Hello everyone, my name is Sid and holy gee...
...I have no idea how I got to this point.
Toyota and Subaru in 2013 and for the past decade have been chipping away at my conscience to pick up their new FR offering, in which to me, a 240SX owner, was extremely lucrative. In my efforts to coarse NissanUSA to try and introduce some sort of 240SX replacement, or even just some new cheap FR nameplate, I find myself betrayed, a man without a nation. Their reply: "People your age are absolutely into the Nissan Juke and want crossovers."
I am trapped in a closing era of my 240SX, hooked to it by nostalgia and tons of memories of many different track days, meets, car shows, and the world a 240SX can build around one individual.
This world has turned into a wasteland.
Squeezed by the phenomenon known as "drift tax" (there are too many different factors to point out) and the fact that my inner-Nissan enthusiast has completely outgrown my inner-drifter, it has become time to refresh my S13 and give it the refurbishing it deserves. IF I have the motivation, the S14 could get the same treatment. Regardless, I needed to find another car to take up the gauntlet and hopefully, maybe not completely fill the shoes, but to become the tool that would continue to help me enjoy and exercise my pursuit of getting better as a driver.
This brings us to present day. A time where Nissan just tried to shove a resculpted 370Z down the publics throat and made no play to literal and direct pleas to remake the Schassis or some cheap RWD car...or even kill off the CVT transmission...but that's for another day. At the announcement of the 400Z, I tried to quantify the want for one, but to no avail, purely because of how massive and how heavy the car is probably going to be. All the while, I touted the same thing since seeing an FRS: "If Nissan fails to bring a cheap and lightweight FR car any time soon, i will buy an FRS."
Along with the acquisition of my current job on the parts counter at the local Subaru dealer, the tuning market's rush to accommodate BRZFRS owners, and seeing the constant flow of them come in and out of the shop...I was able to build my credit up enough to snag up a quite tasty 2015 FRS, Raven in color, 6spd with 91k miles on it. Along with the extensive CARFAX history that came with it, it helped me build confidence in the fact that, "this is the one."
I enjoyed driving it for quite a while until the body roll was quite noticeable. Rowing gears just was not the same since the stock exhaust does a great job of muffling the car. The stock 215 Michelins were meager and left me wanting a bit more. OF COURSE the car could use a bit more power, but I did not want to fold right away and mindlessly toss the cheapest boost kit, turbo or supercharger, on the car. I do believe that this car was meant to take on the New ND Miata and stay in a niche for those that thoroughly enjoy having a nice blast through a nice wooded and windy backroad.
Prior to hopping on the internet and mass-clicking whatever add-to-cart aftermarket goodness I could find, I ran into a snag. You see, one of the huge upsides of working at the dealership, you get inside information, pertinent to stock or modded cars, whether it be from seeing it happen in front of your eyes in the shop, or word of mouth from one of the many tuner shops in the area. I had the inside scoop of not only the advice to avoid 2013's due to the valve spring recall, but if I could buy a 2015 or later model to avoid issues with things like the Variable Valve Timing Sprockets giving up the ghost, it would save me lots of heart ache. Long story short, the 2015 I purchased, even though it was done in caution to avoid such issues, the car threw a camshaft sensor code. I tried everything I could to battle the CEL as per the provided service bulletin: oil flush/oilchange, change offending oil control valve, and try to reset the computer. Thankfully, when purchasing the car I overpaid for the used car warranty which eventually covered the replacement of the ECU.
Anywho, my shift here at Subaru is coming to close and I need to button up the store for the night. I will continue at home with pictures and the summation of what else went on with my newly acquired 240...i mean FRS!