2018 GT Daily Track Driver

[txgt]

I’ve had my 2018 GT Premium for about two years now and I’ve greatly benefitted from the wealth of information in this forum. I’ve enjoyed the friendly nature of the members here and everyone’s willingness to help each other out.

Although I’m two years late starting my build thread, better late than never, right?

My story actually begins (like most of us) from childhood. I’ve always loved muscle cars and always dreamed of one day owning a ‘70 Boss 429 Mustang after seeing one on the cover of a car magazine. What an absolutely beautiful car! Too bad my young self had no clue how rare and unobtainable that car would turn out to be!

Life goes on, children grow up and dreams get set aside to focus on education, work, marriage, divorce, more work, another marriage (this one is for keeps!), raising a child, and so on. While I have enjoyed some fun cars (’86 IROC Z-28, ‘92 Taurus SHO, ‘72 C20), I never really got to do what I really wanted: drive really fast on a closed road course with a high powered muscle car.

Well, in January of 2021 I finally decided I was in a place in my life to make it happen. Some call it a midlife-crisis, but most of you know the truth: your hard work has finally gotten you to a place in life where you can spend some of that hard earned money on something you can really enjoy!

And so here we are, after driving a gently used Honda Accord 4-cylinder for 11 years… I finally got my Mustang . She may not be the Boss 429 I dreamed of as a child, but she is an amazing platform that I can make into my adult dream of a daily driver that I can take to the track!

I’ve done a lot of mods to her over the past two years, and I’ll slowly get caught up over the coming months on all the progress I’ve made as well as share my track experiences

2018 Mustang GT Premium, 6 speed manual, leather interior

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[txgt]

Build Date: January 12, 2021

So, the day I got my car was an amazing day. After weeks of searching all the on-line car sites, I finally found a car that met all my criteria:

• Ford Mustang
• V8
• 2015+
• Leather Interior
• Standard transmission
• low miles
• anything but white paint
• Within 100 miles
• Reasonable-ish price

Obviously, the more filters you add the fewer results. What really affected my search the most seemed to be the standard transmission and a car color other than white.

But, alas, I finally found a car that looked like it was perfect for me at a nearby Ford dealership. I quickly cleared the rest of my work schedule and made it to the dealership around 5pm. A quick talk with a sales person and I was behind the wheel for a test drive shortly.

Now, I’m very lucky to have been taught how to drive a stick by my father in his Volkswagen Rabbit. That set me up to later enjoy my 5-speed standard ‘92 Taurus SHO. While that obviously had more power than the Rabbit, everything paled in comparison to the Mustang. I’d never driven a car so powerful before!

From the time I fist set eyes of the car till I drove it home that night I had the biggest smile on my face . I know that every single one of you have a shared similar feeling from your own car!

The last thing I’ll share about that first night was this:

By the time I was finished with all the paperwork at the dealership it was dark outside. Keys in hand, I walked up to my new-to-me car and saw this pony on the ground next to the driver’s door. I honestly thought that this was painted on the ground… no clue that it was actually projected from my car!!

 

[Howitzer]

Looking forward to seeing what you've done. Like you *But worse, I've been on here since 2016 (shortly after I got my car back at the end of 2015). Still haven't actually made a build thread anywhere. Maybe I'll get around to it one day. If anything, to better keep track of my own stuff.

 

[txgt]

Looking forward to seeing what you've done. Like you *But worse, I've been on here since 2016 (shortly after I got my car back at the end of 2015). Still haven't actually made a build thread anywhere. Maybe I'll get around to it one day. If anything, to better keep track of my own stuff.

Do it! It is a really great way to track your mods and I know a lot of people could benefit from you sharing your experience

My process was to go back and put all the photos I’ve taken with my iPhone into an album. That basically sets up my timeline, and now I just have to remember what I was doing when I took the photo

 

[txgt]

Build Date: February 27, 2021

First mods!

Because I want to track my car, I’m really keen to get her on the track before throwing a bunch of parts at her. See how she handles and then see how the mod enhances the experience.

But, you know how it is when you get a new play toy! So, I picked up a Ford Performance Strut Tower Brace (M-20201-MA) and FP Hood Struts (M-16826-MA) from CJ Pony Parts.

Super happy with both purchases, although I didn’t know at the time that my non-PP trim car was missing the cowl extension that reinforces the cowl strut piece (foreshadowing… )

 

[txgt]

Build Date: March 27, 2021

One of my main themes for my build is ”longevity“. While I absolutely want to get this car onto the track, I have to maintain a streetable nature and this car has to last since it’s my daily driver.

Installing the FP Oil-Air Separator kit (M-6766-A50A) seemed like a good step in prepping the car for her first track day.

Build Date: May 1, 2021

Now, this next one is my all time favorite and I highly recommend it to any home mechanic: jacking rails!

I went with the BMR Chassis Jacking Rail, Super Low Profile (CJR002). It’s really a shame that no one can see them ‘cause these things are beautiful! Combined with a polyurethane floor jack pad (as well as polyurethane jack stand pads) you can jack the entire side of the car up quickly, safely, and scratch free

 

[ice445]

Make sure you switch to a 5W30 before a track day (or you can just use it all the time). You'll also definitely want the PP front brembo brake upgrade and some aftermarket cooling ducts if you haven't already purchased them. And some higher quality brake fluid.

 

[txgt]

Make sure you switch to a 5W30 before a track day (or you can just use it all the time). You'll also definitely want the PP front brembo brake upgrade and some aftermarket cooling ducts if you haven't already purchased them. And some higher quality brake fluid.

Great points, but you’re getting a little ahead of me!

I’m still getting caught up on my delayed build thread and posting what I can when I can to get current.

To cut down on this confusion, I went back and edited the posts with the “Build Date” that the event actually took place to help future readers

 

[txgt]

Build Date: May 15, 2021

So, four months into driving the 6-speed standard Mustang around I still feel like a complete noob operating the clutch! Now mind you, I learned to drive on a standard and owned a ‘92 Ford Taurus SHO with the 5-speed manual for several years, so I’m no stranger to driving a stick.

But, as some others have discussed on this board, the clutch feel of the S550 Mustang is… “different”. So, I picked up the Steeda 35 Pounds Per Inch Clutch Spring Assist (555-7022) and it immediately felt more familiar.

Glimpse into the future: Eventually I go back to the stock Ford spring as an experiment to see which I like better… stay tuned for the results!

 

[paulm1]

Build Date: February 27, 2021

First mods!

Because I want to track my car, I’m really keen to get her on the track before throwing a bunch of parts at her. See how she handles and then see how the mod enhances the experience.

But, you know how it is when you get a new play toy! So, I picked up a Ford Performance Strut Tower Brace (M-20201-MA) and FP Hood Struts (M-16826-MA) from CJ Pony Parts.

Super happy with both purchases, although I didn’t know at the time that my non-PP trim car was missing the cowl extension that reinforces the cowl strut piece (foreshadowing… )

Unless you are planning to keep the car under 80mph at the track do not track the car until you upgrade the front brakes and brake fluid, and add some brake cooling ducts. Ive had my base '21 gt 6sp a year now. Tracked it twice last summer. Like you i wanted a base line stock first time out. And even though i came here first and read through many threads that said dont track the base brakes, i did it. On my 4th lap at pocono down the back strait at about 135mph i hit the braking zone and the pedal got very soft and would have went to the floor if i didnt pump. Luckily i was able to just continue on strait into exit of turn 1 and get slowed down. Would just adding some cooling ducts have fixed my problem? Dont know. You dont want that experience. I put gt350 calipers on 15" rotors, swaped to dot 5.1 fluid, and added a cooling duct kit. No brake issues on my 2nd track day.

 

[ice445]

Unless you are planning to keep the car under 80mph at the track do not track the car until you upgrade the front brakes and brake fluid, and add some brake cooling ducts. Ive had my base '21 gt 6sp a year now. Tracked it twice last summer. Like you i wanted a base line stock first time out. And even though i came here first and read through many threads that said dont track the base brakes, i did it. On my 4th lap at pocono down the back strait at about 135mph i hit the braking zone and the pedal got very soft and would have went to the floor if i didnt pump. Luckily i was able to just continue on strait into exit of turn 1 and get slowed down. Would just adding some cooling ducts have fixed my problem? Dont know. You dont want that experience. I put gt350 calipers on 15" rotors, swaped to dot 5.1 fluid, and added a cooling duct kit. No brake issues on my 2nd track day.

I think he already did all that, and is just slowly updating the thread on what he's already done based on the dates

 

[txgt]

Unless you are planning to keep the car under 80mph at the track do not track the car until you upgrade the front brakes and brake fluid, and add some brake cooling ducts. Ive had my base '21 gt 6sp a year now. Tracked it twice last summer. Like you i wanted a base line stock first time out. And even though i came here first and read through many threads that said dont track the base brakes, i did it. On my 4th lap at pocono down the back strait at about 135mph i hit the braking zone and the pedal got very soft and would have went to the floor if i didnt pump. Luckily i was able to just continue on strait into exit of turn 1 and get slowed down. Would just adding some cooling ducts have fixed my problem? Dont know. You dont want that experience. I put gt350 calipers on 15" rotors, swaped to dot 5.1 fluid, and added a cooling duct kit. No brake issues on my 2nd track day.

I think he already did all that, and is just slowly updating the thread on what he's already done based on the dates

@ice445 you are correct, sir

@paulm1 Spoiler Alert: Over the first two years I tracked the car, I actually used the stock GT front brakes in 11 HPDE events! This year I did the PP brake upgrade and 2 HPDE sessions. I’ll be sharing my experiences in upcoming posts!

 

[txgt]

Build Date: May 30, 2021

First track day scheduled for June 14, 2021 with Edge Addicts at Motorsport Ranch Cresson 3.1 mile!

So, let’s talk about brakes and tracking a GT with the 4-pot calipers and 14” rotors. There are plenty of threads on this subject with some saying, “go ahead and run your stock setup with some track day pads and better fluid”, while others say, “absolutely DO NOT track with that setup and IMMEDIATELY upgrade to the Performance Pack Brembos with the 15“ rotors, track day pads, better fluid, PP underbelly (which also means PP1 upper chin spoiler), lower control arm air deflectors or air ducting, etc…”

So… with all the costs involved with doing the Brembo/PP1 upgrade, I decided to see how far I can take the stock GT front brakes on the track. So, here was my plan:

Brake Fluid:

• Motul 600 RBF

Street Setup:

• PowerStop drilled and slotted rotors
• PowerStop Z26 brake pads

Track Setup:

• Stock Ford rotors
• PowerStop Track Day brake pads

The idea here is that I spend a couple hours before (and after) each track day prepping the car by swapping out the rotors and pads so I can thrash the brakes on track day without worrying about affecting my streetability.

 

[txgt]

Build Date: May 31, 2021

All work performance mods and no play cosmetics makes TXGT a dull boy, right?

Installed this Ford Performance shift knob (insert “adds 5 hrsprs” joke here”) as well as the slim Ford Performance rear license plate frame (not running a front license plate!)

The interesting part of the shift knob install was the use of the supplied (Ford branded) blue loctite to hold the knob in place instead of using a jam nut.

Super happy with both!

 

[txgt]

Build Date: June 13, 2021

Prepped the car for my first track day!

• Oil change: 5W-30 (Royal Purple) and new filter
• UPR magnetic drain plug
• Inspect belts, fluids, etc
• Install “track” rotors and PowerStop Track Day pads
• Cleanup spilled oil (no matter how hard I try…)

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