DrBrian's Guard GT

Honestly, I think you could probably sell that resonated H pipe you made...

I was getting an oil change at the dealer (part of the purchase) and addressing a warranty issue (more below).
While I was waiting, I crawled all over a used 2016 GT350.



One of the changes between the GT and the 350 is the red start button. I've wanted one for a while but the $50 they charge is a big pill to swallow. Fortunately, AM put it on sale for $25 and I couldn't resist. Yeah, it's just a show piece, but I think it really ties the interior together.




Melting pony!

I noticed the passenger puddle light was starting to melt and brought it into the dealer. As to date they ordered me the part, but nothing's been fixed yet.

While the weather hasn't been the most cooperative, it has warmed enough for me to get some things done with the car.

First, I grabbed an updated map SD card for the navigation system. Hardly nessasary, but $40 every two years to keep it useful with the POI database is worth it to me.

Much more excitingly, I got the Boss 302 pipes installed!
While the installation was not difficult, it was more involved than I thought it would be.
The instructions want you to remove the system from the headers and then cut and clamp the mufflers in place to the new e-pipe and then mount it back in the car. That process was awkward as the clamps had to be loosened to get the tips correct, but then re-loosened as the side pipes needed play from the joint with the x-pipe to mate to the car. Personaly, if I were to do another one, I would drop the system, measure and cut, then install the x-pipe and side pipes, and then each rear pipe individualy.
There are also two small plastic aero panels on the bottom of the car that required trimming before the side pipes would fit... there is no mention of this in the instructions.













But the sound... perfect!
I have recordings but nothing captures it correctly. The mic will clip on a cell phone, and even the good camera can't capture the pressure in your chest when it cold starts. If you like old school big block sound... this is for you!

(Just in case it gets to be too much I did hedge my bets with some block-off plates and 3/4" baffles.)

Not explicitly Mustang related, but we got a new garage door installed at the house. Besides the obvious better looks, it’s insulated and now the garage never gets below 50. (It used to drop below 20 in the winter.) My wife wanted to have an opener installed as well, and believe it or not, it’s the first time in my life where the car can go into a garage and I don’t have to get out to open and close the door!

For 2018 I decided to finally get the car on track. I have friends who have been doing it for more years than some folks I know have drawn breath. The sum of their advice was to get good brakes and fluid and go. I’m not going to find the limits of the car on my first track days and any “upgrade” is just as likely to hurt as help while I learn how to drive towards the limits of the car. So, I promptly went out and bought Powerstop “Track day” pads for all four corners (base GT 4 piston brakes) and the recommended high temp fluid.

Then Terry Fair of Vorshlag Racing got an 18’ GT with the base brakes and proceeded to trash the brakes performance on track. This information made it to me through just about every car guy I knew, to the point that a mutual friend actually put me in contact. While I knew I was not going to be getting the car to the level where he experienced his issues, my OCD couldn’t just let it go either. (Google front vented rotors on Mustang for more information.)

With the help of a very patient friend at Ford, we charted out every difference between the 6 pot Brembo system and the 4 pot GT brakes. Then we had a sickening amount of debate about what was necessary, and what wasn’t. At the end of the day, I ended up with the complete parts list for the next upgrade. (Spoilers, I never got the Powerstop brakes out of the boxes!)

What’s needed to get the full 6 piston Brembo Performance Pack brakes onto the base car? What are the real differences? Well, I can tell you the rears are the rears from V6 to GT PP. The rotors become vented for the EB PP and up, but other than that it’s only the color of the hardware that changes. The fronts are a different story. To start, the brake booster and master cylinder are different. The pedal feel/effort is changed with the booster, and the master cylinder has a different volume of fluid it pushes. Add to cart. The ABS block is the same, the lines are the same. The knuckle is the same, but the backing splash shield is different. The lower tension arms are different, and obviously, rotor/calipers are different.

Part acquisition began… Shelby of America sold me 2017 takeoffs with less than 20 miles on them. A salvage yard got me the tension arms from a car that was totaled in a rear end collision, and the rest was bought new through Tasca or other online parts store.



Tension arms. The double ball joint lower control arm setup of the S550 is made up of two separate arms, the tension link and the lateral link. Together they function like a normal lower control arm, but allow for a virtual point of articulation. This means that the steering pivot point is actually located where there is no joint. The performance pack cars have a specific tension arm with three ears to allow for an air diverter to help in cooling the brakes.


I split the installation into two parts; booster/master cylinder and caliper/rotor/suspension.
The booster/MC was uneventful, but I took great pains to keep brake fluid away from paint. I recommend the Amazon Basics puppy training pads for this task.


Brake Booster and MC out of the car.
With everything back together with the PP booster and cylinder, I moved to the meat of the job.

Base brakes

Removing the base brakes went smoothly and as expected. Once I got to the suspension portion, things got difficult. With the nut off the ball joint I could not get it to unseat. I tried hammers, jacks, and no ball joint tool was big enough to get a good grasp. I ended up buying and modifying a tool from Harbor Freight that finally did the job... but, your humble author in a rather absent minded move kept his hand on top of the separator while ratcheting, and when it let go crushed my thumb between the tool and the bottom of the strut. I honestly gave myself a 50% chance that the thumb was going to remain in the glove as I pulled my hand out... fortunately it didn't, and I taped it up to finish the job. (I did end up at urgent care afterward, but thats another story.)

With the new tension arms installed I got the rest back together.



The PP rotors, besides being rear vented are notably larger and SIGNIFIGANTLY heavier!



Oddly the calipers are actually about the same outside size.

Do to the aforementioned thumb trauma, I didn't get as many pictures are I would have liked from the job, but I think I got the most relevant things covered.

After completing the job and driving the car for almost a year with the Brembo setup (I'm behind on my posts!) I can say that for 90% of the time on the road the 4 piston and 6 piston behave the same. However, shaving speed from over 60mph the Brembo setup is WAY better. I never drove the car with the 4 piston brakes on track, but with the 6 pistons (and OEM pads) it was VERY capable.

1st Track Day (2018)

In 2017 I went with a friend who is an instructor to a track weekend at Grattan Raceway in Michigan. It was a great time and I got a feel for the event and a little taste of what these cars can actually do. For 2018, I wanted to drive my car and I had done the brakes so I was ready. Booked two days of track time, bought an insurance policy for the track time, drove to MI from CT, and began replacing the OEM brake fluid with the race approved stuff…

Oddly I couldn’t find a socket that would fit the lug nuts, and then I realized they had swollen. Damn. We got them off but I knew they couldn’t go back on, so I ended up dropping almost $100 for some boy-racer one piece lugs that at least wouldn’t swell. Finish the job and off to the track.
You can see my still messed up thumb from the brake swap.





I have a few drones and I got the required track shots.

The whole experience was amazing! I ran group 4 (slowest) and went for the end of pack and still ended up being a conga line leader for the first few sessions. I rapidly gained confidence in both the car and myself I ended up shaving over 20 seconds off my lap time! By mid-day of day two I was passing more and more people with ease and while I’m not a competitive guy, I really enjoyed not being the slowest guy on track! By the end of day two I knew I had acquired yet another expensive hobby.

I am still on factory PP wheels and OEM Pirellis with PP brakes and chassis stiffening, but base GT springs and dampers (shocks) and the car did VERY well. Squat and dive were my only real complaints with the car. I was sliding around in the seat a fair amount, but outside of that, no complaints.


If you have any interest in tracking your car, take my advice and DO IT! Don’t get caught up in needing ‘this’ or ‘that’. Get some fresh brake fluid and head on out… your next car may be a minivan!

I went down to Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta and played with a GT350 shifter. Obviously, they aren't the same as they have different transmissions, and different threads, but the aftermarket makes a pretty good replica for the standard Mustang. Got it in before the end of the season and it seems to shift better for me than the cue ball which was a little large for getting a quick grab of.

After a track weekend and the subsequent review of all the footage... I knew the next logical upgrade was a harness. I was sliding all around and doing a lot of bracing with my head and I wasn't even aware of it until I watched the video! I looked into harness bars, but was told that they are not what I wanted. I asked why, and was bombarded with photos of crashed cars where the bar folded and the belts became useless. Point taken. The Schroth "Quick Fit" rapidly came to the front, and the ability to run HANS made it pretty unbeatable. The installation was straight forward, but did require cutting of the plastic at the b-pillar mount of lap belt. I haven't used them on track yet, but from a quick joy ride around the block (the are DOT certified) they held very firm and should prove to be a good improvement.