ryoma's CWP 2015 Subaru BRZ Limited

[ryoma]

just got an alignment today and wow, was my toe completely out of spec haha. I'm surprised that my front camber stayed the same from before the drop, even though the RCE yellows are almost a 1" drop. I thought I would be close to -2 camber up front, but it stayed the same as pre-drop... maybe the springs didn't settle yet.


I was also expecting a little more of a drop... kind of underwhelmed with how it sits. but again, the springs probably haven't settled yet.



and a bling shot:

[ryoma]

replaced my clear TOMS taillights today because they had the melting problem. I decided to go for reds instead so I don't have to deal with it melting again. I really liked the clears though, but they look pretty bad when the light bleeds through the melted hole on top.

[ryoma]

today I installed a backup camera. it was fairly simple, with only routing wiring being pretty time consuming. it took me about 3.5 hours from starting to clean up. in total, I spent about $100 for the camera and wiring harness.

the camera I bought was the Rydeen Duo off eBay for $70 and the Auto Harness House wiring harness for $30. pretty cheap mod that is easy on the wallet and easy to install.

here is the camera with the wiring harness. the construction is solid on it:


I drilled a hole in the trim piece, but turned out it was slightly too forward. oh well, it still works and the camera doesn't stick out at all.


camera mounted:


final picture of it on the car:


head unit screen:


I need to get used to the picture on my head unit lol. it is weird for me to look at the picture and see things orientated the way they are. for example, the camry was parked to my right on the driveway, but I am used to turning my head and seeing it on my left. when I first looked at my head unit, I was confused since I thought the camry was on my left at first, then realized it was actually on my right. kind of hard to describe what I felt, but I was definitely confused for a little bit lol

[ryoma]

I recently went to Francisco (Evil Headlights) to black out my headlights and install the STI-R clear lens. the result was great. I also bought the Osram Xenarc CBI bulbs to replace the OEM bulbs. the OEM bulbs were Osram Xenarc's as well, just not the CBI's. the CBI's are 5500k and look really nice. here are some pictures:

[ryoma]

I recently bought Cusco engine mounts as well as Whiteline rear subframe (KDT922) and differential inserts (KDT925). when I received them, I noticed that the inserts were black instead of yellow. I guess it's just a newer batch that they changed the colors to.
Here are some pictures with the inserts on the car:




After driving for a bit with the engine mounts and inserts, I noticed that there are definitely more vibrations especially at idle and up to around 1.5K RPM. however, once you get going you don't notice the inserts or engine mounts at all. the NVH isn't bad and there is definitely a better feeling I get from the car when under load. I already had the Whiteline transmission mount so with these inserts and engine mounts, I notice that I have a better time driving my car.

[SmartedPanda]

Did you DIY or shop? I want to do this but gotta find shop time.

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by SmartedPanda

Did you DIY or shop? I want to do this but gotta find shop time.

I took it to a shop in Santa Ana called Tashmo and they do great work for a good price. too bad you aren't in SoCal, but you can probably find one near you too. just call around. I probably could have done the install myself to save money, but I would rather pay someone to do it and not have any headaches about it.

[ryoma]

I forgot I had the enkei stickers that came with my RPF1's until I saw some photos of black RPF1's and neon green enkei stickers lol. it actually looked pretty cool and got me thinking about different colors for the stickers. I found a place that sold them in different colors, but it was like $2 per sticker which was pretty expensive. I was torn between doing red or vibrant blue, but in the end I went with the black ones that came with my wheels. love a nice and free mod. I messed up on a few stickers, but it's not really noticeable. I just said screw it and moved on lol
the picture shows the wheel lighter than it really is, I guess due to the crappy phone camera.

[[YOYO]]

Very clean build. How do you like the MXP exhaust? Originally I was really set on one, but one thing lead to another and I ended up with an HKS Legamax instead. I'm happy with my decision, but I still really dig the MXP. It's just so well made, with perfect welds and all.

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by [YOYO]

Very clean build. How do you like the MXP exhaust? Originally I was really set on one, but one thing lead to another and I ended up with an HKS Legamax instead. I'm happy with my decision, but I still really dig the MXP. It's just so well made, with perfect welds and all.

it is a nice sounding cat back. although it is a bit on the heavy side, and maybe the tips are a little too large for my taste, but it sounds really nice without being overly loud or raspy. now I have an UEL header and overpipe waiting for installation soon and hopefully it's not overly loud with the MXP. if it is, I'm probably going to go back to the stock cat back but I definitely want those rumbles from the UEL lol

[[YOYO]]

Originally Posted by ryoma

it is a nice sounding cat back. although it is a bit on the heavy side, and maybe the tips are a little too large for my taste, but it sounds really nice without being overly loud or raspy. now I have an UEL header and overpipe waiting for installation soon and hopefully it's not overly loud with the MXP. if it is, I'm probably going to go back to the stock cat back but I definitely want those rumbles from the UEL lol

You never know, it might not be too loud. I plan on most likely going the UEL route, hopefully this summer. I had a header setup on my last car, and it's just not the same on this car without one.

In terms of tip size on the MXP, if I may make a suggestion. One of the reasons why I was looking at the MXP or the HKS (which has very large tips as well) is because I wanted to mate it with an OE style diffuser. I find that my HKS just fits so well with it. Essentially, the diffuser just builds a nice, clean, and equal frame around the exhaust tips. Here's what I mean -



Like I said, just a suggestion. I've been over large exhaust tips for a while now, but I just thinks that they can look good in the right application. Anyway, keep up the awesome work. Car looks super

[ryoma]

I installed the Gruppe-S UEL headers and overpipe today and wow, it sounds great. at idle, I can barely hear the car but man, the rumbles it gives the higher up the rev range you go... it's great. downshifts also sound extremely nice. I am running an OFT stage 2 tune with the headers. the install went pretty easy aside from having to deal with the pain in the ass stock overpipe. I took off the heat shields on the stock overpipe and it slid out fine after that. probably took me about 4 hours total but I was working on and off on it and had an extra set of hands to help me.

here are some pictures:





a funny moment I had was when I was about to install the heat shield and was reading through the instructions in one hand and had the shield in the other. as I was skimming through the instructions, I read a line that said it is recommended to wear gloves while applying the heat shield otherwise you might cut yourself on the thin aluminum of the shield. as soon as I read that line, the heat shield was in my other hand and I was about to put it down and instantly gave myself a long cut on my palm lol. what perfect timing.

[ryoma]

I recently got my hands on a used JR NA oil cooler. I was originally going to go with the RacerX one, but can't pass up a good deal when I see one. this was the reason why I removed the Grimspeed intake and the OEM style oil cooler earlier.



fortunately, I did not run into many problems when installing the oil cooler. however, I did need to buy the tools needed like the 27mm wrench and 27mm socket. I used the 27mm wrench on the female AN fittings as well, even though they were a 25mm wrench size. the most pain in the ass was to tighten the 27mm oil bypass. my socket had a slightly too thick of a wall so it was making contact with the sandwich plate. I just used my torque wrench and used one hand to force the socket on the 27mm hex and slowly (I mean VERY slowly) tightened it. it slipped a few times but hopefully I won't have to take it on or off any time soon.

I closely inspected for leaks since I didn't trust myself (lol) but so far there were none after a 10 minute drive. I'm going to keep checking over the next week just to make sure.

also, the oil lines ran pretty close to my stock intake box and I tried to give as much room as possible. hopefully there's nothing wrong with that since the space is extremely limited.



I was considering the Mishimoto and RacerX oil coolers since I wanted something to hard mount on instead of screwing through the plastic undertray. although people say it's no problem, it just feels pretty sketchy to me. I feel more at peace with the oil cooler mounted on a solid object (in this case, the bumper support).

[DHitHim]

Nice build. I still need to install my inserts