2013 FR-S: Domesticated Track Car

[GabeoHuncho]

Writing this up largely as a journal for myself, to keep track of parts and work as it happens. As this is a mostly completed project from another owner, some of what has been done is a mystery to me still.


Bought with 34,900 miles in the winter of 2021


Two previous owners, as far as I'm told, original owner basically bought it new and just began throwing interior parts in the trash, and had a Vortech V3 supercharger installed, and as the dude got more into track driving, he decided to go for a money instead of experience approach and moved on to more powerful cars.


Second owner told me he'd largely just commute to work, and occasionally to the track in it. So far as I know, was sitting from summer of 2020 until I bought the car.



In essence, my plan for the car is to take it down from being a dedicated track car, and bring it to the level of comfort that won't drive me nuts on longer drives to tracks and events further away.


_____________________________


Current Installed Parts List

Engine + Exhaust

Vortech V3 Supercharger kit

Still trying to figure out the fueling set up, mystery upgraded pump and injectors currently...
Borla Exhaust, UEL Header to catback all borla



Suspension + Chassis
Cusco Bracing
-From what I can gather looking under car, seems to be largely complete chassis bracing.
KW V3 Coilovers
Whiteline:
-Rear adjustable Sway
-F/R Adjustable Endlinks
-Rear Subframe Bushing
Agency Power Rear Lower control arms


Drivetrain
Driveshaft Shop Carbon 1-Piece Driveshaft
Tomei 1.5way diff with 4.88 final drive in stock housing
Whiteline:
-Differential Bushing Inserts
-Transmission Bushing

Stock clutch, afaik


Brakes
Brembo GT 6 Piston front caliper
-Two Piece 355x32mm Rotors



Wheels + Tires
Winter/All Season:
-255/35R18 square Continental DWS06+

-Black Enkei PF01
-Some sort of spacer on front end


Track:
-265/645R18 Square Pirelli P Zero Slicks
-18x9.5 Enkei PF01



Interior
Sparco Harness Bar
Racequip 5 Point Harness
NRG FRP Bucket Seat

Momo something or other wheel
Works Bell quick release
Gutted, but still have the Climate control and Radio



Misc
Shorai LFX14A2 Battery
Cusco Grounding Kit
Beastronix 86Nanny
Track spec hood vents





-Build Goals-
In the future, my goals are to replace SOME of the interior, or possibly just clean up/paint some of the interior so it feels a little more pleasant to be inside. I came from a Mk7 Golf R, and while I absolutely don't expect to have a similar interior experience, I still think it can be improved upon.


I'm slowly working to clean and correct the paint on the outside, but for the low relative mileage, the car has quite a bit of fuckery on the paint.

As far as power, at some point I would like to get a Flex Fuel set up, leaning towards the Gerald Just Projects kit as I don't need or want any kind of display for Ethanol. Other than that, I don't think the car really needs any more power, I have a fairly pointless goal of having around 300 at the wheels, but I don't really have any specific goals or needs for more power.



Irl I work in the bicycle industry, and come from a bicycle racing back ground, and in cycling currently, there's a huge push for aerodynamic efficiency, and while it's largely a marketing push, it's still hard to not have the though process of smoothing and improving CdA. Aesthetically I just like the look of aero equipment, and I would feel like a **** if I added non-functional/non-proven aero on the car, so I'll likely be installing Verus or some such off the shelf stuff for the car.



Any ways, here's the car, my plan for the thread is to post as I go ahead with the journey of owning it.

[NoHaveMSG]

KW V3's are plenty serviceable, but you may want to consider RCE T2's instead. They are built by KW and essentially are V3's but with more track oriented valving.

[GabeoHuncho]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

KW V3's are plenty serviceable, but you may want to consider RCE T2's instead. They are built by KW and essentially are V3's but with more track oriented valving.

So far as I can tell the V3's are doing their job, but they are dirtier than fuck.

Rebound and compression are both still indexing, and functioning as they should.


Still trying to work out ride height, as I'm enjoying very much not having to worry about clearance, but on the other hand aesthetically I'd like a little less gap. Going in for alignment and corner balance next week, perhaps I'll bring it up with them

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by GabeoHuncho

So far as I can tell the V3's are doing their job, but they are dirtier than fuck.

Rebound and compression are both still indexing, and functioning as they should.


Still trying to work out ride height, as I'm enjoying very much not having to worry about clearance, but on the other hand aesthetically I'd like a little less gap. Going in for alignment and corner balance next week, perhaps I'll bring it up with them

Ahh, gotcha. Thought you were still ordering parts for the build, reading comprehension fail on my part. The V3's are plenty usable. I know a lot of people happy with them

[GabeoHuncho]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Ahh, gotcha. Thought you were still ordering parts for the build, reading comprehension fail on my part. The V3's are plenty usable. I know a lot of people happy with them

If it were my choice, I'd likely have gone for the RCE's, or Ohlins R&T's

[villainous_frx]

Good looking parts list, hope you keep this thread updated!

[GabeoHuncho]

Small update but did a couple things on the interior.


I realize this is kind of contradictory to the stated point of the build, but in the process of removing the side curtain airbags, I noticed some fucking nasty remnants from packrats. Decided just to pull the whole headliner for now.


Duct taped the mic and lights to the roof for now....


Another hold over from cycling is meticulous accounting of all components' weights, and while I don't expect to get to get to a Anthony level of weight loss, it is nice to get a couple "free" performance mods, all be them slight


Also painted the Momo logo in the center spoke of the wheel for a little zaz


Weights of components removed
Headliner: 3.2lbs
Sun Visors: 2lbs
Trim Pieces for Headliner: 2lbs
Curtain Airbags and Hardware: 4.8lbs
Grand total of removing headliner and airbags:

12lbs


Not huge, but as they all say weight off the top end is always a good thing for CoG


Apologies for the funked up image orientation, but I couldn't be fucked to adjust them.


Got some new chassis parts coming in, and a couple aesthetic things this week, but probably going to have to wait until my next weekend for the installs

[GabeoHuncho]

Installed Whiteline "positive shift" bushing today


Began rear subframe bushing install, but as it turned out, one of the previous owners already did that, as when I removed the lower chunkus washer on the rear, I noticed there was a yellow bushing in there, and the outside edges of them had just gone dirty and looked factory...Pleasant surprise but annoying to buy parts I don't need ha


Always an adventure working on someone else's project


Also borrowed the Rupes DA polisher we use at work for old bike frames, wet sanded, and polished a few scratches that seem to have come from a dog climbing onto the hood.

Also just a shit load of adhesive residue, and the outlines of graphics and letters. I assume the hood must have come off a car with a wrapped livery of some kind?

I essentially am flying blind when it comes to paint correction, but actually pretty pleased with the small work I did so far, going to slowly work front to back addressing what I can.


Have some more general maintenance and upkeep to attend to, but I think next on my list is to start trying to fab up front end aero stuff. As part of my work I try to keep a somewhat working knowledge of composites and CFRP components making, so I may do some on the job learning to work something out for a splitter.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by GabeoHuncho

Began rear subframe bushing install, but as it turned out, one of the previous owners already did that, as when I removed the lower chunkus washer on the rear, I noticed there was a yellow bushing in there, and the outside edges of them had just gone dirty and looked factory...Pleasant surprise but annoying to buy parts I don't need ha

Buying the parts and throwing them away is worth not having to do that job. It is NOT fun. At least you should be able to sell those bushings without too much trouble.

[GabeoHuncho]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Buying the parts and throwing them away is worth not having to do that job. It is NOT fun. At least you should be able to sell those bushings without too much trouble.

No doubt...And luckily a relatively affordable lesson learned.

[GabeoHuncho]

-Another lil update-
Still working to get the interior dialed


Scooped a couple of older Sparco Roadster 1's
Have to figure out something for the passenger seat mounting so my partner can ride with me...


While these seats definitely offer less on the track side, no sub belts, lower bolstering etc. they do give me a lower seating position, which is something I've had an issue with the car and seat mounts so far, so that's definitely an improvement as far as position goes.

[GabeoHuncho]

A few updates since last post!

Got a proper alignment done, car was super dialed for all of a week before I hit an unavoidable pothole and fucked it up. Took that as a sign to try a string toe alignment, which is something I’ve always been intimidated by. Definitely has a learning curve, but felt I straightened it out, much to learn…

Also got an IRP Shifter, which I’ve been considering since I got the car. It is such a significant difference, theater over coming the, “muscle memory,” of shifting in the car was harder than I expected. I think overall it’s definitely an improvement, and just having a longer lever is nicer than I thought it’d be.

Have been caught up with other shit, but still trying to figure out some DIY aero under the car. Purchased fender vents, but got a little gun shy with cutting into the fender after I taped it off, and decided to give that some more thought.

[GabeoHuncho]

Some more updates...


Put my "Summer" wheels on
Square 18x9.5 +40 Enkei PF01s
Currently has set of Pirelli P Zero Slicks, so won't be driving it until I get some new 200tw tires, as these are pretty dried up from what I can tell, and any category I'd be racing in wouldn't let me run them anyways


Very pleased with how they look however. I think I'm over matte black wheels in general.


Did some BOBO aero treatments to the front end cooling. Made some ducting out of repurposed yard signs...Going to see how they hold up, I ran some wire through the ribs of the corrugation to add some lateral stiffness, but worst case scenario, I'll just use these as a template for some made out of alloy.


I'd like to eventually make an induction box for the intake as well, which I think coroplast is probably better suited for.



And yes, these will be painted, probably...

[GabeoHuncho]

For the love of god how do I get these pictures to upload in the correct orientation.



Despite using different browsers as I've seen suggested, can't get any pictures taken on my iPhone to upload correctly