Jza1736

I'm adding the cooling scoop, the splitter, the cooling ducts, SS brake lines, & swapping the fluid as soon as I get the car. I love the look of the splitter. Planning on changing the spoiler for a rear wing. But not right away.

smbstyle

I agree with investing in seat time vs. "modifications", but if anything, I would say better brake fluid would be more aimed at safety than a "modification", and safety should be your primary focus before anything. Can't develop driver's skill if youre a vegetable from skimping out on safety.

Not sure if you have ever boiled fluid, but it is scary as **** going into a turn and having your brake pedal go to the floor. I know Ford does a ton of testing with the stock fluid, same thing with my car (CTS-V). GM engineers tested it at the Nurburgring with the stock DOT 3 fluid, yet my first time ever at the track (Sebring), as a novice, I was able to boil the fluid. With a heavy car (and the Boss isn't exactly a lightweight either), and some long straights, it isn't too hard to do.

MJockey

Lesson learned: At my 2nd HPDS on a much smaller track than Plam Beach, with a much less powerful car ( BMW 328i / 190hp) with stock brakes, the brakes cooked so bad they glazed the rotor and pads to the point I almost couldn't slow enough to make the turn. The brakes never recovered even after cooling. From that point until I got the car to the shop, I had to push the brake so hard (read almost to the floor) just to slow the car. Needless to say, thank God I didn't need to make any panic stops on my 4hr drive home.

I personally would not use street pads on any track. If you don't want to have to swap pads at the track, I would at least use Hawk HP+ pads. They are fine to drive to and from the track but have a much better chance of surviving the heat generated at the track.

LateApex

I would have to agree on the fluid at least. It isn't that hard to boil DOT3 fluid, you can do it on the street with spirited driving in hot conditions. In any case, it's an hour of time and $30 worth of Super Blue to buy yourself an enormous safety net. Hard braking from 150 mph into a decreasing radius hairpin turn is no time to find out that your brakes are done.

I would also highly recommend track pads and rotors. Doesn't have to break the bank - hell, NAPA blanks are like $30 each and you can usually get a whole season of HPDE or other open track days out of a set. It just doesn't take that long to do it right, and why take chances or compromise when you are tracking your vehicle? You owe that much to yourself, and the racers you share the track with.

I also love the brake cooling duct kit. It will save your ***, and your money. Just get those dust shields removed and point the ducts as much as you can towards the hub - road racing is hellish on hubs.

Zoldier

Well the power in the Boss is crazy compared to the Z. Handling on the other hand I felt more comfortable in the Z. Its lighter and smaller so I think that palys a role but I spent a lot of money on suspension for the Z. I had adjustable sway bars, adjustable upper control arms, the brakes, KW Variant 3 coilovers, and some chassis braces to stiffen it up a bit more. I'm planning on taking the Boss to the track at the end of the month to see how it feels out there. My best time in the Z was 1:32 so I want to see if I can beat that. I know there were guys out there in GT500s running about the same time. The Porches were hitting about 1:29.

Here's a pic of her in track trim.

2012YellowBoss

Certain things I will go ahead and do, other things I will wait to see. I may not even do this a lot, have to see how much I like it. The rest I will learn as I go, tires/rims, brake pads rotors and more. In almost anything I like to be safe then sorry, I needed a 6-7K winch on the tralier but have a 9k, if the garage door needs a 1/2HP lift, I get a 3/4. At the same time the fluid is a cheap enough mod for the extra security IMHO.

One thing I do not plan to do is get into compitition racing, just hitting the track for fun now so I am looking at making it as safe as I can for the money spent. I have no need to spend a ton of money for an extra second out there.

Zoldier

Oh believe me Scott. Once you do it there's no turning back. I converted a few drag guys to autocrossing and road courses. They all thought the almighty 1/4 was the best racing until they drove their cars for more than 14 seconds.

P0 Corsa

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2012YellowBoss

Certain things I will go ahead and do, other things I will wait to see. I may not even do this a lot, have to see how much I like it. The rest I will learn as I go, tires/rims, brake pads rotors and more. In almost anything I like to be safe then sorry, I needed a 6-7K winch on the tralier but have a 9k, if the garage door needs a 1/2HP lift, I get a 3/4. At the same time the fluid is a cheap enough mod for the extra security IMHO.

Exactly the right attitude IMO. You will have a blast on the track with your car!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LateApex

I would have to agree on the fluid at least. It isn't that hard to boil DOT3 fluid, you can do it on the street with spirited driving in hot conditions. In any case, it's an hour of time and $30 worth of Super Blue to buy yourself an enormous safety net. Hard braking from 150 mph into a decreasing radius hairpin turn is no time to find out that your brakes are done.

Late, I hear you but believe you are shading your comments more toward experienced drivers. First time trackers with instructors aboard will most probably not be hitting 150 mph in the stock Boss (which is electronically goverened to 155 mph) driving deep into a decreasing radius hairpin turn. They will not even know WHAT a decreasing radius turn is and how to plan entry/exit speeds. As I stated in the beginning my comments were for Novice drivers just getting to learn about their cars. And I do not think 36F in dry boiling point between the OE Motorcraft fluid (500F dry) and the DOT 4 ATE Super Blue (536F dry) is really an “ENORMOUS SAFETY NET”. Come on, that is a 7% dry boiling point increase. Not a big deal for a novice driver. Or really any driver. The OE fluid again is not "that" bad at all in a fresh condition. You give us novice drivers way too much credit for brake heat generation as we learn our car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LateApex

It just doesn't take that long to do it right, and why take chances or compromise when you are tracking your vehicle? You owe that much to yourself, and the racers you share the track with.

Again I do not believe the DOT 3 fluid Ford supplies OE in our cars compromises anything in breaking effectiveness or safety in say the first 6 months of ownership. Because of its affinity for moisture absorption (a purposeful design characteristic of the fluid) it should be flushed at least on this time schedule if the owner desires to maintain the fluid’s high dry boiling point for “spirited driving”.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smbstyle

Not sure if you have ever boiled fluid, but it is scary as **** going into a turn and having your brake pedal go to the floor. I know Ford does a ton of testing with the stock fluid, same thing with my car (CTS-V). GM engineers tested it at the Nurburgring with the stock DOT 3 fluid, yet my first time ever at the track (Sebring), as a novice, I was able to boil the fluid. With a heavy car (and the Boss isn't exactly a lightweight either), and some long straights, it isn't too hard to do.

Yes, I have experienced the soft pedal of a boil in my GT500, but it came on my fourth track experience on the last day as I began to know the track, felt more comfortable with the car and pushed deeper into the turns with more speed. I will also say I had the traction control “on” the whole time and on retrospect, the car’s traction control computer may have had more to do with generating brake heat than my driving ability as it is difficult to know when it is intervening and applying differential braking. Then too, the OE DOT fluid was 3 years old (never had a problem with it before). So I studied brake fluids and became aware but only after multiple track expereinces and seat time.

Again, to each their own. IMO the Boss as delivered by Ford is track ready for the novice wanting some track experience at least in this year's calendar time frame.

5 DOT 0

The Boss cars driven at the Boss Media Event in February had stock brakes, other than the cooling ducts, and there were only a few complaints about brake fade. I don't think there are going to be any issues for us first timers out there in our new Boss cars. I'm still probably going to change the fluid anyway.

BTW I do know what a declining radius turn is. I have little experience tracking a car but have raced karts and motorcycles. The big difference is going to be the size and more importantly the weight which will drastically affect braking points.

P0 Corsa

Absolutely correct!

With karting and motorcycle experience you are ahead of the game and will have a great time on the track. As you point out the only major adjustment will be the vehicle weight. That is one of the reasons I moved from the ('07 iron block) GT500 into the new 5.0 boss. The GT500 was just sooo front end heavy. But this has already been discussed in many other threads.

Looking forward to tracking my new Boss as well!

CO_VaporGT_09

Haven't tried it myself (I switched quickly to ATE DOT4), but the standard Ford brake fluid is well regarded as a cheaper alternative to going full DOT4. BUT, if you do boil the fluid, you'll be bleeding the brakes between each track session, which might quickly erase the cost difference.

I use the ATE myself, but only because they make a blue and a gold version, so it's easy to tell when the system is flushed with the new stuff.

2012YellowBoss

If the fluid is keep "dry" what is the major difference in a DOT 4 from Autozone or other parts store like prestone (sp) and the more expensive brands you guys are talking about? The will both have the same boiling point, right?

Zoldier

Not necessarily. I have a bottle of ATE TYP200 and Motul RBF600 in front of me right now.

ATE:
Dry Boiling point- 536 F
Wet boiling point- 388 F

Motul:
Dry Boiling point- 594 F
Wet boiling point- 421 F

Motul has an RBF 660, IIRC, which has an even higher boiling point but its a bit more in price.

2012YellowBoss

Is that 5.1 or 4? ..... I should know this but what is the factory's Dot 3 boiling point? The auto part store Dot 4 is 311W and 510D.

BTW - You may be correct Eddie, have to see how it goes out there, money is always a big issue though

Zoldier

That is DOT 4. I have a bottle of Motul 5.1 also and that's 522 F Dry and 365 F Wet.

2012YellowBoss

OK, now I see Anyone know what the Motorcraft factory Dot 3 is???

CO_VaporGT_09

http://www.stealth316.com/2-brakefluid.htm

P0 Corsa

YellowBoss, I am going to have to bust your chops here, DO YOU READ THE VARIOUS POSTS IN THIS THREAD????

I quoted the DOT 3 OE Motorcraft PM-1C properties in post #28 (probably for YOUR benefit)!

Try reading the thread comments before asking (a stupid) question in bold letters. A Yahoo search would have given you the same information in less than a second....

500F dry
284F wet

To comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 571.116 Standard No. 116, Motor vehicle brake fluids - all brake fluid containers for motor vehicles must state the dry/wet boiling point properties on the container.

meanmud

Just noticed on Porterfield's site that the ST-43 and/or ST-41's come with a $40 rebate - bring the cost for a front set of pads to about $240

A lot of talk here about the DTC 70/60 combo and PFC01's.

Raybesto's are very OE rotor friendly!