So, Winton again. It all went well until it didn't.
In for the final alignment, all went swimmingly. The new wheels are still a little too high offset and touch the strut with too much camber, so this is something that will probably need to be addressed in the future (and no I'm never going to run a spacer).
Another little issue I've been having is the door card getting destroyed as there's little to no body support under cornering. Eventually the door card in my 2.5i developed a distinct bump in it as you brace yourself on it with your elbow during hard left corners. So a ghetto solution was needed to test the theory. Bit of packing material and some painters tape shall do. Super simple and absolutely worked a treat in saving the door card on the day. Now to find a proper solution - I do wonder if there's any door card 'covers' that exist for this purpose. Else, time to find some dark, soft material and wrap that part of the door as it cops the most abuse.
Otherwise, the car was perfectly prepped as much as it could be. The only other small change was the switch to Motul RBF600 fluid, from ATE SuperBlue. On first impressions this helped brake feel enormously - I have never felt a difference in feel with any new v new fluid before either. So this will be going back in soon.
The day started off dark and stormy, leading us to believe it would probably rain most of the day. We were not wrong. This should have been the sign to go home.
By the end of the first 2 sessions, there were multiple cars that had come off the track, and even a crash/roll over (thankfully everyone was OK). The track was damp and light rain continued throughout the day. As more people started to come off and also crash, the track only got dirtier. I've never seen such a chaotic track day with so many cars going off, and this many crashes.
This was the best run I had, a 1:41.96 on the relatively damp track with light spitting rain. I was fairly impressed the car could manage this considering the conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3nbTk6WFYAnd here's the content you're here for; what I've learned and observed.
Lets kick off with the drivetrain changes, being the sump and IC spray.
There were no observable differences in temperatures or performance with the upgraded oiling system. Mid way through the day, the undertray was removed, and this appears to help temperatures ever so slightly, however the difference was almost negligable and perhaps just weather related. Thankfully this mod was just insurance, and I think an oil cooler is still on the cards as the sump does not have any major benefits in terms of cooling. The IC spray worked amazingly well but I have little data to back this up - the only way this was tested is checking how the IC cold side was to the touch. Every time after entering the pits, the IC cold side remained almost at ambient temp (:shock:). Additionally, the car was not sluggish or sapping power like normal, however note that the weather was colder than previous days. The only catch is it uses a huge amount of water - so keep plenty available at your garage to fill up each time. This appears to be very effective and cheap to do - I would recommend doing it if possible.
Next, the brakes.
I was expecting huge improvements in braking performance, and was unfortunately let down greatly. This does not mean the performance of the brakes themselves were entirely bad, but ultimately I was not able to match what the Brembos could do with the old setup. Whilst the new Neotech pads + RBF600 felt amazing on street, they did not hold up at all on track. After just 2 sessions the pads were toast and completely cracked. Note that the pics were taken after rubbing them on the floor to try and remove as much cracking as possible...
These pads should be used on street only, where they held up great.
Good thing I brought along the other set of pads to test. And this is where the trouble begins. Upon test fitting the unknown, 'hybrid' street/track pads, it turns out they don't fit. This is due to their taller shape hitting the caliper adapter bracket. As you can see in the below image, the last pad there was provided and is significantly taller than the other pads. The other 2 pads there are the standard provided pads, which also happen to be the OEM size on the Brembo-equipped Mustang. Regardless, the taller pads do fit on the out-side of the caliper, not on the inside, so they were swapped in and I ran mismatched pads. Their performance was significantly better even with the mismatched pads, however still required a lot of force for the car to slow down. Unfortunately this meant the master cylinder was apparently working over time as the pedal decided to go right to the floor, and not bounce back as it once did. I believe the master cylinder failed at this point as the pedal feel was incredibly spongey but continued to work (just).
In other not so great news, it turns out the pads provided to another member had simply been ground down to size. You can see this in the photo, they're the second to last set there. This was not confidence inspiring at all. So, back to SW to figure out what on earth is going on with these pads. And it's unfortunately time to invest in an angle grinder to cut down pads in the future
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Here, you can see the difference in pads and their shape. I have confirmed with Intima brakes that the bottom size,
a DB1845MD8953 is the standard aftermarket brake pad to suit this caliper. Therefore, either the adapter brackets need re-shaping or another supplier of pads will need to be sourced.
Just to top things off, under hard load on the rumble strips, it appears that some of the lower control arm bushings have completely let go. The front wheels were moving back and forth about an inch, and are no longer able to hold any alignment. Just another problem to add to the list, and I doubt the car can be ready in time for the next track day either.
Overall not a brilliant day, but learned a lot as per usual which is what tends to count. Upon every outing it is clear enough to me that the Liberty is not at all a great platform to track with, and it makes me want to buy an 86.