Thought I'd share some of my experiences with stock part failures after having owned the 2010 for 5 1/2 years (better late than never, right?). I told Tob almost a year ago that I would post pics of failed parts once I got around to digging them out of the attic. Hopefully this content is helpful for those of you who drag race your cars. I drag race mine about 3-4 times per year.
First up, the stock two-piece driveshaft (and axles). This was a problem only my third time at the drag strip with the car (back in 9/2010). I was stock with the exception of running Nitto NT05r 305/45 18s at about 18 psi. Launch was consistently a 3,500 sidestep after heating up the radials for a few seconds. Well, my third trip to the strip and the driveshaft had had enough. Went thru staging just fine. When I went to launch, boom, down went the driveshaft. Spectators later told me that the tires never even budged. After towing the car to a local shop, the mechanic also discovered that the axles had bent pretty badly. The bends weren't really noticeable to the naked eye, so I didn't take pictures. Just the driveshaft:
After this, I added the 1 piece driveshaft (and safety loop) and Moser 31 spline axles. The car made it all the way til 5/2014 when the next part failed upon launching at the drag strip. This time it was the stock upper control arm. My theory is the cheap stamped metal which encases the bushing had elongated over time, and after so many impacts from hard launches, it finally snapped upon launch at the strip. In fact, in the months leading up to the failure, I could hear a banging sound coming from the rear of the car under hard acceleration. I'm assuming the sound was caused by the extra play in the UCA bushing (on the last side-profile pic you can get a good angle of the deformed/out-of-round bushing):
I upgraded the LCAs in addition to the UCA at this time. Also, I decided to take advantage of the KB 25% off sale and get the stage 3 2.8LC kit (3.25" pulley with stock KB 93 octane tune; this will come into play later). I also got a C&R dual fan HE and a 3x reservoir. My setup was making around 14.5 lb of boost. 7/2014, back to the drag strip. At this point I had given up sidestepping and went to a feathering approach at 3,000 rpm. I had also switched from NT05rs to 305/35 18 MT ET Street IIs because the NT05rs had worn down. After a few passes, my driver side axle tube spun upon launch (I was fortunate that all three drag racing failures happened at the line and not traveling down the track). I didn't take a picture of it since it's pretty self-explanatory. Also, the Moser axle on the driver side had bent ever so slightly. Back to the shop... Good thing I upgraded to AAA Plus. I ordered a full Ford Racing (aka stock) rear end with 3.73s. From my past experience (read above), I immediately had the tubes welded, added a Swarr bar for additional reinforcement, and had Strange c-clip eliminators and 31 spline axles put in.
The final stock part to fail was my catalytic converters. When I purchased the KB 2.8LC kit I was given the impression that I would be fine with my stock exhaust setup. Well, my CEL came on 5/2015 (note the kit was installed 6/2014) with p0420 catalyst efficiency code. I don't have a mileage estimate for the 11 months from installation to cat failure but I can try and dig thru my records and follow up with one. Here are some pics of the stock cats along with the material that fell out of one of them
uts on flame suit::
):
The final stock part I've had start to fail was the stock clutch, and it just happened this month. I'm currently just under 19,000 miles on the clutch. I was at ~550 whp on a Mustang dyno with the prior setup, which apparently my stock clutch was able to handle for 11 months. After finding out that I needed a new exhaust system, I went with a Dynatech LTs, a Dynatech catted x-pipe, and MBRP 3" exhaust. For good measure, I also had ID1000s, a 3" pulley, and TR 7IX plugs put in. Made 633 whp on the Mustang dyno with 93 octane (hoping to post a thread with dyno graphs and data at a later point in time). Needless to say, the clutch couldn't handle the extra 80+ whp on the street as it started slipping. Anyways, somewhere >550 and <630 whp on a Mustang dyno was my stock clutch's inflection point, and I'm sure there are several factors that determined it, not just whp.
Hopefully I won't be updating this thread down the road!
First up, the stock two-piece driveshaft (and axles). This was a problem only my third time at the drag strip with the car (back in 9/2010). I was stock with the exception of running Nitto NT05r 305/45 18s at about 18 psi. Launch was consistently a 3,500 sidestep after heating up the radials for a few seconds. Well, my third trip to the strip and the driveshaft had had enough. Went thru staging just fine. When I went to launch, boom, down went the driveshaft. Spectators later told me that the tires never even budged. After towing the car to a local shop, the mechanic also discovered that the axles had bent pretty badly. The bends weren't really noticeable to the naked eye, so I didn't take pictures. Just the driveshaft:
After this, I added the 1 piece driveshaft (and safety loop) and Moser 31 spline axles. The car made it all the way til 5/2014 when the next part failed upon launching at the drag strip. This time it was the stock upper control arm. My theory is the cheap stamped metal which encases the bushing had elongated over time, and after so many impacts from hard launches, it finally snapped upon launch at the strip. In fact, in the months leading up to the failure, I could hear a banging sound coming from the rear of the car under hard acceleration. I'm assuming the sound was caused by the extra play in the UCA bushing (on the last side-profile pic you can get a good angle of the deformed/out-of-round bushing):
I upgraded the LCAs in addition to the UCA at this time. Also, I decided to take advantage of the KB 25% off sale and get the stage 3 2.8LC kit (3.25" pulley with stock KB 93 octane tune; this will come into play later). I also got a C&R dual fan HE and a 3x reservoir. My setup was making around 14.5 lb of boost. 7/2014, back to the drag strip. At this point I had given up sidestepping and went to a feathering approach at 3,000 rpm. I had also switched from NT05rs to 305/35 18 MT ET Street IIs because the NT05rs had worn down. After a few passes, my driver side axle tube spun upon launch (I was fortunate that all three drag racing failures happened at the line and not traveling down the track). I didn't take a picture of it since it's pretty self-explanatory. Also, the Moser axle on the driver side had bent ever so slightly. Back to the shop... Good thing I upgraded to AAA Plus. I ordered a full Ford Racing (aka stock) rear end with 3.73s. From my past experience (read above), I immediately had the tubes welded, added a Swarr bar for additional reinforcement, and had Strange c-clip eliminators and 31 spline axles put in.
The final stock part to fail was my catalytic converters. When I purchased the KB 2.8LC kit I was given the impression that I would be fine with my stock exhaust setup. Well, my CEL came on 5/2015 (note the kit was installed 6/2014) with p0420 catalyst efficiency code. I don't have a mileage estimate for the 11 months from installation to cat failure but I can try and dig thru my records and follow up with one. Here are some pics of the stock cats along with the material that fell out of one of them
uts on flame suit::
The final stock part I've had start to fail was the stock clutch, and it just happened this month. I'm currently just under 19,000 miles on the clutch. I was at ~550 whp on a Mustang dyno with the prior setup, which apparently my stock clutch was able to handle for 11 months. After finding out that I needed a new exhaust system, I went with a Dynatech LTs, a Dynatech catted x-pipe, and MBRP 3" exhaust. For good measure, I also had ID1000s, a 3" pulley, and TR 7IX plugs put in. Made 633 whp on the Mustang dyno with 93 octane (hoping to post a thread with dyno graphs and data at a later point in time). Needless to say, the clutch couldn't handle the extra 80+ whp on the street as it started slipping. Anyways, somewhere >550 and <630 whp on a Mustang dyno was my stock clutch's inflection point, and I'm sure there are several factors that determined it, not just whp.
Hopefully I won't be updating this thread down the road!
