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Tristor

Branka: Country Road Specialist ('17 BRZ)

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Howdy All,

You've probably seen my posts on the Facebook group, I also have a build thread over on FT86 Club Forums.  I have a 2017 Subaru BRZ in Crystal White Pearl purchased new off the lot in December 2017 that I've been building for the purpose of driving on track and on the back country roads here in South Texas.  There's some fantastic twisty roads here in Texas once you get a few hours outside of the city that deserve a properly built sports coupe.  I'm also lucky that South Texas is home to multiple well maintained road tracks, including Circuit of the Americas.  Typical country roads here are 2-lane state or county highways with 70mph speed limits and 25-30mph caution speed rated corners, great fun for hooning.

My upgrade plan is intended to keep the car looking as stock as possible externally as limited by required modification for aerodynamics and weight reduction.  I'd like it to be a bit of a sleeper, even after we get the power adders.  There will be no stickers or stupid huge vinyl banners on this car :)

Current Mods Installed:

  • Cusco Front Strut Bar w/ Master Cylinder Brace
  • Cusco Rear Strut Bar
  • K&N air filter
  • Modified Stock Airbox Snorkel
  • Perrin Inlet Tube
  • Shrader Performance Rear Seat Delete ( -27lbs )
  • Stripped Rear Interior and Trunk ( -43.6lbs )
  • Perrin Wing Riser Kit
  • AP Racing Sprint BBK  in front ( -20lbs unsprung), OEM rear brakes
  • CSG Spec C2 (Front) / CSG Spec C1 (Rear) brake pads (track usage)
  • Carbotech 1521 brake pads (street)
  • Spiegler stainless steel brake lines
  • Hard Brakes Titanium Brake Heat Shields
  • Volk Racing ZE40 Time Attack Edition (18x8.5ET44) ( -11lbs unsprung )
  • Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R 225/40R18 ( +11.9lbs unsprung )
  • CSG Spec Racing Lug Nuts
  • Jackson Racing Dual Radiator and Oil Cooler
  • CSF Aluminum Radiator Filler Neck
  • Samco Radiator Hoses
  • APR Carbon Fiber Cooling Plate
  • Stark Performance Automatic Transmission Cooler
  • Fumoto Quick Engine Oil Drain Valve
  • PTuning Lightweight Battery Tray and Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 Battery ( -27.2lbs )
  • PTuning Windshield Washer Reservoir Relocation Kit (-6.3lbs)
  • TRD Door Stabilizers
  • Whiteline KCA434 and W0509 Front LCA Bushings (+0.5 degree caster)
  • Whiteline KSR210 Steering Rack Bushings
  • Whiteline KDT925 Differential Cradle Bushing Inserts
  • Whiteline W63414 Trailing Arm Bushings
  • Whiteline KDT922 Rear Subframe Bushing Inserts
  • Verus Engineering Side Marker Replacement
  • AIM Solo 2 DL w/ Mount
  • SPL Parts Titanium Series Rear LCA
  • SPL Parts Titanium Series Rear Toe Arms w/ Eccentric Lockout
  • RCE Tarmac 2 coilovers w/ 400/400 springs
  • Vorshlag High Caster Camber Plates (Front)
  • Vorshlag Spherical Shock Mounts (Rear)
  • Motorsport Tech wheel spacers (various sizes depending on alignment specs)
  • STI JDM Engine Mounts
  • STI JDM Transmission Mount
  • Torque Solutions Driveshaft Center Bearing Solid Bushings

Fluids and Filters:

  • AMSOil Signature Series 0W-20 motor oil
  • AMSOil Absolute Efficiency Oil Filter (EA15K20)
  • AMSOil Signature Series coolant
  • AMSOil Severe Gear 75W90 Gear Oil (in diff)
  • Redline D6 ATF
  • Castrol SRF Brake Fluid

Parts Waiting to be Installed:

  • APEX ARC-8 17x9 +42 BRZ-spec wheels
  • STI JDM Fog Light Bezels w/o Fog Light Holes

Planned Upgrades for later:

Suspension:

  • SPL Parts Titanium Series Rear Trailing Arms
  • RCE hollow sway bar set (front/rear) w/ SPL Parts adjustable endlinks

Exhaust/NA Power:

  • CSG-Spec ACE A-350 w/ double ceramic coating
  • JDL Ultra Quiet Front Pipe
  • CSG x MXP Touring86 Cat-Back
  • Delicious Tuning Flex Fuel Kit Mk1+
  • EcuTek-based tune for 93 AKI and Flex Fuel

 

Here's a few pictures from the last few months:

 

tristor_brz_resized.jpg.40f62f1c8467625773b5998f5fd5b74f.jpg

 

brz_twisted_sisters.jpg.c441eba2c0825564d54d4fc79203e084.jpg

 

branka_with_rays.jpg.3e75df3715a74e5b2030a019ef1f418d.jpg

rays_ze40_apracing_sprint_michelin_ps4s.thumb.jpg.3bc503af4bcbe903b4a6f7414cabefa1.jpg

 

She_is_a_smoke_show.jpg.a2dce91154c0fc90f7ec230e6a1273da.jpg

just_needs_wheels.jpg.68d6ec15effc0a5576978dc8e17fad97.jpg

 

And a video of my best lap during my last track day (I had extended work travel and needed cooling mods to get back on track, next one is already scheduled for the 18th of August):

 

Thanks for welcoming this Yank into your UK-focused group.  Cheers

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Welcome aboard. I can see you've been busy with modifying. :) Interesting on the BBK , as I run a similar setup with the same calipers, but run 330mm discs which still fit under my 17's. Your discs look like they are stock sizes. Those pads seem noisy! I also run DS2500's, though mine are pretty quiet. 

Any plans for an exhaust or exhaust manifold? The manifold reaps the biggest gains along with a remap. Also I'm guessing suspension is on the list, that makes a big difference also. 

Also you could shorten the final drive on the auto to bring it closer to the manual which will aid acceleration. 

 

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1 hour ago, Lauren said:

Welcome aboard. I can see you've been busy with modifying. :) Interesting on the BBK , as I run a similar setup with the same calipers, but run 330mm discs which still fit under my 17's. Your discs look like they are stock sizes. Those pads seem noisy! I also run DS2500's, though mine are pretty quiet. 

Any plans for an exhaust or exhaust manifold? The manifold reaps the biggest gains along with a remap. Also I'm guessing suspension is on the list, that makes a big difference also. 

Also you could shorten the final drive on the auto to bring it closer to the manual which will aid acceleration. 

 

Howdy Lauren,

Yep I've been keeping an eye on your build as well.  I'm going to do two more track days with instruction and then see where the next step is.  My goal right now is primarily to focus on things that allow for weight reduction, but a little extra power wouldn't hurt, so I'm thinking a full exhaust and tune might be a next step.  That should let me cut some weight, get 20-30hp in gains, and why not.

For the suspension I'm still split and haven't yet made a decision, there's three different coilover systems I'm considering and I currently have some active correspondence to try to understand what is the right choice for my use case.  Right now is seems very likely I'll end up with RCE Tarmac 2s, which are improved KW Clubsports.  In either case, when I do the suspension I'm going to replace all components in the suspension at once with lightweight components that enable full adjustability.  Then have my alignment tuned at my local performance alignment shop. I'll of course also add the appropriate bushings and bracing to stiffen things up on the chassis otherwise.

I hadn't yet considered modifying the final drive, but that's a good idea.  I haven't touched the diff yet, but depending on how temps play out over the next couple of months I may be adding an oversized diff cover to allow it to hold more fluid and cool itself better, in the process it wouldn't be too terrible to swap the FD gear.  Not sure I want to take that on yet though.

Meanwhile, I'm doing as much driver mod as I can.  I've lost 28 pounds (2 stone), and I've been to multiple tracks and sought instruction at each now.

It's pretty likely suspension will be next up on my list, but I may go ahead and do the exhaust (or hell, both at the same time).  In either case there probably won't be any more part mods until into next year when I get my next tax refund :)

 

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19 minutes ago, Andrew Smith said:

loving the attention to weight saving, what did you have in the boot that was 43.6lbs?

Yep, I figured at the end of the day it's all about power to weight ratio and reducing unsprung mass as much as possible.

The rear seat bases weight 6.2 pounds each, the 1-piece rear seat back weighs 15.0 pounds, the rear plastic panels weigh 3.0 pounds each, each rear floor mat weighs 0.4 pounds, the c pillar covers weigh 0.5 pounds each, all of the hardware for the rear seats and seatbelts together weighs 11.25 pounds.  The Shrader Performance Rear Seat Delete weighs a shade over 19 pounds when installed (most is the center steel bracket), so I figure around 27 pounds cut by doing the rear seat delete.  In reality it's more because when I go on track I take out the rear panel and both seat well covers, but just cruising down the street it helps NVH especially since my trunk is bare.

The carpeted trunk liner weighs 2.4 pounds, and I also had the all-weather rubber mat over it which weighed 3.8 pounds.  Underneath is the spare tire, spare tire mounting hardware, and two foam inserts which hold tools.  The spare tire with its foam liner and hardware weighs 25.8 pounds, the tools and foam together weigh 5.8 pounds.  The plastic trim together in the trunk weighs around 5.9 pounds, which comes up with the rest.

This photo showed what my trunk looked like during my initial stripping to install the rear seat delete and rear strut bar.  I don't have a better photo right now, but basically it's the same except that you can't see into the cabin because the rear seat delete has a carpeted chloroplast panel that goes where the seat back would have gone and clips into the rear deck and there's a rear strut bar installed.  I also put the plastic lip and trunk latch hardware back into place, which is why it's not counted in my weight reduction figures.  Obviously I need to be able to close my trunk :)  I zip-tied the inside trunk button thing onto a convenient hole in the sheet metal so it wouldn't flop around.

stripped_rear_interior_brz.jpg.9477545a1600bd77966ac36c45e4cd21.jpg

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Welcome! Your white BRZ looks just like mine - same model year. I love your attention to detail, too. Nice work so far.

My sister lives west of Houston (Richmond) and I know those back roads a little, especially the drive to Brazos Bend State Park to see the alligators. Unfortunately, it's always been in rentals. Oh well!

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Here's some old photos.

IMG_4386.thumb.jpeg.28e62fb3b993b95d8176b5f208aeb04e.jpeg

Originally with the rear seat delete installed I had reinstalled the side panels and C pillar covers, but I got tired of taking them back out and just left them out.  Most of the NVH in the car comes from underneath anyway.

IMG_4506.jpg.061d6f3bdabfc6efe44e676c1b6e2633.jpg

Here you can see I carefully put everything back into the trunk when installing the strut bar and cut the carpeted mat to fit snugly.

IMG_4508.jpg.687d42bc4b9abb3bb2169ec086ca0940.jpg

 

Anyway, same story.  I got tired of taking it all out to go to the track.  Very specifically because of how I cut the carpeted mat it requires me to unbolt the rear strut bar to completely remove the carpeted mat and with the strut bar bases in place, it is difficult to remove the side plastic trim.  In the end I got lazy and just left it out to keep the weight reduction all the time.

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Welcome @Tristor, looks like you've got a really good setup there.

7 hours ago, Lauren said:

Interesting on the BBK , as I run a similar setup with the same calipers, but run 330mm discs which still fit under my 17's. Your discs look like they are stock sizes. 

Lauren, the AP Sprint kit that Tristor is running a completely different type of caliper to ours. 

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6 hours ago, nerdstrike said:

It sounds like you need to drop 40 lbs from the front of the car too! I'm not sure where that would come from though... steering wheel... gear knob... windscreen...

I've added some weight in the front actually, because I'm running a half-quart more oil and an oil cooler.  Probably going to end up adding some more as well.  I'm planning to compensate for weight balance (as well as get some more space for future brake ducting) by replacing the windshield washer reservoir with a smaller one, getting a lighter weight battery, and doing a few other things.  The stock reservoir when filled to the top fill line is 15 pounds!!!  I'm looking at the PTuning windshield washer reservoir relocation kit, which should cut around 10 pounds of fluid weight as well as losing another 20 pounds by switching to a Braille lightweight battery and battery tray.  As you'll note they're in my list of planned changes this year still.  I'm hoping adding hood louvers will help with cooling and also provide a slight amount of front-end downforce as well to help compensate.

More major changes for the front are a bit more difficult, since this is where a lot of the structure required for crash protection on the street is.  If I were to go full racecar though I'd be redoing the entire front structure which would be able to cut quite a bit of weight, but I'd also need to fully cage out the car including building a sub-cage for the engine bay if I did that.  We're not quite there yet.  I could move the lightweight battery to the trunk though which would also help with balance.

While not as far into the front, I am planning on removing the stock seats and seat airbags, jumpering them out, and installing a harness bar and two lightweight (carbon kevlar) race buckets with harnesses.  I may get a custom half-cage fabbed for me locally instead of the harness bar.  I'm still evaluating my options because I want to keep the car street legal and safe for highway use, which in Texas means that I cannot wear a helmet while driving on public roads while in an enclosed space.  If I can't wear a helmet, that means I'm not doing a full cage.  If I'm not doing a full cage that means I need to keep the front and side impact airbags.  If I have to keep the airbags that cuts a lot of options for weight reduction in the front.  Since I don't like the idea of my head looking like a watermelon during a Gallagher show because an illegal immigrant love-taps me on the freeway, caging the car out and not wearing a helmet to drive on the street is a complete non-option.  Unfortunately that's a South Texas reality.  So, the only way I cage it out is if I go track-only and buy another car for use on the street.

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Welcome to the club! Saw your thread on US forum . Your mods coming along nicely.

I have a 2017 auto GT86, since last June, interesting to compare mods.

I would probably say most notable difference for me was NA tune (change in manifold, thats header for you, right?, and remap) - torque dip is gone, more fun on track as well.

Then tyres (I have Mps4 as you but GramLights rather than Volks), then Bbk (I have on front only).

For track adjustable coilovers (I have Tein Flex As) are nice to have, but I wouldn't think of them as a must, particularly as I understand BRZ suspension in 2017/ 2018 is somewhat stiffer anyway.

FD replacement was highly recommended by quite a few people for auto, mine is currently being done (with few more power mods ), so cant provide personal experience comments yet.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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56 minutes ago, MartinT said:

A Seibon carbon fibre vented bonnet (hood) gave me a useful weight saving on my previous car as well as much needed cooling for the supercharger.

Most carbon bonnets on the 86 are heavier as the oem aluminium bonnet is very light 

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26 minutes ago, MartinT said:

Ah, fair enough, I hadn't realised that.

Yep, unfortunately this is the case.  That's why I'm planning to cut the factory hood to install vents instead.  Not only is it cheaper, I think it looks better too.  I can get something good in carbon fiber that weighs less than factory, but for quite a lot more money than Seibon.  I may do it eventually, but it's not going to be for a long while, just not a priority.  I think if I get top-quality US fabricated carbon fiber components it'd only cut 30 pounds total off the car (that's replacing the roof, hood, and trunk) and would cost me close to $4000 before installation (which is complicated for the roof).  I'd rather invest that money in other areas on the car right now.  As an example for around the same money I could put in top-grade carbon fiber racing seats which cuts almost 70 pounds of weight on the car ( stock driver + passenger is 82.8 pounds, 2x T2s is 13 pounds installed ).

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No video because I'm a knucklehead and forgot to enable video in Harry's LapTimer.  But I had a successful day at the track on Saturday and managed to cut 4 seconds off my previous best lap time going from a 1:43.86 (as shown in prior video) to a 1:39.88.  I was consistently holding around a 1:40 all day.  I'm thinking my tires have maybe one more track day in them and they're shot... incidentally I just found out about a company trying to liquidate a stock of King-Meiler Tyre Extreme VR2NKs, and they have the R7 compound in 225/40R18.  I'd like to get R compound tires a try, although I'm not certain I want to try this cheapo brand.

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Quick update here, I installed the PTuning lightweight battery tray and a Shorai LFX36L3-BS12 4.8lb battery today.  Looks like I'm still not going to be able to make it to the track this weekend, but I am eager to get some more seat time in and also to wear out this set of tires so I can get some AD08Rs or some other 200tw tire.

The lightweight battery setup cut about 27lbs off the front and should help offset the extra weight from the engine oil cooler and transmission fluid cooler I installed.  I've also got a windshield washer reservoir to install which will help cut weight and make space for brake ducts in the future.  I've updated the first post in this thread and here's some photos.

 

lightweight_battery_closeup.jpg

lightweight_battery_installed.jpg

lightweight_battery_parts.jpg

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On 7/31/2018 at 12:27 AM, Lauren said:

Welcome aboard. I can see you've been busy with modifying. :) Interesting on the BBK , as I run a similar setup with the same calipers, but run 330mm discs which still fit under my 17's. Your discs look like they are stock sizes. Those pads seem noisy! I also run DS2500's, though mine are pretty quiet. 

Any plans for an exhaust or exhaust manifold? The manifold reaps the biggest gains along with a remap. Also I'm guessing suspension is on the list, that makes a big difference also. 

Also you could shorten the final drive on the auto to bring it closer to the manual which will aid acceleration. 

 

I finally worked out what I'm doing with suspension, and I updated the first post with my plans for next year.  Next up will be suspension and exhaust.  I've consulted with several suspension experts and that's how I arrived at what I'm getting.  SPL Parts is based in Austin just an hour or so away from me, and there's a top grade race shop in Austin down the road from them that I'll like have do my suspension install, alignment, and corner balancing.  For the exhaust and flexfuel setup I'll do it all myself.

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That's cool, I run SPL rear lower arms, they are billet aluminium though, not titanium. Is that what you meant? The adjuster bar is titanium that goes to the rose joint. They are a lovely bit of kit and that's a lot of money to put change all the suspension parts for SPL items. 

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On 9/22/2018 at 3:09 AM, Lauren said:

That's cool, I run SPL rear lower arms, they are billet aluminium though, not titanium. Is that what you meant? The adjuster bar is titanium that goes to the rose joint. They are a lovely bit of kit and that's a lot of money to put change all the suspension parts for SPL items. 

They just refer to them as "Titanium Series" so I do as well.  I understand that they're just aluminum with titanium hardware.  They are definitely pricey, but I consider it worth it to have strong local support.  If at all possible I always buy as local to me as I can.  If I encounter any issues I can literally take my car directly to them to have a look, I can actually have SPL do the suspension install as well, although there is a race shop that's a partner of theirs called Winding Road Racing in Austin I'll likely have do the install.

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Well,

I had a blast this last weekend with a run around Twisted Sisters.  I was with a mix of other cars, most of which had coilovers, but without even pushing it was able to maintain a comfortable lead.  Even on stock suspension and sport tires, the BRZ is a very capable car in the twisties that puts nearly everything else out there to shame.  Texas is experiencing a butterfly and moth migration currently, so I did my part to protect plants from the coming caterpillar problems.

Texas Butterfly Massacre:

5xXYxuh.jpg

 

All Clean!:

qmBLmSZ.jpg

 

XgF8hXz.jpg

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For those that haven't seen my updated over on the US forum, I went on track yesterday.  Here's the same update.

 

Well my track day yesterday was pretty successful. I also have one scheduled for next Sunday as well. It'd been over a month since the last time I'd been on track and since then they'd repaved part of it and the course had very slightly changed. On my 2nd lap of my very first session I lost my balls exiting turn 2 where they'd started repaving because I thought I was going to overshoot track out and I did the worst thing possible and lifted resulting in a spin and me going off-track. Good news is that I didn't hit anything and my car was fine and I was able to continue the remaining sessions of the day.

My first spin and off-track incident and it took me this long, so I was a bit embarrassed since I thought I was already past that and I'm always very smooth and careful with my steering. If I'd kept in the accelerator I would have made the turn. That turn continued to plague me for the entire first session, resulting in my average time on my first session being a full 3 seconds slower than my average time from my last time on track. I was able to get it together in my second session and return to an average time that matched my previous average, but for the whole day that was the best I ended up doing.

I'm hoping that having two track days only a week apart will help me to retain my feel of the rhythm of the track better and I can eek out at least another second off my average lap time next Sunday.

Also, Harry's Lap Timer failed to record video again, however this time I /explicitly/ know I enabled it. I'm not sure what happened. I do have video from my dash cam this time around since I had hardwired it to get rid of loose power connection that was an issue last time I was on track. I'm still trying to figure out how to get things working in Dashware to output a video with overlay. Once I do I'll embed one here from YouTube of me doing a spin.

The tire pyrometer was very helpful, I found out I was overpressure for the optimal point on my tires by around 1-1.5 psi depending on the tire. I waited 3 hours after my last session to let the tires cool and took a cold pressure reading and noted it, so I can start from the same cold pressures next Sunday and then use the pyrometer to adjust. I'm hoping that'll get me closer to optimal to start off with. I also still have tread left on these, so I'll be going one more track day on these Michelin's but I will say they had several moments yesterday where my braking distances didn't feel right and I think they're underperforming how they were in the beginning by quite a lot, especially on braking. I'm looking forward to getting the AD08Rs on and then taking it back to the track to see if I can pick up a second or so off grippier tires.

 

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You should post a YouTube link .

I had the same issue with HLT recently as well. What I found helps is to link the GoPro via its app to the phone (you can also check and adjust settings easy this way), and only then link it via HLT before starting the session.

Also found that HLT looses connection with GarminGLO (10HZ GPS) frequently.

I recently started using Race Chrono Pro, IMO its more user friendly than HLT and also easier to analyse and compare laps as you can see track map with speeds and acceleration/ braking zones (colour coded as well).



Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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That's a pretty stiff setup, 7kg front and rear springs plus anti roll bars. I don't think anyone here is running such a hard setup for a dual use car.

I found my set of PS4's great on track but the grip fell off massively with 4.5mm+ tread still remaining. Still fine for road use though.

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