Subaru BRZ 2015 Series Blue rebuild

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by kilohercas

Very nice job TurboBRZ, i wish i could have more space and tools in my garage to do this kind of work and skills too ! . Right now i can only do simple stuff.

It is very hard to say how much i have shift in geometry. If not 3mm step at driver side wing compared to driver-side door, i would say where is no shift, because it is hard to see difference like that, and i don't have idea how to do the measurement

Energy absorber was hit near support, so it redirected collision object to front right wheel, and thus mush shifter rails a bit to to left side, that why i have step between doors and wing i think. Here is some photos

I am also preparing to paint exhaust system in black heat resistant paint, i don't know will it do much good, but it should give some extra life for exhaust system, to to salt in winter. I will paint muffler part, cat part and some heat shields where is not splash protection panels. Small portion of exhaust near the engine is already covered, so i leave it as it is.

It's sad the situation you and I found ourselves in. I just had to have a blue BRZ, and so I spent more than I should have at auction to get it because I wanted blue... I only had 10 pictures like you to base my purchase on, and when the car arrived my heart fell to my stomach when I saw the extent of the damage. But despite our misfortune, I think it is an honor to bring one of these cars back from the dead like we are doing. The BRZ is such a great car.

Thanks for posting more pictures! From what I can see your car will need a bit less work to get back on the road than my own, but it's still going to be a big project. The damage to your right frame rail appears like it could be fixed by taking the car to a frame shop to have it pulled. I don't think you will need to replace it, but you will probably need to replace the gusset that holds your lower control arm in place on the bottom of the frame rail (the bolt looks pretty bent). I did this on a different BRZ and it was a royal pain. The apron on the other hand is questionable. If it were me I would probably replace it - which is a massive undertaking (or have a shop do it if I didn't have the tools I do). The undercarriage by your door looks like it could likewise be pulled back to straight by a frame shop. This is good news as frame shops don't seem to cost too much money where I'm at (not sure about where you are).

Did you buy that BRZ from the US auction and ship it all the way to Lithuania? If so that's badass

[kilohercas]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

Did you buy that BRZ from the US auction and ship it all the way to Lithuania? If so that's badass

yes, i did buy it at copart and shipped to Lithuania. For the reason unknown to science i wanted Subaru Series Blue in blue. i fell a bit depressed that i don't have tools and space to make it myself, and that parts cost even from breakers are sometimes two times more expensive than buying from SubaruonlineParts stores with delivery included, so restoring this car in USA is easy and not that expensive.

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by kilohercas

yes, i did buy it at copart and shipped to Lithuania. For the reason unknown to science i wanted Subaru Series Blue in blue. i fell a bit depressed that i don't have tools and space to make it myself, and that parts cost even from breakers are sometimes two times more expensive than buying from SubaruonlineParts stores with delivery included, so restoring this car in USA is easy and not that expensive.

I understand your reasons unknown to science lol. That's awesome you got it in the US and shipped it to Lithuania. When I got my BRZ I didn't have all the tools necessary to fix it either - so one by one I went out and bought them. It's my opinion that it's cheaper to own tools than to pay someone else to do the labor (if you have the skills to do the labor that is). As per the space - I have a very shallow 2 car garage where if you put 2 cars in it I don't think you could get out of either via the doors. Likewise when I pull in my wife's Sentra it sits 1" from the garage door and about 12" from the door into my home. It's a rather small space, so I bought the Ranger lift from Summit racing to help give me a bit more working room. I desperately need a bigger space. Luckily the BRZ is a very short car.

Another place you want to check out is car-part.com. It is the biggest collection of salvaged car parts in the US - your one stop shop to almost every salvage yard that exists here. I went to them for my HID headlight which I got for $425 shipped in mint condition. For parts such as these, you may want to give them a try.

Are you able to order directly from SubaruOnlineParts being in Lithuania? Based on my experience with them I think they would do it for you.

[kilohercas]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

Are you able to order directly from SubaruOnlineParts being in Lithuania? Based on my experience with them I think they would do it for you.

yes, i can get small parts like gearbox support, fuse box cover, screws, fixings - small stuff in general. and shipping is around 60$

As example if i buy 51649CA0209P APRON PANEL, RIGHT that cost $83.61 total with shipping is $148.47, so if i add more parts while shipping is the same, good time ( well i will have to pay up to 25% as taxes)

But if i add a bit bigger part, like 20451CA010 STABILIZER BAR, shipping becomes as expensive as i payed to ship entire car

[TurboBRZ]

Sounds like you need to get a lot of parts loaded onto a pallet so you can conserve on shipping costs. Customs taxes are always a PITA when you import stuff from overseas.

[P3tras]

Just buy parts from EU dealers. Yes, some are more expensive (although some are cheaper than in US), but you won't need to pay either customs or shipping taxes. Also, do not forget that body shop expenses are several times higher in US and it is cheaper to restore car here.

[kilohercas]

Originally Posted by P3tras

Just buy parts from EU dealers. Yes, some are more expensive (although some are cheaper than in US), but you won't need to pay either customs or shipping taxes.

Will make list of parts and cost for that for different dealers, and as far as it looks right now parts will be ordered inside USA, and shipped by the same people who shipped my car. That also cut a bit on taxes and shipping

Since i have way to much electronics parts ( like high end micro-controllers, DSP processors, and stuff like that) i am making few modifications for my car. (i will have lot of free time when parts arrive)

First and easy part will be remaking clock to 24H clock, this will need small 7 segment display, one micro controller, backup battery, and 3D printed bracket to fit inside original space. Nothing special, but should be few days of work. And also will need to attach 4 wires to buttons and dimming signal, as well as power.

Second project is a bit more difficult, it will be down-shift engine "blip" function. Idea is to tap into engine and transmission rpm sensors as well as gear number sensor (it should be connector on gearbox, but i was unable to find it on car so far). When clutch is pressed ( get signal from clutch switch) processor will read gear number, and for 0,5-1s after lower gear is engaged, it will override throttle position sensor, and run simple PID loop, so clutch plates after short amount of time will be turning at same exact speed. And after predetermined amount of time it will disable accelerator pedal override, at this point clutch should be disengaged, and everything should be fine.
Microcontroller could run this loop at 10MHz or faster, so even if PID constants are out, clutch plates will be locked together in space by PID loop

Only problem for this circuit is safety, due to override function, it will be no fun for this controller to malfunction to WOT state, but i should solve that in analog domain.

[chaoskaze]

is it me or all the damaged BRZ is going to Lithuania??? You guys are crazy /thumbsup

[kilohercas]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

is it me or all the damaged BRZ is going to Lithuania??? You guys are crazy /thumbsup

In that case USA has the best drivers in the world, since only hand full of BRZ get to Lithuania
I know 5 cars that are from USA and was fixed ( one is still in progress )

[TurboBRZ]

Sounds like you have some good electrical skills there Kilo! I just started going to college for electrical engineering, as I know the least about electricity compared to everything else. I have learned some basics, but perhaps you could help me with a circuit design for my oil cooler fan? I'm thinking I need to hookup a relay between the fan and the battery, then have the relay switch be hooked up to the positive (turn on) wire for the radiator fans. I also want to have an over-ride switch inside so I can turn it on at my leisure. Does this sound about right or should I wire it differently? It's an 80W fan that pulls about 6-7A.

[kilohercas]

Originally Posted by TurboBRZ

Sounds like you have some good electrical skills there Kilo! I just started going to college for electrical engineering, as I know the least about electricity compared to everything else. I have learned some basics, but perhaps you could help me with a circuit design for my oil cooler fan? I'm thinking I need to hookup a relay between the fan and the battery, then have the relay switch be hooked up to the positive (turn on) wire for the radiator fans. I also want to have an over-ride switch inside so I can turn it on at my leisure. Does this sound about right or should I wire it differently? It's an 80W fan that pulls about 6-7A.

Well, i would use PID loop with PWM signal, so you can spin fan at speed below maximum without a need of turning off. you need NTC termistor, mcu with adc and pwm, and connect pwm signal to mosfet. mosfet connects to fan ground, and other fan wire goes to +12V this is good for 1KW if you use good transistor. But fan need's to be simple motor, without electronics ( like BLDC)

But it is possible to do in analog domain, simply by NTC termistor, LM311 comparator, and some mosfet http://circuit-zone.com/ediy_blog/47...er_circuit.GIF
By changing VR1 potentiometer you will select pion where you turning on the fan. Also you can override it by simply shorting thermistor to ground. I would also add hysteresis so it act in stable fashion at crossing point between set point and measured temperature.

Well, my work is to create some high speed digital circuits for feedback generation, so i know fair bit about high speed electronics

[P3tras]

I would do it simpler. OEM oil temp sensor (thermistor) > transistor > relay to power fan. Just Kilohercas can suggest better on how OEM temp sensor can control transistor (circuit would be needed)

[kilohercas]

just as i figured, where is no easy way to know, which gear you are in.

ECU gear indicator does that based on rpm and speed. And only neutral and reverse gears have switches inside gearbox

Just like ECU, i can know exact gear i am in based on rpm and actual speed relation, but to know will i down shift, or up shift, well, this is completely different problem

while driving to work, only one solution come to mind:

by fixing gyro or acceleration MEMS sensor to gear leather i can capture event, where i push stick to the other side (but damn, this will not work if i go from 3 to 1 and so on)

Gyro will show that as positive or negative rotation on single axis , and g sensor will do the same thing, show event when i push into new gear. it would be nice to get reed-switch for every gear, but i not exactly possible to do

[TurboBRZ]

Originally Posted by P3tras

I would do it simpler. OEM oil temp sensor (thermistor) > transistor > relay to power fan. Just Kilohercas can suggest better on how OEM temp sensor can control transistor (circuit would be needed)

On this design how would the fan kick on at a certain temperature instead of just being on all the time whenever there is a signal from the temp sensor?

Sorry - last question