Andy`s BRZ

I'm a huge Porsche fan! So badass you got to visit their museum. Thanks for sharing your pics

 

10/02/14

there was a nasty leak because i didnt tighten the header enough on one side and a small one where the overpipe meets the front pipe. i replaced the OEM front pipe with a BERK catted one as I really missed the throttle response on the tomei front pipe. The catless Tomei front pipe is still superior when it comes to throttle response, but I like the sound of the BERK one a lot more, and it still performs better than the OEM one.

special shout out to David at Counter Space Garage for helping me fix the leak and install the BERK pipe on their lift!





and then I decided to throw on the Greddy intake. a little deviation from my original plan (as I wanted to do a TRD intake + HKS snorkel), but I dont think I can go back anymore... the sound of this unit is really addictive, and it really improves the power band, especially after 4000 RPMs. overall, the mid range torque feels much better. It compliments the UEL header very well.


this thing was a PITA to take out, only to learn that Greddy kit is supposed to work with the stock snorkel.. oops... it looks restrictive anyways



cant wait for dyno tuning at Church automotive, and to see if the parts I purchased made any difference and where exactly it made the difference. sound clip coming soon.

 

cold start with the new BERK catted front pipe and the Greddy intake. listen to that intake! you HAVE to listen with a decent speaker. sounds way high pitched and raspy on the iphone. I`ll also film a driving one from the outside and inside the car.

[youtube]8fvXmuXuO98[/youtube]

 

the sti lip kit went on. what a PITA to install... at least the butt dyno feels a bit of downforce at the front end. quality in overall fit and finish, and also the way it installs, i punched myself for buying the replica the first time...

 

dyno tuned at Church automotive by Shawn Church! Been a long time fan of him from my middle school years and have heard so many good things. I wasn't expecting horsepower gains, but wanted a flatter torque curve (which is I went with a UEL header).

car being set up at the dyno




red dotted line is the baseline of my car. these are a few of many tries to correct the torque dip. Shawn was adjusting the cam angle on the intake side a lot to make things better.


I wanted to settle for this tune as I was really happy at this point but he insisted we go one more time...


this is the final tune. significant gains all over and best of all the torque dip has been minimized.


final numbers:

 

went out to Streets of Willow for another benchmarking of how much quicker the car is with bolt-ons and a tune. my best time was a 1:40 and I was able to best it by 5 seconds to 1:35.27! extremely happy with the result. I had a massive spin and I went into the grass so it scared the hell outta me, but luckily everything was ok. Brakes went in this event so my next mod for sure will be at least pads and fluid, but i cannot wait to see how the car transforms with the next set of mods. Hanging out with Taka Aono and the rest of the Cusco team was awesome as well.



car is stickered out for the track day... and track day only...


really awesome of Cusco to provide lunch for everyone.


another photo of Taka san and Moto san from club4AG.


I think this was maybe half of the entire group. HUGE turn out!


money shot of the day

 

so much body roll...

 

nice car for sure

 

so... i was saving up for the Ohlins DFV and I just ran into a deal I could not refuse. I`m getting tuned on Tuesday so I`ll keep you guys posted

 

Nice! I have been waiting to see someone go forced induction on here with a brz. Congrats!

I bet your car is going to be a freaking blast with the extra power.

 

I bought the brz knowing that I`ll go FI it just happened a bit sooner than I thought. hopefully I can still meet my goal of 300+ crank hp @ less than 2700lbs. the kit added a good amount of weight in the front...

 

that supercharger whine...
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155238409825471&l=7798658407584604594

 

car put down 251hp 215ft lbs on the dynojet with 91 octane. slight belt slip ( I forgot I have a smaller pulley so need a smaller belt) so the top end was rounded off a bit, and I have a small vacuum leak somewhere which made Shawn tune a bit more conservatively. still, solid gains across the RPMs and love that instant torque!

 

car feels so awesome but need to lose all that weight on the nose now.. definitely feels heavier at the front...

 

That's awesome Andy. Car looks great!!

 

a bit better at wrenching now compared to the last time you`ve seen me

 

fixed the vacuum leak, found the correct belt size for the smaller pulley. the car, now with a more linear torque delivery, feels really good. i really don't think I need more power... time to start dropping weight around the nose of the car and get brake pads and oil cooler.

 

thought I`d share some photos of the meet that I usually hang out at. awesome night as always. last night was a bit spiced up from a surprise cameo of Ken Gushi and the Greddy crew. Looked like Kenji, the owner of Greddy, drives an M6 (surely he must have some other JDM cars somewhere)... anyways, enjoy! full credit to Nick Hur for the photos.

 

i take it you guys like the photos

 

yea i noticed that just recently looks like photos inside an album dont get deleted so will try this for a bit... super convenient to upload from facebook

 

it`s been a while since i`ve updated here. so, I sold the supercharger. extra toque was nice but the kit was very unstable. however, it was a good learning experience.. (10 hour install, what it`s like to have decent power in this chassis, etc). Since then, I`ve more on or more or less made up my mind on keeping the car NA and building it this way. there is a roundabout next to my girlfriend's apartment. without the supercharger, I can take it at 55mph and keep on accelerating. with the supercharger kit, the tires start to push at 45mph. that is a significant difference. I realized how nice it was to be back in NA and the lighter front end (with the original engineering intent of low center of gravity), the car just feels better.

 

I`ve begun to really focus on the way the car feels, so even before I start doing the more fancy suspension stuff, i`ve identified what bothers me and how i can improve those things. I`ve noticed that the rear end moves around a bit on bumpy pavement and the front end should be sharper. here are my recent purchases to help with the issues.

Rigid Collars from Spoon (made by Prova)




Rear subframe bushings from Revo-tune

 

Shorai battery kit by KC Machines has been installed with the quick kill switch to further lighten the front end.

 

Isnt Spoon a company that specializes in Honda cars?

 

Spoon, Toda, and ASM all specialize in Honda but they are all manufacturing parts for the twins Of all the Spoon parts, I think the rigid collars are widely available for most cars.

 

Yeah I had a Spoon Duck Bill on my 92 Civic Hatch....JDM yO!

 

Doug went back to NA in his BRZ since the transmission was the weak link. He has since achieved 223 whp and 175.6 tq on his custom high compression NA build and LOVING it.

 

I wish I still have 93 octane to play with here in California :/

 

thinking about tinkering with this rear diffuser..

 

sketching up some new "rally" inspired diffuser idea...

 

these beauties are going on the car this weekend. can't wait. finally some more front end grip! camber and caster is a good thing

 

heh sorry.. been hanging around ft86 too much nowadays...

 

Doug has a turbo again with the high compression motor.

And Spoon has been making parts for a lot of platforms now. i think they even have stuff for the 2015 WRX's.

 

photo of the car by Nick Hur. I just photoshoped some things in, including the JDM plates.

 

Glad to see im not the only one with huge pictures haha. This makes me miss my BRZ. Looking great!

 

how do you resize? lol...

 

front camber/caster plates installed on the car. even with wonky thrown out alignments, you can feel the extra camber/caster doing the work! feels really good. can't wait till i get aligned though photo taken by Nick Hur. #NH512.

 

Revolution garage rear solid bushings also installed. these, like the SPOON Rigid Collars, transformed the car. a lot less vibration and movement at the rear end of the car now.



look how precisely the piece is machined to follow the contour lines...


you can see the piece if you look carefully from the side

 

Alignment done at West End. Car feels really good, especially under braking. Alignment specs (with me in the car): front: -1.5 camber 6 degrees of caster, 0 toe. rear: -1.3, -1.5 (OEM spec) camber, 3/32nd toe in for stability.



you can see the monster shop car with the JRZs from here

 

damn it my photos are huge.. is there a way to resize?

 

22B STI horn button for a Nardi steering wheel came in! From Philippines! Lost sleep trying to track this thing down, and even after I have placed an order I was afraid I got scammed haha. Small details matter a lot to me, and I think I`ll enjoy looking at this piece every time I go for a drive now.









there`s a small blemish, but I expect it wouldnt be in mint condition.. afterall it`s over 10 years old!

will probably pair up with this steering wheel:

 

I am speechless that this intake is in my hands only true ram air design for frs/brz platform. Crappy cellphone photos do not do justice for this piece.. Can't wait till I install it! I will be doing a before/after dyno. This intake is more about keeping the horsepower under high stress conditions (according to some Japanese reviews, every 1 degrees Celsius you lose 0.7hp), but just want to see if it actually makes any difference. stay tuned.

 

moar photos around the velocity stack area

 

my day started with putting in the new transmission fluid. what a PITA to pump all the fluid in...

after doing the maintenance stuff, fun stuff begins. bumper needs to come off for the Gruppe-M intake install. I had been debating on removing the windshield washer fluid reservior for maximum weight savings, and I was glad to confirm that it was a whopping 11.6 lbs of weight, all on the nose of the car. hopefully the polar moment of inertia improves with removing this. more trips to gas stations now to clean the windshield i suppose .



generic K&N filter is used for the intake. needs to be cleaned and oiled.


cleaned, dryed, and oiled.


weight of the intake. total of 9.28lbs + aluminum brackets (.5lbs roughly): 9.78lbs.




weight of the OEM intake. No idea what the snorkel weighs.. we`ll just say 0.5lbs. total of 6lbs.



first test fitment of the box.


driver's side of the intake gets attached to the bracket on the engine block. I did not have to drill any holes to install this intake.


passenger side installs with the bracket attaching to the dip stick.


driver's side snorkel attaches to the top of the bumper beam. there are 2 strips of 3M adhesives behind the snorkels to attach to the bumper beam.


passenger side snorkel attaches to this L bracket. the bottom side of the L bracket that gets installed onto a hole on the bumper beam uses a expanding rubber screw. very very slick stuff.


fitment is tight, but everything fits perfectly when installed.


here is what the snorkels look like with the bumper reinstalled. maybe I could have cut outs on the mustache to expose more of the snorkel to feed more air.



initial reactions: the top end is quite nice . the sound isnt any louder than the greddy intake I had before, but for sure the car pulls like it is driving in the cooler days. I thought we were in the low 70s from the way it feels but today it said 78 degrees on the way in to work. I`d be interested in seeing what it can do with a proper tune.

 

admiring the work