Upgrading a newly leased FR-S
 

Hey all!

Just leased a '16 Halo White FR-S in Santa Barbara, CA!

Coming from a '14 Focus ST (which I finally was awarded lemon law for), I won't bother preaching to the choir about how an underpowered sports car > an overpowered grocery getter any day.

The passion is BACK! Not since my highschool days in my (obnoxiously loud and dropped) Del Sol have I felt this passionate about my daily driver. This is what a car should be (well, minus the anemic stock engine power)

Couple of questions off the bat:

The engine ticks at idle. Sounds like a belt/cog is tapping something. Not horribly loud but noticeable, especially for less than 100mi so far. Anyone else?

It's a lease but I def. want to mod. A local friend is parting out his BURZ and offering me first dibs! I'm considering his barely used Berk front pipe and Perrin cat back. Not sure if the header and subsequent tune are worth it for a lease. Thoughts? Anything else that's easily bolt-on/bolt-off you would put on the must have list?

Dealership claims the spoiler would be > $1k painted & installed. JESUS. Anyone selling a halo white spoiler?

Short ram intake. Worth it? Easy enough to return to stock?

Anything you wish someone would have told you at the beginning?

Jxn

Normal. It's the HPFP. It'll chirp, too.

If you're talking about the stock spoiler, I'm sure there are people who would love to trade trunks with you. Spoilerless trunks like yours are in high demand.

Nope. Stock airbox is pretty good. Intake can produce gains, but not worth it for the money required IMO. Get a drop-in filter for 75% of the gains and 20% of the cost.

Honest question, Why mod a lease?

If the mods are fairly easy to remove/re-sell and not invasive enough to make the dealership tech bat an eye, why not?

It's more of just a rattle/knock. It doesn't (yet) have a "chirp" to it like these youtube clips (https://youtu.be/RMoITXl5QgQ) but it *sounds like that's something for me to look forward to :-/

Swapping the whole trunk sounds a bit more trouble than it's worth..

Air filter recco's?

1. Drop in filter
2. Open flash tablet
3. ?
That's my recommendation.

A lot of people have had luck with Shell V-Power since it has no ethanol for preventing the chirps.

You could try that.

The problem with mods is that you always want more.

It starts off easy, with the simple drop in filter or intake what have you....
Before you know it, you will be dreaming about compressor wheels and header porn.

God speed, sir.


But really, ask the dealership to be safe. I don't know much about leases, but could they be ****s and say you voided X warranty on specific component which is a violation of the lease because the car should remain under warranty for the duration of the lease?

Check out question number 5

https://www.toyotafinancial.com/pub/...s/buy_or_lease

Not sure it would change anything, but they do specifically ask about modifications

People mod their bought cars. Then part out and trade in. Same shit no? No one keeps their car forever. And rarely sells it with all the mods on it.

If the mods are reversible. Who cares.

Injectors. These cars use two different injection systems systems and sound like they are gonna throw a rod or pop a valve all the time. Normal and you will get used to it.


A lot of your answers can be found here. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96158

Not everybody. Some of have some self restraint!

True. I've done some preliminary internet research and most leasers claim a bolt-on CB wouldn't violate terms. However, I'm def. going to speak w the dealership b4 buying anything this weekend. I really hope they're relaxed about things because that Perrin and Berk are almost new and deeply friend discounted! :thumbup:

someone's been watching The Smoking Tire...(Burz)

But, mod to your hearts content.
First mod should be a tune(openflash tablet)

After that, wheels, tires, suspension, exhaust etc...lol, theres so much to do.

Tune though, for sure.

Also, the "ticking" is "crickets". Don't buy into the "bro, fillup your tank with shell on odd numbered days when there is a full moon" or "do a mix of 3 fuels and sacrifice an animal" to get rid of the sound.

The sound is here to stay, so just accept it.

they will probably tell you that mods void your warranty BUT buying massively overpriced parts from them(the dealer) wont.

Don't believe it for a second.

To tag on to this, here are some easily reversible mods that make the most difference:

For performance:
1. Drop in Filter (for sure) + sound tube delete
2. Open Flash Tablet Stg. 1 tune
3. Open Flash Tablet Stg. 1 e85 tune
4. Tires
5. Brake pads + fluid
6. Camber bolts
7. Header (although to reverse this will take a few hours)
8. Open Flash Tablet Stg. 2 e85 tune
9. Phantom Electric Supercharger
10. Open Flash Tablet Phantom ESC e85 or pump gas tune

For appearance:
Exterior
1. Springs or coilovers (reversing springs will take more time than reversing coils)
2. 25mm spacers for OEM wheels
3. New wheels, but this may also require new tires depending on size
4. Window tint
5. Exhaust tips or Catback exhaust
6. Spoiler that attaches with 3M tape only OR trunk swap w/ someone
7. CS Style lip kit and spats
8. Aftermarket tail lights
9. Aftermarket headlights

Interior
1. Vinyl wrap interior panels
2. Weighted shift knob (Raceseng Slammer or Ashiko there are others, these are the two I've tried)
3. Aftermarket reverse lockout to match the knob
4. Seat covers
5. 3D molded floor mats

TRD intake helps keep warranty just in case and helps smooth shifting imo. Worth it over stock.

TRD drop in does the same thing at a fraction of the cost and work. Doesn't look as pretty though.

I got a lease FrS, so far my mods are:

Ark grip catback
Motiv catless front pipe
Buddyclub tailights
Winjet headlights
K&n drop in air filter
Valenti 3rd rear brake light
Window visor

No problem with the dealership when im doing my maintenance service, im not planning to tune it though or touch anything on the engine, im still undecided if im keeping the car, so incase i can just bring it back to stock when i return it.

So, exactly HOW MUCH HP gain does a drop-in give you? Can't be much if it all. Why wouldn't Sub/Toyota add a drop-in during the factory build if it truly does gain HP?? Any real data??

Don't mean to hi-jack, just never seen any numbers.

Within the margin of error of a dyno, from most tests that were performed.

I'm too lazy to search for the threads but I'm sure you can find plenty.

It's a lease. Unless you plan on keeping it then don't mod it. It's probably in the contract and if they service it with any of the parts on it you might get stuck paying full price since it's more than likely breech of contract. Not to sound bad but if you're gonna trade it in after lease they probably won't like that. Check your contract for sure. If it doesn't say anything then mod away. Just my 2 cents.

As long as you decide to keep the car at the end, you can do anything you want to it. Even paint it bright green. The only time they will care is if something breaks and they can find a way to prove that your aftermarket part broke that part or when you if trade it in.


However if you plan to trade it in...I wouldn't mod it. Just a waste of money, even if you resale the parts you will never get what you paid.

Might just drop a T(u)RD filter in there and call it a day.

Unless those parts were already deeply discounted ;)

My ear dyno loves it! Not sure how much you really gain but I like it.

Don't know if serious but...
Why wouldn't they add better brake pads, tires, etc. during factory build if it truly does gain better performance? It's a lot deeper than that.:sigh:

Beyond the front pipe and cb, I might entertain a drop in filter.

Electric.. Supercharger? A plug-in snail?! LOOOL

There are whole threads of numbers. Most are between 3 to 5 HP which of course is within the variation of dyno runs. The fun fact is that most whole intake changes give about the same numbers so there is little to no advantage (other than cosmetics) to throwing on a new intake.
What you do get is more noise and since the manufacturers wants to appeal to a broad range of people not just the "cuz' racecar bro" crowd they keep it quieter. There are also legal requirements that they have to meet that the buyer does not.

The electric superchargers are getting rave reviews and the people with them are generally very happy. The tech has come a long way in a short time on those and they are not the joke they once were. Do not be surprised if you start to see them more often as a factory part in the near future.

I'm sure it has. It just brought me back to those "leaf blower supercharger" videos we used to lol @ in high school.

As @Tcoat mentioned, times are changing. Fast. It's been noted that every major mfg has electric super/turbo chargers in the manufacturing pipeline as we speak. Volvo's 2017 twin charged XC90 will be the first to be hybrid Electric Super into Mechanical Super twin charged model. That's 450 bhp from a 2.0L 4 cylinder. An astounding 225 bhp per liter!.
http://www.autonews.com/article/2014...-is-this-thing

In the aftermarket, we are lucky to have one of the very few engineers working on an ESC integration for the 86 @Robftss . 2 years ago and for about a total of $2.5k and 2 hours to self-install (and 30 mins to uninstall). I received the 9th Phantom ESC kit for my FR-S. With only 4.5lbs of boost my engine churns out an additional 50 WHP and 80 WTQ in the torque dip than a stock 86. Here's my dyno from this summer with an off the shelf tune on a HOT and humid day. I'm certain that development this winter will show even more output.

223.4 WHP @ 7300 RPM
207.8 WTQ @ 3376 RPM

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=70

In the Phantom ESC owner's thread you'll find a couple of 1/4 mi drag slips from very daily driver type cars with nothing too special added besides the Phantom ESC and the correct tune.

@Steveo585 's BRZ Phantom ESC 13.8 @ 101
@shif7i7down 's FRS Phantom ESC 14.01 @ 104

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=559

Seriously though, check out the build thread on this board for more info. With very few limitations (mostly due to Rob trying to keep the kit price in a sensibly aggressive low place), this is probably the future of F.I. both OEM and aftermarket.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...4&postcount=70



http://i.imgur.com/6w2M4p9.jpg

As not to derail this thread from its' original intent, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them in the Phantom ESC thread (which is now at 585 pages, 9900+ posts and over 1 million views!)
:confused0068:

Hmm, wonder what would happen if you took a full electric or plug-in hybrid, swapped out the electric engine and the "generator" for a V8, then used the battery pack to charge a big supercharger on that V8?

LOL No not these:

http://g02.a.alicdn.com/kf/UT87ZmDXl...cXXagOFbXg.jpg

http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/...3_orig.jpg?529

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZidyeNrh18Q"]Vishnu Tuning Electric Supercharger Fun! - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4-oNENVYVs"]stock S2000 (AP1) vs FRS Boost(Phantom Electric Supercharger) Run 1 Dualview - YouTube[/ame]

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...1.jpg~original

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b0ftfKFEJg"]Sesame Street: One of These Things - YouTube[/ame]

More IS better, right?
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JianzFdC4eg/maxresdefault.jpg

I wouldn't mod it and put effort on it knowing that I will return it back one day.
Lighting is all I mod if I am leasing a car.

We're on the third page and only one person has mentioned this. What terms did you agree to? If you want to know if you're allowed to modify the vehicle, read your contract. It the lease prohibits modding, it will say so in the contract.

The internet doesn't know what's in your contract. I suspect most of the people who posted their thoughts about that never actually read their own contracts.

Probably only one or two people at the dealership actually know what's in your contract. A sales guy isn't going to know. A service writer isn't going to know. The business manager who handled the signing of all your paperwork may know, but he may not.

Read your contract before you ask them anything.

Other people have covered this, but I'll stress that this car makes a lot of noises that are all normal. It ticks, it rattles, it scrapes, it bumps, it clanks, it rumbles.

Most of these sounds have been discussed on the forum at some point or another, so when you hear a new sound you're not expecting, do a search. The easiest way to search is NOT to use the search button on the site, but to use Google instead and restrict your search to this site using the "site:ft86club.com" tag. So you might try something like this:

site:ft86club.com engine tick

Official Trunk Trade Thread

Also, in addition to searching Ebay, you can search for smashed cars on car-part.com. You may get lucky and find a trunk with a spoiler on there.

Installing the spoilers on these cars requires drilling holes in the trunk. Swapping or replacing the whole trunk requires removing and replacing a few bolts. The only real drawback is that the trunk has a VIN tag on it, so if you care about the VINs matching, they won't. But I doubt that really matters other than a sharp-eyed buyer later on might see the mismatch and assume it was in an accident.

No. Just do the drop in filter or leave it stock. IIRC, only one company has actually been able to demonstrate any gains with an aftermarket intake, and they weren't enough to justify the cost unless you're trying to squeeze out every last ounce of power for a race application.

Most people don't really do it for a gain in power. You do it for the difference in sound, which, when taken with your other senses, makes the car seem faster. A lot of people then delude themselves into believing they're making more power to justify it in their minds, but to me there's nothing wrong with doing a mod like this just for the cosmetic effect.

I put a whole cowl intake system on my other vehicle that pipes intake noise into the cabin in a way that is hilarious. Does it give me any difference in power? I dunno. I did it for the lulz, and it was worth every penny.

Crickets are normal. Running ethanol free gas may get rid of them, but it also may not get rid of them, and when it does it's because of the difference in additive packages, NOT because of the lack of ethanol. Running Lucas fuel additive does not get rid of crickets. Replacing the high pressure fuel pump does not get rid of crickets. There is no sure cure.

The car makes a lot of other noises also. They are usually normal.

If you're sitting at idle with the clutch out and the gearbox in neutral, and you then put the car in gear, it will make a clunking sound from the rear of the vehicle. This is normal.

The coolant temperature gauge on the dash is fake. There is a 40 to 50 F range that registers with the needle in the middle "normal" position. It can swing from 180 F to 220 F without that needle moving at all.

If you monitor your actual coolant temperature with Torque or an aftermarket gauge, you will notice that the coolant temperature will stay around 190 F when you have the air conditioner on, but will shoot up as high as 220 F if you turn the air conditioner off and sit idling. This is normal.

If you take a drink every time you see "this is normal" on this board, you'll have a helluva drinking game that will likely put you in the hospital.

You should read the "Hidden Features" thread for more interesting normal shit about this car:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63261