'23 BRZ Manual Track Build

[X25]

Well, Perrin kindly states it's all my fault.

I've posted this for others to beware using it for anything other than "show":

Originally Posted by X25

Recently purchased a Perrin Tow hook for simply loading the car on my super-low Futura 'kneeling' trailer.

This is what it says in description:


Since my angles are very kind to it, more so than an average roll-back trailer, I thought this would be fine to winch it with. Alas, it bent the first time I've used it, despite being very gentle to it.




This is the loading angle for me, using my trailer and BRZ.


This is an example roll-back trailer they're talking about


It bent from close to stem. I think they just need to upgrade it to stronger steel.



After this issue, painted the OEM unit to black and installed that instead; doesn't look bat at all : )




Anyway, if you intend to buy it, keep in mind you should probably never put any load on it.

Moving on: I'm planning on installing coilovers, race seats, and race seats, perhaps over the weekend. Titan stated they're shipping the harness bar soon (this week), so I'm hoping to install that as well, perhaps next week, and get the car finished for the first round of mods! Looking forward to seeing how it behaves after these..

[Pat]

Thanks for sharing Perrin's response. That's unfortunate. The angle at which you towed looks similar to the angle a tow truck would use towing on perfectly flat ground. Unless I'm missing something that's pretty weak (literally and figuratively).

The Perrin website for this product states:
This product is NOT designed as a recovery hook! For any vehicle recovery needs, the OEM tow hook provided by the manufacturer, OR other suitable method as determined by the manufacturer or recovery company should be utilized. In no instance is the PERRIN Tow Hook designed for the purpose of recovering the vehicle! This product is designed for “show use” and for pulling the vehicle solely in a straight line. For example: Loading vehicle on to a “roll-back” style wrecker. The maximum total weight of vehicle and contents not to exceed 4000 lbs. PERRIN Performance is not responsible for damages or injury as a result of using this product in any way, including straight towing.
It also says the hooks are, "...machined from 60161-T6 aluminum..." I guess that's all we really need to know. Consider it automotive jewelry and nothing more.

[X25]

Finally picked up and installed my tire rack onto the Futura trailer. It looks nice, and would probably work well for the BRZ tires, but not sure if it would work well with Corvette wheels (since front and rear tire diameters are not the same). I also plan to tape around the center lock bar so it would not scratch the wheels, but I should also not make it too thick, which would make it impossible for me to slide the bar out when needed. Oh well, I'll try next it out next week


In other news, my Titan harness/roll bar is shipped! I have corner-balancing / alignment scheduled for 10/13, so I plan to install everything by then..

[autosenses]

Hey-

I just realized you had that awesome 14 1LE build. I used to follow that build thread when I was trying to get a 1le. That was awesome. Very cool your in the GR86 group. I still love 1le's.

Are you on stock suspension? Just curious because I may get wheels and tires and I'm trying to get an idea what it will look like with stock height.

[X25]

Originally Posted by autosenses

Hey-

I just realized you had that awesome 14 1LE build. I used to follow that build thread when I was trying to get a 1le. That was awesome. Very cool your in the GR86 group. I still love 1le's.

Are you on stock suspension? Just curious because I may get wheels and tires and I'm trying to get an idea what it will look like with stock height.

Thanks, that was a fun car to play around! The new 1LE is even better, and too bad that GM doesn't seem to be interested in further developing that platform anymore...

Yep, all the pics so far are with the stock suspension, but I'll have the coilovers before next track event. The car handled well with the 225/45/17 RT660s on stock wheels, but a friend of mine with identical (stock) car but with 245/35/17 Supercar 3R tires and 17x9 wheels said the stock suspension is pretty overwhelmed with the additional traction, and the car feels like a boat. He also has the MCS, but is yet to install them...

[autosenses]

Originally Posted by X25

Thanks, that was a fun car to play around! The new 1LE is even better, and too bad that GM doesn't seem to be interested in further developing that platform anymore...

Yep, all the pics so far are with the stock suspension, but I'll have the coilovers before next track event. The car handled well with the 225/45/17 RT660s on stock wheels, but a friend of mine with identical (stock) car but with 245/35/17 Supercar 3R tires and 17x9 wheels said the stock suspension is pretty overwhelmed with the additional traction, and the car feels like a boat. He also has the MCS, but is yet to install them...

Those z28 wheels were so awesome and underrated for sure. Yeah, new 1le's are and will be legends. What an awesome car. They rip.

Yes, I'm glad you confirmed that the stock suspension may get overwhelmed with wide sticky tires. I'm set on 17x8 RPF1's with 235 Rt660's. I tracked my car on base tires- wow they suck. lol It's like driving in the wet. Fun in theory but exhausting over time. Need grip ASAP.

[X25]

I started working on the car, and finished a few small items before starting to install the coilovers tomorrow or so. I need to finish by WED night, since I'll drop it off to race shop for corner weight balancing and alignment, and by THU night, I need to load it up to my trailer for the trip over the weekend.




I'll be using wheel cribs for the quick height measurements as I work on the coilovers. Due to water extraction requirements, the garage floor is not completely flat, though.



I have ABS sheets to use as spacer to balance it out.


This should roughly work. The fine tuning will be done by the race shop anyway.


I'll be measuring frokm the bottom lip of the wheel to fender, since I can never do it perfect from the center of the wheel, and I can always convert measurements used from the wheel center by offsetting them by 8.5".


Next up, let's roll the fenders! I'll use 3M VHB to re-attach that plastic accent piece.




The other side cut and painted with rustoleum.


I have the roller tool. It was pretty easy.


There's some kind of silicon by the lip. It came off as I rolled it.


This is how the piece looks like. I trimmed the bottom section that sticks out.


Trimmed the piece and put on the VHB tape.


I'll leave it like this for a day to increase my 'odds' : )


Mildly rolled the fronts as well. The caliper is on the way for one side, and put a soft piece of paper to not hit it hard by mistake.


I'll update with coilover install, soon.

[X25]

Installed the coilovers, tonight!



Karcepts provides excellent instructions (I really like it), but no pictures whatsoever except the camber plates, which I don't need a picture of : ) It's a bit overwhelming at first since it's easy to make a mistake. Just make sure you understand what they say.
Examples:
MCS bearing upper perch means the perch with a bearing in the center, which is what you use instead of regular upper perch. As such, if you get the camber plates, you'll have two extra upper perches that won't be used. Simple enough, but it confused me, since I tried to not have leftovers : )
there are spacers at 7.5mm, 10mm, and 20mm. MAke sure you measure them before you install. There's another 20mm spacer with thin adapter tip; that's to be used for the rear shocks' bottom mount.
As you sandwich everything, make sure the upper perch is completely seated. You'll feel it when it does, and it will no longer sway sideways.


All finished and pre-adjusted per instructions that assume 400/475 springs. Since my setup is 450/550, I made both ends a wee bit lower than suggested. The ride height target is 12.9" front, 13.1" rear, from hub center to fender. Since it's easier to measure from bottom wheel lip, I did measure from there and converted it to what they use.


While at it, I also wanted to inspect the brakes. WHAT????? This is after just 2 track days? Something is either wrong with the car or with the pads. These were Ferodo 3.12 that I've tried for the first time. By the way, I'm so glad I have not purchased the spring BBK; I guess they'd just let me down during the last event! Anyway, replaced them with EBC SR21 sintered pads that people suggested are even better than Raybestons ST47s; we'll see! I will be checking on the brakes to see how they wear.


There was also a bit of taper.


SR1s only come with 43mm depth; oh well.


The driver side was fine, which is adding to the mystery. Were the caliper pistons stuck on passenger side? Does the car apply front brakes in turn-ins in track mode?


Rears were fine (Ferodo 1.11), but I replaced them (with Cobalt XR2s) for a fresh start.


OEM front shock is 14.9 lbs.


MCS 2WNR is 11.9 lbs with all its pieces.


Make sure you follow the same route for wires, etc. Better yet, do one side at a time, so you'd have an intact reference : P


Removed all the rear carpeting. You can see the rear hats. I could easily cut an opening, I guess; I'll decide about it later.


OEM rear shocks are 7.9 lbs each.


MCS are 6.2 lbs.


You need to push it from the bottom while putting the nuts on from the trunk. I used a hammer as a spacer to keep it high.


5.5 lbs.


RT660 225/45/17 vs A7 245/40/17. They don't look too different?



RT660 is 46.4 lbs with OEM wheels, vs R7 at 40.5 lbs on Apex wheels. I forgot to check if it were front or rear wheels.


With initial settings. Holy camber batman.


Rears were close to target, but fronts were a bit taller than needed. Dropped the springs by another 10mm or so. The results is about 12.95" front, 13.25" rear.


Also tested out loading all the tires into the car. Yep, it works, but not as nicely as I thought I could.


... and finally, from the rear.


I'll drop it to the race shop tomorrow evening. I was going to install the race seats as well, but I got too tired to start that one. Anyway, looking forward to the weekend!

[X25]

Changed my mind and decided to put the carpet back.


OOPS! The Tirelief ports are interfering with the brake caliper! I will have to get them removed ASAP.

[X25]

Alignment day (ODO: 820 miles)

• Ballast weight: 181 lbs
• Total weight: 2973 lbs
• Curb weight: 2792 lbs (2768 lbs with APEX wheels + Hoosiers)
• Cross weight (RL + FR) = 1488 lbs; %50.07
• Alignment (Camber / Caster / Toe; per side):
  • Front: -4.2 / 6.0 / 0.0
  • Rear: -2.5 / N/A / 0.15
• FL, FR, RL, RR:
  • Weights (in lbs): 840, 798, 690, 645
  • Heights: 12.875", 12.8125", 13.125", 13.0625"

Here is the worksheet


The result looks good! Apparently, I've hit more than 5 degrees of camber when I first installed them, so they're looking a bit less aggressive. I also made a small mistake and set the heights another 0.75" lower. Once that was also fixed, it started looking much better.


Looking good : )


Loaded it up, and I'm ready for the weekend! I swapped fronts and rears, since the fronts were worn down quite a bit. With the rears now up front, and with -4.2 degrees of camber, I think it will hold up better this time.



I'm all packed and ready for the weekend. I'm hoping to be patient enough to stay for both weekend days, this time, and if so, I am thinking about getting a baseline with my OEM wheels, and switching to my track set the next day. I'll also bring along my TPMS programmer, and will need to figure it out at the track.

Looking forward to it!

[X25]

Just came back from the ORP track day. Some impressions:

• SR21 pads - wow, what a difference! These pads have way more bite than Ferodo 3.12 pads, and they seem to be wearing normally, so far. I eventually got used to modulating them better, but the race seat would definitely help!
• Coilover settings: I went out with what Karcepts instructed (except the front sway bar), and the setup felt very soft. I ended up getting out a few times to bump up settings: +4 compression, +1 rebound at front; +4 compression, +1 rebound at rear. This felt much more stable to me, and I stopped messing with it for the day at this point, also out of a bit of a fear that Karcept manual states our custom settings shouldn't be more than +4 away from their recommendations.
• Lap times: I was not able to do any better lap times with RT660 tires. When I switched to Hoosiers, though, the times have dropped quite a bit. I would hope even more of a drop, but I decided push it more after race seats, since my knees started hurting : ))

Fitment of Hoosiers 245/40/17 on APEX +35 and +42 wheels.


Below is a couple of good laps:

I will try to install race seats and harness bar before next week's Ridge event and see if I can do well, there.

By the way, for those who go to track with your BRZ and use slicks: what are your coilovers' spring rates? Mine (450/550 lbs/in) felt quite soft to me, and I'm wondering if it makes sense, or if everyone else also uses similar rates. Perhaps I should ask about it in the main thread, too..

[X25]

Update - Roll / harness bar, suspension setup

• Roll / harness bar
  • Titan: I went ahead and installed the Titan bolt-on half roll-cage / harness bar, yesterday. Long story short, even though it would provide 'some' roll protection, despite its beefy and well made construction, it's just not connecting in enough locations to provide the safety that its looks would suggest. In short, it is better than a harness bar in my opinion, and it's bolting on to locations where there's reinforcement nearby, but the difference over harness bar is marginal, and also not sure about the very bolt location it uses up top, since it was not meant for seat belts. More on this with pics.
  • StudioRSR Cage: Also looked into the RSR cage linked here. Unlike Titan bar, this connects to the rear shocks, which is better I think, but it's still not as good as you'd want. Also, there's literally no bolting location above ground level, yet you're yanking on it with your race harness during use and an accident, which doesn't sound great. If it had connection to the upper seat belt location of rear seats like BK harness bar, I would feel better about it.
  • BK bar: This is just a harness bar, not a roll bar of any sorts, but doesn't pretend to be, either. It utilizes the upper reat seat belt bolt unlike other options, even though it's a bit leveraged with that extension mount (see instructions). That said, it's bar height is adjustable, and is also much lighter at 16 lbs. It will not protect on a roll, but will do a much better job as a harness bar. I ended up ordering this bar as well, and will receive it, soon. I intend to use this in conjunction with Scrhoth Profi II ASM race harness, which comes with double stitched inner should section to make it "act" like a 3 point during an accident, and let you duck down a bit, increasing your odds. It is DOT approved, so there's that.
• Suspension
  • Karcepts' recommended settings: Their recommended settings asked for their front sway bar at 2/3 setting, rated at 375 lb/in rate (96% stiffer than stock), combined with stock rear bar. I had to do +4 compression +1 rebound all around to stabilize the car for myself, and Karcepts' instructions say that ideal settings for different people is not expected to be out more than 4 clicks from their settings, so there's clearly a bit of disconnect. I just ordered Perrin's front 22mm sway bar, which is 109% stiffer at its soft setting; pretty close to what Karcepts would like. I will install it, reset coilover settings to what Karcepts recommended, and will try again to see how it feels. If it feels much better, than it would be the validation of those initial settings. If not, I will start disregarding the recommendations, and will embark a journey of finding my own best settings doing a million laps.
  • Rear bar: Once I'm done thoroughly experimenting with the front bar only, I intend to introduce rear bar well, and see what happens. I ordered Perrin's 19mm bar that is recommended to go with the 22mm bar. I will only start trying it once I am pretty confident on my baseline with front bar only, or else it would be very hard to understand what's going on with the car, especially for a numb person like me : )

Much more roomy with stuff removed : )


Also had to remove that top cover. Apparently, TPMS unit is there.


How it looks with the Titan half cage in.


It has a nice wide footing that is snug to the floor. That said, it's not bolted by any means to the floor. This is common to RSR half cage, too.


There is a nice boxed cross-member right by where it connects, but the actual bolt location is for child seat top anchors; they're not crash rated like the seat belt bolt locations. Also, the strength of that boxed/reinforced section is also suspect. The seat belts would be yanking on these two bolts all day. FYI, they're standard size to my surprise: 5/16-18 coarse tread.


This is the rear mount of the RSR half cage; it connects to inner bolts of the shock towers. It's better in a way, but also not great. It comes to the shock tower bolt at a pretty steep angle.



Thankfully, I do have a subject matter expert here in PNW, Doug, owner of Chase Race, and asked about these designs (Titan and RSR):

Neither one of these seem like a very good design to me. In my experience most rule sets for roll bars and cages require a mounting plate of a certain size, and if it's a bolt in cage then it must also have a backing plate of the same size on the other side of the sheet metal. So the two mounting plate sandwich the sheet metal of the car between them.

This red one's website says it's NASA legal, but I'm s[k]eptical. I'd have to go through their rule book.

Any roll bar that's just held in with 4 bolts is pretty sketchy. It might be better than nothing, but not by much. Seems like it would add strength if you turned the car upside down and dropped it on its roof, but for and kind of side hit it would do nothing, or worse.

And regarding BK and its upper mount:

I've seen many harness bars designed and braced in a similar way so I think that's a sound method of attaching shoulder harness. Adjustable height is a nice feature so it can fit the individual driver / seats perfectly.

If your current roll bar puts the harness mounting at the correct height the[n] I'd probably keep it. It might offer some additional protection as well.

And finally, some weights I've measured:

• Passenger seat: 39 lbs
• Driver seat: 36.8 lbs
• Rear seat (both top and bottom): 25 lbs
• Rear cover by window: 2 lbs
• Titan X-brace + hw: 22.6 lbs
• Titan roll/harness-bar: 32.3 lbs

I'll update when I complete race seat + BK bar install.

[X25]

Hit a cone, which miraculously made a lot of damage. I asked a friend who owns a collision shop how much it would cost to properly fix, and 'sort of' fix it...


Looks great with the APEX wheels


Sourced 22mm and 19mm Front / Rear Perrin sway bars. They have given me store credit for the tow bar that failed, which I've used to get the bars. I plan to only use the front for a while as I've mentioned before, but will definitely experiment with upgrading the rear as well at some point. Having much stiffer sway bar on one end twists the chassis, or loads up one side of the car in long turns, and I'd love to see what happens when the rear also gets a bit stiffer sway bars...



Sourced spare rings from here and here. (Bolt kit). It was the cheapest I could find.



BK harness bar will be delivered, tomorrow. I'll install the seats and the bar, soon : ))

[X25]

Sparco Evo L Seat Install




BK harness bar with its packaging. Overall kit weights about 18.5 lbs (not 16 lbs advertised).



The bar looks pretty stout, but I know that this kind of paint can chip easily with impact.


You need to remove this whole plastic trim in order to install the mount adapter. Then you put it back without engaging the tabs, and hit it from the mount location to mark where you need to put a hole on.


This tab also needs to be cut out.


1" hole.. I suppose you can put a sticker there when you remove the bar one day.. : P


Trim back in its place. The rest of the bar install is trivial.


The PCI mount uses a very flexible slotted design for the side mounts. It's great in terms of flexibility, but it is made way too long, and it interferes with the bolt holes to the chassis. PCI provides spacers to offset the side mounts from those bolt locations, but I was not able to clear the holes without having to compromise the seat location quite a bit. In the end, I used all 4 spacers provided on one side, which finally made it possible for me to get to a good spot!


You can see the slider protruding into the bolt hole location...


I also considered using Planted's aluminum side mounts to mitigate this issue, but the hole locations do not match. Planted products are manufactured by a local company here in Seattle area (425 Motorsports).


It's pretty easy to move the seat belt from the OEM seat, and assuming you have something for the airbag light, this is the only other connector if you're only switching the driver seat.


Here, everything installed.


These lap belt mounts that come with BK bar are great! I've used all 4 of them that came with the kit on the driver side, and ordered 4 more for the passenger side.


Here it is; finished!


BK bar is very thick by the center. The regular GoPro bar mount was way too small for it, but I found something that worked.


Final location.


I had to offset one side a lot to be able to clear the chassis mount bolt holes, and even that, I had to move the seat a wee bit towards door from the center to make it work. PCI could easily avoid this by reducing that interference.


The longest 35mm M8-1.25 bolts worked best with the spacer. The shorter 22mm and 25mm bolts pictured here barely had a thread after adding that spacer. I'm using Grade 12.9 bolts (OEM had 10.9), and they should be pretty stout.


Don't discard the bag race seats come in!



Next up is the front sway bar, and then the car is ready for testing.

I've also ordered a second set of APEX wheels, and will mount my 245/40/17 Z214 tires on them as the spare set. There's a track day being planned (depending on weather) on 11/12-13, and the plan is to be fully ready by then.


OEM Passenger seat 39 lbs
OEM Driver seat 36.8 lbs
OEM Rear seat total 25 lbs
BK harness bar 18.5 lbs bar
Sparco Evo L QRT seat 18.6 lb, 19.3 lb (seats weighed different).
Sparco seats with mounts: 28-28.6 lb

So, the weight is pretty much a wash. My corner weigh alignment probably stayed perfect : P