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Old 08-04-2020, 12:10 PM   #1
PH03N1X
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PH03N1X's FR-S build progress

So, I picked up a 2013 Scion FR-S in June of 2020 and instantly fell in love. The balance of this thing in the corners is unlike most other affordable RWD sports cars in the same price, power, weight brackets. Yeah, the power is lacking in the dreaded torque dip, but it is the perfect platform to modify to my liking. Full story below.



To preface my history in tuning, a little over 15 years ago, I owned a sweet little 1st gen DSM that was my daily driver that I also took to weekend autocross and drag strip events. It had a full 3" turbo back exhaust, short throw shifter, lightened ACT flywheel and racing clutch, and a homemade boost controller and a fuel pump mods.



I was too young, carless, and broke to continue driving it, so I moved to luxury sedans. Since then, I longed for the days of having a manual transmission sports car that was always down for some lively driving whenever the feeling was right. Now that I'm a single adult who takes care of his things, I figured why not bring back those memories and feelings that I once had?

For months, I swooned over 90's era JDM masterpieces that I either could never afford or could never afford to maintain. I'm talking potential drift machines that would only break in multiple ways over time. Then I thought, "Miata?" While it is a greatly balanced machine that really shows it's potential on the track, I'm over 6 feet tall, and have not had the greatest of experience driving Miatas in the past due to this. "How about an earlier model BMW 3-Series? Nice, but they're really hit or miss as to the quality of a used one these days."

Many YouTube and forum visits later, I came across something that had not been on my radar at all. "A Scion? How can that possibly be good?...Wait, a well balanced Toyota chassis with a Subaru boxer engine? Compared to Miatas and S2000s in handling performance? Now, you've got my attention!"

Another few hours spent combing reviews and I was hooked. After about a month of hunting for an FT86, a dealership about an hour from me posted one up that had just been traded in. Low mileage for the price. I went and test drove it before they could even change the stock photos on their website that were being used as a placeholder. That first slide into these wonderful seats told me that it was meant to be. This is a drivers car, thru and thru! I'm in love!



Last edited by PH03N1X; 08-05-2020 at 01:37 PM. Reason: Adding correct picture links
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Old 08-04-2020, 01:46 PM   #2
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The first mod was made in the first few days. That was removal of the clutch helper spring.

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Old 08-04-2020, 01:55 PM   #3
PH03N1X
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Next up wheels, tires, and coilovers.

Wheels:
Enkei Kojin
18x9.5 +45

Tires:
Falken Azenis FK510

Coilovers:
BCRacing BR Series
Lowered ~1.75"
Front Camber: -1.5 degrees
Rear Camber: Natural from lowering
Toe specs: Set as close to factory as possible




Last edited by PH03N1X; 08-04-2020 at 05:50 PM.
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Old 08-04-2020, 02:10 PM   #4
DarkPira7e
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Clutch spring removal is probably the best mod you can do to these cars (I'm another 80s/90s car enthusiast and hate paper clutch pedals in newer cars)

Nice build!
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Old 08-04-2020, 05:44 PM   #5
PH03N1X
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Clutch spring removal is probably the best mod you can do to these cars (I'm another 80s/90s car enthusiast and hate paper clutch pedals in newer cars)

Nice build!
Thanks! The clutch feel was my only real complaint on the test drive. That, and the direct injection sounding like a diesel

Had to take a break from posting on the progress. There's more to come.
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Old 08-05-2020, 02:02 PM   #6
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I ran into a few issues with the coilover install. The first being that I did not tighten the front sway bar endlinks while holding the stud with an allen key. I instead just used an impact gun to put them on to the guden tight spec, and didn't check the torque thinking that the endlink knuckle would just spin. It caused a bit of a clunk when weight shifts would occur (during sharp corners or going over bumps). After a bit of driving and checking all connections, this was resolved. Chalk it up to the "hold my beer, I got this" mentality that I take when working on cars.

The more painful issue occurred while attempting to torque the bolt that connects the rear LCA to the wheel hub knuckle. The bolt stretched on me and the nut refused to come off. I was torquing on it for so long without the wrench telling me I was there, which lead to heat build up and eventual stretch of the bolt. It took about an hour of fighting the bolt with all sorts of tools and another hour soaking in a solvent concoction before I was able to free the nut from the stretched bolt. I then ordered another from the Toyota dealership nearby, which to much of my chagrin took 3 days to arrive. And, guess what...It snapped in two on me while torquing the bolt. I even broke down the torque values in stages of 10 ft.lbs, starting at 30, so as to not stretch the bolt. Murphy's Law had bit me twice.



After many curse words and tools were thrown, along with a few calls to Toyota and Subaru dealerships in the area, I went to a local hardware store and found a bolt with the same thread pitch and space between the threads and head. Thank goodness this isn't an eccentric bolt with a cam or anything specialized like that, just a plain ol' bolt. I also chose to go with the highest hardness rating that I could find. This is a weight bearing suspension piece after all. Luckily, my newest nut from Toyota was not stripped inside. It was a perfect fit, and torqued to spec without STRETCHING THE FREAKING BOLT! "Thanks Toyota or Subaru...whomever makes these trash components!"

Last edited by PH03N1X; 08-05-2020 at 02:45 PM.
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Old 08-06-2020, 06:31 PM   #7
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This mod actually came before the wheels and coilovers. A GrimmSpeed 600g shift knob. It made the feel of rowing through gears more tactile and purposeful.

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Old 09-06-2020, 09:47 AM   #8
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Next up, an eBay spoiler, which was supposedly modeled after the TRD version. I found that it seemed to poke out a bit more in the rear than the TRD version, which I liked. Overall, it's a nice conservative duckbill that fits the body lines well.

Last edited by PH03N1X; 09-14-2020 at 11:11 AM.
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Old 09-09-2020, 01:34 AM   #9
jflogerzi
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Garage
IKON Motorsports?
__________________
2013 Series 10 FRS #553
RCE T2's, SPC LCAs -4/2.6 camber
JDL 4-2-1 EL, FP and OP, Tuned by Zach@CSG on e85
RR Wilwood Front/Rear Sport BBK, Motul 600 Fluid
ARC-8 17x9 SX2 GTs 245s/Koing 17x8 v730's 225's
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:49 AM   #10
PH03N1X
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IKON Motorsports?
Yessir! Hit the nail on the head

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Old 09-09-2020, 06:42 PM   #11
SUSPECT_BRZ
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Clean and simple, very tasteful mods so far, love it!
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Old 09-09-2020, 06:45 PM   #12
PH03N1X
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Clean and simple, very tasteful mods so far, love it!
Much love!

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Old 09-14-2020, 12:36 PM   #13
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The next mod wasn't necessarily a mod as much as it was just routine maintenance. I changed the transmission and differential oil. I went with the Motul 300 75w90 for both trans and diff, after reading many-a-post giving it praises. Overall, it has definitely improved the smoothness of shifting. This was especially noticeable when shifting into 1st, after coming to a stop. The synchro just didn't ever want to align properly and made the shift into 1st noticeably stickier. It was giving fits to the point where I would have to bump 2nd briefly just to go into 1st without any sort of fuss. I still experience it occasionally, but not nearly as much as before.
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Old 09-28-2020, 06:36 PM   #14
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Next up, a GReddy Supreme SP cat-back exhaust. This is by far one of the easiest exhaust installs I've ever done. The hardest part was getting the exhaust off of the hangers.



I searched many a forums and watched many videos of people revving to different RPMs with different exhaust setups. I was looking for something that didn't produce an awful rasp (Invidia N1 I'm lookin' at you), and something that didn't make my neighbors hate me for the morning cold starts. I love the tone of this exhaust. It's rather quiet, due to the full muffler in the back. It has a smooth and deep sound. It's a great starting point for the future, when I plan to put a header and mid-pipe on. Changing the flow further down the line is only going to make it louder and harder to deal with on the daily. If it's one thing I can't stand, it's an obnoxious exhaust.

Overall, I'm elated with my purchase.


Yeah, I really should have cleaned up before taking the first pics...
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