Pure Motorsport: JDL Turbo BRZ Track Build

[ATL BRZ]

I didn't let the header situation keep me down this weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday with the car on the lift and successfully installed

-RaceComp Engineering hollow front and rear sway bars
-Whiteline Com-C top mounts (revised version with better bearings and harder durometer rubber around the bearing, acquired via warranty replacement)
-Whiteline rear crossmember insert bushings (KDT922)
-Millers Motorsport CRX 75w90 NT Trans & Diff fluid
-Millers Racing Brake Fluid 300 Plus (flushed all the OEM fluid)
-Project Mu HC+800 Brake Pads (F&R)
-Perrin Rear Shifter Bushing


No malfunctions, everything installed without a hitch. Test driving the car after doing all of that was FUN! Zero body roll from the bigger, stiffer and hollow RCE sway bars set stiffer in the rear and softer in front for predictable oversteery goodness. I am amazed by how much grippier the stock tires feel when tossing the car around. The bars help the car change direction quicker than I ever thought possible. It's a truly amazing difference in handling compared to the OEM sways. Can't wait to see what kind of cornering speeds these allow on the track soon. Thanks @Racecomp Engineering , you guys rock!

Quicker, more responsive turn-in with more negative camber and caster from the WL Com-C top mounts. They are working great with the RCE Yellow springs on the OEM struts. Took the camber bolts out of the strut mounts and went with the stock fat-collared bolts because I'm getting enough negative camber already. No noises when turning or over bumps, no deformation of the rubber around the bearings; they check out and earn a thumbs up.

The Whiteline rear subframe bushings also make the car feel much better under load. All the rear subframe slop and play is gone. The chassis responds instantly to the gas pedal and traction is greatly improved everywhere. Coupled with the Perrin rear shifter bushing the car feels more solid overall and the gear changes feel more precise and direct. No additional NVH that I noticed so these bushings get two thumbs up

I haven't gotten to threshold test the Millers racing brake fluid yet but I will at the next HPDE at the end of April. The brakes feel awesome, much more progressive bite from the Project Mu HC+800 pads. They feel much more aggressive compared to the StopTech Street performance pads and since they have a much higher MOT and friction coefficient they will hopefully serve me well at the track soon and allow quiet operation year round. The trans and diff fluid are performing great so far. Quieter, smoother shifts and lower operating temps by a significant margin makes me feel good about tracking the car hard this summer.



I didn't get any pics during the install of anything since I was just too focused on getting it all done ASAP, but I did manage to snap a quick one after the test drive after washing and before putting the 944 Turbo S (pictured) and 944 S2 race car back into the garage:





Now for the only bit of bad news...

I did not successfully install the Touge Factory Brake Cooling Duct kit. The instructions require drilling and cutting a hole in the factory splash guard right where the control arm sits and removing the calipers, rotors, and hubs to install the backing plates for the hoses. The kit comes with shims to push the washer fluid tank out to create a big enough gap between the tank and the AC condenser and line on the driver's side to route the hoses.

With the car on the lift, I removed all the under panels and installed the spacers for the washer tank and made the gap per the instructions and attempted to test fit both of the ducts on either side of the bumper opening to be sure they would work before proceeding with the rest of the install. I was concerned about the differences of the bumper openings on BRZ vs the FR-S. Touge Factory developed the kit on an FR-S and the unique grille mesh and the bigger lower openings near the "fangs" happen to be just right for the ducts to be secured and the hose to be routed properly. I found that the BRZ bumper does not allow proper fitment of the ducts and hoses.

I could not find way to properly mount the ducts to the BRZ's bumper. This is mostly an issue on the driver's side. I could not find a way to mount the ducts flush with the bumper opening and zip tie it down securely while allowing the hose to properly flow into the gap between the washer fluid tank and the AC condenser/rad. The FR-S bumper openings are perfectly shaped at the lower extremes to allow the ducts to mount flush and direct the hoses to just the right area to clear the condenser on either side. The mesh design grille on the FR-S also makes it much easier to zip tie and secure the ducts. I decided at that point to not install the kit since I couldn't find a good solution to securely mount the ducts behind the bumper cover openings so I decided not to proceed with installing the backing plates and cutting and drilling the splash guard for the hoses.

I will be contacting Touge Factory first to see if they have a solution. Everything else about the kit would have installed fine, but the differences in the bumpers between the two cars may be a deal breaker.

[mad_sb]

Have you seen the APR kit:
http://ft86speedfactory.com/apr-carb...s-frs-637.html

looks like it will install without removing the backing plate.. not 100% sure though

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by mad_sb

Have you seen the APR kit:
http://ft86speedfactory.com/apr-carb...s-frs-637.html

looks like it will install without removing the backing plate.. not 100% sure though

Yes I've seen the BRZ ducts that APR makes and was interested in them until I saw that just the ducts cost nearly as much as the entire TF kit and there is nowhere for the hoses to go, especially with the stock washer fluid tank in place. The wheel well liners are not an option to cut open as the hoses would be scraped off by the tires. Also the APR backing plate is a less effective design as it directs air to the rotor face which doesn't maximize the cooling. The TF plates direct the air properly to the center of the rotors and through the vanes. The TF kit makes the most sense from a design standpoint, but the ducts as-is will not work well on a BRZ bumper.

I believe this is why Subaru went this route with the RA spec BRZ.



The ducts underneath the bumper look like a replacement for the front under tray on US spec cars and would allow ducting to avoid all that mess above and take less turns to get to the brake rotors.

[Touge Factory]

We prepped a local customer's BRZ with our kit prior to him going out to Carolina Motosports Park last weekend.

Here is how it looks. The angle of the duct was slightly different, other then that everything else was same as the FRS.
We'll get those out to you this week.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Touge Factory

We prepped a local customer's BRZ with our kit prior to him going out to Carolina Motosports Park last weekend.

Here is how it looks. The angle of the duct was slightly different, other then that everything else was same as the FRS.
We'll get those out to you this week.

Sweet! Thanks for clarifying! I think I just need to get the ducts that allow proper BRZ fitment and I'll be good to go!

[mad_sb]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Yes I've seen the BRZ ducts that APR makes and was interested in them until I saw that just the ducts cost nearly as much as the entire TF kit ....

I guess the image set on FT86 SPeed factory is misleading then... I assumed it was ~350 for the kit that includes the ducting and the backing plate mount. Difficult for me to tell from the image where the air is directed... i agree it needs to be to the inside of the rotor rather than the rotor face.... too bad we can't combine the two kits for a reasonable price.

[Touge Factory]

The reason why we're not offering a kit that would utilize the fog light location is because there is no way you can route a hose from that location to the brakes without removing the windshield washer tank completely.
Even you if you did relocate it, the hose would be have to be routed right back up toward the front of the bumper then back again toward the brakes.

The ducts are well hidden. I bet once these are on "Melanie" most people would walk right past the car and not even notice the ducts.

Another reason we would rather not use the fog light location is so that we are not creating unnecessary aerodynamic drag by creating more opening on the front of the bumper.

[makinen]

Did you use a conical washer with the WL com-c top mount or not?
I'm holding installing it because of a conical washer.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by makinen

Did you use a conical washer with the WL com-c top mount or not?
I'm holding installing it because of a conical washer.

No, I asked Whiteline's US contact and they said no conical washer is required. However I would recommend using spring compressors even if you have lowering springs to install the top mounts. It's critical that you get the upper spring perch aligned correctly below where the threads on the strut shaft start before you thread the nut on with a pass-thru socket and long allen socket to hold the shaft still.

Also, I do not recommend using camber bolts with the Com-C's. I didn't like the strut geometry they were creating with the new top mounts when pushing the rotors up to get the camber from the bolts. It just didn't look or feel right, so I put the stock fat upper strut mounting bolt back in and it looked right with plenty of negative camber.

[makinen]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

No, I asked Whiteline's US contact and they said no conical washer is required.

Thanks.
Got peace in my mind.

[ATL BRZ]

Managed to snap one crappy pic of my new WORKS AB-M axleback last evening after installing it and taking it for a quick spin.



It's now unfortunately coated with pollen with the rest of the car and will stay that way for a few weeks unless I can manage to stay outside long enough to hose it off without getting into a sneezing fit.

It's a really nice piece, fits perfect on all four hangers and the stainless tips are perfectly centered and have a nice WORKS logo on top. I really like how they don't stick out from the bumper at all. My DC tips on my stock suitcase stuck out a little too far.

The sound is just what I was looking for. Not too quiet like the Nameless, not too loud and droney like the Berk dual delete. Zero drone anywhere, just a nice throaty rumble that turns into a controlled but very noticeable roar at high rpm's.

[Ari PD]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Managed to snap one crappy pic of my new WORKS AB-M axleback last evening after installing it and taking it for a quick spin.



It's now unfortunately coated with pollen with the rest of the car and will stay that way for a few weeks unless I can manage to stay outside long enough to hose it off without getting into a sneezing fit.

It's a really nice piece, fits perfect on all four hangers and the stainless tips are perfectly centered and have a nice WORKS logo on top. I really like how they don't stick out from the bumper at all. My DC tips on my stock suitcase stuck out a little too far.

The sound is just what I was looking for. Not too quiet like the Nameless, not too loud and droney like the Berk dual delete. Zero drone anywhere, just a nice throaty rumble that turns into a controlled but very noticeable roar at high rpm's.

Looks great. And the rest of your exhaust is still stock?

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Ari PD

Looks great. And the rest of your exhaust is still stock?

Yup, for now.

Still waiting on a second replacement header from Borla. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get the corrected header in time to install it and run with it at the track on April 27-28th.

[Ari PD]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Yup, for now.

Still waiting on a second replacement header from Borla. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get the corrected header in time to install it and run with it at the track on April 27-28th.

Damn. Well I'm curious either way how the aerodynamics are effected by replacing the factory muffler on the axelback. At least the ABM version appears to have something to fill that "hole," unlike the non muffler version.