LOL I already have the stage 2 back up bulbs, which are about 3x brighter than stock... It's just dark as all get out between the two!

Everything there looks perfectly safe! At it's leanest point, it is still less than half a point leaner than stock, so nothing at all to worry about. Also, with how rich it starts to go after 6k (matches stock nearly perfectly) it shows that you have a good amount of power left on the table to be found from tuning. And we all know that mo power is mo fun ;)

Chase
Engineering

First off, thanks for the quick response and the always good info. :respekt:

For a while now, I've been considering either an aftermarket snorkel like the one from HKS or buying an oem snorkel and doing my own snorkel mod. Looking at the results y'all got on the dyno for your snorkel mod, would I potentially be running too lean where my AFR peaks between 5300 and 5500 rpm? It's going to be a few years before I'm comfortable doing something like an ECUTEK tune where my warranty will be removed that is until it runs out (based on my experience with my previous BRZ, I might need that warranty), but if I can safely bump the AFR up the chart and possibly bump the other numbers up a bit that would be an easy enough mod to do. Obviously, I understand that there will still be plenty of power left on the table until I am comfortable running a tune. :cheers:

Also, I ran out of paper plates (they're about to expire) so I put my plain janes on with the GrimmSpeed reallocation kit that has been hibernating in my parts bin in my garage. I am still waiting for Travis county to get their collective asses together so I can register my custom plates. Pics with the kit on will come when I get my custom plates registered and on the car!

This is almost an impossible question to answer without actually putting the car on the dyno and checking AFR (or doing some data logging), because it's not always fair to say "1+1=2" when looking at the effects of an intake on a system. However, just for the sake of argument:

http://www.grimmspeed.com/content/im...norkel_4th.jpg

If you look at our stock vs modified snorkel runs you'll see that every run with a modified snorkel actually produced a little more power. At the same time, if you look at the AFRs, the leanest run with with the stock snorkel. So the AFRs are richer, and there is more power being made. Completely counter-intuitive. So it is possible that the TRD intake with the modified snorkel could bring the AFRs closer to stock, but without actually testing back at the dyno it will be impossible to say for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes more power though.

We love pictures, so as soon as you get the new plates be sure to post up pictures of your car and the LPK!

I'm glad to help, even though I wasn't much help. At the end of the day, nothing beats time on the dyno and some tuning with a tuner you trust to make sure your car is safe and fun!

Chase
Engineering

You're info is actually a lot of help to someone new to performance modding and tuning, like me. I think I will try to test snorkels when a) I also have my materials together to paint my headlights and tint my fog lights & DRLs and b) the dyno is available at the DIY garage I'll be using. When it comes to comparing AFR curves, what boundaries should I be cognizant of to determine if a particular setup is safe and if all are safe, which will be the best to run? Am I wanting to be as close to stoichiometric (I hope I spelled that correctly) as possible?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Nope, you'll want to stay away from stoich for WOT (wide open throttle) performance, that would be pretty lean. Stoichiometric AFR is what your car will usually shoot for during cruise and idle, where load is minimal, and efficiency needs to be maximum. However, especially on a high compression motor like this, you want to be a bit richer for WOT performance, and use that extra fuel to keep the cylinders cool, and prevent detonation. Everyone has their opinions about what a safe AFR for tuning should be, but most reputable tuners will generally agree that between 12.5 and 13.0 is safe. You'll see nit-picking going back and forth about 13.2 (or whatever other slightly leaner AFR) being best, but you'll notice dynoing and tuning that a lot of times small changes in AFR like this don't do much for power production, and aren't worth sacrificing the additional margin of safety for.

Chase
Engineering

Thanks again for some more good info, now once I have my hands on an intake air duct/snorkel (which might be a bit of time as I have other mods I would like to complete first) I can coordinate installation around access to a dyno (will be using the same exact dyno as last time) to see how much of a difference (either good or bad) it made. I feel a lot more comfortable moving forward with my intake and exhaust mods, now that I know what to look for on the dyno. You guys should get into tuning ecu's, I'd do remote tuning with y'all, but in all seriousness, I will likely keep my ears close to the ground until I find someone local I can use for engine tuning (once I am ready to make the leap of faith lol)! :cheers: Now that I am done being a fanboi and all, time to go looking into some of these other mods I need to do. ;)

Well, its my inevitable bad post. 5th gear has started to grind when up shifting and down shifting into 5th. This only seems to happen when I am above about 45ish mph, at slow speeds it shifts into 5th gear smoothly. I am letting my dealer do my first oil change tomorrow (at no charge to me) and I will be mentioning this to them. If they seem to think there is nothing wrong with it, I will be going ahead with doing a fluid swap in the transmission. Motul Gear 300 is supposed to arrive via Brown Santa (the UPS man) tomorrow. I will keep y'all posted!

what a bummer!

So, the technician immediately recreated the issue and has opened a ticket with techline. I guess I will find out in a couple weeks, what the prognosis is with my transmission. The service rep at my dealer seems to think that I will get a brand new transmission... at 3k miles on the odo. Apparently I am bad luck for cars. FWIW the tech didn't think driver error was a possible cause of the problem! :P

sounds like you found some good techs.

Yea, both the dealers in Austin and Georgetown have pretty good service departments. Granted, I've done most of my servicings through the dealer so it behooves them to treat me well.

I have noticed with my dealer as well, I have built a rappor with them and they seem to heed my advice on this vehicle and are always double checking to dot their i's and cross their t's. Glad you are getting some great help, sorry to hear about 5th gear. If you get a new tranny, have them see if there are any shavings from the old or have them drain the old and see if any are in there. Will possibly tell you right away if it is grinding.

Ordered the crush washers for the rear diff and trans through my dealer today. I should have them on Wednesday, which is perfect as I will be changing the fluid in the rear diff this Thursday at DIY Texas. Thanks to the generosity of @trevorovert, I will also be installing a replica oem rear diffuser as well that day. :happyanim::thumbup: