Got my BRZ for two weeks, looking for a performance mods?
 

Hello everybody, I got my 2015 manual BRZ two weeks ago and now I've put 1000 miles on it already. I think the break in phase is pretty much over and now I am looking for some mods for my first car ever.

I guess I don't care about the sound that much. I just don't really like the high-pitched sound, I prefer a deeper one. And like everybody's been saying, a little bit more power on this car will simply make it perfect. So right now I am just looking for a plan for my mods, exhaust, intake, maybe even an ecu unit. Bottom line, I am looking for an increase in performance while the car is still as much fun being sideways as the stock. NO turbos or superchargers for now. Anybody have any suggestions? Money is not gonna be an issue since I am just plan things out for the future here. Although I am kind of worried about the warranty, I don't want to void it completely.

K&N drop-in filter is a good start

First mod I've seen from everyone is changing out the tires/rims, trying to find out more specifics myself, but thanks to large wheel wells.

I know I'll be planning on doing it, but from what I've seen from a few members, getting something like 8.5" in the front, and 9.5" in rear for rim width, then throwing some larger rubbers on it.

Though I definitely don't have the money to do any mods yet, I'm definately doing research too what I can do without seriously and obviously voiding warranty like ECU chips, etc (People touch ECU... but if dealer catches it... like umm thats 100% of your powertrain they can now deny warranty claims on because you modified the ECU) Though I mean not a good place to ask a question, I know lots of people do catbacks etc for a little bit more power, could dealer go after that if say driveshaft sheared from manifacturing issues or something like that, and go well... your modification gave the vehicle more horsepower then it was designed for. My only worry.

But of course I have zero worry of something like that occuring but still.

Dude the very best bang for your buck is an Openflash Tablet. You can spend $2k on intake and full exhaust and you will still make less hp than a $500 OFT.

There's a lot of discussion, but your warranty will not be void.

Denied coverage is a better way to look at it. Changing how you view warranty (i.e. you always have it until time or mileage limits are reached) is fundamental to understanding how you can mod your car and to what extent you should mod, given your financial resources.

-alex

What exhaust and intake would you recommend?

Don't care about the sound? Go with the Invidia N1 catback exhaust. I absolutely love it. I have the Invidia N1 Catback partnered with Invidia catless frontpipe. It has the deep tone you're looking for. And just doing research on what Header I'm getting but leaning towards OpenFlash Header and OpenFlash Tablet combo.

OF header has no cat from what I've seen. Since you're in FL, that probably won't matter to you.

Best bang for buck IMO is header + tune + panel filter (noise generator delete optional)

If this is your first car EVER I would mod the driver. Seen lots of noobs wreck their 86. Congrats on purchase enjoy and be safe. Keep nannies on until you learn her

If you want more power you are gonna have to mod the ECU. Once you do that there is no such thing as having a guaranteed powertrain warranty from Subaru. If you are not comfortable with potentially paying out of pocket for a new engine (worst case scenario) drive the car a few more years with no engine mods and just enjoy it.

These cars are different than many others in that you have to rev them to get the most out of them. So try staying higher in the powerband (5-7K) more often and I like the idea someone above had on taking some driving courses to improve your skills. Best mod out there :)

+1

Become better driver. Drive car to limits at stock for some time to get to know her. Once you are better than the car, Mod it :burnrubber:

I've had my car for almost 6 months and have a CBE, shift knob, and drop in panel filter. Its enough to make it different and make it mine while keeping stock power.

Will be getting a tune and header in another handful of months. Then will be getting new rubber.

For the most power I would say...

A good tune, OFT is nice, but to get those few extra HPs ECUtek is the way to go (E85 too?)
K&N Drop in panel filter (a CAI is kinda useless, makes a nice sound haha...maybe the newer ones are better and actually helps, iono)
PDL EL Headers or maybe Ptunings EL (might not be out yet)...UEL for a wonderful sound! But won't give you as much power, only a little bit less honesty.
Any Overpipe really...(might be best to get the OP/FP combo ones)
A decent frontpipe (PDL, invidia, motiv, Nameless, etc)
Any CBE that suits your ears (one that is lighter than stock would be nice)

If you still want to be able to easily go sideways...I would hold off on the wheels and tires unless you are able and willing to enter at a much higher speed.

But man honesty...for the money you'll spend on bolt-ons, just go straight for forced induction much more worth it...maybe get a CBE just for sound for now haha

Good Luck!

Always, before modding anything, is to get used to the car stock. When you get comfortable enough to drive it without any hesitation and etc, mod it!

I guess I will stick with the stock for now then. I have driven for 2000 miles before I got this car. Mostly in automatic though. Is there any kind of standards to test myself as a driver? Something like if I can do this, I am modding it.

CBE is always a good entry level mod. You won't really gain anything from it, but makes the car sound way better. As far as wheels & rubber go, wear out the stockers first. That will give you enough wheel time to know the car and what you really want to get out of it. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67345

This is a great read if you going to modify your wheels and/or suspension. A staggered wheel set up May look good but is right at the top of the list of how to screw up the handling characteristics of your car.

+3 Go to an AutoX or HPDE in your area, you've driven a grand total of 3,000 miles in a car, there is no way in hell you know what you want (I've been driving for over a decade, at least 50k miles on public roads, raced competitively at the amateur level, taken my car to track days, and my car is still stock).

You're looking for more power, have you been midcorner at ~5,500 rpm and stomped on the gas it to power out? This car plants and lays down power in a manner that can embarrass cars multiple times the cost, even with the stock 'prius tires' if you've got things figured out and you're in a group of drivers with varying skill levels (i.e. a novice group at a track day) you can power by cars with >2x the power and maintain position provided the straight bit is short enough that you can outbrake them on the next turn.

The best upgrade you can make to any car is the nut behind the wheel.

Edit: There is no 'if you can do x then go for y!' all I can say is that exploring a vehicles limits of performance is something that >95% of the population never experiences, people spend lifetimes mastering a single car on a single track. Sure you can toss a bunch of money at this tomorrow and enjoy the hell out of it but most people don't have that kind of luxury and have to be a bit more careful with their expenditures so a more cautious approach is often recommended.

Edit 2: The thing sounds boring under 3.5k rpm and wails like a chainsaw over 5k rpm, it's got character imo, not pleasant like an I6 or Flat 6, not all loud and banging on like a fart-canned-four-banger or a big V8. Some people immediately change the exhaust to get a different sound but I say run the thing through it's paces for awhile before you decide to drop a bunch of coin, you don't know what you're missing until you try it.

http://biopsychiatry.com/sildenafil/...fil-viagra.jpg


Oh, you meant performance mods for the car?

yeah go to an autocross, get some people to sit with you. Rank yourself against drivers in similar cars and see how your times stack up. If you hear a lot of tire screeching when you think you are driving fast your losing grip and you are most certainly not going fast. Once you learn control then you can learn to handle more power. Go through a wide turn on the highway and feel how you can point the car while maintaining a steady slight throttle, then try it with no throttle and feel the car pull outward. Start learning what makes the car do what you like an don't like. Don't go wild, just go slow and learn it all little by little.

K&N filter, catback exhaust are pretty safe starters. They cost a pretty penny and you won't get a lot of power but you'll get the sound you want and a hair more power. Wear out the current tires, if you turn out to love autocross or track days then you'll want wheels and good grippy tires, if you like sliding around then you'll probably want wheels and some not so great tires. You'll know which you tend to like because you'll either be driving around all the time thinking you want more grip/traction so you can get up and go faster or you'll be thinking that you want to kick out the rear end more and wish the car would rotate better.

Um...no offence intended, but you have basically no driving experience with 3,000 miles total under your belt, and only 1k in the car. I have been driving for around 20 years with lots of track/autocross experience and this car basically stock is nearly perfect, no real need for mods. I've just come to terms with getting intimately familiar with the handling of the car, and it's taken nearly 25k miles (partly because I've only tracked it once, when I first got it and have never autocrossed it...would have taken less miles if I tracked it more often.) Drive it stock for now...you don't need a power increase if you haven't maxed out your potential with the car to begin with - and you have a long ways to go. Panel filter and catback exhaust are fine upgrades as are nice lightweight wheels and associated Max performance tires for daily driver duty (for best balance of wet and dry handling)... but that's as far as you should go right now - don't touch the suspension or powertrain otherwise. With so little experience behind the wheel you need to get familiar with performance driving first before doing anything else - especially with this car (which has an exceptional chassis and adequate power stock...you just need to learn how to tap into it).

So find local autocross events and start from there...turn traction systems "off" and learn how the car behaves at the limit and what needs to be done to keep it all in check. Once you can properly handle the car with the systems "off" then keep on fine tuning your driving to minimize mistakes and obtain consistency. Once you have autocrossing down, then think about trying out HPDE/Track days. Do this all on a stock(ish) car...

There are also performance driving courses that would be a great investment as well. Something like this:

http://www.tirerack.com/features/mot...t_survival.jsp

You need to get more driving experience more than anything else right now...the more experience you can get the better/safer driver you can be and the less likely to get into an "accident" when a situation comes up and you need to perform extreme maneuvers to get out of it. The last thing you need right now is to worry about modding the car. The car stock has plenty of power and potential to get you into trouble. You need to be able to competently manage the car stock first. It's not like the car has any really bad manners/handling traits though - it's very excellent and stable in its handling at and beyond its limits; provided you know what to do. Do the wrong thing though and yeah, you just made a situation worse.

All I'm saying is start off on the right path and learn what you need to do for proper performance driving/car control first, then worry about performance modifications later (beyond filter/exhaust/wheels that is).

I am one of these noobs. Seriously OP, I highly suggest you learn this car and find its limits (off public roads) before you start spending money on emotional modifications.

You won't be disappointed with the Greddy Evo3 CBE :)

If you feel the need to mod the car after two weeks of ownership, maybe you bought the wrong car? Like many others have said, learn how to get the most out of your car in stock condition before throwing away money (and possibly the warranty) on modifications.


Hit every local autocross you can and ask for help from the experienced drivers there. If/when you do mods, I'd recommend initially sticking with just bolt-ons that aren't going to risk voiding your warranty, and with an eye towards weight reduction.

Roof rack.

After reading all the replies, I guess I've been a little bit hasty wanted to mod the car this early. A lot of my classmates were asking me if I am doing anything of it and that really got me thinking about modding. Anyways, I will get to know the car first, it's really fun and I love it. Is there any way I can test my skills as a driver to know when am I ready?

Go to the track and autocross events.

When you know, you'll know.

Relax, people always like to talk. Ask them what mods they have to their car. 9/10 will be driving stock eco boxes. Unless you have awesome friends, in that case let them break your balls :thumbup:

ive driven over 200,000 miles as an automatic driver in my short life, lots of road trips and long commute to work , but only 1500 in my brz which is my first stickshift car.

when i told my friends i was gonna mod the car, my buddies who are also all stickshift drivers laughed and told me its useless since i cant even handle the car to its limits yet.
-if you were gonna do anything, id just say aesthetic upgrades that im gonna do, I.E, tinted windows, better LEDs for the inside of my car, and possibly an exhaust to make my car sound more badass when i research more on which one id like :]

tl;dr, id suggest waiting buddy, im a new driver to stick but it sounds to me like youre actually a complete newbie to driving period, we've got time to grow up , why rush it?

Where in Florida are you? Hit up the closest autocross to start off and when/if they have a rookie school take it...

This may help get you started:

http://gulfcoastautocrossers.com/

http://cfrsolo2.com/

http://www.erscc.com/

You can actually spend years getting to know the car before it will need to be modded to actually improve it's performance. Driver has to be able to fully exploit the potential of the vehicle first before mods are needed for better performance. Get the driver as good as reasonably possible first, then worry about changing the vehicle to suit the driver...especially one setup this well stock which you could absolutely make worse without trying very hard.

Personally if I had the funds and actual desire to do so I would change some things on the car, but honestly I'm absolutely fine with its stock suspension... it's my daily driver not my track car.

I'm in a similar situation, mostly driven automatics, drove motorbikes when I was younger (Zx600R and R1) and drove a few stickshifts but never was my primary car wise at least.

So high end performance mods aren't on my high end.

Wheels and getting a decent header/exhaust that gives a nice fine tuned sound is on my list. Trying to squeeze what HP I can out of naturally aspired is my goal without voiding any warranties or pushing anything that I can't handle.

But if I can pick up 5hp here and there from small mods that give me a benefit from engine sound I'z happy.

Looking at that Cosworth exhaust setup myself, pricey, but that sound is amazing. I know alot of people bash the cosworth setup for the cost of the sticker, but unless someone can point me towards something that produces the same kinda note, I'll look elsewhere
[ame]http://youtu.be/epDAcmywRLA?t=7s[/ame]

If I were to spend money today I'd get a tomei 60s exhaust and an OFT / Stage 1 tune.

Automatic VS Standard isn't really an issue here. In Autocross you generally do not do a lot of shifting depending on the course/car. From experience I usually run the entire course in 2nd gear '04 S2K or '01 S2K.

The problem you are running into is that no matter how much time you have spent driving on public roads, this isn't truly getting to understand the car or some of the basics that you should be getting comfortable with.

If you absolutely want to modify the car look into what modifications you can do under your local autocross clubs for Stock class.

Locally through SCCA sports car club of america:
- Exhaust (cat back only, no header back)
- Intake
- 1 sway bar
- Aftermarket wheels that are the same size and within 5mm of stock offset
- Tires that are 140TW or higher (DONT DO THIS UNTIL YOU WANT TO BE COMPETITIVE).
NO TUNING

Personally the OEM wheels are atrocious and a cat back exhaust will make the car sound like a sports car without changing out how the car performs.

Not entirely correct. Intakes are not legal for stock/street class SCCA autocrossing, but you can replace the air filter. Starting next year, the treadwear limit is 200, this is the last year for 140 TW. Replacing struts/shocks is also legal, providing they have the same dimensions as stock (a lot of people use Koni).

I'll have to beat up my local SCCNH member that told me I could get away with an intake, I don't even have a BRZ yet but was planning changes to stay within stock class... Trying to get out of a damn supercharged S2K to be a bit more competitive.

I am in south florida, near Fort Lauderdale. I think I will go check out some of the events.