[Jordan Silveira]

Hey there my BRZ/86/FR-S brothers and sisters,


It's been a hot minute since the last update on BRZ3N! I guess that's just the way that goes. As they say, life is art. Sometimes you have to live a little to let the art continue to manifest. As such, I'm back and it and I've been working on getting some of my parts put on the car instead of hording them like I have a tendency to do.


First though, just a brief status update on BRZ3N as of today. I'm at about 29,500 and approaching the 30,000 mark on the odometer. As such, I'm currently prepping to buy all the necessary oils, filters, etc. for that maintenance period. During that time, when I'm under the car I plan on installing the Driveshaft Shop 1-Piece Carbon Fiber Driveshaft. I also intend on installing the STI Flexible Draw Stiffeners. I know some people were eager to get my opinion on those. It's coming soon I promise! Lastly, I am also going to install the MTEC shift springs.


As for the maintenance, I'm just going to be doing the standard; flush/bleed the brakes, oil change, tire rotation, transmission and differential fluid changes, and the cabin air filter. I did pick up the K&N washable and reusable cabin air filter for our cars so here's to hoping that works well!


One minor aside here that isn't on the car yet but figured that I would update for the build thread is the dampers I'll be using. I previously had planned to use the USDM tS Sachs dampers and STI coil springs (10mm drop). @MugsBRZ has them now and he's enjoying them. With that said, I ended up changing my mind and going with the Showa dampers and STI coil springs (15mm drop) from the JDM BRZ tS. However, before moving on I must give a major thanks to @chermo12 for aiding me in my journey to achieving a full STI OEM Perfomance build for BRZ3N! As mentioned before, the suspension, wheels, Brembos, and more will be tackled all at once. As such, I have nothing else to report on this front but I'll include some pictures of the dampers for comparison sake with the Sachs ones.









Okay so we've arrived to the changes since the last update. I'll try my best to be concise and give a general bullet point list of what's changed. If you're looking for more detail or opinions I'll list pictures below and all that good stuff below in the section dedicated to that specific part. As per usual, I always welcome and encourage an open discord of feedback, opinion, comments, questions, concerns, etc.

• STI Flexible Tower Bar
• STI Flexible V-Bars
• STI Front Grille Emblem
• Subaru tS Interior Trim
• Subaru Blue Manifold Cover
• TRD Momo Steering Wheel; Reupholstered by Sweidit (HyperBlue Stitched, HyperBlue Center Marker and STI laser etched into original TRD location)
• Toyota JDM Black Door Handles
• Toyota JDM Rear Armrest W/HyperBlue Stitching
• MTEC Clutch Assist Spring
• Radium Engineering Master Cylinder Brace (Green)

Okay so let's start with the MTEC Clutch Assist Spring since I don't have any pictures to really show that off. This install wasn't too difficult save for having the post shoot off and disappear that led to a 30 minute search with magnets to find it lodged between the fuse box and firewall. That was not fun to get out! Outside of that I am utterly amazed and so happy to have done this as I am one of those many drivers of our cars that struggled with the stock clutch despite driving many manual cars before. I chose to do this method over just removing the stock spring because I didn't want the slop that is at the top of the pedal post spring removal. I also like that it feels like a happy medium between both (as I did test the clutch feel with and without the MTEC Clutch Spring). The MTEC spring just gives me the traditional clutch feel I hold so fondly from other cars that my BRZ just didn't give me from the factory.


Next, let's briefly discuss the Radium Engineering Master Cylinder Brace. I admittedly thought that before having this installed, all MCB's were more hype than substance. I will also openly admit that I was wrong. Having this installed most definitely improved the brake pedal feel. The best way I could describe this is referring to the "slop" I was referring to in the clutch pedal before the MTEC Clutch Spring was installed. What I mean is that the brake pedal stock has a given amount of play and "slop" that I don't think many would notice until you install a Master Cylinder Brace. It just feels like now the brake pedal stops at a certain point and you feel resistance pushing back on your foot instead of what used to be wasted kinetic energy being emitted and essentially wasted through the firewall.








Onto the STI Flexible Tower Bar and V-Bars now, the install on these was pretty easy. Just removing stock hardware and replacing with the the STI parts. After that it's just making sure to torque them down to the right spec and leveling them to ensure that they are presented right in the engine bay. As for the impressions, the truth is like most in this car it's a marginal improvement in my eyes and feel. Now, I will say I don't have a ton of miles or even truly hard driving with these parts just yet. They do surely pretty up the engine bay and I find it worth noting that the most noticeable thing I could feel was that the car felt a bit more "tight" or "buttoned up" in regular daily driving through uneven roads, dips, freeways, etc.





As for the next two things, the blue Subaru manifold cover and the STI front grille emblem. The skinny with the manifold cover is that I wanted to spruce up the engine bay and I thought that would do it. However, I'll say that the flat blue doesn't appeal to me as much as I thought it would so I plan on swapping this out for the red Toyota one as I feel that will align better with my engine bay with the various bits of red from the STI parts and mainly the red inlet from the TRD performance intake. When discussing the STI front grille emblem though, that my friends was a pain in the ass like no other. I didn't feel like dropping the front bumper so I know that I was asking for more work but my goodness what a pain it was to install this from the front. Overall, well constructed piece though and it's a nice aesthetic for the front of the car.





Finally, let's talk about interior! So, as for the tS interior trim it's pretty self explanatory just swapping out the interior silver/chrome trims for the satin finish that Subaru elected to go with as opposed to the Toyota matte black option. Let me start by saying that as silly as this may sound this may be one of my favorite things I've done. I don't know how else to explain it other than saying that every time I get in the car or I'm just driving I notice the black trim pieces and actually admire them much more than when they were just chrome. I did elect to also swap out the interior door handles to the Toyota matte black ones in an attempt to defeat as much of the chrome as possible. As for the JDM rear armrest, I just simply think it's a nice touch and add on to what I'm trying to make is a nice place to sit and be. The finish is so much better if for nothing more than uniformity when comparing to the stock carpet finish. I naturally had to have it restitched to match my car's interior stitching. As an aside, that part of having to get everything restitched really sucks but oh well, you pay the cost to be the boss.















Finally, I would say this is one of the biggest changes I've made and I am thoroughly happy and pleased with the change. I had acquired the TRD Momo steering wheel a while back. I finally decided to get it reupholstered. As such, I decided to go in line with my STI and OEM+ build ideals. What better way than to have it reupholstered as if Subaru had made this steering wheel to compete with the stock one from the Release Series 1.0. With that said, the wheel is now reupholstered using Napa leather and a center marker done in Alcantara to match the HyperBlue paint on the exterior. And of course, a STI logo was laser-etched onto the right spoke of the steering wheel to the exact same dimensions of the TRD that was found on the TRD version of the Momo wheel.







Anyway, thanks for coming along this far and as always there's more to come. As I said earlier, the 30,000 mile maintenance is the next up on the schedule for BRZ3N. After that however, I am hoping to get the STI Brembos that I picked up a while ago powder coated. As per usual, if you have any questions, comments, qualms, concerns, feedback or otherwise. I encourage you to DM, leave a comment, let's chat it up like always on this build thread. Righteous! Less Stress, More Love.