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-   -   FatalElement's 2015 FR-S Project Thread (https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75962)

fatalelement 10-15-2014 12:20 AM

FatalElement's 2015 FR-S Project Thread
 
Hey guys! Finally joined the club with a '15 FR-S about two months ago. Had a few early initial visions, but being a grad student, I have to plan vaguely cheap. I know everyone says "you gotta pay to play", but if that were true we'd all have a different car or an engine swap or a full carbon body so I'm going to make what I make of it!

Planned
4.7~4.8 Final Drive swap

Mods List

Body
BaysonR OE Style Rear Bumper Diffuser
BaysonR CS Style Side Skirts
BaysonR ST Style Front Lip
JDM Toyota GT86 Badge Set
Winjet headlights w/ Morimoto HID

Suspension/Brakes
Tein H-Tech Springs
Whiteline 18mm Heavy Duty Rear Sway Bar (Stiffest setting, obviously, to undo the "safer" 2015 front sway bar change)
Project Mu NS400 Pads (Front)
Motul RBF600 Fluid

Under the Hood/Exhaust
OpenFlash Tablet + Tune + E85
GrimmSpeed Pulley Cover / Tool Tray
GrimmSpeed Master Cylinder Brace
Password:JDM Engine Bay Dress Kit
Password:JDM Strut Tower Brace
Motul 8100 0w-20
HKS Oil Filter (Maybe a bad idea, we'll find out!!)
For track days: HKS Hi-Power Single Exit Racing Exhaust
For street: Lachute Performance Catback

Interior

JDM Red Leather Shift Knob
Schroth Racing Ralleye Cross 3 ASM 4-Point Harnesses
Cipher Auto Harness Bar
Diode Dynamics Red LED Lighting - Map/Dome Light and Trunk Light

Before you read all the nonsense, I'll just open up with current pics:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/...3711f120_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7620/...e5c02f87_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7631/...a11c1fdd_b.jpg


Delivery!

Actually a random pickup - I had been thinking of getting one for a while, and the finances were all right and the person to whom I was selling my old car (A 2003 camry with 170k miles that we've had since it was new, it served me well on almost 10 across-the-country (CA to MI/NY) trips) had everything in order too. I went from school to the dealer, they had my second choice color on the lot, and I signed the paperwork and went home with it! One of the best days I've had in a long time. I'm a terrible person and completely ignored break-in as I didn't know that was a thing, so I'm sure I will be changing the oil and putting in a neodymium drain plug in case that wasn't a great call but I do have an engineering degree and a lot of the "break-in" period evidence is questionable - I know the manual says it, but the manual says a lot of stuff. To each their own.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/...71fe06c9_o.jpg
Me at the dealer with my car! Looking about as haggard as a 1st year law student should. I have since shaved and re-lost some weight.... lol

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/...de8097f6_o.jpg
The baby at night after driving around LA with an old friend who was back in town. Not missing my Camry one bit.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/...59b61503_o.jpg
Me at the gym the next day... walked to the door and couldn't help myself. My camry is becoming a distant memory....


The modifications! (Why we're all here anyway)

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...b584290a_o.jpg
Couldn't leave it stock for long... I like form as much as function so I drove down to Password:JDM and bought the engine bay dress kit and a strut tower brace. My garage light was out, so I put it in by lantern. I live in a very obnoxiously nice neighborhood, so I got a lot of shady looks working on a car in my own driveway, like people didn't know that was a thing lol.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5603/...b6ac209a_o.jpg
The next day - all done and looking pretty!

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3943/...0e8c878b_o.jpg
The next piece - @GrimmSpeed 's pulley cover. I purchased Password:JDM's strut tower brace, but I don't really like it. I'll be looking for one from @GrimmSpeed next time I have the money to "throw away", in the sense that the PWJDM one is functional but requires constant maintenance and the GS one seems more reliable and matches the pulley cover. It's a matter of convenience.
The PWJDM one requires almost weekly re-tightening on the large black-ringed hex bolts you can see at the terminal ends of the red bar. The tower plates (the black, shaped, larger pieces) are separate, but lay at a slight angle to the bar itself. You are told by PWJDM to install these first, and put the bar on top. Unfortunately, as they aren't level even on a brand new car, one of the allen bolts on each side gets a fair amount of strain from trying to push these two surfaces together. Often, after canyon runs or long drives under a lot of heat, one or both of these has loosened enough that I can move it with my finger. I have to keep an allen wrench in the car with me because of this. I do not find this acceptable at all, but I doubt PWJDM will take a return and I honestly don't really want a new one. Just kinda want to get rid of it once I can get a GrimmSpeed replacement in red.
The pulley cover install was obviously easy, and the @GrimmSpeed pulley cover looks great. I thought the tool tray was kind of a gimmick as until now I had never worked on my own car, but I quickly learned in the first few days putting in the PWJDM engine bay dress kit how many places there are to put things and forget them, or put things and have them roll off into a terrible, terrible recess of the engine bay. I use it every time I pop the hood. It is the best idea ever.

Some exterior work...

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/...4ee8425d_o.jpg
I signed up for the @GrimmSpeed bounty program and am now looking into the contingency sponsorship for autocross... but they sent me for about $20 if I remember correctly a windshield decal as part of the package. This seemed like a good deal, and I had such a good experience dealing with them, and their name/logo are awesome, so I figured "what the hell".
Some might call it rice, but I figured I'd throw it on and see how I like it. As you can see from the later pictures, the fact that the car is white (and the new, whiter white for '15) makes this work. Otherwise, this would probably look really shitty or obnoxious. I find it at the acceptable limit of "in your face".

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/...202e02bb_o.jpg
The car on a longer canyon run in a turnout in the Malibu mountains. This would be the first time I triggered all the driving aids in one turn *fond memories*. I was just learning the car, and my previous "driving" experience was in cars that were much more powerful and heavy, and was a little dated, so I got cocky. I see why driving aids are banned in a lot of competitions - they are pretty good at saving your ass from flying off a mountain. I hit a bump I wasn't expecting, got some air at an angle coming into a curve so the wheels hit the road at different times still transmitting drive (I knew enough not to slam the brakes). Made it home. Learned my lesson.

Back to the modifications

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/...95d9d780_o.jpg
A harness bar from @Cipher Auto that I bought form @Redline360. I made a costly mistake stripping one of my shoulder bolts, and before really checking with the harness bar, bought a new seatbelt assembly because I knew that since it's a lease, if the worst were to happen, I'd want a not mangled bolt back in there.
Some people were surprised, but I checked multiple dealers (Subaru and Toyota/Scion) and they do not sell this bolt alone. Literally, it's the only bolt in the entire seatbelt assembly that isn't sold individually. They won't match it because of safety issues, but the lady at my home dealership working parts has a dad who owns a racing garage and she pities me, giving me their at-cost price, which she showed me in the system to prove it to me and worked with me to try and find any other solution.
I found out that the stock bolts don't fit, which wasn't entirely clear in the Cipher Auto directions for the harness bar. I did not receive the shoulder bolts from Redline360 in the package, but since there was no parts list and no picture instructions, I did not really notice the error. I was finally able to find a great hardware store to sell me the right bolts, in the highest grade hardened steel I could find.
I was also able to install the bar without cutting the pillars - I removed the trim and left the trim pieces off. It looks perfectly clean and isn't an issue - it's not like a large metal bar with harnesses attached to it is subtle anyway so the slightest bit of exposed chassis is really negligible.
I'll post more pics when I get a chance!
I do love the bar, despite a ~$300 seatbelt assembly mistake and the runaround with Cipher and such. To be fair, they didn't really understand my issue because they assumed I had the right bolts. The bar fits right and despite the hassle fitting everything in evenly, it looks good and feels safe.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...93160efc_o.jpg
In place and ready to go!

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3943/...5e21912d_o.jpg
Schroth ASM four-point harness came in today - I installed it (bolt-in) and ran the stock belt behind the seat to keep it permanently buckled. No rattling or anything from the OEM belt, and the Schroth fits pretty well. I'm a really tall guy (6'3" and some change) so the harness isn't the world's best fit. I might re-adjust some things - the ASM buckle stops me from getting too much slack tightened up, but I can't get TOO close to the wheel (I extended it towards me as much as possible to get good driving position) as I am a special kind of tall where I am all legs. When I sit down I'm not taller than 5'6"+ people, so in a car I need to be somewhat back or my knees extend into the dash. This means I can't get too close to the wheel, so I have too much slack in the shoulder sometimes. I can pull the "pump" lever to raise and bring in the seat a bit, and this tightens it up, but my head gets kinda close and I am now sitting high. With a helmet on, it's hard to get a perfect fit. I may try to move the bar's angle a bit in the future when I have some time to get an extra 1-3" of distance between the seat and the bar so I can fit it better. For now, though, pretty comfortable despite no shoulder pads.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/...395aea88_o.jpg
Close-up

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/...221ed90d_o.jpg
Dipped the wheels this week - like the look. Did the badges too. Will get pictures later.

Adventures in Painting - Part I

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/...316b4e7d_c.jpg
Used some standard high-temperature/outdoor paint that is enamel clearcoat and paint in one. Coated the fluid caps and sealed them, though you'll notice I missed the underside of the wiper fluid one. I also did the fuse cover and the engine cover. Considering the airbox too, but I want to think about the color scheme and avoid just going "all red", and maybe think about some contrast. Pretty happy with how it looks, and the paint is heat-proof until about the melting point of ABS plastic, so if it ever breaks 200F inside my engine bay I have a LOT of other problems to worry about before the paint.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...5d6c19e5_c.jpg
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...e8917c49_c.jpg
Engine cover detail

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...bee3f8b2_c.jpg
Fuse cover detail

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5603/...80a4101c_c.jpg
Coolant cap detail - was still a little gummy and shiny, and also I clearly took a bit of paint off putting it on. I hadn't planned on leaving, so all the caps were drying, and then I suddenly had to leave and really didn't want to drive without my caps on. I'll redo it later.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3927/...f17f45f6_c.jpg
Brake fluid cap detail

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/...426174ae_c.jpg
I also hit the shifter trim - plastidipped the gear indicator (I can drive manual very well and don't care that I drive an auto - but I think the lights and colors and letters really broke up the clean look so I wanted to reversibly cover it.)
I like the way the red looks and am considering doing all the silver cabin accents red to match the engine and lighting, like the two silver runners under the head unit and the door handles. It'll match the stitching better and the seatbelts, so I'm interested in seeing how that ends up looking.

ADVENTURES IN PAINTING, PART 2

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/...12b9ff10_c.jpg

Finally ditched the PWJDM strut tower brace, since a) the benefit from a STB is super minimal compared to like anything else and b) since it was mainly a nice but functional piece of trim, and it doesn't match anymore, I colored the smaller braces and placed the PWJDM one in the garage for now. I feel like it's the right amount of color - looking for a good complimentary color (maybe a nice, vivid neon green?) for some tubing and sleeving for tubes. Who knows. I'll play it by ear (and eye).

OTHER MODS

ProClip mount for phone running Torque and bluetooth OBDII monitor
  • These things are incredible. Best phone mount ever. No jiggle at all.
Red interior lighting - dome light and trunk from @Diode Dynamics
  • Matches my interior/exterior theme and the engine bay. Nice and bright, but the downside is that it's the worst to read things or find things by red light. Turns out, it's apparently considered a good military/urban tactical light source as it's hard to tell where red light is coming from. It's also not a very good way to find small things in a black/red car. Food also is all red, so it's really disconcerting to eat at night if you do a food run.
@GrimmSpeed Master Cylinder Brace
  • This is a great upgrade. The construction is top-notch as usual from GrimmSpeed, but the real improvement is the pedal feel. Totally different. I ended up almost getting rear ended once or twice the first day because I stopped so much faster than I expected. Really helps in sudden/aggressive braking - no more pedal slop.
Angel's Electronics Backup Cam
  • I went to the titular LA electronics shop, looking for a beatsonic cam. For some reason, the owner talked me into a non-beatsonic cam, which I ended up being fine with as it was less conspicuous and had a better angle (don't remember brand). It's right under the rear logo in the trunk recess, and is pretty good. I love it, as I can really back the car up all the way and not worry. The owner had some trouble because I did not have the Bespoke unit, but he called Beatsonic and spent a lot of time figuring it out as the '15 touchscreen standard head unit is a bit different and he had never done one. It was a long drive, so he bought me some beverages and tacos to compensate. He eventually threw in some rear license plate LEDs for free. Later, my door-open light was on permanently, and it turned out one of his guys had soldered the ground poorly. He got me more food as an apology. Not really his fault, and great customer service.
Nameless Performance 5" Muffled Single Exit Track Pipe
  • Picked this one up from a fellow FT86club member - looks great, sounds great, but the drone is sometimes rough. 2500 is where it starts to get awful with the windows up, but cracking them fixes it. The one downside is you can't really do the freeway for a long time - the drone is right at cruising speed at like 70-75, so you just have to run it a gear down at higher RPM to cut the noise. It's definitely a bit loud for DD, but I'm a quiet guy with sensitive ears. Some people actually DD straight pipes so who knows. Cheap ($200), beautiful, and well-made. Easy install. Will post pics later.

THE TRACK

So, against the evidence of many, I went to the track mostly stock. Turns out in the blue group at Auto Club Speedway, people weren't going too fast (first two sessions were lead-follow) so I never messed my brakes up. Someone on here asked me if I was apex braking. Ha ha. No one in blue went that fast. I hit 120, but I was able to catch up to the people in front of me in corners pretty fast.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/...42b801b8_c.jpg

Checkin' all the dress nuts and double-checking my coolant and such!


https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/...9ea774c3_c.jpg

Not really hitting the apex here, but close enough haha.


https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...4af514c8_c.jpg

Pretty cool shot of me crossing the line with the checkered flag!

All in all a great weekend - my first time on an actual track as a driver, so I had a lot of learning to do. Have footage of a lot of it I might post later - helmet cam, roll bar cam, and tow hook cam (moved my GoPro between runs). My brake fluid is a little cloudy and braking not as great - my fluid might not be so hot. Pads seem fine, but I'm changing my fluid to Motul 600 as soon as I have a chance this weekend. Gonna pick up some EBC pads, and maybe new rotors before the end of the year.

Mini Cooper S 10-15-2014 01:02 AM

I can't see any of your pics except for the part after plans.

fatalelement 10-15-2014 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mini Cooper S (Post 1984500)
I can't see any of your pics except for the part after plans.

I will go ahead and fix that then thanks for the heads up

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fatalelement 10-15-2014 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mini Cooper S (Post 1984500)
I can't see any of your pics except for the part after plans.

Should be all fixed!

Mini Cooper S 10-15-2014 01:21 AM

Yup! Good job!

Ammonia 10-15-2014 02:44 AM

Well written, properly formatted. If I were a teacher I'd give you a A+ lol

Big plans! Not a fan of the body kit but it will certainly be unique. Congrats on the car, and happy driving

fatalelement 10-15-2014 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ammonia (Post 1984564)
Well written, properly formatted. If I were a teacher I'd give you a A+ lol

Big plans! Not a fan of the body kit but it will certainly be unique. Congrats on the car, and happy driving

I'm in law school haha, comes with the territory.

I'm mostly going to start with the front bumper and see where it goes from there. I know it's a more extreme one, so people either like it or hate it, but the upside is I've only ever seen one other (a brz) in the US with it (in a magazine). Nowhere sells these in the US so they'll be rare. Not that I dislike the 86 look, but I would enjoy it being hard to recognize past the general shape. Wanted something unique and loved the kinda lambo/"evo but better" look to it and the LEDs were a nice plus.

The wing is gross as hell though I won't argue that with anyone.

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fatalelement 10-15-2014 04:27 PM

2 Attachment(s)
Will reformat later, but for now - here are the exhaust and MCB

Attachment 93472
Attachment 93472


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fatalelement 10-15-2014 04:28 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Attachment 93474

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vividracing 10-15-2014 08:25 PM

You are leasing the car and doing all this work?

fatalelement 10-15-2014 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vividracing (Post 1985613)
You are leasing the car and doing all this work?

It was a lease in the beginning, for a few complicated and unimportant reasons, but I'm probably going to finance out of the lease now that I'm keeping it. I'm not super deep in monetarily on mods yet so I can still pretend it makes sense.... Haha.

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vividracing 10-15-2014 08:34 PM

When i read RB V1. Kit I was gonna say, I dont think leases allow you to cut fenders and rivet on wider ones hahaha

J.C. 10-15-2014 11:47 PM

Nice car bud. Do you ever take it into service at the SM dealer? I'm asking because I'm a tech there haha

fatalelement 10-16-2014 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.C. (Post 1985821)
Nice car bud. Do you ever take it into service at the SM dealer? I'm asking because I'm a tech there haha

Oh cool hey! Not yet, but my coolant is a bit low (halfway, which seems low for so new) so I might take off the strut brace and bring it in. How mean are you guys about mods? I have no tune or anything.

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J.C. 10-16-2014 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 1985835)
Oh cool hey! Not yet, but my coolant is a bit low (halfway, which seems low for so new) so I might take off the strut brace and bring it in. How mean are you guys about mods? I have no tune or anything.

Don't worry, that's normal. This car seems to eat up a lot of coolant. I would definitely pick up a gallon of blue Toyota 50/50 coolant for top offs.

We're actually very mod friendly. Judging from your mods nothing would void warranty. We actually love seeing modded FR-S' come in for service. :thumbup:

fatalelement 10-16-2014 02:02 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Gotta fold all these pictures together, but I started painting the engine bay. Did a lot of other pieces since this - it was just a test.

Bad angle gives it shine, but it luckily matches the GrimmSpeed powdercoat. I've since done the fluid caps and the engine cover. Thinking about doing some interior trim too.

Attachment 93529

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fatalelement 10-16-2014 04:40 PM

Added more pictures of the engine bay recoloring I've started doing. If I get the disposable income, I'll probably throw some red silicone hoses in for the radiator and intake next.

Ro_Mantic 10-17-2014 11:48 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Attachment 93632 that body kit reminds of the Toyota Celica GT-S



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solus 10-18-2014 01:03 AM

^what spoiler is that!

and can I get it without that kit?

fatalelement 10-18-2014 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solus (Post 1988671)
^what spoiler is that!

and can I get it without that kit?

All of the pieces are the Style Sports body kit for the frs/gt86. Unfortunately few people can get one for you from Japan, you probably have to get a shop to import it. If you look though, there are similar spoilers in the master body kit thread. Can't remember the names off the top of my head

If you want that one though you can buy the pieces individually
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fatalelement 11-23-2014 07:25 PM

Picked up some Tein H-Tech springs today from a member who accidentally ordered them instead of AE86 springs for $150 - good deal and had a great 1 hr hangout and talked cars.

Gonna slap those on once I finish this long ass assignment for law school due tuesday morning. Gotta pick up a spring compressor from Autozone or something - no impact wrenches and I don't want to die.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7532/...be535d7d_c.jpg

Agent 86 11-26-2014 06:54 PM

I don't know if you've seen this thread or not, but "they say" you can install suspension without the use of spring compressors…


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32414

Haven't tried it myself, but I plan to give it a go.



Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 2032789)
Picked up some Tein H-Tech springs today from a member who accidentally ordered them instead of AE86 springs for $150 - good deal and had a great 1 hr hangout and talked cars.

Gonna slap those on once I finish this long ass assignment for law school due tuesday morning. Gotta pick up a spring compressor from Autozone or something - no impact wrenches and I don't want to die.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7532/...be535d7d_c.jpg


Lonewolf 11-26-2014 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 2032789)
Picked up some Tein H-Tech springs today from a member who accidentally ordered them instead of AE86 springs for $150 - good deal and had a great 1 hr hangout and talked cars.

Gonna slap those on once I finish this long ass assignment for law school due tuesday morning. Gotta pick up a spring compressor from Autozone or something - no impact wrenches and I don't want to die.

Are you a 1, 2, or 3L?

I am an attorney myself, but moved into a different career a couple of years back.

fatalelement 11-27-2014 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lonewolf (Post 2036186)
Are you a 1, 2, or 3L?

I am an attorney myself, but moved into a different career a couple of years back.

1L at UCLA. Looking into patent law, have an engineering degree and some work experience on large cases at a highly reputable biglaw firm so I'm pretty dead set on the career. What did you end up doing?

After engineering, I don't get all the fuss about law school, honestly. Makes me feel way less dumb than engineering did. Shit, I'd pull all nighters with my project group to figure out what we were even being asked to do back in college, so we could pull 2hr/night weeks to then do it, receive a 37%, and find out that was an A- with the curve.

Don't miss any of that haha. I like reading and crafting meticulous patent arguments.

Lonewolf 11-28-2014 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 2037080)
1L at UCLA. Looking into patent law, have an engineering degree and some work experience on large cases at a highly reputable biglaw firm so I'm pretty dead set on the career. What did you end up doing?

After engineering, I don't get all the fuss about law school, honestly. Makes me feel way less dumb than engineering did. Shit, I'd pull all nighters with my project group to figure out what we were even being asked to do back in college, so we could pull 2hr/night weeks to then do it, receive a 37%, and find out that was an A- with the curve.

Don't miss any of that haha. I like reading and crafting meticulous patent arguments.

Ah, a patent attorney, eh? You're a different breed, so you should enjoy it. What's funny is that two of roommates in college were engineering students as well, and they were regularly pulling all nighters just to eek by with a 30-40% on an exam.

I actually went into teaching. After a few years the legal grind just made me start to despise my life, so I knew I needed a change.

Law school isn't that bad, and it seems to get easier after the first year.
Studying for the CA State Bar is a pain, but you won't have to worry about that for some time. Besides, I think you'll pass the first time :cheers:

fatalelement 01-14-2015 04:29 PM

Should probably post some lowered pics - but I got back from a month away and had two things waiting - one, a JDM red shift knob that I picked up from a chill member for cheap, and the other a rear diffuser. Not anything too fancy - $50 off ebay.

Installation was really solid, not completely done (still gotta make a few holes and put the last few screws in but to do so I have to drill two bolt holes and I didn't care for that this morning so I did a test fit and got some gas - it did not fall off lol)

Fitment is A+ for such a cheap piece. BaysonR, they have some low-cost body parts for the FRS if anyone wants a nice, cheap touch till you're interested in stepping up.

Pics!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7465/...df39e317_c.jpg
Before install - for reference


https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...7cc7c1a0_c.jpg
Not the world's most useful view, and this is the bottom, but a decent idea of what it vaguely looks like.


https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8677/...78d47ed7_c.jpg
A view from the rear


https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8639/...53a4c970_c.jpg
A side angle view

fatalelement 01-14-2015 04:41 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Here is the new matching shift knob.

Attachment 100503

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fatalelement 01-21-2015 06:03 PM

Threw a Whiteline 18mm Heavy Duty adjustable rear sway bar on the other night to counteract the new stiffer front end in the 2015. I set it to the stiffest setting (Whiteline advertises this as over 200% as stiff) and wow, it is a lot easier to get the back end to come out. Super fun! Exactly what I wanted, install was a breeze. Will add pics.

LucidMomentum 01-21-2015 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 2100135)
Threw a Whiteline 18mm Heavy Duty adjustable rear sway bar on the other night to counteract the new stiffer front end in the 2015. I set it to the stiffest setting (Whiteline advertises this as over 200% as stiff) and wow, it is a lot easier to get the back end to come out. Super fun! Exactly what I wanted, install was a breeze. Will add pics.

This is good to know. My FR-S came with the TRD front sway bar on it, and now the back end really doesn't want to move unless I demand it does. I'll have to look into one for myself I think!

fatalelement 01-28-2015 07:28 PM

Threw on a front lip, I kept scraping and finally hit a grapefruit-sized rock the other day and decided I needed some paint protection. Not wanting to really shell out, I grabbed one from BaysonR, the same place that I got the rear diffuser from.

It's flexy urethane, which seemed super shitty fitment-wise, but once all the mounting hardware was in it was perfectly solid and flush with the bumper. Barely moves if you put some pressure on it even. Scratches are still visible on the bumper as you'll see in the photos but it's better than before and at least I won't get any more of those. The front lip was only $85... so it is really hard to have any sort of problems with this. Instead of one-week shipping, for $20 I went with the other choice, which ended up coming in less than 24 hours (I ordered this last night).

I'm pretty happy with the look and fitment and such, but I'm missing the total look so I'm probably gonna grab rear spats and side skirts from BaysonR. At some point I plan to really go for it bodykit wise, but until I have the money to shell out for Origin Labo or something, I'm gonna stick with this. Pretty ridiculous value.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8586/...70a549b3_c.jpg




https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/...3b25069a_c.jpg
You can still see the scratches if you lean under the edge of the bumper, but at least I won't have any more. That rock sure showed my bumper what.



https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/...bfc9121d_c.jpg
The fitment around the edge - it wraps around the side and tapers off pretty cleanly. I'll add some other angles later - was strapped for time earlier.

Re~Mix 01-28-2015 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatalelement (Post 2109520)
Threw on a front lip, I kept scraping and finally hit a grapefruit-sized rock the other day and decided I needed some paint protection. Not wanting to really shell out, I grabbed one from BaysonR, the same place that I got the rear diffuser from.

How was the installment of this? Not a big lip or side skirt guy myself but I could see myself coming around for bumper protection.

fatalelement 01-28-2015 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Re~Mix (Post 2109563)
How was the installment of this? Not a big lip or side skirt guy myself but I could see myself coming around for bumper protection.

Pretty easy. Put the big two pop rivets on, then press the lip up where it should be and started putting the screws in. I think it was eight total, but I'd have to double check. Then one screw and pop rivet each around the wheel well. I hit it with a hairdryer to make sure it molded to the body and wasn't like still a bit off, but it honestly wasn't necessary. Was flush and gapless and even across the whole bumper, just had to hold the lip where I wanted it when putting the screws in.

Took like 20 minutes including unpacking, jacking up the car, etc.

They have a couple styles, I think at least one was more subtle than this.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

fatalelement 01-28-2015 09:19 PM

Some more pics of the lip from different angles and then distance shots to show the effect it has on the profile.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7432/...f4be60d7_c.jpg
The edge where it wraps to the wheel well.


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/...e4899439_c.jpg
An angle shot, you can see that it lowers the car at least another inch. I'm definitely more protected bumperwise but more prone... lol. At least it looks good!


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/...88475329_c.jpg
A final, low-angle pic to show the new clearance. Forgive the giant bugs on my bumper, apparently even in Cali there's some big ones on the coastal highway.

fatalelement 01-31-2015 05:48 PM

Side skirts!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7374/...7b7869aa_b.jpg
Only took a little bit, and a drill for the screws into the side skirts because they attach to metal, but a fairly painless install. Fitment is the same as the lip - super good especially considering the cost.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/...43df2011_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7339/...311e53c6_b.jpg

FR-BLESS 02-03-2015 11:55 PM

love this build!

i've been looking at the bayson front lip and side skirts, but for the love of groot i can't seem to find it on their website? could you post links pls? :D

fatalelement 03-08-2015 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FR-BLESS (Post 2117529)
love this build!

i've been looking at the bayson front lip and side skirts, but for the love of groot i can't seem to find it on their website? could you post links pls? :D

Sorry I haven't been paying attention to my own thread! I'll do that as soon as I get home from this short trip.

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fatalelement 03-08-2015 05:30 PM

Not much since my sway bars (which I need pics of!), but I purchased an HKS Hi-Power exhaust that is sitting at a FedEx office that I'm picking up Monday morning! Super excited for a full catback from such a good company. Hopefully it's worth the money! I'll post pics and then a video of the startup and drive by etc when I have a chance this coming week/weekend.

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fatalelement 03-10-2015 02:43 AM

HKS Catback!
 
So, I finally broke down and went with the next mod step and got a catback. Being someone who is trying to save $$ but still wants something nice, I figured the HKS Hi-Power single exit was a good compromise, as it's about $600.

I ordered from Redline360, and they were awesome as usual. FedEx was crappy and came at a really weird time, then took over 24hrs to leave it at an office for pickup, so I had to go out of town before I could get it. I landed at 1am, and since I chose a 24/7 FedEx facility, picked it up at 1:30 and drove home.

Below is the whole pics and install thing, but I'll jump right to the review since that's more interesting for most people.

HKS Hi-Power Single Exit Racing Muffler
75mm piping, Helmholtz, straight-through muffler and a special HKS coating to reduce rust, etc. 96mm adjustable Ti tip, optional silencer (not included)

Looks are a big plus. The coating is consistent and clean, welds are tight, and the whole thing just looks fancy. Instructions were thorough and had torque specs, which was a big plus.

Install was pretty straightforward. Some clearance issues with a normal sized torque wrench as the M10 bolt heads are inset into the flanges, making it very hard to fit a wrench in some of the spaces. Hanger layout for the muffler is weird too, it's intentionally much closer together than the stock hangers so your hangers end up hanging like this: \ /

Idle noise is really fabulous. Coming from a Nameless 5" muffled track pipe, this sounds incredible. Startup noise is great too.

This exhaust has a pretty hefty amount of drone. It's pretty overpowering sometimes. Maybe I'm not a straight pipes no cats kind of guy, but this is several orders of magnitude louder than the Nameless from inside the car. It appears a majority of the noise I can hear is drone in the cabin. It's too much for me honestly when I'm over 5k. I avoid that now, which I do not like doing. I ordered a silencer from Evasive (purpose built for these mufflers) and I will see how that helps. HKS claims ~7dB reduction which, since dB is logarithmic, is a fairly large amount of reduction. I may also try sound deadening / another resonator in the front pipe.

On upshifts, there's a pleasant backfire, but it's usually hard to hear because any rev high enough to produce it drowns me in drone. Don't get me wrong - I'm happy with the exhaust but I do feel an obligation to note its (to me) low drivability. This is a racing muffler though, and I can't fault it for what it aims to do, which is flow maximum exhaust and provide a large enough pipe for a turbo car while being as lightweight and straight as possible.

To prove I'm not just being a baby about it - I do have sensitive hearing anyway, that's why this stuff bothers me - until you break about 6k starting from around 4k, you can't even hear the rev of the exhaust over the drone in the cabin. The drone doesn't change tone, it's a constant tone but becomes very, very loud until the revs can finally overpower it at the very tip of the rev range.

Anyway, all in all it's a good exhaust so far and I'm happy with it, I just need to explore some options for reducing its noise for daily driving and non-track use, which it of course is not primarily designed for.

EDIT: The silencer came, and christ almighty does it make a difference. A 30 second (including grabbing tools) job switches it in and out and it goes from 105dB @ idle according to HKS to a completely manageable but still throaty and loud noise. For the record, the stock is 55dB @ 5ft at idle, so using the logarithmic scale and the standard perceived loudness scales for dB, the HKS unsilenced was over 16 times louder than the stock exhaust. Stock @ 6000rpm is 98, which is still quieter than idling with the HKS. Silencer was a lifesaver. With the silencer as an option, I wholeheartedly recommend this exhaust to pretty much anyone wanting a louder than stock single exit catback, since it's powdercoated, from one of the more reputable Japanese tuning houses, and is a 3" turbo ready catback that weighs less than 30lbs for under $600.

PICS

As you can tell, it needed to be opened to fit in this tiny, tiny car. I stashed the pipes all over and drove home.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8696/...3e5ceeb9_c.jpg

At home the next morning, unpacked and inspected!

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/...bef6d323_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7627/...8b5d3df2_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8561/...368109e7_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7615/...1c37a8d7_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/...8126012a_c.jpg

Lifted the car up on stands! Couldn't get the front as high - I suspect because the front weighs much more at the jack point, the crappy AC Delco low profile jack gives out much sooner. Luckily, for a catback, not an issue.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7598/...9b5b9546_c.jpg

Goodbye, crappy midpipe!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/...3075bfa6_c.jpg

Second half of midpipe already in place, with gap for first with resonator.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7584/...7c8e67ae_c.jpg

Dear HKS: F*ck you for the worst clearance in the universe. This one isn't their fault, but it does get pretty bad from here on out. Bolt heads are short and inset into the flange, so it's hard to jam a torque wrench in there.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8569/...c36e1519_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7285/...0edf3967_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8619/...af60f220_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8638/...bc53d6a6_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7638/...68b857d4_c.jpg

Here we are! Installed pics.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8699/...47c6415b_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7588/...821c9ecd_c.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8672/...4ce04081_c.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7589/...83466fc3_c.jpg

SocalMonsta 03-10-2015 09:18 AM

Did you ever go to SM toyota? if so, how was your experience?

Ive been there once for regular service and they overfilled my oil quite a bit. I now go to hollywood but its really a pain if all i need is new oil.

Im the other UCLA kid from the meet last night btw.

fatalelement 03-11-2015 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SocalMonsta (Post 2162835)
Did you ever go to SM toyota? if so, how was your experience?

Ive been there once for regular service and they overfilled my oil quite a bit. I now go to hollywood but its really a pain if all i need is new oil.

Im the other UCLA kid from the meet last night btw.

I haven't - was about to go for one problem but fixed it myself. My oil didn't come too overfilled, but it was a tad high. The car had some dealer miles on it (under 50), so I don't know if they changed it just so everything was fresh for the sale. I do know one of their techs is a member on here - I can always look it up if you're interested. He welcomed me to contact him and set up a service when he'd be the one in.

I do my own oil changes decently frequently, like after track usage, but I'm beginning to think I should still do the dealer ones even if I replace it later. In the threads where people blow motors, if they missed a dealer oil change the dealer usually stonewalls them on warranty work unless they sue or something. Seems like I might as well spend the time if just to drive it home and swap it out for better/my preferred oil at the time.


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