e1_griego's automotive adventures

[e1_griego]

My automotive interest began in earnest when I was around 12 years old. My grandfather, a retired machinist, would save all the car magazines throughout the year and when I'd visit him in the summer I had a ton of reading to catch up on. One day while working on his 79 Ford F-150 (460 v8) he called me over and started explaining how everything worked and what everything did. I was already hooked on cars, more or less, but this really set the hook for good.

My first car was an 86 Accord that my parents graciously purchased for me in their own self-interest since insurance was going to be wicked expensive for me on their new cars. I took to the internet to learn what I could about these cars and stumbed across an online 3g honda accord community called 3geez.com. At my first meet at the age of 16 I met the guy who would be my best man 10 years later lol. Internet car communities have played a huge part in my life, even from the first one.



(tokico blues and h&r springs, TSW Imolas 16x7.5, some shitty exhaust, some mild stereo stuff -- this was at her peak)

I had my accord until I was into my sophomore year in college (2003) and bored with the car. I knew a lot of VW folks so I thought I needed a mk2 GTi. What a piece of shit that was.



After the VW I ended up stumbling into a 240, an automotive decision that probably changed my life considering the people I've met through Nissan meets and autocross. Here's my first coupe (Sept. 2004):



145hp of fury, sprint springs, tokico blues, ST bars f/r, Revos, exhaust -- pretty much my speed.

I drove the car for a couple years, put some shitball coilovers on it for moar lowarrrrr and started meeting folks. One summer evening, however, the car rolled to its demise, hitting a chevy astro after the ebrake cable snapped.

Protip: leave your car in gear on a big hill.

Before:


after:


Suckass, for sure.

Picked up my 1990 s13 hatch a month later (Oct. 2006) , swapped some parts over but mostly started the build from scratch. I was employed at this point so I thought a Sohc KA turbo setup seemed like a good idea. Learned a lot in building it but it wasn't as powerful (or reliable -- two BHG in a year) as I wanted. Ended up finding someone looking for exactly my setup, sold it to him, and bought a redtop SR. And a glorious day it was.

I did my first couple of autocrosses right around this same time and started getting hooked. After a couple years of shitty stances and federals (s13 starter pack) I started getting more serious and had more dollars to spend.



Ended up getting some custom built koni race shock setup, big turbo and cams, and some r-comp takeoffs. That's when things really started happening. After another chassis swap, some OS giken things, more koni things, and full set of spherical bearings this is my current s13:



This car is the anti-hoonigan, anti-piece of shit driftmobile that every other s13 seems to have succumbed to. Drifting is fine, but the quality of 240 builds has fallen off a cliff in the last 3-4 years. Car makes ~380whp with a built motor, GTX turbo, aforemention koni/giken goodies, roll center correcting spindles, wilwoods -- all the good stuff.

I've mostly been playing with my local clubs in my coupe with an annual trip to Packwood National Tour where I get murdered in SM with my under-tired setup. The car works great for what it is, I'm just not wanting to ruin it entirely as a street car by cutting off the fenders, fitting 315s, and then making the rest of it work. I like being able to drive to and from events too much, and I don't have room or budget for truck/trailer.

I like 240s so much (and didn't fit in the miata I had) so I decided to build a 'cheap' s13 to daily drive after I found a clean shell. What started as a cheap project turned into a clone of my black coupe: giken, 8611s, etc.





My other cars that I've owned:

Grey market 323i:


92 legacy touring wagon (5spd swap, vf8, wrx brakes/clutch, 2.5rs seats, 3" turbo back -- bought, not built lol)

Miata 1:

(koni/gc, torsen, koseis)

Miata 2:

(revalved bilsteins/gc, torsen, roll bar, ATS complites, RB exhaust, RB big bar, etc etc)

Not pictured:
92 Sentra Se-R
92 Integra GS
85 Tercel 4wd
Two more 1988 accords
The 11 240s, 1 cressida and Mazda b2000 that I've flipped to pay for my toys
My current daily driver Toyota matrix XRS and my wife's 05 TSX 6mt

----------------------------


So after driving a 25 year old nissan I decided I wanted something fun with cruise control and a/c so I parted out the blue hatch. Enter BRZ. I joined the FT86 forums looking for a car and found one pretty quickly. User Sidetrak06 (Ben) had his 2013 DGM car up for sale in Denver, and was unbelievably helpful in working with my timeline to fly down, buy the car and drive it home to Oregon.



Ben met us at the airport on a Monday morning and my wife and I ended up visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, the Tetons, Yellowstone, Beartooth Pass (unbelievably awesome road) and Glacier National Park on our way home. The BRZ is the perfect car for such a trip, especially since we mostly stayed off the interstate.






After getting the car home and a couple of autocrosses in stock form, I've begun acquiring parts for an STX autocross build. My codriver in my 240 has his own crazy CP Merkur project that we'd like to take to Nationals in a couple years, but I think we're going to take the BRZ down for Nationals 2016 just to see the sights, the setup and maybe take some of the intimidation away from such a big event.

Crazy merkur:


I've started acquiring some parts, the most important of which is suspension. I'm a bit of a shock snob as a result of my 240 autocrossing days, so I bought some MCS (which don't have an option for s-chassis and I've been wanting a set for a while). Coupled with that are Raceseng camber plates and 1" rear shock mounts. I went with 2.25" 400#/400# hyperco springs to start but we'll see where I end up.



Also picked up a set of racer-x RLCA with poly bushings for STX legality.


Power mods are modest right now -- I picked up this box of goodies from a local guy (and ft86 member) parting out his car:


Perrin 2.5" overpipe, perrin 2.5" catted front pipe and a Perrin 3" resonated exhaust, which I'm trading for a 2.5" resonated Perrin setup this weekend. Nameless is relatively close so I plan to grab their header and a tune of some sort over this winter.

Also snagged a set of 17x9 +35 rpf1s to match my s13.


I kept my new 255 RS3 V2 from my hatch so they have those mounted right now. I suspect I'll have a set of re71s sometime next year.

Parts I've installed so far include the Raceseng cam plate to fix the oil leak, and the whiteline positive shift kit (which is a phenomenal upgrade for ~$30. Highly recommended). I've purchased the whiteline subframe bushing and diff bushings kits, too, but haven't installed.

This is obviously a novel that I don't anticipate anyone reads but figured I'd commit it all to one big post so I can park it all somewhere. I'm a very passionate gear-head (very much function>form) with not a ton of brand loyalty and a lot of appreciation for everything automotive. Cars are a giant part of my life and a significant portion of my income and I've made a ton of great friends through cars and events.

All my parts will be going on this weekend so I'll hopefully have some new pics to share. I won't lie, I can't handle the powdercoated stock wheels.

[e1_griego]

And voila:





Did the whiteline subframe bushings along with the MCS.

In a word: incredible.

Ride quality is better than stock, even with 400/400# rates.

[e1_griego]

First autocross on the MCS: great success.

Played with the super rinky-dink local club yesterday. They ran two different courses between morning and afternoon.

ended up 2nd fastest raw in the morning, and had fastest raw time in the afternoon. Obv not a ton of talent (any) or decent prep, but the car was much better than I anticipated. And so easy to drive. This lot is rough as hell and the shocks were completely unfazed.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mQHIqqXAek"]WMC Event #7 (AM) - 2013 Subaru BRZ STX #60 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVaAf_f4XXA"]WMC Event #7 (PM) -- 2013 Subaru BRZ STX #60 - YouTube[/ame]

[Speed Element]

nice

[e1_griego]

Some pretty pictures a buddy took.

[PERRIN_Chris]

Looks high bro! You need to dump it, and black out those headlights because: brospec.

Haha, your car already has way more done to suspension than mine, and I've had it for 2 years. Are you going to be changing out the diff? I found a thread a few days ago about a guy that changed out the diff with a supra LSD. There's rebuild kits available for it for cheap!

[e1_griego]

Yeah, I'm going to put a giken in. I love the one in my 240, would really like one for this car.

It's not a priority but it's on my list of things to buy, after I do the Ace Type B header and a tune (and prob the Nameless catted + resonated front pipe).

[PERRIN_Chris]

OS Giken would be awesome. I'd love to put more money into my car, but since I'm not really using it for anything competitive anymore, I can't really justify it.

[e1_griego]

Snagged this guy today from @Bakchoii -- preparing for catless header install and trying to get things as quiet as possible.



@Chen traded me his 2.5" perrin for my 3" perrin a few weeks back and just trying to minimize the noise as much as possible.

Think I'm going to go with the Nameless header as they're local to me and I really like to support close by places.

[vroom4]

Solid STX build.

As quiet as possible is OEM cat back

[e1_griego]

Yeah but I've heard vids with OEM catback and the noise isn't pleasant.

I don't mind *some* noise as long as it's not-shitty noise.

[e1_griego]

Swapped out the (poorly) rattle canned and FULL of water set of stock tails for a properly red tinted set of tails courtesy of http://smokedouttaillights.com/



Sent him an extra pair of stocks that I bought and got them back within 2 weeks. Really impressed with how good they look. Did the 3M adhesive and Gasket Ninja gaskets when I put it back together.

Also not pictured are my new front endlinks which are Steinjager setup: http://steinjager.com/shop/index.php...ix=&tierSeven=


Also, have a Giken on order in "STX" trim and hopefully I'll have my Nameless header by the end of the month as well. And I picked up a Perrin oil cooler but haven't installed it yet, and probably won't until Spring.

[Decay107]

Any updates? How is that Nameless working out for you?

[e1_griego]

Yeah, dropped that shit nearly a year ago.

What Nameless doesn't tell you is that the torque dip is still real with their header. Once I saw the dyno plot I decided that that was enough of that. If you start a pull <3500rpm the truth comes out. Pretty disappointed in how that went, and I have to say it was humbling showing up to the local meet and basically getting laughed at for having it since everyone else knew the truth. Live and learn.




I bought the used Ace header that CSG Mike posted and haven't looked back. Coupled with a Vit tune I couldn't be happier. There's still a dip between 2250-2750, but it's a low enough rpm that I can't really feel it and I think it's only really evident on a dynapack.



Either way, no bro rumble vape noises makes me happy. If I didn't care I'd have the tomei.


Giken is long installed and lovely.

Went to SCCA Solo Nationals in 2016 and had an absolutely blast. Ended up 39th in class (lol) but that barely matters. Can't wait to go back this year.




I've added a whiteline rear bar with racer-x endlinks because the whiteline endlinks are basically permabound and you need a spherical to get around that. It's on full soft, so not a huge increase of stock rear bar but enough that it makes me happy.

I switched to Rival 1.5 this year from the RE71 which seems to suit my hamfistedness a little better than the re71 which in my experience last year (200+ autocross runs) doesn't multitask super well. Rival lets me get away with dumb decisions which I'll take. Yes I should drive better but here were are.

Oh I added an NRG hub, NRG QR and Personal Neo Grinta in perforated leather this past winter (along with requisite steering setup weights to maintain STX class legality) and I also put in a Sparco Evo II, first on PCI rail and now on Buddy Club. I've put the stock seat back in for now, but the sparco actually works just not sure I want to drive it for 600 miles to Crow's this week.



I think that's it for updates, thanks for asking @Decay107