2point0's BRZ Ltd "Mina"
 

To start, this thread won’t get updates every day, or even every week for that matter. A layoff is on the near horizon so I can’t be spending all the time/money on this that I would like.

As she sits now:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ip-skirts1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0049.jpg

This is Mina, the night I brought her home. I picked her up on June 7, 2012 and dropped off my 2010 STi in exchange. It was a hard choice, but one I’m happy with. The STi was a blast. Very roomy inside and comfortable over all surfaces, plus the AWD and massive torque made me feel like I could conquer the world. But horrid fuel economy (18mpg…come on, my 1967 Mustang can get that), moronic rear-view mirror placement (if you’re tall, you know what I mean) and even the power, made it less than ideal as a DD. The POWER, you say? Yeah, as much as I wanted to mod the thing, I just couldn’t really get that much enjoyment out of it without being very stupid on the street/freeway and gas prices made mountain runs infrequent enough that I wasn’t having the fun with it I’d like.

The BRZ is small. Almost too small. Leg room aplenty, but I’ve got a tall torso and my hair rubs the headliner with the seat all the way down. Leaning back doesn’t help due to the roof slope, but I’m getting used to it. With the stupid mirror in the STi, I had to hunch down to see around it anyway, so it’s actually not as bad as that was. Power is a bit lacking, but the chassis has sooo much potential and power is something we can change! You can’t give an STi this kind of weight distribution no matter what you do. BUT…if you really wanted to, you can drop an EJ25 in a BRZ!

So far, I’ve been up to Palomar Mountain just once, on stock tires. The lack of torque was very evident, but this motor likes to rev and the car likes to turn! That’s something I sure missed. Well, the stock wheels/tires are now stacked in the garage and my take-offs from the STi are on the car until I get my spare set painted (5Zigen FN01R-C).

Mods to date:
• Kartboy battery tie-down. Good ‘ol KB bling!
• Kartboy crank pulley
• Kartboy shifter bushing
• Nameless axleback w/ Kartboy hangers
• Perrin foam air filter
• RCE yellow springs
• Eibach Camber bolts
• Vinyl from Bluebatmobile (installed by Ryan aka O Hella JDM on other forums):

o Gloss black roof
o Redout tails with 3/10 smoke on top
o Yellow fog light covers
o 6/10 smoke sidemarkers
o 6/10 smoke DRLs
o 3/10 smoke backup lights
o CF style eyelids

• 5Zigen FN01R-C 17x8 +48 (white) with 225/45 Michelin Pilot Super Sports
• RCE yellow springs
• Parts Shop MAX wheel spacers
• Motive Autowerks Master Cylinder Brace
• Mach V LEDs: dome, puddles, license plate, front turn signals
• Craven Speed stubby antenna
• GrimmSpeed hood struts
• GrimmSpeed front strut bar
• GrimmSpeed alternator cover / tool tray / burrito warmer
• Sound generator delete
• JDM STi Side Skirts
• BaysonR replica STi front lip


Enough blabbing, here are some pics:

Palomar Mountain run 9/9/12
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...2/IMAG0502.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...2/IMAG0504.jpg

Not a Subaru, but one of my top 3 favorite cars EVAR (yes, it’s a kit)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...2/IMAG0507.jpg

In somewhat chronological order…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMG_1473.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0130.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMG_1471.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0243.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0249.jpg

Most of vinyl done…just red over tails, smoke came later.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0246.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0262.jpg

Yup, a large-frame mountain bike DOES fit back there. Yes, front wheel is off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0187.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6..._1584_edit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG0512.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psdbc72f3c.jpg

Smoked tails finally done!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps3f382c71.jpg

As of the date of this posting, I’m over 10,300 miles! I’ve got crickets and a HPFP on order…waiting and waiting. I had the nasty window switch rattle, but fixed that with a couple small pieces of foam. What a difference! If your door rattles with music, do yourself a favor: take the door panel off and fix this! PM me if you need details.

That’s all for now. More pics to come once my Mach V package gets here today.

Just for giggles, my previous vehicles:

• 1970 VW Karmann Ghia
• 1973 Chevy El Camino 350ci
• 1967 Ford Mustang 289ci w/T5 conversion (still have this one)
• 1992 Acura Integra LS w/B20 swap
• 2005 Subaru WRX Stage 2+ (WRB)
• 2010 Subaru WRX STi (also WRB...see a theme?)

i noticed you blacked out the LED strips. more pictures? and do they still look white when on?

Yeah, they are still highly visible when on. That's bluebatmobile's 6/10 dark tint. Same on the sidemarkers. I really thought it'd be too dark but now it's growing on me. It disappears into the foglight surround and makes the area look less-busy.

I'll post a few more pics of that in a bit.

Just got my order from Mach V so I'll be installing LEDs in a few minutes.

how hard was this over lay to install, i notice that you didn't install this or the tails but i'm curious if i'll end up butchering the job.

Don't do it! Really, let someone who works with vinyl do this or you're gonna get frustrated. Since my car was the first of these he's done, the installer had to do it several times to get to where it wouldn't peel up.

Lots of pics you see of the tail light overlays are not very close up or detailed. The top edge will pull up, so these were made in two pieces: flat piece for the top and wraparound piece for the bottom and side. That hump on the side is a bitch.

DRLs were a bit of a pain, but the rest I would have been comfortable doing myself.

I installed my LEDs and am stoked...except for the rear turn signals. In the redout/smoke it is WAY too dim. I'll have to see if Dan will help me out on an exchange or something. I think bright white would be good, or maybe even pure red LEDs. That way, no light is actually getting filtered out.

If someone uses the cutout vinyl overlays (as modeled above), I don't think there would be any issues with these LEDs.

The fronts are plenty bright, though not very easy to see from the side.

The blinker module was kind of a bitch to get to. I took off the lower dash (below the steering wheel) as well as the metal plate under that, and the job got a helluva lot easier. I'm a big dude, so I can't get upside down in there like I could on my domestics.

New antenna looks good, too. I'm starting to get light-headed so I'm calling a lunch break.

Comparison:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps5e13497e.jpg

Done:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps03ddbc8f.jpg

What wheels are those? They're not the ones in your initial post I think.

My pics go from stock wheels to the Drags I mentioned above. That's all I've had on this car so far.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps3f382c71.jpg

One of my favorite shots!

B@t™

those red tails look badass. thinking of doing this myself. ^_^

Just contact that guy above, Bluebatmobile, and he'll take care of ya!

Mine, too! Just wish I could get that tag on my plate for real. Some sucker took it already!

Oh and I have no trunk lettering now, just the oval.

:party0030:

B@t™

Nice, I like those JDM yellow fogs you got =)

Were they hard to install?

Tails were not easy! Definitely get an installer if you're not very familiar with vinyl work. The other pieces would not have been too tough, but the guy did all of it.

Thanks! Not exactly JDM, but a little vinyl goes a long way.

I visited with Tom@Kartboy today and picked up a couple of goodies. The hangers are to go with something I'm getting tonight, barring any natural disasters.

Looks like I can knock a couple things off my "upcoming mods" list now. Got Eibach camber bolts from a buddy the other day, just haven't installed them yet. Maybe there will be time with the holiday.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a_Cornered.jpg

I've been prepping my 5Zigens for paint. What a pain. I wish I had a blast cabinet...and a compressor with more power.

And then...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...IMAG0758-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...5-1_Hagrid.jpg

interesting design! is it a one-off or is someone going to offer this? Curious as to why it's two muffler cans and not just one before the split?

It's made and sold by Nameless Performance. I love how unique it looks. It's all bendy to make it 1) keep the stock attachment to midpipe and 2) keep it equal pipe length. Once I read about the company, I was hooked. I'd buy all of their pieces if I had the money.

http://namelessperformance.com/

I happened to get this one used, though.

I've only seen Borla put a single muffler before the split (where our resonator is now...unless theirs is just a big resonator?). The others are all after the split or a transverse muffler like stock or Perrin that has the split inside the can.

ah, ok yeah I've heard of Nameless, just didn't realize that was how it was designed. Actually heard one at a local meet it sounded really good. Kind of torn between something elegant like that or a simple muffler delete like the one WORKS is making. Don't want too much obnoxious sound but like the idea of reducing weight from losing the stock muffler. Did you get the non-offset version?

I went with this from a muffler delete (single tip, custom from a local muffler shop). I really liked it at first, totally sounds racecar! But when starting up in the morning, the fast idle is WAY too loud for my quiet neighborhood. Nobody complained, but I felt like I was being an ass. Part throttle or when lifting off the pedal, there was too much drone. I feel like it'd go well with a turbo (helps change the sound) but for NA it was a little too nasty.

Bear in mind, this is coming from someone with an old Mustang that is notorious for setting off car alarms. It's just that if it's going to be THIS loud, it needs to actually be able to accelerate. Making all that noise and not really going anywhere just seemed stupid. I'll keep the delete for some future track days or something.

The guy who sold me the Nameless gave me a ride while it was still installed and it sounded even better in his car than mine. The reason: he has the Injen intake. Very nice combination there. Not obnoxious during tame driving but it's deep and loud enough when you romp on it.

Edit: oh yeah, this is the non-offset style. Anyone who thinks this is too loud is like 90 yrs old.

Kartboy pulley installed! Man, that was probably the least fuss of any install I've done. Changing wheels is more of a pain that this.

Installed my camber bolts yesterday. At some point I'll get an alignment just to see the specs, but from everything I'm hearing, toe change is minimal to none when doing this.

So far turn-in is much sharper, but I haven't had a change to really lean the car. Looking forward to it!

mmm I wonder if my mountain bike would fit in my car...probably not. trek 29" is quite large

It'd be tight, but might work. I think mine is 27". You can always take the back wheel off, too!

I've seen a couple of 86's with racks already so the clips are available. I just hate that style of clip, but they didn't give us any other option on this car.

i like your car

i like pizza

to bad your car is 2pointslow

seriously though your car is insane in the twisties, i felt like i was gonna throw up after riding along in this car.

LOL wassup murrmurr! We need to take another trip up there now that I've got those camber bolts in. It's like a whole new car.

:party0030:

B@t™

Matt, u get my eyelid overlays on yet :)?

B@t™

Soon! Been too rainy, but now I'm jobless and will have more time during the days. Car will be at the dealer all day tomorrow, but I bet I can do it this Friday.

Sweet!

B@t™

Can you post pics of my cf eyelids :D?

B@t™