Dezoris | FR-S Build | Supercharged & More

[phloozy]

Just an FYI its Raceseng... pretty sure its named after Jarrett Seng the owner and not "Race Engineering"

[Gopherboy6956]

They.... have amazing parts, fyi.

[OICU812]

Can this plate be changed without too many F bombs from the top reaching down easily enough? I think I've seen enough threads and posts to just damn well replace it to avoid "that day" of dealing with it.

[D_Thissen]

subbed!

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by OICU812

Can this plate be changed without too many F bombs from the top reaching down easily enough? I think I've seen enough threads and posts to just damn well replace it to avoid "that day" of dealing with it.

Very easily. I would recommend waiting till your car is cold and then feeling around the bottom of the plate from the top reaching down to see if there is any oil buildup on it.

[OICU812]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Very easily. I would recommend waiting till your car is cold and then feeling around the bottom of the plate from the top reaching down to see if there is any oil buildup on it.

Cold no problem been in garage for months and seen several -40 days to lol. Time to turn on the heat in there and go take a peaks is, thanks Tut.

[Dezoris]

Radium Master Cylinder Install and Catch Can Demo


VIDEO

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6svcEF_GQE&"]Radium Brace and Catch Can Install | FR-S and S2000 | S02E01 - YouTube[/ame]


So our slew of Radium parts arrived for testing and fitment, including dual catch can and master cylinder brace.




As usual with Radium the quality of they machined pieces is top notch. Personally I have been a fan of the small outfit from Oregon during Lotus ownership which is how they got started. Now they have branched out to the FR-S and BRZ. Also have parts for Evo and S2000 now.




The long story short is we wanted to see exactly how their new brace was.
And lets face it Perrin makes one as well as GrimmSpeed, so they are a bit late to the game. However it's the best design of the three with Perrin coming in a close second.



We somewhat laughed at this part because we pretty much thought it was a joke. Whats the point of that little piece of metal. I pretty much thought of it as bling piece but for about $75 the risk was low.



We were back on completely OEM brakes down to the pads. However you can clearly see how well the Project Mu fluid matched the Radium green.



The install took about 20 minutes because as usual we dropped a bolt down into the shield and also I had the wiring for the HID ballasts in the way.

At the end of the day whether you take the little part seriously or not, I could feel a difference right away the pedal was firmer. Was it drastic?

No. But it was definitely noticeable when you get on the brakes. This would be a simple add-on for those who track or autox. And for the price, why not.






The Catch Cans


Radium has now released their official plug and play kit for the S2000 and FR-S and BRZ which means you can finally install these kits without having to make your own brackets. Quality is top notch and cans are pressure tested for forced induction applications and also baffled.

It is the only can with built in dip stick to check oil and fluid level.
After running these cans on three cars for several years, they have maintained their seals and also been able to suspend oil and unburned fuel without ever servicing the stainless steel screens or pads.

[forwallblakmail]

Epic video as usual. Is there much benefit using a catch can on the S being NA? Or is the principal the same but we would expect to see much less accumulation in the can?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by forwallblakmail

Epic video as usual. Is there much benefit using a catch can on the S being NA? Or is the principal the same but we would expect to see much less accumulation in the can?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With the S its port injected not really needed unless a lot of track days are run.

[Acree]

Originally Posted by Dezoris

With the S its port injected not really needed unless a lot of track days are run.

Just wanted to get some clarification on this statement... you're speaking for non-FI applications only correct?

[Dezoris]

Originally Posted by Acree

Just wanted to get some clarification on this statement... you're speaking for non-FI applications only correct?

I would always install dual cans on any FI car and single pcv can on any DI NA car.
On cars that are NA and Port Injected would only do it on a car that sees hundreds of track miles.

[Dezoris]

Swapping Warped Rotors



Cleaned Up and Drying
On drying rack. New Rotors, cleaned hats, calipers. Re-using 1521s.

[Dezoris]

Real Life: Modding a Nerf Sport Car
Editorial

Rarely do I post in this section but felt it was appropriate. Wanted to share my overall experience thus far modifying this car.

It's been over a year and roughly 15k give or take. After a long weekend I looked at the pile and how dirty it was and had no energy to wash it by hand. I took it to my local automatic car wash, with brushes, harsh chemicals and dirty terry cloth towels to be dried by 5 different people.

"I JUST DON'T GIVE A SH*T ANYMORE"

As I pull up to the car wash the guy says, "I love your car". I smile and say thanks.

I walk inside and am stopped again by two other guys who want to know about it. I explain it's supercharged, brakes, bla bla. They were blown away. I was appreciative but at the same time explained to them it looks cool and it's a fun car but the amount of time and money spent on it completely zapped the fun factor.

No warranty, chasing small issues, worrying about what is next killed it for me after a year.



"THEY LOOKED AT ME CROSS EYED LIKE A PENIS JUST GREW OUT OF MY FACE."

You could tell they thought I was an un-greatful prick. But luckily by that time the car was ready, swirl marks and all. The truth is I am lucky to have had the opportunity to take this journey, but to me this car is a thing. It's no more meaningful than my vacuum cleaner.

Oh I love cars, love driving don't get me wrong but at the end of a 60 hour week at work, the last thing I want to do is sit in a garage half ass fixing bullshit modifications.

ANOTHER WEEKEND MORE TIME WASTED:

1. Ordering Replacement Brake Rotors and Pads (AGAIN)
2. Ordering more tires (AGAIN)
3. Order revised belt and pulley for Vortech kit
4. Order spare belt tensioner, just in case it breaks at a track or in the middle of nowhere and can't get parts
5. Transporting, and gathering all equipment and tires to swap from winter to summer
6. Re-installing the summer brake kit
7. Bleeding brakes
8. Re-installing oil cooler lines for spring
9. Removing bumper to look for leaks or damage

AT THE SHOP AGAIN

The shop used to be fun to hang out at, make a day of doing some car work. The last few times have been different.

We started by installing the AP Brake kit again which took me hours to clean up from prior season and to mount the new rotors to the aluminum hat and to torque them. Also the summer wheels needed to be installed and the winter wheels and tires removed.




I talk with Turbowski about the pad situation, I replaced the rotors because the previous set were warped. Too many heating and cooling cycles, cold climate, who knows, the rotors were junk.





Problem is I have $400 in Carbotech 1521 street pads for the kit, but the front pads were grooved from the bad rotors. So now I get to throw them away and forget about running the rear pads as well.

So I install a set of cheap Hawk pads for the AP brakes up front and leave the rears stock.

"THE AMOUNT OF PARTS I HAVE THAT IS JUNK OR WASTED FROM MISTAKES OR JUST THINGS NOT WORKING IS WORTH A SMALL FORTUNE."

The brakes install no issue, and we proceed to bleed, again.




PULLING THE BUMPER FOR THE 100th TIME




Yes pull the bumper again, my favorite thing to do.
See the thing is when you have a supercharger or turbo kit, you will likely have an aftermarket oil cooler installed because for some reason Toyota and Subaru thought it was a good idea to cut costs and leave this out.

Oil temps run high on this car namely if you track it, with forced induction it's worse. Most people install liquid to air coolers, with the mocal thermostatic plate, like the Perrin unit here.

It's all good on paper, but the truth is when you have intercooler piping running lines down the same path leaves you little room. I knew this obviously and knew the intercooler tubes are close to the frame. So I wanted to pull the bumper to inspect it all.



But more importantly my oil cooler was disconnected after the weather dropped below 40F because the oil would never get up to temperature so I had to reconnect it for the spring. Fun.




So ok we re-attach the lines which is more difficult because the Vortech Airbox and bracket are rub points of course and the lines are a tight fit everywhere, so something that should take 10 minutes take about 45.

Next we do our inspection and of course we find rubbing and cutting in multiple locations.








So what do we do?


"WE USE MORE ZIP TIES, RUBBER TUBES AND A CUTTING TOOL TO MAKE MORE SPACE"




4 HOURS LATER

We prime the oil cooler and check for leaks, while doing so we see some coolant pissing out of the Koyo radiator at the drain plug, which we attempted to tighten. We let the car run and re-install the bumper to make sure that the thermostat on the oil cooler is functioning at 185F.

Everything seems good re-torque wheels and all bolts. So I can go bed the brakes. This seemed easy but still screech louder than someone being burned alive. But at least I got a good transfer layer that likely wont last in a cold climate.




WHATS NEXT?

Well we have some track time finally next week, where we will swap pads again. But then its back in the shop pull off the Vortech blower to replace the idler pulley and belt for the second time, and to find out which pulley is making noise. Then we have to change the Vortech oil and fluids again.
Another 6 hours in the shop if we don't have issues

SO WHATS THE POINT?

Changing things on your car can and will be a pain in the ass.
The returns of blowing your weekends doing things like mentioned can zap the fun out of the experience. Things that should be simple rarely are.

And the truth is, there is fine print with most parts you are going install.
Some need tuning, others don't fit or just don't do what was intended. Other require maintenance or won't hold up in the cold or salt. Some cost way too much money.

"But most of all, anytime you spend in the garage installing parts, fixing things or doing anything that keeps you off the road is defeating the purpose of owning this car."

That's the hard truth about modifying.

[F1point4]

Thanks for the write up. I feel the exact same way (spending way too much time working on the car vs driving it).

Had a few questions:
what brakes were you using while the sprint kit was off?

How did you clean your sprint kit such that you dry them in the dish cleaning machine?

Thanks,
Victor