Stutopia

After messing about taking bolts out, measuring, putting them back, I have a list of sizes to dress up the engine bay. In case anyone else is looking for the info:
 
Bolt A - Wings & Bumper
23x M6 countersunk bolts, 15mm length
23x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt B - Slam Panel
2x M8 countersunk bolts, 20mm length
2x M8 countersunk washers, 25mm o/d
 
Bolt C - Airbox and Noise Maker
2x M6 countersunk bolts, 35mm length
2x M6 countersunk washers, 19mm o/d
 
Bolt D - Bonnet & ABS Unit
6x M8 flanged hex, 20mm
4x M8 flat washers
 
That will give you most of the OEM bolts around edges of the engine bay, plus the bonnet. I've not changed the ones on the pulley covers, or throttle body as I'm replacing these separately with something aftermarket, so they're not included in this list. Neither are the ones for the strut braces or the suspension, they're in good nick on my BRZ. I may do some more in future, I'll add any further specs as I find out.
 
For reference to off the shelf kits, you can put this lot together for about £85 from pro-bolt. Though this list is not quite as long as some aftermarket kits.
 
Some Of The Bolt Locations





 
This is all for info only, don't replace strong steel fittings with soft ally or cheapo items, stay safe  

Went out for a little run to keep the battery happy. Rushed off a couple of photos as couldn't resist (despite the questionable parking) being right in front of the reservoir.
 


 

I got paint from Subaru Dales and it was only a few quid for a small touch up pot. Worth a call.

tpi or rays get recommended, none will look good after 6 months though...

Sorry about the sale (I would be gutted if I sold my GT86).
I'll take it, will want it shipped to Chelmsford (Essex) - how do we move forward?

It’s up for sale because my BRZ is up for sale. Been in the car for 2 years.

For sale, Japanparts Dash Panel (Subaru 66060 PANEL CENTER ASSY - Japanparts No : 484-500-013).
Like new, cleaned and protected regularly, zero marks.
30 second installation. Massive improvement over the hard plastic effort in the early models.
 


 
£45 collected from Sheffield, can be shipped at your cost.

I don't usually care for black wheels, but I must admit that with your look, it seems the way to go!

Little photoshoot because I thought the water looked cool on my car—I think these photos really show that my car needs grey/black wheels anyone disagree/agree?

Welcome to the sale of my much-loved 2013 Subaru BRZ, it has 82,009 miles, which are not moving up much as it has become my second car. It only goes out for a weekly run to keep it ticking over nicely. I am the second owner, purchased in March 2017, covering half of the total miles.  As you will see, this is an OEM+ car. I originally intended to keep it indefinitely, so my changes have focused on addressing the weak points, to create a well sorted and hospitable BRZ.
I am asking £10,000 OVNO and I am in no rush to sell. Please only make enquiries if you are serious. I am open to discussion on price and can remove mods like the Enkeis or Vent Gauge, to accommodate a drop. However, ridiculous low-ball offers will only waste both our time. There are cheaper Toybarus out there, but not in this condition and with all the weak spots addressed and in this classic colour scheme.
 
 
 
 
 
  
I have made many improvements to iron out some of the factory shortcomings and make it a nicer place to be. I have added the Toyota arm rest, which covers the unsightly plastic chasm between the seats and provides a space to stow your phone, keys and change – you can even rest your arm on it.

  
There is a lightning cable under the arm rest, which connects to the upgraded Sony XAV-AX100 head unit for CarPlay (and Android Auto if you prefer). The new head unit not only functions, sounds and looks miles better than the Fisher Price OEM stereo, it also displays the reverse cam feed. This can be changed to USB for non-Apple phones.

 
The head unit is linked to upgraded Focal IS165 TOY speakers in the front doors and dash. 

  
I have also added sound 3mm deadening to the doors, wheel arches, boot floor, under the rear seats and on the rear wings. This reduces road noise and resonance from the speakers. Overall, it is a huge improvement in musicality over stock.

 
Also included, a hardwired Mobius dash cam; tucked discretely behind the rear view, so it does not get in the way when driving. Records on a loop and operates on ignition, requires zero effort to keep an eye out for you.

  
Underneath and out of sight, there are MTEC shift springs and Whiteline gearbox bush inserts, which give a beautiful tight feel to the already excellent standard shift.

  
On the more practical side, a Cusco extended accelerator pedal makes heal & toe that little bit easier.

 
The cabin is in excellent condition throughout. It is regularly detailed, with surfaces protected, as well as cleaned.

 
Despite my best care efforts, there is some wear to the driver’s seat bolster, it’s minor but it is visible.

  
Moving backwards, the rear seats are all present and correct and the interior is excellent throughout.

 
In the boot, I have added a cargo net to keep the shopping in check and some back seat pulls. This means you can drop the back seat from within the boot, without having to get in via the front doors. There is also a Perrin boot pull, so you can close the boot lid from a handle within, rather than touching the outside paint each time.

 
Lockdown 1 killed the battery, so it has been upgraded. This outperforms the OEM battery in every way. If you have been looking at these cars, you will know the OEM battery is a weak spot. That is no longer the case.

 
The exterior has had very few tweaks. You will notice that the front fog lamps are wrapped yellow (can be reversed easily if desired). I have also replaced the OEM aerial with the much more pleasing shark fin. The OEM brake lights have been upgraded to Valenti smoked red, a great improvement over the original silver. The rear fog/reverse combo lamp unit has also been upgraded. Last but not least, the parcel shelf 3rd brake light has been replaced with the Intec high level brake light, this provides much improved visibility out of the rear window but retains the 3rd brake light.
My favourite exterior change is the 18” Enkei RPF1s which are running Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber (225/40/18). I hope these can be included in the sale, as they really set the car off, but will depend on the price agreed. The classic Subaru blue and bronze works beautifully, if I do say so myself. The 17” OEM wheels are included regardless (also with MPS4 rubber).

 

 
On the performance side of things, again I have tried to address OEM shortcomings. On the front are a set of upgraded AP Racing CP9200 callipers, with two-piece discs and Ferodo DS2500 pads (Reyland kit). 

  
This delivers a boost in stopping power, I’ve not yet managed to run out of pedal. At the rear, the callipers remain OEM, however, they have been refurbished and colour matched to the fronts by Godspeed. The rear pads also match the DS2500s on the front and the rear discs are DBA T2s. There are also stainless brake lines fitted.
Further performance improvements (with the added bonus of aural benefits too!) are UEL headers and the work of art which is the Ark GRiP exhaust. This adds a beautiful deep rumble when cruising. It’s not bad on full chat either.
 
 
Recently the heat wrap on the headers was looking a bit thread bare, so that has been removed and they have been to Zircotec for full ceramic coating.

 
To take advantage of the breathing mods, the car has been remapped by the well-regarded guys at Tuning Developments. This has been transformative in terms of getting rid of the infamous torque dip, really sharpening up the throttle response and such a worthwhile upgrade. It also adds other items such as launch control, flat foot shifting and a map for 95 RON – I have not needed these, but they do all work.

 
When the car is not being driven, I indulge in my detailing hobby (have a little look here). It is only bathed and protected with my favourite products. Accordingly, the exterior paint, engine bay and interior are all in tidy order. The front end does have the stone chips associated with having covered 80k and there is the start of some lacquer failure low down on the front bumper, which can be seen here.

  
Several of the brackets in the engine bay have been striped, rust protected and repainted. A large number of nuts, bolts and washers in the engine bay have been replaced with aluminium or stainless items from Pro-Bolt. 

 
During my ownership the car has never missed a beat and I will be genuinely sorry to see her go, it has been very well looked after and I’ve enjoyed spending time and money doing all the work. The big jobs like the clutch and spark plug change have plenty of time before they are due. Also, the 2013 MY Valve Spring Recall was done by Subaru and she’s covered 14,000 trouble free miles since then. The car has not wanted for anything on the servicing and maintenance front, the fluids (including differential, gearbox and brake) have been swapped multiple times in my ownership and drive & feel spot on. Always using quality replacements. I replaced the A/C pump (as it was squeaking) and had it re-gassed, so that is ice cold and will be for a good while yet. 
No vehicle is complete without a big file of invoices and history, I have kept almost everything since taking ownership and also found some from Subaru on the servicing before me. 

 
           MOT & Service History
           Date                 Mileage           Summary
12/06/14          11,651              Service 18/08/15          23,163              Service 21/06/16          32,527              MOT                  27/02/17          38,138              Service & MOT   31/03/17          39,223              Service 30/11/17          44,832              Service - including gear oil, diff oil, brake fluid & spark plugs. 07/02/18          47,449              MOT                  10/07/18          52,347              Service 01/02/19          62,770              Service & MOT - including gear oil, diff oil, brake fluid & aux belt.             18/04/19          66,177              Recall, Subaru - valve springs replaced (includes oil & coolant). Spark plugs and clutch replaced whilst the engine was out. 06/12/19          74,599              Service 13/02/20          77,092              Service & MOT - including gear oil, diff oil & aux belt.      23/05/20          78,353              A/C pump replaced (squeaking) and A/C re-gas. The content above is a brief summary, an extensive folder of receipts, invoices and other supporting documents accompanies the car.
I have loved owning the BRZ and not only used her as a practical daily (it has had a full home cinema in there) I’ve also driven her across the B roads of the UK, through France, up and down the Swiss Alps, half the length of Italy & back. She’s never let me down.
Thank you for reading this far, drop me a PM if you are interested. If you’d like to browse my build thread, it can be found here. I am more than happy to take you out for a drive, or for you to test drive it, provided fully comprehensive insurance is in place.

For fucks sake. That's 30 reports I've had to go through today. You're right, Nigel, I need some volunteers to help me with this. So many duplicates with a lot of people reporting the same five users or so. 
Any volunteers? 
It's mainly a thankless task I'm afraid.

Went out for a little run to keep the battery happy. Rushed off a couple of photos as couldn't resist (despite the questionable parking) being right in front of the reservoir.
 


 

Went out for a little run to keep the battery happy. Rushed off a couple of photos as couldn't resist (despite the questionable parking) being right in front of the reservoir.
 


 

Nice day yesterday, so engine clean up time!

Sump is £70 from Subaru. It’s in for 10 days for an exhaust tweak and whilst the headers go off to Zircotec for coating, so will have plenty of time to dry.
Peculiar that you’re diff needs attention, mine’s totally clean back there. It seems to be the joins on the subframes that suffer.

as you can see there was a couple of mods by the previous owner but nothing had been done performance wise just the vinyl and the rear spoiler.
so I picked her up and it was lashing it down 🙃 so I waited till the shy uk sunshine reared its head and set to work getting those vinyls off the side 
 
before

during (before getting to work removing left over adhesive and gunk)

after all nice and clear looking 10 times cleaner I really wasnt a fan of the vinyl at all like the second it stopped raining it was off 😅

Not in my ownership and I can't imagine the PO would have, just to put it back on again for sale. Can't really see what advantage there would be to running with it off, it's not like it weighs much.

Morning all,
 
We're still seeing a large amount of enquiries on our turbo install, along with the other various workshop services we offer. In these rather uncertain times however a lot of people are unsure about leaving the house to come and drop their car off with us.
 
With that in mind, we've teamed up with a local recovery agent whom has moved various cars to us in the past, and are able to offer FREE COLLECTION from anywhere within a 300 mile radius of us in England, Scotland or Wales to our workshop for any turbo kit install booked in with us for the moment.  
 
We can either then arrange for the return delivery to the customer at extra cost, or the customer can collect the car from us and drive it home once the work is completed.
 
We can of course offer to have collection/delivery arranged for any job, however this would be at an additional cost to the job. It is only the turbo install that has this free collection offer.
 

 
Any questions at all, no matter how small, please feel free to give me a call on 01925 822 266 or drop me an email over to mike@tuningdevelopments.co.uk
 
Alternatively you can drop me a PM and I'll get back to people as quickly as possible.
 
Thanks
 
Mike
 

I know it's not BRZ or even GT86, but I am so pleased with this work that's been done I wanted to show it off and give a shout out to Revolve Automotive and I know there's fellow detailing nerds like me on here too. If you're in the North and thinking of getting some paint correction and protection, look no further. Usually I like to get my hands dirty when it comes to keeping my car clean, but sometimes a job needs indoor space and professional skills, way beyond my own. I've known Paul at Revolve for a few years via a 350z club and a while back he struck out to follow his passion for detailing. I have been watching his work online ever since. After letting him practice on lesser marques like Maserati, Aston Martin and Ferrari, I've been looking forward to having the right job to send his way. I wasn't expecting perfect paint when I purchased on a 6 year old black car, but one of my first visits to the petrol station revealed just how bad things were.

 
As well as correcting this horrorshow, I also booked in to have some protection applied and a "little" job that's been on my list for a while. I've never really liked the black badges. First the easy bit.

Then the template.

All done.

 
I'm super pleased with the result. I know chrome is not for everyone, but it is literally the only non-black part of the whole car, so I think it's not too bling. The spacing and alignment are absolutely spot on.
Onto the paint. As you can see, he had his work cut out. 

 
But he was more than match for the hard Porsche paint. Two stages of correction has given it a beautiful depth, removed all the minor marks and a lot of the big ones too. Where they've not been eliminated, they've been softened so much as to make them almost unnoticeable.


 
 
Also the wheels came off for some love and protection on them and the callipers too.

He cleansed the leather and alcantara, leaving a layer of protection inside and a nice little signature that my ass has since dealt with.

He also stocked me up on the good stuff from Envy. I am a big fan of all the Envy products I have used to date, not tried Iron Awe yet so looking forward to that.

As well as the Envy gear, I left with some SC-MIST to keep the ceramic protection topped up. As well as making her look almost perfect, Paul's done his best to lock it in with a couple of layers of Envy Futureproof+. I'm impressed just by the gloss and I hope I'll be the same for many months to come, perhaps even years.
 
After all that, now for the glamour. She came up alright.



 
Looking ever better outside in the sunshine.





 
Delighted doesn't come close to how pleased I am with the outcome. From following Revolve Automotive on Facebook for years, I had really high expectations but Paul's manage to surpass them with his skill. It's almost a different colour, much more like the 'Jet' black that Porsche call this shade. On top of doing amazing work on the car, the process of booking in, discussing what work was needed, talking through options for coatings, agreeing a price and even throwing in a lovable courtesy car - the whole service was superb and I'm really, really pleased. If you want to do something special for your pride & joy, this is a pretty good option. I'd be taking the BRZ over if it wasn't for the fact it needs paint on the front bumper and the Cayman has blown my budget for a few months. On top of this fantastic work, it's recently been in for retrofit of cruise control, had new rubber all round and a minor oil leak sorting. The good thing is, all the interesting mods I might usually think to do, involve adding bits from it's bigger GT brothers - which makes them so expensive I'm not even entertaining the idea 

Looking great, previous owner must have real loved their brillo pad!
Remind me why I have never owned a second black car, but dam it looks good when clean!
 
Anymore BRZ vs Cayman thoughts?

I know it's not BRZ or even GT86, but I am so pleased with this work that's been done I wanted to show it off and give a shout out to Revolve Automotive and I know there's fellow detailing nerds like me on here too. If you're in the North and thinking of getting some paint correction and protection, look no further. Usually I like to get my hands dirty when it comes to keeping my car clean, but sometimes a job needs indoor space and professional skills, way beyond my own. I've known Paul at Revolve for a few years via a 350z club and a while back he struck out to follow his passion for detailing. I have been watching his work online ever since. After letting him practice on lesser marques like Maserati, Aston Martin and Ferrari, I've been looking forward to having the right job to send his way. I wasn't expecting perfect paint when I purchased on a 6 year old black car, but one of my first visits to the petrol station revealed just how bad things were.

 
As well as correcting this horrorshow, I also booked in to have some protection applied and a "little" job that's been on my list for a while. I've never really liked the black badges. First the easy bit.

Then the template.

All done.

 
I'm super pleased with the result. I know chrome is not for everyone, but it is literally the only non-black part of the whole car, so I think it's not too bling. The spacing and alignment are absolutely spot on.
Onto the paint. As you can see, he had his work cut out. 

 
But he was more than match for the hard Porsche paint. Two stages of correction has given it a beautiful depth, removed all the minor marks and a lot of the big ones too. Where they've not been eliminated, they've been softened so much as to make them almost unnoticeable.


 
 
Also the wheels came off for some love and protection on them and the callipers too.

He cleansed the leather and alcantara, leaving a layer of protection inside and a nice little signature that my ass has since dealt with.

He also stocked me up on the good stuff from Envy. I am a big fan of all the Envy products I have used to date, not tried Iron Awe yet so looking forward to that.

As well as the Envy gear, I left with some SC-MIST to keep the ceramic protection topped up. As well as making her look almost perfect, Paul's done his best to lock it in with a couple of layers of Envy Futureproof+. I'm impressed just by the gloss and I hope I'll be the same for many months to come, perhaps even years.
 
After all that, now for the glamour. She came up alright.



 
Looking ever better outside in the sunshine.





 
Delighted doesn't come close to how pleased I am with the outcome. From following Revolve Automotive on Facebook for years, I had really high expectations but Paul's manage to surpass them with his skill. It's almost a different colour, much more like the 'Jet' black that Porsche call this shade. On top of doing amazing work on the car, the process of booking in, discussing what work was needed, talking through options for coatings, agreeing a price and even throwing in a lovable courtesy car - the whole service was superb and I'm really, really pleased. If you want to do something special for your pride & joy, this is a pretty good option. I'd be taking the BRZ over if it wasn't for the fact it needs paint on the front bumper and the Cayman has blown my budget for a few months. On top of this fantastic work, it's recently been in for retrofit of cruise control, had new rubber all round and a minor oil leak sorting. The good thing is, all the interesting mods I might usually think to do, involve adding bits from it's bigger GT brothers - which makes them so expensive I'm not even entertaining the idea 

I know theirs 1000 posts on this but I think the more people that post on it the better.  Each post might have something of value to someone so I wanted to as well.
 

first rattle is here this is what it looks like exposed...

The plastic clips rattle here so I used adhesive foam on the bottom of them(link at bottom to cheap foam)
Next rattle is this ...
 

the exposed part is made of plastic and so I put adhesive foam here (this is the bottom of the back seat)
next is here ...

This corner piece on both ends rattles against the glass window, I filled behind it with foam. The hole here is what hole you need to push foam through to fill it, i recommend you put your finger in first to feel where it needs to go, photo of hole is below...
 

 
next is here...
 

(at the top of the window that plastic piece) the roof liner is lose you can easily get small chunks of foam and push them in there hidden...
 
next place ...
 

this area in general, I know it looks ugly how I did it but it’s all invisible when the seats are back so I don’t care, I just made it tight as hell, no movement..
 
next...
 

this is where the break light is... that piece, I put foam on the edge where it sits against the back seats as it was plastic on metal and had movement...
next...
 

next is all of the holes in the boot, this pushes the third break light up so it can’t vibrate on the glass window. I filled every hole and put duck tape there to make sure it doesn’t pop out. Also every cable here I made tight so they can’t move about 
here is one extra photo

Next part...


 
this is the obvious part, I put foam where the wheel arches are and then I put adhesive 3m foam EVERYWHERE after that, im sorry I have no photo of that but you know what I mean, the entire boot is covered in 3m adhesive foam.
 
Hope I had some stuff useful to you.
 
THIS IS THE FINAL LOOK FROM BOOT...oh I also did that part on the boot door I just took that off and put foam underneath, makes opening and closing the boot feel nicer too 

 
hope I can help someone
ADHESIVE FOAM - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-6mm-Car-Sound-Proofing-Deadening-Camper-Van-Insulation-Closed-Cell-Foam-Sheet/184106555361?pageci=20637d0f-8686-41bb-9ca2-a8a4cfb8a525
 
REGULAR FOAM - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOAM-SHEETS-CUT-TO-70-x20-x1-TO-5-IN-DEPTH-DENSITY-HARD-MED-SOFT-/264125917402?pageci=c327efe7-12b0-4865-a00d-33d9dedbcdb8
——————————-THE END——————————
 

That ship sailed when the other forum was sold on to be fair. We did want a merge, it's now impossible without selling this to the same company (which is american). We kept the forum here owned by enthusiasts and always intend it to be in the future if it exists because that way there's a vested interest and it won't get clogged up with shitty sponsored adds for dildos etc.

I woke up to 22 reports this morning! 😂Don't worry I've banned them.

I've been a bit quiet on here as the last few months I've left the BRZ alone and been on the prowl for something slightly different. It's taken a while and a couple of disappointing trips to dealers, in between stinking lockdowns, but last month my new 'practical daily' arrived, Klaus.





 
Klaus (we might rename later) is a 2014 Cayman GTS and fits the 'practical daily' category because it's a PDK 😉. Since lockdown, most of my driving has been city based and motorway cruising, so I've been wanting to try out one of these fancy autos for ages. Needless to say, after an initial test drive on some very pleasant A & B roads in North Yorkshire, I was hooked. A quite different drive to the BRZ and although I'm a big defender of the BRZ from the 'it's not got enough power' brigade, I must admit it's nice to have a bit more oomph on tap for the odd overtake and occasional motorway burst. Other than that, it's quite a bit smoother on our less than perfect tarmac (even though it's on 20s and has the lowered sport chassis) and a lot quieter indoors too. So far, this added refinement is a bit alien to me, it has the effect of feeling less knowledgeable of the surface beneath you, which has plus and minus points, depending on what you're up to.
Currently it is totally stock and the only possible change to that might be to drop down to 19s, to further relax the ride and perhaps a cheeky little ducktail to jazz up the back end. I genuinely have no intentions of doing much else, as it is pretty much sorted right out of the box (and much more capable than I am). Annoyingly it was not spec'd with Cruise Control, which I might get Porsche to retrofit - I miss it on the motorway in the ever increasing number of average speed area, but it had all of my other shopping list of extras; PTV, black dials, black alcantara interior plus the usual GTS refinements of the sports exhaust and sport chrono. Perversely, it sees about 4mpg more than the BRZ, for a similar driving mix, but other than that, I don't expect to see many cost savings, other than no mods. The only gripes I have are the paint is in bad shape, so it needs a correction in the new year and I really, really do not like the Pirelli P Zeros. Maybe it's because I've got more grunt and carry more speed than I'm used to but the grip in the wet and dry does not inspire confidence at all, they also make the most horrible noises and judders manoeuvring in car parks. Annoyingly they have about 6mm left on them. If I can't make up my mind on 19s soon, I'll stick with what I've got and get some lovely Michelin rubber on ASAP.
 
Where does this leave the BRZ then? As it's only cost me about £135 a year extra to go mutlicar on the insurance, I'm very tempted to keep hold of it and scratch my modifying itch by adding some lightness, maybe some coils and having a dedicated track car that I am not worried about needing for a daily. For the time being, I'm keeping my powder dry to see if this stinking pandemic is ever going to end...