Yoshoobaroo's Shoobaroo

[Yoshoobaroo]

All right guys, I've had my car for about 2 years now. I figured it's time to start a build thread.

First things first; a baby picture! I picked up the car on March 26th 2016, a WRB BRZ Limited with 40000 miles on her. I. WAS. SO EXCITED. On the test drive I plugged in a flash drive with about 3000 MP3s on it, hit the USB button on the radio, what song does it play out of all of the 3000? Yep, the Tokyo Drift soundtrack. Perfect, I already like this car and it's not even in gear yet. By the first turn I fell in love, and I drove her home a few hours later.



A week later I did my first autocross with her at Daytona International Speedway, so much fun:



Time the urge to start modding started to set in. First things first the stock radio had to go. The unit isn't terrible but the resistive touch screen got to me and I wanted to read OBD info on the dash, since this car does not have an oil temperature gauge. Got myself a Joying Android head unit, and picked up the 2017 leather dashboard piece at the same time.

Very helpful install guide:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111866
Dashboard piece:
https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__B...6077CA200.html



I'm running a wired USB Obdlink reader for gauges, and Spotify for music.

OBDLink settings file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2u4xscu41...06-06.stg?dl=0
You can import this settings file into the OBDlink app. These settings include the PID setup for oil temperature and fuel reserve in gallons. I recommend using version 3.4 or 3.6 of the OBDlink app (get the .APK file online), I've had issues with the newer versions that the app would not autoconnect to the car when the USB device is discovered.



More to come shortly!

Bonus pic:

[Yoshoobaroo]

While looking for a set of aftermarket wheels I did periodic Google searches for Volk TE37s (my favorite wheels ever) in 5x100. I hoped to find a set for a reasonable price since I cannot justify $800+ per wheel. One day I found a set for sale on Priuschat.com of all places. Needless to say these hadn't gotten much exposure on a Prius forum, and I picked them up for a song! They're powdercoated, and after a few hours of polishing the gloss back into them and applying new decals, They were ready to put on:















Shortly afterwards I got an AFE drop in filter and the Mishimoto intake tube. Both quality pieces. Then I flashed the ECU with OFT stage 1. The throttle response is much better with the tune, and while it didn't pick up noticeable power, the engine felt much more eager to rev after these changes.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Next it's time to make it sound like a proper Subaru! JDL UEL header ready to go in:



Banana for scale, naturally.



Collector looks clean and smooth



Side by side with the stock one, time to swap O2 sensors. I couldn't believe how easy this was to install on this car! Took me less than 2 hours, including banging a dent in the skid plate to clear the header:



Bonus: found a friend at work!

[Yoshoobaroo]

Throughout owning the car for just over a year I've struggled with what to do with the suspension. This thing handles so well stock that I'm afraid to touch it!

After reading many reviews of the 2017 models I decided to try the new spring rates; since I liked the idea of being able to put more power down in the corners (a problem for me in autocross). Found a set with just 1000 miles on them in the classifieds:



Since the 2017 cars have a bigger rear sway bar I realized I would have to rebalance the roll stiffness front to back with these new springs. After lots of reading about suspension tuning I decided to go with adjustable sway bars front and back, with the intent of going a bit heavy on the bars for the spring rates. This gives the effect of jacking down the car in high G corners, giving me more camber when I need it, and keeping my ride height stock in the straights. Compliance is a good thing, and since I DD the car I won't put hard springs on it anyway.

I plugged the spring rates and alignment settings into Forza 6, and started playing with roll bar rates to find out what felt nice. I backed up my findings with some Excel math and ended up with the adjustable 22mm bar up front, adjustable 16mm in the rear. Both bars are from Perrin.



My calculations and Xbox simulations suggested a 25% increase in stiffness up front and a 60% increase in the rear are appropriate. That translates to the soft setting on the front bar, and the middle setting on the rear bar. I tied the suspension mods together with a Hotchkis strut tower brace:





After a quick shakedown run I was very pleased with how the car handles. Very comfortable, significantly less roll, planted, but still playful in the corners and willing to step out on command.

[Yoshoobaroo]

First autocross since the suspension changes! The track was VERY wet, so I wasn't able to compare to the previous setup very well. Nevertheless the car felt good and fairly easy to keep at the limit. It was a very different experience compared to the dry track, but very fun!

[BWilky]

Great write up!

[Yoshoobaroo]

Time for an update!

I actually grew tired of the UEL noise after adding a catted front pipe. After weighing options I decided on putting the stock header back on, pairing it with a Greddy Supreme catback, and putting her on E85. It sounds good, feels great, and power feels very similar to my UEL setup on 93. I was genuinely surprised but the E85 totally makes up for the loss of the UEL!

I picked up a Tomei 60mm shift knob, unweighted so it feels super communicative, love it.



New headunit time! I got tired of debugging the Android headunit as often as it needed it. Queue a Sony XAV-AX5000 with Carplay/AA. I can highly recommend this unit. I paired it with the JDM radio filler panels (Google "brz av escutcheon" to find them) as every other dash kit I've found available looks like crap.





And last but not least FACELIFT TAILLIGHTS! Scooped these up on eBay and installed them with fresh Helix gaskets. I love the way they pair with the original BRZ spoiler.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

Time for an update!
I actually grew tired of the UEL noise after adding a catted front pipe. After weighing options I decided on putting the stock header back on, pairing it with a Greddy Supreme catback, and putting her on E85. It sounds good, feels great, and power feels very similar to my UEL setup on 93. I was genuinely surprised but the E85 totally makes up for the loss of the UEL!

Yeah I felt that way too when I made the same switch. UEL header 93 octane feels about the same as stock header e85. I'm surprised you got tired of the UEL sound though. I loved it. In my perfect world, I'd pair the JDL header with e85 and pick up a few more ponies in the process.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Yeah I felt that way too when I made the same switch. UEL header 93 octane feels about the same as stock header e85. I'm surprised you got tired of the UEL sound though. I loved it. In my perfect world, I'd pair the JDL header with e85 and pick up a few more ponies in the process.

I tried the OFT E85 map with the JDL UEL, it didn't feel much different at all. My guess is that the header and E85 together buy more knock resistance than the engine can take advantage of. Either that or you need a custom tune to extract more power. My plan is to fit a 2017 OEM header and get a proper flexfuel tune on that.

[Vital]

@Yoshoobaroo Hey, do you know if that dash trim would fit the OEM BRZ radio or does it require modifications for it to fit flush?

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by Vital

@Yoshoobaroo Hey, do you know if that dash trim would fit the OEM BRZ radio or does it require modifications for it to fit flush?

It fits the early radios, not the facelift (except for the Canadian cars)