2018 GT Daily Track Driver

[ice445]

I might be using the wrong terminology but i'm talking about what is posted here https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/2018-gt-daily-track-driver.185937/page-6#post-3857690

I've been under my car a few times and I for sure don't have big belly pan. I got the little aero plastic that goes around the K brace though

Yeah, you have the normal belly pan, you probably just have the little drop down door for the oil filter though.

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[Applied Carbon]

Yeah, you have the normal belly pan, you probably just have the little drop down door for the oil filter though.

Yeah I got a little door. Gonna get that belly pan to go with my 6 piston calipers that I ordered. Looking for a place to powder coat them in grabber blue

 

[txgt]

This thread has been an AMAZING read, thanks for being so detailed. I have a 2022 GT and my car came with the lower K brace but I have the factory 20 inch wheel option which as I understand it means it got the K brace. I'm really intreated in the cowl extension, never new about that till this tread. My car came with the upper K brace/firewall brace (but no strut tower brace) and I wonder if that also means I have the cowl brace. I'll have to check that out on my car.

Also, and this might be a dumb question but what's the point of bracing the cowl like that? What benefit is it giving? Unless it's reenforcing where the upper K/Fire wall extension brace bolts too?

Thank you, sir! I’ve learned so much from this forum and its amazing members. I’m very glad to be part of it and share my story in hopes that it might help someone else.

I see @ice445 already answered your questions about the belly pan. That’s going to be an important pairing with your 6-piston Brembo calipers you have planned for!

You’ve got a beautiful car! You planning on tracking it or just having fun on the streets?

 

[txgt]

Build Date: April 12, 2024

Back in October, I replaced my original factory spark plugs with some new ones from NGK. The OEM plugs I pulled were labeled FORD CYFS 092FT on the porcelain and additionally had LTR7CP13 stamped on the metal portion, indicating that they are actually NGK 94862 LTR7CP13 Laser Platinum plugs.

However, based on a 2018 Ford Mustang GT Premium Coupe-RWD-2 Doors-Manual V8, the parts finder from NGK.com recommended these three options:

• NGK 6509 LTR6IX-11 Iridium IX
• NGK 90374 LTR6DP13 Laser Platinum
• NGK 91276 LTR6AHX Ruthenium HX

I decided to go with the 6509’s (‘cause Iridium, right?) and opened the gaps up to .049”, which is the minimum gap recommended by Ford (.049”-.053”).

Meanwhile, over in the Ford Performance Tune for 2018+ GT thread I had some interesting discussions with @StangTime and @ice445 about spark plug heat ranges. The OEM LTR7CP13 plugs are heat range 7 (colder) while the LTR6IX-11 plugs are heat range 6 (hotter).

I ran a few track days with the hotter plugs without any issues. However, now that I’m running the Ford Performance tune, I decided to go back to the stock heat range 7 (colder) plugs. This should keep things safe on the track and maintain peak timing.

 

[txgt]

Build Date: April 12, 2024

Race car parts, race car problems. I previously documented about the clearance issues with the big Vorshlag brake deflectors, Steeda spherical lower control arm bearings, and -3° of camber.

Although Texas Track Works did some trimming on the deflectors, I wasn’t convinced that the problem was completely solved. I did some additional test fitting and found that in extreme cases, the deflector was still coming into contact with both the inner edge of the wheel as well as the brake rotor.

So, I took a pair of tin snips and did some extreme trimming. I made sure that when the lower control arms were completely turned in towards the brake rotors that nothing would contact. Additionally, I did the same for the outer edge of the deflectors to ensure they wouldn’t come into contact with the wheel barrel.

Here are some before and after photos:

 

[Rapacious]

Did you get the front tow hook on? I'm looking to do the same on my '19 Bullitt

 

[txgt]

Did you get the front tow hook on? I'm looking to do the same on my '19 Bullitt

I did! I’m a little behind in posting my updates but I should get to that soon!

 

[txgt]

Track Date: April 13, 2024

Lap Attack at MSR Cresson! Up until this point, all my HPDE events have been the standard “no one’s keeping score” type. This was my first event where timing was being tracked with a transponder zip-tied to my front grill.

I had very high expectations for this Lap Attack event, but it was actually pretty disappointing for me.

First off, my wife and I messed up on the scheduling, and it turned out my son had a school event that Saturday night that I needed to be at. That meant that instead of five sessions, I was only going to get in three sessions.

Second, being a bit rushed getting the car to the track and prepped, I wasn’t in the right headspace for that first session. A cold track, cold tires, bad nerves, and too much throttle all led to me making an incredibly dumb mistake on the warm-up lap, ending with me doing a 180° off track. I got the car safely back on track and went into the hot pit. Upon inspection, the grid marshal found rocks between my passenger side tires and rims, which ended that first session for me.

I went over to Doghouse Performance, and they took care of my rock problem at no charge (thank you!). I made every effort to shake off that first session so I could salvage my next two sessions. Hey, we all make mistakes, but it’s how you come back that matters, right?

So, I’m sitting in grid, ready to go, the grid marshal gives me the go-ahead, and at that moment I see a flatbed tow truck with a wrecked Camaro on the back coming off track (all air bags deployed and the driver still in the car)… this completely shattered whatever confidence I had mustered up! Definitely NOT what you want to see when you are taking your daily driver onto the track.

So, needless to say, session #2 did not yield any great times. I was way too in my head to push my car anywhere close to what I’ve done before. Session #3 was faster, but nothing to transpond about. Next time…

 

[txgt]

Track Date: April 13, 2024

Terry Fair was out at the Lap Attack event with the Vorshlag #Trigger car! What an incredible amount of time, effort, engineering, and $$$ they’ve put into this beast!

 

[txgt]

Build date: April 28, 2024

Time to install the front Vorshlag tow hook! The rear tow hook was very simple to install, as there was no cutting involved. The front tow hook takes a bit of extra work as you have to cut a slot in the lower grill insert. This is definitely a measure twice and cut once moment.

Vorshlag sent me a template file that I had to print out on legal paper (shout out to my work for supplying the printer ). The template has a 2”x2” box that you can measure to ensure that the template was accurately scaled. I printed a few just for good measure.

Removing the front bumper and installing the tow hook was very easy. However, lining up the template on the lower grill was not as simple as the instructions (or lack thereof) leads you to believe.

In order to get an exact placement of the template, I completely removed the lower grill insert and then re-installed the bumper. I then used some masking tape to mark the sides of the tow hook in relation to the bumper.

I then removed the bumper again, reinstalled the lower grill insert, then I was able to accurately place the template. Now that I had a confident placement of the template, I had to remove the insert again so I could cut out the slot. I used a 5/16” drill bit bit for the sides of the slot before using an exacto knife to cut out the rest of the slot.

I’m super happy how it turned out!

 

[txgt]

Build date: April 28, 2024

I’ve had a love-hate-like relationship with my big Vorshlag brake deflectors. Honestly, it’s not their fault. The issue is really with the spherical bearings in the Steeda lower control/tension arms. After some extreme trimming of the brake deflectors, I finally ensured that there would not be any contact with the wheels or brake rotors.

Although everything clears now, I think I went a bit too extreme on the trimming of the driver side. Because that side always cants away from the rotor, I didn’t really need to trim it so aggressively as the top of the deflector won’t come into contact with the rotor on that side.

Fortunately, @GTP recently came out with version 3 of his Brake Air Deflector Vanes which are purpose built for dealing with the spherical bearings. I got a set of these deflectors and I can tell you that they are impressive! Very well packaged, great instructions and amazing quality!

If these had been available at the time, I would have bought these instead of the Vorshlag versions. Here are some comparison photos:

 

[txgt]

Build date: May 16, 2024

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve removed the front bumper off my car. I’ve gotten really good at it and it’s just a thing I do now. However, back when I installed the Vorshlag front tow hook, I noticed that one of the bumper support brackets was cracked. I also noticed that one of the nuts was a little hard to thread onto any of the bracket posts.

Benny from @LevittownFordParts hooked me up with some replacement brackets with some new nuts for good measure.

JR3Z-17C947-B Support Bracket (Passenger)
JR3Z-17C947-C Support Bracket (Driver)
W700430-S441 Trunk Lock Nut (4)

 

[txgt]

Pre-Track Date: May 17, 2024

Disaster!

It’s Friday night and I’m finishing up prepping the car for the 2-day track event out at ECR. I had just finished packing the car with all the track day tools and supplies. I hit the garage door button to close it and when it finished… the torsion spring snapped!

I released the door from the screw drive and tried to lift the door open myself, but damn that thing is heavy without the assist from the spring! Here I was, all ready for track day, and I couldn’t get the damn car out of the garage!

At this point all I could do is laugh! My wife was really starting to worry about my sanity It took both of us and our 15 year old son to lift the garage door. I got the car out of the garage and left her in the driveway overnight.

 

[fmc_smt]

Next time spring breaks , learned this from a garage door guy when mine broke , have someone push the garage door open button and assist it up .

 

[txgt]

Track Date: May 18-19, 2024

Headed back out to Eagles Canyon Raceway driving the reverse clockwise direction. For this 2 day event I came with an updated alignment and a fresh set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3Rs

I started out the day in the Blue Group with an instructor assigned to me for the 1st and 3rd sessions. After that first session, my instructor felt I was ready for a "check ride" to move up to the Yellow group. I did my 2nd session with the Blue group as a solo driver and worked on a few turns that were giving me a little trouble.

The 3rd session I went out with the Yellow group with my instructor and afterwards he officially approved me for the Yellow group! Overall the Yellow group has some pretty consistent fast drivers (Blue has some fast drivers, but also has some slower drivers that recently graduated from the Green novice group).

The second session of day two started out with some concerning issues with my clutch pedal... it felt like I had to pump it up a bit for it to have a firm feeling. After that session, I did some basic inspections of the car, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong. I went out on the third session and immediately came back in on the warm-up lap due to the clutch pedal going straight to the floor and not returning... I had to use my foot to pull it back up after each shift.

I skipped the last session and limped the car back home. More to come on what ultimately would turn out to be a bad throw out bearing…

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