It Gets Old Fast | Real Life: Modding a Nerf
 

Real Life: Modding a Nerf Sports Car
Editorial

Rarely do I post in this section but felt it was appropriate. Wanted to share my overall experience thus far modifying this car.

It's been over a year and roughly 15k give or take. After a long weekend I looked at the pile and how dirty it was and had no energy to wash it by hand. I took it to my local automatic car wash, with brushes, harsh chemicals and dirty terry cloth towels to be dried by 5 different people.

"I JUST DON'T GIVE A SH*T ANYMORE"

As I pull up to the car wash the guy says, "I love your car". I smile and say thanks.

I walk inside and am stopped again by two other guys who want to know about it. I explain it's supercharged, brakes, bla bla. They were blown away. I was appreciative but at the same time explained to them it looks cool and it's a fun car but the amount of time and money spent on it completely zapped the fun factor.

No warranty, chasing small issues, worrying about what is next killed it for me after a year.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V...-h475-no/3.jpg

"THEY LOOKED AT ME CROSS EYED LIKE A PENIS JUST GREW OUT OF MY FACE."

You could tell they thought I was an un-greatful prick. But luckily by that time the car was ready, swirl marks and all. The truth is I am lucky to have had the opportunity to take this journey, but to me this car is a thing. It's no more meaningful than my vacuum cleaner.

Oh I love cars, love driving don't get me wrong but at the end of a 60 hour week at work, the last thing I want to do is sit in a garage half ass fixing bullshit modifications.

ANOTHER WEEKEND MORE TIME WASTED:

1. Ordering Replacement Brake Rotors and Pads (AGAIN)
2. Ordering more tires (AGAIN)
3. Order revised belt and pulley for Vortech kit
4. Order spare belt tensioner, just in case it breaks at a track or in the middle of nowhere and can't get parts
5. Transporting, and gathering all equipment and tires to swap from winter to summer
6. Re-installing the summer brake kit
7. Bleeding brakes
8. Re-installing oil cooler lines for spring
9. Removing bumper to look for leaks or damage

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0...o/IMAG2281.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...o/IMAG2328.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m...o/IMAG2277.jpg


AT THE SHOP AGAIN

The shop used to be fun to hang out at, make a day of doing some car work. The last few times have been different.

We started by installing the AP Brake kit again which took me hours to clean up from prior season and to mount the new rotors to the aluminum hat and to torque them. Also the summer wheels needed to be installed and the winter wheels and tires removed.


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...410_235706.gif

I talk with Turbowski about the pad situation, I replaced the rotors because the previous set were warped. Too many heating and cooling cycles, cold climate, who knows, the rotors were junk.


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e...o/IMAG2287.jpg


Problem is I have $400 in Carbotech 1521 street pads for the kit, but the front pads were grooved from the bad rotors. So now I get to throw them away and forget about running the rear pads as well.

So I install a set of cheap Hawk pads for the AP brakes up front and leave the rears stock.

"THE AMOUNT OF PARTS I HAVE THAT IS JUNK OR WASTED FROM MISTAKES OR JUST THINGS NOT WORKING IS WORTH A SMALL FORTUNE."

The brakes install no issue, and we proceed to bleed, again.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-V...o/IMAG2289.jpg


PULLING THE BUMPER FOR THE 100th TIME

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0...o/IMAG2300.jpg


Yes pull the bumper again, my favorite thing to do.
See the thing is when you have a supercharger or turbo kit, you will likely have an aftermarket oil cooler installed because for some reason Toyota and Subaru thought it was a good idea to cut costs and leave this out.

Oil temps run high on this car namely if you track it, with forced induction it's worse. Most people install liquid to air coolers, with the mocal thermostatic plate, like the Perrin unit here.

It's all good on paper, but the truth is when you have intercooler piping running lines down the same path leaves you little room. I knew this obviously and knew the intercooler tubes are close to the frame. So I wanted to pull the bumper to inspect it all.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D...o/IMAG2302.jpg

But more importantly my oil cooler was disconnected after the weather dropped below 40F because the oil would never get up to temperature so I had to reconnect it for the spring. Fun.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...AG2303_1_1.jpg


So ok we re-attach the lines which is more difficult because the Vortech Airbox and bracket are rub points of course and the lines are a tight fit everywhere, so something that should take 10 minutes take about 45.

Next we do our inspection and of course we find rubbing and cutting in multiple locations.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...o/IMAG2293.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r...o/IMAG2290.jpg


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E...o/IMAG2305.jpg


So what do we do?


"WE USE MORE ZIP TIES, RUBBER TUBES AND A CUTTING TOOL TO MAKE MORE SPACE"

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C...o/IMAG2298.jpg


4 HOURS LATER

We prime the oil cooler and check for leaks, while doing so we see some coolant pissing out of the Koyo radiator at the drain plug, which we attempted to tighten. We let the car run and re-install the bumper to make sure that the thermostat on the oil cooler is functioning at 185F.

Everything seems good re-torque wheels and all bolts. So I can go bed the brakes. This seemed easy but still screech louder than someone being burned alive. But at least I got a good transfer layer that likely wont last in a cold climate.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-R...o/IMAG2349.jpg


WHATS NEXT?

Well we have some track time finally next week, where we will swap pads again. But then its back in the shop pull off the Vortech blower to replace the idler pulley and belt for the second time, and to find out which pulley is making noise. Then we have to change the Vortech oil and fluids again.
Another 6 hours in the shop if we don't have issues

SO WHATS THE POINT?

Changing things on your car can and will be a pain in the ass.
The returns of blowing your weekends doing things like mentioned can zap the fun out of the experience. Things that should be simple rarely are.

And the truth is, there is fine print with most parts you are going install.
Some need tuning, others don't fit or just don't do what was intended. Other require maintenance or won't hold up in the cold or salt. Some cost way too much money.

"But most of all, anytime you spend in the garage installing parts, fixing things or doing anything that keeps you off the road is defeating the purpose of owning this car."

That's the hard truth about modifying.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Q...o/IMAG2384.jpg

Oh and parts hauler:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U...o/IMAG2324.jpg

Thats how you get women.

Absolutely amazing write-up. What a great read!:clap:

Honestly...this is good insight


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Agreed.

Modding cars is just like gambling in that you should never bet more than you're willing to lose.

Makes me glad I'm perfectly happy with the car as it is, and I like it more every time I drive it.

Eh, thats nothing... Try rebuilding a rare car from the junkyard from scratch and then you can start complaining :P

Confirmed my suspicions car is so much fun stock

Complaining about dropping 15 grand in upgrades to your car is ridiculous. I work 2 jobs and can't afford to do what you have to your car. $400 for brake pads? I would be happy with a $100 shift knob, but my family comes before the car does. Why modify the car at all if you don't want to put in the time needed for upkeep? Thats what car people do. Spend time with their car. Be it driving it, washing it, modding it, or showing it. Hell, some people live just so they can post pics of their cars on this forum. Look at the Whiteout thread. Someone photobombs that thread on just about every page, with nothing new done to the car.

Your car is pretty awesome.You might be better suited driving a Prius, though. I drive a stock FR-S, but I love spending time with it when I can.

So, vortech honeymoon over?

This pretty much reaffirms my decision to not go aftermarket forced induction.

I don't have the time or cash to support that kind of dedication to the car.

Great write-up. This is exactly what makes me laugh when I see people on the internets say shit like "Oh, I can just by a $20k car and with $10k of mods it's better than a $50k car". No, it's not. I mean, I appreciate the satisfaction from working on a project car, but especially with a modded FI car the time and money you spend just troubleshooting stupid shit often gets ridiculous, and too many people seem to want to ignore this reality...

This is what it boils down to for me. I guess I've never doubted it takes a certain extra something to put in the time for this level of modification, but I suppose I always figured those that do it do it for the "fun of it" as much as the finished product.

No one put a gun to anyone's head here and said, "Mod this car or die." But I suppose once it's been done it's hard to go back to stock. Good news: being broke will save me from this particular Sophie's Choice.