The story that lead me to my FR-S! WARNING: Extremely long read ahead!

[Scubaru]

Hey everybody. I've been on this forum for a few months now, and I've enjoyed reading all the interesting stories behind why everyone here has chosen the 86. It's easily been the most enjoyable, well rounded vehicle I've had so far.

I've had several different vehicles since I've started driving, and each one has been a stepping stone to where I'm at now and why I specifically chose my FR-S. I started thinking back to when I first got into the whole car enthusiast scene, so I wanted to share with you all and go more in depth of why I have ended up where I am today. I've provided quite a few pictures to tell it for me along the way!

2nd warning: It took me a few hours to type this up. If you don't have time today to read this, I would suggest to look at other threads!


(I'll be short in this part considering I don't have any pictures to start my story off with).

For me, I started off at a very early age. My Dad (who I can honestly thank/blame for pulling me into this whole car crazy scene), had a 1988 Thunderbird turbo coupe when I was about 4-5 years old. I remember riding with him, he would just floor it just enough that the turbo would build enough boost to start whistling just because (at that age), I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Fast forward about 7 years, and he ended up buying a 1966 1/2 Sport Fury. 383 Commando with a 727 torqueflite 3 speed auto that had 47k miles on it. Needless to say with the low miles, the car had set for a very long time, and needed quite a bit of work. I was old enough at that point that my Dad started to show me how to start working on these old cars, and that's where the car bug had really bitten me hard.

After about 4 years of learning how to drive on a farm and old country back roads, the time had finally come where I could legally drive on my own! Instead of buying something practical like I probably should had, I wanted something I could enjoy and work on at the same time. I ended up with this:

A 1973 Mach 1 Mustang. Perfect for a 16 year old, right? 351C with a C6 auto.

With the help of my Dad, we ended up swapping the Cleveland heads for a set of Cobra Jet heads, a Weiand aluminum intake, a Holley 680 Street Avenger carb, MSD distributor, ignition box, etc. It made for a nice cruiser with a sweet sound of a Cherrybomb exhaust, and actually decently quick considering the way the car was geared.

I loved that car, but I had to come to the realization that the Mustang was too impractical to take to college with me. I ended up selling my beloved "muscle car" to my Dad and ended up buying a 1998 Reg Cab 4wd Tacoma. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the truck, mainly because I wasn't too thrilled going from a V8 cruiser to a 4 cylinder truck (but dammit if it wasn't reliable!)

The next two years mainly consisted of just studying and focusing on school work. I got to the point where I had to have something more exciting. I sold the Tacoma and picked this up:

A 1997 Eclipse GS-T. I bought it already modded with Tein coilovers, EVO III big 16g turbo, 3" Thermal turbo-back exhaust, ACT clutch, Shepherd trans with Quaife LSD, etc. This car was much quicker than the Mustang, and I loved it at the time, because I was still in the mindset "that the only fast cars in the world were the cars that were quick in a straight line". Had the car dyno'd on a Mustang dyno, and ended up putting down 274whp and 255tq.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BvpLRB0JxY"]1997 GST Dyno @ 17psi - YouTube[/ame]

After driving the car for about 10k miles, my car fell to the infamous crankwalk that a few of the 7 bolt guys have fallen victim to. Way before this ever happened, I had been reading about a few 6 bolt builds that some of the guys over at the DSM forums had been doing. This got the wheels turning inside my head, and I decided to go for broke! I had most of the supporting mods I needed to handle a big horsepower FWD build, so I figured it wouldn't be too painful, right? Wrong, but I'll get to that.

I'll keep the pics short on this one considering I literally have a ton of them from this build. This is where I really started to learn about engine building and tuning. A good friend of mine, Rob (also known as huafist on many forums), had access to a shop in Tennessee where he built the engine and also tuned the car via DSMlink. He's a great teacher, and a great friend. Super intelligent guy!

To keep it short and not load this story up with anymore pictures than it's already gonna have, the build consisted of a balanced, built bottom end (N/A 6 bolt block, Eagle Rods, Wiseco Pistons), FP 272 Cams, BC springs/retainers, FP3065 turbo, gasket matched the intake/exhaust ports, and much more supporting mods to go along with it.






Getting back to the painful part, this is where I learned to always budget more money than you plan on! I had set aside a few grand for all the parts/labor in advance, but the build took much longer just because all of the little parts that nickle and dime'd me to death! I never had the car dyno'd, but when tuning the car at 23 psi, it showed the turbo was putting out about 43 lbs of air/minute, so it was making roughly somewhere north of 400whp. I was stoked at that point. My DD was finally the monster I wanted it to be!

It all sounded good on paper, but I quickly found out the drivability of the car was no where near as fun as I expected. Most of my driving at the time was around town, and with a turbo that took until 5 grand to hit full spool, it was kind of dull for a DD scenario. I knew from the beginning the car was going to spin like crazy once it hit full boost in 1st and 2nd, but I thought (at the time) this would give it the "ahh, coo!" factor. Not so much. It became more of a hassle to keep the car on the road "aka torque steer" than actually being fun to drive. Not including some reliability issues I was having (broken axle, shifter cable snapped in two, charge pipe would NOT stay on the turbo , etc). This was around the same time I started to hang around a group of people that started to show me that "spinnin' ain't winnin", a car with power is nothing without proper control, and a balanced car with control>power is actually much more enjoyable to drive. When we would go on a drive on a curvy road, this is when I really found out the car was absolutely useless for anything other than straight line performance and spinning, which still wasn't great because it could never hook. Needless to say I just got fed up with the car altogether, and decided to sell it. (This was also the time they tried convincing me a slow car can be a fun car, but I wasn't listening to any of that garbage).

After I sold the Eclipse, I decided that I missed the rumble of a V8 car like my old Mustang, but I still wanted something that I could enjoy as a DD, and still decently handle a corner. After doing tons of research, I decided on a 2011 Mustang GT Premium. The day I drove her home with 9,800 miles on the clock!




This was about 3 1/2 years ago, and finally I felt like this car had everything I wanted. It was a decent handling car for what it was around the twisties, a good, daily drive-able car but, still more important to me than anything else at the time, it had excellent straight line performance. I really felt like this was the car I was going to keep and have for years to come.

I was still in college at the time, and to pull in some extra income I was a delivery driver for Domino's. Needless to say delivering a pizza in a 412 hp Mustang wasn't ideal, so I picked this little bad boy up for a $1k . A 1991 EF hatch STD with a 4 speed.


Btw, if you've made it this far, I commend you.

Between having the worst geared 4 speed transmission in the world and a little 4 banger that made less than a 100 hp, at the time I felt it was the most boring car in the world, but it got me over 40 mpg so I didn't care. It was making me some money to throw back into the Mustang!

So a catless X-pipe, JLT intake, GT500 mufflers, and a Bama tune later, I decide to come home and surprise my parents from being away at college. Naturally I wanted to spend as least amount as possible in fuel, so I drove the Honda. As I waited for everyone to come home (I had real early classes on Friday at the time so I beat everyone home), I was bored and decided to go out for a drive, which I usually do in the Mustang. They live in a deep part of the country where there is nothing but twisty, curvy roads. I'll never forget that day, because that's when I finally realized "Damn, a slow car IS fun to drive!". It wouldn't pull a greasy string out of a cat's ass coming out of a corner, but I felt like I was in an oversized go-kart coming up the backside of the mountains! A quick 30 minute drive quickly turned into a 3 hour trip, just because this was the most fun I believe I'd ever had just out driving. The best part was, I could have this much fun and still abide by the local/state laws!

To back track slightly, I had been pulled over multiple times in the Eclipse, and got away with more than I should had. The beauty I found out about this was most of these back roads I was on were limited to 55 mph considering they're all in BFE with hardly any traffic at all, but with all the twisties you were hitting on the roads I was used to, doing 55 through those corners would've put you over the guardrail or into the side of a mountain. Considering for the most part, minus times at the drag strip and soon to be attending autox events (after having this amazing revelation ) that 99% of my driving is on the street, why am I not taking advantage of this?

At this point, I start slowly reverting in a different direction. I decided to put modding the Mustang on hold, and started focusing on my beater. The problem was, it was EXTREMELY anemic in the power department. Having under 100 hp and with the 4 spd tranny, it had a hard enough time holding a low gear through the corners! Seeing as the whole drivetrain was the issue instead of just being a power issue, I started looking into swaps and HOLY $h!t! Most of the Honda kids thought all of their swaps were worth their weight in gold! That being said on my search for a good swap, I stumbled across a steal. However, it was a little more than just a swap. I put my EF hatch up for sale, and picked up this 1991 CRX HF with a B18A1/GSR tranny with LS 5th gear swap.



When I saw it online for $900 bucks and said "minor issues", I thought it was a steal. It was a TRAIN WRECK. It needed a battery, alternator, the interior had been gutted minus the driver/passenger seat, the struts were gone, the camber was so out of whack that the outside of the tires looked brand new, but the inside of the tire cut my finger considering the steel belt was protruding, and the list goes on. I wasn't letting all of this stop me (considering I don't mind working on a car and tackling a challenge), so I bought the car and had it towed home.

Several hundred dollars and 2 weeks later, I finally had the car in a driveable state, state inspected, and the guy also threw in a new front bumper with the car that I installed. Aesthetically it wasn't pleasing to the eye at all, but it was functional and that's all that mattered to me!




This car was a blast to drive. It was only 130hp, but with the short geared GSR tranny and only pulling probably 1800 lbs or so, it was a little rocket coming out of the corners! I started to become familiar with understeer at this point which really caught me off guard coming from the stock EF hatch, but I quickly learned the cars limitations on the stock tires, and I could have hours and hours of fun without going to jail by keeping the local law officers happy as well.

After driving the car for about a solid week straight, I pull the Mustang out of the garage and decide to stretch its legs some. I started to hit a few back roads and came to a quick, and very frustrating discovery. "My CRX that I have at most $1,700 dollars in is more fun to drive than my $30k+ V8 muscle car". What have I done?? My little paid for pizza wagon is more fun to drive than a monstrous 5 liter ground pounder?! Going through the corners felt like I was grossing 80,000 lbs in an 18 wheeler compared to my little go kart. In my mind I couldn't have this happening. I still loved the Mustang, but why am I bored with it already? I wasn't about to sell it, so I changed my direction once again.

This is when I really started to take off with the Mustang. The power was there with the tune, but I had to get rid of the "boat" feeling it kept reminding me of. I didn't want to go too far over the top either. I wanted that perfect mix of performance, looks, and that perfect sound as well.

This post/story is already super long, so I'll keep this short as well. This was the final product.


I added all the following parts: Eibach pro kit with lowering springs, 3 way adjustable front/rear sway bars, Boss 302 manifold, Boss 302 strut tower brace, 19x9.5 SVE wheels, BBK L/T headers, BBK O/R X-pipe, along with the JLT intake and getting it re-tuned from Bama performance. I also added a GT500KR type hood and also had the vinyl stripes removed from the car.

This was before I added the hood and had the stripes removed (I didn't have the o2 sensors properly tucked at the time considering I was so excited that I finally had my exhaust all worked out. It was fixed shortly after ):
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdgVWB6YsN4"]Coyote exhaust - YouTube[/ame]

Other than obviously still feeling much heavier than the CRX, the car felt much more planted. Modulating the throttle out of a corner took some getting used to due to the power increase, but it was SO much more enjoyable just to cruise around the corners with. I finally felt like the Mustang was just right and had it the way I wanted. Of course as stated earlier, this car was still my cruiser and garage queen. I was satisfied with it, but also started to realize RWD is much more desirable to have as a corner carver than a FWD is, considering I wanted to start pushing the car through the corner instead of having the car pull itself out of it. The problem was what made the CRX so much fun is that it was so light to fling around, and it's go kart like attributes is what made it so much fun. Again, I put the CRX up for sale, and picked up this NA Miata. I had to search for weeks before I found this car out of state.


This car was like the CRX, plus some. Lightweight, retained that go-kart feel that I loved, AND I was able to add the RWD to the equation! This car was loads of fun. All I ever had was people asking me "hey, would you sell me your car??" At this point, I was convinced this was going to be my "sling around" toy. The only thing it lacked that the CRX had was leg room (I'm 6'2"), but I didn't care about that. I felt I had finally found the perfect ride I'd been tracking down for a long time!

By this time, I had hung up my hat delivering pizzas a few months before, graduated college, and started my big boy job as a salesman for a local Toyota/Scion dealership, where I'm still at to this day. I felt life was perfect. I had a great job with great co-workers, a house just outside of a college town, my Mustang as my cruiser/show type car, and the Miata as my corner busting toy. What else could improve? Nothing, or so I thought.

As a salesman, I don't just sit at my desk and wait for someone to come through waiting to buy a car. There's vehicles that have been PDI'd that need to be taken to detail, detail to lot, vehicles being dealer traded that need to be taken to the business office, keep vehicles on the lot fueled and cleaned up, etc. Anyways, we always had about 2 or 3 FR-S's that we would have sitting on the lot when we first started. I always thought they were a sharp car and had heard great things about how they were an excellent drivers car, receiving accolades here and there for best sports car under 30k range, etc. I respected the car and appreciated what it would do, but I was like "meh, I have my Miata and my excellent sounding (to me anyways) Mustang. I don't want that car". That all changed very quickly in just one day. Every time we go to pick up cars to take to detail, we just take "the luck of the pick". Reach your hand in the box and whatever key you get is the car you take down. I just so happened to pick the FR-S. Well, that's cool. I guess I get to see what all the hype is about.

It takes all of about 30 seconds to drive from the top of the hill to detail. In that amount of time, that car had definitely caught my attention. Once the car was cleaned up, I slapped a dealer tag on it and took it down a mountain road about 2 miles from the dealership. I think the entire 4 minutes I was on that mountain road I didn't close my mouth, not once. Everything about that car, minus the drop top, reminded me of the Miata. No matter how hard I pushed it, the car just felt neutral, planted, balanced, and most importantly, natural. It felt like I had owned this car for years, but I had only been behind the wheel for 30 minutes! More importantly, this car had exactly what the Miata was lacking, LEG ROOM!!

I had to have this car. It was perfect in every way imaginable to me....wait. Slow down. I had made this mistake with the Eclipse years ago, and lost a lot of money on something I really thought I wanted. It would be different if this was the same cost as I had paid for the 20 something year old cars I had so much fun in, but the car I wanted stickered for 26k even, and that was too much of a mistake to run into, not including I couldn't have the Mustang and the FR-S both, so the planning started (including driving a FR-S off the lot for a few days to make sure I just wasn't caught in the moment).

I had so many people ask me about selling the Miata that I wasn't even worried about it. My Dad told me a long time ago he would buy the Mustang from me if I ever considered selling it, so all that was covered. Now I only had two issues to overcome. I could justify every other aspect for selling the 5.0 to get the FR-S, except the Mustang had the sweetest exhaust note out of any other car I had. WOT or just cruising, it was magnificent. The 2nd issue was the noticeable torque dip at the mid range rpms. So to overcome this, I hit this very forum right here and Youtube to find out what an aftermarket exhaust would sound like on a car, and how to fix the torque dip.

It didn't take but just one day to realize a good header and tune can almost completely diminish the torque dip. That's done. The exhaust setup, however, took about a week to figure out exactly how I would want it. My favorite exhaust note will always be a nice sounding V8, but the Subaru "boxer sound" has always been a really close contender. Okay, found it. Done and done. About 2 weeks of anxiously waiting for my Dad to pull the trigger and take the Mustang from my hands, I finally have it!


I had never been so anxious/excited to get a car in my life. I was so happy that I drove 350 miles the very next day on my day off, and yes you guessed it, nothing but back roads!




A week after the purchase, I was quick to fix the exhaust/torque dip issue (an issue by my viewpoint anyways).





Along with my OFT with a Vishnu tune, it produced this glorious sound:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAOCl3jF2uE"]2013 FR-S Full Exhaust/93 tune - YouTube[/ame]

Now all I'm waiting for is my wheels/tires to come in, and I'm having my TRD springs/sway bars installed on Monday at the dealership! (trying to retain as much warranty as possible )

I'm sure everyone here has their own unique story, but I figured I would go into detail and explain exactly what lead me up to this point. (That's what happens when you have a day off and absolutely nothing to do!).

I hope it provides some of you all out there an interesting read for the day!

[Werra]

Nice write up! I enjoyed reding it. You will have to add to it as you continue to mod it.

[tahdizzle]

Cliff notes!

[Jond63]

I read this entire thing... and am looking forward to chapter 2.

[beatgenie]

Nice read. I'm actually glad I read it because when I was looking for my new car I was had it narrowed down to either the 2015 FR-S or the 2015 Mustang base model....needless to say I went with the FR-S but at times I still wonder how the mustang would be. But the way you described it made it seem like something I wouldn't enjoy....I love the go-kart feel as well

[Wise]

I can relate to what you' said about the 'boat' feeling on the mustang. I was in the US last week and rented a Mustang GT and although it sounded great and pulled hard, I just couldn't get past the springy ride and the lack of chassis and steering feedback. I'd been looking forward to driving a stang as they're quite rare in Australia, but I wasn't all that impressed by it. I much preferred the Camaro SS I drove the time before that when I was in the US.

[Createddeleted]

Originally Posted by tahdizzle

Cliff notes!

TLDR: he bought an frs and likes it

[Scubaru]

Originally Posted by beatgenie

Nice read. I'm actually glad I read it because when I was looking for my new car I was had it narrowed down to either the 2015 FR-S or the 2015 Mustang base model....needless to say I went with the FR-S but at times I still wonder how the mustang would be. But the way you described it made it seem like something I wouldn't enjoy....I love the go-kart feel as well

Glad it could help further validate your purchase!

Originally Posted by Wise

I can relate to what you' said about the 'boat' feeling on the mustang. I was in the US last week and rented a Mustang GT and although it sounded great and pulled hard, I just couldn't get past the springy ride and the lack of chassis and steering feedback. I'd been looking forward to driving a stang as they're quite rare in Australia, but I wasn't all that impressed by it. I much preferred the Camaro SS I drove the time before that when I was in the US.

Exactly. In their defense, I believe Ford had done a really good job over the years with their live axle setup, but unless you just plan to spend most of your time at the drag strip (which I assume the majority of the Mustang crowd still does), an IRS really is the way to go IMO.

Originally Posted by Createddeleted

TLDR: he bought an frs and likes it

It's fair game when I posted a long read warning label once in the title, and once at the beginning of my post.

[Braces]

Nice read. I like boats, but not on the road. Everytime I borrow my wifes SUV ... I feel like the vehicle is floating all over the road. No steering feel. no connection to the road. Then I jump in the FRS ... And wow! The car is just planted and nimble. I actually feel safer in the FRS than the floaty SUV because I have more control of the car.

[ToySub1946]

Scubaru,

A very sad story...LOL.

I've owned over 55 cars.
Includes over 35 Hondas and 6 Mustangs, and other makes.
Still own an 05 GT....which has a dead battery as it's been sitting for weeks.
Now I'm at the FRS stage....well I finally got here as well.
It just fits.

And guess you could say it took me a little longer than you, as I'm 68yo.
But I was a used car tech at Honda New Car Stealership...not a sales person.
As a tech, I got to road test all kinds of cars...most fun part of each work day.


On another note: I've got a 63 Lincoln sedan Black with red leather... in Southern Pines, NC...needs tlc...maybe another one for your dad ? LOL.

[Scubaru]

Originally Posted by ToySub1946

Scubaru,

A very sad story...LOL.

I've owned over 55 cars.
Includes over 35 Hondas and 6 Mustangs, and other makes.
Still own an 05 GT....which has a dead battery as it's been sitting for weeks.
Now I'm at the FRS stage....well I finally got here as well.
It just fits.

And guess you could say it took me a little longer than you, as I'm 68yo.
But I was a used car tech at Honda New Car Stealership...not a sales person.
As a tech, I got to road test all kinds of cars...most fun part of each work day.


On another note: I've got a 63 Lincoln sedan Black with red leather... in Southern Pines, NC...needs tlc...maybe another one for your dad ? LOL.

I'm 25, and I've already had 16 cars altogether! It seems I'm well on my way to 55, but I'm very content with my FR-S. Let's just hope I can keep it that way for a while.

If you had a '55 f100 pickup, he would definitely be in. However, Dad is a big Ford/Mopar guy, so it's hard telling what he'd end up going for.

[Defuser]

Great story! It ain't all about the horsepower, this car is FUN!!

[bcj]

I was lucky. The kids I hung out with were into low power sports from the beginning.
TR3/4, Spitfires, MGA/B, Bugeye Sprites, Sunbeam Tigers, Alfa Giulietta Spider, GTV et. al.

I knew the difference between driving these and the boats that the domestic market was pumping out.
The 86 is the first new car offered in the last 20 years that can compare to the old rust buckets we had so much fun in.

[msile]

In this day of sound bite communication, this was a great read. Thank you.