Project rebirth, FRS - STX and trackday/TTD log

[redlined600]

Current setup (Page down for build)

K24 Swap starts page 8

2630lbs/190hp (SAE cal.)

Handling:
RCE Tarmac II coilovers 450f/500r
Vorschlag camber plates
Perrin adjustable front swaybar, RacerX endlinks
Perrin adjustable rear swaybar, custom endlinks
SPL rear LCA
RacerX rear toe arms
SPL roll correcting tie-rod ends
RPF1 17x9 wheels
Konig Ultragram 17x10" wheels
Project Mu Club racer / Hawk DTC60
Bushings - whiteline diff inserts, Whiteline rear subframe inserts, whiteline positive shift kit, Whiteline steering rack bushings

Power:
Cat removed from stock header
Nameless muffler delete
Perrin Intake, Perrin Silicone elbow CAI
Setrab/mocal/aeroquip custom oil-cooler
Moto-east Tune and Flex fuel kit

Other:
DCA Fab custom roll-bar
Schroth harnesses
OMP HTE-R Drivers seat / OMP WRC pass. seat
ETX14 Battery
Beastronix nanny killer
IRP shifter
9 lives racing wing(er wang)
Custom splitter
Tracspec hood vent



THE BUILD

To preferace I've never done a build log but thought it might be a good idea this time around since I'm new to the chassis and this will be a slow build, it might be fun. It may also be a good resource for other as well as for myself, seeing the forest from the trees and all that.

More preface: I'm not new to autox or track, rather, new to the FRS platform. I had a Miata which I used in Scca solo STR. It was an awesome car with some really nice parts but after 7 years with it I was getting the itch for something different.


Acquisition
Early winter, with the Miata tucked away in storage, someone posted a prior salvaged FRS up on the local autox board. It was cheap but not really cheap enough to seriously consider(for me). But I perused it and after finding out more info regarding the prior damage I made an offer(quite a bit lower than asking price) and we struck a deal.

Enter the FRS. 2013 with 20k miles.


It isn't perfect; a bunch of scratches and dings. The dash is lit up like a christmas tree with ABS, trac and stability lights on (I'm assuming this is all one root cause) Perfect candidate for a track/autox car.
I also received an extra set of stock wheels with it. I might just sell those

TLDR: Sold my miata and bought a FRS

The plan:
-Locally competitive STX / HPDE and Long term NASA TTD
-coilovers, I may use RCE yellow springs as a stop-gap for this year
-Strano bar front, stock or slightly increased bar for rear (I'll do coilovers first to see if I really need bars but I suspect I'll want them for autox and would rather have the points than bars if I do TTD)
-17x9"s wrapped with 245s
-full exhaust with 91 tune for autox and E85 for track and fun drives
-Install my existing Momo race seats with schroth harnesses
-Roll-bar
-Drive the wheels off of it

Where I'm at now.
I purchased a few used items to install once the car comes out of storage

-Oil cooler - I'm a fan of reliability mods (the miata is stone reliable). So I picked up a oil-cooler off another member here. Setrab core, mocal plate and aeroquip lines. should do nicely.


-SPC rear arms(gen 2). One of the few STX legal arms. I'm not crazy about using eccentrics but I'll see how it works for now. They held ok for the most part on my miata.

- Whiteline Com-c top hats. Also from a member here. These are a stop-gap until I purchase coilovers. Again, I'm not crazy about the design but I think they'll hold up for as long as I need them.

-Come spring I'll fab a muffler delete for autox at least. We'll see for track, I'm still not 100% convinced of the aero implications.

I also need to decide what to do about the tune. Looking at the DI seal issue TSB I have a car that falls within the affected VIN range. I can have the Toyota dealer update the ECU for $130, or I can put that toward a tune. But, I hate to tune without having the exhaust done (or at least the header) and I just don't think this will be in the budget this year :-(. Still unsure on this but I'll likely go for the tune and just re-tune once I get the exhaust. I know this is opposite of the proper order of events but it needs to be addressed one way or another.

As one can see lots of stuff still up in the air and I may enter STX this year wielding a butter knife. Some of this also depends on budget, while most all the big ticket items off the miata are sold the car itself is still in my garage.

As an aside I was surprised that when the Grassroots Motorsports shirt showed up this year it was a FRS, nice timing.




As always, I'm open to suggestions or comments.

[fstlane]

Congratulations on your purchase! Don't be too concerned with having a STX competitive car with that list of mods. I'm running nearly the same setup (springs, fsb, wheels, tires, lca, tune) and finished 1st in STX and 2nd overall in PAX for my SCCA region. Good luck and keep the thread updated with your progress!

[redlined600]

I haven’t updated in a long time but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes. I’ve been planning and buying all winter but it’s time to get down to the meat and get this thing on the road. I finally pulled the car out of storage.

First things first is fix all the current issues. I bought the Carista app(great app for $20) which allowed me to scan the codes. I think this scans a little deeper than a cheap scanner and pulled up everything I needed (I hope). The jist of it is just as I suspected the front left ABS/wheels speed sensor was not functioning. Of course it couldn’t just be that simple. Looks like the clock spring was damaged or not connected correctly when the PO replaced the drivers airbag. I have one on the way and think this should solve all the codes and dash lights.

On to the fun stuff, pictures to come.

I found a set of SBC rpf1 17x9 +35 wheels locally. I’m still on the fence of Dunlop zii* or bridgestone re71r tires. I need to decide by the end of the month as the Dunlop rebate expires. I’ll move the Toyo R1r(235) tires to the extra set of OEM wheels I have for rains at the track.

I also picked up a perrin intake tube and HKS filter and PLM muffler delete.

For a fun little project I picked up a very reasonably priced oem header to play with. The plan is to cut out the cat and weld in a section of straight pipe. I’m nearly convinced this will be equal or nearly equal in power to any sub $700 header. Perrin posted on their blog about testing this and only gaining 2-3hp but they also didn’t tune afterwards.

I’ll likely go with Moto-east for tuning but am nervous my ecutek cable isn’t working as it’s not being recognized by my laptop (the light doesn’t light up when I plug it in). Is this supposed to be plugged into the car at the same time to install the software??? This would be a major bummer.

Lastly I made some scores on Ebay which may influence my direction with suspension. I picked up a really cheap set of new but out of box konis for the rear as well as a set of ground control coilover sleeves. I made my own coilovers for my miata with sleeves and custom valved and shortened bilsteins so I may go a similar route with this car as well. Worst case I’ll sell all this stuff and get out the credit card. All this is up in the air until I can get under the car and measure wheel travel and shock stroke. The other issue is, as far as I can tell from looking online, the koni front struts have a welded perch. I have an inquiry into them to see if they’ll sell me a set of fronts with a snapring instead.

I guess that’s it for now, hopefully I can get some pics soon.

As an aside, after reading the TTD rules a bit more I don’t think I can build a car that will fall within both TTD and STX rulesets without some major compromises. This may hold me off from doing any TTD for a while L.

[redlined600]

Pics!

Rpf1s. Sbc might not have been my first choice but used +35 offset was hard enough to find, let a lone used, plus they were a good deal.


Installed the perrin intake tube and removed the sound generator.



Put the strings on it since the steering wheel was off a touch. Turns out there was some toe, no wonder the front tires were shot. Oh well, I have plenty of those.


Oh the blasphemy. LOL! (Yeah the car is filthy, I haven't had a chance to clean it yet)

[vroom4]

Id be happy to take the RPF1 off your hand if you have another preference

[redlined600]

Originally Posted by vroom4

Id be happy to take the RPF1 off your hand if you have another preference

Once things slow down I'll likely hit you up for a wheel stud kit.

[redlined600]

Little update on the header project.

Safe cut. Nicely joined inside.


I'm really not a flow expert so I'm not clear if this is an ideal setup (D-shaped joint) or if I should cut the pipes back a bit a use a different collector. Time for more research.

[redlined600]

Turns out almost all the errors were caused by a damaged clockspring. Even the drivers speed sensor error was incorrect and disappeard after replacing it. After taking it out it was obvious that it had been installed incorrectly and rotated too far in one direction. The only code left is a steering angle sensor malfunction. Since I was staring down the barrel of replacing it anyway I decided to take it apart.


There isn't anything to"break". Now I'm convinced that it just needs to be calibrated.

I also pulled the trigger on a set of Bridgestone re71r tires. I'm curious if these will hold up on the track.


Hopefully some fun stuff coming up soon. Turns out my laptop took a dump so I'm waiting on that to get fixed so I can tune.

[redlined600]

Bstones showed up.
Camber bolts in. I decided to try and sell the comc top hats. If they don't sell I might still try and put them in, but there are other better solutions. Hvt top hats have my interest.
I got the advertised .75 deg, I had read others had trouble using the bottom hole.

[redlined600]

Yeah buddy!

[redlined600]

Just placed an order for a Moto-East tune. Taking Friday off to finish the header.

I should rename this post "How to build an stx car in the exact opposite order" or "A Primer to doing it right, the wrong way."

[redlined600]

Progress on the header.
Yes I'm a hack at welding. :-(

All buttoned up ready to go in.

[Bonburner]

fun read, keep up the good work!

[redlined600]

Ready for action. This weekend is the first auto x of the season. Double header, sat and sun.

Actually I have the whiteline trans mount and diff mounts to put in yet. I doubt I'll get that done by the weekend. Hoping the moto-east tune shows up, that I would like to have.

I'll also put on the muffler delete. Removing just the first cat made very little difference in overall volume.