Yes, right filling level of oil in our gearbox (approx 2.2lr) is "measured" by filling hole .. so worth noting to ensure that one does it with car level, not on eg. some incline floor or just one end lifted with jack, as both over- and under-filling may worsen shifting feel.

I think this is probably the most important point To speak to also. I mentioned before that we have a horribly uneven parking lot with textured stone. Not exactly ideal for getting a level fill. I could find a truckstop or something like that It I have the second issue that there is almost certainly going to be a it left behind that will not come out til I run a few cycles through it, so, I feel like I’m not exactly in optimal conditions to make any fair assessments as to whether anything I do fluid related is doing me any favors.

Given your situation, I think you are probably best off getting assistance. I'd probably avoid the shop that believes in magical Subaru lubricant elixirs. Just grab 3 qts of a good tranny lube and find someone who knows shit from shoe polish to put it in for you.

Yeah I agree. I really can’t wait to have a garage again, or at least a proper place to work on cars like I did in FL. I did not like Florida but at least I had more than 6 inches of space to do anything outside. My consolation is I rarely live in one place longer than a couple years so maybe my next place I’ll have a bit more space.

I’ll see if I can call ahead to a place tomorrow to schedule a quick appointment

Alright, update time. I dont know if I made the right decision going with motul instead of redline but I read a lot of very heated debates over which was better and worse for different reasons and I settled on the motul because the shop was able to do it today since they had enough in stock and I was impatient to wait a day or 2 for them to get more redline in (shocked with the level of business they had. I actually had to part 2 businesses over and just tell them where I parked)...

What I immediately noticed.... Holy hell thats so much better..... People complain about cold tranny feel with motul (and redline but more motul) omg... its so much better. night and day... if daytime was literally being inside a solar flare and night time was being swallowed by darkmatter. I can easily begin rolling without feeling the tranny at all as low as 1800 rpm and I am not clunking along in first anymore at 6mph, in fact, I was cruising at 3mph earlier clutch fully off and was rolling nicely just above idle rpms with not problems or weird sounds or feelings at all. Not all but a LOT of the jerkiness is gone in second. Getting into second got a little better, but mostly in terms of sound. I still feel the hard gate but I dont HEAR it anymore and I intentionally did some sloppy shifting and I cant intentionally make the gears grind on cold tranny at low RPMs without just completely going full novice mode on it. I revved in third to near redline and no more tranny smell. Thats all gone. The whole thing feels good as new. Any and all tranny feelings I AM feeling, I can now distinctly identify what I am feeling and can tell that it is supposed to be there, and the tactile feedback, or at least a lot of it, has moved from the shifter down to the pedals which makes me VERY happy.

Again, I want to try redline so I certainly will on my next change, but even the motul is making me happy. There is a LOT of debate as to whether motul 75w90 is overly corrosive on the BRZ since it is GL5. Motul documentation has been presented that says its safe but a lot of people who I cant identify their exact expertise in the area say its a no-go based on the service manual... but the service manual has also been changed to my understanding to possibly include GL5 so IDK. I am sure someone is going to absolutely roast me for the decision and give me a firm "I told you so" when winter rolls around here up north.

I see some people saying the BRZ likes to have MTF changed every 15-20k miles instead of 25-60k. Can anyone confirm this? I don't mind changing it anually, especially if I feel an improvement like this every time, haha, but I am very curious since its not exactly a one size fits all type thing.

I swapped out the clutch petal assist spring to the mtec one, which helped me feel the engagement better for the less jerky shifts. I also adjusted the clutch petal to be lower and match the height of the brake petal and changed the actuation point. Swapped in motul gear 300 for smoother shifts. Some mtec shifter return springs made it feel much snappier back to neutral and i put on a weighted shift knob on which also seems to help push the car into gear.


The difference was night and day. I can feel the actuation point and its much smoother shifts with the motul and weighted knob. From stock it felt like a 'toy clutch' if that makes any sense.


Here at the end of the month ill be putting in sti trans mounts as well as the perrin shifter bushing to tighten it up even more.


The only other thing i have seen people do is shift fork and ball when changing the clutch disk, and a swap in a clutch slave cylinder and hydraulic line (https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77390)

Yeah I have seen a lot of people swap the spring with mixed opinions. I have thought about it. I know some people say it makes it a bit heavier too which under normal circumstances I actually like, but given that I am in north jersey and stop and go is a B, I am trying to decide if its worth the effort to find out first hand if I like it and risk having to swap back. I hat that there is no tactile feedback in the clutch pedal, and I can very much feel the spring just vibrating away... I dont know. I want to but I think first things first I need to get new wheels on this thing. First time I have ever thrown my back end at tless than 10mph and less than 3k rpm... these stupid prius tires are trying to kill me...

2014 car and still on stock primacies? You keep buying them (they are relatively very expensive tires) even if you don't like them, or are still on now badly worn and aged initial set?
In my eyes nothing wrong with primacies, except price. They are not the grippiest but it may add fun factor for some. But their cost makes it bad choice to get another one set, once initial "free one" is worn. And i wouldn't judge them if on top of limited initial grip one throws unreasonable wear on top.

What i did to make the decision to get the mtec was that i took the spring off completly and drove around like that for a little bit. If you run a stock clutch like i do its heavier without out the spring, but not that heavy. The only time it made me feel 'worn out' without any spring was bumper to bumper traffic. The mtec to me is a happy medium. Ive never worn myself out or felt uncomftrable with the mtec on stock clutch. If i ever go to fi and a stiffer clutch disk, it might be a different story.

Bought the car used a week ago. Blame the soccer mom before me who strangely did a great job taking care of it for someone who also never took it to get serviced ��

But to the fun factor... fun for me? Sure, a bit.... fun for the bmw driver coming around the opposite side of a corner at the stop light? Nah I think they shat themselves as a car going a mere 8mph was canted at a full 25 degrees staring straight at them... �� thankfully I know how to steer if nothing else so I stayed in my lane the whole time and all is well but they didn’t seem too thrilled lol

Ok cool. I’ll give that a try then. I know I sound like the delicate flours I make fun of for complaining about clutch leg as I drive on possibly the LIGHTEST clutch I’ve ever felt but this is also my first time back in a manual since moving to NJ a year or so ago and with 5pm traffic here, I blame nobody for wanting an auto... I DO blame the auto drivers for crawling up manual drivers asses at stops and then freak the hell out as you roll back a few inches hahahahaha. Come to think of it I might roll back less with that spring because right now, when im on a hill, I can’t feel when it’s biting til I’m basically slipping and I don’t like the lack of feedback on this pedal. I am basically just gassing it til it works when im on a hill. Theres no real good technique since I cant feel what its actually doing right now.

T_Squadrito: fun factor more like occasional tire chirp here and there in roundabouts at normal speeds or when starting going a bit more aggressive .. nothing at level you see on those 7 year old hockey pucks. My rule of thumb is to not use tires more then 3 years even if they still have legal thread depth left. If i have driven not enough tires for it to left (never happens, once i started track day hobby, lol), i'd just sell them off for partial cost recoup of next new set instead of trying to wear them down :).
Stock primacies when NOT in such sad state of age and wear are not THAT bad. I still don't advise next set to be primacy HP .. they just cost too much, mostly because of that. But there are many good tires out there, you can change to, don't blame these poor elderlies for not showing good results at olympics :)

I urge you to skip the spring. Swap out the slave cylinder. It's much easier than my DIY thread seems. I was just super detailed about it for the sake of the beginner. It is the only thing that truly addresses the issue.

The line is purely cosmetic in this case. I was new to forums at the time and didn't have the courage to decline well-intended input.

I'm on my third set of Primacys. Thanks, @humfrz!

Lol. Like I said, they are being replaced. I want the whole wheel changed though so I am looking at options. I dont like the 17/7s or 7.5s or whatever they are. I have drove other cars that are the same ratios with much nicer tires than these and in my opinion its not much better. I like to throw by choice but have a good sticky grip most of the time so I am holding off on the tires until I do the whole set of wheels and I wanna do brake pads while im back there too so I am just tabling it for the moment til I can just do all of it at once, but its a priority... These things are terrible