Dave_W said:

My Google-Fu is only mediocre, but I found these guys that may be in your area. They seem focused on Legends, Bandoleros, and assorted roundy-round stuff, and probably know what shops are most capable of doing performance alignments and corner balancing in the province (if they don't themselves).

R&D Performancenter Ltd Site Map

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Ill definitely check them out. A lot of the circle track guys and the road course guys don’t normally inter mix

I finally did what everyone has been telling me to do from the start. HAVE 2 SETS OF TIRES and oh my. What a beautiful day it was when I finally did have 2 sets

Toyo T1s for the street and maxxis victra RC-1s for track and autoX
Got very lucky and got both sets on the used market for cheaper then 1 new set street/track tires

Next step is get springs that aren’t as low so I can stop scrapping my exhaust on speed bumps…

This post is long over due

Had a track day a while back and FINALLY ran some sessions without street pads which oh my god was a game charger.

Between the EBC bluestuff which I couldn’t be happier with and the “new” Maxxis Victra tires it’s an whole new experience

Going out for another few sessions this coming weekend and hope to be able to get some semi decent lap times. Best lap on street tires and pads was a 1:22.2. Excited to see what I can put down now knowing what I know


EDIT
The photo attached is me after one session changing an axel seal which blew. Probably as a result of it getting soaked in brake fluid after my calliper piston seal blew the track day before

One thing you may want to do to help with heat issues. Remove the rear backing plates. They hold in heat and can contribute to axle seal problems.

TMSBOSS said:

One thing you may want to do to help with heat issues. Remove the rear backing plates. They hold in heat and can contribute to axle seal problems.

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Okay awesome! I may do that.
What does that backing plate do that’s positive

Tim.ocon said:

Okay awesome! I may do that.
What does that backing plate do that’s positive

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The backing plate keeps dirt and rocks away from the rotor. I removed mine over 10 years ago. No problems yet.

Winter parts list has all been purchased!

Got a boss T2 Torsen from @TA28 (thank you very much). Will be going from a 2.73 to a 3.55 ratio when I swap this out
Ordered a bearing kit but that’s boring

Pulled the trigger on some vorshlag camber plates aswell as some ford performance KA springs which hopefully will fix all my issues in regards to spring rate.

Today I found someone selling an MGW xspec standard shifter used for an incredible price so I scooped that up as well

I’m telling myself that this is all the parts I am buying for the car this year but chances are I’m lying to myself

Tim.ocon said:

Winter parts list has all been purchased!

Got a boss T2 Torsen from @TA28 (thank you very much). Will be going from a 2.73 to a 3.55 ratio when I swap this out
Ordered a bearing kit but that’s boring

Pulled the trigger on some vorshlag camber plates aswell as some ford performance KA springs which hopefully will fix all my issues in regards to spring rate.

Today I found someone selling an MGW xspec standard shifter used for an incredible price so I scooped that up as well

I’m telling myself that this is all the parts I am buying for the car this year but chances are I’m lying to myself

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Turns out the guy selling the MGW xspec was using a shipping company that is a scam

Thank god for PayPal goods and services

Was definitely lying to myself about not buying anymore parts. Found an insane deal on another 2 sets of wheels cause I definitely needed more (not)

A set of pilot sport cup 2s in a 305/30R19 mounted on a set of black Rotiform kps 19x10 ET40

And a set of 07-09 gt500 wheels but the rears have been widened. The measurements I took of them lead me to believe they are 18x11 ET63.5. Legend has it they were a factory option from ford but I can’t find anything about it, not overly concerned where they came from. They are super rad

Tim.ocon said:

Was definitely lying to myself about not buying anymore parts. Found an insane deal on another 2 sets of wheels cause I definitely needed more (not)

A set of pilot sport cup 2s in a 305/30R19 mounted on a set of black Rotiform kps 19x10 ET40

And a set of 07-09 gt500 wheels but the rears have been widened. The measurements I took of them lead me to believe they are 18x11 ET63.5. Legend has it they were a factory option from ford but I can’t find anything about it, not overly concerned where they came from. They are super rad

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Some better photos of the widened wheels

Not sure I would feel safe on a set of old widened wheels not knowing who did them and with age and the g forces with current tires they could be a disastrous choice imho.

Bill Pemberton said:

Not sure I would feel safe on a set of old widened wheels not knowing who did them and with age and the g forces with current tires they could be a disastrous choice imho.

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I definitely will never be running them on track for that exact reason but I think for the street they will be alright

Tim.ocon said:

I definitely will never be running them on track for that exact reason but I think for the street they will be alright

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you can always have them magnafluxed, as long as someone competent welded them it's no problem Fred Goeske used to do these all the time, what an awesome dude, RIP

Also, don't know where youre located but if you need the jig for cutting the shock towers, I have a loaner.

blacksheep-1 said:

Also, don't know where youre located but if you need the jig for cutting the shock towers, I have a loaner.

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I’m in Nova Scotia Canada. Shipping and duty would be killer. The dremel I used worked a great and gave me all the room I need but I appreciate it!

Winter is over!!!

Finally got the car out a few weeks back and have been itching for new stuff.
Collecting parts over the winter has given me no shortage of things to do so here is what I’ve done so far.


New street tires went on the staggered setup of gt500 wheels 275/35R18 front and 295/45R18 rear Michelin PS4s which I got through work for an incredible price (idk how some of you folks afford to run them on track with how expensive they are)
The rears being widened to 18x11 made the offset wonky so I ordered some hubcentric spacers and arp studs to make switching from the widened wheels to the 18x9.5 square track setup easier. That whole install went rather smoothly.I did my rear pads at the same time, a set of HAWK HP+ for the rears which will be on for both track and street purposes


After that there was a waiting period before more parts install. That being said some critical spares showed up in the mean time! Found someone on a Facebook group selling a set of 4 piston callipers of an S550 with lightly used DTC60s for a great price and in Canada even! Always good to have spare brakes or that’s what I’m telling myself


Then on Sunday I made the venture to my friends shop to tackle the diff and final drive gears (unfortunately I was to busy to stop and take pictures)
This went rather smoothly and was much easier than expected. I’ve heard all the nightmares of people having to reshim and reshim over and over again but somehow we got it correct on round one and so far so good (only driven about 150kms since then but so far no complaints and no noises)
Parts used were a ford 8.8 bearing kit as well as a used set of 3.73 gears actually off of a crown vic differential that my friend had purchased for his ford ranger, and a T2 Torsen from @TA28. Thanks to the V6 driveshafts being bad at high speeds and prone to failure I also had to purchase a 1 piece aluminum shaft which I also found “second hand” also in Canada for a great price, my dad keeps saying I’ve got a horseshoe hidden somewhere with the luck I’ve been having finding parts for cheap. He may be right.

Next step is to get track and slalom tires mounted which should be showing up hopefully by the end of the month!

Dave_W said:

My Google-Fu is only mediocre, but I found these guys that may be in your area. They seem focused on Legends, Bandoleros, and assorted roundy-round stuff, and probably know what shops are most capable of doing performance alignments and corner balancing in the province (if they don't themselves).

R&D Performancenter Ltd Site Map

Click to expand...

The vorshlag plates were HUGE for helping correct this, alignments are now super easy as the caster is fixed and camber is maxed out. Toe is all that needs adjusted which most shops around can do and just set at 0 when camber is maxed!