2012 GT Track Car Build Thread

So first off, to get to where I am currently at in the build stage is going to take some posting. I will try to get it all together from the start, but it might bore some of you for a while. The car has came ALONG way since I bought it. I will post in bold at the top of the thread when I am to where I currently at, but it might take me a couple days. Alright where do I start. I will try to put all of it together from the last year. I love having car projects. Sometimes I think to much. If I was super rich, I would still be broke from all the cars that I would have. Quick back story though. I used to have a 2000 GT that went through soooooo many changes. Nitrous car, then Supercharged(TorkTech), and was eventually going to get a big single turbo, and bought a Teksid block to build off of. I built/changed everything except the transmission (not even joking, and not sure how that T-45 survived for as long as it did). I was in tear down mode again when I moved from Oregon to Washington. The Mustang sat for the first year I was up here, and then I bought the Viper. A car that I had wanted for a very long time, and unfortunately it went on the back burner for a while. A few years back I was offered a job in AZ(I currently live in Tacoma WA), and wasn't going to be able to take it with me, so I sold the project. What pissed me off is I didn't end up taking the job after checking out the facility in person. This left a small hole in my heart for a while. Fast forward to last year and at this point I was dailying a Dodge Ram, and it wasn't exactly a "fun" daily. So with a space in the garage I started looking for a 2011-2014 GT as a daily driver. I was looking for a Grabber Blue, but I could not find a manual, with low miles that fit the bill. Then I ran across this online. A "race red" 2012 GT Premium M6 with 4500 miles on it, and 100% stock. When I first saw the add for it, it said it had only 4500 miles. I thought the dealer had made a typo, and it was 45,000. So against my normal behavior I called a dealership to talk to a salesman. He said ya only 4500 miles. I asked for a pic of the odometer, since I didn't trust him....or any car salesman for that matter. Sure enough 4500 miles on her. The next morning I took the day off work, and brought it home.









Even while I was waiting to take the car home at the dealership, I was ordering parts.
SVE Drifts 19x9.5 (came with 18x8's with 235's)
285 19 Nitto 555 G2's (All 4 corners)
Steeda Sport Springs
Koni STR Shock & Struts
Cervinis Boss/California front lip/splitter
BMR Control Arms
BMR Panhard Bar
RTR competition Axle Backs

One thing I did do though was weight the car before I started modding.
This was completely stock with everything (floor mats/spare what not) in the car still with fuel exactly half way between 1/4, and 1/2 tank with me in the car. I weighed my self when I got home and was at 180 lbs. So about 3600 lbs even. Damn tank. One thing I haven't done after all the changes I am currently at is have it weighed again. I have removed alot of weight, but at the same time added some to it, so it should be interesting when I do.



Couple more Pre-modding pics









Tiny rear tires!

Over the next few days I installed:

Steeda sport springs (Stock Spring rates 131F/167R lbs/in) (Steeda Sport spring rates 200lb front, 175lb rear)

Koni STR Shocks & Struts

GT500 Strut mounts

BMR Adjustable Panhard Bar

BMR Panhard Support Bar

BMR Lower Rear Control Arms

When I ordered these springs/shocks/struts I had the plan for this to be just a decent riding, but better than stock daily driver not track orientated, but ya we will get there.

Spring diffrences:




Out come these bastards:









Before & After:





Getting to the rear Shocks from the trunk:





Factory non adjustable panhard bar, and brace:



Both braces:



Both panhard bars:





Control arms:

One of the next things I had to change was the shifter. I really REALLY do not like the stock shift linkage in this car. There are probably better things in life to bitch about, but it needed to come out. So in went MGW's X-Spec Race Shifter. The stock shifter linkage is remote mounted versus the MGW unit having actual transmission mounting to the unit. Once you have the MGW set it is soooooo much better, and what a piece it is. I am in the machining industry, and I say, it is well made! Plus it is so much more satisfying to shift this car now. Also at this time I added a Boss 302 Alcantera wrapped steering wheel. I had the leather wrapped wheel, but prefer the Boss wheel.






Out with the old:

So I was still in the thought of this car is going to be a daily that I will take to the track once in a while. One thing that I am pretty adamant about is weight saving where I can. Cars these days are getting ridiculously heavy. So I ordered a BMR Tubular K-Member. It drops 22 lbs, while also giving a lot more room to work around the engine. And my thought was that while I had the K-Member out this would be a ample opportunity to put long tubes in! So I ordered some BBK Long tube headers, and a Off road (no cats) X-pipe to go in. So after getting everything Installed I started it up, and holy hell it was LOUD. Like I wouldn't even dare go half throttle loud. I enjoy a louder car, but with the RTR Axlebacks it was super loud. I even ordered a catted X-pipe in hopes it would reign in the loudness, but no dice. (barely made a difference actually) At the time I was leaving my house for work at 3:30am, and I was sure I was going to be stabbed by my neighbors. I drove the car to work for 2 days, and threw the stock axle backs on just for life preservation. Although the stock axlebacks now made it too quiet, plus I had a rattle I was hearing coming somewhere from the exhaust (that I would later realize was caused by the pan to K-member clearance). So off came the long tubes for the time being. Yay.



Factory K-member, with the electric steering rack.


Factory header vs the BBK Long tube.


Stock headers:




BBK's on:

So after some time I added on the Cervini's Front lip which not only looked better would also benefit me later on in the build with it's brake duct holes.
Started by taking the front bumper off.






Stock front lip vs the Cervinis;


Also around this time I added a BMR Strut brace:




After the headaches of the K-member clearance issues that I would find later, and removing the long tube headers due to hearing vibrations (thought the vibration was not coming from the long tubes). I decided to leave it as it was (for the time), Kept all the exhaust, but just put it in boxes for the time being. At that point she was looking pretty good, and was fun a daily:

Double0fox said:

One of the next things I had to change was the shifter. I really REALLY do not like the stock shift linkage in this car. There are probably better things in life to bitch about, but it needed to come out. So in went MGW's X-Spec Race Shifter. The stock shifter linkage is remote mounted versus the MGW unit having actual transmission mounting to the unit. Once you have the MGW set it is soooooo much better, and what a piece it is. I am in the machining industry, and I say, it is well made! Plus it is so much more satisfying to shift this car now. Also at this time I added a Boss 302 Alcantera wrapped steering wheel. I had the leather wrapped wheel, but prefer the Boss wheel.


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Out with the old:

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Nice write up. I started like you bone stock late last fall. Did very similar things to you. I did go ahead and supercharge once I got to the motor. Great cars.

At this point I had been driving it into the winter time, and when there are no longer any outdoor hobbies over the winter time I hopped on the Ol' Internet, and was browsing a few Mustang forums when a member in WA had a set of Boss 302/GT500 front calipers for a good deal.....soooo bought them, and on they went. I had always planned to up the braking ability on this if I was going to take it to the track. The stockers would probably only put up with 5 decent laps before fading. I never tested this, but given the weight, and power, with tracking at the Ridge (local track) with I would say was 2 heavy brake zones, I just didn't see these being anywhere near adequate. The Boss calipers are complete bolt on, but the disc size goes up from 13" to 14", and pad size is also increased for the Boss. I checked over the seals, and cleaned them up a bit, and on they went.






Stockers:




13" vs 14" disc:

Rb0891 said:

Nice write up. I started like you bone stock late last fall. Did very similar things to you. I did go ahead and supercharge once I got to the motor. Great cars.

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Thanks! Ya mine will be a bit different. I don't end up going for strait line performance (not that there is anything wrong with that). So no turbo/supercharging in it's future. I have other power mods, I just have to catch up to where I am at first.

Car looks good! When the Covid issue goes away, I'll have to make my way down that way for some of the meets that happen and check it out.

You don't waste any time! ha Hadn't even left the lot and she had new shoes coming. She needs the Boss intake manifold, intake, and a tune!

sur_real1 said:

Car looks good! When the Covid issue goes away, I'll have to make my way down that way for some of the meets that happen and check it out.

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Ya it sucks right now. Hope you can make it down.

TerminatoRS said:

You don't waste any time! ha Hadn't even left the lot and she had new shoes coming. She needs the Boss intake manifold, intake, and a tune!

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Let me catch the thread up ;-)

So it was either Jan, or Feb, and I was on my way home from work when I was taking a off ramp and mid corner of the offramp something on the car broke, and made the car lurch over a few feet in the lane. Luckily I did not hit the divider wall, or anything else for that matter. Babied it home to find one of the strut ears had broken at one of the welds. Giving it a closer look, it looks like it wasn't ever fully welded like the other strut was. The car had never been in a accident, or really any hard driving(getting there). I had contacted Koni, and they asked if I wanted to send it in to have it looked at, but knowing that probably nothing would come of it , and how these were their lower line I decided not too. I have had quite a few Koni products over the years be it OEM placments, or aftermarket, and always had good sucess/liked them.







Since I have had a good rapport with Koni up untill this point it didn't make me think twice about ordering some "replacements" in the form of Koni Adjustable Yellows. A much better track suited (defiantly not race coil overs though) strut/shock combo.









Also at this time I installed the BMR Adjustable lower control arm brackets as seen installed here.

At this point I think I owed the car for about 8 months. I am currently racing karts, and I used to have a track only 600RR, but I have never had a more track purpose car. So I ditched my plans of having a daily, and decided to make it streetable still (just not street friendly) but more track focused. So knowing that this car was going to see some abuse, and knowing the high RPM shifting problems the stock clutchs tend to have, I decided to get ahead of the game, and change the 10,000 mile clutch(lots of miles right). And I though I would "do it all" while I was in there. So on the parts list were added
Spec Stage 2+ Clutch
Spec Billet Flywheel
All new bolts/hardware
New Ford Throwout bearing
SVE stainless clutch line (why not)
I also added a SVE clutch fluid reservoir separating the brake, and clutch fluid reservoir.
And while I had the car in the air I decided it was time to do the upper control arm, and mount.













Should have dropped the exhaust, and drive shaft when I installed the MGW, so much more room to work. Dropping the trans on you own, on jack stands sucks.


New HD pilot bearing.





Also added a bump steer kit at the same time. I might change this up in the future to a Howe Racing design.

Double0fox said:

Thanks! Ya mine will be a bit different. I don't end up going for strait line performance (not that there is anything wrong with that). So no turbo/supercharging in it's future. I have other power mods, I just have to catch up to where I am at first.

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Yeah I don't do the straight line either. More autocross monster. Not competitive like my Miatas but more fun to try to tame...

Now having the plan that this would be very much track orientated one of the first things that came to mind that would not work for me on track were the seats (the Mustangs I have owned all had the "park bench" seats). I ended up going with a OMP HTR Halo seat. I thought I wouldn't have any side visibility once I was in the car, but I can easily see over the halo's, I am 6'1" so I don't know if shorter people will have a problem. Also ordered a Watson's Racing roll bar, harnesses, mounts, and all the supporting hardware. Smashing up the car would be one thing, but smashing me with it would be another. Last summer I thought for a while of going all in, caging it, and running with ICSCC (PNW SCCA pretty much), but decided against it. For one the classes I could run in the Mustang would be penalized pretty heavily, or I would have to run it damn near stock/small tires. I can't remember all the classing rules at this second, but I remember that it just wasn't the route I wanted to take. For two I race karts full time over the summer, and sometimes with life, making the race dates can be really hard. I also like that with karting the classes are pretty much on the same engine, or very close(I run the LO206, and the TAG 125 classes) so it comes down to driving, and not who spends more. So with this, I just wanted to have a very capable trackcar to use when I want. But I am like a 10 year old, I may change my mind at some point, and W2W race it. We are only alive for a while, and I just want to have fun.....see I am a child. Anyways, I also wanted to do a spring change. The Steeda sports did not feel good to me. Hard to explain, and I probably won't do a good job of explaining it. but just felt a little "bouncy" when you would load up on a front tire through a corner, not confidence aspiring at all. Great street spring, but not what I am looking for. Even with changing to the Koni Yellows, and trying different settings it felt the same. So out came the pocket book. And ordered:

Watson Racing Roll Bar
OMP HTR Driver seat
OMP TRS-E XL Passenger Seat
OMP Side Mounts
Planted Seat Mounts
Racequip Cam Lock Harnesses
Maximum Motorsports road & Track Springs
Maximum Motorsports Caster Camber Plates







Planted Driver, and passenger mounts.










Before:


After:


Putting the roll bar in was "fun". A lot of measuring before drilling. Luckily I had both front seats out. I had heard from a couple people that they left the seats in while they did this. I have no idea how, or why anyone would leave the seats in while they do this. Took a few iterations of seat placement till I got it where I wanted it at. Then it was onto putting in some Maximum Motorsports road & track springs. I also installed some MM Caster Camber plates that I had bought a few months earlier as well.











The bounce that I was feeling with the Steeda's was gone. The MM springs although rougher (obviously with the increased spring rate) felt more predictable, much better. I know not exactly scientific. I will have to do some testing of what the car likes come track time, cause driving on the street won't tell me much. I hate when people say " My car handles like it is on rails". I know everyone has different experience with how a car handles, but when I ask if it has understeer, oversteer, is the car not rotating, and get the blank stare. Anyway rant over.

Great thread - the car is coming along nicely.

Can't wait to see it progress along.

jrandy said:

Great thread - the car is coming along nicely.

Can't wait to see it progress along.

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Thanks man. It's been fun to have a project again (mostly). Like a lot of us on here I can't leave stuff damn well alone.

A few more things that I had on the list if I was going to dedicate it to mostly track car status, and some that were a must for track work. One being brake cooling. If I was going to expect the Boss/GT500 brakes to survive really getting beat on I would need to cool them. Originally I bought the Boss/CS front lip/spliiter for looks to be honest, but the extra upside to it is it is ready for brake cooling ducts! Some of the other things that got thrown in at this time were.

BMR radiator support (Still trying to get the weight down)
Whiteline front sway bar, with end links
Blowfish Racing brake ducts (Absolute must on my list with the weight of these cars)
Blowfish Racing front tow bracket
SVE Saleen front grill (honestly ordered it for looks originally, but it will probably flow more air to the radiator at the track, so win win!)















I had to do a little modifying for the brake duct hoses. Removed some of the plastic fins that protrude up from the lower cover, moved the horn up a bit, and the washer reservoir needed to be spaced outward a little, but otherwise not too bad.