Anybody want to argue the merits of various oil coolers for these? Looks like Mishimoto and JDL are the two options that mount highest up, or I could always piece together something myself. Most of the kits mount the heat exchanger really low down, which will not be an option for this car.
CAinCA said:I've been living vicariously through this project. I can't wait to see how it does on the track(trail?). RX looks like fun. Unfortunately I don't think they do it anywhere near me.
I think the closest for you might be the California Rally Series which also shows a rallycross schedule- count me as jealous that you have desert racing closer to you though, which is a whole different type of crazy that I want to try at some point.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:I just got back from putting 50 miles on it, not all of them paved:
This is actually the first time I've ever driven a fully functional one, all the others have been the broken crap I was looking at buying. Time for some first impressions:
- The stock suspension is actually not terrible, although for rallycross I think it really would benefit from either more travel or more bumpstop on the rear.
- I think I already blew the right rear shock.
- The tires that came on it are hilariously bad on gravel.
- The traction control really needs to mind its' own business.
- It's not fast, but it's not that slow- anybody who thinks we'll give up a lot of straight line speed by going to this from the Merkur is deeply mistaken about how a 2.3T delivers power.
- The torque dip- it exists, it's annoying when you're trying to mess around on a backroad at a reasonable speed, and it's totally not going to matter in racing use because the revs stay high enough as long as you shift at 7k+ rpm.
- Also, I currently rally an 80s turbo car, where every application of the throttle is a torque dip.
- I like the steering.
- I like the gearbox.
- I like the brakes.
- This is, by my standards, an extraordinarily nice, quiet, comfortable car. I almost want another one to not turn into a rally car.
- It has no trouble codes and all of the live scan data looks good.
- It gets freaking hot under the hood.
- The exhaust is too quiet.
As someone who also owns both a Toyobaru and an XR4Ti (How many can there be really?), I can concur with all of these statements except for one. My FRS is loud (for me), and all it has is a muffler delete, and it still has the stock mid-pipe, easy to fab up something or throw some money at nameless for the shorty axleback single-side.
The steering really is something else, it's mind blowing.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:Anybody want to argue the merits of various oil coolers for these? Looks like Mishimoto and JDL are the two options that mount highest up, or I could always piece together something myself. Most of the kits mount the heat exchanger really low down, which will not be an option for this car.
My car came with a Perrin oil cooler installed, and that seems to mount the oil cooler in the center in front of the radiator. In doing my research, the Jackson Racing version seems to be the be all end all, though is also pricey... I'm not sure where there is space to put it anywhere else.
https://www.perrin.com/blog/post/perrin-brz-fr-s-oil-cooler
In a 90-something degree day with 2 drivers at an autocross in TX yesterday I saw 222 deg ... once. Even with the stop-start nature of autocross it kept things down there, and a 5 min drive circling the facility got it under 200 after all the runs were completed.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
I grew up in the So Cal desert. It's a great place to be FROM. ;^) These days the nearest desert to me is about 6 hours away.
It looks like the nearest CRS track is ~3 hours from me.
In reply to TXratti :
I'm a little bit on the obnoxious side for exhaust preference I guess- if we don't count the vehicles that are technically Sara's (NX250 and Outback Sport, both stock exhaust) my other vehicles are as follows:
Pegaso 650, Arrow Dual Exhaust (loud)
1125CR, HMF Race Exhaust w/ silencer (really loud, unbearable without silencer)
XR4Ti, no muffler into sidepipe (surprisingly mild)
MR2, long 4-1 header w/ Borla muffler into center exit (loud)
8.1L Silverado, 2-2 chambered muffler into sidepipes (medium loud)
No I'm not deaf at all.
EDIT: The Perrin oil cooler looks good, and I love that they have data to back it up, I'd just have to make my own mount to put it up as far towards the bumper beam as it can go. That splitter mount thing isn't gonna cut it.
The only option that puts it elsewhere is the JDL, which mounts it off to the side- I'd have to duct air to it somehow, though, and a flat front tire could potentially take it out.
Dang. Last time I checked in here (not long ago), we just got some crappy news at the dealer. Nice progress!
In reply to CAinCA :
Unfortunately the nature of rally is that it tends to be in remote places- I'm "centrally located" to most of the east coast events but that just means there are a lot of options within a 12 hour tow, the closest is still 2.5hrs away. Rallycross I can't argue with though, lots of relatively close regions although I still drive 3.5-5hrs to make DC 2-day events since I like that region and it's where my stage rally friends run.
If I want to try and figure out my own oil cooler solution, I could grab this Jackson Racing partial kit off eBay and modify the lines to fit whatever core I wind up with. Seems like a waste when there are so many premade kits though.
Not sure what clearances are, but any possibility of mounting it perhaps above the engine, similar to the way a WRX intercooler is mounted? Obviously would require cutting a hole in the hood and adding a scoop but.....hey, that shouldn't be a problem for you :)
I mean, looks as if people have put a TMIC there (granted, no idea what this guy's hood looks like) , and an oil cooler would be obviously much smaller/narrower.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
It would be possible, but it's annoying for serviceability and would be dumping all of its' heat straight onto plastic parts there. Still potentially an option, although honestly tucked against the front of the radiator doesn't bother me much as long as it's high enough off the ground.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
I've also seen them mounted in random places in the engine bay but with a fully-enclosed shroud and a fan that would run all the time (or programmed to run only when the oil thermostat is open I suppose), but I doubt would be as effective as ducting air.
I'm waiting on a drill bit, of all things, but these generic spacers, Camaro lug studs, and Porsche lug nuts should be what I need in order to put Volkswagen wheels on my Subaru that is also a Toyota:
In reply to TXratti :
Just scored a discounted Perrin oil cooler on eBay so I guess you've convinced me!
I need to buy half inch spacers and looking through ebay/amazon there's a lot of cheap junk and a lot of expensive potential junk, do you mind sharing where those came from and how the quality is?
In reply to RedGT :
These are the ones I bought: eBay linky. They look to be decent quality, concentric, and flat, but I'll have to give you an update once the car is actually driving around on them.
I've had a few sets from this seller. They've all fit properly and ran fine.
so when is the first rallycross for the car?
In reply to MrChaos :
In theory, July, but I really have no idea. I'll probably start planning when an event is 3-4 weeks out and hasn't been canceled.
DC schedule is out, if you haven't seen it. All doubleheaders. First one is July 11/12, not sure if it's Panthera or Summit at this time.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I'm aware, but you know how the rolling cancellation thing has been going for rally stuff so I'm not counting on it yet.
cause the state of Tenn doesnt care about its citizens ETR has been running theirs with the prescribed measures but is running them. Also helps that a member rents/owns/maintains the site.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to TXratti :
Just scored a discounted Perrin oil cooler on eBay so I guess you've convinced me!
Seems I got here too late, the Perrin cooler is designed to mount to the plastic undertray, which seemed risky to me if i had an unfortunate agricultural event at the track.
The older Perrin cooler kits were off the shelf Setrab units which seem easy enough to fashion your own mounts for since there were ears on all corners.
The newer perrin kits appear to use a different cooler design which may or may not be easy to put somewhere else if desired.
I opted for the Jackson Racing, as it is designed to mount to the upper support and uses a bigger setrab cooler.
In reply to Ironsides :
Yep, planning on making my own mounts for it since I want the car to be able to shed that tray and keep going. We'll see how difficult it looks when it arrives.
I emailed Jackson Racing several times about their oil coolers since I was interested in the performance of their radiator w/ integrated cooler vs. the standard one, and never got a response, so I decided to look elsewhere.
Wheel stud time! Going from the thing on the left to the thing on the right:
The new studs are m14x1.5 and 70ish mm long and are intended for new Camaros. The heads are a little big but they fit in the hubs (after embiggening the holes with the appropriate drill bit) if you do this:
On the front I managed to do all of the drilling on the car just by taking the brakes off. The holes in the rotors, spacers, and wheels got drilled out too- the wheels didn't need it but it makes them less likely to hang up on the threads on the way on/off.
Lug nuts intended for a 944 let me install the VW wheels, which clear everything as intended but have crap tires so I'm not driving on them:
And lug nuts intended for a Silverado give me then ability to install stock and other Subaru wheels as well:
Similar process in the back, but the hubs have to come off the car to get enough clearance to install the studs:
I drove it and it feels nice and smooth at speed on the stock wheels so I don't think I screwed anything up. My plan is to run these until I have a wheel bearing failure, have to replace the brake rotors, or am ready to stage rally it (whichever comes first) and then put together a second set and keep these as spares.
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