Subtle mods?
 

So i just got my new BRZ about a month ago. I am planning on modding the car a bit but not for another year or so. However i'm not super rich so im gonna start saving now lol.

Was wondering what mods you guys have done?
I'm looking for something thats not super invasive but can increase the performance of the car. Not looking for massive power spike. Something more like an additional 30-50 HP and about the same for Torque.

The mods i'm thinking about are:
New Exhaust
Cold Air Intake
Air Filter
ECU Mod (may not do this because ive read about issues where the car will essentially reject the tune and then your car is undrivable. Also this sounds like the most invasive mod so i may not do it)
Black side front and back skirts (more for the aesthetic)

Also any advice on where to buy and what companies would give me the most bang for my buck.

Please excuse me if i sound super noob at this. This is the first car (and the first time i can afford) that i can even attempt to mod and i kinda have no idea where to start or what to do. I also wont be DIYing these installs because i'm not a handyman by any means.

Thanks for any help!!

Suggest you read here mate :-)
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81493


Best bang for buck is a tune plus E85 fuel, and its totally reversible.
or tune plus catless header on petrol if you dont have E85 available or want to run E85.

dont change the intake its not worth the trouble or expense, just put in a $50 drop in non-oiled filter like apexi .


if your rearly concerned about warantee dont mod anything

or get an OFT where you can flash back a totally stock tune yourself for service. and just do the tune and maybe a drop in filter




then maybe most of the pretty colored links below if you want to tune it yourself or use something lke an OFT or even get a tuner to do it.


to get 30 (at the wheels) or so Hp over stock you will need catless header and overpipe plus tune on likely 93 petrol minimum. Rearly expensive header like ACE ($1500) might get you their on 91 with a custom tune.

or less expensive header like gruppe-s tune and E85 fuel

50hp (at the wheels) over stock on naturally aspirated car is pretty well not achievable even with full bolt on mods E85 and custom tune

Holy crap thank you! =D

New to these forums so still trying to find my way around haha

I assume because you are suggesting the tune you have done it yourself? Have you noticed any real problems with it? I have watched a few videos on the flash tablet and it effectively gave it extra HP on the lower end and basically got rid of the torque dip. If you havnt had any issues i might spend the money and just get the tablet so i can flash it back to stock whenever i bring it in.

Thank you so much for the advice!

Header
Cat back exhaust
Open flash tablet


My suggestion for specifics are:

Jdl uel or el header
Resonated 2.5 Perrin cbe

Both catted since you live in California. (Not sure of laws there though)

If you go e85, make sure it's available in your commuting area, otherwise, stick with 93

I dont know how much money you have but you could also sell the stock tires and buy ones with more grip of you desire more grip. The stock michelins are expensive, $~150-190 new, so you can sell them slightly used for a good price.

Another performance addition is some lighter wheels. Reducing each wheel weight by a pound would be beneficial.



If I may pry into your personal life, maybe instead of modding the car, work on paying off the car faster. I paid off my car in two years by making large payments, dodging paying a good sum of interest. It may not be the most fun route, but it's safer.

Otherwise, open flash tablet $500, catback exhaust $600+, header $600. I wouldn't cheap out on any mods though.

~$2300 for specific setup I mentioned earlier.

Awesome thanks!!

Yeah i actually will have the car paid off in slightly over a year (hence why i want to wait a bit) so thats not much of an issue. I will definetly look into those options you mentioned. Unfortunetly for gas in my area the best i can get is 91 so i'm going to have to stick with that.

Thanks for all the advice!

Does driver mod count as "subtle"?

Haha, yeah i'm still getting my "fun" driving skills up. For the most part though i've been driving manual cars for about 15 years and i can for the most part get the power i need when i need it. These mods arent really to make up for any shortcomings in my driving technique. Just more something i feel would give my car that very slight push in my mind. Honestly if i wanted more power i would have gone with a WRX or heaven forbid a mustang. But i really like the fact that i dont have to deal with a turbo (lots of bad times in my old Eclipse GST) and i can push out exactly the amount of HP i need. I mean realistically who really needs more than 200 unless you are heavy into tracking your car. This is my daily driver and 200 hp is more than enough. But in my mind i want a tad more than more...so...here we are haha

i have probably flashed my car ecu more than most

probably about 200 plus on oft, another 200 with tactrix\ecuflash and about 20 with ecutek, trying various tunes and mods on petrol and E85.

not managed to brick my ecu yet :-)

read here to avoid flashing hassles, if you dont do silly stuff you wont have problems
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...92&postcount=1


if you fitt headers properly as per the basic bolt on mods guide you wont have issues either

oft comnes with tunes for stock cars on petrol 91\93 and e85 and cars with el or uel headers. the oft you can also onsell for only a small loss if you move on, as long as you unmarry it by flashing you car back to stock, read the OFT TIPS link below

You, kind sir, "get it". ;)

Welcome to the forums and enjoy your stay.

Haha thanks! =D

Meh, leave it alone for a couple years. Spend that time really getting to know it. Learn to be smooth above 5K RPM but don't linger there unless you have a decent oil cooler.

It's a great little machine all on its own.

Oh totally. I dont plan on doing these for at the bare minimum one year. I LOVE the car as is. Just planning for the future. I know myself and i'm the kinda guy that always craves a bit more out of my things without having to buy it all over again.

I havnt actually been above 5k yet haha. Always drove low RPM cars in the past so i'm still getting used to it. I Also tend to drive a lot of residential cuz of where i live so unfortunetly dont get to really push the car as much as i would like. Luckily, i'm in california, and we have some amazing back roads here.

Ah, here's the secret. You don't have to push the car in order to operate up there. It doesn't involve going all F&F. Just get used to modulating the throttle with the engine running up there. Get used to shifting smoothly, calmly. Notice how much more responsive it is. *Maybe you'll discover the reward of working with what it has to offer.

*In the most genuine sense, not snarky.

Haha sorry i use my terms loosely. I generally mean push as in not driving like a granny. I totally get what you are saying though. I actually got it up there yesterday going on the freeway on my way to grab some lunch. It's definitely a new experience for me. The Kind of response and power, it's why i love this car to death. Everytime i drive this car i'm learning something new. Thats why i'm not in a hurry to add mods yet. However i love knowledge and having too much is never a bad thing. Took me 4 years of research and constant "is this really what i want?" before i bought this car. I just like asking my questions early and seeing what people usually think. Helps me make a decision down the line when i actually want to do it.

I've had my car about 10 months and, for all intents and purposes, it's still stock. I've made two changes that I recommend without any hesitation. First, a heavier than stock shift knob. I bought a Raceseng "Topology" from another list member and it transformed the car's shifting. When new it was pretty notchy. The shift knob, along with accumulating mileage made the car shift incredibly smoothly.

Second was a set of adhesive 2" convex mirrors. For me the car's C pillar gets in the way of doing good head checks in traffic. Combine that with being on the wrong side of 60 and less flexible than I used to be and the mirrors are great additions.

I also plugged the sound tube, but that's just me.

If I made a performance mod it would not be to squeeze some more ponies out from under the hood, it would be to fill in the torque dip. For my money, the dollar per horsepower figures are unattractive. Most of the power that is added shows up at the top of the rev band and most of my driving is in the middle of it. From what I read, the dip demon can be exorcised with one of several unequal length headers. I haven't decided if the dip bothers me enough to fool with it. It really is a very good car as it sits.

Consider yourself blessed that your post has got a response from @steve99. This man has ample experience with these cars and has published extensive suggestions on modding them, separating the real results from the hype. His posts are all over this forum, and they can be your go-to reference. He is a library.

Good luck and have fun!

:thumbup:

I will thanks!

This is a must have for the BRZ IMO, it's subtle, easy to install, and the car probably should've come this way from the factory:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTp0wYcuZHo[/ame]

Nick C.

OOOOH this is an awesome mod. I am totally going to do this. Thanks!

Don't forget to shoot us a PM for the free-shipping code :thumbsup:

Nick C.

Being at the stage I'm at with my car now, I have a few opinions.

If you don't care about performance (in the way that you aren't tracking or driving hard regularly), then I'd suggest getting an axelback exhaust. It'll help give you a little bit more sense of speed. To me it just makes the car more enjoyable.

Then I'd say OFT for sure.

Then I'd go with wheels/tires. Depending on budget of course. Wheels is a personal preference thing, but a sticker set of tires such as Yokohama S-Drives, Hankook Ventus V12, or Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 will really help the handling aspect.


It's hard to say what you should and shouldn't do since everybody has different needs, wants, and budgets. Everything that's been suggested so far is spot on though.

For me personally, I bought a muffler delete/track pipe. I also got different wheels on stock tires, and a weighted shift knob. All within the first week. The next summer I lowered the car on Eibach Pro Kit springs, went back to stock wheels (plasti dipped in Vintage Gold) on stickier tires and a drop in filter. This year I purchased a catless front pipe (got a killer deal on it that I couldn't pass up), new wheels, new tires, and an OFT.

To go back in time I may have done some things differently, but I don't regret anything.

At the end of the day it's your car, and you should modify it the way you want.
Of course, come check the forum first to make sure you aren't doing something wrong like getting a catless header without a tune lol.

Welcome aboard and happy modding!

2JZ swap is always subtle ;)

:clap::lol:

not trolling....but stock engine. only upgrade the already great handling. brakes suspension tires. there is no need to upset the reliability on this car. but that is only my opinion.

From the list of mods you are seeking out I recommend an Openflash Tablet or a tune equivalent. That with some headers will net you the best gains for the money. Any of the other exhaust mods past the headers will not be as noticeable for power gains. I know wheels/tires aren't on your list, but if you want to enjoy the car without the power gains a nice set of tires would make the car more "fun" to drive if you're into that ;).

Congrats on your BRZ and welcome to the forums :)

Yeah thats for sure what I'm doing. Already have a build plan but not touching engine at all

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

Thank you! As i've now driven the car for about a month and i'm incredibly in love with the way the car drives and handles. I've decided to do some more aesthetic mods to the car as well as lowering the weight which is technically a performance mod. If you guys want to follow along and offer advice and whatnot i have a youtube channel going. Under same name as here. XXYION