New Potential Member.
 

Hey kids.

Looking to purchase a 14 SWP BRZ Limited in a few months here. Car will be for my wife and knowing her we'll have it for a decade or so.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to look for in terms of off the bat modifications? It will get coilovers/wheels/lip/exhaust off the bat. I hear an oil cooler is a good idea?

Hey man, welcome to the forums, are you in a hot environment? if you aren't, i think an oil cooler isn't going to be required unless you are planning on doing a lot of canyon carving or anything thats going to have the engine working hard for a significant amount of time/ tracking your car frequently. (hpde ect.) if you are then i would highly suggest one.

trawl through the forums and pick out which mods for all categories suit your budget, and make a decision from there.

Tune and exhaust (Ie Openflash header and tablet) seems to be the best bang for your buck in terms of performance.

You will find no end of potential modifications for this car, and no end of opinions about what should come first. My suggestion would be to start a list and check it twice. It's helpful to have a clear picture of what you want to do to the car before starting, since some mods will affect others.

Mine is still stock, but my first major addition is going to be an oil pressure gauge. This car doesn't have one. It has an oil pressure on/off switch that triggers an idiot light when the pressure gets down to some idiotically low number like 2 psi, when it's really too late. I actually have the gauge I hope to use (a digital JPI gauge out of a Beechcraft airplane), but I'm going to have to do some cutting and soldering and such to put it where I want it in the dash.

After that, I'm going for rims and tires. These stock tires are not sticky enough, and the stock rims are too narrow. They make the car look like it has a fat ass. That's just not appropriate. I think I'm going with Michelin Pilot Super Sports as a replacement for the stock rubber.

Other than tasteful rims, I don't go in for the cosmetic stuff. The lips, diffusers, coffee cans, tint, stickers and other nonsense all look ridiculous to me, but I'm older and am probably out of touch with what's hip and cool.

"I'm going with Michelin Pilot Super Sports as a replacement for the stock rubber". Good choice same here.

"Other than tasteful rims, I don't go in for the cosmetic stuff. The lips, diffusers, coffee cans, tint, stickers and other nonsense all look ridiculous to me, but I'm older and am probably out of touch with what's hip and cool."

It is refreshing to see another who has good taste. See attached.

I had a built STI and an Evo, I'm no stranger to modifications. This car won't be fast enough for me short of a built motor/motor swap, so nothing more than an exhaust for that awesome Subaru noise I missed so much.

I didn't know about the lack of an oil pressure gauge, that's going on the list. Thanks!

Which exhaust combination makes it have the deepest/most Subaru sound? Anyone try multiple UEL manifolds?

@R3VOLUTION to me any UEL (JDL is my preference here, real quality piece) overripe, catted front pipe, and the invida N1 catback. sounds really nice but is on the louder side if thats an issue. it also will drone a little bit, so getting the nameless front/over pipe with a cat and helmholtz resonator might be a good idea or ARK i think makes a helmholtz resonated + catted front pipe.

To get the Subie sound, you need a UEL header. Lot`s to choose from. JDL`s are VERY nice, but for the price, I think you can`t go wrong with the Openflash Header + Openflash tablet combo. You get the header and the tuner/data logger for a bit over 1000$.

You`ll get a bit of performance out of that, but the rest is pretty much all small gains. I would stay away from Air-Intakes as the stock system is surprisingly very good. Adding a simple K&N or other high flow drop-in filter will get you almost the same gains, plus their are a few thing you can do for free to change the intake sound and even performance like modding the intake air scoop.