Decisions decisions - many mental gymnastics! :)

Not sure if this helps but here are some thoughts.

First off, my FR-S (2014) is my DD. I am a simple casual driver - no track or autocross plans for this car. I did track days on my motorcycle in younger days so I'm okay being more "casual" now. :)

Meanwhile, I added a TRD catback exhaust with stage 1 OFT tune.

1. Performance gain from catback alone was modest - read: a bit better but not very significant overall.

2. The OFT tune, as you found, had a much bigger impact on general performance. Making the car drive so much nicer.

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The TRD catback sounds like power. Outside the car it has a good deep throaty sound. It doesn't annoy the car next to me at a stop light. Probably on par, or a little louder, than the nvidia q300.

It is not too loud. But it certainly isn't quiet either.

Notably it adds to the cabin noise. During my DD on the highway I feel like I'm escorting a B1 bomber squadron. The steady drone of the exhaust, the road/tire/wind, and air vent white noise all adds up.

My girlfriend is the "quiet type". We do trips on weekends. And a few hours in the car is acceptable for her. Which is good. However, it is probably in the "just barely" loudness range for her.

Conversation with a passenger is possible. Not shouting. But definitely loud talking voice required. If normal talking is, say, 60db and shouting is 85db, cabin noise is probably in the 75db range.

I like to listen to audio books and talk radio. I find I need to set the stock pioneer radio to around 45-50 to listen. And lose a lot of fidelity to cabin noise - low tones are masked out.

(edit: used a sound app on my phone and right around 70-75db cabin noise)

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...14cc823f77.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...4798744793.jpg

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A guy in our club has a Jackson Racing supercharger I keep eyeing.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...cb5acc5e18.jpg

I enjoy the handling of the twin. And the performance it has already feels pretty good to me.

I haven't gone too far with performance mods - just those mentioned above. Even so, adding some extra oomf would be nice to have to give teeth to the "sporty car" look. So, I also keep thinking to add a supercharger. Maybe not the Jackson (with a custom dyno tune). Perhaps the SBD you noted would be right up my alley too - one which is more or less OFT tune compatible sounds really cool.

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Granted, a lot of the cabin noise is simply the car and not the exhaust. On one hand, a supercharger won't add as much noise as an exhaust does. On the other hand, a supercharger doesn't really kick in until into higher rpms. Whereas the exhaust helps at all rpm levels.

Wow, having written this, I've concluded the noise factor is actually my biggest concern at the moment. I'm going to look into doing something about that.

I tapped it to the cars headlight switch. Feels like stock without drilling holes and adding extra switches.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...1&postcount=38

Damn those seat covers are beautiful! Love the center arm rest too!

Thanks for sharing you thoughts. I have a feeling that I will go the Cusco Final Drive route. Went for a spirited drive last night and was happy with the performance with the Stage 1 OFT tune and K&N drop in filter.

Since its my final mod the kid in me says ' ah what the hell just order the OFH3'

I'm feeling that the combo of both Final Drive and OFH3 will improve acceleration and the low end torque and make me smile....but the old man in me thinks ....am i disturbing others haha.

I wish the OFH3 cold start didn't sound so rough. I read there was a way to remove the high rev start. Every video sounds a bit different.

Decision is halfway there.

A bit of low end to stock audio - Pioneer TS-WH500A
 

After installing the Android head unit the sound instantly approved with the app Poweramp and the EQ. With the stock speakers it almost sounded like there was a subwoofer but just needed a hint of low end. First instinct was to look at OEM audio+. Very attractive system but I didn't feel like the needed a full replacement.

I also noticed the kicker sub with amp as well. But I am older these days and didnt really want a subwoofer visible when the trunk was open.

Its been ages since I looked at car audio and saw that companies today like pioneer, kicker etc. started making under seat subs in a compact attractive case.

So I decieded to give the Pioneer TS-WH500A a try. Comes with all the cables you need for installation. Routed the wires from the head unit to the rear.

I recommend taking out the rear seats. Just the bottom. The unit also comes with a remote that controls the frequency of the signal and power.

Mounted the Pioneer unit to the back of the rear seat so from the outside it is barely visible. The location does effect the sound....originally the speaker was facing up. But now facing back the trunk seems to amplify the bass even more.

Very satisified with this purchase. Also a very decent price can be found for under$300. Classy and clean looking.

Shift Knob after test driving the EcoBoost mustang
 

Last month I went to test drive the new ecoboost mustang....almost bought one too. I noticed the rousche (sp?) racing version had a white cueball shift knob and thought it was a nice touch.

Sickspeed sells a reverse lockout that you can use with any standard shift knob with the correct threading. So instantly opens up you options.

Purchased a black version with red text and a pure white version to match the color of my 86.

I switch between the two depending on my mood. Like iphone cases

I never knew about this...I'm definitely gonna have to look into this. It seems to be exactly what I want.

Thanks. I love the look of those lights

Yeah I might go final drive in the future also...just will wait until the warranty ends. However it's a pretty pricey mod when you factor in installation cost.

With the OFH you will disturb others in my opinion haha. It will be loud and smell from what I've heard from others.

However if you don't care about that, than yes the gains will be nice and it's probably the best header to get for max gains if you equip it with the OFT since the header and OFT were designed to work together.

Ace header probably gets the most gains, but that would require a custom tune for those gains.

250k 3D Model of REDBULL GT86
 

Wanted to share a 250k poly model I created of the RedBull GT86 rendered and composited on an existing photo of drift marks and HDRI images in 3DS Max/Mental Ray.

Had a great time creating these.

that's pretty sick! love the look you pulled off!

Wish someone would imitate this in real life...

definitely wouldn't mind getting another one of these as a family car in the future.

Retro Gaming in the 86
 

So during this summer in between jobs I drove my daughter to classes and ran a lot of errands in between. There was a lot of waiting time so I thought it would be nice to have a game system hooked up to my HU.

I started with my spare PS3 and an inverter, but the fan noise coming from the inverter really bothered me. So I decided to go another route.

Since mini NES unit came out the idea of having a retro system in Hachi started to appeal to me.

I bought a 8bitdo nes30 bluetooth controller but could not get it to pair with the head unit. I plugged in the usb cable with the controller and noticed a select cursor and was able to control the UI of the Android HU.

Then I decided to try the PS3 controller stock and it worked! So I bought all the emulators and downloaded all the roms....(by the way I own all the originals of these games. Been an avid gamer for over 20 years.)

The ownice quadcore HU played all these games like a champ.

Now when I have a little bit of wait time in the car, I can plug in the PS3 controller and play a little Persona 3 or play some Super Mario World.

you got parappa the rapper rom installed on there too? :D