Late model donor???

[mikepward]

Has anyone tried to use a 2011-2016 mustang donor? not just the engine and rear end, but the spindles, trans, control arms, brakes, electric power steering, pedal box (with the clutch pedal sensors needed) and use the entire factory chases and engine harness with factory key switch and ECM?

I am sold on doing a basic kit, and I really want a coyote motor, but to then go buy a donor car just for the spindles and pedal box seems silly, I figure I'd probably buy a new gas tank and radiator, maybe custom gauges anyway.

I am a pretty skilled fabricator and feel like I could get the chases bare metal and make modifications as needed and blow the whole car apart after mock up to have it powder coated then.

Has anybody tried this? what are my major pitfalls?

[CraigS]

No expert and am sure others will fill in. I am pretty sure the electric rack won't fit physically. I think you will find that the stock ecu needs inputs from a ton of other systems which you wouldn't have in an FFR. That may mean you need the Ford control pack, but then I am not sure it works w/ the oem engine vs the crate engine. The track width is so much greater on the newer Mustangs that I can't imagine that much of the suspension will work. Overall, I agree, a donor car probably isn't a great idea. Individual salvage parts might work though.

[bil1024]

Instead of a donor you could do the complete kit and source your engine from Fortes or a donor. Or, get the basic kit and do a pallet donor from say MPS, they can pick the parts for you and ship on a pallet, no donor to worry about. Or, craiglist can be your friend and source parts that way. Hope this helps

[edwardb]

I too am not aware of any builds with the 2011 - 2016 Mustangs. Actually there are two pretty different Mustang versions in that range. But doubt very many parts would be usable. Certainly nothing from the front suspension. And nothing from the rear solid axle version. I'm not aware of anyone using one of the newer pedal boxes. The older SN95 and Fox pedal boxes are still pretty available and work OK if that's what you want. The Wilwood pedal box is now pretty much the norm. I've done both, and really prefer the Wilwood setup. It's not hard to integrate the Coyote switches into the Wilwood pedal box. I fabricated what was necessary myself. Factory Five now has parts available. If you're going with the new IRS setup, then 2015 and up will have a center section and hubs and possibly brakes. But you don't need to buy a whole donor car to get them. Rear suspension pallets are pretty available, pretty reasonably priced, plus that gives you the flexibility to get the right diff type (iron or aluminum) and ratio. Even brand new parts aren't all that expensive. A NIB non-Torsen center section is around $800. The spindles/hubs are several hundred. You can use an OEM Coyote. The crate Coyote is exactly the same engine off the same assembly line as the manual shift version. The only difference is the electronics. Ford sells a Controls Pack ($1500) which is plug and play and works very well. Includes the harness, PCM, power distribution, O2 sensors, etc. There are aftermarket PCM's and harnesses, but that's a little above my pay grade and I don't have any direct experience. I honestly don't think that direction is any cheaper. It's mainly about more performance and user programming if you're into that sort of thing. I've read some on other forums about people using the OE PCM and wiring. But it's not for the faint of heart. I've not seen a single build on these forums where that's been tried. Honestly, there are just better options IMO.

Maybe not everything you wanted to hear, but hope that helps.