Air Filter

[diamondback]

I remember watching some you tube cast of I think of motor trend(I will try to find it again and post it later) doing a review on the GT500 and them complaining to ford that the expected and rated power was not matching up with their tests and ford said they knew of the issue and that it had to do with the air filter. Ford took the car back to fix the issue then gave it back for them to test again. Once they tested again everything was fine.

 

My question is did they fix the issue in production? If so when and what was the fix?

[Ford blue blood]

Yes.

[Alloy Dave]

I remember watching some you tube cast of I think of motor trend(I will try to find it again and post it later) doing a review on the GT500 and them complaining to ford that the expected and rated power was not matching up with their tests and ford said they knew of the issue and that it had to do with the air filter. Ford took the car back to fix the issue then gave it back for them to test again. Once they tested again everything was fine.

 

My question is did they fix the issue in production? If so when and what was the fix?

Yes. My understanding was that the air filter supplier had a "delamination" issue with the pleats in some of the filters. THe pleats were coming loose and restricting flow. I don't know the dates during which this occurred....seems to me it's been at least 6 months ago if not longer.

[Joker45]

Dave is on the money. I believe though that it was just the first few months of 2007 production that this occured. I think it was fixed around August or September of 2006.

[phr3121]

Here is the article:

 

Link -> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Featu...rticleId=118839

 

"The following week Ford Brand Communications Manager Alan Hall called back. Apparently 3,500 GT500s have the potential to be afflicted with delaminating air filters, which was likely the source of our problem according to Hall. He said he'd have the car serviced and returned to us for a retest as soon as possible.....Two weeks later Ford returned the car with a new and presumably correct air filter in place. We headed straight for the track. On its third pass, with the same driver behind the wheel as the first testing of the car, the Shelby ran a 12.82-second quarter-mile at 113 mph. That's 0.6 seconds and 5 mph quicker than before, a massive jump in performance."

 

"The air filter we inspected the first time looked fine because the delamination problem isn't visible. SVT Engineering Manager Bill Woebkenberg later explained that the problem isn't obvious because it doesn't occur until there's significant flow through the filter, which causes its pleats to flutter. According to Woebkenberg, the affected filters create an unequal distribution of air through the engine's mass airflow meter. This causes the meter to tell the engine control computer that too much air is reaching the engine, which causes conservative fuel and spark delivery and reduces power."

[diamondback]

Here is the article:

 

Link -> http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Featu...rticleId=118839

 

"The following week Ford Brand Communications Manager Alan Hall called back. Apparently 3,500 GT500s have the potential to be afflicted with delaminating air filters, which was likely the source of our problem according to Hall. He said he'd have the car serviced and returned to us for a retest as soon as possible.....Two weeks later Ford returned the car with a new and presumably correct air filter in place. We headed straight for the track. On its third pass, with the same driver behind the wheel as the first testing of the car, the Shelby ran a 12.82-second quarter-mile at 113 mph. That's 0.6 seconds and 5 mph quicker than before, a massive jump in performance."

 

"The air filter we inspected the first time looked fine because the delamination problem isn't visible. SVT Engineering Manager Bill Woebkenberg later explained that the problem isn't obvious because it doesn't occur until there's significant flow through the filter, which causes its pleats to flutter. According to Woebkenberg, the affected filters create an unequal distribution of air through the engine's mass airflow meter. This causes the meter to tell the engine control computer that too much air is reaching the engine, which causes conservative fuel and spark delivery and reduces power."

 

Thanks for that great info! Very thorough answer to my concerning question. This site is an incredible valueable resource to have if you own or are looking to buy a Shelby GT500!