2007 Ford Mustang: Curse of the Shelby clutch?

My beloved 2006 Mustang GT was recently totally by a distracted driver on the freeway. My husband wanted to purchase a new Ecoboost, with a warranty and lots of gadgets. I insisted on a 2007 GT500. We roadtripped the Shelby from the Denver dealer to Phoenix, no issues. One week later, the alternator had to be replaced. Two miles out of the shop, the clutch started making strange metallic grinding noises that get worse on sharp turns and in third gear. Does this sound like the curse of the stock Shelby clutch and flywheel?

Very nice car. I do not know if there is an answer. To your question. You are dealing with an eleven year old vehicle, mine is an ‘06, I have all maintenance performed at or earlier than specified and repai and replace as needed.
As stated eleven year old car and who knows how the previous owner treated it. Just have the clutch taken care of and enjoy your ride. I think I would have the motor and transmission mounts closely inspected.
I was just looking at a ‘13 Boss 302, but no, previous owner may have abused it. Same dealer had a brand new Rousch, which, if I had the $$$$$ would have been my choice. But my ‘06 I intend to keep alive forever.

Thank you for the sensible advice. I pampered my 06 and it never gave me any real issues. I keep waiting to walk outside and see the 07 a) on fire or b) in bits on the ground. That may be a slight exaggeration. I will take the Shelby back to my mechanics and have them figure out what the clutch is doing. Hug your 06, and may it glide into being a classic with aplomb.

Curse? No, just physics. Some Shelby’s get pampered. Some Shelby’s get run hard and put away wet. An 11 year old GT 500 needing a clutch doesn’t seem “cursed” to me at all. Cars are meant to be used as intended, IMHO, and O’l Shel’ (and Ford) intended them to be used HARD!

Mine is! :smile:

Is it both conditions together or does it occur under each condition separately? Having a hard time understanding the correlation between sharp turns and clutch noise unless the speed is way too low for the selected gear and it’s slipping


Same sound, happening either when the clutch is depressed while shifting in to third or when making a hard turn (gear doesn’t matter). The noise started yesterday and went from zero to all hell breaking loose with no warning. The Shelby clutch is normally growly and talkative - this is different.

No sound when the car is cool, sounds become worse as the car warms up. Not a grinding gear noise, but like two metal files rasping on each other. Shifting is still smooth. I thought something metal got caught in the right wheelwell at first and pulled into a parking lot. Nothing.

The two great loves of my life are detailing and being concerned about oil additives. My cars are pampered daily drivers with occasional shows. Clearly, some people are actually ‘driving’ their Shelbys and wearing out the moving bits :smiley: (that is a joke - awesome you enjoy your Shelby to the max!)

Good puzzler, unfortunately. Doesn’t sound like a clutch problem to me. However, perhaps the shifter linkage position is contributing to the problem. My first thought goes to something caught up under the car that may be rubbing on the driveshaft under hard turning or when the shifter linkage is in the right position to cause it to rub. This doesn’t seem to fit into the no noise when cool part tho- Any chance the trans is low on fluid?

Not a Shelby, just a GT.

There are the 'show and shine" crowd and then there are the track rats in nearly every enthusiast car crowd. No judgments! We both enjoy our toys!

I agree with @TwinTurbo I think there may be something rubbing in the driveline. Anything down there transfers noises up and down the driveline. A bad engine mount may be a allowing the engine to shift a bit and causing something to rub. Any external contact will be obvious.

We picked up the Shelby last night from the garage, still no idea what the noise could be. So far, it has been perfectly well behaved with no issues.

I just scraped the former owner’s soda spills and mud out of the interior (this is why we can’t have nice things), removed more adhesive residue from the door panels, and will be spending the afternoon at the hand wash.

Will update if we ever find the Mystery Noise - appreciate all of the ideas! For the record, the clutch is just fine :laughing:

I wish I knew what that meant . The car was dirty when you bought it so why did you not look for one that was clean and taken care of. I have a feeling that more disappointments with this thing are going to show up.

We looked at every available Shelby in our state, and finally flew out to a highly-recommeded specialty dealership in a neighboring state to pick up this car. If you have tips on how to purchase a perfect older muscle car, that would be awesome!

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