You have $10k USD and a stock BRZ...

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by jawn

1.3 LITERS OF BLOWER DAWG.

LS or GTFO!

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

What?!?!?!?! JR SC is nice, but c'mon! Edelbrock SC!!!! lol

when I think someone giving me 10k I think what can I buy cheaply to pocket the rest.

[Turbo95eg6]

Y'all are idiots.

Gamble it all.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

when I think someone giving me 10k I think what can I buy cheaply to pocket the rest.

Touche

Yeah then, go with JR SC. They're good and cheap.

[bcj]

Is this another one of those whack-a-mole threads?
Off Topic with the rest of them.

[g e]

Originally Posted by Turbo95eg6

Y'all are idiots.

Gamble it all.

Yup, put it in the stock market. If you like thrills consider investing in biotech. Ha ha.

[Chrisgalactic]

Do you think it would cost me 10k to put 4 turbos?

[softgrip]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

What are YOU looking or wanting from this car? Are you tracking it? Are you autoxing it? Are you drag racing it? Are you drifting it? Are you rallying it? How many times a yr are you racing it? Maybe 2~4 times a year? Maybe 4~6 times a year? Maybe once a month? Maybe 2~3 times a month? Not racing it, but want some mods on the car, cuz just you can. Wanna show it off to your friends? Peeps?

So... let me ask again, what are you looking to do from this car?

. I was hoping to avoid the "use search" chorus, it wasn't a brain fart thread, but I can see how it's a bit directionless now. I have searched a lot!!

Things I want to do are:

DD
Track a couple of times a year
Very frequent hill climbs and spirited driving (few times a week) on very windy twisty roads - prob 300km of this a week.
Have enough juice to overtake someone while spirited driving.

From what I've read, you really need to work on grip before you add FI, so brakes, wheels, tyres and coilovers seem to be the first priority (and could chew up the entire $10k and that's fine). I can't really be lowered as I have speed bumps and driveways that I already scrape on stock with my sti lip.

These things are expensive, and I don't want to be thinking "ahh I should have bought X but I bought Y".

I love the car stock, but I've come from a WRX and that turbo torqey pull was so nice, but the body roll and understeer is not missed.

I just need help ichi

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by softgrip

. I was hoping to avoid the "use search" chorus, it wasn't a brain fart thread, but I can see how it's a bit directionless now. I have searched a lot!!

Things I want to do are:

DD
Track a couple of times a year
Very frequent hill climbs and spirited driving (few times a week) on very windy twisty roads - prob 300km of this a week.
Have enough juice to overtake someone while spirited driving.

From what I've read, you really need to work on grip before you add FI, so brakes, wheels, tyres and coilovers seem to be the first priority (and could chew up the entire $10k and that's fine). I can't really be lowered as I have speed bumps and driveways that I already scrape on stock with my sti lip.

These things are expensive, and I don't want to be thinking "ahh I should have bought X but I bought Y".

I love the car stock, but I've come from a WRX and that turbo torqey pull was so nice, but the body roll and understeer is not missed.

I just need help ichi

There you go, now we can help, instead of trolling you.

K, give me like an hr. I'll write an long ass comment after this huge ass burger.

[spicyricecake]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Ichi beat me to posting this but I've already got it written so it's going up anyway:

Unless you know what you want to do with the car any advice is pointless. As hardcore as you think you are, what you've posted is the equivalent of "I need a laptop, can't decide if I should prioritize an SSD, 4k screen, touch screen, battery life, or getting a dedicated high end graphics card, my budget is $3k" You can get a little bit of everything with that budget, but not quite, and there's a chance you compromise on something that makes the laptop just not work well for you in day to day life. Modifying cars is harsher because there are rarely 'no-brainer upgrades' coilover A isn't necessarily better than coilover B because it's more expensive or has better brand reputation and at the end of the day all you really need is a good spring and damper combo (kinda like how a 4k screen is pretty overkill on a laptop even if you're a gamer it's just not worth the money when your graphics card can't push the frames to it). Some vendors tried marketing "stage 1" and "stage 2" back in the fast and furious days, it's mostly died out as information has spread that clutch E isn't automatically the better choice over Clutch F because it holds more power the same way a GTX990 is better than a GTX980, the perfect set of tires for setting a good drag strip time are going to be garbage when you're commuting to work in the rain. There are dozens of examples of where you could buy something mentioned in this thread and potentially extremely regret it.

The first question asked is: "Well are you going to be gaming, editing photos or browsing facebook and writing Word Docs?" Buying the hulking laptop with a GTX980M and a month later post again bitching about battery life and how it sucks to be in the library hunting for power carrying your 10lb laptop while you write your research paper is akin to buying 17x9's and bitching about the price of tires and how shitty your fuel economy has become and how you can't do anything competitive locally because you put your car in a class it can't compete in.

Put the money in the bank, go drive the car, and only spend the money to fix problems you find. That's it. If anybody makes fun of you for rolling around at stock height or on stock wheels or whatever, well, I'd guess they're probably not very fast drivers or capable of setting up a fast car and their opinion doesn't hold much weight to me.

You could go out and spend $9k on suspension and 1 year into ownership be sitting at a stoplight thinking, 'goddamnit I need to get in front of that V6 Camry by the next light but that driver is really aggressive so I can't out drag him and it makes me feel inadequate, should have bought a supercharger' or "I spent $10k on wheels and tires and a supercharger and coilovers but now I want to compete in this autocross/time trial/HPDE class and all that stuff makes me uncompetitive and it isn't fun so I have to sell at a $3k loss and buy the right parts"

Edited to add detail: There are rarely part X > part Y in cars without a ton of caveats.

My car is def far far away from auto cross/track set up as it's a DD right now, but this resonated with me a lot (I'm in IT so all the computer bits were spot on analogies IMO)

Listen to this guy

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by softgrip

I just need help ichi

K, this gonna be long post, so grab some popcorn and drink. This is MY opinion on your question, so some members may have different ideas.

Last but not least, take this as a grain of salt. It's your car, so whatever you like.

Now from what I read, sounds like you're leaning toward SC/TC. That'll give you power that you're looking for. Of course, you can keep it NA make power using E85... so I'll make both lists for you. Afterward you can search up on that.

NA
NA route won't be easy due to this car is already squeezing power from the engine as is, but you can squeez roughly 15~25whp (or higher) out of it from simply E85 tune and header.

E85/Flex-Fuel:
I'm not sure you area have E85, but if you do, you might want to look into that. Some cases, E85 are cheaper than reg gas, so it can save your wallet while get you power. There are several shops make Flex-Fuel kit. Moto-East, Vinconti, Delicious Tuning and Ptuning (not 100% sure on Ptuning). I'm no expert in E85 stuff, so you look into that on other thread.

Tuning:
E85, UEL/EL header or both, I would recommend getting it tuned. Specially you're adding any engine mods into your BRZ. Major tuning option you see for this car is OpenFlash Tablet aka OFT & EcuTek. Of course, there are few other ones (like Unichip, Hydra & so on)... but you'll see more info on OFT & EcuTek than other ones. Some prefer OFT cuz, it's cheaper and cool to see live data on small touch screen... while some member prefer more depth tuning you can do with EcuTek. OFT or EcuTek, I would recommend get it dyno tuned instead of pre-set map. Pre-set map isn't bad, but realistically speaking no car are perform the same. Due to location of the car, gas quality, elevation, air quality. If you have 100 FRS/BRZ, all 100 will have different maps to suit their mods. Dyno tuning can calibrate those small things while put your car on the dyno. Plus you can see how much power you gain as well. That's win-win in my book. BUT of course, dyno tune usually cost more than pre-set map. You can read up on basic tuning here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29340.

Header:
You got 2 options for header. Un-Equal Length header or Equal Length header. Average, UEL header will help you kill the tq tip vs EL header will help you at the top end. This is all up to how you drive your car. You like to have power at the end, EL header. You like to kill of tq dip, UEL header.

JIC you don't know what I'm talking about when I say "tq dip", here's a dyno graph of stock FRS/BRZ:


As you can see in the middle range, tq drops. That's due to... several reasons (boxer engine, DI & lists goes on). Whatever the reason is, fact remain, we have tq dip.

From UEL, I would choose Tomei orGruppe-s. From EL header, I would choose Ace Header or Ptuning. You decide which one fit into your budget and hp/tq line.

Exhaust:
I gonna be honest here. Exhaust, specially catback doesn't do much. You're just buying for the looks and sound. Yes, catback can give you some whp... but can it justify the cost? Not really. Some catback cost $1k~2k for 2~3whp. Gruppe-s header and tuning will cost less than that and make 15~20whp! But exhaust sound is important part of mods imo. How car sound can change how you drive (both good and bad). This thread have pretty good collection of exhaust to check it out.

Suspension:
If you're willing to spent extra for suspension, go with coils. Of course, you can get nice struts and lower springs and call it good, but coils are worth looking into. KW is big name and they've proven to be. Of course, Cusco, RCE & Ohlins are too. If I can afford it, I'll go with Ohlins Road and Track. They perform wonderfully both on track and road, specially on the canyon. RCE Tarmac III work great in the track... but felt a bit stiff for daily driving and only tracking it few times a year.

If you don't want to spent $3k on coils, which is understandable. recommend RCE Tarmac II, Cusco Street Zero-A or RS-R Sports-i. Those should be $1,800~$2,500 and perform wonderfully on road and track. I, myself have RS-R sports-i and I'm enjoying every time drive it. Only daily, I have it on full soft. Absorb the dips and bumps making it nice drive to work and back. On the weekend, change the damper and drive it hard without worrying about too soft.

I would recommend buying subframe bushing to help reduce unnecessary movement from rear subframe. Sway bars are recommended as well. I wouldn't buy anything too thick. A lot of ppl believe that bigger the sway bar is, better it is. That is a myth and not true. You want it stiff enough there won't be extra movement. Whiteline 20mm front and 18mm should be efficient enough. They're adjustable, so you can make it soft or stiff to fit your driving style. While at it, pick up front and rear adjustable end links to adjust it to lowering and sway bars.

Make sure to buy LCA, so you can adjust the rear camber angle (due to lowering). RS-R & Cusco do make pretty good ones, but I heard good things about Velox LCA. They're light and damn strong as well. While LCA to help adjust the rear camber, make sure to get camber bolts in front to get extra camber just in case. Coils usually comes with top mount/camber plate, but it's never hurt to have camber bolts.

You can get other suspension stuff... but it would be more of "bling" than "functional". If you're serious about track/autox, then I would recommend like adjustable toe arms, trail links, ball joints... but those are something you can look into later.

Brakes:
Don't bother look into BBK. Not worth it (specially, we're currently talking about NA power). Can bbk help? Yes, but worth the price? Nah! You can get good brake pads, rotors and ss lines, you're set. I gonna be bias and recommend Winmax & Project Mu. They're both great pads. I use Winmax for my car and I've always recommended to my friends. Every single one of my friends I've recommended have it and love it! Some of em call Winmax pads, pads made out of pixie dust. Now, don't get me wrong, even though most of them believe they're great pads, they have limits as well. For yours, I would recommend Winmax W3. I would recommend W2... but sadly, Winmax USA stop bring it to US Now, Projuct Mu are respectable brake pads and it comes with the price as well. If you're going with Project Mu, go with NS400 or B-Force. As for the rotors, you can get Centric plain (no drill or slotted) rotors. They'll work perfect. If you like to spent extra, go with DBA rotors. They're nice and last pretty long time as well.

Wheels/tires:
This is up to you, but if we're discussing about keeping it NA, keep it in 17's. 17x8 with 225/45R17 is good setup for daily and track as well. Some prefer 17x9 with 245/40R17 setup, which I have it for autox. If your place only see sun and no snow, RE71 is tire to go. Just be careful driving in the rain. They're a bit dangerous. RS3v2 or RivalS some of the member favorite summer tires. If you want to autox, RS3v2, RvialS & RE71 are 200tw, so he'll keep you in ST class, so you don't have to worry have racing against some crazy modded cars.

Others:
Should look into oil cooler. Now IDK how cold your place get, but if you gonna see snow or ice, might want to look into water-to-oil cooler instead of air-to-oil cooler. If you'll never see snow or ice, air-to-oil should be something to look into. For air-to-oil cooler, I do like Jackson Racing oil cooler kit or Perrin oil cooker kit. water-to-oil, Subaru Forester/WRX oil kit looks stock and nice. If you want extra eye catching, then go with Cusco or Ptuning water-to-oil cooler.

These are some of the quick lists of mods for NA. I'll post another one for FI.

Note - All the expert members can add to my list, if you want.

[ichitaka05]

Originally Posted by softgrip

I just need help ichi

Alright, round 2.

FI
Supercharger or Turbocharger gonna be a bit tricky. Yes, they'll give you more power than E85 will... but it'll comes with risk of blowing up your engine. It doesn't matter what shop complains, you're pushing pass the limit of the engine when put supercharger/turbocharger in there. So keep that in mind.

SC vs TC:
Some like the feel of SC. Feel a bit like driving a bigger engine car. While some like the feel of TC. Feel the turbo spooling will bring smile to owner's face. I'm pretty sure you know that feel, you had wrx.

Now, few sc kits are smog approved vs tc... I only know 1 tc kit that's smog approved. If smog approved is something you worry about, look into SC like Jackson Racing or Edelbrock. I like the clean look of Edelbrock more than Jackson Racing. If you don't have to worry about smog then I would recommend AVO Turboworld turbo kit or Ptuning turbo kit. Love the clean look of AVO. It looks as stock, so most of the time, you can't tell if it has turbo. While Ptuning turbo kit is BAM! It show it off in good way and their parts quality is top notch! AVO or Ptuning, both can push 400whp or higher (with proper engine mods).

Now, all the sc kit can run different types of headers vs AVO tc kit and other tc kit won't... EXCEPT Ptuning tc kit. Ptuning tc kit can run different header without an issue.

Don't forget, you need bigger injections as well as oil catch can. NA, you don't really worry about by pass oil sipping through... but when you install sc/tc, it's different story. You need to invest in one.

Tuning:
Don't go cheap on this. You're putting dynamite in your engine, you want 200% sure it works properly. Go EcuTek!

Suspensoin:
It'll be same kinda setup as NA, so go back and read it.

Brakes:
Yes, more power means, you need more power to stop. Winmax W3 still be good enough... but might need to look into Winmax W5. That pads have stopped 400whp FRS without and issue. It continuously stopped FRS in endurance race. BUT of course, it does make a noise and dusty as well. Is it bad as HP+? No, not really. They're actually quieter than HP+, while it grips as much or better than HP+.

Should you look into BBK? Hm... not really. You can, but W5 with dot 4 brake fluids and ss lines will be good.

Wheels and tires:
You can keep it in 17's like 17x9 to put 255/40R17 or you can put 18x8~9.5 with 275/35R18 tires. But keep in mind, it's not about how wide the tires are, but how sticky the tires are.

I think, I wrote enough. Again, take these as a grain of salt.

[softgrip]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Alright, round 2.

I think, I wrote enough. Again, take these as a grain of salt.

You wrote the perfect amount.

The NA section was especially helpful. Thank you so much.

I'll probably go the NA route initially, see how the car goes. The info you supplied on parts and brands is invaluable!

If I need FI later, I'll just save some more $$$

I just came back from a drive and the only thing really bugging me about the car right now is the stereo and the fact my dash is lumping up around the air vents in the center. I've got plans for the sound system, and I'll get the dash replaced under warranty.

That being said, I can't wait for even more control and a few more torques :P

Again, thank you so much.

Rgds

The softest of grips.

[Aki]

Originally Posted by softgrip

DD
Track a couple of times a year
Very frequent hill climbs and spirited driving (few times a week) on very windy twisty roads - prob 300km of this a week.
Have enough juice to overtake someone while spirited driving.

Some of these goals can clash against each other, and it depends on how you rank/prioritize the above.

For example I enjoy less grip for spirited driving, because for me it's the sensation of speed that's fun, not necessarily what the spedometer needle is pointing at. To that end I could be running 215 width tires and be happy. As the adage goes, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. If you run grippy Michelin PS2s in 245 and never hear the tires squeal in twisty roads, that could feel more dull, even if it gets better times on the track. Better performance doesn't always correlate with better enjoyment.

As for having enough juice to overtake "someone," who would that be? If you're expecting to smoke a Mustang GT you'd likely be sacrificing DD to get that power (engine durability, reliability etc). Engineers aren't holding back on HP with this engine simply because they're stingy--they factor not only cost, but engine longevity from compression ratio, heat, etc. The harder you push the engine, the more it's going to wear, unless they went extremely conservative with the tuning (which in this day and edge is rare).

I'd focus first on what bugs you about the car from driving in a variety of conditions before buying the parts, rather than theorizing on what mods might make a better car, because the "best" choice of mods is somewhat subjective. Taking some other person's advice, you might splurge on fancy parts and end up liking the driving experience less.