Damn! You have had a run of E36 M3 luck with this one. Sorry man.
I've been looking for something a little sportier to replace my GTI with. At one point I seriously thought about an FR-S. There was even one that had the full STR kit on it a while back but I decided it just isn't for me.
In reply to CAinCA :
I'm still in love with this one, we just are having a rough patch right now. Every time I think I should get another car to replace it, the only thing that comes to mind is just get a newer model with less miles.
Wow. Hadn't read through this in a while. Keep on pushing through, at least you're enjoying the bumpy ride!
So it looks like you've been using an Openflash Tuning tablet? Would you say that it's worth the money for the improved interface vs just a Tactrix cable, or if you were doing it again would you get something different?
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
I sold off the OFT when I installed the supercharger. I went with ECUTEK, and honestly I like it a ton more. The flash speed is so much quicker, and there are a ton of tuners that use the platform. I will say it was nice to have all of the data visible with just the little tablet screen on the OFT than using a laptop with the ECUTEK. It is also a free program, so it's a lot cheaper than the initial ECUTEK buy in. With ECUTEK you need the cable, dongle, and a license for your VIN, etc.
If you know how to tune yourself the OFT is probably the better option. Used v1 or v2 can be had for about $350 shipped, you just have to make sure it is unmarried from the car.
I'm fairly certain you can still tune yourself with ECUTEK, but the cost is still higher. I paid $200 for my non bluetooth cable and dongle used. The license was around $275 IIRC but that was a black friday sale.
Almost forgot. I picked up the car yesterday evening. The quote for a bumper refinish and spray was about double what I was willing to pay, so I told the shop I just can't do it. He suggested we wait and see how it looks with the blend on the fenders before worrying too much. Monday I called to see how progress was, and he said we were just waiting on the headlights to show up. I guess they were a bit slow Friday afternoon, so he had his guys sand and prep the bumper for paint. For FREE. I was floored. So out of pocket was $100 for the deductible. Can't beat that.
PDR work was flawless. I really would love to spend an afternoon watching how they do it.
The bumper and hood look great. Before there were quite a few rock chips, so it looks practically brand new now. The fenders had some chips and pits as well, but didn't receive body work for the blend. You can see them in certain light, but in all honesty it looks so much better than when I first bought the car. No complaints here. I am considering a protective film if the budget allows. As is, I'm now paranoid to drive it worried about chips.
Side marker lights are being replaced with the Verus carbon fiber deletes. I can't imagine dealing with one of these lights popping out on track again, so this should alleviate that issue. I'll hopefully get to install them tomorrow afternoon or over the holiday weekend.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
We had company over last night. 5 white cars. Not all in photo.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Looks tits!
Your bad luck has been balanced with some good. Car looks amazing and I'm glad to see that your karma served you well this time. 
Got the Verus side marker deletes installed Friday afternoon. They look black in photos, but they are carbon fiber. I was worried they would look dumb, but I like them. Others have said I should paint them the body color, but I'm cheap and lazy.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
And since my headlights are so shiny, my fog lights look terrible. They have looked bad for a while, but after a little time with a headlight restoration kit they look a bit better. Not perfect, but acceptable.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
May I was reading the last page to catch up then clicked over to this one and was worried...glad to see everything looking great
Carbon looks cool. You could also hit them with some satin black to match the boxer emblem surround on the fender.
Haven't posted any updates for a while on this, so it's story time.
Me and a fellow auto enthusiast rented Hallett on June 4th. Less than 13 cars if I remember correctly, so only 3 sessions with ~3-4 cars per session. Nice open space to roam and click off laps with some friends. What could go wrong?
Leading up to that day, I had a bit of a rough work week, and for whatever reason forgot to have my usual cup or two of coffee the morning of. Since it was hot I drank Gatorade and water. No caffeine. I had a headache most of the day, and Ibuprofen wasn't helping. Didn't dawn on me the caffeine was responsible until dinner that evening. The whole day I was just kinda was in a funk.
I rented a transponder to see how accurate the Harry's Lap Timer was, and it's pretty damn close. I managed to get only slightly better than my last trip there with a 1:32.15. Just can't seem to break into the 1:31s. I was super disappointed because I know that the car has what it takes, I just don't. Or at least I don't want to push the car anymore for fear of an OFF that damages my precious car. I also was enjoying the sessions less due to the fact that there wasn't any traffic. How is that possible? I thought I hated traffic?
102263864_10213591751546517_3770508873356903660_o by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Anyway, a good friend blew a headgasket on his STI, which we later found out happened a couple track days before hand.
Another with an S2000 that I was hoping to beat in lap times had a catastrophic failure sometime in the 2nd or 3rd session.
Really bummed on those because they were both running in my group. I was left with 1 guy to run with.
After lunch I let the STI guy run my car for a session since he has had a spot of bad luck the last few times we have been there. He was pleased to have some seat time, so I planned to just trade off when possible to help out.
My next session about 10 minutes in, the exhaust started getting louder. The noise was close to the cabin, so I was thinking maybe the front pipe was tearing again. I ended the session a few minutes early to investigate. My overpipe gasket was destroyed and two studs were missing. STI dude had some spare bolts and got to work.
The car was still noisy with the gasket being torn, so I called it a day. What sucks most is that STI guy jacked up my car for me. He wasn't paying attention to where the jack was placed, and my driver side rocker was dented pretty bad. He immediately told me about it, and apologized profusely. Any cost he said he would cover. Still sucks though.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
For the rocker fix I'm just going to get an STI style skirt kit and call it done. There were already a couple dings on that side, and it will just cover everything. STI guy already paid for it, so no money out of pocket for me. I'll get around to that soon enough.
For the car itself I'm kind of in a funk about things for a bit because I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do.
I want more power for daily driving, so I'm considering the Jackson Racing supercharger kit that I originally should have got late last year. Kraftwerks can go suck and egg. Or go with a quick spool turbo? Usually the heat issues require hood vents. I really don't want hood vents. I also don't want the complication of the components. Can't have it all though.
I need a big brake kit at this point I think, but the ones I want don't clear either set of wheels I have. Buying a couple sets of wheels sounds expensive and a pain in the ass. Also, I'm already kinda at the limit of what I think my skill level is comfortable with on a street car. Do I really need a BBK?
The RE71rs are lovely, but I'm so scared to burn them up too quick that it's getting to me. They cost too much, and I know they are going to get used up, but it was less stressful with something cheaper. Next set I think will just be RS4s. More laps, less money, and consistent.
Enough whining though.
I have an SCCA Track Night this Friday at Heartland Motorsports Park. I'm actually excited about it now. I wasn't on June 4th or any day since until last week. Maybe that's a good sign. Oil change was done a couple nights ago. Brake bleed tonight. Probably should get the Re71s flipped and an alignment.
It would be more work than doing bolt-ons but have you thought about just doing a wrx/sti swap?
A buddy of mine was looking into doing that for his wife's crosstrek and the cost of a complete drivetrain donor was damn near the same as the supercharger kit.
Sean
In reply to smokeysevin :
IIRC there's just too much with the FRS that doesn't jive with the sti stuff. Trans is one of them that was the biggest hurdle. Can't remember why though. Starter location? A k24 would be neat, but the cost is silly with that. LS is high on the list, but requires so many supporting mods to hold up to the power. Unfortunately swaps are just too time consuming, fiddly, and I need to have mine be a daily still. A Jackson Racing kit makes good linear power for about $4k. That's a bargain I think.
Friday me and a couple friends met up at Heartland Motorsports Park for an SCCA Track Night. Really nice facility and so much smoother than Hallett. We placed ourselves in Intermediate since we had never been there before. There were a few guys that were pretty green on point bys, but by the third session it was much better. I had one slightly clear lap in the third session chasing down my buddy's ZL1 which got me a 1:59.74. I'm super happy with that, and after a little more time there I know I could do better. We have signed up for a Paul Chin private day there August 30th, so hopefully that's a chance to see what I can manage with little to no traffic.
awesome lap! car looks like a ton of fun and i'm glad to hear its holding up the abuse well enough.
i see what you mean about track "scope creep". BBK leads to wheel swapping, and then if you've got a BBK you'll want to have stickies on the wheels to make the most use of the stopping power (which you might as well mount since you'll be getting new wheels), which is even more money, and then you'll probably feel even more obligated to spend more time at the track to justify the cost of all that stuff...all for a few more tenths. and at the end of the day you're just out there for fun to begin with.
don't take it to mean i wouldn't want to see you go faster, and you never know when deals might pop up, but there's definitely something to be said for just putting some RS4's on there and go pounding away on it with possibly less stress.
an SC sounds like the easy button for street grunt and less hassle with plumbing, exhaust work, and potential heat shielding to figure out. i assume you'd need to run some kind of meth injection or an aftercooler for that to stay reliable on track with the heat involved though?
In reply to ScottyB :
BBK was mainly due to brake fade at Hallett. Just need more thermal capacity, and I think there is a couple kits that could clear my wheels. After Heartland though, I'm not so certain I need it as my brakes were plenty good enough without any signs of fade.
I mainly just want to reduce my consumable cost, and the RE71s aren't cheap. They seem to be holding up better for these track days than expected though. Not sure if I'll get another set next time or stick with my gut saying the RS4 is the answer.
The Rotrex supercharger luckily has zero heat issues on track. The Kraftwerks kit I had before used the same unit, but I'll get brand new this time. An oil cooler is all that's really needed, and I've already got a good sized one for the job. Again though after Heartland I'm questioning my need for more power. It's so much fun to drive at the limit right now. Will another 100hp make the car better or just faster? I think I know the answer to that but I'll probably change my mind on that this winter from boredom.
Adding forced induction to any NA motor causes a heat issue.
captainawesome said:In reply to ScottyB :
BBK was mainly due to brake fade at Hallett. Just need more thermal capacity, and I think there is a couple kits that could clear my wheels. After Heartland though, I'm not so certain I need it as my brakes were plenty good enough without any signs of fade.
I mainly just want to reduce my consumable cost, and the RE71s aren't cheap. They seem to be holding up better for these track days than expected though. Not sure if I'll get another set next time or stick with my gut saying the RS4 is the answer.
The Rotrex supercharger luckily has zero heat issues on track. The Kraftwerks kit I had before used the same unit, but I'll get brand new this time. An oil cooler is all that's really needed, and I've already got a good sized one for the job. Again though after Heartland I'm questioning my need for more power. It's so much fun to drive at the limit right now. Will another 100hp make the car better or just faster? I think I know the answer to that but I'll probably change my mind on that this winter from boredom.
any chance you can easily/cheaply get some ducting on the brake setup you have now? that might help and give you some overhead for places like Hallett.
i feel like adding an SC is just going to boost your consumable costs. more tire to hold the power, more fuel, more brakes to scrub off the speed, and the potential reliablility factor (i'm not as up to speed on the FA20 quirks but it makes me wonder how the driveline will handle those forces on track).
on the upside, i think as far as consumables go, the BRZ is way on the low end of track day costs along with other simple and light cars. good F/R balance and a decent suspension geometry are nice to have in your case!
make it better or just faster? such a good question, and i'd be curious what you decide to do in that regard. i've seen cases go either way with other "momentum" style cars. i think a lot of the conclusions in those situations were dictated by what made the most sense for a DD/track car combo though, not just a track car.
In reply to ScottyB :
I'm probably just going to stay NA. Tomorrow or Thursday I'll hopefully be picking up a new (to me) daily driver to commute so the FRS can stay ready for track and autocross days. I'm burning through tires and putting more miles on it than I like with my newly added job miles in the past few months. That should help keep me focused on maintenance and not have to worry about my aggressive alignment as much.
The photographer for the Track Night at Heartland posted some pics for sale. $2 each for digitals which I feel is a decent price for what you get. There were 4 that I liked, so $8 out of pocket for some good imagery. I'll let you all view them for free dollars.
The black Z06, Grey ZL1, red/black Miata in the first pic are all good friends of mine. We met exclusively through autocross, but have began going to tracks together. The silver Nismo Z is also a guy I met at autocross that has starting going to tracks as well. Really wouldn't be where I'm at now without those connections. Forever grateful.
DSCF2487-(ZF-9848-96915-1-001) by hatchethairy, on Flickr
DSCF2938-(ZF-9848-96915-1-004) by hatchethairy, on Flickr
DSCF2937-(ZF-9848-96915-1-003) by hatchethairy, on Flickr
DSCF2916-(ZF-9848-96915-1-002) by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Looks like a ton of fun. I haven't been to a track day since...2008. There's not much better than chasing friends around a road course.
So I've got another track day planned for Heartland on the 30th. It's a private day, so I should get more open space to improve lap times. A buddy just got a new set of scales and we wanna mess around with the cross weight before then. So yesterday I drove the car over to do some tinkering.
The car as it sits weighs 2730 lbs with 1/2 a tank of 91. That's with spare tire but no factory jack. I'm pretty happy with that since factory weight is 2750. With me in the car it's at 2912, no helmet or other safety gear. Cross weight was staying around 48.2 to 48.4 percent no matter what tweaks we did in ride height.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
We plan to give it another go soon, as I think there were some issues with our methods. One thing I found out though is my rear passenger sway bar link was broken. I thought the car was acting real pushy with understeer, and that'll do it. Also my front bump stops are falling apart. My buddy had a brand new set laying around, so when my new Racer X front and rear end links come in we will get back to the corner ballance party.
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Untitled by hatchethairy, on Flickr
Since I'm planning some time trials for 2021 this whole weight thing is pretty important. There are at least 3 different TT series I can run in, and they all are classed a little different. SCCA doesn't have many tracks near me on schedule and their rules are way more strict similar to autocross. For instance my aftermarket spoiler pushes me up a class. Oddly enough the Mid Div series of SCCA runs local tracks and has a way more mod friendly classing system. This is where I will probably put most of my effort for 2021. NASA Central region looks to mainly run at Heartland, so I may dip my toes there as well. Still need to get a grasp on NASA classing a bit though.
Either way, I'm looking to do some changes. Big brake kit is a must for competition at Hallett, Heartland I could live without. RR Racing has some inexpensive kits I'm planning to explore that will clear my current wheels, and the weight drop won't be too dramatic. With the Mid Div classing I am teetering between PB and PC. A half tank of gas could push me up a class, so I don't want to pull any weight out, just move it rearward. Looking at lap times from previous events, I think I could be in the hunt for podium. I'm excited. Anyone reading with TT knowledge I'll take any pointers I can get. Luckily Jim Rowland is a local competitor so I can bend his ear for region specific info.
Also, does anyone have a seat belt solution other than harness bar? I can't run one without a roll bar, and I'm not ready to install one yet.
If your choices are harnesses with a harness bar or staying stock, stay stock! Don't do harnesses until you can do seats with a sub strap hole and a proper rollbar.
In reply to docwyte :
I remember there being a device that would lock the seat belt in place years ago, but can't remember the name. I'm not too familiar with the safety or function aspect of it though. I can manage without, but would be nice to have a little more restraint.
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