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Old 02-13-2018, 02:00 PM   #1
Williampreza
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Williampreza's Kamaitachi: NA BRZ The "Easy" Way

This is a record of efforts to develop a high revving, well-sorted and comfortable, sports car with good street manners and a surprising turn of speed.







Listed are Goals and the plan to achieve them as they stand at the beginning. Some may prove unrealistic or irrelevant. Some may not make any sense to anyone but me. This journal is primarily for my own benefit, but I like talking about cars, so don't hesitate to ask.
Goals:
  • Mission: To create a Sports car using minimalist aesthetic modifications, positive functional modifications, and efficiency improvements.
    • More power by reducing the amount of work the car, as a system, has to perform.
    • Least added wear
    • Reduced long-run expense
    • Avoid changes that require significant supporting modifications.
    • Any synergistic modifications must be sequentially positive. That is, they must improve the car individually, or occur at the same time.
    • All modifications must fall within the scope of the original design for the car
    • No super/turbocharging
    • Original engine
    • Power through high rpms, maximizing NA efficiency, light weight

    • Goal is a more enjoyable driving experience
    • Sports car, Not a race car
    • Track days are a way to appreciate what a car CAN do, not to decide what it SHOULD do
    • Aesthetics are a balance
    • Perfection lies in the appropriate combination of imperfections
    • No one else is ever going to “get it” completely. So, make the car mine.
    • Resale value is not a consideration.
    • "Better" is superior to "More"
    • I am part of the equation. Improve the driver to match the car.

    • Efficient changes
    • No warranty-killers
    • Each modification builds toward final goal, each modification, by itself, results in an improvement in the driving experience.
    • Avoid duplicate modifications (multiple ECU flashes, upgraded components replaced by further upgraded components)
    • Minimalist change; each alteration shall have the minimum scope and magnitude necessary to achieve the goal
    • Minimalist change; each alteration shall fulfill as many functions toward the goal as possible
    • Minimalist change: each alteration shall have no, or negligible, negative effects relative to the goal.
    • Long-term cost reduction comes from careful planning, selection of parts, and implementation of changes, plus efficient disposal of surplus.

  • Methods:
  • Each part/change must pass three tests:
  • Does this part/alteration make it easier for my car to do what it is was designed to do?
  • Does this part/alteration reduce or have no effect on the natural rate of wear of the car or its parts?
  • Does this part/alteration result in a pure elevation in my aesthetic experience of the car?


  • Powertrain: Naturally aspirated, Street daily driver level modifications.
  • First; improve external engine breathing
  • Catback and intake (Completed 02/24/18: Corsa Cb exhaust, Perrin inlet tube, K&N filter)
  • Oil cooler
  • Consider upgrading radiator
  • (Warranty expires)
  • Intake manifold (porting/honing or replace with high flow or ITB’s) and headers simultaneous
  • ECU flash†
  • E85/Flex Fuel
  • Coatings†
  • Second; improve internal engine breathing through valvetrain*
  • Add lightness- lightweight valves, retainers, springs (avoid increasing spring rate if possible)
  • Stage 1 camshaft
  • Third; further improve internal airflow with porting/modification of cylinder head only if necessary*
  • Fourth; Displacement and compression modifications via full engine build, only if necessary*
  • Stand-alone ECU if necessary.*

  • Suspension:
  • Stock suspension is already perfect for the way I drive (Oops. Some RS-R Down Lowering springs must have fallen into my car and installed themselves. Accidentally. :shrug: )
  • Modifications that allow alignment corrections to correct wear problems
  • Camber/crash bolts
  • Adjustable control arms only if necessary
  • No pillow balls, harsh bushings, except as necessary to prevent damage or excessive wear of other parts
  • Aero mods: Balanced front and rear
  • Functional front splitter
  • Functional rear diffuser (Completed 02/29/19--Verus Engineering Non-aggressive Rear Diffuser)

  • Brakes:
  • Dot 4 Brake fluid
  • Upgraded brake pads suitable for both spirited street and rare (1-2 per year) track days, installed after stock pads wear out.
  • Steel brake lines seem like fun, if not completely practical/functional.

  • Tires:
  • Moderate increase in grip relative to stock tires, focused on tire compound changes likely will have try several sets over the years until I settle.

  • Wheels:
  • Lightweight, as robust or stronger than stock. Stock diameter is perfect. Possibly keep stock wheels.
  • Interior:
  • Weight reduction:
    Nope, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t miss.
  • OEM-style center armrest (Completed 02/24/18)
  • Stereo system: Keeping stock (Changed the Infotainment system anyway.Completed 01/05/19
    Swapped a JVC sub amp and Alpine DVC 8" subwoofer from another vehicle.
    Added Pioneer AVH1440NEX head unit with Maestro RR for SWC integration.
    )
  • Gauges:
  • Add Oil Pressure Gauge (Completed, Moved to vent location in September 2018)
  • Seats: If stock seats prove too uncomfortable, may consider upgrading, but I’d rather keep the airbags. Bolsters?
  • Window Tint: (Legal max on side windows and rear windshield. Blackout quarter panel windowsCompleted 02/21/18)
  • Pedals: Throttle pedal adjustments Ended up going with an aluminum pedal set from FT86Speedfactory. Completed ~09/26/18
*Only used if previous modifications do not achieve power goals
†May accompany other modifications, possibly in multiple iterations

Last edited by Williampreza; 03-01-2019 at 04:18 PM.
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Old 02-13-2018, 02:07 PM   #2
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So, I like to read outdated How-To books and, a long time ago, I read in one entitled "How to Drive Sports Cars" --or something like that-- that a sports car should have at least 250 horsepower. That was an enormous leap from the cars I was familiar with as a 10-year old kid in the 1980's, and that number stuck with me, even though later I would learn that 250hp means different things in different situations.

Later, I got enamored with other ratios, power density figures and power to weight ratios like the 10:1 lbs/hp. These are all a bit arbitrary, but then, any number you attach to a concrete phenomenon is bound to be so. Regardless, those two stuck with me, 250 horsepower and 10:1 lbs/hp (which consequently works out to around 280 for my car). Therefore, that became my goal; to achieve between 250 and 280 horsepower in a street-friendly (note I didn't say "streetable" because that can be interpreted more loosely), naturally aspirated engine.

Here's where we're starting. The baseline for power is measured on a chassis dyno. My goals are as they would be measured on an engine dyno, so we will assume (arbitrarily) that the chassis dyno costs about 25 hp or 15%. The difference is negligible considering the relatively low horsepower numbers and the breadth of my target hp range. That means I'm shooting for somewhere between 213 and 238 horsepower on the chassis dyno. Note that I'm not especially concerned about torque numbers, so long as they don't go down.


Last edited by Williampreza; 02-13-2018 at 02:27 PM.
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Old 02-13-2018, 02:09 PM   #3
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The first mod:


Last edited by Williampreza; 02-13-2018 at 02:33 PM.
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Old 02-13-2018, 02:12 PM   #4
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I like your "mission statement", so to speak. Will keep an eye on your build
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Old 02-13-2018, 02:33 PM   #5
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Most people don't think enough about their mods (I've ruined two cars that way). On the other hand, you just might be overthinking. Still, if it results in your perfect car, great.
Only thing additional I can think of is catch can, as a reliability mod.
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Old 02-13-2018, 02:39 PM   #6
Williampreza
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Fun facts

"Kamaitachi" also can apparently be interpreted as "stance sword", which is not at all what I was going for.

And there's this guy...

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Old 02-13-2018, 03:02 PM   #7
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Pretty color caw as it sits.... good plan too


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Old 02-13-2018, 03:16 PM   #8
Williampreza
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigHugeFatGuy View Post
Most people don't think enough about their mods (I've ruined two cars that way). On the other hand, you just might be overthinking. Still, if it results in your perfect car, great.
Only thing additional I can think of is catch can, as a reliability mod.
True. I do enjoy overthinking things. My wife claims
That my “real” hobby is planning my hobbies.
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Old 02-18-2018, 05:06 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Williampreza View Post
my “real” hobby is planning my hobbies.
This is me too.

I'm looking forward to this, I really like your view on how your build should be done. I'm curious what you will end up doing with the intake manifold and how it goes.
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Old 02-20-2018, 03:07 PM   #10
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I ordered some basics last week.

Tint is done. It looks great and I shall not comment on the process as that is documented in mortifying detail elsewhere in these hallowed halls.

En route are a K&N filter specific to the 2017's, an also-2017-specific Perrin inlet pipe (black), a Corsa Sport Catback Exhaust with Stainless tips, and an OEM-looking center armrest because my arm gets tired from waving it about while I rant about things that turn out to be irrelevant.

I picked the Corsa exhaust because, based upon overwhelmingly positive YouTube reviews, it looked to be a quality product and it might sound as close as is reasonable to a Ferrari 308 GTB (do a search and you'll find that discussion.)

Some of the threads regarding the Corsa exhaust plus headers have led me to question my plans about adding headers at all. I'm going to see how I like the whole setup after tuning and E85 (these changes will be a while, since I'm not interested in losing warranty coverage.)

As for the intake ideas, those will happen AWE (after warranty expires) as well, but some possibilities I've been tossing around in my head are:

ExtrudeHone/abrasive flow machining, which polishes the interior of the manifold by pushing a peanut buttery, silly putty type fluid through it. The fluid has an abrasive media mixed in it and that is supposed to do all the work. Ideally, this would smooth airflow through the runners and improve volumetric efficiency throughout the rev range. Less ideally, it might just hog out the inside of the runners, increasing cross-sectional area and improving VE only in the higher RPM's. Since my ultimate goal is an 8000 rpm engine that maintains stock or better torque all the way through, that might still work.

I've only found two places that do this kind of machining. One is is Pennsylvania and the other in California. That's surprising since I live in Oak Ridge, where there's gobs of science happening and people are polishing damn near everything so the neutrons don't get stuck. You'd think it would be easy to locate a local shop that does this.

A similar approach, and one that might actually have a local presence, is Magnetic Abrasive Flow processing. Basically, you fill your workpiece (manifold) with a mixture of abrasive media and ferrous beads, then stick it in a machine that rotates magnets around the whole assembly, vibrating the beads and therefore the abrasive. This sounds promising, but the only applications I've seen are either in university settings, or in machines intended for jewelers. Not on the scale I need.

I am however, eyeing my random orbital sander and wondering how to attach a magnet to it. (and some steel BB's... need a lot of those...). Hold my beer.

Anyway, the intake polishing idea may or may not produce measurable results, but it seems to be relatively affordable, and it fills in an area that is yet unexplored, somewhere between ITB's and custom intakes.

Will report back with photos of the exhaust, etc. as they're installed.

Last edited by Williampreza; 02-20-2018 at 07:47 PM.
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Old 02-20-2018, 03:21 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Williampreza View Post

I picked the Corsa exhaust because, based upon overwhelmingly positive YouTube reviews, it looked to be a quality product and it might sound as close as is reasonable to a Ferrari 308 GTB (do a search and you'll find that discussion.)

Some of the threads regarding the Corsa exhaust plus headers have led me to question my plans about adding headers at all. I'm going to see how I like the whole setup after tuning and E85 (these changes will be a while, since I'm not interested in losing warranty coverage.)
I did a lot of research into headers+corsa volume, even met with a guy locally to see if it's something I'd be able to live with and I have to say, it's not bad at all. The car was fully catless and the noise was livable. I'm just looking to get the headers and leave the front and over pipes alone. This is exactly what mine will sound like actually cause I'm looking to get the Gruppe S header.

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Old 02-20-2018, 05:03 PM   #12
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Nice choice on the Corsa, it's a quality piece and sounds lovely. Only issue I have is trying to align the tips.

I think the key to keeping the volume down with a catless header will be as @StraightOuttaCanadaEh mentioned, keeping the stock frontpipe.
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Old 02-24-2018, 03:06 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tehShirt View Post
Nice choice on the Corsa, it's a quality piece and sounds lovely. Only issue I have is trying to align the tips.

I think the key to keeping the volume down with a catless header will be as @StraightOuttaCanadaEh mentioned, keeping the stock frontpipe.

Maybe there was variation between production batches, but I had no trouble getting the tips even and centered, and usually that's the kind of thing I NEVER get right. So, I imagine the credit goes to Corsa for adjusting their production.
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Old 02-24-2018, 03:18 PM   #14
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