2013 Ultramarine

[chezplatypus]

Updated April '16

I was looking for a second car in April of 2015, something small and fun. I'd just received a raise and I figured I'd spend 8 or 9 grand. Drove by a Toyota dealership and saw this beauty, 9300 miles on it. Test drove it, dragged my fiancee with the next day to test drive it again, and I went home with it! I hadn't really given a whole lot of thought to the 86 before that, other than thinking it was a bitchin' little car. Since then, though, I'm totally obsessed.





The plan was to leave it stock as long as I could, then once it was paid off start doing a few things to it.
Not sure I'm going to continue with that.

Completed:
DIY high mount third brake light
Helix clear side markers

Planned:
Five:AD rear spoiler
Fog lights of some sort
Nameless Axleback - 3" inlet, 5" mufflers
EL header - not a big fan of the Subaru sound, sue me
Tune - I'd like to go flex fuel. We'll see
BC coilovers
Wheels - 18s for sure, width I dunno yet

[/url]

[chezplatypus]

So I don't know how much I plan to do to this thing. Maybe relocate the third brake light to the top of the rear glass, maybe exhaust, header, likely lowering. For now I'm just enjoying the crap out of this thing. Until I decide what to do to it, I'm going to just post pictures.

[chezplatypus]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/vhppjp]

Few more, couple of different styles. Let me know what you think!

[AG3NT_5CARFAC3]

CONGRATS ON THE CAR! Lovely color - any ideas on tires or maybe a drop in air filter?

[chezplatypus]

Thanks! It depends on a few things actually. If I wanna get wheels - likely Raijins, don't care how played out they are, they're gorgeous - then I don't know much about my options there. If not, then probably Hankook Ventus S1s. I've always had Hankook Optimo H727 on my Grand Prix and I've had no reason to switch. So a Hankook in a similar price range for this lil guy should work pretty well!

If I find that the FR-S does alright in the winter, I might choose to spend a little bit more, and just daily it.

[chezplatypus]

I remember reading that our engines breathe pretty freely already. Do you have any suggestions as far as a good filter goes? Or if I'm putzing with the intake, may as well go CAI?

[AG3NT_5CARFAC3]

Originally Posted by chezplatypus

Thanks! It depends on a few things actually. If I wanna get wheels - likely Raijins, don't care how played out they are, they're gorgeous - then I don't know much about my options there. If not, then probably Hankook Ventus S1s. I've always had Hankook Optimo H727 on my Grand Prix and I've had no reason to switch. So a Hankook in a similar price range for this lil guy should work pretty well!

If I find that the FR-S does alright in the winter, I might choose to spend a little bit more, and just daily it.

Assuming you are going to stay at stock height or go slightly lower, our cars are "alright" in the winter WITH decent snow tires. I have drove my FRS for the past 3 winters (Boston/New England). I used the stock tires for the first winter, and the other two winters I used stock wheels with General Altimac Artic studded snow tires. I highly recommend them if you plan to use the car in the winter. Again, others have used stock Terenza's in the snow....but more times than not, they did in fact get stuck once, again some people...

I have BFGoodrich G force comp 2's for summer tires. For the price, they are decent for rare autox events and as a daily - I plan to get Dunlop ZII's or ZIII's next time

As for a drop in filter, that is the "most HP for the least $". And that's perfectly fine; many people have done that, myself included. I would look into the K&N drop in or the AVO drop in - I had both and was impressed with the quality and slight increase in performance. If you want to go with a CAI, that's fine too, its your car after all lol I had the Injen CAI - it was ok but I wouldn't recommend it again ever to another 86 owner. Maybe check out the perrin CAI...but looking back, a simple drop in filter and some upgraded tires is really all our cars need to be slightly more enjoyable hope this helps. CHEERS!

[chezplatypus]

Eventually I'd like to lower, probably just springs. If you survived this past winter in the northeast with this thing, standard Minnesota weather should be alright! Studded tires aren't legal here, though.
I might try out a drop in filter then, then if I'm feeling frisky I'll mess with a CAI.
Thanks for the detailed response!

[chezplatypus]

Update.

Just ordered parts for a high mount third brake light - an 18" diffused bar. We'll see how I like it once I've finished, then maybe go wider. Decided against the Intec cuz DIY = cheap and fun.

I'm going to lower it. So then I want a lip to protect the bumper from scrapes, but I feel like just a front lip would look goofy, so I might pick up an entire kit. I want it relatively subtle, so I think I'm gonna go with the HT Autos kit. Bonus that it's only $600!

Performance-wise, I'm not unhappy with it, so I don't see a reason to violate the warranty just yet.

[chezplatypus]

shazam.

Close, but not so close that you can see where I screwed up.

Off. Not sure I like the white bar, sticks out like a sore thumb.


Just try not noticing this! Bright as hell. I'll give it a week or so to see how it holds up, then I'll remove the pedestal. Fair bit of light bleeding to the rear deck, I'll have to figure something out there.
Pretty fun DIY project, and not too spendy. $25 for the LED bar, $10 worth of craft wood, $8 for felt, and a new hobby knife.

[chezplatypus]

Next on the list is going to have to be suspension...for my Grand Prix. It needs it so badly. Don't know how familiar anyone is with W-bodies, but there aren't a whole lot of options, so it's going down about 2" on SSC springs with fresh struts, sways, endlinks...the whole setup. 195k miles on it, figure it deserves to ride better than new. So that'll be spendy, and I bought a ring for the ladyfriend, now I get to come up with a good way to give it to her, then student loans coming up... money for mods is going to come slowly.

[chezplatypus]

FR-S is going into storage this week, next to dad's '87 Fiero GT (no laughing, that thing is hella fun). Final tally since I got it in April is 4,020 miles for a total of somewhere around 13,500.

Grand Prix got new tires, Uniroyal Tiger Paws. I didn't go more expensive because the wheels are pretty beat up, so I might pick up some wheels when I finally do the suspension - which will be soon, I have some money coming in The tires have done wonders already though!

By springtime, the FR-S will be right side up on the loan, so I'll start mildly modding! Time to come up with a wishlist!

[chezplatypus]

So this happened today. This guy ran a stop sign and I broadsided him at 60 mph. My grand prix is done. Clearly his van is too. He walked away with a cut up hand, while I broke my left collarbone. It's setting in how much worse it could have been for both of us. And I'm so thankful he had no passengers.

Even so, RIP Ivy. 204k miles.





Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[swarb]

I'm glad you are ok(if you are posting here). It could have been much worse. I wish you a quick and full recovery. RIP IVY