Stubaru BRZ

[Stutopia 158]

Thanks to @Dessss moving on to Germaner things, a lovely TD UEL manifold and overpipe popped up for sale on here. Before you could say M6 to Stoke and back, it was sitting in my boot. Now, I know many of you will think that I've finally cracked and succumbed to the frivolous world of modding for noise or performance reasons. Straying from my golden rule of only doing quality maintenance - and you could be forgiven for thinking that way. However, as it turns out, when it came to the swap over, one of the nuts one my factory overpipe was looser than it should have been. Needless to say I think I've been completely vindicated in my Columbo style hunch of choosing to do this piece of maintenance prior to that fateful nut working itself off completely and causing untold damage.

Gorgeous piece of kit this from TD, working it's way miraculously through the guts and fitting very snuggly indeed into the belly of my blue beast.

 

Whilst she was in with the excellent tech's at Grinspeed in Leyland (I can't recommend Stevie and Don enough to anyone in the NW). I treated her to new fluids all around (nicely smoothing things off in the gearbox) and decided this was a time to do the plugs too. It is a little early for plugs for my BRZ but as there were bits coming off in the vicinity, and it never hurts to have new plugs, it felt right. I'd read these were a bit of a job and the workshop manual suggestion to essentially whip the engine out more or less confirmed it, however, that all went away when they got to work and had them done and dusted in no time. Result.

Naturally you'll be aware it's not ideal to change the exhaust flow and run a touch lean. So, after a chat with @Mike@TD.co.uk old bluey was on the TD dyno for a leg stretch.

 

I've kept the 2nd cat in a desperate effort to maintain an easy MOT life, so don't be surprised to see me a little down on other charts you may have perused. I'm very pleased with the dyno work, the sharpening up of the throttle response alone is super, not to mention the fuller Subaru sound and a splash more torque when crunching motorway miles in 6th. I've not yet had a chance to take her for a spirited B road drive or try out the launch control, flat foot shifting or the auto-blip, but they're more for a splash of fun, it's all about the improved drivability and noise for me. 

Anyone thinking of going to see Mike at Tuning Developments, this was my first trip and I was very pleased with the service. It can be a bit dull sitting around waiting to get your car back, but it was great to have a chat with Mike and get some first hand info on the products and services they offer. I know it's been said on here before, but I add my voice to those who have already recommended checking them out if you're considering tuning work. It's a great place to go and spend your hard earned with a genuine fellow enthusiast.

That's it for me now, my insurance premium has taken a preposterous leap in response to these recent mods updates and I really dislike handing money over to them.

[Chappers 18]

That looks great, have you got any videos of what it sounds like now?

[spikyone 139]

How much is a "preposterous leap", if you don't mind me asking?  And who are you insured with?  I'm off to see Mike in a couple of weeks and wondering how much mine will go up, though it's currently not too expensive for a stock car (~£320 IIRC).

[Varelco 211]

I love this thread. Simply because resistance is futile

"I'm not going to modify this car"

 

....Yeah

 

...He'll have a supercharger on it before the years out.

[Stutopia 158]

1 hour ago, Varelco said:

I love this thread. Simply because resistance is futile

"I'm not going to modify this car"

....Yeah

...He'll have a supercharger on it before the years out.

What mods? What are you talking about? This is pure maintenance bro.

[Stutopia 158]

3 hours ago, spikyone said:

How much is a "preposterous leap", if you don't mind me asking?  And who are you insured with?  I'm off to see Mike in a couple of weeks and wondering how much mine will go up, though it's currently not too expensive for a stock car (~£320 IIRC).

My insurer (advantage) simply refused these mods, so we fell out. After ringing around to find someone who doesn't consider a circa 2.5% bump in BHP enough reason to consider me an existential threat to humanity (Marker Study), I ended up with a £400ish bump. This is obviously my fault, I was so used to previous mods being "bolt on, pay an extra £50" that I didn't do enough research. I won't make the mistake again.

Makes you wonder why people don't bother telling their insurers about mods.

[Stutopia 158]

4 hours ago, Chappers said:

That looks great, have you got any videos of what it sounds like now?

Not the best from my phone, but it gives you an idea.

 

 

[Stutopia 158]

You may well have seen this before if you've been on the hunt for a bike rack solution, but in case you haven't, here you go.

 

This project has been on my to do list for a while now, but it was delayed by a joke of a company messing me around for weeks on the fabrication side. Anyway, here we go. I don't like generic boot racks with their straps and clips rubbing on paint and flapping about all over the place and there isn't a roof rack option I like - I just don't trust the massive sucker ones on the flimsy BRZ roof.

So, before you know it I had a brand spanking new OEM tow hook.

 

I then (eventually) found a skilled magician who biggered and blackered it for me.

PM me if you (or your special friend) want anything to be made bigger and blacker - oooh, and indeed, errrr.

 

Then I got it wet, to make two.

 

Next I screwed the biggered tow hooks into the OEM slots.

 

Then I found a quality roof mountable bike rack.

 

Last, but certainly not least, I took my bike and balanced it on the rack.

 

It even clears the boot with room to spare.

 

I've tested it* and it's solid as a rock* and doesn't touch the body one little bit. The arm which comes up to meet the frame is super sturdy and grips it like a mutha.

 

 

*May not have been tested for solidity, may result in bike loss, your results may vary. Terms and conditions apply, your bike may be at risk if you do this.

 

 

[nerdstrike 186]

Interesting solution, though it appears to make some assumptions about how robust the towing holes are. I suppose the question is how much torque will it apply to the mountings? They're reasonably robust, but they might not take well to twisting forces from the weight of the bike.

Also, you've basically created two lances to impale anyone who rear-ends you... is that a feature or a problem?

[Stutopia 158]

I see them as deterrents to rear ending and also the ultimate reverse parking sensor 😂

I’m banking on the fact that the eyes are meant to take a fair bit of lateral force each, so 40kg or so of vertical across them both shouldn’t caused many issues. Obviously the first high speed run out will be interesting and I’ll be keeping an eye on both the eye holes and the extended hooks every time they go on and off, which won’t be that often. I can push the bike up a bit closer to the body to reduce the mechanical advantage but I’m not too worried.

[Kodename47 446]

3 hours ago, Stutopia said:

I ended up with a £400ish bump. This is obviously my fault, I was so used to previous mods being "bolt on, pay an extra £50" that I didn't do enough research. I won't make the mistake again.

£400 bump?!?  I'm about to renew and pay less than £400 for my SC'd car. I think the worst quotes I had a few years back were only £600-ish and that included having my "risky" girlfriend (age+experience) on the policy.

[spikyone 139]

3 hours ago, Stutopia said:

My insurer (advantage) simply refused these mods, so we fell out. After ringing around to find someone who doesn't consider a circa 2.5% bump in BHP enough reason to consider me an existential threat to humanity (Marker Study), I ended up with a £400ish bump. This is obviously my fault, I was so used to previous mods being "bolt on, pay an extra £50" that I didn't do enough research. I won't make the mistake again.

Makes you wonder why people don't bother telling their insurers about mods.

Holy crap that's a big jump. Hopefully you'll be able to find something cheaper next year. I know my insurer will cover mods so it's just a question of how hard they'll hit me...

[Stutopia 158]

1 minute ago, knightryder said:

£400 bump?!?  I'm about to renew and pay less than £400 for my SC'd car. I think the worst quotes I had a few years back were only £600-ish and that included having my "risky" girlfriend (age+experience) on the policy.

It’s absolutely mental, I spent all day on the phone with all the “specialists” offering forum discounts. One even explained how much less likely members are to make claims. Only one of them could beat the meerkats and only by a hair’s breadth.

[Chappers 18]

I like your style but I think if the police had a close look they'd frown upon it. Those are two fairly hefty bits of steel sticking out the back of your car directly and directly connected to the body frame. One thing you might want to think about is if someone were to crash into the back of you, you're transmitting the load in a very concentrated manor to the steel structure of the car rather than the bumper...

As for lateral load on them, I think they're fine for a bike, but wouldn't want to put much else on. When you're towing a car it often has some lateral load on the towing eye round bends and such so they are made for it.

 

 

[Stutopia 158]

Merry Christas to the **** who couldn't resist neither parking next to me at the furthest point from the supermarket entrance, nor slamming their door into my car. I particularly enjoyed how you managed to do it in the 10 minutes I was shopping and then move your car somewhere else in shame, curiously though it wasn't enough time for you to leave a note. 

 

At first I thought it was jut some paint transfer, but after a clean up theres a 5 inch crease in there, which I wasn't able to pull.

 

£350 has been quoted to sort it out with my local paint guy, the only good news is that they do flawless work, so I know it will be taken care of properly. If only I'd been there to catch them...

[Lauren 2259]

That is gutting. I had similar happen to me just over a month ago. My car was going into the bodyshop to get that side resprayed anyway, but when they tried the PDR it wasn't quite perfect so they had to skim it. Whilst the door was being painted for free, it cost me £500 to get that dent repaired, though they did all the other minor car park dings as well. 

I hope you get your's out with PDR. 

[Stutopia 158]

Thanks, but sadly there’s two huge cracks in the paint, so even if the dent could be sorted, I couldn’t live with them. Grrr.

[Lauren 2259]

Well, I hope they can manage it with a smart repair, maybe the blue is a bit easier to match and blend in than the white pearlescent? It seems anytime I need one bit resprayed it involves the whole side of the car! 

RRG Bodyshop said if I had walked in to get my door repaired it would have cost £1750! Fortunately they were already respraying that side, hence the drop to £500. 

[Stutopia 158]

Ouch! The pearlescent paints look great but are a pain to fix I believe. My guys did a mate’s blue scoobie recently and the match was spot on, so fingers crossed.

[Chappers 18]

lol why are the pictures of my bootlid in your thread? Sorry I'll remove them, no idea what I did there!

[Stutopia 158]

28 minutes ago, Chappers said:

lol why are the pictures of my bootlid in your thread? Sorry I'll remove them, no idea what I did there!

I did wonder. Cheers mate. Nice bit of kit that.

[Chappers 18]

very polite of you for not mentioning it at all 

[Stutopia 158]

Due to house moves, job change, general life getting the way stuff I've not done a mod on the BRZ for an eternity, but tonight the stars aligned. My tools came out of storage, the weather was good, there was no World Cup and I remembered to bring home my recent package from across the pond. Perfect.

Now you all know by now that I don't go in for the frivolous modding business, wasting your hard earned on bits and pieces of performance and bling. So when I get the allen keys out, you know it's preventative maintenance or safety related. This is both. I've noticed a bit of a rattle from the stick area at high revs and the other day the gear position badge popped off. So I decided to deal with matters, before maintenance it turned into a serious safety issue.

Tired old nob, well thumbed, not all that satisfying to hold and with quite a lot of stubborn, foul smelling, greasy build up around the very top.

 

I picked up this luuurrrveerrrrly bit of kit from Raceseng in the US, yeah you get stung on shipping and taxes, but it's two gorgeous pieces of machine work.

 

Phwooooarrrr.

 

 

Hopefully my rattles are gone and I'll enjoy the feel of a heftier, more bulbous nob for years to come.

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that I failed to get my sheath back in position before the money shot, I was just a bit too excited and the camera just went off in my hand, before I had time to withdraw. It happens...

[mattt 29]

Due to house moves, job change, general life getting the way stuff I've not done a mod on the BRZ for an eternity, but tonight the stars aligned. My tools came out of storage, the weather was good, there was no World Cup and I remembered to bring home my recent package from across the pond. Perfect.

Now you all know by now that I don't go in for the frivolous modding business, wasting your hard earned on bits and pieces of performance and bling. So when I get the allen keys out, you know it's preventative maintenance or safety related. This is both. I've noticed a bit of a rattle from the stick area at high revs and the other day the gear position badge popped off. So I decided to deal with matters, before maintenance it turned into a serious safety issue.

Tired old nob, well thumbed, not all that satisfying to hold and with quite a lot of stubborn, foul smelling, greasy build up around the very top.

 

I picked up this luuurrrveerrrrly bit of kit from Raceseng in the US, yeah you get stung on shipping and taxes, but it's two gorgeous pieces of machine work.

 

Phwooooarrrr.

 

 

Hopefully my rattles are gone and I'll enjoy the feel of a heftier, more bulbous nob for years to come.

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that I failed to get my sheath back in position before the money shot, I was just a bit too excited and the camera just went off in my hand, before I had time to withdraw. It happens...

A very commendable piece of safety related maintenance there. It's always reassuring to know that a fellow is treating his stick with the appropriate prophylactic approach before handling.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[Stutopia 158]

Turns out that modifying houses is even more expensive than modifying cars, so after messing about for a year, I decided to get my priorities right and treated her to some rims as a reward for being so well behaved (touch wood) since the recall work as done. She seems to be running very sweetly indeed since being taken to bits and put back together again. Long may it continue. Anyway, back to the mods, big thanks to @Adrian@TORQEN for sorting me out with some rims. I did come extremely close to pulling the trigger on some TE37s but couldn't get the precise fitment I wanted, so decided to save a few quid on some Enkeis and uphold the tradition of WR Blue with Gold. Very pleased with the look. Perhaps still sitting bit high, but I've got plans for that. First things first though, setup tomorrow to get her back in alignment.