[STANGER_SC]

After what has seemed like an eternity having a supercharged mustang that runs like crap, it is finally doing great things again.
Come to find out...I have been driving on a fried PCM and a horrible tune for over a year now. Although driveable, it has not had the "power" it should have. Dyno tunes in the low 200's have proven that.

After replacing a faulty alternator at Lethal last week, they took the time to help me try and diagnose the car. I mean literally took the time that was not part of what I was there for and paying them to do. They made some suggestions, even helped me replace some parts for free to try and diagnose my problems. They recommended getting the PCM checked while I was at Ford the next day. Needless to say...the PCM was replaced the next day at Ford and found to be shorted out. I gave Lethal Performance a shot at tuning my car for me.

In a matter of 2 days my car literally went from a surging, sick 212HP and 180 something torque all the way to a whopping 451HP and 416lbs of torque! It took some slight modifications and plenty of patience from Lethal Performance. This included noticing that I had a restrictive defect in my air intake tubing. They fabricated and replaced the area that needed to be fixed.

I just wanted to say that I really did receive great help from the guys at Lethal. And that I appreciate what they did for me. I recommend them any day.
Jeremy
2006 Ford Mustang GT Convertible
Vortech Supercharge 8lbs boost
451HP/416ftLbs TQ
Daily Driver

Many thanks to Lethal Performance for taking the time to diagnose and fix my car to a better running state than it has EVER BEEN!

[FnSweet06]

about time you took it them....you got a neighbor across the steet that takes his cars and everybody frm his car club does too ....there building the rear end for the mach right now

[tulabeast]

thats good to hear this day in age with all bullshit shops around town

[STANGER_SC]

Originally Posted by blkstang87

about time you took it them....you got a neighbor across the steet that takes his cars and everybody frm his car club does too ....there building the rear end for the mach right now

Yeah I also want to thank that neighbor for suggesting me to go to Lethal. And I know all about that rear end man...I was there when it all happened

I will say that I also know that he should have his mach back to shape real soon.

[PonyTx]

That's awesome!!!

[BigJnSA]

yeah - they are some really good guys over there.

[swingle007]

Kinda stunned to hear somebody would drive a s/c '06 GT for a year knowing it only dyno'd at 212rwhp. Glad to hear they got her running like she was meant to. I imagine there will be new tires needed in your future. :-)

[thesource]

Thats good to hear and glad your car made the power it should .

[Stang13]

Glad to hear things worked out for you!

[thatdavidkid]

that's awesome.. i was wondering what was happening w/ that

[Firemanz]

Badass J! They'll be getting my business soon on the Roush. Got my x-mas present coming soon hopefully....

[psiperformance]

Originally Posted by swingle007

Kinda stunned to hear somebody would drive a s/c '06 GT for a year knowing it only dyno'd at 212rwhp.

Poor jeremy has had some issues with his car.

I feel bad for the problems he had had it seems if it could go wrong it did for him.
However i would like to point out how far out of our way psi went for him and that in the end the problem was exactly what i had told him it was over six months before.
The alternator.

it all started when jeremy walked in and wanted a super charger so we ordered him a complete kit for a 05 polished and beat the best price he could find online for it.

His first blower after being installed had a bad bearing in it right out of the box and was knocking like all hell.

We removed the entire kit and I next day aired at it back the blower at my expense and had it warrantied for him and reinstalled it no charge of course as it was not his fault that the blower was defective.


He then left for louissianna on a trip and the belt came apart the day after due to a defective belt
The backing actualy seperated from the ribs I have never seen a belt fail this way it wasnt a alignment problem wasn't a pulley issue the belt just basicly came unglued for half the length of the back the back smooth part was gone the whole back from the ribs and the ribs were still there intact but the backing to the belt was flapping around hanging off the ribs

we purchased him a new belt agian out of our pocket even though it was a vortech suplied defective part and rewired the two wires was damaged when the belt came apart and the new belt had no issue simply replaced the belt and the new one worked fine i believe he is still on that same belt ?

I heard from him a month or so later that his car had stalled on him and he was stranded so I personaly left the shop and drove to where he was stranded to check the car out for him and see if it could be moved etc. .. I diagnosed the problem as low fuel preassure and it turned out the squeese clamps vortech sends for the secondary pump were not strong enough and one had allowed the fuel pump line to blow off the secondary pump in the tank.

I removed the pump right there on the side of the road drove to the parts store and bought worm gear clamps and repalced every clamp in the pump system with worm gear clamps right there on the side of the road and had him done and running within an hour and he had no issues with the pumps since.

I didn't tell him to tow it in i didnt say ok well look at it i imediatly droped what we were doing and drove to him and fixed it on the spot.

Somthing we have done ever since on every pump system we install as a precaution as this was the very first 05 up supercharged we had installed and were not aware that the vortech clamps are prone to failure as there have been many posts now a year and a half later with people talking about the same issue so we just throw the vortech/paxton stuff away and supply our own stainless clamps.


Then a month later the car started having a surge while driving on the highway over time.. it was also throwing a code for the cam sensors

I placed it on the dyno dataloged it and told jeremy that this was not a cam sensor issue the cam sensors were reading fine.

he informed me he felt it was due to the code.

However in a effort to get him fixed up we replaced both cam sensors and the crank sensor for free at our cost parts and labor even though i had explained to him that this was anot the issue and the surge was still there after we replaced them.

he then went to several ford dealers who all told him it was the cam sensors < due to the same code > even though they were new.

I informed jeremy that there was a TSB on the alternators on these cars and that they could trip the cam sensor code and cause just such a problem and that the fluctuating voltage could cause these kinds of surges and I recomended replacing the alternator .. he said he thought it was fine and was convinced that it was a wiring issue with the two wires we had repaired from the belt problem.

the wires were not even broken but the belt had sliced the insulation off them so we cut that section out an soldered and shrinked a new piece in.

Convinced that was the problem he even took the car elsewhere and had the wires repaired again and the problem still persisted.

A month later sure enough his alternator stopped charging and left him with a dead battery
He replaced the alternator a ford dealer gave it to him under warrantie and we isntalled it for him and then delivered the core to the dealer for him and he reported the car ran much better..
about 4 months later he told me his car was not running and he was going to tow it to us.

When it arived i had it unloaded from the flat bed and imediatly stoped what we were doing on the lift and went over the car.
I imediatly diagnosed and found the problem to be his impact safty relay for the fuel pump had triped in the drivers kick panel.

Either he had hit a huge bump or had kicked it or something but it had triped. I reset it and sure enough the car started instantly i double checked the fuel pump dc voltage draw and duty cycle with the dataloger and a ohmeter to verify it wasnt pulling to many amps and it was fine and he was on his way.

That was the last we had talked to him untill a dyno day we held for the board the car again he said was running very rough and not as it should.

We tried a dyno pull and the car was missing very bad and we shut it down and told him it would not be a good idea to try to make any pulls with it and i told him just bring it bye monday and we will diagnose it < again for free over a year after the initial install >

The car arived monday and again without charge we took the whole kit off the car to diagnose his issue.

The problem turned out the be vortech intercooler had a hole in it and was leaking its water into the intake manifold.

When we removed it a gallon of water poured out of it and i preassure tested it and sure enough it had a hole in it.

I called vortech in a atempt to get the intercooler warrantied for jeremy but they said the intercooler only carried a 90 day one from the suplier to vortech while the rest of the kit carried a 1 year.

I told jeremy if he purchased a new intercooler we would isntall it for free or he could simply unhook the wire to the pump if he couldnt afford it at this time and drain the water system and run the car with reduced timing for the lack of the intercooler.

That is what he decided to do at that time as he said he needed to think about what he wanted to do.
jeremy was abit upset voretech would not warantie the intercooler but my hands were tied on that subject.

I assume he has replaced the intercooler at this time since the powers back.

Did you have it re dyno tuned jeremy or did you just have the problems fixed and the inlet pipe fabricated and now the powers back where it should be ?

The dyno numbers seem to be just about right as you made 438 here before the power pipe and before your intercooled leaked the extra boost and effeciency of the new inlet should = the gain you saw.


also please Jeremy check your right passenger kick panel the fuel relay and power junction box

It is known to get wet when it rains and or you wash the car due to a problem with cowl seals.

If it does it can cause the alternator issues you keep having and even damage the ecu so i would check that very close to be sure you don't have to get a third alternator.

[86sleeper]

wow, that is a big hassle on one car.
Glad to see everything working out and shops out of their way to help customers.

[swingle007]

Originally Posted by 86sleeper

wow, that is a big hassle on one car.
Glad to see everything working out and shops out of their way to help customers.

+1...glad to hear things are finally where they should be.horror stories like this are what has kept me from putting a s/c on my '05 GT for over 2 1/2 years now. Sure have heard alot of this kind of stuff with the S197 cars when adding a supercharger. Makes ya wonder when Vortech and other makers will finally work out all the damn bugs.

[86sleeper]

vortech engineers the blower and bracket and they expect the tuners to make it work on the cars. LOL

[Lethal Performance]

I am glad you are happy. It was a bit of a war with your car but in all due time you got your car back in working order. I will relay this to the guys at the shop. Sometimes we take a long time to get a car done. But Id rather have a customer mad at me for the meantime than rush a car and have them bring it back. Look forward to doing more business with you. I am almost 100% sure where to get the core for the heat exchanger. Thanks for choosing us and Im glad your happy with your new tune.

Joe M

Lethal Performance (Tuning Lawn Mowers Daily)

[Lethal Performance]

Originally Posted by swingle007

+1...glad to hear things are finally where they should be.horror stories like this are what has kept me from putting a s/c on my '05 GT for over 2 1/2 years now. Sure have heard alot of this kind of stuff with the S197 cars when adding a supercharger. Makes ya wonder when Vortech and other makers will finally work out all the damn bugs.

We have installed about 10 + vortech systems. I usally dont have a problem with them. Most of the time, The time is not taken to algin brackets properly or follow important directions.

[psiperformance]

as lethal has said the vortech kits are very well engineered

We have realy not had any problems to mention in fact we have done over 12 05 up vortech kits and 4 paxtons and 5 whippels and one kenee bell and poor jeremys was the only one i had any issues with .. but if you make 10 thousand kits a year you will have some issues its the nature of mass production.

Don't be afraid of the 05 up kits at all they are very well engineered and work extremely well and the three valve loves boost as long as you keep it within reason.

[Lethal Performance]

Originally Posted by psiperformance

Poor jeremy has had some issues with his car.

I feel bad for the problems he had had it seems if it could go wrong it did for him.
However i would like to point out how far out of our way psi went for him and that in the end the problem was exactly what i had told him it was over six months before.
The alternator.

it all started when jeremy walked in and wanted a super charger so we ordered him a complete kit for a 05 polished and beat the best price he could find online for it.

His first blower after being installed had a bad bearing in it right out of the box and was knocking like all hell.

We removed the entire kit and I next day aired at it back the blower at my expense and had it warrantied for him and reinstalled it no charge of course as it was not his fault that the blower was defective.


He then left for louissianna on a trip and the belt came apart the day after due to a defective belt
The backing actualy seperated from the ribs I have never seen a belt fail this way it wasnt a alignment problem wasn't a pulley issue the belt just basicly came unglued for half the length of the back the back smooth part was gone the whole back from the ribs and the ribs were still there intact but the backing to the belt was flapping around hanging off the ribs

we purchased him a new belt agian out of our pocket even though it was a vortech suplied defective part and rewired the two wires was damaged when the belt came apart and the new belt had no issue simply replaced the belt and the new one worked fine i believe he is still on that same belt ?

I heard from him a month or so later that his car had stalled on him and he was stranded so I personaly left the shop and drove to where he was stranded to check the car out for him and see if it could be moved etc. .. I diagnosed the problem as low fuel preassure and it turned out the squeese clamps vortech sends for the secondary pump were not strong enough and one had allowed the fuel pump line to blow off the secondary pump in the tank.

I removed the pump right there on the side of the road drove to the parts store and bought worm gear clamps and repalced every clamp in the pump system with worm gear clamps right there on the side of the road and had him done and running within an hour and he had no issues with the pumps since.

I didn't tell him to tow it in i didnt say ok well look at it i imediatly droped what we were doing and drove to him and fixed it on the spot.

Somthing we have done ever since on every pump system we install as a precaution as this was the very first 05 up supercharged we had installed and were not aware that the vortech clamps are prone to failure as there have been many posts now a year and a half later with people talking about the same issue so we just throw the vortech/paxton stuff away and supply our own stainless clamps.


Then a month later the car started having a surge while driving on the highway over time.. it was also throwing a code for the cam sensors

I placed it on the dyno dataloged it and told jeremy that this was not a cam sensor issue the cam sensors were reading fine.

he informed me he felt it was due to the code.

However in a effort to get him fixed up we replaced both cam sensors and the crank sensor for free at our cost parts and labor even though i had explained to him that this was anot the issue and the surge was still there after we replaced them.

he then went to several ford dealers who all told him it was the cam sensors < due to the same code > even though they were new.

I informed jeremy that there was a TSB on the alternators on these cars and that they could trip the cam sensor code and cause just such a problem and that the fluctuating voltage could cause these kinds of surges and I recomended replacing the alternator .. he said he thought it was fine and was convinced that it was a wiring issue with the two wires we had repaired from the belt problem.

the wires were not even broken but the belt had sliced the insulation off them so we cut that section out an soldered and shrinked a new piece in.

Convinced that was the problem he even took the car elsewhere and had the wires repaired again and the problem still persisted.

A month later sure enough his alternator stopped charging and left him with a dead battery
He replaced the alternator a ford dealer gave it to him under warrantie and we isntalled it for him and then delivered the core to the dealer for him and he reported the car ran much better..
about 4 months later he told me his car was not running and he was going to tow it to us.

When it arived i had it unloaded from the flat bed and imediatly stoped what we were doing on the lift and went over the car.
I imediatly diagnosed and found the problem to be his impact safty relay for the fuel pump had triped in the drivers kick panel.

Either he had hit a huge bump or had kicked it or something but it had triped. I reset it and sure enough the car started instantly i double checked the fuel pump dc voltage draw and duty cycle with the dataloger and a ohmeter to verify it wasnt pulling to many amps and it was fine and he was on his way.

That was the last we had talked to him untill a dyno day we held for the board the car again he said was running very rough and not as it should.

We tried a dyno pull and the car was missing very bad and we shut it down and told him it would not be a good idea to try to make any pulls with it and i told him just bring it bye monday and we will diagnose it < again for free over a year after the initial install >

The car arived monday and again without charge we took the whole kit off the car to diagnose his issue.

The problem turned out the be vortech intercooler had a hole in it and was leaking its water into the intake manifold.

When we removed it a gallon of water poured out of it and i preassure tested it and sure enough it had a hole in it.

I called vortech in a atempt to get the intercooler warrantied for jeremy but they said the intercooler only carried a 90 day one from the suplier to vortech while the rest of the kit carried a 1 year.

I told jeremy if he purchased a new intercooler we would isntall it for free or he could simply unhook the wire to the pump if he couldnt afford it at this time and drain the water system and run the car with reduced timing for the lack of the intercooler.

That is what he decided to do at that time as he said he needed to think about what he wanted to do.
jeremy was abit upset voretech would not warantie the intercooler but my hands were tied on that subject.

I assume he has replaced the intercooler at this time since the powers back.

Did you have it re dyno tuned jeremy or did you just have the problems fixed and the inlet pipe fabricated and now the powers back where it should be ?

The dyno numbers seem to be just about right as you made 438 here before the power pipe and before your intercooled leaked the extra boost and effeciency of the new inlet should = the gain you saw.


also please Jeremy check your right passenger kick panel the fuel relay and power junction box

It is known to get wet when it rains and or you wash the car due to a problem with cowl seals.

If it does it can cause the alternator issues you keep having and even damage the ecu so i would check that very close to be sure you don't have to get a third alternator.

We fixed all the problems that where there and Tuned it with SCT. And one more thing. There is no reason to post all this in this thread.

[psiperformance]

I felt I did.
As it is well known this car was done by us in the first place and I wanted it known that Jeremys problems did not stem from our work at all and we had gone out of our way on many occasions to help and try to solve his issues

That and the way the first post reads it seems to make out that none of the other shops treated him well or went out of their way for him.

We put probly 15 hours of free labor into that vehcile diagnosing and checking and replacing things that he was under the impresion was the problem without charging to do so.

I told jeremy probly 15 times over the last year his alternator needed to be looked at due to the well known TSB on this very issue and his ecu might have a issue due to the way his car was acting and that the sensors
< wich is all the ecu said was wrong >
were fine even replaced them with new units for free to put him at ease that this was not the problem

The fact he never followed up and had the ecu checked was not our fault I simply did not want the wrong impression made about our shop that we were in any way at fault for his issues.

The very term horrible tune is ludicrous his tune was absolulty PERFECT before his ecu went out he made 438 rwhp on 93 octane with the stock induction and had a table flat 11.8-1 air fuel.

The ecu was bad and that was the stem of his problems.. your dyno tune made only 13 more rwhp then ours and you improved his inlet pipeing.. so to say his tune was horrible is rediculous.

I can provide the dyno graphs showing the power out put and the air fuel and the timing numbers proving the tune was spot on..

having a bad ecu does not = a horrible tune..

I can understand his frustration but i just wanted people to know the whole story.