I'm Justin with americanmuscle.com, and on this episode of "HotLap," I'm giving you my first five
recommended mods for that new EcoBoost. Now, just because you don't have a Coyote under
the hood of that S550 doesn't mean you can't make things a little louder, a little cooler,
and a little faster in the process, right? Well, that's the point of today's video, guys. I'm gonna
give you my first five recommended mods for your 2015 and newer EcoBoost-powered Mustang. Now,
the modifications I have in mind for this video do cover a wide variety of parts for that ride,
including performance, paneling, looks, and even sound. Now, two big things to keep in mind, guys,
while watching this video. First and foremost, there is a slight difference between the '15
through '17 cars and the '18 and '19 cars. So, just triple-check before ordering the
parts for your ride. Secondly, and maybe most importantly, these are merely my suggested mods.
This is your car. I encourage you to mod it how you want. However, it's just my job to steer you
in the right direction, and maybe give you a few recommended mods along the way. So,
with all that talking out of the way, what do you say we dive into our first couple of mods?
All right. So, again, guys, yes, this is a first mod video for your EcoBoost,
which, again, can be open to interpretation. Some guys might choose a few different mods,
but there are two that I would say are unanimous across the board, and that is new
set of wheels and tires, new suspension. Why? Well, really, nothing changes the attitude of
a car more than the new set of shoes along with lowering that thing down a little bit,
to give it a much better stance. So, let's talk about Rovos Pretoria, in gunmetal here. It's a 20
by 10 in the rear, plus-38 offset, with a 20 by 8.5 up front, with a plus-20 offset. Now,
Rovos, these guys make some really killer designs, including the Durban, the Cape Town,
but I would say the Pretoria's probably my favorite. I'm a big fan of the multi-spoke design.
Looks really fitting here on the S550, even if they're a little bit more difficult to clean.
Again, this is their satin gunmetal color. It is a low-pressure cast wheel. What's that all
about? Well, it's gonna be much stronger, much lighter than a gravity-cast wheel, but not quite
as much of a price tag as, like, a flow-form or a forged wheel, so it lives somewhere in the middle
there. But again, guys, the wheel's only one half of that fitment, right? Because wrapped
around that Rovos Pretoria is the Mickey Thompson Street Comp 305/35R20 in the rear, some big old
meat. And that's paired up with a 255/35R20 up front, so you're getting that staggered fitment,
and one that fits fine here, even given the lowered car. Now, the Mickey Thompson Street
Comp is a great tire, and again, something that's very popular here on the site when it
comes to an ultra high-performance summer tire. Very affordable, in fact, the most affordable in
the sizing when you're looking at a 305 or bigger, and one that's gonna perform very well in warm,
dry conditions, although I wouldn't be using these things as a winter tire anytime soon.
But again, guys, you can't change the stance of a car without addressing the suspension,
which leads us to the next part here, and that is the SR Performance lowering spring. Again,
one of the most popular parts here on the site, because they're super affordable, just
over 150 bucks, and they're gonna drop the car 1 inch on all four corners, which is a majority
of the spring offerings here on the site. It's enough to take up that ugly factory wheel gap,
but without slamming this thing to the ground and making it completely undrivable. Now, this is a
progressive lowering spring, meaning the springs progressively firm up the harder they are pushed,
so you're gonna get that comfortable initial rate while cruising on the highway. It's not gonna jar
your fillings loose, but once you start tossing this thing around in the turns a little bit more,
rolling into that secondary rate, these things will firm up on you, reduce some
of that body roll. But, in summary here, guys, I just wanna point out there's really no wrong
answer when it comes to your wheels. Again, you might have a completely different taste,
might not enjoy the Pretoria. And, again, that's perfectly fine, but one thing we can
all agree upon here is that the factory wheels just really aren't all that fun.
Next up, guys, you can see that exhaust tip is no longer stock, so let's talk about what we
did there. So, yes, I know exhaust might be a little bit more controversial in this video for
the first five mods, because not everybody's crazy about adding more exhaust, or more volume to the
exhaust, with these EcoBoost, but just hear me out. Now, the system I went with for this
video is the Ford Performance by Borla Touring System. And besides just being a killer system
when it comes to quality and construction, I like it because it gives just the right amount of sound
to the four-cylinder EcoBoost, a little bit more turbo noise, the odd crackle or kind of backfire
coming down off the revs. But most importantly, it does so without being annoying or overly farty,
for lack of a better word. In fact, don't take my word for it, guys. Check out this quick clip.
So, there you go, right? A little bit more sound, but without being terribly over the top. But,
sound aside, let's break down this killer construction a little bit more, and it really
doesn't get much better than the Ford Performance by Borla stuff. Quality 304-grade stainless steel
throughout, including the 2.25-inch tubing, touring series cans here, guys, and my favorite
part of this system, the really, really baller carbon fiber tips. Gonna add to the price a little
bit, but if you wanted to keep things a little bit more budget-friendly, you could always opt for the
traditional chrome, or even a black chrome tip as well. So, again, not everybody's favorite mod when
it comes to these EcoBoost-powered Mustangs, but one that I thought was very important for
a few different reasons. But with exhaust out of the way, we got two more mods to go,
the first of which is under the hood, so let's get the car down and talk about that next.
All right, guys, so we're moving right along. We've talked wheels and tires,
we've talked springs and even exhaust, but now we got the hood popped, where, honestly,
you guys have a few different options. Case in point, hood struts would always be a good choice
in this case. A lot of guys will even tackle the cold air intake system, but, for this video,
I recommend the Turbosmart Kompact Shortie Blow-Off Valve. Now, I can sit here and tell you
this thing's gonna be made better, which it is, to help prevent any cracking of that factory plastic
blow-off valve. I can tell you it's gonna support more boost, but the reality is, a lot of guys are
just simply gonna install this to make a little bit more noise, right? It's a turbo car. It's kind
of the rite of passage, if you will, installing a blow-off valve on a turbo car, so that's why
I recommended it for this video. Now, there are some benefits outside of the noise, right? Again,
it is stronger billet aluminum, compared to your cheap plastic option, which doesn't really break
a lot, but it can happen. It's also gonna support a little bit more boost. So if you
do eventually go big down the road, pumping a lot more boost through this EcoBoost engine,
it's not gonna bleed it off as easily. Keep that power strong all the way through the RPM range.
One big thing to point out here, guys. The Turbosmart is a mechanical blow-off valve,
and what does that mean? Well, the factory bypass, or blow-off valve, in these cars is
electronic. It's controlled electronically. Whenever the throttle blade close in, the car
basically opens up that factory blow-off valve and vents boost pressure that way. That's not the case
here anymore with the Turbosmart. This is kind of the traditional way of operating blow-off valves,
where it taps into a vacuum source. They give you a port here. You run that to the
blow-off valve itself. And basically, whenever it detects vacuum, opens up that blow-off valve,
releases the pressure, keeps that compressor wheel nice and safe, and doesn't harm anything. A very
complete kit. Again, they do give you the boost reference source here, obviously the blow-off
valve itself, but since the factory option was electronic, they even include a little resistor,
to bypass the signal and prevent any possible check engine light. So, again,
very complete, really well-made, very easy to install, and for just north of 200 bucks,
it's an awesome way to make a little bit more noise with your EcoBoost.
But, with the blow-off valve out of the way, it's time to talk about our fifth and
final modification, and one that I feel is gonna deliver the best bang for your buck,
ultimately, here, with the EcoBoost Mustang. And of course, I'm talking about a custom tune. Now,
the tune that we are using in this video is from Torrie and the gang down at Unleashed Tuning,
specifically for our 2018 EcoBoost, their 93 octane custom tune. And the results
really just speak for themselves. Why? Well, baseline numbers with this car, in fourth gear,
which is one-to-one, give us 260 horsepower and 306 pound-feet of torque to the rear tires. Now,
with that tune uploaded, in addition to the Ford Performance exhaust,
the car is now making 274 horsepower and 344 pound-feet of torque, again, to the rear tires.
Just wanna point out here, guys, that we did use the Rovos with both before and after runs,
to eliminate the bigger wheel and tire variable. And what does that mean when it comes to gains?
Well, modest peak gains overall, 14 horsepower, 38 pound-feet of torque, which certainly isn't bad,
but the big story here is often the case with these EcoBoost Mustangs are the gains under the
curve. You're looking at roughly 20 to 30 wheel horsepower under the curve, to about 5,000 RPM,
and as much as 40 to 50 pound-feet of torque under the curve from about 2,000 RPM to about 5,000 RPM.
So, just big-time gains under the curve. Those are the numbers you're gonna feel pulling off from a
red light. And honestly, the car's just gonna feel way more stout than it did before in stock form.
But aside from the added power, guys, you're also looking at things like increased drivability,
a little bit more throttle response, and just overall, a way better EcoBoost Mustang. Now,
I get it, guys. Not everybody's always in a hurry to tune their brand-new Mustang,
but if you are willing to go this route, the juice is certainly worth the squeeze.
Well, guys, that's gonna wrap up our first five modifications video for that 2015 and
newer EcoBoost-powered Mustang. We hope you enjoyed it, and we hope it gave you some
ideas to get modding on your ride. Now, the biggest takeaway I can say from this video,
guys, I encourage you, again, this is your car. Mod it how you want. There's a million
different ways out there to make your ride unique, so the most important thing to keep in
mind is to have fun. Thanks again for watching, guys. Subscribe if you haven't done so already,
and remember, for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.