Diary of a noob track man (oh and his car too).
 

Okay, so I have been on the forums for a while now (over a year :eyebulge:). I joined around the same time I bought my 2013 Raven FRS. At the time I bought it, I was living in northern WV (Morgantown area for those in the know). The nearest track was in southern WV about 3 hours south. I still had aspirations to go (I had been doing drag with my old toys for years, but with this car, I wanted something different). None of my friends were into auto racing anymore, really, so I was in it along. That is, until I moved to SoCal for a new job. Now that I am out here where tracks are plentiful (Though funny enough, most of them are still a good 2.5+ hours away), and I met a LOT of great people, including my mentors @juliog (also my room mate), and Mike and David from CSG, I thought it was time to do a build thread. Now since all of my past car experience was drag (and DSM/Evos at that), suspension, brakes, and all that jazz is an entirely new word to me. Mike and David have been absolutely fantastic with helping me plan this build and even some teaching both on and off the track. Julio has been a great help with exercises on canyons, etc..

I am still slow. Very slow. But it's not the car's fault, it's completely mine. I still am shy with the throttle and don't quite have a full grasp on the cornering capabilities of the car, but I am slowly getting better, I think.

This car is my DD, as well as my track car, but as my commute is tiny (5 miles total a day) and I plan to pick up a second car (or bike?) in the near future, I decided to make this build mostly track oriented without much care for street comfort.

The current state of the car is extremely mild, to say the least. Current mods:

Suspension/Brakes:
- Swift spec-r springs (stock dampers)
- SPL LCAs (waiting for camber plates to come off back order to install)
- 17x8 RPF1s
- 225x45x17 Hankook RS3s (v2)
- Motul brake fluid
- Project Mu Club Racer brake pads
Engine/Exhaust:
- Invidia N1 resonated catback
- Invidia catted FP
- Motiv OP
- FT86SpeedFactory Catted UEL
- AEM Intake
- Etune (WIP)

Here are some pics of the car as it is now (and also some pics from before some parts were installed):

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Twinsies. Even have matching Domo-kuns. :P
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So what' next?

I just placed an order for jackson racing oil cooler, so that's next up. That and raceng camber plates are my immediate concerns. From there a Tomei EL header (EL is better for upper RPM use than UEL) and a dyno tune from Sean Church are the next pieces, and the thing I am really saving for is Tein SRC coilovers. With those mods, I will really just need to focus on driving mod for a while.

Looking forward to watching this build / diary, I've been looking at a lot of the exact same mods myself.

I know it has been a while since my last update. Apologies. Anyway, this past weekend I took the time to install my Jackson Racing oil cooler. Mother was in town so I was in a scramble to get int installed, so no pics, really.

Anyway a couple things I learned about the JR OC for NA applications:

1) It DOES NOT fit with the AEM intake. Luckily, I still had my OEM one lying around, so I swapped it in. Unfortunately, somewhere along my move to SoCal, I seem to have lost the little screws that go to the MAF sensor. After going to three different locations looking for replacements, I ended up having to just order them from the dealer. Only $2 and some change so no biggie, but the MAF is currently zip tied until they come in. XD

2) Recently helped my room mate @juliog install the same OC on his car and it turns out that the fitment is a little snug when paired with the larger Koyo radiator. In the end, we had to use some zip ties to force the oil lines towards the front of the car, as they were chafing on one of the AC condenser brackets otherwise.

All in all, install was very straightforward and instructions were very clear. Just make sure that you have all of the necessary tools a head of time so that you don't have to scramble to find what you need during the install.

Next track day is Nov. 8, so I will be able to get some oil temp readings then.

When you get your Raceseng CasCam plates would you be able to measure how much of a difference in ride height they make? I'm very curious to see how much more they lower the car. I know it won't be much, but every mm counts!

Also would love to hear your impressions of the Spec-R's, on both the street and track.

Thanks!