Doing it right ... from the Start, Help me get my FR-S Sorted properly
 

So after selling them for years and having fun in the dealership environment, I've decided to take the plunge and get my own FR-S.

Sold the 318ti, the Protege5 let go my demo etc ... etc ... and bam, dropped the dime for a 2015 Raven FR-S.

I'm an experienced driver, with years carting and tracking, the FR-S will be a car that I will customize to be able to have fun with my friends on track. the objective is having this car track ready in a jippy to kick their asses without too much of a sweat. I am not a pro, I wouldn't even call myself a weekend racer. I'm an enthusiast who loves my cars.

The cars I'm facing are mainly old M3s, CLAs, MX5s etc ... etc ...

I'd like (in a perfect world) to bring the stock HP closer to 225-250, but mainly improve grip and overall acceleration. Initially I wanted to get some TRD stuff as it is easily accessible to me but weeks on this forum have convinced me to go a different route.

1st - I've seen guys use the Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R, with insane results. Not only is it a good street tire, I see it dominate on track with other FRSs / BRZ. I'm considering swapping the stock Michelin's for something more grippy to crank up my game on track.


2nd - I've seen a lot of the intake review videos, I really was impressed by the Blitz drop in filter adding 6 Whp. like a lot of what I want to do with this car, I want to keep it uncomplicated as it is my daily driver.

3 - Opening up the exhaust ? The TRD exhaust was installed by a friend on his FR-S, but the droning was not really up my alley, maybe a bad install or just a note that didn't vibe with me, but I'm a bit off topic, I'm still digging through a few reviews of Exhaust systems that would bring me there. Here is the problem I'm not interested in loud buzzy / droning and gurgly exhausts, I'd like to get great gains from the exhaust but ... when going home from the track, not wake up my awesome neighbours.

On a final note I think that I can shave a bunch of seconds with these 3 mods for starters, but I'd love some advice from you guys to get this right from the start. I'd maybe go to Enkei RpF1 or OZ Rally rims ( my favorite) when a few more $ come around but ...

I'd love to get input from you guys to maybe fine tune my strategy. Cheers and thanks in advance !

http://i.imgur.com/B6UdzHV.jpg

None of what you seek has been done before!

I would stay away from intake/exhaust marketing BS. Header is the only one that can make a real difference.

My choice would be :
AD08r
Suspension
4,55 final drive.
(Brake pads and fluid obviously)

Get some good headers, some suspension work, sticky tires like you mentioned, and brakes. If you want an exhaust that isn't too bad, get the Perrin. Drop in filter is plenty. Top it all off with a tune and you should be good to go.

Power-wise, here are the things that will give you gains:

- Drop-in filter + inlet tube. The stock airbox and snorkel are rather efficient, you won't see much improvement with a cold air intake over these, and they're much cheaper
- Header. UEL will help eliminate the torque dip, EL will give you more in the upper ranges
- Frontpipe. You can get a high flow cat on an aftermarket pipe to open up your exhaust
- Tune. OFT is good if you plan to stay NA, otherwise Ecutek

Since you're used to the competitive environment, I'd say give the car a season on stock trim to see what the car needs. Buy parts to make it perform the way you want it to. No sense in dropping money to totally redo the suspension and it make no difference or it causes problems for you. Play with it, race it stock and then adjust it, get a really good seasoned baseline before dropping money on parts.

+1

All of that is useless on track without upgrading the brakes, I wrote an essay about the two things this car absolutely needs yesterday. Intake/exhaust 'upgrades' will be absolutely insignificant to lap times vs. upgrading tires, brakes and alignment.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...5&postcount=12

Edit: I think it's worth tracking with stock rubber and suspension once to understand the baseline and learn how the car behaves even for the more experienced, but you will need tack pads if you're comfortable at all with braking on the limit.

Not even a week from your first post and you're already an expert on the platform huh? Check the attitude at the door pal.

I have been car engine engineer for 10 years. That has nothing to do with the platform. You may like the noise change of exhaust and intake, but 99% of power will come from header.

Btw, if you wanna loose power, intake is a very good choice.

Tires > Brakes. Doesn't matter how many pistons you have, what material the pads are made of and how big your rotors are if your tires aren't able to hold the road. Tires are ultimately more important to get sorted than brakes.

The only thing that I would change if you're going into a track environment would be pads and a brake fluid with a higher boil point. That would mostly be for HPDE and TT type situations. If you're just into Auto-X, neither of those are required.

- EDIT -

Also, if you wanted to with tires, get a set of lightweight wheels such as the Wedsport TC105N. Less rotational weight will improve stopping and acceleration.

TRD intake?

TRD should do nothing. Just noise. Was the case on Lotus with Toyota engines. You should not loose anything with TRD stuff. Correct MAF reading is crucial on modern engines. That's why you should take care with intakes.

What matters is to give clean and cold air to the engine.
Stock intake looks good at that.

But that's true that I'm new to the platform. ( I have been reading on it for a very long time anyway)