SubiePig's BRZ STX Build.
 

I guess its time that I join the crew and make a build thread! Slowly building the car into STX after a few good years in CSP with this;
https://sphotos-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/h..._4262934_n.jpg

I currently have some backing helping me along from:
Chasebays.com
Corr Performance Tuning
and potentially some others

Current mods:
KW V3's, different spring rates
Vorshlag Camber Plates
Stranos 22m Front Bar
Whiteline Front Endlinks
Kartboy Rear Endlinks
Lamin-X yellow fogs
Clear sidemarkers
Ebay silicon sound tube delete
K&N drop in Filter
Chase Bays Stainless Brake lines
Chase Bays Grounding and Charging kit.
17X9 +35mm Matte Bronze RPF1's
255/40/17 RS'3
Invidia N1 Catback
JDL UEL Headers/Overpipe/Catted Front Pipe
Invidia N1 Catback
Project Mu +800 Front and Rear Pads
ATE Super Blue Fluid
Motul 0W20 300V
Motul Gear 300 (Trans)
Motul Gear 300 LS (Diff)
Whiteline trans, diff, subframe, and all suspension bushings
Swift Springs
Kartboy Short Throw
Kartboy Shifter Bushings
Kartboy Crank Pulley
TIC Steering Rack Bushings


Planned Mods:
Seats
Rear lower control arms
Brake kit (99% sure it will be AP/Essex)

For the time being this car is my daily driver and will be until about spring of next year. I plan to do all the major things that really improve the car first like dialing in suspension before I worry about minor details to the extent of the rulebook. After that will be power adders and weight savings mixed together, which ever order of things does the largest bang for the buck at a time.

Last but not least here is a picture of the car as at its first event, stock suspension at the time. Also, thanks to Scooby South for some setup discussion.
https://sphotos-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/h...83140920_n.jpg

Video of fastest run, first in STX by .4XX and 7th out of 41 in PAX in a pretty much stock car with wheels and 380 tread wear tires at the time.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnq9xot8bxI&feature=share&list=UUALlMc16gV tUiEC_ILWb2EA"]7.13.13 11 STX Fastest run NOLA Motorsports Park - YouTube[/ame]

Good Luck on your build! I haven't seen you in ages, since I moved out of Louisiana last year. Hope you enjoy the car.

Thanks! I have been so busy with school the past few years, just graduated in May, and the miata was just not CSP competitive anymore when I got out. I still have the car, I see it going into the time attack/track day world. I plan to do Houston Region events as New Orleans from Lafayette is the same drive time as it is to RPR in Baytown.

Come on over :) In fact we have an event this Sunday.

I would but I already made some plans a few weeks ago for this weekend. :(

good deal...Welcome to the club. The Car is already fun.. now with the mods...its a freakin Blast. :)
Tires: there are only 3 pretty much, Dunlop, BFG and Hankook
BFG and Hankook Pay contingency. Dunlops do not. Look at the fast STR guys. most are on Dunlops. I was the only one at the Toledo Pro on Dunlops everybody else was a 50/50 split on the BFG/Hankook
Hope to see you at nats..


Bill

Got my first package from ChaseBays yesterday! Grounding and Charging Wire Kit looks great out of the packaging. Nylon coated, soldered connections, adds grounding points, and will take out a pound of weight in the process. Brake lines should be around tomorrow.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...08051224_n.jpg

Oh man I was down there for a bach party at the go karts across the street the same day. I think I saw a SWP and WRB brz there. Hope you guys had fun.

Nice! those karts are fun. We do an endurance league during the week, had a 2 hour enduro race out there last night 2-4 driver teams. I think there was 3 of us drive an frs/brz that day.

Haha yeah... first track that had legit curbs. I think I was a bit aggressive passing one of my buddies at the last chicane before the start/finish. Had the kart 90% over the curb with only the right two tires on the asphalt. Obviously there was some major scraping =P... but I passed him!!!

I had my first event with the coils and good alignment. Car has massively improved in grip. The course was very tight, 3 really tight 180 corners that needed first gear, not my kinda course but the region I went to runs on a small lot not my usually region. Made it really hard to get a feel for setup on the car.

Wheels should be here Wednesday and tires will be ordered soon. Just did my 7500 mile oil change this weekend. 0W-20 Eneos, will be getting an analysis done after 5000 miles. These are the wheels I ordered. :3
17x9 +35
http://www.oakos.com/Merchant2/graph...1/RPF1BRNZ.jpg

I Installed my ChaseBays Stainless Brake Lines and ATE (now illegal!) Super Blue fluid this weekend. Install was not bad, bought some cheap fluid to refill the master as it gets low from taking the lines off and it leaking till I flushed the system with ATE that afternoon. The black stuff that the factory put over the lines was kind of a nasty mess and was the only thing that really made the job annoying.

Pedal feels a bit firmer and I am happy with the fit and the quality of the lines as they retail for less than the other brands around!:thumbup:
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...pscc1292db.png

Before:
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps2d45e138.png

After:
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps54229971.png[/URL]
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...psddd535ce.png

Also, I would like to thank Kartboy, All Wheel Engineering, for sending me some rear endlinks, now I just need bars!
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps1b549c7b.jpg
Waiting till Nationals end this week to buy tires, but until then:
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps543767d2.jpg

Tires will be here tomorrow! Next event is the 13th in Houston, can't wait.

Lookin good. Always a fan of the white/gold combo...my old z32 300zx sported that years ago.

Thanks, I have been too. I had bronze on my white miata for a long time as street wheels. Though for some reason I have owned way to many white wheels to keep anyone sane cleaning them on most my cars.


Tires won't be here till tomorrow, if they get dropped off early enough I will get them to the shop to get mounted and test fitted that night.

First off. I need a tire trailer in the near future. I can fit 3 of these in the front and one in the trunk to the side and still have enough room for a jack, tools, and clothes bag but long term its going to get mighty old.
https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/...28629850_n.jpg

Welp, here they are mounted. I drove around town a bit on them last night and they defiantly do what they are meant to, grip.
https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/...27875391_n.jpg

Front and side views
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps80699fb8.jpg
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...psf1e2ab21.jpg
Next up will be Stranos front sway, endlinks, and a battery.

^ Nice! :thumbup:

How much of an effort was it fitting the tires in the back seat?

You finally installed the wheels :) what size tires are those? 255's or 245's?

Looks awesome, seeing your car makes me not regret rocking the same wheel/color combo :)

255's! They were back ordered for a few weeks so I was waiting for 3 weeks.

nice meaty > slammed any day

^agreed, before I owned the frs I really liked the whole stance thing.etc but after owning the frs and actually driving it, it is such a shame to do that to a car that drives this well, might as well do the total opposite and make a functional build that makes me smile like a 5 yr old everytime I drive it :)

Not as bad as you would think. If can take the first 3 and stand them up on the back one at a time, its a bit tight on the sides but I bought some Tire Rack bags so they don't mess up the interior next time. The last one I put on the trunk off to the side. Still have room for a jack, tool bag, and overnight bag for trips. I put a set of 225/17's in there this weekend and they fit MUCH easier.

I need more pictures of your wheels! Looks good man. Would you say the pictures do them justice or are they brighter in person?

I will get some more pictures at the event this weekend. They are a matte bronze Finish but they glow in the sun really well. I think that the color matches the white car amazingly.

I am torn between these and the gunmetal ones oakos has.

looking good.. now... go drive and enjoy the added grip..;)

Bill

Specific reason you went with the +35 instead of the +45's?

Please let us know if you have any issues with rubbing during hard cornering.

Thanks and have fun!!

Wider is always better. I think everyone would prefer the +35s but they are harder to find.

I have +38 17x9s and they fit perfect with the 245s. No rubbing when they were on stock suspension and no rubbing lowered on coilovers.

+35 can clear some BBKs (Essex namely). Future upgrades? :iono::iono:

+35 mm can clear but by the width of a hair. If I go the Essex route like I plan I will probably put a 3 mm spacer on just for piece of mind. The +45 RPF1's clear better than the +35 from what I have seen. Guess it has to do with the spoke design.

I think that is true for the 17x8 not the 17x9, but this is purely from memory and I have slept since then. I do not think the 17x9 +45 fits Essex at all.

Yeah you are right. The 8" wide +45 will work not the 9". We all need a little sleep!

I tried 17x9 45 RPF1s.. and they WOULD NOT clear my Stoptech BBK... the inner lip on the inside of the rim hit and the spokes were also to close..

Bill

UPDATE!!!!

This weekend was a blast. I finally got to put the car through its paces with the RS3's. All I can say is I missed having a car with grip.

Saturday was a test and tune day, I did about 14+ runs that day and got the car handling better and better. Due to Bill's (Scooby South) recommendation I got the tires to 32 psi hot and worked from there. Tire roll over was right to the edge as it should be, I later decided I might add some camber to the front and the rear for the next event though just to see if I can get better grip mid corner not much, maybe ~.3 degrees. There were 40 people at the test day, majority novices that were there for instructional time. It rained that morning but few hours in with the sun out it was totally dry. I messed with the damping a bit and got the car very well planted out of corners, good transition response, and the back end rotating while trail braking. By the end of the day I was going back and forth with a GT3 for FTD, pulled off a quick run and beat him by about 0.3XX at the end of the day.

Sunday there were 103 entries and 6 in STX. In the morning I won STX by 1.6 seconds and had the second fastest time of the first heat behind an STU Evo 9. I did double entry and ran the last heat of the day as well. I ended up getting another almost second out of the car. Last run I made a setup mistake that I should have known better. I lowered the rear compression and raised the front rebound technically doing the same thing and doubling the effect and made the car worse, lesson learned.

End of the weekend I finished 1st in STX out of 6 by a little more than 1.6 seconds and came out in PAX 5th out of 103. Not bad for my first outing in Houston and first event on real tires! Next event in the 3 weeks need to decide what I am going to add to the car before then. :D

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps55c99835.jpg

@SubiePig looks like you had a blast and did really well. Now where are my HQ pictures of your wheels?!!!:mad0260:joking......:cheers:

Thanks man. I had a lot of fun, 2 weeks till the next one!

My car is at my parents house staying in the garage till I get back from vacation. I plan to do a photo shoot with it when I get it back next week. :thumbsup:

Small update.

I got my 22mm Bar in from Stranos Parts Saturday and installed it yesterday. Install was very straight forward and doesn't take to long. Only annoying thing was doing it without a lift and take those engine covers off. So. Many. Bolts.
Next event will be this coming weekend in Houston Saturday and Sunday. I didn't get to mess around to much after install as it was pouring down once I got done. Turn in feels tighter, there is a round-a-bout near my work I take every morning "spiritedly" car felt much more planted over the bumpy section in the turn than before and I could get on the power a sooner. Only means good things to come. :)

Difference between the bars.
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps1ae1e953.jpg

Starting to look more racecar under here. :party0030:
Note: bottom of endlink wasn't installed yet, I know it looks wrong. :P
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps3ee14c66.jpg

I did find some concerning corrosion on the under the metal engine cover. This was on the subframe members that hold the swaybar. For a car with 11k miles this is dumb. Like my 02 WRX control arms all over again. I know Subaru will just replace them and it will do it again. We do Phosphate coating at work... hmm..
http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps0761e2f7.jpg

Had some clunking from the front end yesterday, one of the lock nuts on the endlink came loose so I fixed that. Still had some noise on the way to work this morning. I saw one person have a problem of their bar hitting the control arms. Hoping this isn't the case, going to jack the car up after work I guess.

Ordered all this today, things just keep getting more serious. :)
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...1&d=1383057437

OKAY! Well, where do I start the good first or the bad?

Good:
Event last weekend had its ups and downs. The car felt like it had more in it with the new front bar. I didn't take out enough front rebound as I thought and was having some mid/exit understeer. I got most of that balanced out and dropped my times a bit. I noticed I am getting more tire roll over, to much, now with the front bar so my assumption I needed more front camber was right. With less body roll I guess I am getting less dynamic camber than before.

I won STX out of 5 drivers by 2.7XX seconds and was 2nd in PAX out of 71 drivers. Nothing to complain about though I still don't feel as though I did my best.

The BAD:
Remember how I said my next thing was to do a more aggressive alignment? Well, I was leaving downtown Houston Saturday night and found my way into a big F$%*ING hole. I had my street wheels on with the RPF1's and tools in the back thank goodness but the Tire was destroyed, and the rim is scrap. It knocked the alignment out in the front a bit as the wheel is to the left a slight slight amount. Just my luck.. Here's a pic of the tire..

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps5505a769.jpg

Wow that is crazy! Glad you and car are ok.