2020 GT350R Heritage Build Thread (Heavy Build)

[Tonymustang302]

Let me work on it. Would love to drive down and hitup road atlanta too on the same trip

 

[Wqmaster]

Just to give an update, it’s been a long ass while since I posted.

PBIR is officially dead for a while now, so that tracks gone.

my car was running ok for minute then I had misfire codes again come up. This time it wasn’t a harness, cylinder 8 had no compression and engine was hurt.

dealer took it in and replaced a long block under warranty, new engine has been in and I have some street miles on it to break in, and I haven’t been to the track yet.Work has been busy, but I plan on being at Sebring soon to get her back on track, literally.

I joined the Sebring driving club to substitute the loss of PBIR. So I get 28 weekends at Sebring, full day, with only a small group. So I can run Sebring as much as I want. This will be my new “local” track, even though it’s 2 hours away.

I’ll post up once I get back on the track on a regular basis

So, the racing engine from MPR is not in yet?

 

[Hangman77]

Let me work on it. Would love to drive down and hitup road atlanta too on the same trip

if your gonna do road Atlanta, let me
Know, I’d be down to drive up for that also. My dad and I have been wanting to go.

pm me your contact info and we can keep in touch.

 

[Hangman77]

So, the racing engine from MPR is not in yet?

not yet. It’s still sitting pretty on an engine stand.

 

[Hobdul]

@Hangman77 Have you had any issues with your Borla exhaust? I bought my GT350 in March, and the prior owner had installed the Atak exhaust. I’ve done 9 track days so far this year and have melted two left rear reflectors due to exhaust heat, with the right one starting to melt as well. See attached photo.

The left side exhaust also apparently heated up the underbody panel under the trunk enough to make it droop slightly and catch on something at the leading edge, which cracked one of the inlets for the diff cooler in that panel.

My mechanic (a Mustang and GT350 specialist) has another customer with an Atak on his Mustang GT who tracks it a lot; that guy also melted both his rear reflectors.

Seems like the Borla exhaust runs hotter than the stock exhaust from what I can tell. My mechanic hasn’t seen these issues with the stock exhaust.

 

[Hangman77]

lots and lots of updates to add since last post. It’s been a friggin minute.

 

[Inthehighdesert]

lots and lots of updates to add since last post. It’s been a friggin minute.

 

[Hangman77]

Ok, So here's a rough rundown.

I have kept pretty much everything the same on this car over the past 1.5 years. so in terms of seeing new parts and such during that time. It hasn't been much of anything.

My idea behind keeping the powertrain and drivetrain stock has been warranty, I wanted to abuse the shit out of this car and use the warranty until it expired, then mod it like crazy. Its the only car I own that I haven't touched the engine or anything else, all my other stuff is 700-1500 horsepower monsters. I wanted to enjoy the stock aspect of the car and just have fun, beat on it and send it to the dealer if it had a problem. And ohh boy has it had problems.

The main updates thus far have been not good. This car has broken literally so many times I cant even count.

This car has eaten
- 3-4 starters
- 2 alternators
- sheared the bolts on the AC unit and cracked it open
- cracked a bellhousing
- destroyed two clutches
- disintegrated the reverse lockout
- destroyed one engine
- rebuilt an entire transmission
- solved a mysterious transmission fluid leak that got me kicked out of a race in Daytona racetrack
- dealt with multiple limp mode issues over the course of a year because of the VCT system going in and out of service to fix.
- Replaced harnesses 3 times to fix sensor issues
- recently it went in after the transmission rebuild because of a surging RPMs on the 2-3 upshift and 3-4 upshift on mild driving. They diagnosed that as a throttle body issue and replaced it.
Upon picking it up from that issue, the moment i got in it, I heard grinding in the rear end and turned right around and dropped it back off. Sounds like a wheel bearing.

These are pretty much all the issues I have experienced with this car. it has been to this point roughly 85%-90% Track to 15%-10% street use. This thing has seen more shop time than I have ever seen, probably all my daily and race cars combined.

It has been a frustrating ride to be honest. I've dealt with plenty of problem child cars, but most of the time they are my fully built racecars and such, so they constantly need work. This thing is just driven for what I figure to be its purpose, and I have not been gentle with how I drive it. I've set pretty damn solid lap times at homestead, Sebring, PBIR, and Daytona. When it runs well, its a blast to drive, but its literally a dice roll on having a clean day. if anyone has any comments on the issues or wants to chat about them, I'm game to go over them, ill do my best to remember what I can. I have old pics in my phone of allot of the breaks and issues as well .

So ill stop complaining at this point, because I still love this car and my other mustangs.

I thought for some reason I only had 3 year warranty on this thing, so I finally planned on having a ton of work done on this cars 3 year anniversary to make this thing a full fledged track monster. Whats funny is when i spoke with the guys at the dealership they were like dude you got two more years of warranty. I was laughing and said im not waiting any longer for this build. I have had a full tilt race engine sitting since 12/31/21 that can hold 1700 HP and shift at 9000 rpm. The upcoming build is very intense, it covers quite allot and will develop further as well over the upcoming months. So we are proceeding. next post will go over the complete build coming up.

Cheers

 

[Hangman77]

The upcoming plan is to now bring this beautiful car and retire it from all the hard track driving and flip the usage to 90% street and 10% track. Ill buy another project to add the my collection and start messing with that later this year or next. My focus on this car is to get it completely reset on the exterior, add some nice carbon fiber touches, get some chips touched up and make it look showcar clean again.


All OEM panels that are being replaced with carbon are being removed.

Once these pieces are removed, it goes to my detailer Matt at Doctor Detail of the Treasure Coast to have the PPF Protection Currently on the car also removed. Detailer will clean all the areas of the car where track rubber and grime have entered and marked up the car as well as a full cleaning.

After detailing, the car will go to my painter Harley Laprade at Laprade customs to get any of the paint touched up and if needed the stripes redone.

Once this is done, the car will go to my trusted speedshop Gearhead Fabrications with owner Mario Abiscal and team to do all the below work.


Exterior:

Anderson Carbon Fiber Decklid (Already Installed)
Anderson Carbon Fiber Rear Diffuser (At Speedshop)
Anderson Carbon Fiber Rear Splash Guards (At Speedshop)
Anderson Carbon Fiber Turn Signal Bezels
Anderson Carbon Fiber Side Rocker Panel Splitters
Anderson Carbon Fiber Front Upper Grill Inserts
Anderson Carbon Fiber GT350R Front Splitter
Anderson Carbon Fiber Decklid Panel
TruFiber Carbon Fiber Fender Vents
ZL1 Add ons Front Tow hook (Hook Painted Guardman Blue)
Verus Engineering Carbon Grind Kit
Verus Engineering Brake Cooling Duct Kit
Verus Engineering Fender Evacuation Kit
Verus Engineering Flat Underbody Panel Kit
Verus Engineering Turning Vane Kit
Verus Engineering Rear Diffuser
Repaint Calipers

Engine and all the other sauce:

MPR Racing Engine w/ VCT Delete / Full tits

Accufab Billet Valve covers Custom Painted

UPR Head Cooling Mod

MMR Head Oiling Mod

Steeda lightweight K member

Probably keeping stock motor mounts just buying new ones

C&R Racing Aluminum Radiator

Kooks 1-3/4" x 1-7/8" x 3" Headers (Getting these headers ceramic coated and wrapped)

Kooks 3" x 2-3/4" off-road x-pipe

Borla Atak exhaust (Installed)

Whipple 3.0 Supercharger (Custom Painted)

ID 1000 injectors

Playing around with fuel system ideas

Qa1 Carbon Driveshaft (Installed)

Clutch (Haven't Decided yet)

MMR Engine Block/Bellhousing Braces

Might Change out the MGW Shifter (I think its been alright, just not the best in my opinion)

Ford Performance Oil Separators driver and passenger INSTALLED

Interior:

Competition Motorsports Roll bar custom powder coated in Guardsman Blue. INSTALLED

Sparco QRT-C Racing Seats: 12.5 lbs each INSTALLED

Shelby 5 point racing harness INSTALLED

HANS device Ultralight carbon INSTALLED

Stilo ST5 2020 Carbon Helmet with integrated Ear Muffs and Mic. Racing electronics receiver, push to talk, Motorola, and roll bar mounted Antenna. INSTALLED

SRP Racing Pedals INSTALLED

Suspension and Brakes

Steeda Front Bumper Support

Steeda Rear Bumper Support

Steeda Billet Water Pump Pulley

Steeda Billet Idler Pulleys x 4

Steeda Adjustable Differential Bushing Insert Kit

Steeda Differential Bushing Bolt Upgrade Kit

Steeda Subframe to Body Bushing Kit

Steeda IRS Differential Support Brackets

Steeda Sub frame alignment kit INSTALLED

Steeda Vertical links ordered INSTALLED

Steeda IRS support brace ordered INSTALLED

Steeda Rear toe links INSTALLED

Steeda Rear adjustable camber arms. INSTALLED

Steeda Jacking rails INSTALLED

Steeda Adjustable Caster Camber Plates INSTALLED

Steeda Intake Heat Shielding Installed

Steeda IRS Subframe Support Bushing Kit INSTALLED

Steeda Magneride Braided Stainless Steel Brake Lines

Cool Tech Brake Completion Kit INSTALLED

Pagid Brakes Installed

Caliperfection Studs: INSTALLED



This is everything I can get out in one sitting for now. Ill go through the list again and breakdown anything else. Still open to discussions on ideas on things I'm missing and still deciding on.

Deciding on the whipple was more last minute, my original plan was naturally aspirated and just squeeze out another 100HP for the track. But i said FK it and put a proper amount of power for this engine. I'm going big pulley low boost. Ideally i would like between 650-750 whp. That will be more than enough for this type of car in the way i like to drive it. I already have straight line crazy cars, but I don't want to over power it so bad that it loses its balance. That's key for me. Keeping IAT's down will be important as well, and the fact it will see much more limited track use pushed me into the whipple as well.

I think when this is done, it could be the ultimate track weapon to hurt many many feelings against formidable cars i see and play with allot. plus it will be just plain fast as fk. I can only imagine shifting this at 9000 rpm.

 

[Kobi Addiction]

Very nice list, very similar to mine . Other items that I don’t see on your list, but you may already have are….

- MMR lightweight aluminum water pump pulley with APR bolts (choose your brand)

- Steeda lightweight aluminum idler pulleys (I used 5 to replace the steel idlers on the factory and Whipple Gen4 kit. I believe you can replace 3 or 4 on the Gen5 Whipple kit. Need to look back at my notes when I researched.)

- Griptec SC Pulley for the Whipple, will eliminate belt slippage (pick your size)

- Whipple oversized heat exchanger

- Dual Spal Fans for oversized heat exchanger. (Tubular bumper supports are needed below. Only way I got them to fit)

- BMR chromoly lightweight front and rear bumper support (Steeda may have a set as well)

- Steeda differential bushings

- Steeda IRS differential support bracket

- Steeda threaded differential bolt upgrade

- Lightweight tubular lower control arms (I have the Mike Maier non-adjustable kit, his website doesn’t show them, but you can call and he should have the dimensions needed to produced them for the GT350 if interested. I sent him my knuckles for precise machining of the bushings. Shelby Knuckles are larger than standard S550’s.)

- McLeod Racing RXT HD 1200 Twin Disc Clutch and Aluminum Flywheel (I have approx 30k+ supercharged miles under it, still holds power very well.)

- McLeod Racing Stainless Clutch Line

- Antigravity ATX20HD lightweight Battery

- Titanium Lugs (I went with Raceseng)

 

[Hangman77]

Very nice list, very similar to mine . Other items that I don’t see on your list, but you may already have are….

- MMR lightweight aluminum water pump pulley with APR bolts (choose your brand)

- Steeda lightweight aluminum idler pulleys (I used 5 to replace the steel idlers on the factory and Whipple Gen4 kit. I believe you can replace 3 or 4 on the Gen5 Whipple kit. Need to look back at my notes when I researched.)

- Griptec SC Pulley for the Whipple, will eliminate belt slippage (pick your size)

- Whipple oversized heat exchanger

- Dual Spal Fans for oversized heat exchanger. (Tubular bumper supports are needed below. Only way I got them to fit)

- BMR chromoly lightweight front and rear bumper support (Steeda may have a set as well)

- Steeda differential bushings

- Steeda IRS differential support bracket

- Steeda threaded differential bolt upgrade

- Lightweight tubular lower control arms (I have the Mike Maier non-adjustable kit, his website doesn’t show them, but you can call and he should have the dimensions needed to produced them for the GT350 if interested. I sent him my knuckles for precise machining of the bushings. Shelby Knuckles are larger than standard S550’s.)

- McLeod Racing RXT HD 1200 Twin Disc Clutch and Aluminum Flywheel (I have approx 30k+ supercharged miles under it, still holds power very well.)

- McLeod Racing Stainless Clutch Line

- Antigravity ATX20HD lightweight Battery

- Titanium Lugs (I went with Raceseng)

Been looking at clutches, I've always known the McLeod clutches for many years. Good to hear about your experience.

What have you done for fuel system?

Did you rig up your own dual fan setup for the heat exchanger?

 

[rolfe.oliver]

Did someone say to jump in with my unrequested opinion?

Sounds like it will be a sweet build. I have a couple thoughts.

- If you are only looking for 650-750whp, you certainly should not lock out VCT. Locking that out, paired with a large pulley, will not be fun on the street. No need to lock It out.

- If you are not looking to go above 10 psi, I would just stick with ID1050x and dual BAPs. If you stay below 10psi, you can even do E85 with BAPs. I always recommend Fore fuel systems (dual pump with 285s), but I know the lack of a bucket is not ideal for a track car.

- I have seen good things on these cars with Mantic twin disc. I know Fathouse uses RPS on all their cars with great reviews. I had a McLeod on my GT500 (I know, different car) and did not like it.

- Who will tune it?

 

[Biggsy]

@Hangman77 this was one of my favorite build threads and been following since the beginning. I was wondering what happened and feared the worst. Happy you’re still with us on earth lol.

 

[TonyNJ]

"wanted to abuse the shit out of this car"

Hence all the mechanical failures? Lemon? Or are you suggesting all of them are sub par?

Sounds like you had a good time when it wasn't on crutches.

 

[Hangman77]

Did someone say to jump in with my unrequested opinion?

Sounds like it will be a sweet build. I have a couple thoughts.

- If you are only looking for 650-750whp, you certainly should not lock out VCT. Locking that out, paired with a large pulley, will not be fun on the street. No need to lock It out.

- If you are not looking to go above 10 psi, I would just stick with ID1050x and dual BAPs. If you stay below 10psi, you can even do E85 with BAPs. I always recommend Fore fuel systems (dual pump with 285s), but I know the lack of a bucket is not ideal for a track car.

- I have seen good things on these cars with Mantic twin disc. I know Fathouse uses RPS on all their cars with great reviews. I had a McLeod on my GT500 (I know, different car) and did not like it.

- Who will tune it?

Any opinion is welcome, it’s the internet, I wouldn’t have posted it without anyone wanting to chime in.

despite people opinions on the VCT. I have had so many issues chasing sensor codes relating to VCT and problem solving around it, I simply cannot have it on my build. I already had me race engine sent back in recently to have it deleted. It was an utter nightmare running this car hard and having the same codes and car stoppages on very expensive and long Lasting weekends.

I’m very familiar with the fore systems. They’ve been my go to on my Mustang builds. I would figure I would most likely plan for big power on the fuel system to have the spare room. So I’ll see what my builder recommends. But this route seems likely with the dual pumps.

I spoke with Capaldi racing owners a year or so back and discussed some clutch options and they highly recommended the Mantic setup.

I also when racing Daytona allot see Kohr racing guys there and speak with them. Mantic and McLeod are also recommend.