HR361 - 2017 GT350R - The Story

Looks like you had good work done.

Are you having one for the street and the other for the track?

50 Deep said:

Looks like you had good work done.

Are you having one for the street and the other for the track?

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Yep, that's the plan (sort of) The TY will never be beat on, but I will drive it like it was designed to be driven. I'm not one of those burn out idiots who beats the piss out of his cars. However, I plan to drive this more than my white track pack. The TY will be used for the track, take it out for drives, I wont be afraid to park it anywhere, etc. If the 500 turns out to be something, the TY will probably go on the chopping block (the stable is only so big).

The AG one coming will be kept as a life long car. I will use it from time to time and keep the miles off it. I do not plan to wrap the entire car like the TY, but instead just protect the usual high impact places (front, hood, A pillars, wheel wells, etc).

I just got done washing her and put her away for a little while. I'm heading for a little R&R. I plan to get the tow hook, splitter, and rock guards when I get back. Today, I also hit 300 miles, so I need to give her the first oil change and send it off for analysis.

If next month's paycheck goes well, I will be looking towards an MGW shifter, roll cage, and harness. The only thing after that will be the Vorshlag camber plates and caliperfexion studs.

One step at a time, all working to be complete by the end of November in preparation for Daytona in December.

Oh, I took some photos after her wash and was reviewing. I thought this one looked cool.

Daytona is right around the corner, December 1-3. I have a lot to do before then. The most recent item that was acquired was a spare seat delete from a fellow member here at 6g. ( [MENTION=16207]fuhrius[/MENTION] ). Thank you!

The seat delete was dropped off by John in a brand new metallic raptor at the cargo facility in the bay area (what a beautiful truck, wow). The seat delete was given the white glove treatment and arrived home ahead of me yesterday. I plan to pick it up tomorrow morning and then start ordering parts for Daytona (MGW shifter, roll bar, harness, vorshlag camber plates, etc).

I'll have some photos tomorrow and hopefully have the install complete of the tow hook and splitter within the next couple of days.

More to follow

Tom,

You stated in a previous post that the stripes had to be removed to avoid any lines in the final product, I'm confused on what had to be removed.

Also I'm assuming the stealth covers the black gloss and red gloss outside borders of the stripes, as to make the entire stripe matte now. Is that correct?

Mine leaves Sunday for it's ppf and ceramic coating, I had xpel on my previous 350 and had no real complaints with it, but this time I will be going with Stek which the shop recommended over both the xpel and also the suntek which is what I was originally gonna try on the R this time. Supposedly the Stek has a better top coat that is the least noticeable of the 3. We will see how it turns out, I will update my thread once it returns home.

Donkey said:

Tom,

You stated in a previous post that the stripes had to be removed to avoid any lines in the final product, I'm confused on what had to be removed.

Also I'm assuming the stealth covers the black gloss and red gloss outside borders of the stripes, as to make the entire stripe matte now. Is that correct?

Mine leaves Sunday for it's ppf and ceramic coating, I had xpel on my previous 350 and had no real complaints with it, but this time I will be going with Stek which the shop recommended over both the xpel and also the suntek which is what I was originally gonna try on the R this time. Supposedly the Stek has a better top coat that is the least noticeable of the 3. We will see how it turns out, I will update my thread once it returns home.

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Andrew,

The roof had stripes originally. I wanted to wrap the roof black but keep the stripes on there for the next buyer so that they could make their own choice. The problem was that if I left the stripes on the roof and wrapped the roof black over it, you would see a bulge where the stripes were. I asked about PPF around the stripes and was told that it would never look right. So, that was all the hub bub about stripes being removed.

As for the stealth, yes, I covered the entire stripe to include the red boarder. Again, although it had to be done, I don't think the stealth is all that great. However it is the only option if you want to make your stripes matte. Nothing, and I mean nothing will make it look like there is no film on the stripes.

HR871 will get a full front end, A pillars, hood, and impact areas. I will not cover the stripes. The difference is that HR871 will not go to the track.

I'm anxious to see how yours turns out. I may follow your lead on HR871 and use suntek instead. The Xpel did add a little orange peel to the appearance, but overall, it increases the shine dramatically after a wax.

Tomster said:

Andrew,

The roof had stripes originally. I wanted to wrap the roof black but keep the stripes on there for the next buyer so that they could make their own choice. The problem was that if I left the stripes on the roof and wrapped the roof black over it, you would see a bulge where the stripes were. I asked about PPF around the stripes and was told that it would never look right. So, that was all the hub bub about stripes being removed.

As for the stealth, yes, I covered the entire stripe to include the red boarder. Again, although it had to be done, I don't think the stealth is all that great. However it is the only option if you want to make your stripes matte. Nothing, and I mean nothing will make it look like there is no film on the stripes.

HR871 will get a full front end, A pillars, hood, and impact areas. I will not cover the stripes. The difference is that HR871 will not go to the track.

I'm anxious to see how yours turns out. I may follow your lead on HR871 and use suntek instead. The Xpel did add a little orange peel to the appearance, but overall, it increases the shine dramatically after a wax.

Click to expand...

I am dropping mine off tomorrow for SunTek full front, also some in front of the rear wheels, he said it is better for a black car, I forgot the reason but it sounded good. Also, getting tint and ceramic coating.

I have Xpel on mine....whole front end and in front of the rear fenders following the body line. Ive heard Xpel was thicker than Suntek, thus better for the track.

Tomster said:

Andrew,

The roof had stripes originally. I wanted to wrap the roof black but keep the stripes on there for the next buyer so that they could make their own choice. The problem was that if I left the stripes on the roof and wrapped the roof black over it, you would see a bulge where the stripes were. I asked about PPF around the stripes and was told that it would never look right. So, that was all the hub bub about stripes being removed.

As for the stealth, yes, I covered the entire stripe to include the red boarder. Again, although it had to be done, I don't think the stealth is all that great. However it is the only option if you want to make your stripes matte. Nothing, and I mean nothing will make it look like there is no film on the stripes.

HR871 will get a full front end, A pillars, hood, and impact areas. I will not cover the stripes. The difference is that HR871 will not go to the track.

I'm anxious to see how yours turns out. I may follow your lead on HR871 and use suntek instead. The Xpel did add a little orange peel to the appearance, but overall, it increases the shine dramatically after a wax.

Click to expand...

I am going with a new film https://stek-usa.com/ the shop I'm using has done some very high end cars in it and said it's the nicest of the 3 and responds very well to coating. Even though they say it doesn't necessarily need it. He gave me the option to use any of the 3 and said quite a few of the well respected shops have started to offer the Stek films. I actually heard Matt from obsessed garage mention using it on his gt3rs that he's purchasing. I will give a review on it next week after I get the car back.

Kurac said:

I have Xpel on mine....whole front end and in front of the rear fenders following the body line. Ive heard Xpel was thicker than Suntek, thus better for the track.

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The current films are the same mil thickness.

I have Suntek from the A-pillar forward and two track days on the car. It has held up really well and I can't find any issues yet with it. It's been on the car since mid June and almost 6000 miles as well.

I think all of the reputable manufacturers make a great product now and you really can't go wrong. It is more important to find a good installer IMO then product choice.

Tomster said:

Today, I weighed the CF wheels with a new set of cup 2's mounted. At the request of [MENTION=24957]Minn19[/MENTION] , Here are the findings:

Front wheel (a tad over 46#)

Rear wheel (a tad over 47#)

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Thanks for this again. I just got my Forgeline VX1Rs today and weighed them. With 305/30 and 325/30 PS4S tires mounted they are 53.4 lbs for the front and 54.6 for the rear. According to Tire Rack, if I go with the 315/30 Cup 2s in the future I'll save a few more pounds going with that tire.

Anyway, the CF are definitely the lowest weight champion, but I saved prolly around 7k going this route and still shaved a lot of weight off from the stock GT350 setup.

Minn19 said:

Thanks for this again. I just got my Forgeline VX1Rs today and weighed them. With 305/30 and 325/30 PS4S tires mounted they are 53.4 lbs for the front and 54.6 for the rear. According to Tire Rack, if I go with the 315/30 Cup 2s in the future I'll save a few more pounds going with that tire.

Anyway, the CF are definitely the lowest weight champion, but I saved prolly around 7k going this route and still shaved a lot of weight off from the stock GT350 setup.

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The gs1r would likely be the closest in weight to the R wheel. Same tire and they should be very close to the carbon wheels.

Donkey said:

The gs1r would likely be the closest in weight to the R wheel. Same tire and they should be very close to the carbon wheels.

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Agreed and that was one of the issues I had with Forgeline, but they made it right in the end.

They had advertised the VX1Rs as roughly same weight as the GA1R and GS1R. They offered to change my order to one of those when I found out via this site that wasn't the case. Ultimately I decided to stay with the VX1Rs as I love the style of them and they are still quite a bit lighter than stock.

I thought about switching to HRE, but a similar wheel that I liked was the same weight and 3k more. I like that Forgeline is made in the USA and they source their material from the US as well.

Sorry for the OT [MENTION=21800]Tomster[/MENTION] I'll save it for another thread.

Today was one of those days that you wished you got done more than you did. It started out with a service call to the house that was late. I intended to get the oil changed, tow hook, and splitter installed, I had to run out to the airport to pick up the R seat delete that I purchased from fuhrius a few days ago in CA.

So, what I got accomplished was the belly pan removed, tow hook installed and oil changed. I was able to button up the car and put her away before it got dark. Splitter to go tomorrow.

The tow hook sucked. Many explicatives flew out of my mouth in a very frustrating installation. :frusty: The instructions sucked. I essentially threw them out the window and figured it out for myself. When I got the mounting bracket installed, I found the threads of the titanium ZL1 tow hook would not freely fit through the grill. I called and was told to thread it through or turn it to reduce the diameter. Whatever. So below is a shot of the titanium tow hook. The only thing I would have done differently is paint the mounting bracket black so that it doesn't stand out in the background. Why isn't it painted during manufacture? :shrug:



I am just about at 500 miles on the car. I would have liked to change the oil sooner (after the majority of the break in), but I was swamped with hurricanes, work, and life.... This was the first canister type oil and filter change. I think the canister is better and worse in some ways. From the standpoint of the filter coming loose from vibration, this setup is by far superior. However I feel that the filter is not of the same quality based upon visual inspection of the new vs old type filter. I'd like to see some engineering specs on a filtration comparison between the two.

First, the oil was drained



Next the filter canister was removed. I found that the filter canister was resistant to spinning off due to the double O ring design. Once it was about to spin off, a small seep of oil started to flow. I recommend letting it seep while slowly draining to avoid a huge mess.



Then the canister was removed and the filter was visible. I saw no signs of metal shavings or residue (unlike my '16 track pack). It seems that ford has cleaned up their act in the engine build department. I will never forget my first oil change on the '16 track pack. Lots of sealant, particulates, etc.... However, as everyone remembers, that was normal. This oil change at 500 miles was very clean. A sample was collected and will be sent off to Blackstone Labs for oil analysis. The canister was cleaned out, and a new filter was installed as well as the supplied O rings. It was torqued to 24 NM. I'm not concerned that this filter will vibrate off like the old style.




I then topped off the car with an even 10 quarts of 5w50 motorcraft



I ran it for a few minutes and checked for drips/leaks and found none. Good to go. The belly pan was re-installed and tomorrow I will install the splitter.

Nice job documenting Tom.