Halo white 17' Toyota 86 featherweight build

[SuperTom]

Today completed the Aluminum Knuckle conversion these are stock on the 22'+BRZ. I mostly used the instructions here just convert to English https://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid...4954/note.aspx
-Few changes on mine the newer Tie rod ends OEM are on backorder right now so I ordered RacerX ones for 22+ BRZ
- I didnt use dust shields, didn't on my old setup.
-Many have problems with BBK kits. My lightweight Wilwood kit fit perfect
- I believe the Knuckles are also on backorder. I found a used set with Wheel bearings already installed.



Weight savings I weighted with the Bearings on no shields
IRON - 18.5 lbs
ALuminum - 15.1lbs so good for aprox 3.5lbs per side!




RacerX Tie rod ends gave a total of .25 lighter total wasn't looking for weight savings here just proper fitment



Installed with no problems. Didnt take pic with wheel speed sensor like instructions say it is a tight fit. Used knuckles came with a longer sensor wire which I may try if I have problems later.




Took me about 2 hours per side would've been much less both Tie rod jam nuts were seized up. Had to use PB, Torch, Crow foot on breaker bar contraption to get free. Otherwise straight forward

Cost was about $500 for both knuckles used but had most parts included. The RacerX Tie Rods were about $300. This conversion will be much cheaper if you can find 22+ OEM ones somewhere

Weight Loss about 7lbs total off the front suspension!

My new weight back down to approx 2374lbs

[SuperTom]

More mods today for weight reduction Racer-x Rear upper control arms

Took off 8.5 lbs from the rear suspension!




Install again is pretty straight forward. Had to pry off the stock control arms from the knuckle hence all the grease.



Was disappointed when I read the directions there was a mounting point for the Speed sensor wire brace. Mine came with zip ties instead. This is a time when I would have preferred those mounts at the expense of a some ounces


Also thought I matched up the dimensions to my stock arms, when I lowered the car down had alot of negative came so Ill be playing with the adjustment on my next day off

[SuperTom]

I know they arent a popular brand but decided to go with the Megan Racing Front control arms. These have the front ball joints for the 22+ Brz to mate with my aluminum knuckles and some roll correction. They also look to have stiffer bushings in the other areas.

I wasnt looking for weight loss as I thought they were just using stock arms and painting them. But these ended up being a .75lbs lighter per side and they look to have an extra layer of bracing on the bottom. I was impressed with so called crappy megan racing.








All buttoned up you can see that extra bit of bracing underneath




New weight 2370

[SuperTom]

STR B-Pillar Bracing from 86worx from Japan took about a month to get built then shipped. Looked for something similiar in the US and the closest thing would be some kind of harness brace.

Felt heavier and sturdier than the scale but everthing came out too 2.75lbs


Painted the blue brackets yellow to match rest of interior. Had to trim some of the seatbelt cover to fit. Tried to be clean with the cut






NEW WEIGHT 2372.75 LBS

[SuperTom]

Why did I change exhaust? Well I backed into a curb thing a few years ago so my titanium faction fab has been bent all this time. Wanted 2.5" I think 70mm is overkill for NA engine.

My First choice would have been HKS HiSpec II for GR86 since they are light and 2.5", but it had the stupid donut flange. I need flat flange to mate with JDL UQFP

A few things this exhaust is pretty heavy at 33.75 lbs for everything. I may not have bought if I know. But im happy I did. It is extremely well built the hangers are super thick and im in love with the helmholtz pipe.

You get 2 tip options included as well rainbow and plain stainless

So here are the weights
Rear mid pipe 10.3lbs

Remaining midpipe 6lbs

Canisters 10.7lbs

Tips and remaining hardware 6.7lbs




Those hangers are thick




Unlike my HKS I had years ago Xforce cleans out any weld over flow




Also made a sound clip. Setup is now ACE 350 headers, JDL UQFP, XForce Race catback. Try to ignore the ticking from the engine its not an exhaust leak it goes away after the car is warmed up

https://youtube.com/shorts/qiWnJdzDD...5QM1YIc5W9IqPV

Car weight now increased to 2389.5 LBS ugh

[SuperTom]

Well I read someones build they claimed to lose ~7lbs replacing the steel spacer plate with aluminum. I misunderstood as that weight loss must have included ebrake delete and ebrake sheild.

I wanted to keep stock ebrake so a found a dual caliper adapter from gktech that had optional parts to keep the stock ebrake

Here it is on the scale about 2.5lbs for the kit


Here is the stock plate the white dots are where you drill out to remove the steel plate from the ebrake sheild



Steel adapter and Piece weight 1.7 for one side. not that heavy though


What the adapter and sheild now combined.




So my original experiment was going to use this kit and mount my main brakes on the adapter side. Then I could cut off the caliper mounting ears off the heavy stock Steel ones. This kit was designed to use stock base calipers, I was hoping my 2pot + adapter would work but calipers were up against the knuckle.

So this is a semi failed project so I had to improvise to get some weight out of this. I cut down the ears off the Gktech adapter and got it down to ~.75lbs this saved ~ a pound per side.



I also removed the outer shield for another LB combined.



So I was in total saved 2.75 lbs off the rear. Not close to the 6+lbs I had envisioned. Also spent 2 days with cutoff wheel on a seized bearing to make me say this mod was not worth it. However its done

[SuperTom]

Was looking to replace my Meister R coilovers. They were great for me for a while but the fronts were seized, years ago I unseized them but is possible I hurt some of the damping torching them.

Tein RX1 are the successors to the Flex A meaning you get the Hydraulic bumpstops and on the bottom mount you can an adjuster for camber. I think its good for another degree. These are 6k Fr, 6k R spring rates.

Bad these weight a bit more than my meister R's. Getting used to the stiffer spring rates I believe Meister R were 5k, 5k maybe less. The Meisters felt bouncier, These Teins have a little more thud but I only drove around the block.

These come with front end links and they are the same weight as the Carbon Fiber endlinks I just installed from RacerX. Could have saved $200+ if I knew last month I would get these coilovers


So the fronts come in at 27 lbs. Hard to find stock strut weights im getting 29lbs. Meister were 23.3lbs



Rears Tein 19lbs, stock I hear 16lbs , Meister 16.7



Also swapped out the rear trailing arms for Megan Racing ones. Megan about .25lbs heavier than stock




Install pic in the rear



So with the mods today lost 2lbs in the front vs stock but gained vs Meister R.
Gained 3.25 in the rear

New Vehicle weight 2394 LBS

[SuperTom]

Got both front and rear for $250 plus shipping. A steal
Not sure why these were slept on you get 200%+ stiffness increase according to this old post
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49659

And only slightly heavier than stock with them being hollow 22mm FR, 18mm R.
This instructions have the front barely 1/2lb heavier and the rear barely a 1/4 heavier
https://www.partsdocs.com/Guide/How+...+Subaru+BRZ/58
https://www.partsdocs.com/Guide/How+...+Subaru+BRZ/49




Sorry no pics on the car My "Godspeed" rear endlinks were seized I attempted to unseize and snapped so waiting on new adjustable endlinks to finish.

[autoracer86]

Thanks for all the hard work and details in this thread !

[SuperTom]

First the TRD door stabilzer BlackHawkJapan has the best prices on alot of parts even with Shipping and it got here in a few days

Added about .25lbs vs stock. Gives a little more solid feeling when closing my dry carbon doors. Havent done a long drive yet to test if it helps with vibrations.

Made this contrapation to get the door screws off easy. A phillips #3 didnt even budge it. But a #3 adapater on a breaking bar worked easy







Here is the PLM Coolant adapter. Not sure what the real name of the part is but its a retarded design from Subaru to have coolant and crankcase ventilation on the same plastic part. The PLM replacement is a work of art was so light didnt even register on my scale.

I also replaced the PCV Valve and hose as well.

[NLSP]

Originally Posted by SuperTom

Here is the PLM Coolant adapter. Not sure what the real name of the part is but its a retarded design from Subaru to have coolant and crankcase ventilation on the same plastic part. The PLM replacement is a work of art was so light didnt even register on my scale.

I also replaced the PCV Valve and hose as well.

Thank you for bringing this up, gonna pick one up for myself. I did some further research and found Reddit threads that mention the OEM coolant breather fitting is known to eventually fail and cause coolant leaks (or maybe I missed the threads on here that discussed this ).

Did you have to drain the coolant before replacing the coolant breather fitting?

[SuperTom]

Originally Posted by NLSP

Thank you for bringing this up, gonna pick one up for myself. I did some further research and found Reddit threads that mention the OEM coolant breather fitting is known to eventually fail and cause coolant leaks (or maybe I missed the threads on here that discussed this ).

Did you have to drain the coolant before replacing the coolant breather fitting?

Yes or it will flood the crankcase hole. Like I said terrible design from subaru.

I just drilled a hole in the stock plastic adapter to drain as much as I could and used my shop vac to suck up any fluid before unbolting. That way you dont have to drain all your coolant

[SuperTom]

Did 3 mods today STI Steering Rack Long Bolts, PLM end links, FDFraceshop Toe Arms

STI long bolts add .5 lbs to the front. When I installed my knockoff perring steering rack braces the passenger stock bolt had trouble bolting in could only do it with my impact so I was afraid it could be stripped.
This mod give me piece of mind since if my rack threads were stripped I would still be able to torque.
Rack threads ended up being fine but some of threads on the stock bolt were stripped at the tip.
Got these from JapanParts



Stock bolts


Had to grind back this protrusion on the drivers side or the collet/bolt combo would have been too close to ace headers


Grinded and enough room now


Also got my PLM adjustable rear endlinks these are half the price of other endlinks out there and you can adjust without unbolting from sway bar win-win


And installed FDFraceshop Rear Toe arms. These are also priced much better than many out there BUT they dont come with the eccentric lockout plate so I now had to order those elsewhere.

No weight change vs stock on these

[SuperTom]

Did 2 mods today first added vents to the front skid plate to let heat out from the headers. This older post was my inspiration his is much cleaner than mine using a harborfreight cutoff wheel https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...9&postcount=10




Also went to home depot and grabbed an aluminum sheet. On its own way too flimsy but I connected it overtop the existing fiberglass trans cover. Then I cut out the area for the trans cooling vents. Added 1.75lbs




I also just ordered 3mm thick alumalite to replace the two coroplast panels I have over the driveshaft tunnel. I may have to buy one for this mod I just did if I hear wobbly aluminum sounds