Getting an FR-S

[Packofcrows]

Originally Posted by humfrz

DANG!, @Packofcrows ....... you out done yourself there ......


humfrz

Xgf in ER. I was bored.

By the way @Akya2120 dont be discouraged to buy a twin. Just make sure you can handle it. Oh and dont forget it comes with a chastity belt and a hot dog magnet.

[Akya2120]

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

Wait till you get it and know you want to keep it. IMO buying a twin with the intention of making it fast, should not be your first reason to buy it.

I am not buying it (edit: although I plan to when the lease is up.) It's a corporate lease, and my truck lease is up. I did the math on leasing the truck vs leasing the FR-S and renting a truck when I need one. The FR-S is cheaper per month, will cost less to operate, and I use my truck for it's truck abilities roughly ten times a year (about half that is for friends.) Now it will be either time to bite the bullet and rent a truck, or find a friend with a truck to help out haha.

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

As techy's here have stated wait till the break in period. That way your engine will deform/mold into your driving attitude and habits. Many say 1k, I was raised with old cars and the belief that 10k is more like it. I wait until 2.5k personally.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll keep that in mind. Honestly I might just not care since speed is not my goal. Learning to drive well is my goal. For a time I owned an 85 SR5 Corolla, I loved it but the previous owner did not take care of it and it was more than I could handle being in college so it's sitting on my parents side yard collecting dust. I tried selling it but everyone wants 6k for 1k... not even worth my time to sell it HAH... Hopefully when I get more time I'll turn it into a track beater.

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

e85 and a good tune, exhaust, pulley, intake, header...etc w/o turbo might get you near there.

There are no E85 stations near me so that's kind of off the table. Plus doesn't using E85 result in lower MPG?

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

Sure, it's possible. Do what a few old Mustang fans are doing down here and add in electric batteries or find a diesel set up... lol 40mpg on straightaways with 60mph, no extra weight is possible! I've hit that on 300mile trips. I don't even think you'd hit 25mpg in town with a turbo. Some argue that you get +3 or so mpg but I don't agree. Maybe in an auto. Past 45mpg I highly doubt you can, but there is a funny picture on the forums where someone reset their mpg and drove downhill and took a pic of the mpg reading at 120mpg+, so if you just drive down hill, you can achieve this!

Lol at the 120mpg I would always see that on downhills off throttle when it would cap at 121mpg. As for the MPG thing, it would be cool but tinkering with the car to get good mpg

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

The twins are not an econo-box. I wish they'd hit 30mpg in town and 40 in HWY at hwy speeds, but they don't. Again, dont buy the twin as a mpg/hp tune machine for DD. If you want hp and mpg, imo there's the mustangs (eco boost?) and Fiesta (?). I'm not a fan, but they do have a a tad more mpg/hp. Ours are mini go-karts with a big heart. Driving is majestic and I've yet to become bored of it.

I have to stay within the Toyota family (corporate lease.) That said, I love the idea of the car. I love the way the car feels to drive. I wish it had zero nannies like the AE86 (such majesty,) but at the same time I am sure there will be days where I don't feel like being constantly alert and happy to let the nannies take care of me a little.

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

P.s. remember too, 12.5:1 compression for this engine is tad high for FI. That's whats stopping me from S/C or Turbo. Many have successfully done it, though.

Yea, there was a tidbit I wrote before about having to do engine work for FI. I was talking about this kind of indirectly. 12.5:1 is real high for pump gas and FI, but it can be done. I would imagine e85 or e100 would make it much easier.

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

Also, I drove at 60mph-65mph, shifted at 2.5-3k for that trip, 90%+ hwy driving and no a/c whole time. 53 miles imo is not enough as a testing area. Try 100 minimum as an 'estimate' and a whole week of driving those same roads in order to create a good solid estimation.

I never use AC, and I'm from CA. Friends and family are always like why? Why, because it's bad for our enviroment to be running heat pumps. Thermo dictates that we are making more heat by moving heat around than by just accepting that we live in a damned desert. No reason to make the world hotter for future generations.

Originally Posted by Packofcrows

Don't forget altitude, pressure and temperature help or hinder mpg. Auto will get better mpg because of the transmission. Don't forget.

I have never owned an automatic vehicle, and I never will baring physical disability or necessity. My father's FR-S is auto, I feel lazy driving when coming from my truck.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Hell, you already live in Olympia. Come out & have a burger with the crew.

**86 Feast Event**September 20, 2015**

I would love to and I really appreciate the offer, but I am in the process of building a Stirling engine and have pretty much no time right now (3D printer is printing it's little heart out as I type, has been for ten hours, will be for probably another ten.) Also, my 86 won't be here until ~Sept 29th... The day after I go back to class and lose more of my life haha. I was told that it would be ~August 29th and I was hoping to drive to CA before Summer was over so I could get the car broken in, but no... Now I will have to figure out how to make time on my weekends to go places. Maybe next time I will come on up if I am not swamped with inorganic chem, statistical mechanics, or trying to start a business... wow does that sound like I am spreading myself thin? Nahhh haha.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Akya2120

I know I want to get a little more pep from the motor, but I am not exactly sure how I want to go about it.

This is my short term plan. Keep it minimal for about the first three years. I'm thinking GrimmSpeed intake, ECUtek reflash, Subaru radiator/oil heat exchanger, and some general chassis stiffening stuff. Maybe changing the thermostat, but I live in Washington and it's rarely super hot out.

...

In the long term, I like the idea of going for a turbo, making about 200-230 WHP and trying to tune it so that I get great fuel economy.

...

Frankly I would love to see this car hit a MPG of 40-50. It'd be nice to show the world that a car can be fun, and economical. Not sure what exactly would be required to do this, or if something like that is even possible.

Originally Posted by Akya2120

Doubling down, sticking to your guns, I like it. I will plan now, and be ready to buy them when I feel like it. I'm sure I will love it the way it comes, I'm just thinking the torque dip is worth spending some money on to smooth out a little. Regardless, if I know how the car feels, what's the difference whether I would be thinking about them on mine versus my father's? I don't think the paint color or model year is going to change my feelings on performance parts haha.

I highlighted the parts of your original post that tells me you don't have enough knowledge of this car to make mods at this point.

Let me break it down for you:

- Why a oil cooler? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you tracking it to the point where an oil cooler is needed?
- Your climate is EVERY reason NOT to change anything on your cooling system. Want to destroy your engine faster? Let the oil get to operating temp SLOWER with a lower thermostat or oil cooler.
- Driving your dad's car... and the chassis is not stiff enough? What planet do you live on?
- Great fuel economy + turbo kit do not mix together. Aftermarket turbo kits are not built with a properly set up engine in mind, and if you want true fuel economy you'd also (at some point) consider going with lower compression pistons and a different cam profile to take advantage of the boost and optimizing VE in different areas. Oh, and throw in about $10-20k in "R&D" that you will do on your own vs what a normal OEM would do.

Again: if you don't know how to go about achieving your goals, you need to learn about the pros and cons of each setup before you start to mod.

-alex

[Akya2120]

Originally Posted by mav1178

I highlighted the parts of your original post that tells me you don't have enough knowledge of this car to make mods at this point.

Let me break it down for you:

- Why a oil cooler? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you tracking it to the point where an oil cooler is needed?
- Your climate is EVERY reason NOT to change anything on your cooling system. Want to destroy your engine faster? Let the oil get to operating temp SLOWER with a lower thermostat or oil cooler.
- Driving your dad's car... and the chassis is not stiff enough? What planet do you live on?
- Great fuel economy + turbo kit do not mix together. Aftermarket turbo kits are not built with a properly set up engine in mind, and if you want true fuel economy you'd also (at some point) consider going with lower compression pistons and a different cam profile to take advantage of the boost and optimizing VE in different areas. Oh, and throw in about $10-20k in "R&D" that you will do on your own vs what a normal OEM would do.

Again: if you don't know how to go about achieving your goals, you need to learn about the pros and cons of each setup before you start to mod.

-alex

I appreciate the test of my knowledge, but this was never a question about whether I have the knowledge to do mods. I have done a whole lot of work on all sorts of different vehicles from street and dirt bikes, to trucks, to RVs, and yes... even cars.

-I do plan to track the car (I live about thirty minutes from a two and a half mile road coarse called The Ridge, maybe you would have noticed that if you weren't a selective reader.) I will probably end up getting braided lines and the master cylinder support, too (depends on how bad brake fade gets, I never pushed my limits in my fathers car, as it's not mine to do that with.) I am not talking about a dedicated air to oil cooler, I am talking about retro fitting the Subaru oil to coolant heat exchanger (you even highlighted it but apparently you missed that.) This actually brings operating temps up faster in the winter time and keeps the engine cooler in hard driving conditions. So you're wrong there.

-The thermostat is something I would do if I was going to boost the car. Not something I would do for no reason. Notice I said maybe (again you highlighted it?) It means that if I am having temp issues it's an option. Wrong again.

-The chassis is nice, I like it. That said a front strut bar is not expensive, and I had seen a couple videos demonstrating the doors deflecting during hard cornering. The door jam stabilizers might help alleviate this. I live on earth, but I am thinking about going home soon.

-I had already talked about the requirement engine work to do FI earlier in the thread, I also had mentioned the fact that I don't plan to do that for at least 2-3 years (maybe never.) I get it, 12.5:1 is real high for FI. To leave it at stock comp and do FI I'd recommend running at least 100 octane, or e85. Ethanol has better pre-detonation prevention than gasoline... None of this is real hard science, pretty sure I get what's going on. To properly run boost on pump I'd say ~9:1 would be right (I haven't really looked into FI with these motors more than looking at what kits are out there. Mainly because it's not really something I plan on doing, especially not any time soon.)

I appreciate your concern, but frankly I know better than you what I do and do not possess. I know that I am going to spend at least a thousand miles figuring out what I think is an important progression of parts for the car (even though I thought about installing an intake and flashing a tune before the 1k mark, oh no.) I came in here to ask questions about some parts, share my joy about getting one of these wonderful cars, and be a part of the community. I have gotten some great recommendations here from some kind folks, which I am thankful for. That's why I ask questions.

TLDR: Don't really care for your negativity, and you're making incorrect assumptions. Thanks though.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Akya2120

-I do plan to track the car (I live about thirty minutes from a two and a half mile road coarse called The Ridge, maybe you would have noticed that if you weren't a selective reader.) I will probably end up getting braided lines and the master cylinder support, too (depends on how bad brake fade gets, I never pushed my limits in my fathers car, as it's not mine to do that with.) I am not talking about a dedicated air to oil cooler, I am talking about retro fitting the Subaru oil to coolant heat exchanger (you even highlighted it but apparently you missed that.) This actually brings operating temps up faster in the winter time and keeps the engine cooler in hard driving conditions. So you're wrong there.

-The thermostat is something I would do if I was going to boost the car. Not something I would do for no reason. Notice I said maybe (again you highlighted it?) It means that if I am having temp issues it's an option. Wrong again.

-The chassis is nice, I like it. That said a front strut bar is not expensive, and I had seen a couple videos demonstrating the doors deflecting during hard cornering. The door jam stabilizers might help alleviate this. I live on earth, but I am thinking about going home soon.

-I had already talked about the requirement engine work to do FI earlier in the thread, I also had mentioned the fact that I don't plan to do that for at least 2-3 years (maybe never.) I get it, 12.5:1 is real high for FI. To leave it at stock comp and do FI I'd recommend running at least 100 octane, or e85. Ethanol has better pre-detonation prevention than gasoline... None of this is real hard science, pretty sure I get what's going on. To properly run boost on pump I'd say ~9:1 would be right (I haven't really looked into FI with these motors more than looking at what kits are out there. Mainly because it's not really something I plan on doing, especially not any time soon.)

I appreciate your concern, but frankly I know better than you what I do and do not possess. I know that I am going to spend at least a thousand miles figuring out what I think is an important progression of parts for the car (even though I thought about installing an intake and flashing a tune before the 1k mark, oh no.) I came in here to ask questions about some parts, share my joy about getting one of these wonderful cars, and be a part of the community. I have gotten some great recommendations here from some kind folks, which I am thankful for. That's why I ask questions.

TLDR: Don't really care for your negativity, and you're making incorrect assumptions. Thanks though.

Let me rephrase since you're being defensive and bringing up new points:

- oil cooler: what are you trying to accomplish? Are you going off random data posted online or do you have a specific need you are trying to address? I did not miss anything you posted about going to a local track, by the way.
- why a master cylinder support? I've run for 2 years now without brake fade (using a BBK) and have never had the need for a master cylinder support to address brake fade. It is not a fade issue, it's a pedal feel issue.
- thermostat: what is the point if you are boosting? Just because a thermostat opens at a lower temp doesn't mean it cools any better than a OEM Subaru or Toyota version. In fact, a lower thermostat is pretty much a useless mod piece.
- strut bars are for looks on this car. I have one on my car and I could not tell the difference before/after.
- you missed my point on the engine work... and to "leave it at stock comp and do FI I'd recommend running at least 100 octane" is a bunch of false info. The key thing with running boost on high compression stock internals is the tune (and a lot of actual tuning, not some program flashed remotely). My point was regarding your desire for great gas mileage + forced induction. If you want those two, you need to basically rebuild the motor so that it is "designed for turbo" from the start.

TL;DR: if you don't want an opinion, don't ask for one.