FI Owners: If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

[lexusb3]

I would have done the suspension first and awsome set of tires before all the useless power that I had first. Spinning was fun but it got old real fast

[Carlitoz3]

Really helpful thread guys

[woode]

Originally Posted by ecko04

What is your vacuum showing at idle?

-16.0 when cold, hovers between -18.5 and -19.2 when warm. If I beat on it and the oil temps are high it will get to -20.2 but then taper back down. When it was new I was seeing like -22 ballpark warmed up all the time. (this is all with A/C, defrost, etc turned off)

I am assuming the piston rings are starting to go, it burns a tiny bit of oil too. I'm sure If I stop ragging on her so hard she will last a while, but what fun is that? And besides.. the sooner she lets go, the sooner I will have an excuse to release funding from the wife for the rest of the engine build.

[King Tut]

The only thing I would have changed was shifting the radiator forward and running a nice fan shroud with higher flowing fans instead of the fans mounted with zip ties to the radiator that comes with the Full Blown kit. Probably would have ended up with an @jamesm tune by now as well.

[Dezoris]

Interesting thread.

Personally feel like I would not change much because it was such a learning experience. I don't think the money and time invested was worth the pay off and hassle.

But if the Vortech unit fails I will switch it out for JRSC with oil cooler.

I would however physically ship the car out to be tuned on site, I don't like the up and back of remote tuning and trying to bug fix remotely takes way too much time for me. Then adding the trouble of proving it works and is reliable not just on a dyno but heat, cold, track, idling, different throttle situations etc.

[Luckrider]

Originally Posted by moto-mike

I will quote several customers with many much higher priced cars (as in, 80+k used) and say that you are unlikely to find anything with the p/w ratio, and handling to match that comes from an OEM...even with the cash thrown in it.

A corvette has more power, but is heavy, and worse yet--a corvette . Weight and transient response is also the weakness of the GTR or a BMW M. Any 4 door evo/wrx also has the heft and the more sluggish AWD.

A lotus is close, but is twitchy and incredibly expensive even with a minor issue at the track.

Porsche will run you 60k+ and won't be as quick, maintenance will be much more expensive.

Lots of folks have proven that a supercharged 86 can hold up with even serious track use. Aeros are good for 120+ mph with stock bodywork. Only when you start using real slicks and can justify a dry sump, does the higher end start to make sense. Even those aren't always up to the task...for those there's the gt3. Bet anything it'll cost more than an 86 fully built with a dry sump and will cost more / lap

I had the pleasure of seeing your BRZ run at the Wicked Big Meet and I now wonder if you go to any track days. I would love to run with you on track and see if I can learn anything in my wonderfully stock (with a very mild tune and new wheels/tires) BRZ.

[Xero-Limit]

Originally Posted by Luckrider

I had the pleasure of seeing your BRZ run at the Wicked Big Meet and I now wonder if you go to any track days. I would love to run with you on track and see if I can learn anything in my wonderfully stock (with a very mild tune and new wheels/tires) BRZ.

Thanks! I don't remember who all was who, but it was good to get the BRZ out and watch the other 86's pound on the AWD subies.

My BRZ doesn't actually get much track time. Having had quite a few modded cars I chose to keep it a street/autox vehicle to try and get the best HP/reliability ratio out of it. I have a swapped MX5 with now a rotrex kit for the track. When it comes down to it, it is perfectly balanced, eats cheaper tires, and has double the brakes of the BRZ with 300 less lbs in heft.

For our innovate equipped BRZ to be a useful track toy, it would need:

Oil cooler
Big brakes
Clutch
Straight e85 (too much heat otherwise with the twin screw)
Rear driveshafts
Slicks

Otherwise it would fall apart after just a few laps. Auto-x toy it is quite fun as is though. At the WBM we were running e30, and even still if you look at the video, it was more than a handful even with our trick RaceROM traction control.

[evo4g63]

I would have stayed with the Innovate kit I had and added the IC w/ @DeliciousTuning tune. While the JDL kit is great in the power aspect and beautiful quality, it was more power than I needed for what I use the car for. I have had some seriously high hp imports in the past. You can make this platform pretty quick but I'd rather have a nice balance. Now I am back to a pretty much stock powered 86 awaiting a new project.

[Luckrider]

Originally Posted by moto-mike

Thanks! I don't remember who all was who, but it was good to get the BRZ out and watch the other 86's pound on the AWD subies.

My BRZ doesn't actually get much track time. Having had quite a few modded cars I chose to keep it a street/autox vehicle to try and get the best HP/reliability ratio out of it. I have a swapped MX5 with now a rotrex kit for the track. When it comes down to it, it is perfectly balanced, eats cheaper tires, and has double the brakes of the BRZ with 300 less lbs in heft.

For our innovate equipped BRZ to be a useful track toy, it would need:

Oil cooler
Big brakes
Clutch
Straight e85 (too much heat otherwise with the twin screw)
Rear driveshafts
Slicks

Otherwise it would fall apart after just a few laps. Auto-x toy it is quite fun as is though. At the WBM we were running e30, and even still if you look at the video, it was more than a handful even with our trick RaceROM traction control.

To be fair, that track was way too slick. I was that Galaxy Silica Blue BRZ that literally smoked the tires in first and second gears and I can't even get a good spin on the street when trying to. I was only launching the car at Stafford and was modulating to keep it from spinning away all of the power.

[AJPG]

I'm in the second FRS, first NA mod (intake, header and tune) it was ok, but die young...
Currently with the vortech, at 9 psi it was good! (That last about 2-4 weeks) then the search of more power resume... Header, exhaust, custom intake, smaller pulley, fuel pump + injectors, tune and retune, final drive 4.8... That has been 15k miles and need/desire more! No issue with gas quality here, been using Sunoco 100 or mix 100 with 93, never less the 50:50. The thing is that I tough the supporting mods were an overkill for the setup I was making, WRONG BITCH!!!!
Koyo rad + OEM fans; commute 195-200f, autocross or spirited drive 205-210f
Mocal oil cooler (20 rows); commute 185-212, autocross or SD 230f
AFR 14 at idle and 12 at WOT

...I'm a turbo guy, this is my first ever SC car, I miss the boost rush so much, if not for temps issues I would sell the vortech today and go turbo. But I plan to beat the car every day for the next couple of years so temp is really important to me.

So what would I do different IF I start again? Mmmmmm
I would like to try another car, but there isn't another platform "new" with the potential of the twins, at least that I could afford to rebuilt...
As some comedian said "you can't fix stupid" so the next project couldn't have a stupid handling.

[OmarGC]

I am currently doing it all over, decided fuck the fa20 and my blower setup, dropped it all out for 2 extra cylinders and 2 turbos w/oem toyota reliability and 400+ whp

[Sellout]

Mine's not even FI yet and I already know I'm doing it wrong. When the motor goes ill either get a used Z06 or swap in a C7 LT1.

[otterpop]

Originally Posted by BRZPDX

I would of boosted sooner

mmm... Boost

[Amputechture]

-Would have opted for recirculating WG
-Would have picked a kit that did not require cutting of crash beam
-Would not have set the WG hose routing up incorrectly, causing a huge amount of time, money, and stress diagnosing.
-Would not have had my charge pipe not clear the accessory belt after taking it or and off so many times diagnosing and chew a hole through it causing all sorts of problems
-Would have took the money I wasted on the above mentioned, a wideband I never used, & the Crawford AOS that was a complete piece of shit with terrible design and put it towards a GTX2863. Instead I'm here with my PTE 4854 that has better than average but not great transient response...and not much headroom without running stupid hot.