Power Improvement on the BRZ

[FT_86_SM_GP]

Originally Posted by robwbright

I did the Blitz drop in. Didn't notice much other than a slightly different sound. You're not likely to notice 6 HP.

Since you're new here, you might not have seen the following option... I know you said you didn't want to go full FI... how about "partial" FI? I'm not an experienced auto mechanic, but I installed this kit 10 days ago - took me 3 hours (some have done it in under 2 hours):

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39719

There are more than 20 of them installed and running now.

Warning, though: It will give you significantly more than a little bit of power - about 70% increase in torque at 4000 rpm and about 50+/- HP peak... but not so much that you would need to upgrade injectors or clutch. Bang for the buck, I don't think you'll find a better upgrade. You can spend more than that on a header and exhaust that might net you 25+/- HP.

However, if your country is right hand drive, I'm not sure if that version of the kit is available yet.

Thanks Robwbright

Interesting. I wonder if SA tuners like RGM or RMS would be able to offer this package....if it looks cost effective, and at half the price of going the FI route...could be worth while.

...I love how the United States guys come on the Africa forums and say...'dont waste your time...go FI... etc etc' , lol they forget we live in a country thats ranked 130th in the world for 'pay and remuneration'

South Africa remains an economy of extremes....If you are rich, you are Lambo rich, and if you are poor, you are 'take a taxi to work' poor. And lets not talk about US taxi's compared to South African taxi's.

The Average annual household expenditure in South Africa is approx R 71,910....which is approx $ 8000 per YEAR.

So in South Africa...one cannot just wake up in the morning...and decide to go FI - Unless you are Julius Malema.

A day of my salary is probably forgone, by just writing this message(due to the high cost of internet data in SA.)

This partial FI kit could def be something that could bring us happiness....

[FT_86_SM_GP]

R71,910 / 10.6680 = $6740.72

South Africa is also ranked 138th in the world for the 'Quality of math and science education'

[Moe]

Hmmm ... That looks like an interesting option. I reckon if it were in a decent price range, it could prove useful up here in Gauteng to help with the altitude losses.

[FT_86_SM_GP]

http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/

"The Phantom is a 'Full throttle Supercharger' (FTS) that provides non parasitic boost, on demand and produces a pressure ratio of up to 1.3 PR. A micro switch located on the throttle body or on the accelerator pedal activates the compressors brushless electric motor sending boost pressure to the engine above ~80% throttle. When not in use the system quickly recharges the compact 24 volt auxillary battery, and once charged creates no parasitic drain on the engine. The PHANTOM FTS provides performance that is near conventional low pressure forced induction or a 40 shot of NOS with reduced complexity. The system is capable of over 60 seconds of continuous boost and with an 8:1 recharge rate means it is ready for action for all street driving situations. The PHANTOM system comes complete with a compressor, integrated electronic controller/charger, wiring, and a dash mounted state of charge voltmeter. Batteries are inexpensive compact 18AHR SLA’s and can beeasilysourced, links provided."

"DYNO TESTED: Torque Gain +33% / HP +20%: BEST GAIN: 50% HP & TQ @ 4000 rpm"

[robwbright]

Originally Posted by Moe

Hmmm ... That looks like an interesting option. I reckon if it were in a decent price range, it could prove useful up here in Gauteng to help with the altitude losses.

User "fenton" over on the Phantom ESC thread is at some altitude in Canada. It might be worth contacting him to discuss - he's been running and testing the kit for about a year, I believe. He's very helpful - as I've found pretty much everyone else on the thread.

Initially, I (and a lot of others) was/were quite skeptical of the idea of a battery powered supercharger... but the gains are quite impressive. A couple real world examples of improved performance:

I have the torque pro app on my android phone ($5). It tracks/logs a number of things thru a bluetooth OBD device ($13) plugged into the computer port on the car. Two of the things it logs are 0-60 mph and 40-60 mph times.

On the stock car, the best way I've found to get a decent 0-60 time is to rev to about 4000 rpm, mostly dump the clutch until you get a decent amount of wheelspin (1/4 to 1/2 second) and then it hooks up and goes.

I tried that with the ESC installed. Holy crap. Spun the rear tires for about 2 solid seconds before even starting to move. No way I could have done that stock. Another time, I stomped on it WOT pulling out and turning right onto the highway. Immediately found myself rotated about 60 degrees to the right. It's enough low/mid torque that you need to start being careful with the not-very-grippy stock tires.

As far as times, I've had difficulty getting much improvement on 0-60 because I still haven't figured out exactly how best to launch without excessive wheelspin. My best stock 0-60 was 6.3 slightly downhill and 6.7 slightly uphill. With the ESC, I managed a 6.5 slightly uphill. However, another ESC owner has apparently figured out the best way and he's down to 5.8 seconds (which I believe I'll get to or near when I next try his method).

However, note that I have seen significant improvement in my 40-60 time. My best logged time stock was 2.92 seconds. With the ESC installed, the 40-60 time dropped to 2.42 seconds. 0.5 seconds cut off a 3 second time is pretty significant improvement.

Basically, with the ESC and the 1.5 dump pack (the regular kit plus two smaller batteries) you're taking the car from peak numbers of 200 crank hp/151 crank torque to something like 255/208. But the peak numbers don't tell the whole story. The boost from about 115 torque at 4000 rpm to 185 torque at 4000 rpm is the real deal!

Note that using it runs the batteries down and they recharge at an 8:1 recharge rate... so if you use it for 10 seconds of boost, it takes 80 seconds to recharge to full charge. However, you apparently have somewhere between 45 and 60 seconds of continuous boost before running the batteries dead. When are you ever going to be WOT for 45 seconds straight? No one seems to have been able to run the batteries dead in street use. A couple guys have run out of boost on the track... but it's not easy. There's also an auxiliary charger in the works that will cut the recharge rate in half to 4:1... which should resolve any issues of running out of boost - even on the track. A couple guys have also overheated the controller during track use on hot days... which means you won't have boost until the temp on the controller comes down. As such, they're trying to resolve that by running a 2-3" open tube/hose from down under the fog lights up against the controller - just to get some more air moving.

Some guys also do a double battery pack for a little bit more HP gain, but that requires moving the starter battery to the trunk. I wanted to keep everything under the trunk, so I didn't go that route.

[robwbright]

Originally Posted by FT_86_SM_GP

http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/

"The Phantom is a 'Full throttle Supercharger' (FTS) that provides non parasitic boost, on demand and produces a pressure ratio of up to 1.3 PR. A micro switch located on the throttle body or on the accelerator pedal activates the compressors brushless electric motor sending boost pressure to the engine above ~80% throttle. When not in use the system quickly recharges the compact 24 volt auxillary battery, and once charged creates no parasitic drain on the engine. The PHANTOM FTS provides performance that is near conventional low pressure forced induction or a 40 shot of NOS with reduced complexity. The system is capable of over 60 seconds of continuous boost and with an 8:1 recharge rate means it is ready for action for all street driving situations. The PHANTOM system comes complete with a compressor, integrated electronic controller/charger, wiring, and a dash mounted state of charge voltmeter. Batteries are inexpensive compact 18AHR SLA’s and can beeasilysourced, links provided."

"DYNO TESTED: Torque Gain +33% / HP +20%: BEST GAIN: 50% HP & TQ @ 4000 rpm"

And those are easily provable claims based on the single battery pack (See dynos). The 1.5 pack I have adds more torque (thus why I said around 70% increase in tq at 4000 rpm... maybe I made a mistake... it might be closer to 60-65%, but still) and about 8-9 peak HP on top of the single battery pack gains... and it still all fits nicely under the hood.

He's been testing it on Miatas and seeing boost of like 70 tq in the low/mid range. As I understand it, the kit is or will be installed on a Lotus Elise, as well. If I recall, it's also been tested on a Jetta, a Sunfire and a Silverado pickup, as well.

Another really cool thing about it is that with the Open Flash Tablet, you can flash back to stock (it saves your stock ROM) and the Phantom kit can be removed and the stock parts re-installed in less than an hour. Heck, now that I've done my first install in 3 hours, I bet I could do another complete install from stock in 1.5 hours.

[robwbright]

BTW, here's the owner's thread - you can see everyone who's running the kit, for how long they've had it and what all their other mods are:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66862

[robwbright]

One last note for now... Stock with the Blitz drop in filter and a stage 1 Open Flash Tablet e-tune, I was getting around 34 mpg during 60-70 mph highway driving. Saturday, I drove about 50 miles of highway driving 60-65 mph.

My average gas mileage read 36.9 mpg for that 50 mile trip. I don't know if that's just the Open Flash Tablet tune for the ESC or if the car is actually more efficient at cruising speed with the ESC installed, but I'll take it!

There is a gas mileage drawback, though. My overall average gas mileage is WAY down - I just can't resist going WOT... when leaving a stop light... pulling out from a stop sign... passing another car... just for the heck of it... LOL.

[sav]

Very interesting. What does that kit cost?

[robwbright]

Originally Posted by sav

Very interesting. What does that kit cost?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39719

"Pricing for the kit is $1549 USD for the first batch of kits, MRSP is 1625 USD...". That's without batteries.

The batteries for the single dump pack are about $125:

Replacement starter battery (much more compact):

http://www.atbatt.com/power-sonic-ps...id-battery.asp

Batteries for the ESC:

http://www.atbatt.com/power-sonic-2-...b-terminal.asp

Adding the 0.5 dump pack costs another $43 in batteries and I think another $150 to the kit for a total of about $200 for that upgrade.

So you're somewhere between $1700 and $2000 for the kits. You will need a tune, which will either cost you dyno/tuning time with a local tuner or you can purchase an Open Flash Tablet for $500 and have the Shiv at Vishnu/Open Flash email you the free tune for the ESC. Total investment for me was right at $2500 (OFT+1.5 ESC kit).

Note that I started with the Open Flash Tablet and used the Stage 1 tune on the stock car. That, alone, was a noticeable difference. Quicker throttle response and a boost in the torque dip.

http://openflashtablet.com/products/OFT/index.html

So, I started with the OFT, then I sold a dirt bike to fund the ESC kit.

No regrets with either one.

EDIT: If shipping costs for the batteries to your country are an issue, I assume you could find similar batteries locally. They're apparently more or less just wheelchair batteries.

[sav]

Very cool, thanks for the info.

There is a distributor called Deltec in Joburg, I'm pretty sure they would have those batteries.

[qbzee007]

Thanks for all the information guys.
I think for now I will go with the K&N drop in filter as my dealer said that anything I do would affect my warranty. Not too many Subaru dealers around so I guess i'm kinda stuck.

I will however be looking to do an UEL header and an intake once my warranty expires.
It will also give me a good time to save up

[robwbright]

Originally Posted by qbzee007

Thanks for all the information guys.
I think for now I will go with the K&N drop in filter as my dealer said that anything I do would affect my warranty. Not too many Subaru dealers around so I guess i'm kinda stuck.

I will however be looking to do an UEL header and an intake once my warranty expires.
It will also give me a good time to save up

My dealer told me that warranty is still good on bolt ons (header, exhaust, etc...) here in the States, I don't think they can legally deny you for bolt ons - although it still happens and people are forced to sue or live with it.

I don't intend to put one over on the dealer, but the parts on the car that are not affected by the mod should still be covered under warranty. That's one reason I liked the Open Flash Tablet and ESC - it's quite easy to revert to stock if you develop a problem unrelated to the tune or the ESC.

[FT_86_SM_GP]

Originally Posted by Freedom

Hi and welcome to the forums.

I have installed the Subaru BRZ exhaust (R6300 incl installation), it sounds really good but to be honest I don't know if you are going to feel the difference of 5 fwkw. Although the sounds makes it feel like 50 kw .

Any feedback from your exhaust experience Freedom? Where did you do the installation?

I am considering doing the Brz performance exhaust this month, any recommendations of where to buy this part from and fit it?

Also would like to do a header as well, but I am assuming thats another R5000 to R8000? (Not sure) Dont think I will be able to afford both at one go.