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This is why the new Mustang V6 is limited to 112mph

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Old 12-19-2011, 12:32 PM
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Exclamation This is why the new Mustang V6 is limited to 112mph

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9hEJHhw9hA
One individual recently learned firsthand what happens when you remove the factory's 112-mph speed limiter on the Ford Mustang V6 and proceed to accelerate to 135 mph. The vehicle lost its driveshaft, which turned itself into a spinning hunk of metal that tore into the floorpan, bashed through its interior bits and generally caused mechanical mayhem.

In a statement to Autoblog, Ford said that the Mustang V6 is "the ultimate in fuel economy and performance," noting that owners looking for more speed should look toward the Mustang GT with its 412 horsepower V8, heavy-duty two-piece drive shaft and variety of rear axle ratio choices. The Mustang GT is limited to 145 mph.

As it turns out, 305-horsepower, 280-pound-feet of torque 3.7-liter V6 Mustang is built with a 2.73 rear gear ratio and a lightweight, one-piece driveshaft that's engineered to toe the line between fuel economy and performance. That driveshaft is part of the recipe that allow the coupe to produce yield 31 mpg highway – it simply isn't built to handle the type of speed the owner in the video submitted it to.
Old 12-19-2011, 12:37 PM
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why the **** would you go that fast in the bitch model anyways?
Old 12-19-2011, 12:59 PM
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They've been limited at 116/117 for a long time, maybe since the v6 was brought back as an option
Old 12-19-2011, 01:16 PM
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I wanna see the damage it caused
Old 12-19-2011, 01:20 PM
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That's why cost cutting is not a good idea....a stock 300hp car that can't even do 135 safely?
Old 12-19-2011, 01:28 PM
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Wow...just wow
Old 12-19-2011, 01:29 PM
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In the U.S. market, there's nowhere you can "safely" run 135mph anyhow... Bit of a moot point.

Driveline engineering envelope is definitely something worth educating one's self on prior to removing speed limiters and adding h.p. with tunes. You've gotta know your weakest links.

Ford dropped a carbon-fiber 1-piece shaft into the '13 GT500 to get it safely past 200mph. The prior-model's 2-piece steel unit wasn't adequate. Strange harmonic sh** happens under those loads at those RPM's!
Old 12-19-2011, 01:29 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkFox118
I wanna see the damage it caused
^^^ this
Old 12-19-2011, 01:46 PM
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Does the warranty cover that?
Old 12-19-2011, 01:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Iownboth
In the U.S. market, there's nowhere you can "safely" run 135mph anyhow... Bit of a moot point.
I agree. That's why I don't understand why it's that important to go that fast. When I was younger I went 130 in my old Camaro once. I will never do it again lol. It was too dangerous. Everybody is different I guess. I would never go that fast in a brand new car unless I was on a race track or something.
Old 12-19-2011, 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Wolfsblut
That's why cost cutting is not a good idea....a stock 300hp car that can't even do 135 safely?
I feel the car was designed correctly.
It isn't a performance model and driveshafts aren't too terribly expensive to upgrade. Many times you can get them locally as well.
Old 12-19-2011, 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by jmurray87
Does the warranty cover that?
"One individual recently learned firsthand what happens when you remove the factory's 112-mph speed limiter on the Ford Mustang V6 and proceed to accelerate to 135 mph"

Ummm, NO, it wouldn't. The failure was directly attributable to the car owner removing the speed limiter.

Also commonly, speed limiters are in place due to the speed-ratings of the factory-spec tire. So often people ask "why do they limit the speed"? Tire safety...
Old 12-19-2011, 02:01 PM
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Originally Posted by metalmilitia606
I agree. That's why I don't understand why it's that important to go that fast. When I was younger I went 130 in my old Camaro once. I will never do it again lol. It was too dangerous. Everybody is different I guess. I would never go that fast in a brand new car unless I was on a race track or something.
I saw 170mph in my 1993 Corvette 6-speed (that was top of 5th gear). It CURED ME of ever desiring to fool with high speeds again, at least on an open road... Just as you get past 160, things start going by you so fast you have a hard time getting a focus or referrence on ANYTHING. Gets blurry and disorienting, I imagine that race drivers become conditioned to it. Nevertheless, I was out on a straight clean 4-laner without another car in sight.. Why did it scare me? Because as I was slowly coming back down to earth I started to realize that all it would have taken was a possum, or armadillo, skittering out into the road and getting under a tire, to send me careening off the road to certain death. Forget the deer, at that speed, just about any little critter will get you out of shape.

Closed courses, fine. Open road, stupid/risky. IMHO...

Besides, everybody knows it's the pull that's more exhilerating than the top-speed.
Old 12-19-2011, 02:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Iownboth
I saw 170mph in my 1993 Corvette 6-speed (that was top of 5th gear). It CURED ME of ever desiring to fool with high speeds again, at least on an open road... Just as you get past 160, things start going by you so fast you have a hard time getting a focus or referrence on ANYTHING. Gets blurry and disorienting, I imagine that race drivers become conditioned to it. Nevertheless, I was out on a straight clean 4-laner without another car in sight.. Why did it scare me? Because as I was slowly coming back down to earth I started to realize that all it would have taken was a possum, or armadillo, skittering out into the road and getting under a tire, to send me careening off the road to certain death. Forget the deer, at that speed, just about any little critter will get you out of shape.

Closed courses, fine. Open road, stupid/risky. IMHO...

Besides, everybody knows it's the pull that's more exhilerating than the top-speed.
Just wait for all the haters to come in here and say we are sissys for not wanting to drive fast. It seems that often smart people are ridiculed on ls1tech
Old 12-19-2011, 02:14 PM
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The Stang hit 135 plus pretty quick for a V6. I wonder if the shaft failure was typical problem when doing this speed. Maybe the driveshaft was made in China, like some Mustang trannys... wouldn't be nice to have this part engineered and built in the US.
Old 12-19-2011, 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Iownboth
In the U.S. market, there's nowhere you can "safely" run 135mph anyhow... Bit of a moot point.
Well, afaik you can nowhere in the US do 112mph "safely".
So why wasn't the speed limiter set to ...80? (or whatever the highest legal speed limit is now...)
Old 12-19-2011, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Tainted
why the **** would you go that fast in the bitch model anyways?
Careful. It may be able to outrun you.
Old 12-19-2011, 02:42 PM
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I bet that guy totally crapped his pants when it went!
Old 12-19-2011, 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Wolfsblut
Well, afaik you can nowhere in the US do 112mph "safely".
So why wasn't the speed limiter set to ...80? (or whatever the highest legal speed limit is now...)
We're still free here (barely), and the speed limiter was installed by Ford as a function of engineering limits, not social control, so I think you're creating a bit of an apples/oranges debate here with an extreme example.

Just because diseases can be spread sexually, doesn't mean we should all have our johnsons amputated...

Just because I believe red-light-runners are dangerous, does not mean that I support 100%-computerized-auto-pilot technology in our cars.

And so-on. Bottom-line, it's not the fault of the engineers, they had their clearly-outlined reasons for the driveshaft they specced. You want to play, you get to pay, as the owner of this v6 has abruptly learned.
Old 12-19-2011, 03:00 PM
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The hell was that driveshaft made out of? Glass?


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