Slowman

I picked up a 2006 GT coupe with 50k miles that seems to have been treated pretty gently. The goal is for a road course oriented car but one that I can drive to the track and, until I take the upgrades too far, on weekends. Eventually I might get into stripping the interior and putting in a cage, but for the foreseeable future I'm going to focus on suspension, brakes, tires, etc.

So far I've upgraded the radiator and hoses to Mishimoto replacements and put in a strut tower brace (It was on sale and too easy an upgrade not to put in)

I intended on doing the brakes first (Stoptech st-40 up front, new pads in back, new fluid), but the stock 18's I've got won't take pretty much any big brake package. My goal here was to try to get the car on the track fairly stock before I started making changes so I could do things based on evidence, but I'm not comfortable with the stock brakes. So now I need to change wheels before I can do brakes, and if I'm going to changes wheels I'm going with new tires, so my plan to hit the track stock is pretty well shot

Long story longer,
First - Enkei PF01 18x9 with Pilot Super Sport 265/40 in all 4 corners
Second - Brakes (Maybe stoptech, maybe the Ford Racing SVT kit)
Third - Track time
Fourth - Probably suspension, maybe a full kit, maybe sway bars. Will be coming back here with questions I'm sure.

Is there anything obvious I'm missing/approaching/ordering wrong?

Warpig12354

If you don't want to fork over the cash for a BBK you can just get new fluid, pads and ss lines, this will free up some cash for suspension mods.

UrS4

New Hawk brake pads, they have track specific or pads that are streetable and give good track performance, stainless lines, better fluid, new slotted rotors depending on how gently those 50k miles were put on, and brake ducting for cooling. I would make sure you do a complete fluid flush of steering, transmission, differential, etc, fuel fliter change, oil change. A CAI and tune will give a nice bump in power for money. A four or five point harness will do wonders for your lap times and your fatigue level. A good helmet, and you will be ready.

You will quickly find that brake dive and body roll is excessive on the track. Adjustable shocks (Koni sports), springs (Steeda competition) will fix the brake dive and roll rate. Bigger adjustable front and rear bars will fix body roll. You sound road course serious enough, you will problably like a Watt's link right away instead of changing out to an adjustable panhard bar (although this will correct rear axle centeredness once lowered). Then you could go even further with a BMR K member, BMR front LCA, bumpsteer kit, adjustable front end links, A arm brace, etc. etc.

Slowman

I don't want to oversell my driving ability. It's strictly going to be track days, no racing and I'm pretty far from the Stig. So with that being said, does a bbk seem like overkill? With the rotors,pads,lines and fluid + maybe ducting what would the bbk give me aside from more resistance to fade?

I've got the helmet and an R3 hn restraint. At some point 5 points and seats are in the picture, but that has me thinking about cages vs harness bars.

Thanks for the additional detail on maintenance. I hadn't thought about the fuel filter.

The suspension info you gave is essentially what I was thinking in terms of order. Shocks, springs, sway bars. and after that I get out of anything I have much experience with but I'll need more track time to upgrade myself by then anyway.

Jay@Hypermotive

Let me know if I can help you out, I have some fantastic pricing on Stoptech kits (I have the ST-40 on the shop car right now) and Enkei. If there is any suspension packages you're looking for I would also be willing to help ya out.

Jason

stags

Just an fyi, most of us on this forum lost our sanity long ago. Modding does that to you. Most people with reasonable finances would laugh if they saw how much we spend on our babies, and then lock us in a rubber room...

UrS4

Where in CA do you plan to track it?

BBK may be overkill. I would do rotors, pads, fluid, ducting, and good sticky tires. That will make a dramatic difference in braking and I would suspect you would have very little to no fade.

Slowman

Thunderhill for a while, moving on to Laguna Seca / Infineon when I get some time in the car.

Slowman

And yes, I'm playing fast and loose with the term 'sanity'

Argonaut

I'll add my perspective. I've been doing track days for 5 years now (about 70 track days total) in a 2007 Mustang GT and 1999 C5 Vette. I spent the first year tracking the Mustang with stock calipers and rotors but added track pads, Dot4 fluid, SS lines and quantum brake cooling ducts. I also used fairly sticky rubber - Nitto NT01. This worked fine, I had zero brake issues. No fade, no excessive pad taper or cracking of rotors. I also added stiffer springs, adjustable shocks, adjustable PHB and control arms. I did not change the sway bars. All of this worked quite well for me as a newer driver.

In subsequent years, as I progressed to the advanced run groups, my needs changed. I started overwhelming the stock calipers and rotors, especially when using R-comp tires. Overheating the brakes, severe pad taper and frequent cracking of rotors were common issues. So I had to upgrade to a race quality braking system. I also eventually added stiffer sway bars, harness bar, 6 point and race seats, etc.

The point here is that when starting out you only need to do the minimal to make the car safe on track - which pretty much means the simple brake upgrades noted above (and some would say proper seat and harness). The most important thing by far is seat time. Way more important than rubber, suspension, engine mods, etc. With limited budget - spend money on seat time, not car. As one progresses, the need for car mods will become apparent and then you can begin to devote some of the overall budget to the car as needed.