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PR3DAT0R

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Hello all, I’m relatively new here. I drive a modified GT500 CFTP. My son posts often about his 350R. He and I run our cars regularly at PBIR. My son is Hangman77 and drives a Heritage GT350R.

i have struggled with my GT500 tracking against my son and another 350, as well as, other cars at the track. The 350R has just been consistently faster thru the corners and on the gas before I can get my 500 lined up. The power of the 500 allows me to “catch up” in the straights but always struggled thru the corners. My car just never felt like it would rotate like the 350R. It was hard to explain but I just never got the seat of the pants feed back from the car that I would get when I jumped in the 350R. I didn’t feel confident getting on the gas early coming out of the corners. I chalked it up to the weight difference and drivers ability (hate to admit he’s a better driver). I was quietly disappointed and i was thinking of taking this 500 all out 1/4 mile and picking up a 350 R for the track.

Suspension on both cars had been identical with the full compliment of Steeda parts with the exception my son was running front and rear Steeda sway bars and adjustable end links with a bit more aggressive alignment. I had ordered the sway bars, but they were out of stock. The rear sway bar showed up a couple weeks ago and I installed it. We spent a day at the track and no noticeable difference. A few days before Sebring the front sway bar showed up and I got it installed before heading to Sebring.

All I can say is WOW. Third lap in I ran a 2:20:22. Thats 5 seconds faster than my February best time. My son ran a 2:23:xx and that was 2 seconds faster than his February best(Both cars ran 2:25:xx in February) The 500 was an absolute beast and it performed in every part of the track like it was on rails. I was able to get on the power early and hard. All day long the car performed. The car was absolutely amazing. It inspired complete confidence and man was it fast. It was what I had expected the car to drive like all along.

Now a lot has changed since my February trip. I’ve added a lot of horsepower (934hp to the tires) to the car, but the suspension has been the same except the sway bars. And I’ve tracked the car with the added horsepower at PBIR for several months Without the new sway bars. I’m not saying this is all the result of the sway bars, but I do believe it completed the package.

im excited to see how I do at PBIR now that the car is performing.
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I like to disassemble things.
Are you both running Cup2's?
 
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PR3DAT0R

PR3DAT0R

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No we are running Eagle F1 Supercar 3R. The Cup2’s were great for a few laps then went away. Life cycle seems to be better with the F1’s.
 

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Interesting. You do not find them a little narrow?
 

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Also, do you mind writing out your suspension and alignment setup?

thanks in advance man
 

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PR3DAT0R

PR3DAT0R

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Don’t get me wrong, the cup2’s are fast tires. We havent really run them more than PBIR. And I’m told that PBIR is very hard on tires. I have been thru 3-4 sets of cup2’s and 3-4 sets of F1’s. I have around 1600 miles on my 500. All of it on the track. I’m on my 7th or 8th set of tires since January (I have three sets of wheels so still have cup2’s on one set) I’m at the end of my second set of OEM pads. I have to put a third set of pads on before Wednesday track night. I was getting a soft pedal late in the sessions at Sebring. Need to flush the brake fluid and change pads.

We drive our cars HARD!

Suspension is Steeda:
caster/camber plates
front and rear adjustable sway bar with end links
subframe alignment kit
IRS subframe support brace
Bushing support system
Differential bushing insert system (race bushings)
jacking rails
rear toe links
adjustable camber arms.
aluminum vertical links
2 point g track brace

I’ll have to look up the alignment specs tomorrow. I don’t know them off top of my head.
 

oregongt350

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Hello all, I’m relatively new here. I drive a modified GT500 CFTP. My son posts often about his 350R. He and I run our cars regularly at PBIR. My son is Hangman77 and drives a Heritage GT350R.

i have struggled with my GT500 tracking against my son and another 350, as well as, other cars at the track. The 350R has just been consistently faster thru the corners and on the gas before I can get my 500 lined up. The power of the 500 allows me to “catch up” in the straights but always struggled thru the corners. My car just never felt like it would rotate like the 350R. It was hard to explain but I just never got the seat of the pants feed back from the car that I would get when I jumped in the 350R. I didn’t feel confident getting on the gas early coming out of the corners. I chalked it up to the weight difference and drivers ability (hate to admit he’s a better driver). I was quietly disappointed and i was thinking of taking this 500 all out 1/4 mile and picking up a 350 R for the track.

Suspension on both cars had been identical with the full compliment of Steeda parts with the exception my son was running front and rear Steeda sway bars and adjustable end links with a bit more aggressive alignment. I had ordered the sway bars, but they were out of stock. The rear sway bar showed up a couple weeks ago and I installed it. We spent a day at the track and no noticeable difference. A few days before Sebring the front sway bar showed up and I got it installed before heading to Sebring.

All I can say is WOW. Third lap in I ran a 2:20:22. Thats 5 seconds faster than my February best time. My son ran a 2:23:xx and that was 2 seconds faster than his February best(Both cars ran 2:25:xx in February) The 500 was an absolute beast and it performed in every part of the track like it was on rails. I was able to get on the power early and hard. All day long the car performed. The car was absolutely amazing. It inspired complete confidence and man was it fast. It was what I had expected the car to drive like all along.

Now a lot has changed since my February trip. I’ve added a lot of horsepower (934hp to the tires) to the car, but the suspension has been the same except the sway bars. And I’ve tracked the car with the added horsepower at PBIR for several months Without the new sway bars. I’m not saying this is all the result of the sway bars, but I do believe it completed the package.

im excited to see how I do at PBIR now that the car is performing.
[/QUOT


To Much Horsepower ????
 

JN66

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Don’t get me wrong, the cup2’s are fast tires. We havent really run them more than PBIR. And I’m told that PBIR is very hard on tires. I have been thru 3-4 sets of cup2’s and 3-4 sets of F1’s. I have around 1600 miles on my 500. All of it on the track. I’m on my 7th or 8th set of tires since January (I have three sets of wheels so still have cup2’s on one set) I’m at the end of my second set of OEM pads. I have to put a third set of pads on before Wednesday track night. I was getting a soft pedal late in the sessions at Sebring. Need to flush the brake fluid and change pads.

We drive our cars HARD!

Suspension is Steeda:
caster/camber plates
front and rear adjustable sway bar with end links
subframe alignment kit
IRS subframe support brace
Bushing support system
Differential bushing insert system (race bushings)
jacking rails
rear toe links
adjustable camber arms.
aluminum vertical links
2 point g track brace

I’ll have to look up the alignment specs tomorrow. I don’t know them off top of my head.
Thank you for writing that out.

I haven't received my GT500 yet, but, I had a GT350R and am currently in an AMG GTR Pro (That I have 21,000km) on and a large amount of those on the track. I am looking forward to the GT500 but you are the first person I've come across to almost completely redo the suspension (you also seem to be the most track focused as well - which is almost all I will use the GT500 for).

With all the 'raving' that goes on about how the GT500 performs - did you anticipate needing to do so much to it before you bought it?

I found the GT350R to be almost perfect sans a few upgrades and I thought it was under powered from the factory by at least 100-150hp.
 

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PR3DAT0R

PR3DAT0R

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Thank you for writing that out.

I haven't received my GT500 yet, but, I had a GT350R and am currently in an AMG GTR Pro (That I have 21,000km) on and a large amount of those on the track. I am looking forward to the GT500 but you are the first person I've come across to almost completely redo the suspension (you also seem to be the most track focused as well - which is almost all I will use the GT500 for).

With all the 'raving' that goes on about how the GT500 performs - did you anticipate needing to do so much to it before you bought it?

I found the GT350R to be almost perfect sans a few upgrades and I thought it was under powered from the factory by at least 100-150hp.

I wouldn’t say I bought the car anticipating needing to do so much, but I was going to make it faster no matter what I bought. Again, my son’s GT350R has the same upgrades to suspension and we’re of the same opinion, add 100hp and nothing catches the 350. You can read his build on this site. He’s Hangman77.

Before the car arrived I bought engine upgrades to make Over 1000hp. I waited to do any work except caster/camber plates and enjoyed the car as delivered for a few months. I then worked on the rear of the car. Stiffening the IRS and differential. Next was adding horsepower; ported blower, throttle body, injectors, upper pulley, headers, mid pipe and 100 octane fuel. I didn’t add lower pulley or fuels pump upgrades which would have made over a thousand HP. I also run a very safe tune at 934whp and 680tq on the dyno. No telling what it is on track with heat soaked blower. I considered going E85, but these cars get HORRIBLE fuel mileage and my understanding is E85 burns about 30% more. On 100 octane I was burning a little over a half tank per 20 minute session.

A friend we track with owns both base 350 and 500. He tracks with us at PBIR and he has A LOT more track time in each car than I have, he is consistently faster in his 350 over his 500. PBIR is 11 turns and it favors a lighter better handling car. At homestead motor speedway before mods I was equal or a tenth faster than my son. At Sebring in February I was a tenth or so faster than my son. Although it was difficult to be consistently faster as the tires heated up and went away.

I came across you earlier post and saw you had the AMG Pro. I’m not familiar with Mercedes AMG cars, but Friday at Sebring there was an AMG GT R. He was in our advanced group and by chance he was up front on one session. There was another stock 350R in front of me and then the AMG. After a staggered start I passed the 350R middle of the second lap. The wait to get around the 350R let the AMG put some distance between us. It took me two laps to reel him in and get into striking distance and I passed him going into turn one on the third lap. I was running 2:22-2:23 lap times at this point late (hot) in the day. Of course we weren’t “racing“. He was fast out of the corners and into the straight, but he didn’t drive into the corners as hard. The factory brakes on the GT500 are REALLY good. My GT500 was the fastest car in the advanced group that day.

There was a Mustang GT4 there testing. He was running 2:16:xx. He was Trying to get the car to run 2:11:xx as this was the expected time for that car on track. Never heard whether he got his times down.
 
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PR3DAT0R

PR3DAT0R

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What’s the factory sway bar size and the steeda sizes?
The factory CFTP (base is different)front is 36mm with 4.8mm wall, rear is 25.4mm with 4.5mm wall. Steeda is 38mm front and 28.6mm rear. The most important is they are 4 position adjustable. Steeda gives you an estimate of where to put it to match OEM. I went one position stiffer both front and rear.
 

DaveR.PP2

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That's pretty interesting overall..... as far as both the 350R and the 500 what breather set-ups are you using? Thanks in advance.
 
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PR3DAT0R

PR3DAT0R

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That's pretty interesting overall..... as far as both the 350R and the 500 what breather set-ups are you using? Thanks in advance.
GT350 is stock intake and motor. No upgrades
GT500 is JLT intake
 
 




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