TopSpeed.com - Scion FRS race car build

[philooo]

TopSpeed.com is sponsoring my Scion FR-S track car build.

Other builds I am following:

• Daryl Harr's FR-S SCCA Race Car Build full cage + amateur build in progress
• Piercemotorsports FRS Track Build full cage + professional build in progress
• Evasive Motorsport pikes peak build - money is no object !
• BP3D Race car build full cage + serious parts + amateur
• PhastAfrican Race car build full cage + safety mods only + amateur
• DVSIDBOY almost full cage + cool rear bumper
  

DIY

• Brake ducts
• Brake ducts2
  
  

The car below is a fully build FRS by TR3 Performance ... check the next post to see where we are starting from ;S

[philooo]

Reserved for "Back on the Road"

CRASHED DONOR
The donor is a 2013 Scion FRS with 12k miles and a mild front crash. It is a gamble but the purchase price is worth the risk. The ideal candidate would have been a theft recovery car with gutted interior but we could not find any of these.

Our FRS safety systems seem to have done their job at dissipating the front end forces into the bumper crash bar and hood. All chassis mounting points seem intact. young and optimistic drivers make these cars very easy to find on auction websites like Copart. The cars are not badly hurt but they get totaled as the labor and part cost skyrocket very quickly especially if you use the parts MSRP and dealer hourly rates.

Frontal crash seems more messy but they are actually easier to fix as there are many small parts in the front that absorb shocks and they are all easy bolt on. Because this will be a race car, the radiator and AC parts would have been replaced anyways.

PARTS COST:
Make sure you shop online for the best rates, as small parts, even cheap, add up quickly. We found the best price online for factory toyota/scion part at Bochtoyota.
They are so cheap, my local dealer would not match their prices which seems like 10% above wholesale. We still bought the larger parts locally considering shipping would have killed the savings anyways.

BACK ON THE ROAD: finger's crossed
We immediately put the car on an alignment bench to see if it was remotely straight and it was all good. Next step we replaced the bumper crash bar and luckily it did bold right in without effort. The fenders align nicely with the doors as well, so hopefully the car is still straight.

PATIENCE BEFORE ADDING $
The idea is to rebuild the car and drive it on the track in its basic configuration before we poor more money into it. It will cost a little extra to do some jobs twice, but buying crashed car is a risky business that should not be under estimated. We'll see if we did the right thing or shot ourselves in the foot. Pray for us !

[philooo]

Reserved for basic track improvements:

First track day mods - the essentials
First I added the essential track mods:
- Rims XXR 527 - 17x9 ($500)
- Tires BFR R1 tires ($1100)
- Brake pads Carbotech XP12 ($400)
- Momo Daytona seat with brackets and slider ($900)
- Harness Scotch Endure ($600)

With the completely stock engine, all these mods matched perfectly, the brakes did hols perfectly and I could not ask for more. Water temps stayed dead center all day, with outside temperature in the mid 80's.


Second track day mods - reliability
- Oil cooler Mishimoto kit with bracket and fittings (don't buy - fitting are not worth the $)
- Radiator Mishimoto, probably overkill, especially when AC condenser is removed and allowing more air to the PEM radiator but it is cheap insurance for hot climate like south florida.

[philooo]

Reserved for advanced track improvements:

Cage fabrication headaches.

The car is just back from the roll cage fabrication and before painting, here are a couple of pictures. I am not a roll cage professional so I welcome any comment on the cage design. Only thing I see out of the ordinary is that the daytona door bars are not sticking out as much as some other cars, good or bad I don't really know. Anyways for my club racing I think I am already much safer than stock that's for sure


After some investigation, it seems the roll cage main hoop diagonal is not NASA or SCCA legal, because there is a bend in the diagonal and also the diagonal is not in the same pan as the main hoop. The car is going back to the cage builder for some adjustments and hopefully back NASA legal.

The last photo shows you the diagonal bent and not in the same plan as the main hoop. Also after trying to install my seat we realized the cage did not allow the seat side head restrain to fit, so next time you build a cage, send you seat and fitting to the cage builder as well to make sure it fits, also the harness bar should be placed according to your seat. Even though some parts can be added later to adjust the angle of the harness, better do it right the first time.

Never assume your builder know the local club rules, make sure you print out all your requirements in terms of design, tube size for the chassis class/weight...etc etc..

New cage design.

So far my favorite roll cage design is coming out of Precision Chassis works in Nevada, I regrouped some of their design here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lkn91zd4o...TBs6DIhca?dl=0

Toyota has also make their own cage design for the GT86 platform. You can see it in their cup car and rally car, but the main hoops consists of an X shape and not a single bar as per NASA rules, the design is also a lot more complex. still I wish toyota would publish specifications on a roll cage design that is optimized for the t86 chassis.

[philooo]

Reserved for Track Tuning:

With the car fully build, we will focus on engine and suspensions tuning as well as endurance reliability.

[philooo]

Reserved for Track Techs gizmos:

Along wight he build we will be trying some tech gadgets: on board camera, data logging (traqmate, race keeper, harrys lap timer, obdII reader...).


Dashcommand
Discussion about ft86 oil temp pid
Dashboard for Gt86

[phastafrican]

Looking forward to seeing how it goes. I'm in Fernandina Beach, FL. Maybe when you're done, we can race against each other.

[Lonewolf]

TR3 performance....they don't exactly have the best reputation around here. Do you know a lot about them and their buddy Toni from FA20 club?



All I can say is...proceed with extreme caution

[King Tut]

Never heard of FARA, but I would love to see this car in Continental or Pirelli World Challenge races. What is your background in racing?

[philooo]

@KingTut, it is very presumptuous of me to think about pirelli or continental challenge as I have not participated in any racing series yet. I have done many open track days and I want to get into racing. So FARA seems like a good fit for a newbie like me
There are 7 FRS track car here in the Miami area so I hope we can even create a special class for them at FARA and may be more.

[phastafrican]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Never heard of FARA, but I would love to see this car in Continental or Pirelli World Challenge races. What is your background in racing?

FARA is very popular in South Florida and have a stronghold on Homestead. They have an exciting series, although not as well structured as NASA or SCCA. I'd go run a few races with them of it wasn't a 7hr haul for me.

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by philooo

There are 7 FRS track car here in the Miami area so I hope we can even create a special class for them at FARA and may be more.

I wasn't aware of that. Sounds like a good place to try and start a spec FR-S/BRZ class. Make sure everyone is on an equal playing field and keep costs of parts to a minimum. Try to pick up a spec tire sponsor, and off you go.

[phastafrican]

All the TR3 cars are boosted. Got any details about the other cars?

[philooo]

As far as I know the other TR3 race FRS are not boosted.

TR3 has done many forced induction cars for road customers, but I believe their race cars only have cooling and shocks modification, aside of the gutting and interior safety.

I have not seen them all so I'll report back once I know more about the whole thing

I got a good opportunity buying my wrecked FRS locally so I decided to jump in. But I have not done that much research, I'll see how it plays out.