1995 GT
Suspension & Chassis
Drivetrain
Interior/Exterior
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Modification History and Notes:
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Car was purchased with 97,000 miles on it.
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Upgraded brakes to the Cobra spec. After driving
my '98 and '01 Cobra's the GT brakes really left a lot to be desired.
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Installed rollbar. Did this for safety, but noticed
a considerable improvement in chassis rigidity. Particularly in the back
half of the car.
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Replaced stock 17x8 wheels shod with Yokohama ??
with 17x9 R58s shod with Bridgestone RE71's (came with the wheels) in 255/40R17.
A definate improvement, but that mainly had to do with the high mileage
and really hard tires that were on the car previouly.
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Changed the springs to H&R race springs, and
installed Bilsteins, MM caster-camber plates and rack bushings. Biggest
single improvement made.
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Upgraded brake pads to Hawk HPS+. Really nice
gain in braking performance. Dusty, but who cares, it's a track car.
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Changed the steering shaft. Nice improvement in steering
feel, more responsive, and steering actually feels lighter.
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Instsalled Griggs rear LCA's. Frankly I didn't notice
any improvement, but these will come into their own when the panhard bar
and torque arm go on later.
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Added brake ducts. Another noticeable gain
in brake performance. No more fried caliper dust boots...at least
not very often anymore.
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Installed panhard bar. I noticed this more than I
thought I would. Definately can feel what's happening back there
moreso that before, and it's easier to control where the rear end is going.
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Installed torque arm and subframe connectors.
Replaced rear springs with H&R 390-430 TA springs. Wow, next to the
shock/spring change this is the single biggest improvement. I can
actually put power down and know where the car will be going.
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Nitto 555RII's, 275/40R17. Wore out the old
tires and these seemed to be a good compromise for a tire that I could
drive to the track on and be fun on the track. I like them alot.
They give good feedback, are easy to read, and stayed sticky through their
lifetime.
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Swapped the conventional springs to coil-overs.
Kept the front struts and replaced the rear shocks with MM's raced valved
shocks. After getting better at driving the car, the springs were really
limiting going faster. Too much brake dive and body roll. I did a
lot of research and settled on the 425f-300r springs. I'm really
happy with the improvement, though I wouldn't want to drive this car to
work everyday. On smooth pavement it's really awesome to drive though.
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Moved battery and installed aluminum heads.
This made a noticeable improvement in handling getting about 75lbs off
the front of the car. There was a good reduction in understeer.
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After 1 year the Nitto's were worn out so they were
replaced with Falken 615's, 275/40R17. I put 4 days of opentrack
days on them, and a whole bunch of autocross events so they had a pretty
good life. The Falken's are not as sticky as the Nitto's unfortunately,
but those weren't legal in the SCCA street tire class. I don't want to
go to slicks and swap tire at events, let along haul them to events. The
seem to like lower tire pressures than the Nitto's. I'll have more
to add as I have a chance to drive them more.
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Swapped to a smaller front sway bar. Noticebly reduced
understeer a bit more. I figured it was better to reduce the front
bar size than add bar I the rear. My thought is to fix the end of
the car that needs fixing, and the front needs more grip. I'm not concerned
about body roll as the fron t springs as so firm they seem to be doing
a good job in that area.
Modifications:
