Vorshlag 2011 Mustang 5.0 GT - track/autocross/street Project

[csamsh]

Hello, I understand the pitfalls mentioned with the Torque Arms weight and possible wheel hop under hard breaking but in terms of cost it doesn't really seem that much more expensive considering the price/time of finding a "good" UCA that doesn't have continuous bushing failures, noisy spherical bearings and large amounts of NVH issues. I saw mention to the 302S UCA mentioned on another forum that costs almost $800. If that's what someone needs to spend to have a proper UCA then I don't think cost can be considered in the debate.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken but from what I have gathered it sounds like the best option to date has been to leave the stock UCA alone and focus on a good LCA with spherical ends at both sides along with a Relo bracket of some flavor. Leaving the stock UCA intact should buffer enough of the NVH associated with a full spherical rod end setup at the LCA mounting points.

Its kinda odd that no one has been able to come up with a bullet proof UCA in this day and age and offer it at a reasonable price.

Bulletproof- multimatic 302S uca. Reasonable price...not sop much.

The BOSS R/S ABS module removes all the computer interference except the ABS. There is no traction control, yaw control, etc. It is only a far more aggressive ABS setup.

If you are looking to upgrade the MC/Booster, the Boss R piece is really nice. It gives you a much more linear pedal. At the higher levels, this is a great way to help drive the car deeper into corners.
Not everyone wants to spend $3500 on a booster/MC though. On the 2011+ cars, in order to convert to the correct GT500 booster (there is one specific part, not all 07-09 are the same), we sell a kit that has everything you need. There are new hard lines to the HCU, a new booster, and a new master cylinder. This is an excellent alternative to the race booster. You get better pedal modulation and feel over the stock unit without breaking the bank.

Do you know if the brembo cars use the GT or GT500 booster/mc? It would make sense to me that they use gt500, since everything else in the brake system is gt500, but you never know

 

[Rehagen Racing]

They use their own booster, which may be the same as some of the GT500 models.

There is a specific GT500 booster/master combo that works better than the others. I know the new cars Brembo or not, do not have this part.

 

[BMR Tech]

Its kinda odd that no one has been able to come up with a bullet proof UCA in this day and age and offer it at a reasonable price.

We are working on a design for the 2011+ that is similar to our UTCA020, which fits your wish. The only fall-back, is the pricing on the spherical bearing, for the 18mm bolt. We use an FK Bearing on our UTCA020, which has a static load rating of over 50,000lbs.

I am surprised, in this day and age, that we are the only manufacturer who is using/offers true spherical bearings (besides Multimatic), instead of the typical rod-end version you see everywhere.

 

[Roadracer350]

I went down this road years ago, for an '05-'10.

All that is "required" is the FR500S ABS Module and HCU. And the ABS does work, also when the car is started the TC is off if you want TC then you push to button to turn it on.


----------

Here's the whole thing

I e-mailed Lowell Huston, the Mustang Challenge Technical Manager (PART1)
Jeff Feit/a Ford Engineer reply is at PART 2.

I Have replied back with questions on the HCU and GT500 Boosters and ABS Modules. If you have a question I will forward as soon as I here back from Jeff.

PART1
Mr Huston,

I spoke with you briefly earlier today. I really don't know anything as I'm not an engineer only what I have read......Please forward.

I own a 2006 Mustang GT the car is used primarily at open track events STVOA, HPDE, PBOC etc.

The car is equipped with brake cooling ducts, braided stainless steel brake line (Goodrich), I run Brembo or Motul high temp brake fluid, and has Hawk HP Plus brake pads.

I always bleed the system before events and bed in the pads and rotors when they are replaced.

During my last event I experienced brake fade I believe it was related to the pads because of there temperature rating. I'm planning on using Carbontech XP12 front and XP10s for the rear during the next event.

I want to step up to sticky tires and I believe the stock rotors/calipers are marginal for the way I'm using my car and I'm looking to possibly upgrade the brake system based on your recommendations.

I'm leery of going to the aftermarket because I believe they primarily focus on "bling".

1. Mustang Challenge FR500S brake set up:

Front Brake Kit M-2300-J with two piece rotors, the rear calipers are listed as GT500 parts (RH Rear 7R3Z-2552-A and LH Rear 7R3Z-2553-A) I though they were Mustang GT parts. The rear rotors are listed as Mustang GT parts. They also list the GT500 Master Cylinder (6R3Z-2140-AA) and GT 500 Brake Booster (7R3Z-2005-A) along with a
different ABS Module (M-2353-A).

a. Is the GT500 Master Cylinder/Brake Booster required?
Why does the 2005-2007 Musatng 14" Brake Upgrade kit not have this? I've heard it has less boost ratio than the GT/V6 booster. Will the GT Booster make the brakes grabby, or have too much initial bite?

b. Is the ABS Module this is specific to the FR500S or the GT500? If this is the GT500 module will it work with the GT or will the ECU default to the V6 program?

c. These 4 piston calipers. Right?

d. Also listed are different hubs for the FR500S different/better bearings?

2. Mustang FR500C "Boy Racer" Brake set up:

Front Brake Kit M-2300-A ?two piece rotors?, they list a rotor hat M-1124-R, but not the rotors, is the FR500C Front Brake Caliper Bracket M-2134-R part of the kit? They also list a different Brake Master/Booster Assembly M-2005-R.

a. Over kill for me? Will this even work? Does this kit use a adapter to bolt up to the spindle?

b. Does this require different ABS module/HUC and does this require a different ECU and this would not work be because of the different engines?

3. 14" Brake Upgrade Kit 2005-08 Mustang GT setup:

M-2300-S from the FORD Racing Catalog "Will upgrade the front brakes to 2007-08 SVT Musang 14" rotors and 4-piston calipers". Has one piece rotors.

a. Is the GT500 Master Cylinder/Brake Booster required?
Why not? I've heard it has less boost ratio than the GT/V6 booster.
Will the GT Booster make the brakes grabby, or have too much initial bite? Line pressure problems?

b. Can the M-2300-S be upgraded with two piece rotors?
What is the weight of the Mustang GT one piece, GT500 one piece? I don't really like the idea of adding a lot of extra rotating mass.

Recommendations?


Thanks Doug

PART 2

Hey Doug, answers to your questions:

The stock Mustang GT front calipers and rotors are definitely marginal for track use, and as you add sticky tires it will just make it worse. The pad upgrade is certainly a step in the right direction, but eventually you will need to upgrade the hardware for serious track use.
There are a few choices for upgrades; all the different part numbers can be a little confusing so here's the rundown:

Rear brakes:
This is the easy part. They are (functionally) all the same for V6, GT,GT500, FR500S and FR500C. The GT500 caliper is painted black instead of plated silver like the V6/GT, which explains the different part number, and that happens to be the one that we used on the FR500S.

Front brakes:
The first step up is the M-2300-S (GT500) brakes. This is a 4-piston Brembo caliper on a 1-piece, non-directional rotor. We don't have a 2-piece rotor for this setup. This is a huge step up from the GT brakes, and will work well for what you are currently doing with the car. It's the least expensive route, but it is also the heaviest. It is also the most "street friendly" setup, as the 1-pc, non-slotted rotor is going to work the best when you are not on the track, as far as not eating up pads, making dust, noise, etc.

The next step up is the FR500S/C brakes. It's a bit confusing with all the part numbers; both setups are essentially identical, in that they use the same Brembo 4-piston "F50" caliper and 355mm rotor (2-pc with aluminum hat, slotted, directional vanes). The only major differences between the kits are that the hat and caliper mounting bracket for the
FR500C are manufactured by Multimatic, while the FR500S hat and caliper bracket are manufactured by Brembo, and are less expensive (higher volume parts). There are some other differences between the -A and -J kits; the -J kit has a 4-pc Goodridge brake line set that is a direct-fit onto a production Mustang, while the -A kit has more generic front brake lines that are used on the C and require some bracket modifications. No performance difference. If you were interested in going this route, the -J kit is the way to go. This kit is certainly an upgrade over the -S kit; you get a better caliper that has more pad selection (it's a very common caliper and everyone makes pads for it), and a better rotor (the directional vanes cool better and the 2-pc design is lighter and puts less stress on the rotor when it expands from heat), but it is also more expensive and the replacement parts such as rotors cost more.

For either setup you will need to make sure you have wheels that will fit. The 18x9.5 Cobra wheels will clear either one; there is also a 18x8.5 GT wheel (the "fan blade", not the Bullitt) that will fit over the race brakes but not the GT500 brakes.

Boosters:
Any of the boosters will work. The GT booster is a constant-gain booster; the FR500S/Cobra have a variable-gain booster; the FR500C has a specific race tuned, low-assist booster that is designed around race pads. While the FR500C booster is the best one for the track, it is expensive and has heavy pedal efforts when used with street brake pads.
We didn't use it on the FR500S to keep costs down. I'd stick with what you have; you can always change it later if you feel the need.

ABS:
This is the hard part. The GT ABS module will limit your braking ability, in that it won't allow you to achieve the deceleration rates that the race modules will. Braking won't be worse then your current situation, but you won't be able to take full advantage of the sticky tires. The problem with the race modules is that they won't work well on the street with street pads (but are fantastic on sticky tires!). The GT500 setup is a good compromise, but then you'll lose your traction control. Once I understand a little better how you use the car I can help you decide which parts to use.

Hubs:
The only difference in the FR500S hubs is that we use an ARP 3" wheelstud in place of the stock studs.

The best choice really comes down to what you are doing with the car (is it still a dual-purpose street/track car, or primarily a track car?), and what you want to spend.

For a dual-purpose car, and lower cost, I'd go with:

-M-2300-S GT500 Brake Kit
-GT500 ABS (need the ECU and HCU, and you'll lose traction control)
-Stock GT booster (and after you've driven it decide if you want to make a change from there)

For an all-out track car, at more expense:
-M-2300-J FR500S Brake Kit
-FR500S ABS (requires you to swap to a GT500 HCU, and use the M-2353-A ECU)
-FR500C Booster (optional)

Hope this helps. Let me know a bit more about your car and I can help you decide what is best. I can also point you to a place to get the parts at a good price.

Jeff Feit
Ford Racing Performance Parts
Phone =
email

Hold on a tic... The FR500S came with the Brembo GT500 Calipers NOT the Radial Mount F50's. The F50's came on the FR500C and was an upgrade for the FR500S.

 

[Random Asshole]

GT500 Rear Brake Upgrade

Anyway, back to our TT3 Mustang's brakes - I've been abusing the components and the rears are wearing too fast and getting too hot. We had several options to address this. One, add rear brake ducting. That's... not a bad idea, and we will do that to reduce brake heat out back. But I wanted to add a bit more braking POWER at the same time as a larger heat sink (rotor).

The bigger heat sink is simple enough to understand, but would someone mind explaining how this setup would make a difference in the brake bias or "stopping power" when using the same caliper and pad?

 

[Sky Render]

The bigger heat sink is simple enough to understand, but would someone mind explaining how this setup would make a difference in the brake bias or "stopping power" when using the same caliper and pad?

Theoretically it would provide a slight increase in rearward brake bias. Larger rotors mean the clamping of the pads is farther away from the hub, which means a longer lever arm and thus more brake torque. Whether or not it's enough to notice can be answered by someone who doesn't have stock rear brakes. (Someone other than me.)

 

[Random Asshole]

Theoretically it would provide a slight increase in rearward brake bias. Larger rotors mean the clamping of the pads is farther away from the hub, which means a longer lever arm and thus more brake torque. Whether or not it's enough to notice can be answered by someone who doesn't have stock rear brakes. (Someone other than me.)

Leverage was the only thing I could see being different, but I wasn't sure if that law applied here.

 

[Ivan 5.0]

Bulletproof- multimatic 302S uca. Reasonable price...not sop much.

Group buy anyone???

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

Ford EPAS Feedback Failure?

The Electric Power Assist Steering (EPAS) is a potential problem on 2011-14 Mustangs if you modify the suspension in certain ways. This question often pops up online and I get calls and e-mails from customers on a weekly basis, so I figured I'd put an updated "Public Service Announcement" in our S197 build thread as well as any EPAS specific threads we see on Mustang forums. I am not saying that this will happen to your 2011-14 Mustang, or another Ford automobile with EPAS steering, but it happened to our 2011 GT and we've heard of this on at least 100 more cars, too. A customer of ours recently found this Ford EPAS document, which explains what the electric steering is supposed to be doing.

PDF of EPAS document: http://www.vorshlag.com/documents/Ford_EPAS.pdf

Of course in their effort to make "Pull Drift Compensation" work, to fix a problem most people didn't know or care about, the engineers neglected to see the possible negative side effects to this system when it sees parameters outside of the OEM suspension/tires/bushings. When you take a 2011-up production Mustang and modify any of these items below you can potentially cause the EPAS to go into an erroneous feedback loop.

Modifications that can cause EPAS Feedback Failure

• Aftermarket Front Control Arms
• Aftermarket Front Control Arm Bushings
• Radical changes to front suspension geometry
• Significant tire/wheel changes (especially R-compound tires or slicks)

Our issues first occurred with lowered ride height + poly LCA bushings, on an autocross car daily driven on 265mm street tires.

This list may be incomplete, but it shows what we've seen that can cause this failure, and what some other suspension manufacturers and racers that have called and talked to us about have seen. It doesn't always happen when you change these parts, especially if you just do the mods and only daily drive the cars. Often it only takes time or circumstances - when these mods are installed, then eventually the car is driven at road course or autocross event, the feedback failure soon follows. And once it begins to happen it only takes a few circumstances (minimum speeds, a certain amount of steering input speed) for it to happen again and again. Watch the video below for how this happened on our 2011 GT after installing Energy Suspensions front LCA bushings.


Vorshlag EPAS feedback loop video.

The video above has been viewed many thousands of times. It has been sent to Ford engineers, but to my knowledge, Ford Motor Company does not have a fix for this, nor do they even acknowledge that there is a problem. The blame is quickly put onto any aftermarket suspension or wheel/tire modifications. Which is true - those changes can kick off this error, and we have not seen this happen on 100% stock Mustangs.

But... there is an error in their programming, for this to happen so frequently with one simple bushing change. This issue cannot be fixed with a new program upload into the EPAS computer (located within the steering rack assembly), either. All attempts to over-write theses "ones and zeros" have been rebuffed or failed. But Ford Racing has a fix...

Vorshlag does not sell the M-3200-EPAS steering rack, but Rehagen Racing does.

We talked to Ford Racing folks, who knew all about the problem. They developed the "race rack" above for the Boss 302-R/302-S race cars, which all come with this M-3200-EPAS rack installed. It has the same hardware as the production 2011-14 racks, but just has the "auto nibble" or "Pull Drift Compensation" programming turned off. It is a simple $999 fix. They will not over-write this programming onto a used steering rack - they will only sell you a new one. We asked many times while the M-3200-EPAS unit was on backorder for several months.



So, if you have a 2011-14 Mustang and plan on doing a lot of suspension modifications, either AVOID touching the front LCA bushings or using an aftermarket control arm (or even the Boss 302-R LCA) or PLAN for this rack upgrade. The LCA bushing or arm replacement are the two most common causes of EPAS feedback failure, and doing either is almost a 100% guarantee you will see this feedback failure. But if you run a production 2011-14 Mustang in any serious track or autocross competition, you pretty much HAVE to replace these bushings, so plan on the M-3200-EPAS upgrade at the same time.



Why are these bushings imperative to replace? See for yourself. The rear-most lower bushing in the front Lower Control Arm is a HUGE chunk of soft rubber. It is the size of a 8 oz beer can. And if the rubber wasn't bad enough, it isn't even solid - there are channels or voids cast into the bushing, which are filled with hydraulic fluid. This does not make for a stable platform to mount the control arm, through which a majority of the suspension loads pass through.

Bushing Deflection Test

Do this visual bushing deflection test, as it is a real eye opener. Go in a parking lot with your S197 Mustang. Have someone prepared to drive the car while you watch. Stand a few feet beside the car and watch the front wheel. Have them reverse briskly then stop firmly. Watch the front wheel move fore-aft relative to the chassis. It will move a LOT. This is unwanted wheel movement and suspension geometry change in action, and it is very evident. The S197 Mustang is not the only car that suffers from super soft front suspension bushing deflection, as you can do this test on virtually any BMW or Subaru and any number of modern cars and see the same thing happen.

Now imagine the car braking from 100+ mph, on a road course, while turning, and the car is equipped with wider and much grippier R-compound race tires. With the stock Beer Can-sized rubber & hydraulic bushings in place there would be a LOT of front control arm bushing deflection, which results in unwanted toe change to the front geometry. This will make the car unstable under braking. This is undesirable, of course. The fix is upgrading to firmer (polyurethane) front control arm bushings. These parts are low cost, with a less than fun installation, but they do work to control toe change under braking. But once installed... steering rack feedback will most certainly occur. And believe me, when this Feedback Failure happens on the street it is disturbing enough, but on a road course it is downright scary. We found that the only way to stop it once it happened on a road course was to come into the pits, cycle the ignition key, reset the Traction Control system (turning it 100% off), then going back out. After about a few months of this nonsense (while waiting on the M-3200-EPAS to come off of backorder), we finally replaced the rack with the Ford Racing unit and it has never happened again. There were zero other changes or benefits to this $999 steering rack.

I'm not trying to sell folks on some bushing upgrade, or scare you into buying a steering rack we don't sell. Just warning you of a potential recipe for problems if you have one of these cars and do these mods. I don't want people reading our forum posts, buying Mustangs and mimicking our S197 suspension mods, to then blindly fall into the EPAS Feedback Failure. And overall these 2011-14 Mustang GT/Boss302 cars are the Performance Bargain of the Decade, and I highly recommend them to anyone that wants a super reliable 420+ hp V8, RWD sports coupe with outstanding brakes (optional Brembos), and a good basis to build upon - all for a really low price. Heck yes you should drive one, and you might end up buying one, just know that this is one of those potential Achilles heels, and the fix is fairly straight-forward, if a tick costly.

Note: This issue does not affect other S197 Mustangs, like the 2005-2010 models with traditional hydraulic assist power steering, and might not even affect other cars made by other car makers with electric assist steering. More and more automakers are moving from hydraulic to electric steering assist systems, and this technology has MANY benefits (costs, weight, power savings, tunable power assist). I do think these electric racks will become the norm for OEM and racing vehicles alike. Ford just has a glitch here that I think they could fix with a little programming, and they have in the $999 Ford Racing version.

Cheers,

 

[BMR Tech]

Great post Terry.

We are experiencing the shudder on our 2011.

As I have told you before, and as you can probably imagine, I get these complaints quite often, also.

One thing I have noticed, "most" of the issues that have been brought to my attention, were/are/have-been on 2011's.

Again, excellent post!

 

[Sky Render]

Terry or Kelly: Have either of you heard of this happening on a stock 2011 18"-wheel EPAS rack with stock bushings and arms but swapping from the standard GT brakes to the 4-pot Brembos?

I want the Brembos to be my next upgrade, but I am leery of having to shell out another $1,000 on a steering rack...

 

[csamsh]

Hmmm... Interested in the 2011 vs all others thing too.

Mission for somebody with pull- find out if there were EPAS changes from 2011 to 2012. Also- BMR, Terry, etc...have you heard of a 2012+ car having these problems?

 

[neema]

I understand Ferd wants to make some money, but upgrading bushings is a bread and butter mod for a race car. Sucks that we're forced to make the $1000 EPAS hurdle for the $450 bushing/balljoint/control arm upgrade.

Whoever figures out how to update the firmware of the stock steering racks can charge an arm and a leg and still get away with it.

 

[Rehagen Racing]

Hmmm... Interested in the 2011 vs all others thing too.

Mission for somebody with pull- find out if there were EPAS changes from 2011 to 2012. Also- BMR, Terry, etc...have you heard of a 2012+ car having these problems?

I have no idea what changes were made, but there are 5 supersessions to each 2011 part #. The 17", 18", and 19-20" wheel package cars all had different part #'s (due to calibration). Since they released the 2011 Mustang, the part # for each calibration has changed 5 times. All supersede to the current part #'s that run DR3Z-3504-xx (xx = variable for calibrations).

 

[Sky Render]

I have no idea what changes were made, but there are 5 supersessions to each 2011 part #. The 17", 18", and 19-20" wheel package cars all had different part #'s (due to calibration). Since they released the 2011 Mustang, the part # for each calibration has changed 5 times. All supersede to the current part #'s that run DR3Z-3504-xx (xx = variable for calibrations).

So what you're saying is that if I were to accidentally run over something that severely damaged my steering rack, I would get the firmware update via a new rack...

 

[Whiskey11]

So what you're saying is that if I were to accidentally run over something that severely damaged my steering rack, I would get the firmware update via a new rack...

Well if you'd stop hitting those cones, they'd stop tearing up the underside of your car! The corner workers are far better to hit, they bounce off without going UNDER the car!

 

[neema]

Also- BMR, Terry, etc...have you heard of a 2012+ car having these problems?

interested to see the answer to this

 

[Sky Render]

Well if you'd stop hitting those cones, they'd stop tearing up the underside of your car! The corner workers are far better to hit, they bounce off without going UNDER the car!

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

Project Update for August 6th, 2013: My last two posts in this thread were not specific to our 2011 or 2013 GT builds, but needed to be covered: the Torque Arm discussion followed by the EPAS warning. I will get back to our project cars in this post, I promise. Where were we....well back in June we hit several events. After we got back from the NASA weekend at Hallett in the TT3 Mustang, it was time for another Five Star Ford track day at ECR. In preparation for this event, we developed and installed our 14" Brembo BBK as well as a new Vorshlag brake ducting kit for the 2013 GT and performed our typical race prep on the 2011 GT and tweaked a few other things. The 2013 GT is now for sale as well (see this link or the details at the end of this post).

Three Track Tests in the 2013 GT

If you have been reading this thread for a while you know that I had purchased a 2013 Mustang GT last September for use in SCCA autocross use, for a dedicated ESP build. Long story but that plan was scrapped, so we decided to keep the car long enough to develop some new parts and move it to make room for an all new 2015 Mustang (that's still happening). We tracked it twice before and planned one more track event with this car, and each time out on track was a test. Each time I drove the car, at ECR, on the same set of 295/35/18 Nitto NT05 tires, to try to keep the variables minimized.

Test 1: NASA at ECR, Oct 6th, 2012 - This was when the car had 500 miles on it, stock brake pads, the base GT's smaller 13.2" front brakes, even stock brake fluid. The car had our lightweight 18x10" wheels, the 200 treadwear 295 Nittos (that were purchased to run at the Optima Challenge in July 2012), a big Eibach front sway bar, and Vorshlag camber plates. I ran it in NASA TTB class (got killed, of course) and ran it for two sessions on October 6th. Even with stock suspension, power, and brakes, I managed a best lap of a 2:07.315, a solid 9 seconds slower than TTB winner KenO, but we stuck it in TTB just for testing purposes. I was only able to take about 3 hot laps, as the brakes would go to the floor on my 2nd hot lap, and it took several cool down laps to get them under control. During my 2nd session the front pads melted, fell apart, and it went to the backing plates. No brakes. The car was a big floaty mess and pushed like mad, but it could still boil the 295mm rear tires on any corner exit, easily.

The ambient temps were in the 50°F range and the weather was clear. I drove two cars that weekend: our '13 GT and the '11 GT in TTS class, turning a 1:56.343 in the red '11 Mustang on Sunday - my new personal best lap at this track. Driving the '13 Mustang GT was a big hot mess, and braking with the small stock brakes was downright scary. The fluid got so hot that we melted some seals in the master cylinder (took us a while to figure that one out). I will never... EVER do another track event on OEM brake fluid or pads. Never.

Test 2: Toy Run at ECR, Dec 8, 2012 - Now we had installed about $5000 worth of suspension upgrades and the handling on the 2013 GT was a LOT better. The suspension mods included a lowered ride height via AST double adjustable coilovers with remote reservoirs, 400#/200# spring rates (still relatively soft, but stiffer than lowering springs), and the same camber plates, wheels, tires and front sway bar.



We also upgraded the brakes to Carbotech pads and Motul 600 fluid + Vorshlag SS brake lines. Massive improvement in stopping, but it would still only do about 1-2 laps and didn't stop much, if any harder. It kept the fluid from boiling, but the pedal was still mush (we hadn't found the master cylinder seal issue yet). The ambient temps were again 50°F and clear - almost exactly matching the NASA event two months prior. My best lap was a 2:03.7, so we dropped 4 seconds with coilovers and brake pads. That's a solid lap time that most S197 owners would kill for, and yet we had bone stock rear suspension parts, bone stock power, and still were on the small diameter brakes.

I drove a staggering four cars that day (2013 GT, ChumpCar, BRZ, and 2011 GT) so my slate was very full. Needless to say I didn't get in a lot of testing/tweaking. With some more time and testing we might have found a little more time, but the brakes were still a limiting factor - they still had almost no endurance, and the mushy pedal did not instill confidence. I could take one hot lap followed by a cool down, rinse and repeat. Two hot laps in a row wasn't possible, due to the brakes overheating.

Test 3: Five Star Ford at ECR, June 29, 2013 - So our third and final track test with this 2013 GT was the ECR event in June. I will go over the test results, then I'll back up and show the work. Same tires, and suspension, just one improvement to the car. However, this event was brutally hot and we saw ambient temperature creep up to 99°F by day's end - when I ran my best laps in the 2013 GT. People and bodies were overheating, and brakes were a nightmare on this day for most (see my event write-up below for more), but not this car.



This event was a lot more crowded than either of the previous two tests, and since we were sharing the AIM Solo (GPS lap timer) between our two Mustangs, I ran in intermediate while Amy ran the 2011 GT in Advanced. This made getting a clear lap utterly impossible for me in the 2013 GT. I ran four sessions in the 2013 GT, one session in the 2011 GT, and another session in a friend's GTS3 BMW, for a total of six sessions. I caught cars on almost every single lap. At the end of the day I finally took the 2013 GT out in the Red group and got one - count em - one clear lap. I finally ran a 2:03.3 lap with clear track, in the hottest part of the day. It was MUCH easier to drive to that time on that lap than back in December, when it was almost 60 degrees cooler, too. And for reference, the best Amy or I could get in the 2011 GT was a 2:00 flat lap on this hot June day, nearly 4 seconds off that car's pace from October or December. So this brake upgrade did much more than the ~1/2 second improvement in lap times show.

Making the 14" Brembo "Vorshlag" Brake Upgrade and Brake Cooling Kits

The brakes are all we changed on the 2013 GT for this June track test. The brake system improvements made the car both faster and EASIER to drive. I could also push the car hard, lap after lap, without losing stopping power. Huge, massive, immense improvement.



The upgrades included jumping up from the 13.2" OEM rotors to 14" Centric rotors, and from the 2 piston sliding calipers to the fixed Brembo 4 piston calipers. We went with Carbotech XP20 pads up front and XP12 rears, and had front brake ducting as well. The car could stop at 10/10ths every lap for 5-6 laps in a row (that was usually the length of the session). I was abusing the brakes as hard as I could and they just didn't care. We also had replaced the old Master Cylinder, so the pedal was finally rock solid.

The Vorshlag S197 14" Brembo brake upgrade kit we came up with is based on the OEM 14" front brakes used on the GT500, Boss302, and 2011-14 "Brembo" GT's and Track Pack cars. We get the new calipers from Ford, the rotors from Centric, the pads from Carbotech, Vorshlag stainless braided lines (BrakeQuip), and it comes with all of the Brembo hardware. We make the kit option-able with any of the Carbotech pads, with or w/o the Vorshlag lines, and even w/o the brake backing plate dust shields - if you want to upgrade to a brake ducting kit. The prices are very competitive and we've already sold a few of these to track drivers in 2005-2013 Mustangs that came with the smaller front brakes. It is immensely more affordable than an aftermarket BBK, as it uses $99 replacement rotors and a common brake pad profile.



The funniest part is that the massive aluminum 4 piston Brembo caliper is lighter than the aluminum 2 piston OEM caliper, due to the steel sliding mount that the 2-pot works with. The 14" rotor is a tick heavier, of course, but that's mass you want for soaking up and shedding heat. We upgraded the front rotor to Centric's best option; this rotor comes with black coated hats, which won't be rusty looking in a week like the stockers.



We are still finalizing our brake ducting kit, which will have a specific grill and grill ducts for the '13-14 GT's and will be made to work with the CS Lower Fascia on the '10-12 GTs. I'll post up more about that kit later, when it is ready, but needless to say for serious braking on track you have got to duct the front rotors. Our '13-14 duct kit will pull air from an unused portion of the lower center grill area rather than the outboard fog light openings like some other kits (including the '13 Boss302). This inboard spot gets cleaner, higher pressure air and has a straighter shot with the brake duct hose routing when you pull from the location we did. Again - when I have more pictures and details I will share them - those two pictures above are only from my phone.

Continued below

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

Event write-up Five Star Ford at ECR, June 29, 2013

In the section above I talk about the 2013 GT Tests 1 through 3, with the 3rd test being done at a June 29th 2013 event. I drove two other cars that day, and we worked on many more, so I will do a quick event write-up. As I've said before, the 2.7 mile course at ECR is a brake killer, and when it is approaching 100 degrees it only gets worse. But we love ECR as a test track on Mustangs because it has a lot of tight corners, bumpy surfaces, and these brutal braking zones. There are also some decently long straights to take advantage of power.


We had both our 2011 GT (Amy in the red) and 2013 GT (Terry in the black) out running at this event. We took riders all day.

I noticed several things after driving both the '11 and '13 GT's that day. One, while the extra 50 whp from the modified exhaust/tune/cold air on the 2011 GT makes the car a little louder and more fun, the added power isn't a HUGE improvement. The stock powered '13 GT 5.0 could hold its own on the straights with virtually any car out there. Both cars had very high end monotube adjustable coilover dampers (Moton doubles with remotes on the '11, AST doubles with remotes on the '13), so the bumpy nature of this track upset neither car. And after adding the same 14" Brembo front brakes, ducting and Carbotech XP20 front pads to the '13 GT as the '11 GT, they both braked VERY well, lap after lap after lap.

No, the biggest difference between the cars was grip.

Obviously, the '11 GT has wider wheels (12" vs 10" wide) and tires (315/30/18 R-compounds vs 295/35/18 streets), and a much softer tire compound (Hoosier R6 vs Nitto NT-05) than the '13 GT. This made for different driving lines and speeds in corners, but almost identical brake marker choices. The Turn 3-4-5 complex as well as the Turn 7-8-9-10 sequence were MUCH slower in the black '13 GT on 200 treadwear street tires than in the '11 GT on big sticky Hoosiers. In the end we only saw about 4 seconds difference in the fastest lap times from each car that day, and it was all in the turns. But, and this is important, the '13 GT could only do one TOP SPEED 10/10ths lap in a row, due to rear tire overheating. The brakes could go all session, finally, but the street tires would only make it for one very hard lap before they got so hot the rears would start slipping and sliding like mad. And this is even with +60mm more tire than stock at each corner.


Video from the Eagles Canyon Track Day ~ Hosted by Sam Pack Ford. Video by Ben Freedman

Again, I'm kinda hard on tires and brakes, and aggressively use the throttle, so I might be more prone to rear tire overheating than some in Mustangs. The '11 GT could just pound out lap after lap at the 2 minute mark or quicker, with the Hoosier R6 tires. It was easy to keep going and going at full tilt, as long as you didn't get stuck in traffic.

ECR Photo Gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/Five-Star-Ford-ECR-062913/

I did notice the '13 GT run a bit on the warm side, late in the day. We haven't seen overheating in our 2011 GT at all, even running it for the past three years in all sorts of hot weather events (up to 105°F). But last weekend in my 2013 GT it got up past mid-way on the stock temp gauge, to 3/4 and almost to the "H"... first time we noticed that. This was after 6-7 hard laps (15 minutes) in the last session of the day when it crept up to 99°F. The only difference in our two Mustangs is the grill... the '11 GT has no foglights and the '13 GT still has them in place. Both have completely stock cooling systems, and none of the extra coolers that come on the Boss302 or Track Pack cars. Strange. Only did it once, and after half a lap it cooled off back to normal. Never had a check engine light or loss in power, just saw it creeping up and I cooled it off. I dunno... if I was going to keep this car the fog lights would come out next to hopefully improve radiator air flow.

I had a blast driving Dave B's GTS3 BMW, too (below, right). This was formerly the gold 4-door 325i called "Goldmember" back in the day, which I helped him flare and stick 18x10" wheels with 285mm tires onto. Dave worked on the GRM E30 for a year as well. This car has come a long way and it is now gutted, caged, with an S50 motor, and he's raced in NASA GTS several times with some wins. The car was built on a tight budget, but is still fast and fun. He wanted me to take a session in it, so I climbed in, knees hitting the dash, and managed about 6 laps before I brought it in. Lots of grip, no, mountains of grip! Those 285mm R compounds on a sub 2500 pound car WORK.

We tracked down a few issues and I told Dave I'd come out and help him debug some things at another ECR test, which I did on July 13th. I got out there with all of my test gear, sitting on pit wall, timers going, 7:30 am, he's making a warm up lap... and of course the car broke (camshaft) on his first test lap - dumb luck. Oh well, we'll do it again soon and help him get more speed out of this car. It should run 2 minute flat times once it is sorted; he played lead-follow with me in the 2013 GT and he could keep up.



I've still never driven a '11-up GT on track with the base model 18x8" wheels and 235mm All Season tires (above left). I suspect it would be quite hilarious, but probably very frustrating after a lap or two. These tall 18" all seasons are nice for the street, but you can NOT use the gas pedal much or the rear will spin for days. I've tried in our 2013 GT on the street, but they are devoid of any usable grip. These particular wheels no longer fit over the 14" front brakes, so they are of no use to me on the 2013 GT. I'm still amazed that Ford would put a 420 hp motor in these cars and allow the base model GT to come with such skinny, crappy, low grip tires. The 13.2" brakes are also pretty much crap, and won't last two laps of hard use on a track like ECR. As I tell anyone that will listen, the MOST important option to get when ordering or looking for a '11-14 GT is the BREMBO BRAKE OPTION. This is the best bang-per-buck option on the best bang-per-buck model Mustang ever made. It only only takes you from a 13.2" front rotor with craptastic sliding 2-piston calipers to the 4-piston fixed Bembos and 14" rotors, but it nets you a one inch wider wheel as well. True, it is a 19" wheel, which is really only done for styling purposes, but at least it comes with a 255mm tire.

Again, if you purchased a '11-14 GT with the smaller brakes, we've got that covered plus more in our Vorshlag 14" Brembo Upgrade Kit. Hugely important if you ever track your '05-14 Mustang and it came with the small stuff. I mention this again because we had some good examples of how bad the smaller 13.2" Mustang brakes are that weekend at ECR, with one fellow getting all of ONE hot lap before he called it a day. It took one lap for the fluid to boil, the brake pedal went to the floor, and off the track they went. Weee! We've since hooked him up with some proper fluid and Carbotech pads, and he's heading back out on track, but the 14" Brembo front brakes are on his wish list, and brake ducting won't be far behind.


The base GT's 13.2" front brakes are better suited to drag racing or autocross, not track use.

Ryan was there at this ECR event with me and Amy and he worked his butt off all day long. There were a lot of noobs at this event, driving new but mostly bone stock Mustangs, and some EVO and BMW guys, too. Even with instructors slowing them down, several of the new guys ran out of brakes in one or two sessions. Luckily we brought a lot of tools, a generator and an air compressor. We ended up doing full Motul RBF600 brake fluid flushes on several cars, one guy fried his pads, swapped some wheels for people, changed camber on multiple cars, diagnosed weird sounds and shimmies in half a dozen cars, and basically Ryan was wrenching all day long - he never even made it to pit wall to work on our two cars. Most of the work was on brakes.

In the first session of the day, a student asked one of the experienced instructors to take a few laps in his 2012 Mustang GT (non-Brembo car). The instructor took a warm up lap (driving 5/10ths), then sped it up a little on the beginning of lap 2 (7/10ths) and drove right off the end of the hardest braking zone corner. He was shocked - "Man, I was barely pushing the car, didn't have two laps on it yet. It just lost the brakes completely!!! Pedal went to mush, I was pumping the brakes but nothing was happening."

Been there, done that. We looked at the car and both the fluid was boiled and the front pads were gone, turned to goo. Luckily no damage was done other than to ego. Student was really bummed, as he got ZERO laps himself (they gave him credit for a track day the next weekend). We brought spare track pads for S197s, but didn't have them for the non-Brembo front calipers in our trailer, so he called it a day very early. Amy saw him in the paddock later, all bummed out with no brakes left, and she stuck him in the passenger seat of our 2011 GT. After a session riding with me in the 2011 GT we turned his frown upside down. He was so pumped when he got out of the passenger seat - hooked for life! He came by later the next week, picked up some Carbotechs and Motul from us, and I gave him some barely used 13.2" front rotors, and he was back at the track the next weekend - with no problems.

So the moral is - don't underestimate the basics. S197 Mustangs come with "low rent" brake consumables from the factory: the stock brake fluid and stock brake pads are really for street use ONLY. Even noobs can ruin the old/stock fluid quickly. Sure, some new students are rolling around so slowly that their brakes might make it the day, totally depends on how hard they push it. I seem to find the weak link in any cars' braking systems very quickly, and apparently so do some other instructors. It doesn't take much to really need front brake ducting on these cars, too.

Time To Sell The 2013 GT

As much as it pains me to do this, it is time to let this car go to a new home, and it is now for sale. We recently saw the extremely delayed ruling on the Watts Link/Diff Cover change for SCCA ESP class (a simple rule tweak took 8 months to write + 1 or maybe even 2 more years to implement?) and now it might not take effect until 2015? Basically this demonstrates that they don't care about Mustang owners with these needlessly slow rulings - delaying the "rules fix" to make the majority of the off-the-shelf Watts Link systems legal until after 2015. Progress within this club is painfully SLOW and frustrating. I'm not sitting on this 2013 GT for another year or TWO just so the rules makers pull their heads out of their back sides, so the dedicated ESP build we originally purchased this car has been aborted.

Vorshlag 2013 GT is FOR SALE. See more here.

Still, buying this car wasn't a waste. We got some testing done, logging good track data in wheel/tire changes, camber plates, shock/spring upgrades and brake upgrades. We developed a few unique to '13-14 parts, and made somebody a really cool track/street car, but for the most part I lost a lot of time and money on this car purchase. I won't forget this one for a while, and will think very hard about it before I build another car around SCCA Solo class rules again. Lesson learned.


Left: This is the lightest stock 2011-14 GT we have ever weighed. Right: Not much room left in my home garage to park this one

We have added a few more mods to the car since the 3rd track test day in June. We had previously installed a Spohn "Del-sphere" Adjustable Panhard Bar to this car but it just made too much noise on the street, so I had the guys yank that piece out and install a Whiteline Adjustable Panhard Bar instead. Ahh.... quiet and effective. While they were under there, I had them add Whiteline LCA Relocation Brackets too. These brackets improve the rear geometry for cars lowered like this, and makes it better for street, track and dragstrip use. This black on black 6-spd car is absolutely spotless inside and out and has 5100 miles.

It has AST double adjustable coilovers with remotes ($5000), WL Panhard Bar and LCA brackets, Vorshlag camber plates, D-Force 18x10" wheels, 295mm Nitto NT05's, 14" Brembos, Vorshlag brake ducting and SS brake lines, all synthetic fluids, and plenty of custom care done by the Vorshlag techs. Details like the Seals-It 2-piece grommets in the trunk for the reservoir pass-throughs, custom reservoir mounts, and more. A lot of car for the price - see the For Sale page for more details (please don't post questions in this thread - PM me or e-mail us at [email protected]).



If the price is still shown on the linked for sale page, then this car is still for sale. If not, it is sold. Somebody is going to get a killer street/track car for a great price. We showed it at the last Dallas Cars and Coffee event and had some bites, and I suspect it won't last long. Again - I'm losing a lot selling it at this price, but having two track S197s right now doesn't make sense. We've got so many project cars being built and this 2013 GT is now just a distraction. If you want to come by and look at the car, please call Vorshlag a day before, so I can bring it to the shop from my home garage.

Cheers,