Would I boost this car again if I had the chance?
 

Probably not.

Got my car back in '12 and immediately boosted in early '13. I still have my SC on and driven over 160k miles with the car and 140+k miles while boosted. I can say, I was the lucky ones to have the engine last so long until my valves took a dump. It still runs, but sloppy.

However, looking at all the money I spent to get to 312whp ($10,000 for 130whp gain) and the constant issues with throwout bearings failing and worry of other drivetrain components, I'd rather go with a platform that is boosted from the factory. If I wanted to go to the next step, I'd have to do an expensive engine build for forged internals.

For comparison, I picked up an Evo X, placed $3,500 in it and have 390whp(+140whp gain). Stock internals are good to about 500whp, stock transmission can hold up to 1000whp, stock clutch can handle 400wtq. All that is needed is a larger bolt on turbo to reach the 500whp.

What I'm saying is there are plenty of other platforms to make cheaper, easier power on. Twins are a great platform, but a huge headache at the same time.

I went from an 08 EVO GSR to my 13 BRZ-L. As a daily driver I don't miss the EVO one bit. When I wanna flex on exotics I miss the EVO lots.

How about a 700hp mustang with a factory warranty for $42k?

Unbeatable value.

If all you wanted was a rwd coupe with 300whp then you should have just bought an M2. Half the joy this car has is the modification not the end result. Theres a 1001 different things you can do with them whereas Im flatout trying to find a video on youtube of an M2 with more than just a chip/exhaust

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Sounds like you want a highway puller. Nothing wrong with that and i agree there are much better street cars for the money.

I think this car is great as a track car. Cheap to run and fun. If you are tracking a high hp car your costs will at least increase basically exponentially. For example GTR guys can eat up a set of tires in a weekend.

https://y.yarn.co/3ee25387-7f74-49ed...711bf_text.gif

For most people, this car is meant to fulfill a unique niche. It's a lightweight coupe RWD car with incredible handling characteristics. I agree that it's somewhat disappointing walking on eggshells for 3-400whp when other cars juggle it easily. But no amount of $ can make them small, RWD maybe, a bit lighter maybe. Better handling for sure, but dollar for dollar, they can't come close to the twins if anything but power is why you bought the car.

I feel that some of us who cherish this car have hopelessly been stuck in the 80s/90s. This car is fulfilling so many weird "small car rwd" fantasies for me without being a Miata or an e30/36 BMW, it's perfect. Bonus: it has a great fueling system and fuel mileage!

I get excited getting to the point I want to get to. I’ve been through it all. It’s only fun when you are on budget. It gets annoying when you repeatedly start going over budget and it becomes a headache when you have do constant repairs. In the end, I look back and I spent way too much money.

Yep, sometimes I miss my factory-boosted MS3. Sometimes.


The BRZ is "more fun" to drive around town though.

I autoX also. I have no means to track. No truck to tow. If the car breaks, I’m screwed.
I came to a resolution that if I’m going to track the car, I’d rather track it NA. FI comes with too many problems. I’m going to strip the car down.

To answer the question, YES.
Before BRZ, supercharged MINI/S (BMW). Intake, exhaust, pully, tune.
Great little car, tracked it, and enjoyed having my right foot on the floor for lengthy periods of time, and not going stupid fast.
BRZ, love getting back to RWD. I got one of the first Inovate SC. It is just enough to make the back end "happy", 200+. I still track the car some and I still drive with my right foot down a lot. It is just plain fun.
I am lucky enough to have some fast cars, 3-4 seconds and you are loose license territory on the street. Yes this car does what I wanted and with a little extra I smile every time I drive.

Imo the car owes you nothing lol. That's a lot of miles for a 300whp car that was designed for 200 crank horse power.

^^This. :thumbup:

Fair point but the biggest draw of this car to me is the ~2800 lbs weight. If that doesn't matter to you, then yes, modding a twin to make a reliable +310 rhwp is a pretty bad value proposition.

IMHO, the trick to this car is not to get greedy. A HP bump to increase the fun factor is perfect for this car. Going over the top and chasing numbers is what seem to turn people off to the car.

I, personally, have chosen the Harrop kit @ stock boost and have zero regrets. Seems a perfect street car to me. Zero (non-install related) issues in 25K miles.

I would do it again. Mainly because I just enjoy wrenching in my car especially since they’re known to be slow so I like to keep a sleeper look


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What he said.
Im using the JR C30 kit.

I'm thinking the same. Maybe get a used sc just for a little more oomph. I'm getting lazy and don't like having to rev the noisy little sawmill every time I want to pass an suv.

enthusiasts struggle to recognize that paper specs, dyno sheets, lap times, etc never really translates or correlates to driving enjoyment...if anything, going for those things makes it worse..

If I wanted a 300hp car, I would have bought a 300hp car, not a 160hp car. Modding for big power gains makes sense with some cars a lot more than others, and the twins are not one of them. Don't get me wrong, the IDEA of a factory WRX style powertrain is exciting, but for what it costs to do the right way, I'd just as soon go a different direction.

Lol...
 

A factory wrx is not a 300whp car it's a 265bhp car so about 210-220whp.it also weighs a ton more than a twin. Anyone who acts like a wrx is a huge power gain over a twin is on crack. A twin with a catless header and flex fuel is faster than a stock wrx.

Jaden

This^^^ The real difference is how the powerband and gearing are sorted. The turbo SURGES IN and the AWD hook so it feels like you're a rocket. Exhaust noise, the RPMs rising rapidly and other sensory things contribute to this feeling as well. It's all trickery, I tell you!!!!!

You just described my 91 Talon TSi AWD to the tee!
Nothing
Nothing
Nothing
TURBO

That made me miss my 95 Eclipse GST =(

You said Talon...

https://i.imgflip.com/2lf3os.jpg

I would do it again for sure, however, I miss the peace of mind that comes with N/A. I say that coming from never having an issue 30k miles boosted. N/A with ITBs is sounding more and more inciting...

Such a beautiful comment. Made my tear up. lol
But really, don't forget the awesome interior space for how small the car is. I can stuff so much crap in here its ridiculous.

Funny, I haven't thought this car looked like a sleeper but I realize that it is known to be a slow car people don't anticipate it when it has some FI. :lol:

Amen.

Would I boost this car again if I had the chance?
 

Almost 500whp with a hks leggamax exhaust keeps the boltons mustangs/Camaro’s in check out of nowhere they hear the spool next thing they hear wastegate then the tail lights lmao

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...83ebb1e490.jpg

And yes I managed to fit 6 rims a jack some tools and other shit and still have space for a passenger to ride along with me

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nope. WOuldn't boost it again.

Stock header and stock exhuast with tune, add oil cooler and suspension. That would be it.

If I could do it again then I would do a turbo. If I could do it again then I would do ITB with E85, headers and anorexic weightless modz. If I could do it again then I would do a gutted track build.

Right now I am superchargered, and I’m loving what I have, something that handles amazingly well with more than enough power for the streets. There are other configurations for the twins that would be equally gratifying, but I have zero regrets. The biggest trade off is total weight and front end weight, but that is marginal compared to the gains.

I'd love to see a poll of people who regularly track their car boosted and how long their engines lasted. OP you are a lucky SOB to a a have your engine last that long. I think anything over 250 WHP and you're asking for trouble if you intend to do any REAL driving. I'm also pretty certain that peoples stock motors are lasting longer than "built FA20's" even at only 300 WHP. If I could go back in time I would've engine swapped A LONG time ago instead of wasting money on the FA20. If you're not happy with 200-250 WHP either engine swap or this is not the car for you.

It's slightly faster with e85, but not by much. A stock wrx will walk away from a stock frs pretty easily.

I drove pretty hard on mines. I have the vortech kit. It didn't make to much torque. Just roughly +100wtq from stock. I don't think those torque numbers hurt the motor than much. I think the key to longevity is to keep the torque low. A lot of turbo kits making 300+whp will make 300+ wtq.

It's like the general rule with the evox is to never tune the torque over 400wtq since the rods are the first to go, but you can run up to 500whp safely all day if you are below 400wtq on completely stock internals.

You misunderstood what I wrote. I did not say a WRX is a 300 hp car. I was referring to the power levels of aftermarket FI builds I am reading about here. Intended as a separate point, I wrote “WRX style” turbo referring to a hypothetical factory fa20 turbo, not an actual WRX. I know how that car works well. I owned a 2015, and my son drives a 2018. That is the worst-tuned engine I’ve ever experienced. It’s truly awful. I don’t want that in my car, but in theory, it could be done properly.

Anyway, all I was really saying is that a sub-200 hp NA BRZ is plenty fun. FI would be fun too, but for the cost to do it right, I’d personally start with a different platform.

But for the record, stock v stock, a WRX will SMOKE a BRZ in just about any kind of race you could dream up. Track, stoplight to stoplight, roll race... it’s not close. 100 ft lbs is a lot, even with an extra 500ish pounds.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkWyyY718AM[/ame]



This review is pretty spot on. FI gives the twins more of what the WRX has (usable power for other scenarios), while maintaining the benefit of being a light, great handling and low-seat-positioned vehicle (things that the WRX are not).

41 days and counting. I'm not quite at the 1 year mark since I've boosted.

It's not about how much power you make, as much as how well you support the power. Obviously if you make enough power, things will fail, but with the right support, mild boost is very sustainable.

https://i.imgur.com/X3Dp3wV.jpg

That top line makes peak power at just 10.5 psi, and is with a stock exhaust and stock (catted) front pipe. Efficiency > Brute force.

Care to place a wager on that? :)

My daily driver is a wrx.

While the absolute power gain may not be big, the usable power difference is massive, and a stock wrx will walk away from any header/ethanol/tune FRS, no matter what header and tune it is.

To keep it apples to apples, since a base wrx is approximately the cost of a base brz, for the price of a header + flex + tune on a BRZ, you can have a 400whp WRX.

A modern wrx spools faster than any turbo twin. On a 6th gear pull, I can have full boost at 2200 RPM.

I think it would depend on the level of modification on both cars, but in roughly apples to apples levels of modification, the WRX will win any acceleration metric, while the BRZ takes any cornering type of metric. In terms of actual on-track performance, it's actually very, very close, with the WRX having an exponentially lower skill floor.

The bigger issue, is that the WRX will overheat in stock or bolt-on form, while the BRZ will just cook it's oil.

You cannot compare a turbo 4 door AWD glorified grocery getter to a small NA RWD.

I sold a 2015 STI (glorified grocery getter with a good box, extra 0.5l and some badges) and grabbed a 2017 86, apples and oranges.

Yes, the WRX has a 2.0 whilst the STI has the 2.5, but, the FA20t isn't much different to the EJ25t performance wise, I test drove both, the WRX was actually more responsive than the STI off the line, I only got the STI because I always wanted one.

As for over heating, my STI only ever had high oil temp issues when I went I added some bolt ons and a tune, and only when pushed hard at the track, never on the street, which was easily and cheaply fixed with a oil cooler.

An oil cooler is required if you track or charge a 86 anyway.

The main difference I found, and the reason for the swap, was when I was having "fun" in the STI, I was at warp speed (the only handling mods were tyres and some adjustable sway bars, night and day difference to handling).

The 86 is fun reving the guts out of it getting up to the speed limit and wringing its neck in the twisties, my oil temps do get up to 120°c in heavy traffic, the STI never did though.

So, in closing, if you need a AWD 4 door car with some performance you cannot go wrong with a WRX, you can fit the missus and kids with all the superfluous stuff that involves and go to the shops, or/and, put on some roof racks and load up the boards and fishing rods and take the family basically anywhere, or hit the track.

But, If you want a RWD car that can be fun to drive around the twisties, and only big enough to take the missus away for a weekend, minus the kids, the 86 is perfect.

My kids have their own cars now so I have no need for 4 door, I now have a need for a 4 cyl, RWD car that I can relive my youth by being the oldest "hoonigan" around, a screaming RWD NA with exhaust and tune fits that bill perfectly, for now....

I did look into charging mine, but to be reliable I didn't find it financially viable.

I pissed my money away in my youth spending tens of thousands on builds, to lose it all on resale, if the engine and drivetrain was stronger dropping 10k wouldn't bother me, but dropping 10k and waiting for it to break........ been there done that.

If they put a FA20t into the 86 at the factory, and upgraded the gearbox and other parts of the drivetrain I would be first in line to get one, my daughter wants my current 86 anyway, that would make at least 1 of the women in the house happy, for a while anyway, and me, the happiest hoonigan around.