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Calling Convertible owners...


Pig

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I have 700 wHP give or take 15 depending on conditions, dyno type etc. I DO NOT have a light bar and no dents. I looked pretty close this morning after reading this before bed last night. I do have a little indent on the top near the trunk but that's been there for ever. I don't know how the light bar goes in but that may be a common theme if you that have it are seeing this issue. ANyone with out it see it yet????

 

 

As for my crappy night - tack on a BS ticket for 85 in a 65 when I was doing 72 and had a GPS digital display to prove it and was not hit with a radar gun and was pulled over on the exit ramp after the cop followed me 15+ miles and I was behind traffic the entire time. Rock damage is minimal - it was scary though - I'll put up a threat on the evenings events in a bit so as not to steal this one as it is an important issue.

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I have 700 wHP give or take 15 depending on conditions, dyno type etc. I DO NOT have a light bar and no dents. I looked pretty close this morning after reading this before bed last night. I do have a little indent on the top near the trunk but that's been there for ever. I don't know how the light bar goes in but that may be a common theme if you that have it are seeing this issue. ANyone with out it see it yet????

As for my crappy night - tack on a BS ticket for 85 in a 65 when I was doing 72 and had a GPS digital display to prove it and was not hit with a radar gun and was pulled over on the exit ramp after the cop followed me 15+ miles and I was behind traffic the entire time. Rock damage is minimal - it was scary though - I'll put up a threat on the evenings events in a bit so as not to steal this one as it is an important issue.

Gotta love those IN cops!

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Well i just had a look at my vert this morning. I am totaly stock with 1000 miles (1600km) on mine and there is no dings anywhere. I dont have a light bar, i do want one though LOL!!! I drive the car pretty hard when i get the chance.

 

Scott

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I just checked mine. No wrinkles. 11,000 + miles. Some hard street launches, but no drag stip runs. No light bar, either.

 

I might be wrong here, but if it were from buckling, I would expect to see deformation at the panel creases before seeing them in the smooth panel sections.

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GT500FLYBOY - Can you post a pic of your location? Also did you just notice it? You have the light bar as well...

 

It may take me a little while to post a pic. I need a new camera. I dropped my digital and the AF no longer works. I'll look at some of my earlier pics to see if it shows up - I've had this wrinkle for some time.

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I just went out and checked mine. Since black has a strong reflection I looked at the reflection across that area and saw nothing abnormal in the way of waves or dings on either side. I also used a shop light and looked carefully across both sides and found nothing.

 

Something I did notice the other day is that when I put my top up the pins at the top of the windshield do not exactly fall into the holes. I don't remember if they did originally or not. They are not far off and I don't have to force them in but they are off a little. Not sure if that could be a sign of structural deformaty or not. Can anyone else chime in on this? New or old vert owners (relatively speaking)?

 

 

I have a new 08 GT Mustang vert that has the same thing. Pins are off a little.

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Farmdog, again I am all stock with few miles and have no dings but my top does drop slightly off. Not enough to worry about but I do need to guide with my hands. I drove an 06 GT Vert last year for a few weeks and it did the same so I assume it is somewhat normal.

 

I have have had my vert since June 07-have had the top down most of the time and in the garage when not driving. I tried to put up top and had alot of trouble getting the top to stretch to get it to latch. I had to have my son push on the top while I latched both sides. My thinking is the top needs to be up most of the time to keep the material stretched. I guess this means I have to have someone around if I want to put the top up.

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This thread is worrisome, as mentioned...

 

I've had my vert since October 2006.

13,500 kms (8,400 miles).

No drag strip.

No light bar.

JLT CAI + Evo Stage 1, but only in the last 2,000 km, with marginal HP gains.

Some hard launches, but not driven hard for this car.

No dings.

 

Could it be more from hard cornering under power and wheel hop, more than straight line acceleration? Seems to me cornering would cause more lateral forces on the quarters, but I'm no engineer.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot: no problems at all with latching the roof.

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At the Tulsa Raceway last November, I met a lady in an '06 mustang GT coupe that had some serious suspension mods. She ran it almost every week, I think her 60' times were around 1.8 sec. and e.t. about 13.1

 

She showed me those same identical wrinkles on her car and said that she had had them worked on twice already.

 

I hate to say it but this may be a serious weak spot in the bodies.

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rut ro! sounds like we may need those sub frame connecters after all :( I wasn't to fond of the thought of not having any on the Shelby, it just didn't sound right after my preveious cobra verts. Guess now I will go out and get some put on, add a bit more weight to this big guy :)

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I checked my Alloy GT500 Vert. today. 2500 miles and no buckling or damage of any kind. No lightbar. Top lines up almost exactly. I did have my stripes painted on. Body parts were removed for painting. Lets hope this is an isolated incident. From looking at the photos (one car Red, one car Black?) I find it difficult to see this kind of damage being done from excessive torque.

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I am having a real hard time with this as it seems if this many people have these and are aware, why not bring it to Ford? I would assume if they knew, this could be a recall of some sort! Am I wrong? If there is this much flex, on a stock car, sorry but I have to think Ford would have to correct the issue.

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This may put me over the edge to get a roll bar.

 

I'm thinking of a bolt-on roll bar arrangement of some sort that I can put in for track use only. Simply remove the back seat and bolt in a six point roll bar. It could be easily removed for street use and the car would look completely stock with the seat replaced. Thoughts?

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That would be 3 cars including the one I saw.

 

I would only expect to see it on a car that is set up for 1320' launches w/good weight transfer and DR's or slicks. In otherwords, if you're not going to the track several times a month and getting 1.8 or 1.7 second 60' times, then I don't think you'll see the kind of torque required to do this. But I saw it with my own eyes. The owner was almost proud that her 4.6L was capable of it.

 

Fastbackman was there with me and he saw it. They were the ones that loaned him the DR's so he could break into the 12's that day.

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Just a wild guess,

Do you think that this may have been caused buy improper jacking or jack stand placement???

Alan

I thought about that, but I've always jacked it in the appropriate jack points on the frame, or the axle itself (not the pumpkin tho). And I try to jack the car evenly, I always put it on stands so that the car remains level. However, do you think it could have been caused by jacking one side first, then the other? Like its twisted the body by jacking one side at a time? I would think that just driving the car normally would put more strain on the body than the occasional jacking.

 

 

Just a thought is the dented area right on top of where the shock tower brace is or close to where the top of the shock is?
Looking at the rear wheels from the side, if you take the vertical center of the wheel, the shock towers are behind (to the rear) of the wheel/axle. The denting is occurring forward of the axle. Although its not far from it, maybe a foot or so from the dent to the upper shock mount.

 

 

At the Tulsa Raceway last November, I met a lady in an '06 mustang GT coupe that had some serious suspension mods. She ran it almost every week, I think her 60' times were around 1.8 sec. and e.t. about 13.1

 

She showed me those same identical wrinkles on her car and said that she had had them worked on twice already.

 

I hate to say it but this may be a serious weak spot in the bodies.

Well this definitely worries me, especially that its been worked on twice. But the only suspension mods I have so far are Fiore LCAs. But this is the second coupe I've heard of with this problem (assuming the Saleen that ShelbyDude was talking about indeed had the same marks, and not just from being on display in the casino). And I assume Saleen still slaps on their suspension parts with every car. So maybe the beefed up rear suspension may be causing the body to buckle in its weak spots?

 

 

So far we've got 3 verts (mine, mobeydick, and KKhanlian). And possibly FLYBOY's also, although his dent is in a different location. And at least 3 of those have the CDC lightbar (not sure about mobeydick).

 

And 2 possible coupes, the Saleen ShelbyDude was talking about, and the lady sprint200 mentioned.

 

 

I took some pictures tonight of the inside of that body panel (passenger side). Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but then I'm no expert. As you can see, there is extra framing (possibly the forward-most part of the shock tower reinforcements?). There are two bolts that hold this framing to the body, and the upper bolt (see picture) almost lines up with the dent. I felt behind that panel with my finger, and the lower bolt does not touch the exterior panel, but I couldn't reach behind the upper bolt to feel it. However, I don't think the bolts themselves caused it as the dents dent "in" like they were dented from outside the vehicle. Check it out and let me know what you think....

 

IMG_8769a.jpg

 

Sorry if I'm running in circles with this, its just got me pretty worried.

IMG_8769a.jpg

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I thought about that, but I've always jacked it in the appropriate jack points on the frame, or the axle itself (not the pumpkin tho). And I try to jack the car evenly, I always put it on stands so that the car remains level. However, do you think it could have been caused by jacking one side first, then the other? Like its twisted the body by jacking one side at a time? I would think that just driving the car normally would put more strain on the body than the occasional jacking.

Looking at the rear wheels from the side, if you take the vertical center of the wheel, the shock towers are behind (to the rear) of the wheel/axle. The denting is occurring forward of the axle. Although its not far from it, maybe a foot or so from the dent to the upper shock mount.

Well this definitely worries me, especially that its been worked on twice. But the only suspension mods I have so far are Fiore LCAs. But this is the second coupe I've heard of with this problem (assuming the Saleen that ShelbyDude was talking about indeed had the same marks, and not just from being on display in the casino). And I assume Saleen still slaps on their suspension parts with every car. So maybe the beefed up rear suspension may be causing the body to buckle in its weak spots?

So far we've got 3 verts (mine, mobeydick, and KKhanlian). And possibly FLYBOY's also, although his dent is in a different location. And at least 3 of those have the CDC lightbar (not sure about mobeydick).

And 2 possible coupes, the Saleen ShelbyDude was talking about, and the lady sprint200 mentioned.

I took some pictures tonight of the inside of that body panel (passenger side). Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but then I'm no expert. As you can see, there is extra framing (possibly the forward-most part of the shock tower reinforcements?). There are two bolts that hold this framing to the body, and the upper bolt (see picture) almost lines up with the dent. I felt behind that panel with my finger, and the lower bolt does not touch the exterior panel, but I couldn't reach behind the upper bolt to feel it. However, I don't think the bolts themselves caused it as the dents dent "in" like they were dented from outside the vehicle. Check it out and let me know what you think....

 

post-8390-1191038509_thumb.jpg

 

Sorry if I'm running in circles with this, its just got me pretty worried.

 

 

Ordered my Light Bar W/O light Friday.

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I am having a real hard time with this as it seems if this many people have these and are aware, why not bring it to Ford? I would assume if they knew, this could be a recall of some sort! Am I wrong? If there is this much flex, on a stock car, sorry but I have to think Ford would have to correct the issue.

 

I don't think any of these cars are (Stock) I've got Evolution Stage 4 on mine. Although it hasn't been to the track with that set up I did take it there stock. Ford wouldn't do a thing, they would say we have over powered the car. Void the entire warranty, even the paint. I need my rear Bumper cover repainted. It's kind of Yellow.

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As I've been reading through all these posts I can't help but to focus on one particular area. That is the front mount of the LCA torque box location. The new LCA's used by Pig (and myself ) as well as others are by design made to transmit much more torque into the chassis due to the fact that the urethane bushings completly fill the mounts and thus offer very little flex unlike the factory ones. If you notice on the factory LCA's the rubber never touches the frame mount at all thus allowing the arms to twist under hard cornering whereas the the urethane type don't allow for that twist thus transfering a greater amount of stress into that area......the same location of the buckle in the quarter pannel.

I feel that with this suspension mod subframe connectors (or torque box braces )being welded in is a necessary step to stiffen the chassis enough to prevent the buckling.

With the Vert it is even more crutial and a full subframe connector is necessary IMO.

 

George.......

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I don't think any of these cars are (Stock) I've got Evolution Stage 4 on mine. Although it hasn't been to the track with that set up I did take it there stock. Ford wouldn't do a thing, they would say we have over powered the car. Void the entire warranty, even the paint. I need my rear Bumper cover repainted. It's kind of Yellow.

You don't think they would repair the dents or creases?

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I will have to go out and really look mine over as well, I have Evo stage 2 and as I posted previously it hooked up in 2nd gear hard and the passenger door was slamming against the 1/4 panel...it surprised my friend that was riding along he thought his door was open but it wasn't. No more H.P. for my vert thats why I wanted a coupe as well for the big H.P.

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As I've been reading through all these posts I can't help but to focus on one particular area. That is the front mount of the LCA torque box location. The new LCA's used by Pig (and myself ) as well as others are by design made to transmit much more torque into the chassis due to the fact that the urethane bushings completly fill the mounts and thus offer very little flex unlike the factory ones. If you notice on the factory LCA's the rubber never touches the frame mount at all thus allowing the arms to twist under hard cornering whereas the the urethane type don't allow for that twist thus transfering a greater amount of stress into that area......the same location of the buckle in the quarter pannel.

I feel that with this suspension mod subframe connectors (or torque box braces )being welded in is a necessary step to stiffen the chassis enough to prevent the buckling.

With the Vert it is even more crutial and a full subframe connector is necessary IMO.

 

George.......

 

 

Mine has the stock LCAs. I ordered the Steeda Stop the Hop kit Friday.

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