gt2-josh

We're you running 235/35 and 305/30? And what are you going to run? On 18s or 19s? I switched to slightly taller sidewalls and the car feels great. Thanks in advance! Best Josh

Tom@TPC Racing

This is before the fender fares.



This is loosely held on with masking tape. There's a big flap on the inside of the flare preventing it from seating flush to the fender.
Yes, cutting is required.




This is about how much metal needed to be cut off.



I think of myself as like a surgeon of my car, while my girlfriend thinks of me as like a monkey with a knife.



Cut some, mess about some with the flare(which were tweaked quite a bit probably baking in the paint booth), stare at the fitment some, and contemplate some. 5 hours later...




I added extra tape(the 3M tape) to supplement the factory thin strips only because the flare are bow'ed and a good amount of pressure was require to fit them. The red cover layer was frustrating to peel!



I used clamps and hand made shims to align and hold the flares in place.




The fender liners needed trimming too. The section trimmed off curves downward to match the original fender.



After the "curve" portion of the fender liner is trimmed off there's a relatively "flat" gap that I think should be filled.





Here's the before & after.



Here's how it look with my small street travel wheels/tires. I am pretty happy with this mod.

Apex Wheels

I just read all 57 pages. My eyes hurt, but it was certainly worth it.

Your documentation, craftsmanship, and attention to detail is stunning. Please keep the updates flowing and continue to enjoy in good health! I'm staying tuned for the next 57 pages.

jonwb

That
looked
terrifying

But the result is fantastic. I love the fender flares on the front end of these cars, but I'd never have the ***** to do that.

The post from APEX above reminded me of how relatively modest your projects were when you got this car Tom. I think the thread title officially undersells it!

Tom@TPC Racing

Thanks!

I actually completed part 2 before your post, but you are 100% correct on making this conversion easier by getting either Cup or street RS fenders that are pre-cut. As I was cutting my fenders the very thought I had was if the hours spent were billable labor hours then the cost would come pretty close to the cost of buying new pre-cut fenders, and I get to keep the original fenders. For those who are considering this conversion done by a shop you should buy new pre-cut fenders. Although at our shop there has been times where the Cup or street RS fenders weren't available when needed them in time to do Cup car crash repairs so ended up buying new standard fenders and then cut them to fit in order to complete the repair in time for a race.

Tom@TPC Racing

I was running Hoosier R7 235/35-19 and 315/30-19 on Forgeline GS1R 19x9 and 19x12.
This mod I am doing is for fitting R7 265/35-19 and 325/30-19 so I can keep up with the 991 GT3's into the corners.
Agreed on the taller sidewalls. The actual thread width of the R7 265 is only 0.2" wider than the 235, but its 0.6" taller.

Tom@TPC Racing

Thank you very much, Eric! My hope is the information posted on this thread will be helpful to the community.

BTW, just checked out your website. It is nicely done.

Tom@TPC Racing

Thank you Sir!

This was my persona at the time. LOL

bmwtye

265/30 fits much nicer than 265/35 especially when turning lock to lock. 265/35 will just take a bit more time adjusting all the suspension pieces so that you have no rubbing at full lock on the fender liner (depending on your ride height too and wheel offset). I'm sure you are going to run wide track up front.

I'm sure you will dial that out, just letting others know so that if they go down this route they known what they are up against.

Tom@TPC Racing

True. And thanks for the info. Unfortunately Hoosier R7 doesn't come in 265/30.

Tom@TPC Racing

Needless to say, the factory 997 GT3 brake calipers and rotors are damn good! They are among the best OEM mass-produced brake calipers and rotors, they're so good that variations of them are factory equipment on 997 Cup race cars. Anyway, I don't need to replace the factory brakes, but I want a purpose-designed/built brake system now that I am up-sizing the tires. Again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the brakes I had, I just want a built-for-the-use and lighter weight brakes whether or not the parts alone will produce quicker lap times on track. There are some very good options on the market for motorsport competition-level brake kits, I went with StopTech GT3 Cup Race-spec 380x32mm front kit and Trophy Sport-spec 355x32mm rear kit(Sport-spec keeps the rear parking brake functional on street cars and have quiet floating rotors) for the following features: quality, price, availability and support. I am not saying other brands don't have these four features, it just so happens the level combination on these features on the StopTech kits align to my personal needs at this time. Without further ado, let the car **** begin.



Love how the forged billet aluminum body is machined for weight reduction.



Front caliper.



Front rotor.



Rear caliper.



Rear rotor. I got the 355mm Sport version instead of the Race version for the rear to keep the rear parking brake. There's also a 345mm Race version for further weight reduction.



Adapter bracket with stainless steel studs and jet nuts.



Replacing my modified OEM adapter bracket.




Everything bolts on. No modification needed...a welcomed change for me.

ngng

When I did my STs I swapped caliper studs for everything. Also picked up a set of 12pt nuts for the studs. I'm excited you have these, now you can help me dial in my brakes! Recently converted the rotors to full float too.

AudiOn19s

What was the weight of the factory calipers vs. the Stoptech bits? Rotors are well documented I have that info

Tom@TPC Racing

Here you go. These factory .2 Cup calipers in the photo below look ratty from 2 seasons of IMSA racing.
There's really no weight saving advantage on the calipers. Per a square inch of metal I expect the StopTech calipers to be heavier due to higher density of the aluminum forging for greater rigidity.
As a side note, when I was bleeding the brake fluid I can very distinctively feel the Stoptech caliper material is stiffer and superior to the factory casting just by closing the bleeder screws. The bleeder screw just rigidly stops to seat, whereas even on brand new factory calipers closing the bleeder screw there's the familiar "drag" feel during that 1/32nd of a turn before seating.

Tom@TPC Racing

The .2 Cup front fender flares easily accommodate the Hoosier R7 265/35-19's. Now let's fit some 325/30-19's in the NB rear quarters. To fit the rears we need to do some rolling, and I'm not talking about the sushi kind of rolling.



Even the narrower 315/30-19 rears were touching a little bit during peak compression.



This is the spot right here.



The inner lip is rolling nicely with heat applied.



Clearance at the inner lip is improved by 10+mm after the rolling.



Here's a wider view of the difference.



In addition to the inner lip I "bumped out" the outter by 3mm. You can see the angle of the outter.



Better(barely) fit with 325/30-19.



P.S. All this can be avoided if I buy new rear wheels with 7-10mm more offset inward. There's plenty of space inward, its just that this mod wasn't in consideration back at the time when I ordered these Forgeline GS1R monoblock wheels.