lethal-performance-08-gt500

Canton 80-236 Coolant Expansion Tank Installation with Pictures!!

Still working on the cooling system we decided to install the Canton 80-236 Coolant Expansion Tank ($149.95) which will fit all 07+ GT500's and 05+ Mustang GT's. This piece is a direct replacement for the stock radiator reservoir located just to the left of the intercooler reservoir in the engine bay. Since we installed the PFAB Intercooler Reservoir the stock plastic radiator reservoir stuck out like a sore thumb. We really needed to compliment that nice aluminum PFAB tank with a similar aluminum tank for the radiator overflow. This is another very easy modification to do and will take no more than 30 minutes with simple hand tools. All of this can be done in your own garage in no time. http://www.lethalperformance.com/pages-productinfo/product-16533/80-236-canton-07-09-shelby-gt500-coolant-expansion-fill-tank.html  The tools you'll need for installing the Canton 80-236 Expansion Tank are: Pliers, 8mm Socket and Ratchet, 3 ft of hose, funnel, large bowl and a hand towel. First lets take a look at the stock tank next to the PFAB tank. Just like I mentioned earlier it sticks out like a sore thumb. So lets get started with the install. Remove the cap off of the stock coolant expansion tank. Using a 3ft section of hose or tubing siphon the coolant out of the tank into a large bowl on the ground. We found that this is the easiest and cleanest way of removing the fluid from both the Intercooler Tank and Radiator Expansion Tank. With the fluid drained from the tank you can now use a set of pliers to loosen the hose clamp located on the right side of the tank. Once the clamp is loose you can pull the coolant line off of the tank. I found that only a small amount of coolant came out when doing this but I still chose to plug the coolant line with a small rag to keep any extra coolant from spilling. Now using the 8mm socket and ratchet remove both bolts from the front of the tank which mount the tank to the fan shroud. With the bolts removed you are now able to lift the tank off of the vehicle enough to access the other large coolant line attached to the bottom of the tank. Using the pliers again loosen the hose clamp that holds the large cooling tube to the tank. Once the clamp is out of the way lift up and twist the stock tank and it should break free of the coolant hose. Once the tank comes off the coolant hose make sure to keep the hose aimed upwards so that the coolant in the hose does not start to pour out. I actually was able to pull that tube slightly to the left and use the smaller hose to keep the large hose upright without me having to hold it anymore. Now lets compare the stock tank to the Canton 80-236. At first glance the stock tank looks like it is actually a bit larger than the Canton tank but due to it being thick plastic it's size is deceiving. One thing that isn't deceiving though is how much nicer the Canton piece appears. I also wanted to see how much coolant each tank held so I filled them up to their normal operating levels and used a measuring bowl to test how much fluid each held. Both the Canton and Stock piece filled the bowl to just under 2 Quarts of fluid. Now it's time to install the Canton tank onto the car. Take the Canton tank and connect the large coolant hose to the bottom large drain on the Canton tank. Use the pliers to loosen the hose clamp and slide it over the coolant tube to clamp it in place. Now you can sit the Canton tank in place on the car. One thing I noticed when doing this is that the tab on the bottom of the Canton tank is not as thick as the stock tab and at first it felt like it didn't sit 100% how I thought it should on it's mounting place. I decided to keep on moving forward with the install and see how it felt after bolting it into place with the other 2 mounting tabs. Now you can reconnect the smaller coolant hose to the upper right hand outlet on the Canton tank. Same thing goes for this using the pliers to loosen the hose clamp. Slide the clamp over both the hose and Canton coolant outlet letting go to allow the clamp to secure the coolant tube in place. Now using the 8mm socket and ratchet reinstall the 2 8mm bolts which mount the 2 mounting tabs on the tank to the vehicle. I tightened the bolts just enough to keep the tank secure and then turned the tank until I was happy with it's position and then tightened the bolts down more to secure the tank just where I wanted it. After doing this I wanted to see how well the tank stayed in place and if that lower mounting tab was going to be an issue. The tank stayed in place and felt very secure making me comfortable that the install went very well. Using a funnel I refilled the Canton tank with the same fluid I removed from the stock tank. After I filled it back up with all the fluid in the bowl I checked the level of the fluid and it was perfect. The fluid was just below the bottom part of where the Canton cap installs. The last part of the installation is putting the cap on. We chose the standard chrome cap which is an option we offer for $7.95. We also offer a polished Meziere billet cap which is $29.95 but the chrome one was more of what we had in mind. Note the small nipple on around the cap area. This nipple is not to be plugged up or blocked off as it's part of the venting system of the Canton tank. Plugging that nipple will not allow the tank to function properly when the car is warm. This concludes just another simple, inexpensive and awesome looking modification to our 08' GT500. If you have any questions regarding this product please feel free to contact your Lethal Performance Sales Associate today!

PBAF Intercooler Reservoir/Ice Tank Installation with Pictures!

Just getting started with our 2008 Shelby GT500 we wanted to address a very important part which some take for granted. Cooling!! Cooling of not only the motor but the intercooler system will help in the performance and efficiency of the car. In this instance we're starting with the intercooler system by adding the PFAB Intercooler Reservoir/Ice Tank. The intercooler system circulates coolant through several different places including a reservoir, heat exchanger, intercooler and pump. The whole point of the system is to get the temperature of that fluid as low as possible as it will help with the intake temperatures as the air is pushed through the intercooler and into the engine. The cooler the temps are the better performance you'll see. By adding more fluid into the system it will help dissipate the heat and allow for better cooling. Best of all is that you can pack the PFAB tank with Ice at the track for extra cooling which has been proven to improve ET's. Our first step in improving this system is by adding the PFAB tank. This is the reservoir part of the system. The stock plastic piece holds .90 of a Quart of fluid. The PFAB tank holds just under 1 gallon of fluid which will help to dissipate heat in the system. The stock tank is also not the most attractive piece and one you see how nice the PFAB tanks looks it's just another reason to do the upgrade.. The PFAB tank is made of high quality aluminum and tig welded by hand with some of the best looking welds we've ever seen. It also uses a fuel cell style cap which has large opening which will allow you to put ice in the tank. In addition to that there's a Parker drain valve so you can easily drain the fluid.

The PFAB tanks fits in the stock location and should take less than 30 minutes to install. Below is the actual installation of the PFAB tank on our 08' GT500. The tools needed for the installation are: Pliers, 8mm open ended wrench, 8mm socket and ratchet. razor blade and 50/50 yellow coolant. The first step of the installation is draining the stock reservoir. This can easily be done by siphoning the fluid out with a 4 ft section of rubber hose or by disconnection the lower hose off of the stock tank and allowing the fluid to drain into pan. We found that siphoning the fluid out of the reservoir was the easiest and cleanest way to do this as there's too much stuff located below the tank which keeps the fluid from properly falling directly into a pan. Once the stock intercooler reservoir is drained you use the ratchet and 8mm socket to remove the one bolt on the bracket holding the tank to the fan shroud. Then by using a set of pliers you can loosen the hose clamps on both hoses that attach to the tank. Pull each hose off of the tank and remove the stock reservoir. Now we can observe the size difference between the 2 which is definitely noticeable. Like I mentioned earlier not only are you improving the efficiency of the intercooler system the looks of the PFAB are enough to make you want to upgrade itself. At this point you are ready to install the PFAB tank. Sit the PFAB tank in place where the stock tank was. Connect the lower hose on the right side of the PFAB tank by sliding the hose over the tube on the tank. Then by using the pliers loosen up the hose clamp and then clamp it securely on the hose. Line up the upper coolant hose to the upper tube on the PFAB tank. You will need to cut a small amount of the stock hose off in order for it to properly fit over the tube on the tank. Use a utility knife or razor blade and carefully cut the hose as illustrated in the image below. Once thehose is cut t he proper length reconnect it to the upper tube of the PFAB tank by sliding the hose over the tube and securing it with the hose clamp. Once both hoses are secure on the PFAB tank position it so that the tab on the bottom sits in the same position as the stock tab did on the fan shroud. Line up the tab on the front mounting bracket and use the 8mm wrench to tighten the bolt down. Make sure not to over tighten the bolt as if youdo you may break the plastic tab that the bolt mounts to. Make sure that the valve on the bottom of the tank is in the closed position and refill the tank using a 50/50 mixture of yellow coolant. Fill the PFAB tank with the coolant leaving about 1" from the top of the tank. Tighten the cap and start the car. Let it idle for a few minutes then turn the vehicle off. Open the tank and make sure the tank is still filled to the same level and add fluid if necessary. Do the same thing but this time after about 5 minutes of driving just to make sure there's enough coolant in the tank and the system is working properly. For more information about the PFAB Intercooler reservoir/Ice Tank please feel free to give your Lethal Performance sales associate a call today. 1-877-2LETHAL http://www.lethalperformance.com/pages-productinfo/product-15732/pfab-07upgt500-pfab-2007-plus-shelby-gt500-intercooler-reservior-tank.html

Lethal ’ s GT500 New Track Times 12/20/07 - Bone Stock with Stock tires and Drag Radials

So we headed out to the track again to take a few more runs down the track before we start our next phase of our project. Our goal was basically to get our best times with the car in full stock trim with the stock tires and then a set of drag radials. Our best time so far was a 13.20 which to us really wasn't that impressive. Not only did we head out to the track with our normal crew this time but took along a good friend and 3x champ Jeremy Martorella from UPR Products to see what times he could pull off. The weather at Moroso was in the mid to low 70's and very humid. Jeremy took the first shot at it and pulled off our best 1/4 time yet running a 12.68@109.90. His 60ft time on that run was a 2.014 and the 1/8th was an 8.287. Unfortunately after that run they closed the 1/4 for the rest of the evening because of the moisture on the back end of the track and only allowed 1/8th runs for the rest of the evening. Derek took a run at the first 1/8th pass still running the stock tires and pulled an 8.49. At this point we really started to get the hang of launching the car on the stock tires but it was time to move on as we were ready for some drag radial runs. We slapped the Hoosier 315/35/17's on a set of 03 Cobra Chrome Replicas and bolted em up. The rims had the 99-04 offsets so they stuck out about 1.5" from the fenderwell. They still cleared the rear brakes and that's what really mattered to us. Derek took the first crack at the drag radial run and pulled an impressive 8.01 on the 1/8th. The tires hooked real good. It's really amazing how much of a difference the tires made from the stock F1's. Next up was Jeremy and it got even better with a nice launch from around 5k rpms pulling off a 7.90@89.22mph with a 1.84 60ft. These were the times we were looking for and although we didn't have a chance to run faster than that because we were hot lapping the car for the following runs we left the track very proud of how the car ran. Jeremy definitely felt that with a few more good runs we could see 11's as he said the car could pull 1.70 60's. Below are our timeslips as well as some pictures and videos from last night. Time to start modding.

Lethal ’ s GT500: First runs at the track completely stock!

With just a tad over 500 miles on the car it was time to take her to the track for some fun. We really wanted to see how the car would run in it's stock configuration so that's just how we did it. We asked our employee and good friend Derek Perez if he was up to the task and he was more than happy to be the first to run Lethal's GT500 down the track for the first time. The car is bone stock with only a shorty antenna replaced. The car cover still in the trunk and the car had just a tad under 3/4" tank of gas. The conditions at Moroso Motorsports Park were as follows: 75 degs F. and 71% Humidity. There was quite a bit of moisture in the air and lots of dew on the hoods of everyones cars. Track prep was the typical Moroso prep which really isn't the greatest. The first run down the track wasn't that great. It took another 2 runs for Derek to start figuring out a launch technique on the stock tires. Derek tried to slip off from the line to prevent wheel spin but when he made the 1-2 shift the car got crooked and he let out. As the night progressed the runs started looking better even with very little time for cool down. We then saw a 13.36@111.71 MPH. The 60ft times still needed improvement as on that run we only saw a 2.372 60ft. The last run of the night gave us our best time of13.20@111.15 MPH. The 60ft time on that run was a 2.21. Overall it was a great night at the track with the car. We really feel we could break the 12's with a few more runs with better short times. For us though getting to see what the car will do in it's stock form will only help us to build the car and get more real world test data for ourselves and our customers.

We just took delivery of our 2008 GT500

A new addition to the Lethal Camp has arrived. We picked up our new Ebony Black 08 GT500 on our way back from the PRI show this year held in Orlando. We were able to get a good deal on her and excellent service from Weikert Ford located in Lake Wales, FL. http://weikertford.dealerconnection.com/?lang=en Make sure to ask for our saleman Jared Joyner as he was excellent to deal with and got us in and out of the dealership in no time. Once I drove the car off the lot I couldn't believe how smooth the car drove. The clutch was like butter and the ride itself was smooth. Little did the car know at this time what we had in store for her. Here's some pics of her in the bone stock configuration. ` `