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Building a 2015 Super Snake Clone

56K views 391 replies 43 participants last post by  medwards 
#1 · (Edited)
I intend this thread to be a complete documentation of the building of a 2015 Shelby Super Snake clone (at least as close as I can come to it being a clone). The intention is to have a car as similar to my 2015 Shelby Super Snake as I can build. I plan on doing the entire build myself and then running this car both on road courses and drag strips.

I expect this to be a fairly long project in terms of time since there is a lot to do to the base car to convert it to a clone. Please be patient with me.

Attached is the list of parts. I'll be placing orders in the coming weeks or so.
 

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#207 ·
*cough* I told you so. But you said you were a gluton for punishment.... and would change the gears now, the back again later if need be!!

Gears changes often have problems. Usually its just noise. But I've just heard so many bad stories that I would make sure I got the car from the factory with the right gear, and then leave it alone.
 
#209 ·
I went through the very same thing...only 50 years ago. I took my car to the "guru" of rearends changing to 4:11's. Drove the car home and the next day it was in the garage being torn apart by myself and friends. That's how I learned and now I do it myself.
I didn't realize the IRS was that different from the 8.8"...I think it's time you learned ...IMHO

A picture of that same car...a real street gasser.

2015 Mustang Rearend Build
 

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#213 · (Edited)
Old school meets new school. Right now I feel stupid because I didn't realize this before we pulled the rear-end back out of the car.

"Clutch protect mode"

When one changes the gear ratio in a 2015 Mustang, one needs to be aware of the relationship of engine RPM and wheel RPM. There is a table within the computer that is preset for each car from the factory that maintains this relationship so the car "knows" when the rear tires lose traction. The difference between the car's original final gear ratio and it's modified gear ratio will determine at what speed this becomes an issue. I went from 3.31's to 3.73's so it was pretty drastic. My car started misbehaving around 40mph. The guys at Ford Racing confirmed that is exactly where I should have experienced the problem given my setup on the car.

Clutch protect mode will make your car feel like it's going to shake apart if you exceed a certain speed (and will cause the car to be very sluggish upon giving it a lot of gas) if you change rear gears without updating the table in the computer to tell it that you have changed the gears.

Good news is that the rear-end was removed in about 1.5 hours and after inspecting it everything appears fine. The metal in the oil was likely because the car was "giving power/removing power" at a fast cycle rate while in clutch protect mode and I did get the car up to about 60mph (where the issue was quite violent). So, I basically did everything you're not supposed to do to a new rear-end (or I didn't do it...the car did). And that is to create violent changes during the first 100 miles. Those are supposed to be nice calm miles with some cool down time in between. Luckily this occurred only during a 6 mile duration.

So....rear end goes back in this week and car goes to Performance Dyno in Loudon NH to be informed of it's new gears. Should be a nice ride after that.
 
#215 ·
Yup that's the product for anyone doing this. Ford racing has a tool/software as well but it's bundled with other things (like a CAI). Whipple's is a tool just for that.

I have a Whipple SC and that device/software comes with the SC which will allow me to do the same thing (Just found that out by talking with them). Now I just have to bolt the damn rear end back into the IRS subframe. WHAT A DUMBASS I AM!!!

I will say, talking to the folks at Shelby, Ford Racing, and Whipple has demonstrated that there are a lot of very knowledgeable people that will help you if you just make a phone call.

Turns out that I'm going to be learning a lot about tuning. May be fun...but I guarantee that I'm going to be making a lot of phone calls to the companies listed above before I do anything.
 
#217 · (Edited)
Everything is back together and the car is programmed with 3.73 gears. Wow, wow, wow. These gears woke up this car!

I will say that the aluminum bushings create a lot of NVH...a lot. If you aren't trying to build a rear-end to sustain 1,000+hp then you should probably go with the interchangeable Steeda bushings. These Ford Racing aluminum bushings installed in the Clone would make you very, very unhappy if you wanted to maintain that quiet cushy factory ride.

However, I would say the Clone now corners BETTER than the Shelby (which I have to say is positively amazing...the Shelby truly is like driving a slot car). I haven't gotten the Clone out onto a race track, but on the road it corners better than the Shelby. It has to be because the back end doesn't move at all when hitting small bumps in the corners since all the rubber has been removed. But, the Shelby rides a lot quieter and is much more pleasant since it doesn't have the NVH that the Clone now has. The average person would prefer the Super Snake more than the Clone for the tradeoff. You have to push the two cars real hard to notice the difference in cornering. But you clearly notice the better ride of the Super Snake at every speed. So, I would say the Shelby is a nicer car to drive than the Clone at this point. I can see why Shelby didn't put in the Ford Racing aluminum bushings.

The Clone will now do a horror show without even revving much (see the pic of my buddy's driveway....hahaha...he is having it seal coated so I had some fun before hand).

I can't wait to see what my ET time is with the gear change. Then I'm going to tune it withOUT the S/C and play around with it this summer.

Later on........S/C goes in this coming winter. Then next summer I'll play with the 3.73's, then likely try some 3.55's to see if I can get the best time. Then then engine comes out and the internals get massaged and then we start going BIG power...

yadayadayada....time to play with the car I've got for this summer!
 

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#219 ·
With a burnout like that, I'm curious as to what the total body count ended up being.

You had to hit at least 7 people. 1 for every car length at a minimum.
 
#225 ·
:bow: I am pretty impressed as well. Guy knows how to smoke some tires. :thumb:
 
#226 · (Edited)
Here's a fun one. Had to fix a ripped CV boot on my Mercedes front passenger side (AWD). I thought it would be fun to take a pic of a Mercedes half shaft next to a stock Mustang half shaft. Keep in mind that the Ford Racing half shafts are even larger than the stock Mustang ones.
 

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#228 ·
I'm not much on Mercedes. My wife and her family are all German. Her grandmother calls Mercedes a taxi.

I am extremely fond of BMW. She likely rates BMW below taxis. Of course she hasn't said it to me in English. Hahaha ha!

Oddly enough, my wife's grandmother ranks Buick above German engineering. She despises Cadillac with a passion. Her husband drives a Grand Marquis, and at the moment he has been looking at Lincoln Town Cars.

It appears that the 80 year old Germans are stuck in their ways. It does amuse me that this couple has a love for cars. In particular, they love American cars.
 
#230 ·
I know that this is way off topic here but if you ever get a chance to visit the Port of Long Beach you could see the 100's of containers headed to Europe with every kind of Amercian Muscle car imaginable heading to Sweden...where my 1968 Z28 is, Finland where my 31 Model Hot Rod is and New Zealand where my 1970 Maverick Drag Car now lives.
 
#231 ·
Hey Olerodder, are you the kingpin of some kinda stolen car ring... or somethin'??? :blink:

Lol.
A few years ago, I read an article in the newspaper where a gentleman in a nearby town got a call from the CHP informing him that they had recovered his '56 Chevy which had been stolen from his yard 30 years prior! The car was sitting in a shipping container in Long Beach, ready to sail to Australia. And in much better condition than when it disappeared from his yard! The car appeared to have been freshly resto-modded with all of the expected trimmings, and 9 miles on the odometer!
 
#232 ·
Straybullitt, no not that I know of:)
If you remember the Boyd Cottington show American Hot Rod then you must remember Thomas, the guy from Scandinavia...he was/is working for an exporter of at the Port of L.A., and he was the one in charge of shipping my 31 Model A Coupe to Finland a number of years ago...I actually got a tour of the old Boyd Coddington facility and did meat some of the stars of the show that were working for themselves...after Boyd's death.
 
#233 ·
The clone is a bit of a sleeper at this point. Other than the brakes and the lowered stance, it's hard to tell anything significant has been done. I'll have to work on getting the SS hood and stripes and emblems on to spruce things up.
 

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#234 ·
Nothing wrong with a sleeper!
Nobody knows that you mean business until they see that car do a burnout for a few hundred feet... Then they know what's up.

The shop seems to be coming along nicely... Except for, possibly, that staircase that appears to lead nowhere???

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Mustang Evolution mobile app
 
#235 ·
Except for, possibly, that staircase that appears to lead nowhere???
Yes, it is coming along. Thanks for the compliment.

Ahhhh....those wonderful stairs lead to that 10'x14' room with a half wall. That room will have two couches, a coffee table, a microwave, a wide screen tv, and a fully stocked bar :dance:

I'm kindof bummed out with the progress on the garage. I hurt my back 11 years ago, have been doing Taekwondo since then to strengthen my core (2nd Dan blackbelt at this point :angel:), but the old injury included a bulging disk. Well, the disk herniated a couple weeks ago and I'm scheduled for back surgery. That and all the other stuff this spring set the garage back a lot.

Now I'm worried that my drag racing and road course fun for the summer is gone.

But, I'm still smiling and still healthy otherwise, so it could be a lot worse. There will just be a lot of hanging out on the deck and having fun conversations with friends for a while. I'm hoping I'll be able to turn some wrenches. Maybe the S/C will go in this summer after all if I can't be spending time racing. Just have to be careful with the bending. I can see one of these in my near future https://www.amazon.com/Traxion-3-100-FFP-Foldable-Topside-Creeper/dp/B00QGXSODA
 
#236 · (Edited)
More of what I think is fun stuff.

Pics before alignment....basically the "eyeballing" results of me installing suspension components and eyeballing the toe, caster, camber before getting it to the shop and on the alignment rack. Then pics after we got it aligned.

First one is before anything. I didn't do too bad with my eyeballing at least on the toe. Forgot to take pics of the caster and camber. They weren't bad either.

Second one is measured to the tolerances we set. I was comfortable with the final margin of error measuring to 1 hundredth of a degree on toe. Again, stupid me forgot to take pics of the camber/caster tolerances. But they were similar to 0.01 degree or less. The tech working with me was a pleasure to deal with and a real nitpicker....I LOVE nitpickers.

This last pic is the final settings. The settings are given by both Shelby and Ford Racing (although they differ slightly in what they suggest....we basically split the difference as they were so close to each other). The passenger setting is intentionally 3 to 4/10ths of a degree more negative front camber to address normal road crown and stop the car from pulling to the right on normal roads. Caster is a similar reason, but the opposite way. Same on the rears (except less areas for adjustment on the backs as camber/caster is actually adjusted with toe since the tops of the rear are fixed and not adjustable....so toe is off a bit on the rears...will watch the tire wear to make sure nothing is misbehaving).

After this alignment, the car handled AWESOME!
 

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#237 ·
The Clone look really nice and I agree with with Straybuillitt about looking like a the sleepers we tried to pull of some 50 years ago. I think once you chang the hood and other things it may attract a little more attention.
I totally under about the back issue although my doctor told me everything would fuse together when I hit 60...he was pretty much correct and it hasn't given me any serious issues.
You know...I would be glad to do some wheeling for you on a road coarse along with some 1/4 mile sprints since both my SCCA and NHRA licenses expire at the end of this year it would be a shame to let them go to waste:lol:
 
#238 ·
You know...I would be glad to do some wheeling for you on a road coarse along with some 1/4 mile sprints since both my SCCA and NHRA licenses expire at the end of this year it would be a shame to let them go to waste:lol:
You'll have to renew them!

I'm expecting more HP than I'm willing to pedal in the straight line come 2018/2019ish. S/C boosted to 1100HP + the NOS getting another 300HP is probably more than I'm actually willing to run. I'll push the car into the 9's but I don't think I've got the balls to go into the 8's...even though the car should be able to do it.
 
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