

It's all a matter of preference, but IMO nobody cares what your car does when strapped to a machine with a roller (dyno) if you can't launch the stupid thing for crap... right? You've got to get the increased power to the ground efficiently.

 

Yeah my car except for appearance items and the JLT (which won't matter with the Whipple) is bone stock.

 

^ and that's not a bad thing at all. There's nothing wrong with that.

Given a choice of upgrading the suspension or rubber on a fixed budget, I'd do the suspension first because it helps you hook up better than the Ford stamped crap they threw under your car from the factory. Just crawl under and take a look at those LCAs... Ford quality... LOL

 

i bought the whipple first, if i went the other direction, i dont know when i would be able to save up the cash i did to get the HO kit. i can save a little here and there and modify the wheels/tires and suspension. Would be the worst feeling doing the wheels/tires and suspension in prep for the HO kit and never getting it because of lack of funds or a life changing event(it happens). Now im not saying the wheels/tires and suspension wont be an awesome upgrade, it just comes down to you, your budget, and what you really want. im installing the HO kit starting monday, and will be gentle till i can upgrade everything else. looking to get upper/lower control arms soon, then wheels/tires or clutch next. in the end, it will all come together.

 

I agree with his logic.... If you have the funds then buy it, you never know when somthing else is going to come along and suck up the funds, but I would get brakes first if I had to do it all over again. braking at 100+MPH is HARD on these stock brakes, you may not stop in time..

 

Yes I was following your thread in great detail drooling over the pictures you took of the boxes and contents!

What have you found regarding mounting the Wideband sensor, it looks like the best place is on the drivers side between the cat & header. Or is the shop your taking it too doing all the work including the gauges?

Part of me at this point wants to leave the car stock and see how it is with the added power... It's hard to replace tires with only 12,000km's I'm sure not soon after I'll upgrade the suspension & tires... But I agree with the path your taking.

 

Yeah I would agree, others have brought that up. And if the brakes are upgraded the wheels need to be. It seems the wheels I was looking at some say the upgraded calipers might not fit. So confusing...

 

i run the whipple with my stock 18s and have had 0 problems using the stock tires. it gets pretty good traction. so running the 17s wont be bad either.

Brakes are something you'll def need to invest in.! I invested in BAER brakes immediately after I installed the whipple. you have the power to go, now you need the power to STOP! (I learned the hard way by killin my stock brakes, LOL) just remember if you get a brake kit, you will need an 18+ wheel, no aftermarket big brake kit will fit a 17" rim.

Suspension wise, if your just concerned about beefing up the rear, then LCAs and a UCA would be a great investment. you will have a lot of wheel hop with a supercharger on a stock suspension

 

I'm telling you man you are going to need brakes, bad! The temptation to go fast is too tempting with the power at your tippy toes.... After I got the Whipple installed and braking a few times at 100+ it wasn't fun to drive over fear of not being able to stop. I have hense solved that problem though.

 

YEP! More and more people are saying that, so I've been looking - whipple order on hold - Are yours the stock brakes from the Shelby GT? Or did you upgrade to the GT500 brakes? The problem I have is knowing if the calipers will fit in the wheel! And I don't have either the wheel or the calipers so the fitment pattern is useless to me. I posted on another board where a person from American Muscle visits and he wasn't sure if the GT500 brakes would fit with the wheels I was looking at or not. Then there's the stoptech brake package which is about $500 more.. is it worth it, they sure do look fancy

I'm assuming the stock back calipers & rotors are fine, since they only do about 10% of the braking.... except maybe upgrading the pads?

 

print out the brake caliper template from Brembo, pull a wheel off and measure it to see if it fits.

 

This is what I did....

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=465606

 

There is the problem I have the stock Bullit 17" wheels right now. So the template is pretty much useless.

I'm buying new wheels so *I can* upgrade the calipers. But I don't want to order $1k of wheels and new rubber and end up finding out the stoptech or GT500 brake kit doesn't fit.

 

You can hook up with your stock tires and 450+rwhp 470+rwtq Thats crazy. I have trouble hooking up sometimes even with upgraded tires and suspension, I must be a shiity driver...Fastrack, I would def recommend better rubber and at least lca's when running s/c

 

That's why I've decided to look into new Wheels .... There's no point in spending 6k on a supercharger and not having it not able hook up.

Now I'm just trying to decide on which Wheels to get that fit the brakes Stoptech or GT500 kit. And I'd rather not use wheel spacers.

 

I went with the lowering and shocks then brakes then the big bang.

 

IDK,Braking had never really been a big issue with me, having a manual also helps.