Tough decision, need guidance.

[mpower_ss]

Hello all,

I have a 2016 GT with quite a few mods. I’ve been wanting to upgrade my suspension to handle more like a GT350. After breaking down the options, it was becoming increasing clear. Many of the upgrades I want to do are already on a 350. Common sense wise (don’t add up the numbers on a calculator), my brain is telling me why spend all this money on changing brakes, suspension, chassis, wheel size, etc.
After doing more research, there are Lots of differences between the coyote and the voodoo. I’m sure many of you folks have already reached this crossroad. What where some of your determining factors that helped you make your decision? In either direction. Posting this in the G6 forums as well.


Thank you,
Michael S...

 

[HiTechRedneck]

Been there, done that! We had a lightly modded 17 GT with 6 speed, Recaro seats, wheels & tires and some other mods. My Son is the finance manager at our local dealership and we saw where they traded for an extra clean 17 GT350 with 4,011 miles so we decided to look. First thing we found was a bill from Dallas Mustang for about $6K for headers, x pipe, lowering springs, JLT intake, dyno tune etc. Driving it we found a world of difference from the GT!!! It would not be cost effective to try to match that performance and handling not to mention the difference in the Voodoo vs. Coyote so the decision to swap was easy!

 

[ANGREY]

I did this very same analysis before I bought my GT350. In the past, there have been plenty of "tuner" cars and Ford special offerings that were simply worked over versions of a GT. In most cases, one could either piece together an equivalent car, OR, as with most people, one could custom assemble a car with upgrades, keeping the ones you want and omitting the ones that are okay, but not worth additional costs.

The GT350 is an exception. When I started running the calcs on trying to "build" an equivalent car, it became quite clear it was going to be difficult to impossible to do without spending MORE money than just buying a GT350.

For starters, the 350 has a much better transmission. Could you swap out an MT for either an upgraded MT or even a TR3160? sure, but it's pricey, especially when you consider the trans cooler that goes with it.

The 350 starts off WIDER than a GT. It's the first special car in a long time that isn't just a modified GT (like Roush). The car actually has a 1" wider stance, which includes the front fenders, wider suspension geometry, wider tires, etc.

The GT350 has a different ENGINE, meaning, could you swap a coyote for a voodoo (if you wanted)? Sure, but at what cost. Maybe you prefer the crossplane, even so, between brakes, trans cooler, diff cooler, front and rear aero, wheels, transmission, interior (seats, steering wheel, heads up display, gauges, etc.

Bottom line is you COULD build a GT and come close. GT's are now offering many of the fruits of the FR 350 program (magneride, active exhaust, etc). In fact, the GT's now offer a couple of features you CAN'T get on the 350 (like rev matching, mycolor, etc).

I guess what I'm saying is you could spend a fortune and get "close" to a GT (if you swapped out fenders and swapped brakes and rotors, wheels, suspension, sway bars, front aero, rear aero, hood, added trans and diff coolers, etc) but there's no way you can swap out the motor and trans without busting a budget number you would spend by simply buying a 350.

I'm a value guy, I looked at what it would take to "build" a 350 and there's a ton of inherent value that's difficult to replicate on a GT. It starts off as a different platform.