Captain Insano's WRB BRZ Log

[Captain Insano]

It is lowered one inch in all the pics above. Eibach pro kit.

These pics actually don't do much justice. When you see it in person it looks lower than in those pics.

[Captain Insano]

Car mods have taken a back seat while my house is being built so not much progress as of late... But did order some parts today.

I just ordered the OpenFlash Tablet and OpenFlash Header combo deal. Updated my first post with that info. I'll be weighing the header compared to the OEM header and providing a review of said parts. First OFT by itself (stg1) and then later after the header arrives OFT + OFH (sgt2). Plan to do both 93 oct & E85 reviews if I get the time.

[Captain Insano]

My latest modification is the OpenFlash Tablet (OFT). I've supplied that review here in the first post for convenience of the readers.

So update here, I recently ordered the OFT. I ordered it on 2/17 and received it on 2/22 so shipping was relatively quick. I think the product is pretty cool upon inspection – a small, portable tablet like device with touchscreen functionality, looks adequately durable. Has a cable for USB interfacing with laptop and a OBDII cable for interfacing with your vehicle. I like the hardware aspect of the product.

When I first received it I tried to interface it to my laptop. It indicated with map manager software that I needed to interface to car. So I stopped playing with it at that point on the laptop and then went outside to interface to vehicle. Interfacing with vehicle worked through the read phase and save phase, but then for some reason the write icon was grayed out and it would not initiate the write phase of the synch process. At that point I emailed Vishnu about how it would not begin write synch portion of process. That was last night at about 9PM cst. After emailing Vishnu, I tried to interface it with map manager on the laptop again since the read and save portion of synch worked. This time, it interfaced with laptop fine. I looked at the map list screen on map manager and it only had my OEM tune saved on it. So my assumption is possibly my OFT was sent with no tunes loaded on it?? I tried again prior to interfacing with laptop. When I did and was messing with car I noticed checking CELs I had a P0700. I never have had a CEL fire on my car. Not sure what that one is for. I cleared it at that point when checking… After giving up on the write process last night, at that point I downloaded the v1.42 maps (didn't want to mess with the 1.5x beta maps yet since they are labeled as "beta). I unzipped the maps. I loaded the maps into map manager and uploaded to the OFT. This list of maps was the appropriate list for my ROM type (I assume that is mandatory or it won't synch to your car, but I didn't try to synch maps for a different ROM type). At that point I assumed the write problem during synch process was simply because there were no maps on my OFT when it got to write portion of synch process. This morning before work at around 7AM cst I tried to finish synching and the write portion started after I selected the stage one map (current mods are Invidia Q300 catback, P&L overpipe, Invidia catless resonated front pipe, I always use 93 octane fuel). So then write portion did complete and the stage 1 map is now on my ECU as of this morning.

After synch completion of stage 1, I let the car idle for about 5 minutes (you are supposed to let it idle for at least a minute after initial flash). After that I checked CELs again. No CELs. I watched AFRs and they looked fine (mid-14s) while I started normal, non-spirited driving to work. Car felt very sluggish for the first 5-7 minutes for the first country road I drove. At stop sigh, I turned and tipped in throttle to about mid-point. Car sputtered a little. I looked at advance multiplier and it was still 1.00 so I assumed at that point something strange had happened with fueling and that was not a knock event. Unfortunately I was not data logging at the time. Continued to drive for an additional 15 minutes or so and got in town to my work area. There I started to tip in throttle a little more aggressively after a couple stop lights and stop signs. Around one routine 15-20 mph corner I tipped in throttle like I normally do. Tail go out a little on barely wet pavement, definitely more lively than normal as I've been around that corner in all conditions, ice, snow, rain, dry, and the car felt a lot more tail happy than normal – I attribute that to more torque at that point of the ECU tune getting accustomed to my car after the 20 minute or so drive into town. After that, I did two more semi-aggressive starts of about 65-70% throttle. Both times I had switched from snow (we got about a tiny dusting of snow last night) to sport mode on the AT and it felt AGGRESSIVE. I think this tune has made a serious difference even only on a stage 1 level car. I'm using 93 octane fuel. And it felt pretty damn good on those two slightly more spirited take offs from full stop.

I will keep adding to this review as I drive it after work tonight and beyond. I must say that the car definitely feels more powerful than it ever has on those last three slightly aggressive take-offs before work this morning after the car felt a little limp on the way in. I attribute that initial weak sauce to the tune's adjustment period to the car after the initial flash. The car felt really good after that.

Overall, I'm excited. I think this stage 1 tune, if it feels like right before I got to work this morning, feels pretty damn good. VERY noticeable. The product itself seems to be pretty kick ass so far consider the cost point ($499 for OFT).

More to come….

EDIT - on the way home, all I can say again now is wow. Very very noticeable positive improvement in throttle response and torque in whole powerband but especially in the midrange it feels like a lot more torque. I'm loving it, great buy and I highly recommend. Next up will be adding the OpenFlash Header to the equation. I'm #48 on the backlog right now and they are around 15-16 in the order fulfillment list. So sometime around end of March or early April tentatively for the arrival of the header.

[Captain Insano]

In the last couple days I've updated the OFT stg1 map to the 1.55b version. And today I put on my summer wheel tire combo (Wedsport TC105N 17x9 +35 245 width Continental Extreme Contact tires). Man the car is feeling GREAT with the OFT stg1 and getting the summer wheels/tires back on!


Here is a log I took on the stg1 v1.46 before switching to v1.55b stg1:
http://www.datazap.me/u/captain-insa...=1-9-12&solo=9

[OICU812]

Nice the OFT is certainly sounding more attractive all the time!

Did you ever get a CF driveshaft or did ya decide to opt outta that part?

[Captain Insano]

Love the OFT. Awesome tool and off the shelf tunes.

I still will do a light driveshaft but will probably do aluminum now instead of CF. I haven't been spending much on the car because I am in the process of building a house.... thouogh I do have an OFH on back order right now... :-)

[Captain Insano]

Well, the time has come for my final review....


I have traded in my car for a 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon X. It's an awesome vehicle I love, in a much different way than my BRZ. First let me start off with my farewell review for my BRZ.


When I bought my BRZ, I had just come from a kia sorento family SUV that was very practical but SUPER boring. After previously owning 2 STis and a WRX, I wanted to get back into something sporty. I loved the bare essential approach of the BRZ. No frills, just sporty stuff that matters to an enthusiast (nice seating position, handling, engine (I know some people HATE the engine – I actually LOVED it once I had an exhaust and tune!), and practicality). People would ask me about it and I would describe it as “like a miata, but has a back seat and a usable trunk”.


I owned my BRZ for three years and so what changed for me to trade it in? Well when I bought it my idea was to use my wife’s Honda Pilot for ALL kid transportation. That just wasn’t realistic. With three kids often we would have to split up running kids to sports or events and so I did do some kid hauling in the BRZ. It could definitely do that, but with my oldest boy getting taller (almost 10) and my middle son getting taller (almost 8) the back and front seats were starting to cram even them. Anytime my wife had to drive it she complained. She is not a nagging type, and she really didn’t ever tell me to get a new car, but she is a typical soccer mom – could care less about sporty cars, and likes sitting up high in a big vehicle (see my reference to her Honda Pilot). My BRZ was also very practical for what it was. A coupe RWD car I threw snow tires on in the winter and drove year round. I never had any trouble in the winter, but part of my allure to the Jeep was I never have to realistically worry about snow anymore. I can power through almost anything the winter can throw at that Jeep. While that’s a tiny fraction of driving, it is nice comfort knowing I can get anywhere if I have to, I have four doors for the kids now that they are bigger, and I don’t pile on huge amounts of miles so the bad gas mileage of the Jeep doesn’t scare me that much (BTW, part of the practicality of the BRZ, I LOVED the gas mileage. Seriously awesome).


All this said, I would own another BRZ in an instant. Part of the problem also is my intent was to buy the BRZ and keep it forever. I only have limited garage space (right now) and I still had two years of payments on the BRZ. These things factored into my decision of only wanting to own one car for my wife (Honda Pilot), and one car for me (now a Jeep). BUT, provided I had more garage space (I will someday) I could very well see myself back in a BRZ someday. The BRZ is exactly the kind of car I like knowing it’s reasonably priced, sporty, and has a gargantuan aftermarket full of opportunities to do literally anything I could imagine to the car.


So here’s my review.


The BRZ is nearly a perfect bare bones sports car for a very reasonable entry price even if buying new. You really can’t say that about many cars now. There are more than just a couple years ago, but it’s still a very small crowd. I’ve always loved Subarus and that definitely factored into my decision as well. Likes:

• Reasonably priced to buy/own/operate
• Practical (for a sports car) with usable trunk (remove spare and tools – it’s HUGE), back seat, great gas mileage
• Huge aftermarket
• Great community
• Engine – I loved the engine screaming to 7K with just simple mods (exhaust/tune)
• Handling – wow, can’t say enough what wheels/tires do for this car. The grip and handling are pretty awesome with just that one modification. If you do anything to your car, just get some high performance tires.

Dislikes:

• Few minor interior things like window seals for example, this is nitpicky for a car at this price though
• More dislike of my situation than the car – I never had the time to fully modify/appreciate the car
• While you can haul kids, that’s definitely not this car’s forte. I knew that going in, and it was fine at first, but after three years of growing the kids were starting to fill up the interior pretty good.
• Not a winter car – never had a single problem driving in snow, but I did have some annoyances like such low ground clearance making me hit big ice chunks cars/plows leave on the road. No damage, but scary and there definitely could be damage with such little ground clearance.

Overall, I’m glad I owned the car. It made my daily commute a joy and no regrets. In fact, if I do get some more garage space and I’m in the market for a summer car, a used BRZ will definitely be in the running.


Thanks all for reading my posts. This community is great. I will probably be around from time to time checking in on toybaru topics.