Stock, but not for long..
I believe cars are an extension of yourself. The way you maintain, modify, and build your car is a reflection of yourself. When building or modifying a car, you have to think about why you have chosen those parts, and what your goal and intention is. I've seen too many piss poor jobs where people threw together whatever parts they could find, or get for cheap. In the end, this results in a less than stellar vehicle. Now, I'm not saying you have to drop massive amounts of money into your car. Having a plan, and building your car with more thought and care put into your parts selection, will ultimately end you up with a better vehicle. Modifying it for the sake of modifying it, is not the right approach.
Right off the bat, I booked an appointment with Neal @ The Racers Line. I'd been following the shop for a while, and this this is a completely new car and chassis to me, felt it was best to get the stamp of approval from an expert.
03/11/2017:
Neal was able to squeeze me in on a Saturday, so my girlfriend and I drove up. Neal did a complete vehicle inspection, as well as an oil/tranny/diff fluid replacement. Turns out my intake hose was loose so he tightened that up. It was good to finally check out the under carriage of the car, and look for any other issues with it (there were none). We chit chatted about the twins, 240sx, and our experiences working in the auto industry. Neal's a really great guy and I look forward to bringing my car back to him for more work.
Now that the car had a seal of approval, it was time to start buying parts and changing everything. When modifying cars, I try and upgrade things in a manner that makes the most sense, and try to group together parts that compliment one another.
04/22/2017:
For the BRZ, I wanted to change a few things right from the start. I hated the stock tail lights and side markers, so I replaced them with JDM TOM's Tails and OEM clear side markers. The TOM's I bought from a member on here, and the Clear side markers I bought from FT86SpeedFactory.
04/26/2017:
Did a mini photoshoot with my buddy.
05/04/2017:
A friend of mine got me a killer deal on some HKS Hipermax IV SP coilovers.
05/10/2017:
Finally got my vanity plate installed! Initials + Chassis code.
After this I decided to replace the front and rear bumpers. The mismatched paint, and over spray all over the grill/headlights/fog light housings was just annoying me. I got a great price on the parts, and a buddy of mine recommended a family friend for the paint.
05/17/2017:
Paint was done. The car looks much much better. They did a great job masking off the black portions of the bumper, which was something I was really nit picky about.
And of course I had to take it for a drive to break in the paint
The exterior is now looking pretty good. Bright LED bulbs and nice tail lights. I replaced the HIDS with 5k bulbs, and have an Always-ON DRL kit and LED fog light bulbs on order as well, which should complete the exterior lighting upgrades.
Next I wanted to tackle the interior. I was pretty dead set on a BRZ for the past year and a half, so I bought a JPM Coachworks interior set before they closed back on 10/2016. The only thing I wasn't able to grab was a one piece dash panel, so I would have to source that elsewhere.
Thanks to the feedback on this forum, I knew the stock headunit was a joke. I decided with the very OEM-looking Joying unit. An android-based stock looking unit? Yes please!
05/20/2017:
I was able to score the new 2GB Joying unit. Only downside is it has a CD slot, but no actual player. But I don't listen to cd's so not a total set back
Removal of the stock deck:
Soldering all the connections on the new harness:
It was at this time I confirmed that my reverse camera was aftermarket. Not a huge issue, but I did need to order a custom harness from autoharnesshouse.com in order to get it to work. For whatever reason, the metra ax-toy28swc harness DOES NOT fit into the vehicle's 28-pin, so word of caution. A few other people on this forum have had this issue, so I urge you to go through autoharnesshouse for this.
Did I mention that I hate doing wiring? Becuase I do.
Everything works! Hooray!
06/14/2017:
Did a little photo shoot of the car in it's "mostly stock" configuration before the coils and other bits go on.
06/30/2017:
Coil over install time! And for good reason, since my friends and I rented out the skidpad at thunderhill for the Fourth of July. A friend of mine is an auto tech, so he's been letting me use his tools + lift to do most of the work on my car. He is well compensated in food for this.
We were all drifting that weekend, so we all had a bunch of work to get done on our cars.
07/04/2017:
Drift day! Now I should make something clear; I didn't buy this car to drift it, as I never really intended to. But my friends basically begged me to go, and a lot of car friends from the past were going to be there, so I thought at the very least it would be good to see some old faces, take some pictures, and give my car a proper shakedown.
It was hot at the track; to say the least.
My buddy James came out and took some pics of me sliding.
07/05/2017:
The very next we were pack at the shop, and I swapped out my stock wheels for the set off my buddy's 2011 WRX. The 234/45/17 is almost identical in size to the 265/35/18 I plan to run, so it gave me time to dial in my suspension and get it pretty close to where it will be once I get the new wheels and tires on. I should of taken more pics of it, but here is the car with just the HKS coils (factory settings) and WRX wheels installed.
07/12/2017:
Next up it was time to install my PBM Lower Control Arms. I have a long history of using Parts Shop MAX parts back from my 240sx days. The dedication and passion these guys possess is insane. They put a lot of time and effort into R&D on their products. Now yes, a lot of their parts are manufactured in Taiwan. However, a lot of Japanese brands do this, so to cast a shadow over all Taiwanese manufacturing as horrible is unfair. The quality control on PBM is great, and these guys truly stand behind the product. I've beaten the shit out of my PBM parts in the past and have never had any issues. I expect the same (if not better) performance on these as well.
The install was relatively easy. They offer two mounting positions for your coilovers, 25mm lower or 40mm lower. I don't plan on slamming my car, so the 25mm position was perfect for me. The HKS coilovers come from the factory with about a 1 inch drop in front, and a 1.2 inch drop in rear. I also started work on the ride height as well. My buddy and I were supposed to attend the SubieWerks meet on Treasure Island on 07/15/2017, so I was inclined to even out the car. It's better, not perfect, but better. Front needs to come down maybe another 6-10mm more, and maybe bring the rear up a few 2-6mm
07/14/2017:
I had always planned to run Dunlop DZ101/102 tires on the car. A few of the guys I took inspiration from used them, so I knew the look, fit, and performance of the tire would suit my needs. Since my wheels would be arriving within the next few days/week (God willing..) I decided to buy the tires. Much to my surprise, I found Falken Azenis RT615K on closeout, and 25 dollars less per tire than the Dunlops! This was too good a deal to pass up for some 200UTQG tires. (The Dunlops are rated at 460 for the same 265/35/18 size I need)
07/21/2017:
RacerX F/R Adjustable End Links! AEL are often overlooked when lowering your car. If you lower your car and don't go to adjustable end links, you'll end up with binding issues and other not so fun problems.
07/28/2017:
While I still wait for my wheels to arrive, (ETA jumped another two weeks.. :/) I decided to work some more on the interior of the vehicle. I had finally received my STI start button, and black interior panels. I've been dying to install my JPM Coachworks panels, so now it was time to rip apart the interior.
Before:
After:
08/11/2017:
This car has horrible pedal placement from the factory, making it very difficult to heel-toe downshift. Luckily Verus Engineering solves this problem for us with an adjustable throttle pedal spacer. Install was a breeze and although it is adjustable, I left it in the recommended position. It was an immediate difference that was very notable at first, but after sometime you completely forget it's there and it feels great! downshifting has improved immensely. I have yet to use it at the track, but I have done a fair amount of spirited driving through the mountains and this has made heel-toe so much easier and enjoyable. The car should of came like this from the factory!
