serialk11r's FR-S

[serialk11r]

Hello everyone!

After 4.5 years on this forum, and 3 years in an MR2 Spyder, I somehow found myself in one of these cars. My MR2 blew its crappy 1ZZ engine and I decided I wanted something newer that wouldn't need replacement parts left and right, which could hold groceries without taking 10 minutes to neatly tuck them into tiny little cubbies.

This car fit the bill, mainly because I don't trust Beamers after reading about the problems, a Cayman has no rear seats, and a 911's rear seats are useless (an older one of course haha, just graduated I don't have 90k :P).

Quick facts: 2013, Argento*, was originally a Colorado car, 28k on the clock. PO added track pipe (I'm adding a muffler to it, it makes me too scared to hit the gas for fear of cops), absurdly dark tint that I can't see out of at night, and red felt over the dash. Paid a Benz dealer 18.5k, I think they screwed up their ads so they were getting worried they couldn't sell it.

First thoughts: I really don't like driving this nearly as much as my MR-S. It's tail-happy, the engine makes unhealthy noises (for the record, my car sounds exactly like the brand new one I drove at the dealer), and the transmission feels clunky (although maybe a fluid change would make things better, it basically just needs less friction sliding into gear). To its credit, the engine's power delivery is pretty smooth and despite having bigger cams and a higher rev limit, it's only equally as pitiful as the 1ZZ under 2000rpm.

Wind noise got a little annoying on the drive home, but at least my ears aren't ringing, which is what always happened in the MR2.

And of course, when I look over my shoulder I'm reminded that real people can fit in the back, and gone are the days of spending 10 minutes cramming groceries into tiny cubbies and frunks not meant for luggage.

One thing I'm going to be experimenting with is blending E85 into the tank to get high octane gas on the cheap. Since I was near an E85 pump (which are rare around here) I went ahead and mixed 5.5 gallons 89 into the tank which had around 3 gallons of presumably 91 left, drove to the E85 pump only pressing very gently on the gas, and added 1.6 gal E85, giving a ~22% ethanol blend. In theory this blend should behave like ~95 octane, and it ran great. I'm going to mix a little 87 in tomorrow and monitor the knock sensor with Torque.

So enough complaining, let's talk mods!

To be done immediately are a muffler and lighter window tint. I have an appointment next week to get 3M Crystalline on the windshield, going to decide what goes on the side windows when I get there. Probably the lightest tinted ceramic I can find. I think I'm going to have an exhaust shop weld a Magnaflow into the track pipe, this car needs a little more volume for my MR2-damaged ears.

Noise tube will need to go, and a catch can will be going on.

I'm 99% sure I want this thing plastidipped in matte clear for the satin metallic look. That's what boring colors like gray and silver are for right?

I'll be getting an OFT and spending some time attempting to tune it myself. Not going to stray much from stock since I'm not stupid.

All the incandescent bulbs are going to be discarded except the high beams, they simply look awful. Ordering LEDs right now. Rear lights will be replaced by Valenti ones.

Later down the road are suspension, front brakes, lithium ion battery, gonna take it to the track at least once.

Stay tuned!

[hmong337]

Certainly looks better than the mr-s lol. Congrats on the purchase. I love mine.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by hmong337

Certainly looks better than the mr-s lol. Congrats on the purchase. I love mine.

Hahahhaha you're totally correct, I forgot to say that. Walking up to the MR-S, if I approached it at the wrong angle I would think "god that is ugly". This car looks pretty hot from every angle except directly from the rear. That will change when I put Valenti lights on.

[serialk11r]

Okay, just removed the noise tube, but I can't get a good photo at night time so whatever. Used a 1.5" rubber cap from Lowes, but it seems a little sketchy since the intake pipe is also rubber and it's very easy to pop the cap off...but it seems to work for many people so whatever. I think the engine sounds a lot better now that there's no strange raspy sound coming through the tube.

Had the worst experience trying to remove the tint though. I tried using a steamer, which left tons of glue on the glass, so I switched to a blowdryer, which didn't do any better, so I decided to pull the film off and remove the glue afterwards.

That glue is a b**** to remove! I first tried putting alcohol on paper towel and rubbing it off, but there was so much that it would gum up. Then I tried window cleaner, which was only good for dissolving a small amount at a time. Then I bought Goof Off and tried that, and from the sheer quantity of glue that was gumming together I realized I should probably try scraping it first.

I didn't have a proper razor so I broke 2 segments off a utility knife and scraped with that. After like half an hour of diligent scraping I managed to get most of both windows clean. Then I went to clean up the residue with Goof Off and went through another pile of towels. I probably got brain damage from all the fumes, and there's still a little left at the bottom and front edge of the windows...:mad0602: I hope the people in the tint shop won't charge me too much to scrape the little bit that's left off, because I'm done with this BS.

On another note, I went to the Toyota dealer today to see if they could get rid of the weird rattle. I scheduled an appointment to get it checked out, then it suddenly dawned on me that it might be coming from the seat. Sure enough, the passenger seat adjustment bar thingy at the bottom made the exact same rattle when I gave it a flick. Whatever the mechanism down there is, it didn't have enough friction on the passenger seat to hold the bar steady. I pulled it a few times and moved the seat around, and the sound went away temporarily, but I'm sure it'll be back.

Then I discovered the source of the rattle coming from the door: the freaking window switches. The window switch assembly wiggles in its socket! I'll take care of that when I go to get the windows tinted next week, since they'll have the doors off.

Just bought a Magnaflow SS Universal muffler, which supposedly flows pretty well and quiets things down considerably. On a Mustang some magazine found a 6dB reduction from a straight pipe, which sounds pretty good. LEDs and some other goodies when I get back from Vegas. Stupid Citibank is taking forever to ship my new credit card.

[D.Scrye]

You may want to introduce a resonated frontpipe into the equation. It makes a huge difference with regards to drone at highway speeds, and entirely killed the noise from engine braking and the like.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by D.Scrye

You may want to introduce a resonated frontpipe into the equation. It makes a huge difference with regards to drone at highway speeds, and entirely killed the noise from engine braking and the like.

Resonated frontpipe? Is that ahead of the cat? I don't anticipate it'll be necessary, even with the track pipe freeway is very tolerable. My MR2 was much much worse than this on the freeway lol. Currently it's a little too loud for my own ears under acceleration but I'm more concerned about pissing people off and attracting cops. The Magnaflow seems like it should do the job nicely.

[serialk11r]

Yesterday I went to Walmart and got some Meguiar's PlastX. I was skeptical that it would work but 6 bucks, whatever. Tried it on a piece of old plexiglas I had sitting around for years, and my jaw dropped to the floor. I used a dirty cloth and it cleaned the surface up in 2 seconds. This stuff is the s***. Went ahead and rubbed it into my gauge cluster, now it's perfectly shiny.

Got an OFT from a member here, pretty stoked to get it in the mail.

Got some razor blades and was finally able to get the glue from the old tint off. Should've gotten the razor blades first lol. 3M Crystalline film going in tomorrow morning at Quality Auto Glass and Tint.

My Magnaflow universal muffler came in the mail, it's getting welded in by Pat at World Mufflers tomorrow. Can't wait to use higher rpms without fear of getting the cops called on me

As preventative maintenance and hopefully get a smoother transmission feel (the synchros are fine but I don't like how it takes some force to slide into gear), I'm putting Redline MTL in the tranny and Motul 300 in the diff on Thursday at Garage One Subaru Service.

[NyC Zn6]

wait you said that is a silver ignition color? your headlights look like a standard frs. could just be the angle.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by NyC Zn6

wait you said that is a silver ignition color? your headlights look like a standard frs. could just be the angle.

The dealer wrote silver ignition in the posting, but it is indeed a standard FR-S. I didn't check the door jam because I believed them? Now I'm discovering only 10 series have them LOL. Woops, time to edit.

Muffler and 3M Crystalline went on today. Today was rainy so the 3M film's effectiveness couldn't be tested.

The Magnaflow muffler was welded in today and it has a very nice tone, but it's a little too quiet! :/ Well, at least now I have a very civilized car, and Magnaflow mufflers are supposed to flow well. Knowing that it's so quiet, I'm not scared to rev the s*** out of the engine anymore, which is great.



As you can see, it's nothing special, the Nameless track pipe was cut off at the hanger, some tubing was bent and welded on, Magnaflow went on, and then another piece of tubing bent. This setup added probably around 11 lbs over the track pipe, the muffler itself was 9lbs including box.



I'm in the process of polishing the tip right now, but this is a pretty tough sanding job to do by hand. I spent a good 30 minutes sanding it down and went through the few scraps of low grit sandpaper I had left. It looks shiny here but it's pretty ugly in daylight, I will get some more and continue tomorrow. I think it'll look pretty good with some shine to it.

I'm also going to try to get a cover for the hole on the other side done tomorrow. If I still think it looks awkward after the hole cover, I'm going to get an aluminum plate and make a diffuser to hide the tubing.

[serialk11r]

Today's update:

Redline MTL in tranny, Motul 300 in diff. Here's the car on the lift at the shop:


Shifting is way smoother with the fresh fluid, but 5th/6th are still kind of notchy and the gear chatter is still annoying, but the shop owner said his BRZ does the same thing so :/

Project nerf-that-rattle has officially started:

The driver's side latch on the rear seat has a little bit of rattle, I put these vinyl stick-on door bumps onto the plastic trim clips to give the rear seats some pressure against the latches. If I wiggle the seat it still rattles, so I added electrical tape to the latch. I may need to switch that out for aluminum tape.


Door switches rattle like crazy, but I'll use some foam tape on them when I get my side windows retinted. BTW 3M Crystalline 70 is amazing stuff, but I'm thinking Llumar Air 80 on the side windows to save a little money because most of the heat comes through the windshield anyways.

Passenger seat rail latch sliding adjuster thingy fix:

Cut a piece off one of the PVC stick on bumpers to make it thinner:


Somehow managed to stick it onto the metal tab that blocks the rail (the passenger side adjustment handle has a second bar that's actuated when the seat back is all the way forward, but they chose the same springs to hold the heavier bar up so it rattles):


My hands are pretty big so it was a very very tight fit under the seat lol.

Another thing I picked up today was a 1.25" PVC plug for the soundtube. I had been using a 1.5" rubber cap like one of the tutorials described but I don't feel good about putting a soft rubber cap over a rubber tube! The plug goes in too tight so I sanded it a little and painted it black to match:
Fitting painted black:


Installed:


Finally progress report on the tailpipe sanding, as you can see there's still some places where it's pitted that I haven't sanded the rest down to yet :/ I need to pick up more low grit sandpaper.


Next installment will be exhaust hole cover, followed by OFT tweaking and LED installs next week (just bought replacements for every single incandescent bulb on the car minus the high beams ).

[serialk11r]

All the rattles from the seats have been successfully nerfed!

Today I tried to make the exhaust hole cover, and I discovered I am horrible at spray painting, because I sprayed way too much every time I tried.

Anyways:



Then I scraped the ugly bubbly paint off, masked off my car, and redid the paint, it's still drying.

In the meantime, I did several hours more sanding at the exhaust pipe and I'm happy to say I give up at this:

[Sammakko]

ex MR2 owner myself.. I can't complain about the 1ZZ. it loved being on boost too.

[Sammakko]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

One thing I'm going to be experimenting with is blending E85 into the tank to get high octane gas on the cheap. Since I was near an E85 pump (which are rare around here) I went ahead and mixed 5.5 gallons 89 into the tank which had around 3 gallons of presumably 91 left, drove to the E85 pump only pressing very gently on the gas, and added 1.6 gal E85, giving a ~22% ethanol blend.

how are you compensating for the higher levels of ethanol, which requires more fuel/air to be stoichiometric?

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Sammakko

how are you compensating for the higher levels of ethanol, which requires more fuel/air to be stoichiometric?

I'm not, 15% more ethanol is only ~5% more fuel and 10% more ethanol is only 3% more fuel, which is well within the ability of the ECU to compensate. The long term fuel trims are ~5% or so. Plenty of people in the Midwest run E20 and E25 blends afaik. Maybe it's placebo effect but I feel like the engine runs much smoother and makes more power on this new high-octane blend. Right now I have a mix of 91 and 89 in the tank plus 2 gallons of E85 for about 25% ethanol, I'm going to mix some more pump gas in because this blend is probably completely overkill at ~96 AKI according to the papers I read.

The thing I like about the 1ZZ now that I have one of these is that the mechanical noises from that engine just sounded much smoother, minus some lifter noise (because they needed adjustment). Even the gear noise was a pretty cool soft whining sound. The FA20 is more powerful, much more responsive, and more fuel efficient, but it sounds awful, like a tractor engine powering a blender full of marbles.