Project/Daily FR-S

[interfooler]

In an effort to try and frequent this forum more often, I decided to post this up here. I haven't really posted much - lurk more than anything... Just a quick refresher, I'm Kevin from the Car Club at Virginia Tech. I know some of the "older" guys from MM, circa 2012-14. I try to make it out to some of your events, but it usually only ends up being autocross or your car show. Maybe I'll be able to make it out to something else :?

Just wanted to share this, in case anyone was interested. Picture heavy.
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I used to have a 2008 Scion tc... :lol: It was ok.





It had:
TRD intake (rebranded AEM)
Tsudo header
TRD axle back
Aero 25 resonator added to the mid pipe
NST lightweight crank pulley
TRD lowering springs (rebranded eibach)
TRD short throw shifter
Gunmetal painted stock wheels w/ 225/45/17 Hankook RS-3s
LED gauge and HVAC swap (before it was cool 8) )

The setup I had would supposedly dyno at ~170/170, up from ~145 stock
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Anyway.... I sold it in 2012, I wanted something more. I was looking at e36 M3s, but figured it would be too much of a headache in the long run. Looked at is300s (but everything I found was ragged to hell or was in a wreck). I then shifted to evo Xs and managed to get an insanely good deal on a new one, but turned and ran away fast because of insurance..... :vomit:


Long story short, I picked up a 2013 FR-S on August 11, 2012. I wanted something fun and practical [enough] that I could also use for autocross etc.




Needless to say, it didn't take long for me to mod it.

I got an Airaid intake. Long story short, the ECU took a while to adjust to it (very gradual). Because it took a while, I never really noticed how bad the intake was. It made my car run rough, and robbed me of power. I swapped back to stock and put on a Blitz drop in filter, and it was night and day. Idle no longer dipped, and the car felt faster. Intakes/panel filters usually dyno at 5whp. For the car to feel like it did after switching, it was obvious the intake was garbage. After further researching, it turns out that the Airaid needs a tune, unlike some others.

I got bored of the stock wheels and took an extra set from my tc. They didn't fit because the center bore was too small... I enlarged it to make it fit, but I needed flat-faced lug nuts. For the time being, I got some cheap lug nuts. No. Mistakes were made. :oops: One of the lug nuts wasn't machine properly and ended up cutting into a stud, and getting horribly cross threaded, and then ended up snapping the stud when I went to take off the wheel.


Anyway this is what it looked like after my short-term project



I picked up a set of Fortune Auto v4 500s with Swift springs shortly after

And here's how it sat afterwards



Later on I got introductory pricing for an Ark grip cat back exhaust


I thought it sounded the most unique from the ones on the market at the time (and I still think it does). It might not be the lightest, but it sounds and looks good! ...At least I think, haha :thumbup: I also got their resonated front pipe and a JDL over pipe


Next mod was control arms to help fix camber in the rear as well as beef things up. Cusco vs OEM



Next up was repainting the wheels. I decided to go with satin white pearl and color match the wheels



Lucky me, in April 2013, a sority girl driving a camry thought my car was cute and wanted to kiss it on the cheek with her car. :evil:


....But luckily enough, I was able to pick the car up the morning of the MM '13 show!



I'm sure I probably got more mods or something between then, but the roller bearings (thrst/radial bearings) on my coilovers dried out (bad design). Every time I turned the wheel, there was a nice twang sound. Contacted Fortune Auto and got a new [redesigned] set.



Vs old:


This is what happens to exposed bearings and driving the car through snow/salt/rain.... Rocks, dirt, and rust. The new ones shouldn't do this. I was so used to the creaking and twanging, it is so weird to me now to have no noise when I turn the wheel. Also since the bearings aren't rusted, it's a little easier to turn the wheel. And, the car rides a little bit smoother and noise over bumps isn't as prominent as before. Definitely satisfied with them so far. -(this was posted around last Thanksgiving)


Through a local forum back at home, I found a set of Eibach sway bars for half off. Stock are 19F/14R mm. Eibach is 25/19


I ran into a clearance issue with the rear. My lower control arms are too thick/wide, so I had to unbolt one side and take the arm off just to get the rear sway bar up and mounted,


Here are some more pictures:

MM 2014 show


Winter set up






I've since ran through the RS-3s and am now on all seasons. They are....acceptable by my levels, but it sure as hell makes autocross that much more of a challenge. I really wish I had some more meat on there (as well as wider wheels). I'm sure I'm missing some stuff in regards to mods. The car has come quite a bit from when it was stock, and is still a blast to drive every day. I do eventually want to get a proper set of wheels/tires, as well as a tune, among other things. Sadly those won't come till later on in life (most likely after I get through school :dunno: ) In the mean time, it' small things. I haven't really modded the car since I don't know, November/December? Since then, I've gotten the sway bars because the deal was too awesome to pass up, and a short throw shifter last month. Car is mostly done for now, but I plan to mod it more. I was thinking to maybe supercharge it wayyyy down the line, and possibly wide-body it. Who knows, haha. My mind has changed so much in the time I've had this car. For now, it's just my daily driver and autocross car. Hopefully I can make it out to some more events this year... only time will tell, but my schedule is pretty unpredictable.


Lastly, here are some mods:
Engine/Transmission
Ark Performance Grip cat back exhaust
Ark Performance front pipe
JDL over pipe
Blitz panel air filter
Kartboy rear shifter bushing
White line transmission mount
TRD short shifter

Suspension/Chassis
Fortune Auto v4 500 coil overs
Swift springs
Fortune Auto upgraded, sealed bearings
Fortune Auto adjustable front end links
Cusco adjustable rear lower control arms
FT86 Speedfactory 3-point front strut tower bar

Wheels/Tires/Brakes
Fake Enkei RP-F1s painted satin white pearl (tC1 wheels rebored to fit)
225/45/17 Michelin all seasons
215/45/17 Michelin Alpin PA2 (winter tires)
TRD brake pads

Lighting
EuroFX 6k HIDs in lowbeams
LED dome light, reverse lights, trunk light, license plate lights
Diode Dynamics fog light kit with OEM switch
Red out tail lights

Cosmetic/Rice/Exterior
Grimmspeed license plate relocator
Grimmspeed oil cap
TRD gas cap
Tint
Nemo keychain


Future?
Header
Swap out exhaust (to accomodate for header)
Tune
Wheels/tires
Bushings
Pulleys
Lip kit
Lip spoiler
Shark fin antenna?

[*insertusernamehere*]

I really should put more time into my car.....

Looking good man! It almost looks like the car changed color in those snow pics, but I'm colorblind so I could be seeing all kinds of things. :lol:

Also, ARK exhausts are pretty much up there for exhausts for me too, burnt tips are kinda cute

[Jake]

Oh hey Kevin, good to see you posting again! Car looks good :thumbup:

[interfooler]

Thanks Matt and Jake!

Matt - It would also help if I had properly color balanced photos, haha. The first snow one is a little red, the second could use some minor light balancing, and the loading dock is a little bit yellow. But to be fair, the car is a satin white (~off white) and has a pearl, so it does look a little different in different lighting. I always struggle trying to white balance in night shots with it. And also, as part of the first batch of ARK exhausts, they only offered burnt tips. I didn't want them at first, but they grew on me rather quickly

Jake - that's my goal. Always had a good time at MM events, so just trying to stay more in tune.


Also, somewhat unrelated. Does anyone know how to change the title under your username? I couldn't find it. Mine is a bit outdated...

[WRXtranceformed]

Car looks great! Have you had any issues that I have heard have been coming up in those cars? Or has it been pretty smooth sailing other than working out the kinks in your suspension setup?

[Jake]

Also, somewhat unrelated. Does anyone know how to change the title under your username? I couldn't find it. Mine is a bit outdated...

I changed it from the custom title back to the default, which changes based on post count.

[interfooler]

Car looks great! Have you had any issues that I have heard have been coming up in those cars? Or has it been pretty smooth sailing other than working out the kinks in your suspension setup?

Thanks!

And actually, yes... :roll:

Where to begin....
There's A LOT of technical service bulletins (TSBs) out for these cars. I've been fortunate enough to only have about half of them or so.

-Tail light condensation
-Idle dip
-Coolant thermostat (Took way to long to warm up. Needle would have barely moved, even after 10 minutes of driving).
-Window seal/weather stripping (when the window is wet, it lets out a very high pitched squeal when the window moves... it came back. I need to get the stripping changed out again)
-Window logic (Windows freezing/needing to be reset when temperature is cold (snow))
-2nd gear grinds every now and then (4th and 6th are usually the common problem gears)
-High pressure fuel pump chirps ("crickets." Mine comes and goes.)
-Rear deck lid rattle (caused by slag from the manufacturing process breaking free... mine seems to have fixed itself?)
-Cold start misfire ... it still does it, but does not throw a code, so it won't/can't be fixed...too much of a hassle to do since it isn't a "problem"

Actually, come to think about it... that's most of the TSBs and issues. I haven't had the camshaft sensor or engine failure yet, so that's good at least. Transmission grind isn't as bad as others, and doesn't happen as often. I would have to take the car in to my friend to get it fixed, since it may be blamed on my short throw shifter or bushings. But I know for a fact that it's not the case. I changed out transmission fluid (albeit to OEM) about 2000 miles ago (32xxx) and that helped a little.

There's a few others regarding a grille over a speaker, stuff with the radio (bespoke or the nav units), tail light cracking... It's just been small things, nothing serious.

I've been more unfortunate with damage. I had to get the front right fender pulled/repainted, I had 4 or 5 dents pulled with PDR (one was a really bad crease), I had someone hit my left rear bumper, and a pickup truck back into me (front bumper is spider webbed and there is a mark from a hitch). I still have a couple dents (left A pillar from a bug...not joking, one on the roof from an acorn or something, and then a few from me near the roof testing out the alarm system (my fault, not that angry about these, really surprised it dented from me pushing... oh well)) And then the rocker panels. I have some small dimples from a camping excursion at Summit, and then I had a large dent on the right from a curb :oops: , but I got that repaired

[Senor_Taylor]

Later on I got introductory pricing for an Ark grip cat back exhaust

What?!?! No sound clip?!?!?! MUCH WANT.

[interfooler]

What?!?! No sound clip?!?!?! MUCH WANT.

Haha, you asked for it:

This recording was done with a rental go pro from school, so it wasn't in the best shape. Audio is a little "tinny" and makes the exhaust sound a little hollow, if that makes sense. This was also done with the Airaid intake on the car, so sound may have slightly changed... probably negligible. I've addressed some points of interest in the description
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj46Pw_taao">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj46Pw_taao</a><!-- m -->

These next two are a bit of a better representation of sound. This first one is cold start at 25*, driver's door open. You can hear misfires at 0:03, 0:05, and 0:17. Cold start is loud.... I measured it at ~77 dB about 8 feet away. It quiets down to low 50s once warm (which is a hair louder than stock idle).
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FwbuTHzaU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FwbuTHzaU</a><!-- m -->

And this last one is from an autocross when I was still on sticky tires
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7t3U4POxN0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7t3U4POxN0</a><!-- m -->

Only good videos I have

[.RJ]

Car sounds nice. I like.

[ScottyB]

definitely want one of these. nice upgrade path, that's probably what a lot of us would do as well.

[interfooler]

Thanks, guys!

definitely want one of these

You can definitely pick them up for relatively cheap with ~20k miles or so. Would expect to pay ~$21,000 for an frs or base brz. The limiteds usually hold their added value (ie, the extra $2k over the base it costs). I just read that someone picked up an NEW 2013 brz limited for ~$23000. It was an unsold car. You just have to look around (autotrader, cars.com, etc)... There's virtually no differences until the 2015 model. Even then, it's not much. For more mileage, you will pay less, obviously. The one good thing about subaru, however, is that you can haggle. Buying privately, there are a lot of big headed sellers that think mods add value... Someone was selling an frs for over $40,000. Now, it was turbo'd had a widebody, and was in several magazine shoots, but still.

[Beej]

Ha, I was about to say...about time someone in MM gets one of these. Close enough I guess. :-P

Car looks great! The Toyota version in white is probably my favorite flavor.

Didn't know they had all those issues, but most of them are pretty minor or "part of the charm" type of things.

[interfooler]

8)

Could've sworn I saw a white fr-s in one of the pictures at the air strip, or a picture around that time frame? Whatever happened to that one?

And yeah... they have a lot of little...kinks... but fortunately nothing serious;just minor and annoying. Not every car gets issues though. It's hit or miss.

[JPolen01]

There was a kid with a white one that came around once maybe twice. He was at the airstrip. Wonder what happened to him?

[Sully]

His name is jon or John. He worked quite a bit and kinda lost interest at the same time I guess. I was in a few classes with him senior year.

[Senor_Taylor]

Tyler owned a red one. Was he not an official member?

[interfooler]

Time for an update:


I was lucky enough to pick up a nail about a month ago. At first I thought it was just the changing of the weather, but my tire light kept coming on. I kept airing it up since the weather kept fluctuating. It got to the point where I was losing about 3 PSI a day in one tire, so I ruled out the weather, pulled off to the side of the road and tried to see if I could find anything. Couldn't see with how my car is, so I waited till I had time to jack it up and take the wheel off.


Lo and behold, a nail. hock:



For some reason, after I found the nail, it only leaked about 1 PSI a day... Anyway, I'm no stranger to plugging or patching tires... I actually have a plug kit with me, and have plugged/patched 7 tires or so, one being lucky enough to be plugged/patched 3 times. Normally I would plug it. This time, I decided against it. I filed a claim (have insurance for tires...have used it before) and after all was said and done, I ended up getting a new tire for $10. Unfortunately, I now have 1 new tire which does not match the rest. Some people had suggested plugging it, but the puncture was within an inch of the shoulder. Don't want to risk anything for something as silly as this. $10 for a new tire. Can't go wrong with that.


Three (3) 225/45/17 Michelin pilot sport AS2's and One (1) 225/45/17 Michelin pilot sport AS3.



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Got home for thanksgiving break yesterday and got started on some routine maintenance and a few other things I wanted to get done...

Switched back to my winter wheels (stock wheels) and michelin alpins. These tires are on their last winter.

Also changed oil and put in new brake pads. I went with TRD. They were cheap (same cost as OEM) and definitely bite harder. They are definitely more than good enough for the winter tires. Haha. Definitely not as aggressive as a autox/track pad, but still have more bite than stock, so win-win, I would say. Random pics for reference.





And for a little bit now, I've been having this strange click sound from the rear after starting up from a stop.... Found out the axle nut was loose so I'm hoping it was just that...at least I think it would be. I'll find out the more I drive this week.

Lastly, there's been a lot of slop and play with my shifter recently (noticed about 2 months ago, maybe?). I think the culprit is a worn bushing. I need to go in from the center console and check out the bushings by the shifter. Hoping it's just that and nothing more serious. Checked my short throw first and everything seems OK, so now it's just a process of elimination at this point

[Senor_Taylor]

I see you soaped the tire there. I'm assuming you were looking for a tiny leak then saw that big ass nail and had a face palm moment.

[interfooler]

Yes.... But actually it wasn't THAT big of a face palm, haha. The nail was covered in dirt, so once the water ran over it, it magically appeared. But still, I should've seen that... :roll: